A Filipino Priest In Rome

Pieta, Michelangelo’s marble sculpture, seems to cast a shadow on Filipino priest Rhett Sarabia as he drops by St Peter’s Basilica on this particular day. He chuckles at the thought that all roads led him to Rome – stirrings to embrace religious life in high school, an attempt to elope with his childhood sweetheart gone awry, restlessness at work in Metrobank, estrangement from his father. He has become fluent in Italian after completing his graduate studies at Salesian Pontifical University , but amidst a babel of tongues in the Vatican city , he finds himself longing to speak the language of his heart.

Fr Rhett Sarabia is as good as a man of the cloth can get – a novelty for us cynics – but he does not wince when you mention the $2-billion settlement to alleged sex abuse victims of some 4,000 priests between 1950 and 2002 or the ordination of the sixth female priest in Lexington, Kentucky last August 9. Fr Roy Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest concelebrated the ordination of 58-year-old Janice Sevre-Duszynska who, on top of being a woman, is married.

“In the history of the church, there were many things considered taboo that are beginning to be accepted,” Fr Rhett says, sounding nonchalant. He is currently serving as the General Councilor of the Order of the Servants of Mary in Rome . He also heads the On-going Formation Secretariat and accompanies the Prior General to canonical visitations.

But the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington condemned the Roman Catholic Women priests movement being “in opposition to the church’s authentic teaching.” The Vatican ’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith declared that a woman who attempts to be ordained a Catholic priest and the persons attempting to ordain her are automatically excommunicated.

The 44-year-old priest from Aklan has only been in Italy for nine months but already feels the centuries-old controversies closing in on him. As he walks past the cobbled streets of Rome, he mulls over the scandals that involve the clergy and the “new sins” issued by the Vatican namely polluting the environment, drug dealing, excessive wealth, pedophilia, embryonic stem cell research and human cloning.

He does not think he should be answerable for all the failures of the church, though. “I’m just your ordinary guy leaving my imprint in the most ordinary situation…hopefully touching people’s hearts and minds.”

Ordinary situation includes listening to fellow Filipinos who have come to Italy to work as domestic helpers. They can be seen in churches, in metros and around the Piazza di Navona, chattering away in Tagalog and other Filipino dialects.

The largest concentration of Filipinos in Europe can be found in Italy , an estimated 150,000 Filipinos who are mostly working as domestic helpers, or are employed in restaurants, hospitals, warehouses, factories, building maintenance, stores, food chains, hotels, and other service sectors. Many of these overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are professionals but their college diplomas are not recognized in Italy . Of this number, approximately 96,000 are in Rome , while some 54,000 are in Milan . Around 3,583 are in Italy for religious reasons, on the basis of their status as priests, nuns, or religious workers.

Almost every two years, the Italian government reportedly gives an opportunity for undocumented aliens to regularize their status through an amnesty program. This is probably the reason many Filipinos risk their lives in crossing the Swiss border in hopes of finding some kind of asylum in Italy .

“Our OFWs are treated well in this country,” said Fr Rhett. “That could be because this is a Catholic country. You hardly hear about abuses which are rampant in Arab nations. Italian employers have a high respect for Filipino workers because they are industrious, clean and trustworthy. You won’t see Filipinos here who beg in the streets. Once in a while you see some who are hooked in alcohol and drugs but they are the exception.”

Fr Rhett first came here in Italy in 1993 for his licentiate studies, and his first apostolate led him to the soup kitchen for the migrant workers, especially among eastern Europeans, Africans, Latin Americans and some Asians. “I hardly met any Filipino in this place for most of them have work. My second apostolate was among the Filipino migrant workers whom I taught catechism.”

In a meeting with the elders of Couples for Christ Foundation for Family and Life (CFC-FFL), his desire to work for family evangelization among the the OFWs took a definite turn.

“Every OFW would tell you that separation from one’s family is the greatest sacrifice one has to make in order to improve one’s life. OFWs who give birth in Italy leave their children to their grandparents in the Philippines in order to continue working here. With the passing of time they realize that children who grow up away from them become problematic. Most parents compensate for their absence by sending their kids money or gifts which spoil them rotten. To solve this problem, they petition their teenage children so they can be together in Italy . But this brings a new problem because OFWs have to spend more time working. Most of the time they are out and have less time with their children. Eventually, these children find solace in other Filipino kids who happen to be in the same situation. Most of them drop out of school and just hang out everyday with friends. I believe that the work of evangelization has to take into account the family….and we are slowly working on this.”

Fr Rhett says he has a deep respect and admiration for OFWs. He can empathize with them because he himself is a son of an OFW.

“My father started working as a seaman when I was in grade four. It was in the 70’s. I grew up having no father figure. I would only see him once a year. Family ritual consisted of writing letters, sending pictures and anxiously waiting for packages which were opened in the presence of the whole family. Birthdays, graduations and Christmases were always spent with my siblings, my mother, an aunt and my grandmother. I have never had a father figure growing up. I was the eldest so I had to be responsible and independent. Later, I would become a father to all.”

But it was in his second year in Theology that he realized how deep his estrangement from his father was. “We were discussing healing of relationships in class and …I finally recognized a need to be healed. I never knew my father….that’s the reason why I could not communicate with him. I prayed hard before I initiated a dialogue with him. Today, I would say words are still scarce between us but deep in my heart I have rediscovered the father I once lost.”

Fr Rhett said that in listening to OFW stories, something in him was awakened from a deep slumber. “I believe God has put me on the right spot to extend his touch, his gentle presence among our migrant workers who go to the ends of the world to support their families. Poverty has many faces – prostitution, isolation, discrimination. I see these faces even in the heart of the great metropolis and nations. The only thing that makes a difference is that paper called money.”