QUEZON CITY, Philippines (UCAN) -- Indigenous Filipinos and missioners who celebrated the upcoming canonization of the founder and another priest of the Divine Word congregation say the experience enriched their lives and work.

Music from bamboo and brass instruments, and indigenous people's shouts marked a July 22-24 celebration in honor of Blessed Arnold Janssen, founder of the Society of the Divine Word, and Blessed Joseph Freinademetz, a Divine Word missioner. Both are set to be canonized Oct. 5 in Rome.

Members of the Aeta, Ifugao, Mangyan and Tinguian tribes gathered with missioners at the De Meester Residence in Quezon City, northeast of Manila, to reflect on the gifts of the beatified priests.

Blessed Janssen also established the Sisters, Servants of the Holy Spirit and the contemplative Sisters, Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration. The three congregations, dedicated to proclaiming the Gospel and to praying for missions, all have communities in the Philippines.

The program for the July assembly said the work of Blessed Janssen and of Blessed Freinademetz, who pioneered the Divine Word mission in China in the late 19th century, paved the way for the Church's work of promoting dialogue and building communion among peoples of different cultures and religions.

Ana Maria Galicia, a 34-year-old Mangyan who joined the assembly, told UCA News she felt strengthened after meeting people from other indigenous groups and realizing they all face similar problems. "All of us have the common problem regarding ancestral domain," said the program coordinator of Mangyan Mission in Oriental Mindoro. The province is served by the Apostolic Vicariate of Calapan, based 135 kilometers south of Manila.

The Church has helped in raising our consciousness," Galicia said, adding that Bishop Warlito Cajandig of Calapan "listens to our problems." She said the assembly made her feel that when the need arises, other indigenous people "will be there."

The Philippine Constitution, the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act and other laws uphold indigenous Filipinos' right to self-determination and self-identity and respect traditions of communal stewardship for natural resources.

However, the delineation of territories recognized by the government as ancestral domain has become confused and territories overlap because of new regulations, said Justino Belino Jr., a Tinguian member of the municipal council in Tubo, Abra province, 325 kilometers north of Manila.

Belino cited mining operations and the construction of dams among development activities that impinge on what his people consider their ancestral territories in the northern Philippine mountains.

Divine Word Father Cirilo Ortega, a Tinguian, gave a talk on "The National Situation, Globalization and its Effects on Philippine Indigenous Communities." In it, he told the assembly that a new political and economic order is destroying indigenous communities.

Aside from dams and mining, he cited commercial and illegal logging, large-scale tourism programs and preference for cash crops among activities that destroy indigenous communities and their way of life.

Indigenous people, Father Ortega stressed, have a special relation with nature and their land. Their "constant cycle of dialogues and encounters with nature," manifested in songs and dances imitating animals and other living things, are a way of communing with the supernatural, he said.

The indigenous people and missioners joined in a bonfire at night, liturgical celebrations and a Mass on the last day.

Many of the Aeta who came belong to the Methodist Church but joined in the Mass and sang during Communion.

Participants shared their reflections after the Gospel reading. One Tinguian likened his people's experience to that of a seed about to be eaten by a big bird. "We have to struggle to grow to become big trees," he said.

An Ifugao woman said, "We must trust and offer our problems to God."

An Aeta leader noted, "Before we did not know how to come together and discuss these things."

Ligaya Lintawagin, a Mangyan, shared that she "gained knowledge" during the assembly and would "go home to share with the rest of our people."

"We appreciate the Catholic efforts to gather different indigenous groups," said Bayani Sumawang, president of the Aeta organization Labayku from Tarlac province, 105 kilometers northwest of Manila. He added that he was "so happy to know that there are priests who are (indigenous people)."

Holy Spirit Sister Victricia Pascasio, an organizer, said the activity allowed various indigenous communities served by the Divine Word and Holy Spirit missioners to "establish linkages and strengthen solidarity."

She said it also helped the missioners "deepen their understanding of the life and cultures of indigenous peoples."

Blessed Janssen (1837-1909), who was ordained a priest for the diocese of Muenster, Germany, founded the Society of the Divine Word in 1875. Blessed Freinademetz (1852-1908) came from the Tyrolean Alps in central Europe. He helped develop the Church in eastern China almost from scratch. Both were beatified by Pope Paul VI in 1975.

Today there are more than 6,000 Divine Word missioners in 65 countries. The Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters number more than 3,800 and the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters have cloistered communities in 10 countries.

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