San Andres Apostol Parish 4.47

Vision – Mission
Inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit, we the parishioners of St. Andrew, the Apostle, through the prayer of the Blessed Virgin Mary, envisioned ourselves to be an organized, active faith community focus on the gospel and centered on the Eucharist, live and share God’s Spirit through worship and service with faith, reverence and dignity, educate the community, focus on the social apostolate, support all parish temporal needs, involve youth in all parish activities, have personal conversion and transformation, and strengthen the family relationship.

Brief History
On November 03, 2009, a Decree establishing the 56th parish in the Diocese of Antipolo was given to San Andres Apostol Parish. A Letter of Appointment was issued on November 04, 2009 to Fr. Vicentico “Vic” C. Flores Jr., a parochial vicar of Our Lady of Light Parish in Cainta and coinciding with the Feast day of San Andres (November 30, 2009), the first ever Parish Priest of San Andres Apostol was installed.
Greenwoods Executive Village, being situated within the Barangay of San Andres in Cainta was the primary reason why its homeowners decided to adopt San Andres Apostol as their patron saint. Since March 1990, masses had been celebrated by invited priests from the nearby parishes. These masses were initiated by the first dwellers of the village, with the help of the Our Lady of the Holy Angels Block Rosary Crusade. The church of Our Lady of Light in Cainta granted the parishioners a model for the carved image of the saint during the novena mass while preparing for its first fiesta. Rev. Father Dave Colong, Parish Priest of San Sebastian Church in Pinagbuhatan, Pasig City, celebrated the first fiesta mass in the open basketball court of the village. Fr. Dave introduced the priests of the Poor Servant of the Divine Providence to the parishioners of Greenwoods. In 1991, the PSDP priests headed by Rev. Father Giusto Squizzato, started their pastoral services in the village and its neighbors.
On November 30, 1991, the first feast day concelebrated mass was officiated by Msgr. Balbago, the Bishop of Antipolo’s representative, Fr. Giusto Squizzato and Fr. Miguel Pacheco, the first ever Eucharistic Celebration for the feast day of San Andres Apostol. It was followed by a ground breaking and corner stone-laying of the then erected San Andres Apostol Chapel. From then, different church organizations like Catholic Women’s League, Marriage Encounter Communities, Couples for Christ and others were formed and a Mini –Pastoral Council were organized.
For 19 years, San Andres Apostol Chapel has been one of the fourteen chapels under San Lorenzo Ruiz Parish. As the Greenwoods residents grew bigger, their demand for more Spiritual and Eucharistic services also follows. Thus, the thirst of aiming to become a Parish arises.
On December 14, 2008, the ground breaking ceremony of the proposed rectory was held. It is one of the requirements in upgrading a chapel to a Parish Category. On June 20, 2009, 8:00 P.M despite the drama of power failure, it did not hamper the signing of the agreement on perpetual use of the open space in Greenwoods in favor of San Andres Apostol Parish. With the immense perseverance of the Parish council, supported by its community guided by their Patron, their long aspired dream finally became a reality.
The 2009 fiesta preparation was really intense because other events will also be celebrated such as erection of the church as a Parish and installation of Fr. Vic Flores as Parish Priest The Most Reverend Bishop Gabriel Reyes D.D. was the main celebrant during the occasion. Priests from the Diocese of Antipolo and priests from San Lorenzo Ruiz headed by the then incoming Parish Priest, Fr. Rey and Fr. Marvin were among the guests who graced the occasion. San Andres Apostol Chapel became the new “San Andres Apostol Parish”.
San Andres, though the least spoken apostle in the Bible was indeed the perfect choice to be hand-picked by the Parishioners to become their Patron. As called by Jesus to be “Fishers of Men”, our Patron seems to never rest on calling the Greenwoods residents to be the “present fishermen” in our area. San Andres Apostol Parish may be a very young Parish but you will be surprised of its growth, and the Parishioners, guided by its Parish Priest with the intercession of their Patron believe that their journey is just beginning.