Father Pascual Abaya IV, rector of the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, gives the homily for the Hawaii celebration of the 500th anniversary of the coming of Christianity to the Philippines. In the foreground is a statue of Santo Nino, a symbol of the Catholic faith in the Philippines. (Photo courtesy of Dann Ebina)
Hawaii is a grateful beneficiary of the 500-year-old evangelization of the Philippines
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
The celebration of the 500th anniversary of the introduction of the Catholic faith to the Philippines is really a global one, marking an event that has come to grace the world over, including, in large measure, Hawaii.
The Diocese of Honolulu celebrated the anniversary with an evening Mass, tempered by the pandemic, at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, March 16. Bishop Larry Silva presided.
The cathedral rector, Father Pascual Abaya IV, gave the homily, describing how the Christianization of his home country rippled around the world.
“Go to any diocese from Alaska to Argentina, from New York to Japan, and most of the dioceses in countries in between, the chances are that you’ll find a Filipino priest or religious sister or brother ministering to the people of God there,” Father Abaya said.
The Mass started at 6 p.m. with the pealing of the cathedral’s bells. Twenty-six priests, four deacons and two Knights of Columbus, in face masks and spaced six feet apart, processed into the church with Bishop Larry Silva.
“We thank God for the living Gospel spread to all corners of the world,” the bishop said in words of welcome. “We thank God we are beneficiaries of the spreading of the Gospel to the Philippines.”
The clergy, three to a pew, filled half of the church. Around 70 people, filled in the rest of the space both at the floor level and in both side balconies above.
The music, limited by the pandemic, was provided by organist Calvin Liu and cantor Paula Manz.
The readings and responsorial psalm all echoed the theme of evangelization: “Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.” “You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.” “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel.”
Father Abaya called the event being commemorated “a story of God’s pure grace, or amazing grace, … unearned, unmerited, undeserved and gifted to the fabled ‘Isles of the West’ known as the Philippines.
Christianity arrived in the Philippines when the fleet of explorer Ferdinand Magellan landed on the island of Cebu on March 16, 1521. Two weeks later, on March 31, the expedition’s chaplain, Father Pedro de Valderama, celebrated the first Mass there and on April 14 baptized the island’s King Rajah Humabon and Queen Hara Humamay, and 800 subjects.
Magellan gave the queen a royally-attired statue of the Holy Child, “Santo Nino,” whose image, reproduced countless times, remains a focus of Filipino devotion to this day.
The faith spread through the archipelago for the next 300 years through a knotty mix of Spanish colonization and evangelization.
When the collapse of Spain’s power in 1896 put the Philippines’ Catholicism in jeopardy, Father Abaya said, the faith was preserved by missionaries from the United States and Europe who had no political agendas.
The faith flourished in the 20th century, the homilist said, with thousands of priests, religious brothers and sisters, hundreds of bishops and archbishops, eight cardinals, thousands of lay missionaries and organizations, topped off by the canonizations of St. Lorenzo Ruiz of Manila and St. Pedro Calungsod of Cebu.
With 80% of its people Catholic, it is the country with the third-highest number of Catholics in the world, after Mexico and Brazil.
Gifted church to giving church
As the Philippine church matured, Father Abaya said, it was transformed from a “gifted or receiving church” to a “giving or sending church.”
Hawaii received its first missionary priest from the Philippines in 1917 when Father Ignacio Cordero from Nueva Segovia came to minister to the spiritual needs of thousands of migrant Filipino plantation workers who were mostly Ilocanos, from the country’s northern Ilocos region.
Later, in 1949, Msgr. Osmundo Calip, also from Nueva Segovia, was sent to Hawaii to do mission work. Among his accomplishments was the creation of the Filipino Catholic Clubs, which remain a cultural force providing for the spiritual, social and educational needs of Filipinos throughout the state until the present.
In the late 1980s, the Diocese of Honolulu created a Filipino ministry under the Office for Ethnic Ministries headed by Maryknoll Sister Grace Dorothy Lim, who was from Tagudin, Ilocos Sur, Father Abaya said.
Observing social distancing, priests fill the pews at the Mass March 16 in the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace commemorating the 500th anniversary of the coming of Christianity to the Philippines. (Photo courtesy of Dann Ebina)
Priests from the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia came to Hawaii to travel among parishes “giving retreats, catechesis, prayer services and celebrating the sacraments” for Filipino immigrants.
Their success led to full parish assignments for these “itinerant missionaries” as administrators and parochial vicars, ministering to all Catholics, not just Filipinos.
Today, more than half of the active priests serving in the diocese are from the Philippines. About 10 are incardinated, joining the diocese permanently. Twenty others come from eight dioceses in the Philippines. Another 18-or-so religious order priests of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament and the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette run 10 Hawaii parishes.
About 25 sisters in Hawaii are Philippine missionaries, most belonging to the Dominican Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary. Nearly every U.S.-based religious community of sisters in Hawaii has Hawaii-born Filipinos or Philippine-born members.
“This presence of the Filipino clergy and religious in the Diocese of Hawaii is a welcome development pastorally and theologically,” Father Abaya said. “Pastorally, for the obvious and practical reason of necessity; theologically, because the church is missionary by nature and essence.”
As the seed of faith, sown in 1521, he said, “has taken root to grow, to bloom, to flower and to bear fruit over 500 years through God’s goodness and grace. It is understandable that the church in the Philippines feels happy that she has carried out our Lord Jesus Christ’s missionary mandate to help in building up God’s Kingdom in the world with as much fidelity as she could muster.”
But Father Abaya’s conclusion was not to revel in a glorious past, but to work toward a future “fulfilled in God’s own time and space.”
“What more is there for the church of the Philippines to do going forward in 2021 and beyond?” he asked. “A lot, my dear friends; quite a lot, indeed; for the simple reason that the Kingdom of God on earth has yet to reach its fullness.”
“May the good Lord Jesus Christ who began the work of building up God’s Kingdom on earth, continue it through us and bring it to fulfillment for us,” Father Pascual said.
Bishop Silva ended the Mass by blessing two trays of small copper-colored crosses from the Philippines which were handed out to those present. “May these crosses remind us that we all have the mission to preach the good news of Jesus,” he said.
