by Gabriel J. Catanus
Though many scholars and activists might prefer to downplay the significance of religion, the church calendar and religious observances still matter to Filipinos and Filipino Americans. According to Pew Research Center (2023), 90% of Filipino Americans identify as either Christian or closely connected to Christianity. This means that well intentioned community organizers— who may hold legitimate criticisms of religion and its institution — will struggle to reach or transform Filipino American politics without engaging Filipino American Christianity. (My forthcoming book, based on my dissertation, delves more into this tension.)
Even more than during Advent and the long Christmas season, Lent is a time during which Filipino and Filipino American Christian devotion are on full display. But the prophet Isaiah reminds us that true and godly devotion is “to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke…to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood” (Is. 58:6-7). Or as the New Testament says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (Ja. 1:27). In other words, God-honoring faith seeks justice for the oppressed and mercy for the vulnerable. This is neither new nor woke, but ancient and biblical.
During Lent we are invited to repent from our apathy towards injustice as an expression of our faith. This is difficult for many in our community because we have experienced poverty firsthand. We can be tempted to believe that our own hard work and resourcefulness brought us out of Egypt. Worse yet, our trauma and amnesia can lead us to idolize the rich even though they demonize the vulnerable. Let us remember that by seeking a just society and supporting policies that benefit the poor, we are actually demonstrating fait — faith not in ourselves or society’s inhumane systems, but in one who “has brought down rulers from their thrones” and “has lifted up the humble,” who “has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty” (Lk. 52-53).
Gabriel J. Catanus (jaycatanus@gmail.com) is the Director of the Filipino American Ministry Initiative (FAMI) at Fuller Theological Seminary, where he teaches theology and ethics. He is also the pastor of Garden City Covenant Church, a congregation serving immigrant families and young professionals. He received his PhD from Loyola University in Chicago, where he lives with his wife and two children.
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