SPOT Concert - July 2004
June 22, 2005
The first-ever fundraising concert-show that FOSNI staff participated in was the July 2004 “Singing Priests of Tagbilaran“, or SPOT concert, at the Columbus Hall of Emmanuel Parish Church. Delray Beach was just one leg of their tour. The priests were in the United States to raise funds for use as a start-up for a Health Insurance coverage program for priests in Bohol., Philippines. Despite the fact that the concert-date was preceded by two Florida hurricanes, and electricity had only came back that same morning, the show did go on.
Standing from left are Rev. Joseph Skelton, Rev. Arnold Zamora, Rev. Irvin Garzota, Mr. Joseph Namoc, an unidentified sponsor, Rev. Justino Estoque, and Rev. Jeffrey Malanog.
Sitting down, from the left: Rev. Bonifacio Espeleta, Rev. Gaudioso Zamora, Rev. Rex Familar, and Rev. Melquisedec Monreal.
All of the above, except for Rev. G. Zamora, who serves as CCD Director of Emmanuel Catholic Church in Delray Beach, Florida, and Rev. Familar, who is one of the serving priests in St. Joseph Parish, Orlando, Florida, and the unidentified sponsor from Orlando, consist of the SPOT performers. This picture was taken right after the SPOT concert at Emmanuel Parish.
Mark that we have chosen to post a picture of an event our staff participated in almost a year before the actual formation of FOSNI. Back then, we were just members of the Filipino community calling Emmanuel Parish our religious home. We have not divorced ourselves from this community; we have merely, and quietly — and with the greatest of hopes — started a “structure” that will only be filled out by the inclusion of others “drifting” into unstinting service. Whether we achieve anything meaningful from this first step still remains unclear. All of us intend to persevere, in the gentlest of manners, and with God’s encompassing grace.
Permit us to say, now, that a year ago — some concerts ago, a few hurricanes ago — this particular presentation, and the travails that went into achieving its purposes, was where it all started for us.