The Maryknoll Fathers had instilled in me the missionary spirit. Now that we have a lot of vocations in my diocese, it is my time to share in the mission. When my bishop asked me to do missionary work, to help the Diocese of Honolulu, I needed to discern it for a few months. I thought it would be really difficult because of the need to adjust to a different culture, etc. But, with the desire to broaden my perspective of what it means to be a missionary in a foreign land, I accepted.
I was influenced by my parents, particularly by my father who was very pious, to become a priest. He motivated his children, and especially me, the eldest, to become one. In grade school, one of my close friends and neighbor entered the minor seminary in my home province. I was attracted by his example to enter as well. However, my aunt, a Dominican Sister of Siena, said that I needed to finish high school and experience more of life first.
In my fourth year of high school there were several religious congregations that came to my alma mater to give vocation talks. They gave us an exam and I passed. I chose the Order of St. Camillus because of their work in healthcare with the sick. After eight years of formation in that community, I took some time off for re-discernment. I decided to apply to the diocese. From a religious congregation, I became a diocesan priest.
As diocesan priests, we were not prepared to be foreign missionaries. We were trained to be priests in the mission territories of our own backyard. Part of the challenge when I came to Hawaii was being exposed to multi-cultures.
In the Philippines, we are very pampered. Even though there are a lot of Masses to celebrate, we don’t wash our own clothes, cook, or even clean the rectory, as there is help. Here, in the foreign mission however, we need to adjust ourselves in those aspects and more, especially in the area of time.
In the Philippines, because I ride a motorcycle to travel the long distances between parishes, the people naturally adjust and wait for you if you are 15-20 minutes late. They themselves often have walked and sweated along the same rough roads. If you are time-conscious there, you will lose the people. Thus, over there I am more people-conscious than time-conscious. Over here however, you have to be on time. If Mass is at 6 a.m., you need to be there before 6 a.m. By adjusting in the way we do our pastoral ministry, we grow in our pastoral approach to the people.
For my spiritual life, I like to read spiritual books. In preparation for my weekend homilies, by Monday I have already begun to read the readings and reflect on them. During the day when I’m not in the office, I do more readings and reflections. And while I’m doing some exercise, e.g. walking, I like to meditate on the beauty of the surroundings of Hawaii, as the spirituality of St. Ignatius teaches us to find God in every place and in everything.
Father Themistocles T. Tuyac Jr. is from the Diocese of Tagum in the Philippines. He was ordained in 1995. His first mission in Hawaii was in Kula, Maui, followed by St. Jude, Makakilo. He is now parochial administrator of the Hamakua Catholic Community on the Big Island.
