Women religious in the trenches redux

Some years ago I wrote a column piece titled “Catholic women religious in the trenches,” which was about these women responding to human crisis and how these are chronicled in the Global Sisters Report (GSR) of the National Catholic Reporter. They hit the ground running and soldier on quietly in the trenches, so to speak, without fanfare, despite attacks from political powers that be and internal conflagrations in the hierarchical/patriarchal church to which they belong.

In my article, “Give what you can, take what you need: Catholic sisters join community food pantry effort in the Philippines,” that came out yesterday in GSR, I pointed this out again in relation to the sprouting of community pantries that serve the needy as begun and inspired by Ana Patricia Non on Maginhawa Street in Quezon City in mid-April. The rest is one for the books, I say, and the story continues as more concerned citizens, among them congregations of nuns, do likewise. Nuns were also among the first to denounce government officials, particularly those from the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict who red-tagged Non’s initiative, casting aspersions on her motives as if she was destabilizing the Duterte administration. But wonderfully subversive, I said with delight.

Here are excerpts from the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines’ statement:

“The AMRSP wholeheartedly supports the community pantries sprouting all over the country, inspired by the Maginhawa Community Pantry. These noble efforts at bayanihan and bahaginan are rooted in the commandment ‘to love thy neighbor as Christ loved us.’ There is nothing sinister or diabolical with loving, caring and acting in solidarity with one another…

“We remind those in power that they are servants—not masters—of the people. People are tired of quarantines. People have lost jobs and loved ones. People are hungry. People are in distress. Instead of harassing, maligning and belittling these innocent community efforts, we challenge those in authority to join and be a part of it…

“AMRSP encourages each congregation to put its resources, how little they may be, at the service of the community pantries… Let us listen to the words of John the Baptist howling in the wilderness: ‘Whoever has two tunics should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise (Luke 3, 11).’ “

Newly installed prioress of the Missionary Benedictine Sisters Mother Mary Thomas Prado rued these times “when citizen’s initiatives are politicized, when community sharing and humanitarian aid are considered subversive acts.” While the Benedictine sisters in Manila already have several pandemic-related outreach ministries—such as a feeding program, providing food for health care frontline workers at the government-run Philippine General Hospital, and a day shelter for the junk gatherers — the community pantry was still set up not only to provide food for the needy, she said, but also as a show of support for Non.

Added to the list of women religious who have set up community pantries are the Religious of the Good Shepherd, Missionaries of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres, Daughters of Charity, Sisters of Pro Infante et Familia, and the Canossian Sisters. Several congregations of women I had contacted said they are also planning their own community pantries.

This is not to say that their male counterparts are idle. The brave men in the trenches, diocesan clergy, religious, and lay (I cite photojournalist Alex Baluyot’s ARMK which has been cooking, serving hot meals on-site for communities during disasters for a couple of years now) are doing their part.

A nun recently shared an article, “Women of compassion and their involvement in the suffering of the whole of creation,” by P. Mauro-Giuseppe Lepori, a Cistercian monk.

“The first appearance of Mary in the Gospel of John, at the wedding in Cana quite nicely illustrates this attitude. The compassion of Mary seems to be above all in her feminine attention to the situation. Mary seems to be the only one to have noticed the lack of wine at this wedding. She does not react as the apostles often will, who, faced with others’ difficulties, asked Jesus to send them away so as to look after themselves without disturbing them. Mary… takes charge and looks after things. This is typically feminine.”

My unsolicited advice to those with more than enough in these deadly pandemic times: Spend, so that others may earn.

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