This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VI, No. 10, April 9-15, 2006
Migrant Watch
Filipino Priests Flock to U.S.
As the U.S. Catholic Church
opens its doors to Filipino priests, this situation causes a “brain drain” of
sorts in the Philippines. Priests and seminarians go to the U.S., attracted by a
package of relocation, scholarships and other perks.
BY NICANOR SEGOVIA ANAHEIM, California – Some
20,000 Catholic parishioners had their eyes focused on the liturgy of prayer,
music and dance that capped the four-day yearly religious education congress at
the Arena, main annex of the huge Convention Center here just right beside the
Disneyland. For two hours, in the afternoon of April 2, the faithful – among
them Filipinos – responded to what appeared to be a well-scripted liturgy,
listening to the homily of Cardinal Roger Mahony with his image caught by two
giant video screens. The cardinal, who also spoke in Spanish, has recently got
the flak from conservatives and rightists for supporting immigrant rights.
Assisting the cardinal were
about 15 bishops from California who also led the rites welcoming about 50
members of the “Elect” (new Catholic converts), some of them Latinos and a few
Asians and Arabs. As the mass participants raised their hands toward them, the
converts were received with a solemn prayer asking God to forgive them for their
sins. Just the same, the pomp and pageantry and the scintillating orchestral
music somewhat drowned out the religiosity of the whole liturgy. What struck any
parishioner, however, is the prayer incantation by an ensemble of performers in
Italian, Spanish, English, Vietnamese, Chinese – and Pilipino. Among the bishops
was Oscar Solis, appointed by the Vatican in late 2003 as the first
Filipino-American bishop of the U.S. Catholic Church. The archdiocese of Los
Angeles, which he heads, sponsored the religious education congress. With five
million members, the archdiocese is the second largest in the U.S. The presence
of Solis, who hails from Nueva Ecija, inside the modern, circular Arena and that
of the big Filipino flock dramatized the increasing role of the Filipino
ministry in the U.S. Catholic Church. Sex scandals The U.S. Catholic Church
continues to be wracked by sexual molestation charges thrown against many
priests, causing its credibility particularly in the east coast to slip to its
lowest. As a result, a significant number of Catholics have left the church.
Meantime, while the number
of cases in child sex abuse went down to 783 in 2005, dioceses, eparchies and
religious communities paid out $465 million to settle the charges, $309 million
more than in 2004 when there were 1,092 cases. Since 1950, the U.S. church – the
richest in the world – has paid more than $1.3 billion on clergy sex
abuse-related cases, mostly in settlement to victims, including Filipinos. Allegations of child abuse,
which have dragged even a cardinal in Chicago for his alleged complacency,
aggravated the shortage of parish priests in the Catholic Church. In the first
half of 2002 alone, about 300 of the 46,000 U.S. priests were relieved of their
mission over abuse allegations. On the other hand, many long-time American
priests are retiring and recruitment of younger ones is slow. So critical has
the scarcity of priests become that in many dioceses some pastors serve two or
more parishes. More and more diocese offices are now occupied by lay persons. The strong position taken
by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) against the House immigration
bill that criminalizes some 13 million “undocumented immigrants” may yet repair
the credibility damage suffered by the church. Whether this will heal the wound
and eventually attract recruits to the clergy, however, is yet to be seen. From Asia and Pacific For these reasons, the U.S.
Catholic hierarchy appears to be counting on the hiring of priests from Asian
and Pacific countries – or nationals with the same regional heritage who are
born in the United States - so that their church can continue to perform its
role and even survive. Among priests originating
from Asia and the Pacific islands, Filipinos account for the biggest group,
followed by Vietnamese, Indians, Chinese and Koreans. About 40 Filipino priests
serve in one diocese alone in California where there are more than one million
Filipino-Americans, at least 85 percent of them Catholics. Ten years ago, there
were about 300 Filipino priests, brothers and deacons and 200 nuns in the United
States. At present, there should be at least 500 Filipino priests, a Filipino
pastor said. Likewise, in any given
year, several hundreds more come to the U.S. as “visiting priests.” They are
joined by many Filipino missionaries who leave their congregations in Africa,
Latin America and other regions and come to the U.S. to be incarnated for a new
mission. Many Filipino priests have
been appointed pastors, while Filipino laypersons have been chosen Catholic
school principals or assigned to diocesan chanceries. Many of them lead Filipino
ministries where large numbers of their compatriots are found such as in
California, Hawaii, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Washington, Virginia, Texas,
Florida, Ohio and Maryland. A big percentage of the priests eventually become
U.S. citizens. The U.S. church readily
takes in Asian and Pacific priests for yet another reason. Supposedly, they
embody the values that Catholicism or the church organization claims to
represent today, among them protecting the family, youth education, campaign
against human or sex trafficking and giving sanctuary to immigrants and the
homeless. “Brain drain” As the U.S. Catholic Church
opens its doors to Filipino priests, this situation causes a “brain drain” of
sorts in the Philippines. Aside from priests, Filipino seminarians are also
enticed to come with U.S. churches promising to work on their immigration papers
and air fare as well as scholarships in American universities where they can
finish their theology courses. But the whole package also includes other perks -
housing, allowances and a car, to name a few. Some U.S. Catholic churches send
representatives to the Philippines for direct recruitment. One of the “push” factors,
according to a Bulatlat source, is that the Catholic Church in the
Philippines has no retirement plan for old priests. Without any savings at all
after dutifully ministering to their flock for decades, retiring priests are
embraced back by their relatives until they die. Recently though, in light
of the 9/11 incident, some restrictions to priests coming to the U.S. have been
put in place. The new rules include an official invitation by a U.S. bishop,
among others. Priests and seminarians
from the Philippines – as well as from Vietnam (those who are largely born to
Vietnamese expatriates in the U.S.), Taiwan and South Korea – tend to address
the shortage of parish priests here. But this exodus leaves a shortfall of
Catholic priests in these countries as well. For instance, the Catholic Bishops
Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) estimates that there is a shortage of
25,000 priests. Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
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