The Church in the US - How BLD Can Serve
During BLD Newark’s disciples’ assembly last November, two separate agenda items converged to form a story that is relevant to our topic this morning. It involves two faith communities whose lives are intertwined but whose outlooks are starkly different. The first is the parish of St. Mary’s in Rahway, NJ. The second is BLD Newark itself. Both are part of the Archdiocese of Newark. St. Mary’s is BLD Newark’s spiritual home, the venue for our weekly worship, teachings, and many other community activities.
St. Mary’s situation is that of a community struggling to survive. St. Mary’s parishioners have steadily declined in number and have become predominantly seniors. The parish could not make ends meet. It was $700,000 in debt. St. Mary’s has to submit a turn-around plan to the Archdiocese by May this year. Plan disapproval could mean merger with a nearby parish or closure. St. Mary’s pastor requested BLD Newark to help him and his parish council plan and implement their parish turn-around.
BLD Newark’s situation is that of a community blessed with vibrant growth. This much was clear in the Treasury Ministry’s report of the district’s financials for the past year. But the real message is not in the numbers, but in the good news of a membership endowed with a spirit of giving. A close reading of the report reinforced what many have known all along- that God has built the district into a large plant with large branches (Mk 4:32). God has made it strong enough to meet its own needs and to help others.
The story’s ending is still unfolding, but at that assembly, I saw a reason to be confident and a reason to be challenged. The reason for confidence is our leaders’ response to St. Mary’s appeal. They formed a team to work with St. Mary’s pastor and parish council, to determine how BLD can help. The challenge is in the change in our thinking and priorities that must occur so that we can truly serve the Church. After hearing of St. Mary’s life crisis and BLD’s blessings, there ensured a spirited discussion on an issue that pre-occupied some minds: should we or should we not give our sharers stipends?
Today’s Catholic Church in the US finds itself with great challenges and opportunities. These are our challenges and opportunities as well. The Church
must bring the guidance of the Gospel to a nation that has been so richly blessed, yet increasingly unrecognizing of the source of its blessings. America’s blessings are unrivaled: a vibrant freedom, stable democratic traditions, rich natural resources, first-world economic and technological capabilities, global political and economic influence, excellent education institutions, a diverse, hard-working people.
Paradoxically, there are determined forces waging a relentless effort to secularize American life. As a result, there is a polarization of American society. In the moral realm, it is between those who defend and those who attack the moral base of the American culture. It is between those who are determined to keep America’s faith traditions and those determined to remove God and anything symbolizing Him from public places and public life. It is between those who believe that faith is central to our lives, and those who argue that God and religion are irrelevant.
This is the American mission field into which the Lord planted and is growing BLD. BLD in North America began with BLD Toronto 17 years ago, formed by immigrant disciples from Manila and Hong Kong. BLD Toronto’s offspring, BLD Newark- is the first US district, born roughly two years after BLD Toronto. The Lord revealed His purpose for BLD in North America during a discernment by the two districts’ Tricords and Body of Coordinators in Bath, New York on October 15-16, 1995. We were aided by our head servant leader Sonny de los Reyes. From that weekend of praise & worship and waiting on the Lord emerged BLD’s vision/mission for the continent.
The vision statement is the same as the Global Community’s Vision, except for the addition of the following paragraph: “Through our covenant relationship with the Lord Jesus, we commit as disciples to be a countersign to all that is at war with the teachings of our Lord, and to emerge victorious in living and sharing the values of our Christian faith”. At that early stage of BLD’s life in North America, when our attention was focused on community-building, the Lord directed our attention to the “good fight” (1 Tm 1:18) that we must wage to defend our Christian faith.
We came out with a 6-point mission statement which described how we are to “compete well for the faith” (1 Tm 6:12):
1. Liberate the family from the forces that work against life, love and unity
2. Minister to the temporal, emotional and spiritual needs of the elderly, the infirm, the immigrants and the unemployed
3. Raise an army of disciplined prayer warriors through worship, instruction and pastoral care
4. Form and equip small communities of faith that will proclaim the kingdom of God in their respective areas 5. Serve the needs of the Roman Catholic dioceses and parishes through our community programs
6. Support the community's breaking the yoke of poverty programs
When we sat down to review the result of our discernment and to set initial goals, I felt intimidated by the immensity of our mission and its connotation of spiritual warfare. However, I found peace and consolation in prayer and in faith in God. As we left Bath, New York that Sunday afternoon, the Lord gave us a clear sign of His covenant blessing. We were greeted with a glorious rainbow that lighted up the sky. It stayed with us for some time as we headed back home to New Jersey.
