How the Philippines Became Catholic (The complex history behind Asia's most Christian country)

Christianity Today ^ | 03/09/2018 | Jayeel Cornelio

[SeekAndFind]

Few events in the Philippines have been more anticipated than Pope Francis’s 2015 visit to the home of the world’s third-largest Catholic population. Six million people attended a parade on the final day of the pope’s trip, a meeting he decided to make following one of the strongest cyclones ever recorded. During mass with survivors of Typhoon Haiyan, Pope Francis declared, “I have come to tell you that Jesus is Lord. And he never lets us down.” Stirred by his homily, many were overcome with tears.

Pain is not an anomaly for Filipinos. Suffering punctuates centuries of Philippine colonial and contemporary history. But this affliction has not affected the religiosity of Filipino Catholics. Indeed, so inspired by his experience in the country, Pope Francis tweeted that “the Philippines is witness to the youth and vitality of the Church.” The Filipino translation of the tweet went viral and was retweeted more than 70,000 times.

Given that the state is secular, it is a mistake to say that the Philippines is a Catholic country. But with 80 percent of the population professing the faith, the impression remains the same anyway—especially given the fact that the country sits in a region dominated by Buddhism and Islam. From politics to education to fiestas, Catholicism pervades much of Philippine society. According to a recent survey, 77 percent of Filipino Catholic adults consider religion to be “very important” in their lives.

Despite missionary presence in China and Japan, Christianity has historically struggled to put down spiritual roots in Asia. So what makes it stick in the Philippines? Some credit belongs to the religious zeal of the Spanish regime. But by and large, the faith thrives today because Filipinos appropriated Catholicism to make it their own religion.

[dp0622]

Dont you know by now this is FR, where any article more than 3 paragraphs long is anathema!

Wher are the Cliff notes? :)

[Redcitizen]

I thought the Phillipnes went muslim some time again. (Semi sarc)

[Redwood71]

Actually, you’re not far from wrong.

In 2012 it was estimated by the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) stated that there were 10.7 million Muslims, or approximately 11 percent of the total population. Most Muslims live in parts of Mindanao, Palawan, and the Sulu Archipelago – an area known as Bangsamoro or the Moro region. The Philippines proudly boast to be the only Christian nation in Asia. More than 86 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, 6 percent belong to various nationalized Christian cults while the Bangsa Moro, the Muslim population of the Philippines, forms the largest non-Catholic group in the country. This comprises of about 7% (as of August 2017) of the total Philippine population.

But over 10 to 15 million is still a large group to be reckoned with and they are a large problem in the region with terrorist actions like in 2013 when Philippine troops had to battle their way into coastal villages in the south where Muslim rebels had held scores of residents hostage in a six-day standoff, sparking fierce clashes that had killed 56 people and displaced more than 60,000. The baggage with having Muslims is terrorism. And it is growing in the region.

rwood

[marron]

Working with Filipinos overseas my impression was that they weren’t merely catholic by birth and tradition but in fact were believers, who held regular worship services among themselves.

Elsewhere, where churches were available, you can bet they were in church.

Another place I worked stateside, they held weekly lunch Bible studies, and though the study was evangelical-oriented, most of the attendees were Filipino Catholics. They weren’t hung up on the evangelical-catholic divide, they just seem to love talking about their faith.

And I saw something sometime back that one of the evangelical denominations had a big school in the Philippines training missionaries for service in very difficult parts of the world; they said Filipinos were among the best for that kind of service. There is something in Philippine character, a kind of resiliency combined with religious devotion. They are nice people but tough. And when they believe, they Believe.

[PGR88]

In his influential work, Pasyon and Revolution, historian Reynaldo Ileto makes the case that the natives drew from the Pasyon (or Passion) to understand their suffering at the hands of Spaniards.

This is the type of automatic, knee-jerk Marxist narrative which must be thrown into any historical analysis of colonial peoples and the 3rd world. Statements like this are an unquestioned article of faith in Western/American university history departments. They are so prevalent they have become, IMHO, pathetic cliches

[daniel1212]

Working with Filipinos overseas my impression was that they weren’t merely catholic by birth and tradition but in fact were believers, who held regular worship services among themselves. Elsewhere, where churches were available, you can bet they were in church. Another place I worked stateside, they held weekly lunch Bible studies, and though the study was evangelical-oriented, most of the attendees were Filipino Catholics. They weren’t hung up on the evangelical-catholic divide, they just seem to love talking about their faith.

From the article:

Weekly church attendance among Catholic adults has fallen significantly from 64 percent in 1991 to 41 percent in 2017. This large drop in church attendance looks even grimmer when compared against other Christian groups. For instance, 7 in 10 Protestants and evangelicals attend church weekly. For Iglesia ni Cristo, weekly attendance among adults is 90 percent.

Also see Religion in Latin America | Pew Research Center - Pew Forum on ...

We have at least a couple FR expatriates in the Philippines here.

[Oscar in Batangas]

A ‘legend’ over here is that when the Spanish Catholic missionaries deployed, they found the people practicing a remarkably familiar form of the Faith in some places.

Possibly this can be attributed to the Chinese-Philippines trade, ongoing for centuries before the arrival of Magellan. Marco Polo had opened up lines of communication between China and Europe some four hundred years earlier, and a form of Catholicism may have “tricked down” to the filipinos as a result of those trade connections.

[Jacquerie]

Thanks for sharing.

[Campion]

For Iglesia ni Cristo, weekly attendance among adults is 90 percent.

Well, some of that could be do to the Iglesia ni Cristo doctrine that you have to be physically inside one of their churches at the rapture to be taken, because the church buildings themselves are going to fly off their foundations and up into the sky. Seriously.

Iglesia ni Cristo is as cultic as it can be. The only thing Christian about them is their name. I'm sure the Jehovah's Witnesses claim that 90% of their adherents go to the Kingdom Hall every week, too. It's not a good thing.

[daniel1212]

Well, some of that could be do to the Iglesia ni Cristo doctrine that you have to be physically inside one of their churches at the rapture to be taken, because the church buildings themselves are going to fly off their foundations and up into the sky. Seriously. Iglesia ni Cristo is as cultic as it can be. The only thing Christian about them is their name. I'm sure the Jehovah's Witnesses claim that 90% of their adherents go to the Kingdom Hall every week, too. It's not a good thing.

Yes, I did not make that connection but now i do recall a FR article here on time on that cult. Quite extreme.