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History of the FCCC
Decades ago, Reverend Father Louis Papilla dreamed of having an organization, whose purpose is to train young Chinese Catholics to tackle the evangelization of the Chinese community.
Thus, in March 1954, the Chinese Catholic Youth (CCY) was born.
In two years, the group rapidly grew from a small group to 115 members in four Manila units: Binondo, Saint Jude, Mandaluyong-San Juan, and Pasay; and 128 members in provincial units - Aparri (Tuguegarao), Cebu, Lucena, and Tacloban. With that, his Excellency, the Most Rev. Msgr. Juan B. Velasco, O.P., D.D., Bishop of Amoy, Vicar General of the Archdioceses of Manila for the Chinese Parishes, and General Director of all Chinese Catholics in the Philippines, granted the group one-year probation before its formal recognition.
It was Father Bernard Doyle who founded and organized CCY in Saint Jude in 1956. After three years, Father Peter Yang became the spiritual director and carried on the good work that was started. Since then, there were more activities for CCY. Its members were active during parish meetings. They became a regular fixture in the parish as a choir. CCY also had regular visits to the hospitals for various civil works. It also hosted leadership trainings and spiritual formation activities to foster camaraderie and spirituality to train its members to become better and true Catholics.
In 1976, the name was aptly changed to Filipino Chinese Catholic Youth (FCCY).
With the passing away of the Most Reverend Msgr. Juan B. Velasco, the Most Reverend Teodoro Buhain, D.D. was appointed as the new General Director for all Chinese Apostolates and Reverend Fr. Santiago Leon, S.J. was appointed as the National Ecclesiastical Assistant for FCCY.
The selecting of Saint Jude Chapter's Mr. Alberto Go Jr., as the National Directorate President in 1983 initiated a number of projects for the Saint Jude Chapter during the 80's.
In 1985, the first medical mission, the Lunasakit, for the community of Saint Jude was launched. It provided free medical and dental services to the people around the vicinity of Saint Jude. This project was so successful that they decided to make it a traditional event. It was also in this year that St. Jude FCCY played host together with other Manila Chapters during the 13th National Convention, which was held in the EAPI in Ateneo.
In 1986, FCCY was as busy as ever having several new activities in line. Saint Jude FCCY held a concert, which was entitled "Mga Himig, Tinig, at Titik" at Philam Life Auditorium. The following year, the group participated in Holy Week activities like the Visita Iglesia. The 80's proved to be a very busy and successful decade for St. Jude FCCY.
In 1993, the alumni scouts, led by Father Peterson Tieng, re-organized the Saint Jude Chapter.
In 1999, FCCY re-examined its organizational structure and was modernized to cater to the needs of the new generation of Chinese Filipino youths.
With a new vision: A dynamic organization of spiritually mature Filipino-Chinese Catholic youth, the FCCY National Directorate was formed comprising of 6 National Stewards and 7 Regional Stewards under the guidance of the remarkable Rev. Fr. Peterson Tieng, LRMS as the National Spiritual Director.
The Saint Jude FCCY Singles, which at one point had a number of talented singers and musicians, were invited by the Jesuit Communication Foundation to record well known Filipino Jesuit Mass songs in Chinese. The recording was done in September 2000 in Ateneo de Manila University. The album, named "Songs for Worship", was launched in 2001. It was also during this year that they thought of recruiting high school members of Saint Jude Catholic School to expand the organization beyond its parish-based. They conducted a door-to-door recruitment drive in classrooms and this strategy proved to be very successful.
Soon after, "Songs for Worship 2" was released, which brought more hymns in Mandarin Chinese. This album was dedicated to Fr. Jean Desautels, SJ and Msgr. Peter Tsao, SVD, the founders of Xavier School and Saint Jude Catholic School respectively.
At the present, there are a total of twenty-three FCCY chapters all over the Philippines. Ms. Judianne Ang currently serves as the Regional Steward for Luzon and Ms. Faith Quieng as Saint Jude Chapters coordinator. The chapter has three ministries which are the Love and Fellowship, Communications, and Music Ministry. There is a total of more than 60 high school members and more than 30 college members in the Saint Jude Chapter. Regular activities for the members include prayer meetings, praise and worship, chapter assemblies, and regional assemblies.
There are regular events held for the high school members. One is the Youth Encounter, which seeks to bring them closer to God. This happens at least twice a year. There is also the Leadership Training Workshop, which aims to equip young people with skills in leadership and to deepen their knowledge about FCCY. This takes place every two years. Another exciting event is the National Convention, which gathers all the chapters together as one community.
FCCY now exists as a mandated national organization with the formal approval of the Catholic Hierarchy of the Philippines, particularly under the Chinese-Filipino Apostolate Office.
Now on our 50th year of existence, we are proud of our achievements and are looking forward to create more milestones in our illustrious history. With the Almighty God guiding and blessing our three existing groups, namely the high school group, the college group, and the singles, our dream of building an active and vibrant Filipino-Chinese Catholic Community may continually be fulfilled.
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