Morality of the Heart

MORALITY OF THE HEART Š 2013 Eugene Salgado Elivera with Joselito Alviar Jose Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture texts are taken from the New American Bible with Revised New Testament and Revised Psalms Š 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Published and distributed by Paulines Publishing House Daughters of St. Paul 2650 F.B. Harrison Street 1300 Pasay City, Philippines E-mail: edpph@paulines.ph Website: www.paulines.ph All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Cover design: Ann Marie Nemenzo, FSP Cover painting: Adelito Posas, MD First Printing 2013 ISBN 978-971-590-729-3

at the service of the Gospel and culture

TABLE OF Contents Foreword Abbreviations Acknowledgment

viii x xii

INTRODUCTION a. Brief History of Moral Theology in the Philippines b. The Filipino Identity c. Local Approaches to Moral Theology

1 4 10

PART ONE: THE WELLSPRINGS OF MORAL THEOLOGY IN THE PHILIPPINE SETTING CHAPTER I: MORAL THEOLOGY IN THE

LOCAL MAGISTERIUM 1. The Plenary Councils of the Philippines a. The First Plenary Council of the Philippines b. The Second Plenary Council of the Philippines b.1. History and Content b.2. PCP-II on Moral Theology b.3. Implementation and Reception b.4. Ten Years Later 2. The Catechism for Filipino Catholics a. Historical Background b. Content and Observations c. Moral Theology in the CFC 3. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines a. Catholic Welfare Organization (1945-1965) b. Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (1966-1995) c. Into the Third Millennium (1996-Onward) d. Pastoral Letters

16 16 17 17 24 25 27 28 28 31 32 36 37 38 41 43

CHAPTER II: INSTITUTIONS AND JOURNALS 1. The University of Santo Tomas a. History b. Ecclesiastical Faculties c. Boletin Ecclesiastico de Filipinas d. Philippiniana Sacra 2. The Ateneo de Manila University a. History b. Loyola School of Theology c. Philippine Studies d. Landas 3. The Divine Word Seminary a. History b. Diwa 4. The Maryhill School of Theology a. History b. MST Review 5. The East Asian Pastoral Institute a. History b. EAP Review 6. The John J. Carroll Institute on Church and Social Issues a. History b. Intersect and Other JJCICSI Publications 7. More Recent Institutions and Publications a. St. Vincent School of Theology and Hapag b. Don Bosco Center of Studies and Lantayan c. DAKATEO CHAPTER III: PROTAGONISTS Abesamis, Carlos, SJ Arevalo, Catalino, SJ Astorga, Christina Bacani, Teodoro, DD Belita, Jaime, CM Bernas, Joaquin, SJ

53 53 55 56 57 58 58 60 61 62 62 62 65 65 65 68 68 68 70 71 71 72 73 73 74 75 76 77 81 85 86 88 90

Brazal, Agnes Bulatao, Jaime, SJ Cabezon, Antonio, OP Carroll, John, SJ Claver, Francisco, SJ, DD De la Costa, Horacio, SJ De la Torre, Edicio De Mesa, Jose De Torre, Joseph Gaston, Gregory Ramon Genilo, Eric Marcelo, SJ Giordano, Pasquale, SJ Gorospe, Vitaliano, SJ Gomez, Fausto, OP Healy, Gerald, SJ Hechanova, Luis, CSsR Intengan, Romeo, SJ Keenan, James, SJ Labayen, Julio, OCD, DD Lambino, Antonio Latorre, Roberto Ledesma, Antonio, SJ, DD McDonagh, Sean, SSC Mercado, Leonardo, SVD Miranda, Dionisio, SVD Peschke, Karl, SVD Tanseco, Ruben, SJ Other Authors

PART TWO: BASIC CONTOURS OF MORAL

THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION IN

THE PHILIPPINES INTRODUCTION Peculiarities of the Filipino Moral Psyche

92 94 96 97 99 104 106 108 111 114 116 117 119 126 129 130 132 134 135 138 140 141 143 145 146 149 150 151

158

CHAPTER IV: NOTIONS OF FUNDAMENTAL

MORAL THEOLOGY IN THE

LOCAL CONTEXT 1. The Human Person a. The Human Person in Local Moral Reflection b. Affirmations of the Local Magisterium Regarding the Human Person 2. Conscience a. Conscience in the Local Context b. Conscience in Local Moral Reflection c. Conscience According to the Local Magisterium 3. Sin a. The Notion of Sin in the Local Context b. Local Theological Considerations of Sin c. Sin According to the Local Magisterium 4. Moral Law a. The Notion of Law in the Local Context b. Law According to the Local Magisterium 5. Virtues a. Local Reflections on Virtues b. Virtues in the Local Magisterium CHAPTER V: LIFE AND FAMILY ISSUES 1. The First Debate: Reception Humanae Vitae in the Philippines a. Historical Background b. Reception 2. The Second Debate: Legislation on Reproductive Health a. The Bill and Its Theologico-Moral Implications b. Archbishop Ledesma’s Proposal and the Debate on Church Collaboration with Public Health Programs

