OFWs' oasis of grace: Faith as culturally Filipino

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Some 7,208 kilometers away from the Philippines, a lone Catholic church in Dubai serves as an “oasis of grace” for Filipinos.  

For some 250,000 Filipino Catholics living near the vicinity of the 48-year-old St. Mary’s Church, the church has been their watering hole - a melting pot of lonely overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) creating a “hopeful community” for them.

This church is, to the handful of Filipino priests, a wellspring of hope for these Filipinos whose love for kin back home sacrifice their desires for regular familial presence.

“This is an oasis, that in the middle of the desert, you can find a source of water," said Fr. Chito Bartolo, OFM Cap., the lone Filipino priest in the Arab city. Ito ang nag-iisang balon ng grasya, kung saan sila ay sumasalok ng grasya [This church is the lone well where these Filipinos get grace].”

Islamic faith and culture bound this small, oil-rich Arab state. There are some limitations set by the United Arab Emirates government on religious expressions. But Filipinos have embraced and “loved deeper” their “challenged faith,” becoming “extraordinary” faithfuls than those in the Philippines, said Bartolo.

About 9 percent of people in the UAE are Christians, including Roman Catholics. Filipinos are the biggest non-Islam foreign population.

And Filipinos, another priest observes, have kept a sense of “tradition” which made them “dynamic and peace-loving people, and always in harmony.”

“They are believers. They have a sense of tradition and they keep that tradition here in U.A.E,” said Fr. Lennie J.A. Conully, OFM Cap., the parish priest of St. Mary’s.

Like in the Philippines when Sunday Masses are celebrated, there's singing and dancing, and like in churches in foreign countries where overseas Filipinos hear Mass, there's eating.

The recent Simbang Gabi (nine-day dawn masses leading to the eve of the birth of Jesus Christ) is an example. There's no Pope Francis visiting the faithful there, but the throngs of people are all but moving.

The church edifice can only accommodate so much that at least five big LCD screens were set up around the compound.

The last day of the Simbang Gabi had a small program prior to the Mass proper. A group of Filipinos spearheaded and played the Panunuluyan, the re-enactment of the nativity of baby Jesus. Various Filipino choir groups like a group called the Buklod Tinig sang different Pinoy Christmas songs.

For Brian Azarraga, a teacher for seven years in Dubai, attending the Simbang Gabi compensates for the missed religious obligations due to work and somewhat a way to lessen homesickness and to feel the Filipino vibes.

Like what their motherland has, there are various Filipino Catholic groups: Lord’s Flock, Light of Jesus, Couples For Christ (CFC) and others. Even with limited sleep, these groups' volunteers were hand-in-hand in preparing everything - from setting up a big Christmas tree composed of prayers (written in circular shaped papers) to the controlling and area discipline.

There's a word for that in Filipino, says Bartolo: bayanihan.

"This is my vow to Jesus," said Roy of Couples for Christ (CFC), one of the Simbang Gabi volunteers for order and discipline.

But not all Filipinos keep their faith alive, with the rise of Dubai as a hotspot for global investors. Cosmopolitanism living easily makes people swayed by money and the luxuries that come with it, that which the Franciscan Capuchin priests think is "slowly losing their faith and leaning toward 'materialism and idolatry'.”

And like some countries of destination where Filipinos work, temptations  lure the lonely Filipino worker. There's infidelity and some fits of self-centeredness, for example, which Bartolo says threaten to lose OFWs' “sense of sacrifice” or the understanding of the reason why they left the Philippines: their loved ones back home.

“Ang Diyos para sa iba ay parang switch na lang; ino-on lang kapag ailangan (The Lord is like a switch for some people. When needed, they turn the switch on),” said Bartolo.

But the throngs of Filipinos in a dark Friday early morning here at St. Mary's switched on the lights of Filipino-style Catholic tradition. 

As foreign migrant workers in the Arab city come and go, Filipinos still find time for the faith amid their work and their dealing with a transnational family life.

That's cultural, the two Capuchin priests think.

Dedication to the faith isn't just a spiritual matter "but a Filipino culture," said Bartolo. "OFWs get the sense of belonging this way."