MANITOULIN—There were World Day of Prayer events held across Manitoulin on Friday, March 3, this year with the theme ‘Am I Being Unfair To You?’ and written by the World Day of Prayer Committee of the Philippines.
The event gave those in attendance a brief glimpse into the lives of Filipino women, who once occupied a high status in the community until colonial cultures introduced feudalism “which led to the subordination of women to men in the whole archipelago.”
Today, the Philippines is among the largest migrant countries of origin in the world, the order of service noted. “In this day in age, women take on the role of breadwinner as they go abroad to work at a staggering social cost to the country. While the government creates policies to facilitate the work abroad and enacts laws to protect them, migrant workers remain vulnerable to exploitation, violence and discrimination.”
Rev. Cory Vermeer-Cuthbert of the Espanola United Church gave the meditation at the St. Bernard’s Catholic Church event in Little Current on the topic ‘am I being unfair to you?’ reminding worshippers that we don’t need to look to find our own unfairness, noting the many unfair situations in our own backyard: First Nations communities without safe drinking water, with inadequate housing, communities facing a youth suicide epidemic and the many missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.
chicken and rice prepared for the World Day of Prayer.
“May God continue to provoke us into good deeds and grant us a place where no one would be treated unfairly,” Rev. Vermeer-Cuthbert said.
The St. Bernard’s event concluded with a delicious Filipino lunch including chicken, rice and bread.