It is this Vision and Mission that guided the work of building BLD in North America these past twelve and a half years. What has the Lord accomplished during this time? It is not feasible to quantify the full extent of God’s grace, but the following are evident. From 2 districts in 1995, there are now 26 BLD districts in various stages of formation in North America – 5 in Canada and 21 in the US. North America has 3 of BLD’s 9 full-term districts, 5 of its 12 full-fledged districts, 15 of its 26 districts-in-process and 3 of its 6 prayer groups. Overall, BLD in North America represents 50% of all BLD districts and prayer groups.
There is no official count of the number of individuals and families that have gone through BLD encounters and seminars in North America. But here’s a reasoned guess-estimate: about 6,000 individuals and 2,000 families. We believe that a large majority of these people did encounter Christ and have remained faithful to the Lord. These faithful families have produced some vocations- and we are praying there will be a lot more. Fr. Paul referred earlier to Fr. Dave Sison, who is now the pride of Filipino-Americans and Italian-Americans. BLD has 3 sons who are presently in the seminary – 1 in New York, and 2 in Spain. It has 2 daughters who have taken their vows as nuns. It has 8 of its holy married men called by the Lord to become permanent deacons: 3 in Newark, 2 in Metuchen, 1 in Trenton, 1 in Long Island and another in Rochester. In addition, three men are undergoing diaconate formation in Connecticut, Newark and Trenton.
Why has the Lord brought all these about? It is certainly not so that we can boast about how BLD has grown. The purpose is revealed in the direction that the Lord is slowly but surely leading BLD into: full participation in the life and mission of His Church, particularly in its work for the poor.
The signs of this direction are undeniable. There is now a growing awareness among disciples that evangelization is not about the recruitment of new BLD members, primarily Filipinos. Rather, evangelization is about bringing Christ to believers and non-believers alike through our personal faith witnessing and sharing, at all times and in all places, in order to help build the Church. There is now a growing awareness that having a strong BLD communion is not an end of itself, but rather a requisite condition for mission. There is now a growing awareness that mission is not just about building new BLD districts, but about bringing the spirit that Jesus gave us: the spirit of openness to God - to all of God’s people- so as to sum up all things in Christ (Eph 1:10).
Thus, many of our districts and their members have begun to bring their faith and their gifts to serve the Church and the world beyond. In their parishes, they serve as lectors, Eucharistic ministers, catechists, parish council members, RCIA facilitators, pre-Cana sharers, home-bound service volunteers, evangelization coordinators, stewardship coordinators, advocates of the right to life, and members of various other parish ministries and teams. Outside their parishes, they visit the elderly and infirm in nursing homes, hospices and hospitals. They volunteer in homeless shelters, support youth camps and serve in hospices for persons with aids. They bring the Catholic perspective to PTAs, school sports, arts and cultural activities. They form prayer and Word sharing circles at their neighborhoods and workplaces.
As districts, they support parish-based prayer groups, serve in soup kitchens, undertake prison ministries. They serve the needs of their dioceses, bringing their hands and feet to serve in the most menial roles at diocesan events, their personal gifts in creating and maintaining diocesan websites, their ministry experience in serving as coordinators of diocesan young adults and youth councils, and their community’s charism through their service in diocesan evangelization and formation structures and initiatives. They undertake medical missions. They support the ECSL’s global directions, especially in poverty alleviation through Gawad Kalinga.
Yet we have obstacles to surmount, problems to fix- as part of our journey of transformation into a servant community of the Church. We have old outlooks and ways that served us well in the early years of the community, but need rethinking in the light of new community directions. For example, there remains a tendency to remain insular, inwardly-focused, as primarily a private Filipino faith organization. There is a tendency to view covenant discipleship as an endpoint in formation, accomplished through hard work. There is a tendency to misunderstand the nature, structure and inter-relationships of authority in the community, which often contribute to our problems. Yes, we have problems that distract us from doing the work God has entrusted to us. We also have to address the need of our members find balanced spirituality. We have heard from many US brothers and sisters that living up to their BLD commitments is often at the expense of their family and parish. This concern is echoed by children who complained that we took their parents from them, and by parish priests who complained that we took their parishioners away from them. “Is Christ divided?” (1 Cor 1:13). Our life is whole, and can not be compartmentalized into mine, ours and God’s. Our love of self and love of neighbor are not separate loves but diverse, symbiotic expressions of our love of God. To serve the church at home is to serve the greater Church, and vice-versa. We should re-focus and re-prioritize our community activities so that we too can say: to serve in BLD is to serve the family and the Church.
