October 29th we had our annual board meeting. It was a valuable time of planning for 2025. Bukal Life Care started as an idea in 2009, but had our official launching event in October 2010.

Four groups of CPE are active right now with a total of 18 trainees. All four will be finishing in the next few weeks.

November 4 and 13 we will be holding a two-part seminar in grief and loss.

January 2025 we expect to have CPE groups in Baguio and in Palawan. We are still setting up groups so if you are interested, email us at bukallife@gmail.com.

A lot of things are being planned for 2025 including—

-CPSP Plenary in March

-CPSP-PH Plenary in June

-Pastor Trainings in Quirino Province and Sarangani

-Launching of upgraded CPO program.

In 2023 we had four CPE trainees who were in their Franciscan Integration and Intensification— John, Ronn, Jayson, and Mark. This last July (2024) the four were able to take their vows.

They were kind enough to share a copy of their publication that described their program and reflections. It is a great read, and the reflections show the impact CPE has had on their spiritual and ministerial journey. They even put our brochure on the inside back cover.

We are excited for what God has for these Franciscans, as well as all of our trainees.

The copy of this publication is at our office.

Right now we are about as busy as we ever have been. We have four simultaneous CPE groups active right now. Two of them are Intensive and two are Extended. However, all four of them will complete before Christmas. Because of this, however, we don’t have a lot of other activities in the near future. However, 2025 should be busy.

October 14-15. Working with a Missionary Member Care group in training for stress defusing. We are looking forward to that.

November. Our Annual Board meeting

January 2025. We will start up CPE again. One group will be in Palawan, and AT LEAST ONE group will be in Baguio. We have actually had a number of requests. One has been to lead a CPE group for Philippine military chaplains. We have also had queries about holding CPE in Thailand. During the later Spring, we may be partnering with a program in South Korea.

Other things in 2025. We have been asked to hold more Intro to Pastoral Counseling trainings in Quirino Province. We have also been asked to do these trainings in Sarangani and General Santos.

We are continuing to work on our updated version of CPO (Clinical Pastoral Orientation). We are doing it bilingually, and have completed the first seven lessons. Hope to finish in early or mid-2025.

This is enough update for now. If you are interested in CPE in January (or later) please go to the Contact Us page on our website and… well… contact us.

September 5 and 6 our team (Bob and Celia Munson and Bhab Dicang) held training in BBCF, a Bugkalot church in Nagtipunan, Quirino. This was in partnership with the IMB and the local Bugkalot Baptist Association. We led two days of training in Pastoral Care and Counseling. It was a great visit and we had wonderful hosts. We were also able to visit friends and partners in Madella, Quirino and in Aurora Province. Looking forward to expanding this program next year.

We traveled to Los Banos, Laguna to work with a group of officers of The Salvation Army–Philippines. This is the fourth major activity where Bukal Life Care was invited to participated in leading some exercises and holding counseling. It was a great time working with this dedicated group of leaders.

Busy times ahead. Two Extended CPE groups start in a couple of weeks. Two Intensive CPE groups start in September. We also have training/counseling trips occurring in Laguna (August 21-23) and Quirino (Sept 3-6).

If you have any questions or want to set up an appointment, please email us at bukallife@gmail.com.