Bart Rapson had brought his family to the Philippines to a job assignment for a multinational corporation. While not particularly religious themselves, having largely abandoned the practice of Catholicism except for token appearance at Christmas and Easter, they still felt that their children might benefit from belonging to a church. They explained to friends that the church could give children a sense of belonging and provide some moral and ethical guidance. Since Philippines believe in Catholic largely, it was easy for Bart to place his 7-year-old daughter in a Sunday school class that would prepare her for her First Communion. As the day approached, Bart planned for another church party, inviting colleagues and their families from work. One Filipino colleague, Manuel, to whom Bart felt especially close, kept putting off an answer to Bart’s invitation, saying neither “yes” nor “no”. Finally Bart said, “My wife needs to know how many people to cook for.” Still not giving a yes or no answer, Manuel later called and said that he would be attending a different party that would be attended by other Filipinos, but Bart did not recognize anyone from the list. Manuel said that he would try to stop by sometime during Bart’s party. Bart was quite upset. He complained, “If this is supposedly a Catholic country, why would they not place a value on this? Why would he turn down a once-in-lifetime gathering, my daughter’s First Communion, to go to a party with friends he admits to seeing all the time? After the party, Bart was merely cordial to Manuel-there were no longer any indications of friendliness. Manuel was puzzled, and had no idea what the problem was. The director of the organization, a sensitive person, picked up the cause and realized that there was a strained relationship. Questions for discussion : Why did Bart feel upset in this case? What was Manuel’s problem and what should he pay attention to next time?