Filipino Church leaders Archbishop Gilbert Garcera and Cardinal Virgilio David have some wise advice.
When reading about the suffering of Christians in Nigeria, one fact stands out: Despite the difficulties of attending Mass there, a report in 2023 showed that 94% of self-identified Nigerian Catholics surveyed said they attend weekly or daily Mass.
This is in contrast to many other countries, where it is much easier to attend Mass and yet fewer do. The most recent survey conducted by the Philippines Social Weather Station in 2023 shows 37% of Filipinos attend Mass weekly.
One Filipino priest noted in a 2024 homily that most of those who do not attend Mass likely do not understand what the Eucharist is. He based his hypothesis on a study conducted by the Episcopal Youth Commission around 2000, which found that only 37% of young people received the sacraments regularly. At the time of his homily last year, this youth cohort would already have reached ages 35-50, the same age range as those interviewed in the 2023 SWS survey.
These percentages are far from encouraging, given that statistics show that Catholics make up 75% of Filipinos. These studies indicate that Filipino Catholicism would benefit from re-evangelizing baptized Catholics.
A worthy goal for the local Church would be to equip ordinary Filipino Catholics with the intellectual and spiritual formation they need to transform their inherited faith into personal conviction. Armed with this conviction, we become better at inspiring our families and friends to follow Jesus with greater fidelity.
In the last quarter of 2025, two Filipino bishops shared insights on how ordinary Filipino Catholics can be better evangelists in 2026 and beyond.
Stories, not arguments
Cardinal Virgilio David, in an address delivered to the Asian Mission Congress on November 29, 2025, in Penang, Malaysia, recommended that Asians learn to spread the Gospel through “lived experience, cultural memory, and shared dialogue.” In particular, he highlighted the importance of storytelling in the Asian tradition.
He said long before doctrines and formal theology, Asian cultures transmitted truth through epics, legends, parables, and shared memories.
The Church, he added, should draw from this tradition by engaging people not through arguments or pressure but through witness, compassion, and presence.
This emphasis echoes Cardinal Antonio Luis Tagle's remarks on Christian leadership from a 2017 interview. In that conversation, he shared that stories are more persuasive than solutions when leaders face human dilemmas (i.e., problems without clear solutions).
Cardinal David broadens the audience for Cardinal Tagle’s insight to all Catholics, since the Church calls each one to guide the world back to Jesus.
Yet, according to the cardinal, this shared vocation, especially in the Philippines and across Asia, requires relational and respectful approaches rather than forceful debate. He emphasized that this gentler approach to sharing the Gospel would help heal wounds from colonialism, through which Christianity first came to Asia. He reminded the congress that this gentler style requires us to live the Gospel before preaching it and recommended we imitate what Jesus did on the Road to Emmaus.
In that conversation, Jesus did not reveal his identity using words. What unveiled the mystery was the moment he broke bread. By referring to this story, Cardinal David reminds Filipinos of how actions are often the most powerful “words” we have when sharing the treasure of our faith.
Let us make gadget-free meals the norm again
On December 28, 2025, on the Feast of the Holy Family, the President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, Archbishop Gilbert Garcera, invited his congregation to resume the practice of family meals without gadgets. He told his audience, “Families no longer talk to each other.” He lamented that in many homes, parents and children tap away on their phones instead of engaging in meaningful conversation.
The bishop reminded his listeners that conversation around the family table is a powerful way to build unity at home. His invitation to keep gadgets away is also one way Filipino parents can persuasively transmit their faith to their children. Even without discussing the Creed, their attentive dialogue with their children mirrors God's attentiveness to the heart of every believer.
Making this habit a pillar of family life will help the seed of faith take deeper root in both parents and children.
We need to reflect on what a loving family really is
In the same homily, Archbishop Garcera called attention to the tendency among Filipinos to muddle the difference between children and pets.
“Dogs and cats are now being treated as family members,” he said, citing pastoral incidents in the archdiocese involving requests for special treatment for animals during church services.
According to Archbishop Garcera, this partly amusing confusion can be an invitation to reflect earnestly on what a loving family really is. The hope is, once Filipinos have reflected on this question, they will be better able to love and guide their families according to God’s wise design, which, according to St. John Paul the Great, is the best foundation for every nation, and the whole world:
“As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.” (Familiaris Consortio)
