Bringing Catholic faith closer to communities

Felicidad T. Sy Foundation’s Kasalan sa SM mass wedding underscores SM Group's commitment to upholding the Filipino Catholic faith and fostering strong family values within the community.

The SM Group's matriarch, Felicidad "Nanang" Sy, has long believed that faith is a solid foundation upon which communities can be built. 

This faith inspired the establishment of the Felicidad T. Sy Foundation (FTSFI), an organization dedicated to promoting spiritual development and Catholic living within communities.

Since its inception, the foundation has supported the restoration and building of Catholic churches. It also provides SM employees with spiritual development programs. It carries out special projects, enabling church leaders and ministers to spread social good through spiritual wellness and the promotion of the Catholic faith.

Strengthening the Catholic faith

One of the foundation's initiatives is the "Kasalan sa SM" mass wedding, which have seen hundreds of couples get married over the past eight years.

Hosted with SM Supermalls, FTSFI’s 8th mass wedding included participants of the 296,000-member Facebook community, the SM SuperMoms Club. 

Ensuring the couples will have a memorable wedding, Kultura's Barong Filipino and Berches Barong provided Barong Tagalogs for all the grooms. Complimentary hair and makeup services for the brides were offered by Gandang Ricky Reyes. Goldilocks also gave 16 wedding cakes.

Aside from this, the foundation has held spiritual retreats, workshops on being a lector, altar server training sessions, and other programs to deepen mall employees' Catholic faith. 

Constructing sanctuaries of faith

The Felicidad T. Sy Foundation has undertaken a wide-ranging effort to construct and revitalize chapels and chruches across the Philippines.

Bringing Catholic faith closer to Filipino faithful, construct chapels within malls and rehabilitates parishes within the community it serves.

Its projects have included the San Pedro Calungsod church in Cebu City near SM Aura, the Cross Tower chapel in Cebu, Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Hen. Uno, Cavite, and the Mary Queen chapels in Jaro, Iloilo and Tacloban. It aided the John Mary Vianney Center for Priests, and Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary inside SM North EDSA, SM Grand Central, and the SM Store in Makati.

One of the chapels it built, the Chapel of the Eucharistic Lord, nestled within the SM Megamall, hosted the televised Sunday masses broadcasted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The service was done in partnership with Agapetos Foundation and aired live on CNN Philippines, to nourish the spiritual needs of Filipinos during the pandemic.

With its ongoing initiatives, FTSFI, through the guiding light of Nanang's belief, will continue to foster a strong spiritual foundation for the communities it serves.

The Felicidad T. Sy Foundation is an affiliate of the SM Foundation.