Filipino community shares faith, culture at monthly Utica Mass

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Father Eduardo Pesigan, a native of the Philippines, is the parochial vicar of St. Mark and St. Peter parishes in North Utica, assisting the pastor, Father Thomas Servatius, who also shepherds other Utica congregations. One of them is Historic Old St. John’s Church.

Some months after he arrived in Utica last year, Fr. Pesigan approached his pastor with an idea to host a Mass for the Filipino community.

“I said, ‘Is it possible to have a Filipino Mass permanently scheduled in this area?’ Because I saw a number of Filipinos,” Father inquired. Fr. Servatius replied, “If you’d like to have the Filipino Mass, the best place is Old St. John.”

Historic Old St. John is centrally located in Utica, Fr. Pesigan explained, and already welcomes a diverse group of people to its scheduled Masses, including Vietnamese, Hispanics, Italians and others. And now, they have a Filipino history, too.

The Filipino community recently celebrated its first anniversary of having a Mass devoted to their people, spoken by Fr. Pesigan in the Filipino language. “And I do that because I’m a Filipino and I’m an expert to that,” Father added with a laugh. The Mass is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month at 2 p.m.

“And every Filipino knows the schedule because we put that on the internet,” Father said. “And they always look forward to this special occasion.”

After each Mass, the community enjoys a meal featuring their homeland’s favorite foods and dishes. Father says the Mass generally takes just under an hour, “but they talk to one another for two to three hours more,” he said. “This is because the Filipinos like gathering as community. They like family, but what unites them as a community and as a family is their Catholic faith.”

Father said there are 85 million Catholic Filipinos worldwide.

“We really like to go to Mass, and when a Filipino comes to a new place, the first thing that he will ask is ‘Where is the church?’” Father added, “In our day-to-day secular life, we cannot move away from our Catholic faith. We always make the Sign of the Cross. It’s a way of saying that ‘God, I will trust my life to you.’”

Fr. Pesigan shared that the Filipino people have special devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to our Blessed Mother. He said that as many as 60 to 70 people may attend the monthly Mass during the Christmas and Easter seasons, but seldom less than 40 to 50 at other times. They come from a wide area surrounding Utica, some traveling from as far as Syracuse and Albany.

“At Christmas, they traveled that far one time, three nurses from Albany, to join the Filipino Mass in Utica,” he said. “They were looking for their own language. And of course, not only that. The thing here is community when it seems they are far away from home.”

The Utica Filipino community is currently enjoying some additional fame as one of their own is a current (at press time) contestant on the popular NBC program, The Voice. Sofronio Vasquez scored a four-chair turn in his October blind audition, the best result possible. He also scored in the hearts of his community during a recent Mass at Historic Old St. John, singing “Amazing Grace” as part of the liturgy. Fr. Pesigan was not surprised that a fellow Filipino, even a person in such demand, would make the effort to join in.

“As I told you, the one thing that binds them, makes them strong as a family, as a community, is their faith, the Catholic faith.”

Editor’s note: Fr. Pesigan invites all Filipinos to attend the Mass. It’s held on the first Sunday of each month at 2 p.m. Historic Old St. John Church is located at 240 Bleecker St., Utica (13501).