If there is one thing we have learned from serving the Church in the US, it is this: it does not matter that we are a minority in a largely white church. It does not matter that we speak English with a different accent. What matters is that we be authentic witnesses of Christ. To be authentic witnesses does not mean to be perfect. No one is; we are not. To be authentic witnesses means to persevere in Christ in our difficulties and trials, just as we rejoice in Him in our victories and moments of grace. One of the colored comments I received in my work with the Archdiocese of Newark is, “can anything good come out of the Philippines?” After they got to know the heart of BLD through the service of our evangelization and mission brethren as well as singles, the question is now, “can we have BLD’s help in this event?”
But there was also a time when our bishop spoke highly of BLD’s unity and servanthood, and I felt uneasy- aware of the struggles and conflicts in community at that time. Then the bishop remarked, “Of course, I know that you guys have your struggles and conflict too.” Then I realized that the Church does not expect us to be perfect, but to be just authentic witnesses. His remark reminded me why I was drawn to and remained in BLD in the first place - because I saw Christ in its leaders and members- in their moments of strengths and their moments of weaknesses.
Yes, the BLD community was and remains for me a place of encounter with the Lord. In the midst of our disagreements and conflicts, I see Christ encouraging us to refocus on Him, to practice what we learned and since then have been teaching to others: Christian speech, fraternal correction, forgiveness and reconciliation, love in the manner He loved us. I see Christ in every brother and sister struggling to find the wisdom to understand, the patience to endure, the compassion to forgive, the humility to ask for forgiveness. I see His passion in our troubles, hurts and pain. I see His death in our acknowledgment of sin and remorse. I see His resurrection in our forgiveness and reconciliation. I see the power of the Pentecost in a community at peace and reaching out to give Christ to others, especially the poor. No question that BLD is imperfect. But as long as this community realizes its imperfection and its utter need for God, as long as we seek and follow Christ’s will and not our will, as long as we realize that our struggle is not against each other but against all those at war with the teachings of our Lord, then Christ is present in this imperfect community. We will find Christ in one another. Others will find Christ in us. We will have all that is needed to serve: Christ alive in us.
I will not tell you in what specific ways your districts can serve or better serve the Church. You have to consider your gifts and re-prioritize your activities. You have to seek your local bishop’s direction regarding the needs and the culture of his diocese. You have to link up your charisma with your bishop’s charisma. If you are serving a parish, you have to do the same with the local pastor. If you are doing all these, then you are on the right track.
As a final advice, let us learn from the wisdom of Pope John Paul II in his encyclical Redemptoris Missio:
“Within the Church, there are various types of services, functions, ministries, and ways of promoting the Christian life. I call to mind, as a new development occurring in many churches in recent times, the rapid growth of ‘ecclesial movements’ filled with missionary dynamism. When these movements humbly seek to become part of the life of the local churches and are welcomed by bishops and priests within diocesan and parish structures, they represent a true gift of God both for new evangelization and for missionary activity properly so-called. I
therefore recommend that they be spread and that they be used to give fresh energy, especially among young people, to the Christian life and to evangelization, within a pluralistic view of the ways in which Christians can associate and express themselves.”
John Paul II considers ecclesial movements a true gift of God to the Church for evangelization and mission – provided we are equipped with three spiritual dispositions.
The first spiritual disposition is humility. We must avoid the trap that a few large covenant communities in the US fell into in the past: pride in their community’s charisma, their pastoral structure, their programs and methods, their size, their successes. Pride underlies self-absorption, self-interest, self-purpose. Pride prevents one from accepting that God gave us freedom and uniqueness so that we can be willing, vital and complementary parts of the whole that is His body, His Church. Whatever we are, whatever we have, whatever we are able to do- have been freely given us. We have nothing of our own to offer to God and His Church, but what in truth belongs to Him. We may have planted, we may have watered, but it is “only God who causes the growth” (1 Cor 3:9, 7). If we have the humility to accept this, we will trust and rely not on our wisdom and strength, but on God. Then God will increase our faith!
I recall the first time the Lord asked BLD Newark through the CSL to start an outreach in Reno, Nevada. This call came a short time after Newark’s first fruits- ME 1- had just sealed their covenant. We were still few in numbers. We were just in the initial stages of our own community-building. We had no local teachers and sharers. We were dependent on Manila for sharers, teachers and pastors. We had just enough funds to pay for the following week’s worship venue rental, and in debt to Manila by a few thousand dollars. During our initial discernment, I asked what I thought was a practical, logical question: why do we think we can support an outreach 3,000 miles away, given our district’s situation? We could not agree on what to do.
