The demand for Filipino Dominican missionaries has increased worldwide, with the Philippine province receiving invitations from dioceses across continents, said Fr. Filemon dela Cruz, Jr., O.P., prior provincial of the Dominican Province of the Philippines.
Dela Cruz, in a speech delivered during the Dangal ng UST Awards at the Quadricentennial Pavilion on Friday, Aug. 15, said countries such as Malta, Belgium, Hungary, Albania, Russia, and Gibraltar were asking for Filipino Dominican missionaries to support parishes and minister to Filipino Catholics.
The Order’s recent General Chapter in Krakow, Poland placed emphasis on mission and collaboration, with the Philippines among the provinces vigorously responding to the call for evangelization, he said.
“When we were talking about collaboration, we collaborate and send people, not because we have so much or we don’t need people, but because we believe in it,” Dela Cruz said, echoing his message during a plenary in the gathering of Dominican superiors. “By doing so, it is changing us in a positive way.”
Filipino Dominicans, long active in the Asia-Pacific region, are now being sought in dioceses with large Filipino communities or where clergy are sparse, an unusual development in the province’s history, he said.
The province has been sending Filipino missionaries to Indonesia and Sri Lanka, as the two countries are part of the Philippine province.
The province recently deployed friars to Belgium and Malta to support the growing population of overseas Filipino workers.
In January, Fr. Paul Reagan Talavera, O.P., former parish priest of the UST Santisimo Rosario Parish, was sent to Gibraltar, a British territory with no existing religious community, to help Dominicans establish a permanent presence in the area.
Countries in the Americas have also requested missionaries, among them Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Grenada, and the Bahamas.
Citing the expanding scope of the Filipino Dominicans’ work, Dela Cruz quoted Master of the Order Fr. Gerard Francisco Timoner III and said their mission is grounded in hope, the theme of the 2025 Jubilee.
“I am not optimistic, but I have great hope. Hope is based on the certainty that God will never abandon us,” Timoner was quoted by Dela Cruz as saying during the Krakow General Chapter.
Dela Cruz encouraged UST educators to fulfill their role as part of the broader Dominican mission.
“Because mission is not only outbound, it’s also inbound. Sa inyong pagtuturo, capture the spirit of mission and faith. And this will keep you alive,” Dela Cruz said.
