Manila (AsiaNews) "A new people of God in a Diaspora", bearing witness and sharing its faith with the people of other countries, is how Card Gaudencio Rosales, archbishop of Manila, described the eight million Filipino scattered around the world.
After a month-long trip to the United States and Canada, the cardinal expressed his profound admiration for emigrants and their "great faith".
"Besides their great faith", the prelate said, "foreigners appreciate and admire Filipinos for being forgiving, helpful, warm and kind."
"They really appreciate Filipinos there. How come here in the Philippines we find this very hard" to do? Card Rosales asked; probably because people here tend to see only the negative things about the nation.
"When we see only negative things," he added, "when we see only things to criticize and destroy, our positive efforts are wasted."
In spite of this, he trusts there is still hope for the nation and its people. "There's hope. But hope is giving emphasis to what is beautiful, true, and good," Rosales said.
The cardinal also referred to the mounting interest of Filipinos abroad in the local Catholic Church's fund drive for the poor called Pondo ng Pinoy (Funds for Filipinos) which he launched in 2004.
Inspired by the 'theology of crumbs', the archdiocese of Manila as well as 12 other ecclesiastic provinces in the capital have urged the faithful to save a daily crumb, i.e. set aside 25 centavos (five eurocents or 6 US cents) for the poor.
The money, which is collected by parishes to guarantee the transparency of the process, is eventually used to finance various socioeconomic initiatives.
Los Angeles's Filipino communities have pledged to raise money for Christmas.
Other Filipino dioceses, meanwhile, are planning to join the project.
"With God's help, this movement will soon be nationwide," Rosales said.