Melanio Viuya, Missionary of Peace and Justice (and Fun)

By: Bob Boyer

 

Melanio Viuya is a Philippine missionary who ministers to a diverse immigrant population in Los Angeles, USA. I met him just this past September. It was “Mission Appeal” Sunday at the campus church, the St. Norbert College Parish.

I confess that I have been suspicious of missionary work because it sometimes comes with a colonial mentality. In my mind, the missionary is typically a priest or religious from the US (the developed world) who is working or has worked in Latin America, Africa or Asia in developing countries. Father Melanio (‘Mer’) Viuya, however, has made me re-evaluate my skeptical, perhaps stereotypical, view of missionaries and mission work.

To start with, he was clearly Filipino. His English was impeccable but with a Philippine lilt that had become familiar to me when I taught at the University of the Philippines Diliman, QC. So here was a Filipino coming to a parish in Los Angeles, USA, to do missionary work, someone from the developing world ministering to the needy in the developed world. I was delighted. He clearly represented a nontraditional, though growing model of a missionary.

Fr. Melanio puts the initials MJ after his name. His order is the Missionaries of Jesus. It is a very young order, founded in the Philippines on June 12, 2002. The June 12 date is, of course, significant, though their information doesn’t specify why. It is Philippine Independence Day. The founders were 41 Philippine and Belgian missionary priests. They now have fifteen seminarians or “candidates” for the order. Judging from the video clip (google it) the candidates are all Filipinos. The order’s mission statement repeatedly uses the word “marginal” or “the marginalized.” The missionaries “cross boundaries, break barriers—working for a world of peace, justice and inclusivity” (Fr. Melanio is the source for all quotations).

The MJs have two parishes in Los Angeles where Fr. Melanio is stationed. They minister to migrants. “In a multi-cultural setting, we are committed to building inclusive communities of faith.” But the US is just one of four countries in which they work at a variety of tasks, always with the marginalized of society. There are three MJs in “one of the poorest regions” of Northern Guatemala, serving the spiritual and basic physical needs of Maya Indian peasants. Four Missionaries of Jesus teach in schools and run four parishes in Papua, New Guinea.

And they do impressive mission work in the Philippines, mainly in the southern Island of Mandanao, though they also have an inner-city mission in Rizal, Metro Manila. They run a school in Lanao, Davao del Sur, Mindanao. In a bit of understatement, Fr. Melanio notes that “the area can be characterized by a lot of conflict.” The majority population in Lanao is Muslim, and there is still friction between Muslims and the Philippine government that can carry over to anger directed at the local Christian population. The MJ school, which teaches both Muslims and Christians, works to develop a constructive “dialogue” so that the students avoid being “drawn into the cycle of violence.”

A second mission in Davao del Sur, Mindanao is to the “Lumad people,” one of the remaining indigenous groups in the Philippines. Literacy is a major concern. “We have three tribal schools helping children to read and write.” Another big concern is health, which the MJ’s, with help from Philippines health providers, address “with a mobile clinic.” The missionaries also help the Lumad people to understand their rights regarding “their ancestral domains,” in particular “to fight destructive mining practices.” All of this work is organized by the four Missionaries of Jesus stationed in Digos. This past February (2014) the local health providers received a big boost when Fr. Melanio led a group of dental-medical practitioners from Los Angeles to the Digos area to provide their services. Most of the professionals were Philippine Americans, but with a few of their ‘Kano’ colleagues, from Los Angeles. Many of them were in a Marriage Preparation Group. “Fr. Mer” is their Spiritual Director.

One of the first traits that attracted me about Fr. Melanio is his sense of humor. Speaking about his work, he says, “Hopefully I am not only raising funds for the mission but also raise fun and fondness for the mission.” An admirable missionary philosophy, and very Filipino.

Please contact Bob Boyer at Robert.boyer@snc.edu or at (anamericaninmanila.com>.