MANILA (UCAN) -- Bishop Leopoldo Jaucian of Bangued hopes the apostolate he was recently assigned to lead can help local ethnic Chinese better fit into Philippine society.

In an interview with UCA News at Manila's Shrine of Saint Jude on Aug. 7, the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) bishop also expressed hope that after six decades of pastoral care and ministry to Chinese immigrants and their descendants, the apostolate will intensify efforts to respond to missionary demands of the Church in China.

Divine Word Bishop Leopoldo Jaucian of Bangued

Bishop Jaucian cited a request Pope Benedict XVI made to Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales of Manila as he conferred the Manila prelate's red hat in March 2006. The pope urged the Philippine Church to help address the need of mainland China clergy for theological updating and asked the cardinal to help provide education for Chinese seminarians.

On July 23, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) named Bishop Jaucian, 48, national coordinator of the Chinese-Filipino Apostolate in the Philippines. Weeks later, the bishop appointed Monsignor Esteban Lo, rector of Lorenzo Mission Institute Chinese seminary, to be the assistant national coordinator, and SVD Father Roland Aquino to be the apostolate's national secretary.

In the UCA News interview, Bishop Jaucian discusses the growth of the apostolate network and partners. He cites Teresita Ang-See and Kaisa Para Sa Kaunlaran (KAISA, unity for progress), an NGO she founded to promote the integration of ethnic Chinese into mainstream Philippine society.

Besides leading movements against kidnapping, drug abuse, gambling and other crimes involving or victimizing ethnic Chinese, Ang-See also serves as editorial consultant of Tulay (bridge), a fortnightly Chinese-Filipino digest.

KAISA's website says at least 1.2 million of the country's 76 million people are native-born ethnic Chinese and about half of them live in the Manila area.

During his seminary days, Bishop Jaucian studied theology and Mandarin at Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan. After he was ordained in the Philippines in 1988, he went to work in Taiwan. His mission there included parish work in Chiayi city and teaching at Fu Jen High School.

After returning to Manila in 1994, he became pastor of St. Jude's Parish. He was superior of the Divine Word Central Philippine province 1995-2000 and was reelected to the same post in 2005. For 10 years since 1995, he visited mainland China regularly. The pope appointed him Bishop of Bangued on Jan. 5, 2007.

The UCA News interview with Bishop Jaucian follows.

UCA NEWS: What is the Chinese-Filipino Apostolate?

BISHOP LEOPOLDO JAUCIAN: It is a "department" of the CBCP that coordinates ministries and other organized efforts at some Christian witness among Chinese-Filipinos. As officer in charge, I attend CBCP Permanent Council meetings. The Chinese-Filipino Apostolate staff also meet regularly, more especially now, since Father Roland Aquino and I are new to our jobs.

What are your hopes as you start as coordinator?

Filipino-Chinese have been trying to act as a tulay, bridge, between the two cultures. My dream is to move on to a new image. By now the "inculturation" of the two should be completed. My dream then for the Chinese-Filipino Apostolate is that we will be more than a tulay, but rather be seen as a bahay (home) with many rooms. We no longer need to bridge two distinct cultures, but rather we need to strive to make both cultures feel comfortable with each other. That image is the more "Christian" in that people feel comfortable with each other regardless of race and culture. Hopefully, this could help end social problems Chinese-Filipinos face, such as kidnapping of wealthy members.

What is your involvement in such issues?

In the past, we have not been active as an apostolate in things that affect the Chinese community at large, but we have tried always to stay aware of problems facing our people. We have discussed our vision of the Church's ministry and apostolate among ethnic Chinese and tried to implement it in collaboration with KAISA and people like Teresita Ang-See.

We hope to be more visible in protecting Chinese families. Officially, kidnappings are down but we know of cases that are not reported to the media or police. We are not usually contacted about these kidnappings, but we hope to become more involved because they are the concerns of the people in our apostolate. Some of our priests, especially in Binondo, have been active in trying to stop the opening of casinos there. For Chinese-Filipinos, poverty is not a real problem. Most are successful in business and would be in business or solid professions. Some Chinese benevolent societies also help families in need of financial and material support.

Who are the apostolate members and what are their concerns?

Many Chinese priests and foreign missionaries thrown out of China after the Communist takeover in the late 1940s came here and started to work and form "Chinese" parishes and apostolates to other Chinese immigrants in those times. The late Spanish Dominican Bishop Juan Bautista Velasco Diaz (resigned Bishop of Hsiamen-Amoy, based in Xiamen, China) was the first head of the apostolate. Saint Peter's in Paco and Saint Jude parish near Malacañang (Philippine president's official residence) were the first Chinese-Filipino parishes in Manila founded by priests from China.

Foreign mission groups brought with them many seminarians who helped run schools and parishes. The Dominicans opened a place in Binondo, Manila's Chinatown. The Jesuits established Xavier School in Greenhills, San Juan (east of Manila), and many later went to the provinces to open schools and parishes for Chinese families that have spread there.

Due to the work of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, many schools and parishes were opened as the communities grew. You can say the building of Chinese communities through schools and new parishes more or less exclusively for Chinese gave impetus to the Filipino-Chinese Apostolate.

