500th Filipino anniversary

ROCKAWAY  On Easter, the Catholic Church in the Philippines will inaugurate a yearlong celebration to mark 500 years of Christianity in the country. The theme of the jubilee celebration is “Gifted to Give.”

For Filipinos in the Paterson Diocese, this celebration has brought joy and excitement as several events are planned to coincide with the jubilee year.

On Easter, Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish here will be the site of the official kick-off of the celebration with a Filipino Mass at 1 p.m. It then will occur every first Sunday of the month. For the months of May and June, the Masses will be held at noon. Filipino priests serving in the Diocese will be the celebrants of the Masses. In total, eight priests in the Diocese were born in the Philippines. Of those eight, three were part of the newest priesthood class who were ordained by Bishop Kevin Sweeney at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson on Aug. 1.

Father Kerwin Gaza, parochial vicar at St. Rose of Lima Parish in East Hanover, will be the main celebrant of the Mass in June. Ordained in 2019 by Bishop Emeritus Serratelli, Father Gaza said, “By nature, the Church itself is a pilgrimage Church that is always traveling to reach the faithful worldwide. Filipinos have settled all over the world and have brought their Catholic identity with them. To celebrate 500 years of Christianity is an amazing gift for the country.”

According to jubilee organizers, “Catholicism came to the Philippines with the European discovery of the archipelago. The explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, set foot on the islands in 1521 and planted a cross on the island of Cebu, cradle of Christianity in the Philippines. There, he spearheaded the conversion of Rajah Humabon and his consort, Harah Amihan, who took the baptismal names Carlos and Juana (after the Spanish king and queen mother). This happened within weeks of the offering of the first Mass in the islands by Father Pedro de Valderrama, chaplain of the voyage, on March 31, 1521.

Elmer Maximo Lopez, a parishioner of Sacred Heart and president of Diocesan Commission for Catholic Filipino Ministries (DCCFM), has been part of a team organizing the events to mark the jubilee. “Since I moved to the U.S. more than 20 years ago, I have been part of Sacred Heart Parish and I’m honored for being part of this supportive parish that has welcomed me and allowed me to serve the community,” he said. “It is a truly multilingual parish where you can participate in Mass in English, Latin, Polish, and now in Filipino (Tagalog). I am so grateful for our pastor, Father Pawel Bala, for supporting my proposal to have Filipino Mass celebrated in our church. It is an indication of warm acceptance of diversity in our parish. The Filipino Mass every first Sunday of the month will also be a great opportunity to meet and greet ‘Pinoy’ priests from our Diocese.”

In addition to the monthly Masses at Sacred Heart Church, Filipino Catholic communities in the Diocese and the Archdiocese of Newark have organized a 12-month pilgrimage to occur at churches where there is a significant population of Filipinos. The pilgrimage will feature the Jubilee Cross and images of Santo Nino de Cebu (The Child Jesus of Cebu) and Our Lady of Manaoag, which will travel from parish to parish and stay for a month. The Jubilee Cross is a replica of the cross that Magellan planted on the island of Cebu for that first Mass. The two churches in the Paterson Diocese designated as pilgrimage sites are Sacred Heart here from Aug. 1 to Sept. 4 and St. Anthony of Padua in Passaic, from Feb. 6 to March 5, 2022.

In the Diocese, the annual feast day of St. Lorenzo Ruiz and St. Pedro Calungsod, two Filipino martyrs, is marked in September with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Kevin Sweeney in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. The DCCFM also organizes a diocesan-wide Simbang Gabi celebration, which is an Advent novena with the celebration of Masses at more than a dozen parishes in the weeks before Christmas, in which the Bishop also takes part.

At a Mass March 14, Pope Francis marked the 500th anniversary at the Vatican, commemorating the arrival of the Gospel of Jesus in the Philippines. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the former archbishop of Manila and now prefect of the Congre­gation for the Evangelization of Peoples, concelebrated the Mass. Pope Francis said “You received the joy of the Gospel — the good news that God so loved us that he gave his Son for us. And this joy is evident in your people.”

Father Gaza invites all to the Masses that will be celebrated in Tagalog, with some parts in English. “While it is a blessing to celebrate Mass in your native language, we always accept everyone from all backgrounds,” he told The Beacon. “There is this Filipino joke that when the Holy Spirit came to the disciples on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit spent too much time over those who will be serving in the Philippines because there are so many different dialects in the country. Filipinos are excited to share their faith with everyone and the 500th anniversary is a huge celebration for us.”