Exclusionary and unwelcoming

Recently, I had a very interesting discussion with one of my closest friends who is very active within the Filipino community in the New York area. She has been in the States for a long time now and has organized and led a few Filipino organizations. She also has her own advocacy of advancing the plight of Filipino workers and helping them fight for their rights to fair pay and equal treatment.

Our conversation meandered into a common observation of why are there so many Filipino groups even just in a small geographical area. In fact, from where I live, there seems to be about close to 10 Filipino or Fil-Am groups in an area with probably less than a thousand families. I was interested to know from her why this is happening since she has also experienced it first-hand being a community organizer. After an open and frank discussion, what kept on coming back as one of the main reasons for this seemingly disunited situation is that when there are clashes within an organization such as a disagreement by an among leaders and members on how the group is supposed to be managed, or programs and projects that are to be implemented or even just a simple fundraising event, rather than finding common solutions to the problem at hand, people just simply leave the group and start their own organization.

I know this happened a number of times and it is just disheartening to see that people's bruised egos prevailed instead of showing communal unity. Regionalistic mentality is also one reason that there are so many Filipino organizations based on where they were originally in the Philippines. It is understandable though that one wants to mingle with people they are comfortable with if they come from the same region or speak the same dialect, but what is troubling is that there is a tendency for this mentality that we become exclusionary and unwelcoming to other Filipinos for the simple reason that they are not geographically related to us.

Those were just our observations which we hope is not happening in other Filipino communities in the US. In times when we need to have a united front in order to stand up against racism and hatred, we should not have to create divisions within our own Filipino communities.

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In what is God's latest marvelous handiwork, he gave the world a new spiritual leader in the new supreme pontiff, Pope Leo XIV. Formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost from the Order of St. Augustine may be the pope we need at this particular moment of the life of the Church and the world. At 69 years old, he has the physical stamina to withstand the demands of a worldwide ministry. As the former prior of the Augustinian Order, he has the deftness of an able administrator of a vast religious organization. More importantly, as a long time missionary and pastor, he has the "smell of the sheep", as the late Pope Francis would put it, one who understands the plight of the poor, the marginalized and the neglected. His first words as pope are very encouraging as he talked about peace, building bridges, charity, and love.