However, even before the apostolate was officially established in the 1950s, Chinese and Filipinos had long been trading partners and there was a strong Chinese presence in the country.

As the original Chinese priests grew older, they started turning over the apostolate and parishes to us younger priests who were trained in China or the Chinese language.

There are more than 50 parishes around the country in our apostolate, usually found where there is a large number of ethnic Chinese. While it is difficult to give an exact number of the population served by the apostolate, it surely is more than 1 million.

In Mindanao, we have parishes in Davao, Zamboanga and Cotabato, and I am told the Chinese community in Cagayan de Oro is highly organized and very active. Still, the majority of our population remains in and around Manila.

What are your priority concerns?

Our pastoral concerns are the same in Chinese parishes as in other parishes: education, evangelization, formation. Our parishes are not autonomous from dioceses where they are located. We follow whatever is the pastoral or diocesan plan of the bishop. The apostolate always coordinates with the pastors and bishops. Out of courtesy, we ask our priests to inform when we plan a visit in their area. The Chinese-Filipino Apostolate was autonomous, but is now integrated with dioceses. Saint Jude's is a personal parish for Chinese, but is a parish of the archdiocese of Manila and an archdiocesan shrine. We have applied to the CBCP to be made a national shrine. We hope it will happen soon.

Most people served by our apostolate come from a Buddhist background. The Catholic faith and practice of religion has some mixture of Buddhist practices. We try to find a way to make this work. We have been patient in our understanding of how these two religions can mix and not show impatience with their practices.

St. Jude's Parish situated next to Malacanang Presidential Palace in Manila was established in the 1950’s as a Chinese parish and was founded by a Chinese priest who was forced out of communist China.

For example, some Chinese arriving in the country in recent years come to us because they would like to have their weddings in Mandarin and the homily in Mandarin. So we prepare them for their weddings and other sacraments because of our experience in the language and customs.

We work with the Manila Chinese Parish Laity Association of the Chinese-Filipino Apostolate. It is a strong group in Manila founded by Chinese priests in the archdiocese. In addition, we now have the Lorenzo Ruiz Mission Institute (LRMI), among other things that have been evolving and growing.

Is China a concern of the apostolate?

Well, reflecting on our mandate, I see our goals as ad intra and ad extra. In line with the first, the Chinese-Filipino Apostolate must maintain and sustain our original apostolate of schools, parishes and other ministries to our Chinese-Filipino faithful while looking into new programs.

In connection with the second goal, we must address the needs of the Church in China. We now have more than 300 Chinese priests and sisters studying in institutions in Manila alone. We must see how we can be of service to the Chinese Church, as Pope Benedict requested Cardinal Rosales.

During our board meeting in July, we decided that this is a program we need to strengthen. We need more contact than we now have. Mainland Chinese priests come to us for fiestas and join our Masses. They ask to come to their Masses and for venues where they can come together for monthly meetings. We help them with days of recollection and, when possible, we try to help out with money or scholarships and/or rooms to stay in to cut down on expenses.

We make no distinction between underground Church and the above ground. We never ask for anything except a letter from their bishop saying who they are and certifying they are ordained. There is no problem for us as long as they are clergy. Then we are ready to help as much as we can when they are in need.

What are the prospects of sending Filipino-Chinese priests to China?

It is a positive approach the Philippine Church is serious about. The Chinese-Filipino Apostolate sees this as more the work of large missionary societies that send seminarians to Taiwan, Hong Kong and China every year to study and work. The archdiocese of Manila created LRMI to work with Chinese here, and envisions its members will eventually work with the Chinese outside the country as well. They are sending their seminarians to learn Mandarin in Taiwan and some work inside China. Neither the Chinese-Filipino Apostolate nor CBCP has direct relations with the Church in China. This is a big challenge but there are signs of real hope now. The Chinese government is probably less afraid of the Philippines as a source of missioners. In Hong Kong, the Vatican has its representative for liaison with the Chinese government, so in all we do we have to coordinate through him.

How are vocations among Chinese-Filipino Apostolate members?

We will try to work harder in this area. Most traditional Chinese families still follow the pattern of not encouraging religious Chinese-Filipino vocations. The tradition is not just about financial concerns or taking over family businesses. It is about a male's responsibility to continue the family lineage. That is more of a traditional concern for Chinese families here than the economic aspect. Chinese-Filipino Apostolate vocations are a main concern of our apostolate. LRMI is meant to encourage more Chinese Filipinos to enter the priesthood. We continue to make this a priority. Filipino Chinese are also entering Religious orders, such as the Jesuits and our own SVD.

What does the experience of the apostolate teach the Church?

The Church has found Chinese-Filipinos have a lot to offer. The Chinese here have very good work ethics. They work hard and long to succeed, but struggle to make it here. Today, I can compare the experience to the Koreans coming into the country. The Church is aware of their increasing presence and is trying to help them assimilate. It is important that priests who work with the new waves of immigration and even the more established Chinese communities have some knowledge and appreciation of what these cultures are and have to offer.

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