Providentially, the CSL sent a holy man and holy woman our way- Tito Eliong and Tita Leah Sison- to facilitate our discernment. During our waiting on the Lord, the Spirit broke down all our doubts and objections. By “broke down”, I mean literally and figuratively. Our sobs and tears were of the worldly-wise being shamed. The Spirit gave us the decisive word, “Rise, pick up your mat and walk” (Jn 5:8). The Word of God convicted us that our faith was paralyzed by our pride, our self-reliance, our self-absorption. The Word of God warned us not to be immobilized on the mat of our doubts. The Word of God summoned us to arise in the power of the Spirit, to begin a life of walking by faith, not by sight. That discernment led to the start of the BLD Reno outreach. From there, He showed us what He can accomplish through us if only we believe. One year later, when the Lord asked us through the CSL to start the BLD Seattle outreach, BLD Newark’s circumstances were still not materially different from what it was during our Reno discernment. But our spiritual circumstances had changed. The Lord had increased our faith.
The second spiritual disposition is that of belonging - to Christ and to His Church. John Paul II said we must humbly seek to become part of the life of the local churches. In seeking, we will find our true identity. Becoming part of the life of the Church does not mean we are a separate cloth patched to its life fabric. Rather, we, along with all Christian believers, are that thread that is woven by the Lord into the fabric, so that we are integral to the whole. St. Paul says it best in 1 Cor 6:17, “Whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him.” As disciples, we do not merely follow the Lord, but are attached, joined to His person. And if joined to Jesus, we are one spirit, we have one life with Him. “The Spirit is for the common good” 1 Cor 12:7. Because we are one with the Holy Spirit, then we are one with His purpose: for the common good. BLD exists, not for itself, but the Lord. How then can we think of ourselves apart from the Church? We are the Lord’s members, placed by Him in BLD for formation and maturation, to prepare us for fruitful service in the Church’s evangelization and mission work!
To show that this truth is recognized by the local church itself, let me share with you this rather embarrassing story. About 8 years ago, the then Archbishop of Newark, Theodore McCarrick, offered to give us a new venue- the Sacred Heart Church in Vailsburg, with one important mandate: to help revive its dying parish life. We promised to study the offer, then came back with a polite no, giving “not enough parking” as reason. I suspect the good Archbishop was bewildered by our response. But the Archdiocese persisted. Several years later, the new Archbishop made BLD an association of the faithful, and appointed one of its representatives in its Evangelization Commission, which is charged with the task of bringing inactive and new Catholics to the parishes. That group consists of the auxiliary bishop who is the Vicar-General for Evangelization, the heads of various archdiocesan offices and ministries, e.g. Evangelization, Family Life, Young Adults and Youth, Catechetical Office, Stewardship, Divine Office, Hispanic Ministries, and BLD! Doesn’t that drive home the point that the church sees us as sharing in its life and mission?
The third spiritual disposition is submission to the authority of the local bishop on the diocesan level, or the parish priest, on the parish level. The Lord gave the authority to pastor, to tend, to feed, to lead His flock to Peter and the apostles, and to their successors. Our bishops and priests are the shepherds of the flock. They know the needs of the local church. BLD’s Statutes 4.2 acknowledges this ecclesial principle, “As the head of the local Church, the Diocesan Bishop has authority over matters that affect the local Church. As such, the Diocesan Bishop has the final decision on the role of the BLD Covenant Community and the BLD District in the life and mission of the local Church.” We will honor the Lord’s authority through the local bishops if we follow our own Statutes and await their welcome and their directions for service. Through them, the Lord will give us the anointing and authority that we will need for our work.
If we are humble, if we humbly seek to participate in the life of the Church, if we are obedient to Church authority, then we become a true gift of God to His Church - just as the Church is His gift to us. A true gift of God comes from within Him, given freely from His heart of love, for the good of His people. Here, John Paul II gives us a sense of the great blessing that awaits those who share in the work of His Son- the True Gift of God to mankind. We get the sense that as we become God’s co-worker in His vineyard, we are at the same time His field that He is cultivating to produce a great harvest, His building that is being built as a holy dwelling place for God in the Spirit (1 Cor 3:9; Eph 2:22).
Let us pray, “Come, Holy Spirit!” Lead us into full participation in the life and mission of Your Church. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen!
