Partnership with the Philippines
Anchorage Archdiocese delegation journeys to archipelago to put agreement in writing
First in a series
COTABATO CITY, MINDANAO, Philippines — Two weeks ago in this southern Philippines city, Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz and Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo signed a partnership agreement that will link the people of the two archdioceses for years to come.
Seven lay people who traveled to the Philippines from the Anchorage Archdiocese had worked together with the archbishops, Filipino clergy and Catholic Relief Services workers to come up with the wording of the partnership agreement. Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops’ overseas relief and development agency, facilitated the "global solidarity partnership" between the Alaska archdiocese and Archbishop Quevedo’s archdiocese on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippine archipelago.
The Cotabato Archdiocese encompasses the headquarters of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, where about 47 percent of almost 1.6 million residents are Christian and 46 percent are Muslim, according to Archbishop Quevedo. Two of every three residents in the area live below the poverty line — two times the national average. Many indigenous groups, or Lumads, also live within the archdiocesan boundaries.
Archbishop Schwietz, the seven lay people from Palmer, Anchorage, Kenai and Soldotna and one Catholic Anchor reporter flew to the Philippines Oct. 31 and most returned Nov. 9. For three days, they broke into groups of two accompanied by Catholic Relief Services workers and journeyed out from Cotabato City to different villages to be immersed in the lives of the Muslim, Catholic and indigenous people living there.
Some Alaska delegates visited areas where villagers and mediators have helped once-warring factions live among each other peacefully.
Another group went to a mountainous region where local community-based health projects are helping villagers identify their health needs and find solutions to such fundamental problems as the lack of potable water and sanitary latrines.
Others visited parishes that cover several villages and are made up of dozens of basic ecclesial communities, groups of 10-40 Catholic families with committees focusing on catechism, liturgy, livelihood, peace-building, interreligious dialogue, social action and advocacy. Some support each other through 5 a.m. Bible-sharing sessions.
The group also met indigenous people struggling to maintain control over ancestral land and also farmers who have lost corn and rice harvests to an infestation of hungry rats.
A week into their 10-day travels and with the help of Catholic relief workers, the Alaska delegates brainstormed with the archbishops and Cotabato clergy about the vision of the partnership agreement. Its goals and commitments were hammered out in a daylong workshop in Cotabato City where discussion focused on ways to create continuous relationships between the two distant archdioceses.
The group talked about exchanges of people and resources, praying for the people in each archdiocese during world mission month, exchanging archdiocesan news and supporting pastoral and human development of the people in both places.
The words of the partnership agreement slowly appeared projected from a laptop computer onto a large screen as members of the group called out changes to the language.
"We seek a Spirit-filled relationship out of which will grow mutual understanding and support," the final partnership agreement states. "This relationship will enrich the lives of our people through the sharing of who we are and what we have. We desire a partnership rooted in communion that is characterized by openness and solidarity."
The final language says the partnership is rooted in prayer, and specifies a commitment to "pray for each other in a regular way and through special occasions."
At the Nov. 6 signing ceremony, Archbishop Quevedo told the group that the newly formed partnership was a "labor of love" that marked a "great moment in the history of the Archdiocese of Cotabato." He likened the long-term partnership agreement to the birthing of a baby.
If that’s the case, Catholic Relief Services, which has facilitated the formation of the 14 global solidarity partnerships, was the midwife. The Anchorage-Cotabato partnership is the first pairing by Catholic Relief Services between an American diocese and one in Southeast Asia.
(Last year Archbishop Schwietz and another group from the Anchorage Archdiocese traveled to the Butuan Diocese, also on the island of Mindanao, to explore partnering. Archbishop Schwietz again visited that region this month and has partnered with Butuan Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos there independently of Catholic Relief Services.)
Archbishop Quevedo, former president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said the agreement with Anchorage is meant to be more than an exchange of resources and materials; it should be a partnership of "solidarity, friendship, mutual concern and sharing."
He added, "There is no way for solidarity to take place unless through communion of mind and heart."
Archbishop Schwietz added, "We are embarking on an effort to make a difference not only in our two dioceses, but in ourselves. Our partnership, besides creating bonds, enables us to put on Christ Jesus."
The Alaskan archbishop added his hope that the new connections might "bear fruit in goodness, justice and peace."
The day after the two archbishops signed the partnership agreement, Archbishop Quevedo announced it during a fiesta at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Cotabato City, an open-air building flitting with birds and pulsing with hand-held fans. The Alaskan visitors stood in the front rows amid welcoming applause.
"Communion means the deepest type of unity, solidarity," Archbishop Quevedo said during the homily. "The Eucharist makes the church."
Shortly before boarding a plane for his return flight to Alaska, Archbishop Schwietz thanked the people in the pews for "opening your arms and homes, villages and towns to us."
The Alaska delegates participating in the global solidarity partnership trip to Mindanao were Bonnie Cler, director of youth ministry at St. Michael Parish in Palmer; Kathy Dunagan and Scott Earsley of Soldotna’s Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Soldotna and also Joann Earsley of Soldotna; Margaret Menting, director of religious education at Our Lady of the Angels Parish in Kenai; and Neil Murphy and Joaquin Barbachano of St. Anthony Parish in Anchorage.