For Archdiocese, ‘Season of Service’
extends to the Philippines
By Christie L. Chicoine
CS&T Staff Writer
PHILADELPHIA — Members of the archdiocesan Filipino Apostolate have
traveled to the Philippines on a medical and dental mission of mercy every
year for five years — but this year, their work was invested with
a unique spirituality as part of the Philadelphia Archdiocese’s
Season of Service.
“This year’s mission is special because it is dedicated to
the bicentennial celebration of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia,”
said Father Efren V. Esmilla, chaplain of the apostolate and pastor of
Our Lady of Hope Parish on North Broad Street. Father Esmilla led the
service trip from Jan. 22 to Feb. 5. Father Armand D. Garcia, a parochial
vicar at St. Joseph Parish in Downingtown, and Religious of the Assumption
Sister Loretto Mapa, coordinator of the Filipino Apostolate, also accompanied
the group.
As a special gift, the team was able to meet with Archbishop Edward J.
Adams, a native of the Philadelphia Archdiocese who is now papal nuncio
to the Philippines.
Every January, Father Esmilla travels with Filipino doctors, dentists,
nurses, pharmacists and social workers from various parishes of the Archdiocese
to the Philippines on their mission of mercy.
They deliver packages filled with medical and other necessities to the
impoverished community of Santo (Sto.) Niño in Malabon each year.
And they offer medical and dental checkups there every-other year, alternating
that service with communities in other poor regions.
This year, demonstrating that the virtue of hope knows no borders, the
team of 30 Philadelphia-area Catholics provided checkups to about 1,500
adults and children in Cabanatuan City, about a two-hour drive from Sto.
Niño. Those who needed follow-up treatment or immediate intervention
were referred to local doctors, specialists and hospitals.
In Sto. Niño, Father Esmilla’s group delivered food, clothing
and medicine to the community’s 400 families. Each family received
a care package consisting of rice, beans, sugar, salt, canned goods, clothes,
medicine, vitamins and school supplies for children.
In addition, about 500 children between the ages of 3 and 12 were treated
to a post-Christmas party.
Some inhabitants of Sto. Niño work as domestic helpers, cooks,
laundresses, baby-sitters and tricycle-taxi-pedicab drivers. Others find
seasonal construction and factory work for $2 to $4 per day.
Health problems are rampant because of poor sanitation and the lack of
clean water. About 95 percent of the children have tuberculosis, and six
months out of the year during the rainy season, both young and old suffer
from pneumonia, typhoid, dengue fever and various gastrointestinal diseases.
Medical and dental needs are often ignored for the sake of food, and funerals
may last as long as three weeks while residents try to raise money for
the bereaved family to buy a coffin and burial plot.
A good percentage of the children do not attend school because their parents
cannot afford to send them, nor do they have the means to buy decent clothes
and shoes to wear to school.
Father Esmilla said he and the other Philadelphia visitors conveyed messages
of hope and support from Cardinal Justin Rigali to the poorest of the
poor in the town. Father Esmilla told them: “My brothers and sisters
in Christ, I want you to know that you have a special place in our Cardinal’s
heart.”
Noting Philadelphia’s motto, “The City of Brotherly Love,”
and the Archdiocese’s two canonized saints — St. John Neumann
and St. Katharine Drexel — Father Esmilla added: “We represent
‘brotherly love’ and ‘saintly gesture.’ We are
God’s ambassadors … in your plight.”
On Jan. 27, as Archbishop Adams celebrated Mass in Sto. Niño’s
chapel, he emphasized the joy he felt in witnessing the faith, piety and
spirit of solidarity he found in its townspeople.
Expenses for the annual mission trip are paid for by the Filipino Apostolate
Sto. Niño Catholic Mission, according to Father Esmilla.
For more information or to contribute to the mission fund, send correspondence
by standard mail to Father Efren Esmilla at Our Lady of Hope Church, 5200
N. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19141, call (215) 329-8100 or e-mail: olhpastor@aol.com.
CS&T Staff Writer Christie L. Chicoine may be reached at (215)
587-2468 or cchicoin@adphila.org.