by: Gabriel “Jay” Catanus
On September 21, the Rizal Center was packed with grapplers for the grand opening of Rizal Center Jiu-Jitsu. The event was crowded and high-energy— with food, prizes, and live DJ’s, of course— as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) practitioners came from all over Chicagoland to support the new initiative, led by black belt Gabriel Clarito.
As a regular contributor to this newsletter who also trains BJJ and was there to support, I wanted to use this space to reflect on the gathering and highlight its broader significance for the Filipino American community.
As alluded to above, the presence of so many second and third-generation Filipino Americans was noteworthy and refreshing. Recently, Chicago’s second generation have been making waves in culinary spaces and the arts, but they have mostly centered and attracted fellow young people. As entrepreneurs, they’re great at what they do.
Generation gap in leadership
Meanwhile, most of our Filipino American community and non-profit organizations are either first-generation-focused or struggling to grow. I know this dynamic well because my church is anomalous among predominantly Filipino American churches: we’re second-generation-led and growing, while most of our parents’ churches and social clubs are declining.
This first question raises concerns for me about what we owe our elders and the institutions they built for us. How do we, as second-generation Filipino Americans in positions of leadership, demonstrate utang na loob (reciprocity) in healthy ways? Surely, it doesn’t serve our communities well to capitalize on Filipino American representation if we do not honor our culture bearers and those who nurtured our ethnic identities.
Secondly, seeing the Rizal Center filled with excitement highlighted the importance of building partnerships across ideological lines. Like the Filipino American electorate, the BJJ community is diverse ideologically. I would even say that the BJJ community is generally center-right, whereas most of our nonprofit and community organizations— and of course, our activist groups— are progressive or left-leaning.
The grand opening, which was also a fundraiser for the Rizal Center, had political but not partisan interests. Attendees wanted to support the center and see it restored, and this brought together many more people who don’t typically enter through its doors.
There are many other lessons that we can learn from a successful event like this, but I raise these two as a trained observer of Filipino American communities. I believe these are also pressing issues for the Rizal Center and our community, broadly. Let us meet our people where they are and find common cause so that we can see our communities flourish.
Gabriel J. Catanus 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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