LAYFORCE @ 25
BY GAINES MARIE ROSARIO

QUARTER OF A CENTURY….

LAYFORCE is turning a quarter of a century already?   Yes.  We are celebrating our 25 Silver Years of continued ministry to the laity of our church!  Layforce, in close collaboration with the other units of the San Carlos Pastoral Formation Complex, was envisioned by the late Jaime Cardinal Sin to be a house of prayer and spiritual formation for us laityas well as training ground for the exercise of ourpastoral co-responsibility with the clergy.  LAYFORCE was Cardinal Sin’s brainchild.

In a message at Layforce’s Solemn Inauguration and Blessing on 10 July 1985, His Eminence Jaime L. Cardinal Sin acknowledged the vocation of the Philippine Church, that is, “to announce the coming of God’s kingdom in this part of the world; to bring the good news of God’s love to the innumerable poor of Asia.  LAYFORCE is an attempt to answer this historical call.  We need men and women, deeply spiritual, totally committed to building communities, universal and apostolic in outlook, to accomplish this now-or-never task side by side with their pastors.”  The Cardinal also said:“LAYFORCE materializes one my cherished dreams.  I want it to be a telling symbol of the trust and the hope I place in the apostolic potential of the laymen and laywomen of the Archdiocese. The active participation of the laity in the Mission of the Church is INDISPENSABLE.”

CARETAKERS OF THE VISION

At present, as we celebrate our Silver Jubilee Year,  LAYFORCE has become a new vessel of formation in the Archdiocese of Manila under the clergy-lay partnership and leadership of Most Rev. Bernardino C. Cortez D.D. and Dr. Gaines Marie G. Rosario of the Commission on the Formation of the Laity since  November 2009 to the present.

The formation programs for the lay faithful have evolved through the years. We are moving towards an integral and wholistic human development.  The programs have been growing as a fruit of an on-going assessment and discernment as we try to identify the needs of the laity.   This is made possible by the collective efforts of the LAYFORCE  team composed of the RCAM LAYFORCE STAFF and the LAYFORCE FACILITATORS as a response to the challenge of the Archbishop of Manila, His Eminence Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales:  “ The dignity & value of the human person is the highest priority in any development program.”

The Apostolic Vision of the Archdiocese clearly provide a direction and a purpose for our ministry. FORMATION of the LAITY is a primary concern for all because it establishes the means to liberate a person from anything that enslaves.  Lay Formation is not merely filling up a person with a pail of skills, techniques and set of strategies but rather allowing the laity to embrace the FULLNESS OF LIFE towards radical openness to life through integral human development.