By Fr David Buenaventura SDB

For seven years, Fr. David Buenaventura was a missionary priest in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Then the time came for him to serve his fellow Pinoys struggling to live in a country that is rich in everything except Christianity – Japan.

I was appointed parish priest for Filipinos living in the Catholic Diocese of Oita in January 1997. The appointment was the first of its kind in Japan. We have a good number of Filipino priests working in Japan, but no one had been appointed parish priest. My appointment was based on Canon 518, which talks about the Personal Parish. I didn’t have a convent or a parish church. When asked by my parishioners, “How come the other parish priests in the diocese have their own convents and churches while you, Father, don’t have?” I would tell them with pride: “This is so because your homes are my convents and each Filipino community is my church.”

From different strokes

I belong to the Catholic Diocese of Oita. From the information I got from the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo, I learned that there are 13,350 Filipinos residing in my area of responsibility. I grouped my parishioners into four: residents (Filipinos married to Japanese), entertainers working in clubs as singers and dancers, skilled workers working in shipyards as trainees in welding and students studying here under Japanese grants.

Less-holy Sundays

My work with them is a rewarding one but there are constraints that bring about problems in the pastoral work I do for them. Filipinos are scattered all over the two prefectures. Due to distance and time limitations, I am able to visit them only once a month. There are also Filipinos married to Japanese who oftentimes cannot join us in our religious activities because they give more importance to Japanese activities like fishing, visiting of in-laws, tours, community social activities and entertainments. And most of these activities would fall on a Sunday.

Conditional Catholics

Many Filipinos due to their long detachment form the Church have lost their sense of parish belonging. On Sundays, they prefer to stay at home, associate with a select group of friends or spend the day in a pachinco (gambling club). There are even divisions among Filipinos due to jealousy, backbiting and rumor-mongering, and this affects church attendance. Someone, for example, would not attend Sunday mass if she knew that a particular person she had a conflict with would be there.

Filipinos is Japan have become members of the Japanese workaholic society. Those employed in clubs, department stores, hotels and shipyards work seven days a week. Some Filipinos who have been here for more than 10 years have completely ‘Japanized’ themselves so that they socialize only with the Japanese community. They speak only Japanese and English. They look down on their fellow Filipinos. One factor which also makes it difficult for me to reach out to them is their lack of permanence in their residence. This applies to our entertainers. They stay in a place for three months, after which they have to return home. When they return to Japan, they are transferred to another place, which is no longer under the Diocese of Oita.

What am I here for?

I have a tall order before me. Hence, I’m giving it my best shot hoping that the Lord may use me as His instrument to reawaken the Christian faith in my people, keep them united as a community and make them realize their missionary vocation to evangelize the Japanese community where they are through their personal witnessing of their faith.