Sharing food and song brings joy at Filipino Night
By Lisa Haefs | For On Mission
BIRNAMWOOD — Eight thousand miles was bridged by food, music and laughter for nine Filipino priests recently at St. Philomena Catholic Church in Birnamwood.
With Fr. Vicente Luis F. Llagas as host (who is known as “Fr. Chito”), the priests joked, cooked, sang and shared their culture with the local community at the parish’s annual Filipino Night on Sept. 17.
It was an informal evening. Most of the clergy wore T-shirts commemorating the feast day of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, the patron saint of their region, which is composed of six dioceses.
“All of the Filipino priests in the diocese are here, except three,” Fr. Chito said, explaining that two had returned to the Philippines for a visit while one was ill. “We cook,” he said as the night progressed. “We let people taste the various dishes and we do karaoke. Filipinos really like to sing.”
The menu included chicken, pork and goat adobos, egg rolls, lamb stew, beef tongue and goat stew. The stew, Fr. Chito said, “is always finished first.”
There were also tables filled with desserts.
“Most of the dishes we prepare are very common in our country. There is no exotic food here tonight except the beef tongue,” Fr. Chito said, as prayers were offered to open the evening.
“Please try it.”
The priests, assisted by members of the area’s Filipino community and St. Philomena’s Altar Society, prepared the dishes and handled cleanup. Fr. Judah Pigon was assigned to scrub out kettles and joked that it was “my penance.”
While parishioners dined, the priests took turns at the microphone, offering renditions of everything from “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” to “Sweet Caroline,” which everyone agreed was “so good, so good, so good.”
“This is what we do at home,” Fr. Chito said.
According to parish member Jean Kuhn, the Altar Society started Filipino Night after they learned about a similar event held at another parish in the Diocese of Green Bay, St. Thomas the Apostle in Newton.
“It sounded like fun and a great way to get to know the priests in the diocese,” she said. “It allows them an opportunity to show us a bit of their culture and life in the Philippines, which we can learn from, and it allows us an opportunity to get to know the priests on a more personal level.”
Some of the food choices can be difficult to source, Kuhn said. A local farm provides the goat while a nearby sheep producer sets aside the lamb.
“We make sure we have enough lamb meat on hand for the event,” said Darlene Eckerman of Eckerman Sheep Company in Antigo. “This is just a great event. The food tastes great, even if it is different than what we are used to, and the priests get a chance to show off their singing.”
Besides Fr. Chito, the priests attending were:
- Fr. Nonito Barra, St. Margaret Mary Parish, Neenah.
- Fr. Santiago Turiano, St. James Parish, Denmark.
- Fr. Judah Pigon, St. Patrick Parish, Menasha.
- Fr. Edmundo Siguenza, St. Mary Parish, Peshtigo.
- Fr. Rex Palaya, St. Francis & St Mary Parish, Brussels.
- Fr. Rommel Dacoco, St. Louis Parish, Dyckesville.
- Fr. Antonio De Los Santos, Quad Parishes, Green Bay.
- Fr. Demosthenes Olaso, St. Benedict Parish, Suamico. Unable to attend were:
- Fr. Carlo Villaluz, St. Thomas the Apostle, Luxemburg.
- Fr. Felix Abano, St. Anthony Parish, Niagara.
- Fr. Hans Borebor, St. Michael Parish, Keshena.
Sending priests from the Archdiocese of Caceres in the Philippines to mission territories in need of clergy began under Archbishop Leonardo Lepaspi, who inaugurated Donum Fideo (“Gift of Faith”) in the Caribbean.
It was expanded to the United States in 2012 by Archbishop Rolando Tirona. In a 2018 interview with The Compass, he explained that priests who serve abroad must have at least 12 years of ministry and are allowed to stay in the United States for a maximum of five years, or longer on a case-by-case basis.
The dioceses receiving priests provide financial contributions to the Archdiocese of Caceres, which helps support retired priests.
“When I send priests here to the United States, it’s not my intention to send them to New York or San Francisco,” he told The Compass. “No, it’s (where) I really feel they need priests, like here. I’ve gone around (the diocese) and seen that there are parishes (in need of priests). You can see how people really like having a priest here.”
Fr. Judah, attending his third Filipino Night at St. Philomena, took a moment from his dishwashing duties to reflect.
“We appreciate the community support, especially from those who first started offering Filipino Night,” he said. “They really like the way we share our culture, especially our food.”
He said it is also a blessing to serve as a mission priest in the United States.
“That spirit of mission work is important to the whole area,” he said. “It is the evangelizing spirit. We are returning the Catholic faith to the U.S.”
For Fr. Chito and his fellow Filipino priests, the evening of celebration has a simple purpose.
“We need to get together,” he said. “We miss home.”