This will be the last bulletin article you will be reading from me. I will finally leave on October 1, 2024, to begin my new role in my religious community. I say this with mixed feelings – sadness because I am leaving a great parish that has become my home for the past nine years; excitement because I am looking forward to doing the ministry I have always wanted to explore; and anxiety because I am not sure what exactly the life dynamics would be. Nonetheless, I trust in the Lord who generously provides necessary graces for those whom He calls. 

If you wish to stay connected, my email is jcpilotinms@gmail.com. Once I am finally settled in the Philippines, I will kindly ask our office to make a business card in my behalf, indicating my new address and mobile number. 


Ordained on October 26, 2006, Fr. Elmer turns 18 years old as a priest in a few weeks. Since his ordination, he has taken several responsibilities in our community – Vicar Provincial, Provincial Treasurer, College Seminary Director, among many others. He also takes an active role in the international gathering of Treasurers in our religious community. Academically, he has a bachelor's degree, major in Philosophy and minor in Mass Communication. He finished his MA in Theology at the San Carlos Seminary School of Theology (the same school where I finished Theology at). He also has another degree in Counseling from De La Salle University in Dasmarinas, Cavite. 

As our parish goes through this transition, our first reading this weekend guides us. The Israelites, still on a journey, are constantly complaining about the inconveniences of life in the desert. Moses in turn complains to God: “I cannot carry all these people on my own; the weight is too much for me.” God then offers a solution. He tells Moses: “Collect me seventy of the elders of Israel, men you know to be the people’s elders and scribes. Bring them to the Tent of Meeting and let them stand beside you there. I shall come down and talk to you there and shall take some of the spirit which is on you and put it on them. Then they will bear the burden of the people with you, and you will no longer have to bear it on your own.” 

God’s blessings are so abundant that He has something for each of us. The harvest is so great and no one person can do everything. The gifts of the Spirit are shared to all. We just have to be ready to find and recognize them in each one of us, and ultimately rejoice as one Body of Christ.