Community and identity: easy come, easy go?

After a visit to Sabah last month, my brother remarked that the Catholic community there was noticeably friendlier, warmer, or simply put, more in essence of what a community should be. Told him it’s because Catholics are the minority in predominantly-Muslim Sabah, and as human nature goes, identity is more pronounced and sought after when it encounters a threat–be it domination, extinction, restriction.

Maybe a big reason for the weak Filipino Catholic identity is because being Catholic is the status quo here. It’s laid out on a silver platter for us, no struggle to access it, so we take it for granted. What would happen if churches weren’t everywhere in Manila, and if masses were held only once in every church every Sunday? If the crucifix and the priest were as elusive as the Marcos gold, would people then seek them out?