Two California bishops spoke of their immigrant childhoods, while a third bishop from the Philippines spoke of recovering the "Asian-ness" of Christianity, and a Vatican envoy of Chinese ancestry and two religious sisters of Japanese descent shared their knowledge with attendees of the nationwide Asian Pacific Institute of Ministry and Mission held last week at Mount St. Mary's College in Los Angeles.

Attending workshops and seminars were about 65 representatives from the out-of-state dioceses of Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Phoenix, and from the California dioceses of Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego and Los Angeles. Represented ethnic communities included Brazilian, Cambodian, Chinese, Egyptian, Filipino, India, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Mexican, Thai, Tongan and Vietnamese.

"This is very enlightening, useful and helpful," said Huy Ngo of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a Vietnamese parish in Salt Lake City. "The resources here are great, the envy of a small community of about 600 people from about 150 families."

Ngo said Salt Lake City Diocese Bishop George Niederauer recommended he and Steve To attend the pastoral institute. To said he would ask the bishop to have current and future priests take classes on multiculturalism and to have some diversity training.

San Gabriel Region Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala, of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, remembers that his first memory, as a 5-year-old, of being in the United States instead of Mexico, was not a good one.

Bishop Zavala said Aug. 5 that it was "La Migra," the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), called the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) since March 2003, broke down his family's door in one of the frequent raids of immigrant homes during the 1950s.

Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Solis, the first Filipino American in the United States to be ordained bishop, joined Bishop Zavala the evening of Aug. 5 in a kava ceremony celebrated by Tongan Americans from Holy Innocents parish in Long Beach. Bishop Solis coordinates outreach to pastoral efforts for all ethnic groups throughout the 5-million member archdiocese.

Meantime, San Bernardino Bishop Gerald Barnes, a keynote speaker during the four-day conference at the Mount's Doheny Campus, spoke Aug. 6 of growing up as an Irish-Mexican American in Boyle Heights.

The bishop reminded pastoral institute attendees that the church needs to provide opportunities for leaders from all ethnic groups to confidently step forward and serve. He said that his sense of urgency especially applies to the Asian-Pacific Islander community.

"The Asian Pacific Islanders' time has come," he said.

Bishop Luis Antonio "Chito" Tagle, of Manila, Philippines, also reminded pastoral institute members that Jesus was born in Western Asia.

"Word became flesh in Asia. Christianity and the church began in Asia. The Holy Land of Western Asia spread to all of the Earth," he said Aug. 6. Some in the audience did a double take in renewed recognition of the facts.

In the Diocese of Phoenix, the fast-growing Asian-Pacific Islander communities fall under the auspices of the Hispanic Ministry office. Bibiana Chaves, a Filipina American, said it's frustrating when people try to find services and don't realize they have to go through the Hispanic Ministry office.

"New residents call me, personally, when they need services," she said Aug. 8. Even though the Phoenix Diocese has a Multicultural Diversity Team and a once-a-year multi-lingual Mass in Croatian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish and other languages, she says she'll urge Bishop Thomas Olmstead to open an Asian-Pacific Islander ministry.

Phoenix Deacon Sione Hola, who is of Tongan descent, couldn't agree more. He said the institute was a highlight of his deaconship.

"I want to strengthen their sense of belonging to the Catholic Church and that the bishop will represent their worries with their voices of what we have discovered for the first time here," Hola said Aug. 8. "It's almost inexplicable what I got from this."

What he got were topics including: "Asian Women in Scriptures," taught by Maryknoll Sister Joanne Haruko Doi Inouye, and "Church of Asia: China, Japan, Korea," taught in part by Vatican envoy Franciscan Father Paul Peter Pang, director of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and Sister Cecilia Nakajima.

Brother Denny Wahyudi, a seminarian at Xavierian Missionaries in Chicago, who also works with Father Arthur Taraborelli of St. Thomas Aquinas parish in Philadelphia, was happy to meet fellow Indonesians at the four-day pastoral institute. He wants the bishops in each of the dioceses he serves to support the institute not just for other priests and religious but also because of Asian-Pacific Islander parishioners.

Meanwhile, Gabriel Hwang, of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, said it was the first time he ever attended this type of institute and hoped other Korean American Catholics would participate next year, not just with the institute but also with the concurrent Building Inclusive Communities event. He also suggested that for his community, it would be important for the bishop to invite participation of the lay leaders and priests.

And Gene Cortez, a Filipino American from Las Vegas, was counting on what he learned at the institute and a little luck and prayer.

"This is a big help," Cortez, a former radio talk show host, said. "Once I get back, I will fuel the leaders. I will gather them and meet with our parish priest and with God's help go to Bishop Joseph Pepe."

The Asian Pastoral Institute, Southwest Region, the last in a series sponsored by Pastoral Care for Migrant and Refugee Services, was funded by a grant form the Raskob Foundation. Its main purpose is the development of theological and ministerial skills of Asian and Pacific pastoral ministers in accordance with pastoral responses recommended by the 2001 U.S. bishops' pastoral document, "Asian and Pacific Presence: Harmony in Faith.