Lenny Poco's speech during the dedication:
I feel blessed, and incredibly humbled to be part of this occasion, and this project – which would not be possible without the tireless support and dedication of DLSZ’s board of directors, the La Salle Brothers, the past and current administration (Mr. Ronnie Holmes, Mr. Jun Elloso, Engr. Cheery Tayco and staff), the entire project team– and of course, blessings from God Almighty.
And although – we are partaking of the finished product – that of a building, manmade – as finished or as raw as it is – as perfect or as flawed as we may all be...the most important part of the story... is the process of finding ourselves, our faith, our design, and our direction with the help of God. That is the underlying theme of this Chapel and of Parmenie as well.
For us, it was a very human and iterative process... starting with our initial goal of inspiring a feeling of awesomeness and intimacy... we spiralled upward into a process of learning, asking questions, revising and revisiting previous assumptions...
We learned a lot from it – not just about designing a place-of-worship, but also about working together (as a father-and-son endeavour and within the project team.) But at the end of the day... the truth is... we just let God take the reins of the project from us and allowed him to steer us toward what you see now.
It’s tempting to think about what this building means and symbolises – we’ve heard that onlookers have started calling it an ark – and maybe with reason... subconsciously the cross outside may read as the bow of Noah’s giant boat... but truthfully... we didn’t mean it that way.
What we did try to evoke was the process of discovery... of finding your faith... much like our design process... everyone in life starts out initially believing in something... for any Christian and Lasallian for that matter, we listen to our Christian Living classes and we take to these teachings as fact.
But as you grow old, and as life leads you through the dark ramps and tunnels – you start questioning your faith, re-examining your beliefs and learning things your own way; as you question and as you are challenged by God... you see the faint glimmers and rays of light from the holes along the dark ramps that symbolise our struggle and journey to Him... and just when you’re about to give up on your faith... you find it... and you are enveloped in the sheer brightness of God’s wisdom, the warmth of Christ’s love, the tightness of Mary’s embrace – and the enlightenment of the spirit. You open up to Him, and you learn that you are part of a church – of a community that worship and bathe in His light.
It is with this storyline we draw inspiration for this House-of-God. We know that finding our faith is not the ends, but is merely the means to be of service to our neighbours.
We hope that the Chapel and the Parmenie become the symbolic starting points for each Lasallian’s spiritual journey in life. We hope that it helps us to find our faith and enables us to continue to do everything... for the glory of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Praise be to God!
Saint John Baptist De La Salle
Pray For Us
Live Jesus in our hearts
Forever!
