Minutes after Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle spoke to the Elmhurst Hospital Center administration and staff, Liberty Abelido presented him with a boxed pastry — simultaneously upholding the Filipino tradition of offering food to someone when they arrive, and showing appreciation for the visit.
The Feast of Santo Niño calls for a traditional Filipino trifecta of faith, food, and family. For members of the diocesan Filipino ministry in Fresh Meadows, the June 26 celebration didn’t fall short of meeting those expectations.
The joy of the Gospel has been an integral part of the Filipino identity since the arrival of Christianity in the Southeast Asian country five centuries ago, Pope Francis said.
As American Catholics continue to wrangle over the morality of COVID-19 vaccines using stem cell lines remotely derived from aborted fetuses, one Filipino Dominican priest, who’s both a moral theologian and an MIT-trained molecular biologist, is pleading with them to consider the potentially dangerous global consequences of their rhetoric.
Various ministries across the Diocese of Brooklyn adapted to new norms amidst coronavirus safety protocols, including limiting church capacity, wearing masks, and socially distanced seated in the pews. For Filipinos celebrating “Simbang Gabi,” or “Mass at Night” at the Queens Village church, the adjustment meant a scaled-down version of its traditional celebration.
Ascension in Elmhurst is one of a handful of churches in the Brooklyn Diocese that honor the annual Philippine Sinulog tradition, celebrated worldwide every year on the third Sunday of January.
For Filipinos, the heart of the Christmas season is “Simbang Gabi,” or “Mass at Night ” — a nine-day novena of dawn or evening Masses that ends on Dec. 24.
At the dedication Mass, readings were done in Tagalog, Spanish, English and Mandarin. The church has parishioners from almost 50 countries, according to pastor Father John Vesey, and has seven Masses every Sunday. Some services were cancelled on Sept. 22 to encourage parishioners to attend the dedication Mass.
In Bayside, Filipinos held the 15th Diocesan Feast Day Celebration of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, known to Filipinos as the “Birghen ng Antipolo” (Our Lady of Antipolo), at St. Robert Bellarmine Church on May 18.
