Claire Umali – Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi (but originally from the RCYW J) 
ECyD Manila Director, and Everest Academy Manila High School Formation Instructor Consecrated: November 5, 2009.

What is one thing most people don’t know about you? Please share some fun facts.

• That I was an avid basketball fan of my college team that I would line up at 12 midnight with my friends to get tickets for a Finals game.
• That I was also an avid fan of an NBA team that I would wake up at 3 a.m. to watch their games live (it was the Phoenix Suns back then; the team of Steve Nash)
• That I am RCYW [Manila] #22 (back then, we used to count!!)

What do you love about RC or being a Regnum Christi member?

Being friends with other RC members who are so different from me! And the internationality of it. I enjoy being with RC members from other countries. Through it, I experience how the Church is indeed Catholic—universal!

Name one lesson you have learned during this pandemic that helps you as you journey in faith through community? 

It’s not really a lesson that I only learned now, but it’s something that God is letting me live and experience more and more: He shows His love for me through others. He supports me through them. God is Community because God is Love.

If you could speak to all the other members and give a special message, what would you say? 

Some might think I’m stealing Mission Youth’s motto, but this really came from my heart and introduced it to MY years ago when I was handling it. And there’s really no other message in my heart than this, which I believe is my mission in life: “To love, to be loved, and to lead others to Christ.”

Extra challenge:

How would Jesus describe you? 
Can I just answer how God the Father would describe me? I am His beloved daughter, with whom He is well-pleased. 

What quality of Mary or Joseph do you identify with? 
The original sin of Joseph! (haha) And his holiness inspires me. Imagine living with one who is immaculately conceived and one who is the Son of God!! I also identify with his sense of work—maybe it’s related to being born on the day of St. Joseph the Worker.

Do you have a favourite saint, who is it and why?
Clare and Francis! But Francis Xavier, not Francis of Assisi. Why? Long story. But here’s the short version: Clare (as we’re namesakes) has taught me how to love Jesus in the Eucharist. Francis, who was someone from Spain and evangelized in the East, accompanied me as someone from the East to evangelize in Spain. And of course, St. Joseph (reasons stated above).