Politics and religion in America

HOUSTON, Texas – This time, we’re down in Houston, Texas as guests of my childhood best friend Tony Rizarri and his wife Dora at the plush Olde Oaks subdivision. Houston is a two-and-a-half-hour plane ride from Las Vegas and because we’re in Texas, the two sons of Tony Rizarri, Gilbert and Bobby, came home just to be with my daughter Katrina and me.

The last time I was in Houston a few years back, Gilbert was managing one of Houston’s most popular seafood restaurants, Pappadeaux, but somehow he took a 180-degree turn and went back to school in Balls University in Indiana to study and become an MRI technician. But since he was home, he cooked breakfast and dinner for us, so we didn’t have to go to any restaurant; we got a Pappadeaux chef at home!

His younger brother, Bobby, drove back home from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to be with us… he is a successful financial analyst for Shobe Financial Company. They are my family here in Texas. There are also other close friends and barkadas in Houston like Ramon "Monching" Medalla who works with Toshiba Corp. Monching took me to play golf with his Fil-Am group in a tournament in Clear Creek Houston.

Once more I met many Filipinos in Houston, especially those in my foursome who were Cebuano-speaking like Mel Aligsao from Cagayan de Oro (a close friend of Marlon Garcia, brother of Gov. Gwen Garcia), and Mark Nuñesa. After a round of golf, we went off to the residence of Mel beside a lake for food, drinks and karaoke singing!

Oh yes, like in any Filipino home these days, we talked about politics and discussed how stupid or hopelessly flawed our political system has become. Questions like, "Why can’t we elect senators on a regional basis?" Again I told them that the answer to this query is simple… for as long as we do not have any move to change the Constitution, things will always be the same. What Pinoys here can’t figure out is why do people seek a Senate seat and spend at least P50 million for an elective post that pays less than P40,000 a month? Of course, we know that they are lured by the P250 million in pork barrel at their beck and call. Having such huge money within your control certainly tempts even those politicians who are already rich.

Let me summarize my own observations with a question, "If our politicians and government bureaucrats always travel to the US to visit their friends and relatives, why can’t they see all the good things happening in the US and apply them in the Philippines?" The reason why we travel to other countries is to widen or broaden our horizons and bring back things that can be applied at home. But even that, our politicians have failed miserably!

Last Thursday, another good friend of mine, Dr. Woodrow Dolino, son-in-law of Sabin Larrazabal of Ormoc, took time from his medical practice (he just recently opened the West Oaks Urgent Care Center in Houston catering to minor emergencies for patients who don’t need to go to the emergency room) and also took me to a round of golf at the Houstonian Golf and Country Club, a members-only golf course in Houston. I should have played well where it not for the 50-mile-per-hour wind that ruined my game.

After the game, Woody’s wife, Garvy, prepared a sumptuous Texan dinner with sushi for the whole group, where I also met another high school barkada, Boboy Quijano, who works with Continental Airlines. Let me just say that most Filipinos in America have access to the Filipino channel and are truly aware of the happenings in their home country. But when they learned that I write for The Philippine STAR, they wanted an in-depth discussion of what’s really happening, especially in the world of politics.

Enough with politics, let’s move on to religion. If there’s anything I find quite interesting about America during Sundays, it is that I get the chance to go to different Catholic churches either in Las Vegas or Houston. In Las Vegas we went to Holy Mass at the St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Henderson, very close to the residence of my cousin Dr. Jonathan Reboton.

This is the church I always go to when I’m in Vegas and I’m just amazed by the remarkable participation of the American Catholics during the Mass. They loudly give, not just murmur, the answers to the prayers of their parish priest, Fr. Patrick Render, C.S.V. Their services are also very similar to the Charismatic groups, where they hold hands when they pray Our Father, which I’m sure, Msgr. Achilles Dakay would find quite discomforting… because he doesn’t like his flock to hold hands while praying.

Most of us are Catholics since birth, but it was the first time I saw the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) where Catechumens were presented before the parishioners and accepted as new Catholics! I have never seen this happen in very Catholic Philippines simply because the Catholic Church relies on our growing population to increase the number of Catholics.

While I know that Catholicism is the fastest growing religion in America, the Catholic Church here has to compete with the other Christian faiths and other "feel good churches," which means that the Catholic clergy in America has to do more to defend their faith than our clergy in the Philippines. This is why on the foyer of St. Thomas More Catholic Church you will see colored brochures on Catholic teachings.

Here are a few examples: "How to Observe Lent as a Catholic" and "How to Celebrate Holy Week." Then there’s a brochure on "Islam, a Catholic Perspective," and one entitled "The Way of the Cross with Pope Benedict XVI." Let me say that these pamphlets or brochures give Catholics an insight into Catholic doctrines. While we do have our Ang Lungsuranon in Cebu, there’s still a lot for Catholics to learn about their faith and this is where American Catholics have a better edge than us.

The same is true with the Catholics in Houston when Monching Medalla brought us to the Christ the Good Shepherd Catholic Community Church for Mass last Sunday. Their parish priests are Fr. John Upton and Fr. Joe Hoang Bui, a Vietnamese immigrant. In Texas, and I guess the same is true in California, there are so many Filipinos you will meet in churches. But often, Pinoys are mistaken for Mexicans, who are also another large ethnic group going to Mass in Catholic churches.

As Holy Week is just around the corner, most of the publications here are about Lent and how to observe it. I was told that Holy Week in the US is not a holiday unlike back home… that is because there’s a clear separation of Church and State here in the US, unlike back home where the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) more often than not dabbles in too much politics, rather than focus on the true mission of the Church as set forth by our Lord Jesus Christ… for priests to save souls!

* * *

For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.