Filipino community to host annual Bishop's Mass

Friday, Jul. 18, 2014

SALT LAKE CITY — The Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, will celebrate the annual Misan Bayan Filipino Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Aug. 3, and the Diocese of Salt Lake City is invited. The tradition for the bishop’s Mass for the Filipino community began about 10 years ago with Bishop George Niederauer, now retired Archbishop of San Francisco. 

“We have a Mass with the bishop to recognize him and also so the Filipino community can to get to know him; they have so much respect for the bishop,” said Reme Machon, a coordinator for the Mass. 

The Filipino community holds this Mass close to their heart, said Nikon Omero, Misang Bayan coordinator. “We really feel special having the bishop celebrate our Mass,” said Omero. “Most of us organizers of Misang Bayan know the bishop, but some of the parishioners are not that familiar with him.”

The Mass is an opportunity for the Filipinos to hear their native Tagalog language, participate in cultural rituals and hear music sung in Tagalog. 

The Filipino Choir, under the direction of Agnes Casundo, will sing Filipino songs that, when sung in Tagalog, can be emotional and bring back memories for the elderly or those Filipinos who haven’t traveled back to the Philippines for many years, said Omero. 

“The songs are similar to those sung during the Sunday Mass, but when they are sung in Tagalog, they are more meaningful to the Filipino people,” said Omero. “They remember their families and relatives and experiences in the Philippines.”

The Prayers of the Faithful will be given in the different dialects of Tagalog that are spoken in different regions of the Philippines, “and this is a way for more people to participate in the Mass,” Machon said. “The Lord’s Prayer will also be sung in Tagalog.”

Following communion, it is a tradition for the congregation to come forward for the ritual of pagmamano, in which. the Filipino people show respect for the bishop by bowing to him and placing his hand to their forehead while he blesses them.

Misang Bayan was formed 16 years ago by Father Augustine Opalalic, a visiting priest from the Philippines, who was serving at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Salt Lake City, so the Filipino people could meet as a community for a monthly bilingual Mass in Tagalog and English. Today Misang Bayan is run by lay people under the guidance of Father Joseph Frez, pastor of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus Parish and a native of the Philippines.

“Its purpose is to preserve the Filipino Catholic tradition, but also for Filipinos to be active in their own parishes and not reliant on the community,” said Omero. “The Filipino Catholic Mass is for the Filipinos to be aware of our traditions, especially the youth who mostly were born in the United States.” 

A traditional Filipino potluck dinner will follow the Mass.

“Bishop Wester is from San Francisco and is very familiar with Filipino traditions,” said Machon. “He enjoys our traditional food and is always so kind to visit the people during the reception that follows. The bishop also is willing to have his photo taken with us during the reception and it makes us so happy. More people come to the Bishop’s Mass than our monthly Masses because it is special; we are geographically scattered from Logan to Provo and Park City so that some people have to travel to Salt Lake City, and that is sometimes difficult.”