Deerfield, Meet The Philippines

A couple of months ago there was a guest priest at the Holy Cross Parish - the church where we go to mass every Sunday here in Deerfield, IL. During the homily, he introduced himself as a priest from Southeast Asia, in a country called The Islands of The Philippines, living in a place called Zamboanga. He is an American but has been living in The Philippines for 10 years.

Here's what he said about The Philippines:

"A lovely tropical country with beautiful beaches and wonderful fruits."

And then he said:

"There are a lot of poor children sleeping on the streets with rats..."

"A fellow priest was kidnapped and beheaded..."

"...then they took off his toenails one by one"

I could not remember anymore the other shocking things he mentioned about our country. I do remember telling myself that after hearing that, no one in Deerfield would want to visit the Philippines.

He could have mentioned Makati, Boracay, Cebu. However, the priest was here for a mission - to raise funds for his poor, war-stricken parish in Zamboanga City. I guess he used those horrifying details to encourage parishioners of Holy Cross to be generous in their donations. Or perhaps he was simply stating reality in behalf of his parishioners.

Most of us Filipinos have a different reality. A more comfortable one. We are part of that percentage of the population who are way above poverty level. Whose horrifying tales are those of traffic jams in EDSA, the heat in the city or lost cellphones when we can very much afford to buy a new one. But I will not deny that even we are not immune to kidnapping or murder (God forbid).

I'm not writing this to start a movement or to ask what we can do about poverty in our country. I just remembered the priest when I went to mass this morning. It just made me think and reflect and acknowledge reality.