Your Diocese

PLAINFIELD, IL — In the Philippines, the nine-day Advent novena called Simbang Gabi, meaning night worship, is linked to the mass conversion of the islands’ inhabitants to Catholicism during the 17th century. Today, the 350-year-old tradition is practiced primarily by flocks of ethnic Filipinos and joined more recently by faithful from a variety of cultural backgrounds.

At St. Mary Immaculate Parish in Plainfield, Filipino believers from nine congregations within the eastern cluster of the Diocese of Joliet were crowded Dec. 15 into the church for the official kick-off of a series of pre-Christmas Masses. The tradition marks the beginning of the Christmas celebration, which has been adapted in many cases from a pre-dawn series of Masses to evening ones to accommodate urban lifestyles.

A flutter of dark-haired girls wearing white dresses adorned with homemade pairs of pale wings looked as angelically sweet as one imagines a cherub would be. They practiced in the vestibule minutes before the hour-long Mass began. Instructed to keep their heads up while processing down the aisle, while at the same time reverently holding an 18-inch tall purple candle, a book or flower, was enough to send giddy shivers up their spines. While a church full of parents and participants peered with adoring eyes at the images of innocence and purity, a choir made up mostly of Filipino singers, lent their voices to a variety of carols sung in Tagalog, one of the more popular native languages spoken in the Philippines.

After a trio of women garbed in traditional dress decorated the altar, a group of 10 dancers from a Filipino children’s dance troupe based in Naperville, called Samahang Kapatid, played an integral role in ushering in the opening ceremony. They danced with flickering candles that cast a glow on rhythmic moves performed in front of the altar. They were joind by a liturgical dancer from the parish, who graced the presentation as well.

The enthusiasm that emanated from the crowd was matched by the display of specialty lights—glowing candles on Advent wreaths along with a soft illumination that came from cardboard stars, called parols, worked to set the stage for a religious worship tradition. Designed to integrate the Gospel with a distinctly Filipino custom, Simbang Gabi, as it is celebrated in the Diocese of Joliet, includes a total of 17 parishes from DuPage and Will counties from the eastern and western deaneries. The final Mass in the series is slated to begin at 7 p.m. Dec. 23 at St. Mary of Gostyn Parish in Downers Grove.

During the homily, Mass celebrant Father Santos Castillo, associate pastor of St. Mary Immaculate Parish, reminded the congregation about the idea of giving. It begins with “counting your blessings,” he said. “Through the years we have been blessed. …. But the season is a special way to remind us about the ones that seem insignificant, those who have nothing—the victims of the (recent) typhoons that hit the Philippines.”

During a post-Mass presentation, Carmen Nucum, a member of Christ the King Parish in Lombard, offered a brief description about the needs of orphans from the Philippines. She had come to know many of them personally as a result of three visits to her homeland since 2003. Saddened by the devastation left by four typhoons in two month’s time, Nucum said Mother Nature had exacted a terrible toll. An estimated 1,400 people are feared dead by wind, rain and mudslides, and an estimated 100,000 people are homeless.

A special collection was taken after the Mass to assist two religious congregations with branches based in the Philippines. A trio of Carmelite Nuns of the Holy Trinity of Laguna, Philippines, was present at the Simbang Gabi celebration. Meanwhile, a request for financial assistance by a group of Philippines-based sisters belonging to the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity was expressed as well.

While churchgoers later shared a meal of native delicacies, such as bibingka (rice cake) and hot salabat (ginger tea), Rev. Mother Trinidad P. Bunac, the mother prioress of the Carmelite Nuns of the Holy Trinity, described the bleak situation at the congregation-run orphanage in Laguna. “We lost the convent to mudslides,” she said. Of the 150 children the congregation cared for, 15 were killed in the typhoon, she added.

Despite the devastation, the sisters are intent on rebuilding and maintaining their ministry to care for abandoned children, said Rev. Mother Bunac. It would take an estimated $10,000 to house and feed the hungry for a year. “Any amount (donated) would be appreciated,” she said.

Planning for the Plainfield celebration has been under way for the past three months, said co-coordinator Salve Sulit. She and a team of 16 committee members volunteered to organize the annual event, which featured Father Castillo playing guitar and serenading the guests with Christmas carols at the dinner following Mass.