164 164 169 170 170 172 173 175 175 177 180 183 183 184 186 187 192

197 198 200 212 213 217

CHAPTER VI: CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING IN

THE PHILIPPINES 1. Political Morals a. Political Morals According to the Local Magisterium b. Theological Discussion on People Power Revolution of 1986 2. Socio-Economic Morals a. Local Magisterium on the Philippine Socio-Economic Situation b. Social Apostolate as the Church’s Response c. Social Doctrine Principles According to the Local Magisterium d. A Concrete Point of Debate: Liberation Theology in the Philippines

220 220 225 228 228 230 232 242

CONCLUDING ESSAY

247

BIBLIOGRAPHY

262

APPENDIX

273

F O R E WO RD The present book, which evolved from the doctoral dissertation of Fr. Eugene Elivera at the University of Navarra, is very timely, as it is published in the Year of Faith, which (among other things) celebrates the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council.

While it is true that reflection on the Christian faith has been going on in our country for nearly five centuries, it is also true that the decades following the Second Vatican Council have witnessed a blossoming of theological thought in the Philippines. This work aims to provide a first overall view of the local production, particularly in the field of Christian morality and ethics. The authors survey institutions, individual theologians and published works, and identify the principal themes and lines of thrust, and thus paint a variegated yet somehow unified picture – a bit like our halu-halo, which employs diverse ingredients in a harmonious combination.

So far, few works have been published with such an ambitiously wide scope. This book is therefore a meritorious contribution to the ongoing process of local theological maturation. It may be taken as a starting-point rather than as a culmination. Others will, hopefully, complete, nuance or even correct the information and evaluation here provided. Still, the mere existence of this book already provokes some considerations.

Firstly, the amount of literature detected by the survey shows how much local theological effort has been going on, especially in the areas of inculturation, family and life issues, and social and political questions. This indicates a serious desire on the part of local thinkers to maintain close touch with the everyday lives of the Filipinos; in other words, to develop a theology that is truly relevant.

In turn, this reminds us of the urgency of the task of making the Savior really present in all the circumstances of Filipino daily living.

This can only be possible, as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has said

FOREWORD

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in announcing the Year of Faith (and referring to the Catechism of the Catholic Church), if pastors and thinkers present “no theory, but an encounter with a Person who lives within the Church” (Porta fidei, 11). In order to make Christ live effectively in Filipinos’ hearts and conduct, it is necessary to stimulate not only their intellect but also their spirit of prayer and meditation.

Secondly, the variety of theological positions—which later thinkers will have to evaluate in greater depth and detailpoints to the perennial challenge of developing life-principles in perfect harmony with the teachings of Jesus Christ. A process of continual discernment is here needed on the part of both theologians and members of the hierarchy. And for this to be feasible, the exercise of humility is essential, since the luminous ethical ground-principles we hold as Christians are not in fact our own, but a gift from above that we must respect and protect.

Humility allows all of us to maintain fidelity to Christ’s revelation as well as ecclesial unity. Matibay ang walis, sapagkat nakabigkis.

It is my hope that the present work will provide a stimulus to others interested in doing a truly relevant local reflection on Christ’s teaching on personal holiness and social concern. In expressing this hope I am reminded of other traditional native dishes (apart from halu-halo) such as bibingka, turon, dinuguan, and champorado – each one prepared from a variety of local ingredients, all humble, yet with the end result of a harmonious and nourishing delicacy.

With the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of Mary, the ongoing process of moral theological reflection in the Philippines can, within its diversity, bear the mark of unity in charity and fidelity to Christ’s teachings. In this way it will nourish Filipinos and other members of the universal Church in the journey towards eternal life.

Most Rev. Pedro Arigo, DD August 19, 2013 / Memorial of St. Ezekiel Moreno

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n a country like the Philippines where there is a strong concern for moral and social transformation, it seems fitting to analyze the contributions and proposals of local thinkers: How do they attempt to express Christian moral teachings in native categories accessible to the average Filipino? Which elements of the local ethos do the authors judge compatible with Christian moral principles, and which are, by contrast, deemed by authors to be in need of correction? What are the specific ethical issues prevalent in the Philippine scene, to which local thinkers have had to provide answers in accordance with the Gospel? These are the major questions that this work shall attempt to answer.

The work has two major parts. The first part is largely descriptive, giving a glimpse of the “reservoir” of Filipino Moral Theology: relevant moral documents of the local Magisterium, and information on prominent theological institutions and authors and their works.

The second part attempts to draw the precise contours of inculturated moral theology in the Philippines. This is done by identifying the most dominant themes in local theological reflection and grouping them under the major headings of fundamental moral theology, life and family issues, and social questions.

By way of conclusion, the work offers some reflections on, and draws an overall balance of, the efforts expended so far in the field of contextual moral theologizing in the Philippines. An attempt is also made to predict the major “directions” which moral theologizing in the Philippines may take in the future.

A Brief History of Moral Theology in the Philippines In contrast to the well-established and systematic historical accounts of contextual moral theology in Africa or Latin

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America, there is a dearth of such accounts for the Philippine scene. The present section seeks to offer a broad outline of the history of moral theology in the Philippines, by identifying the predominant themes of each period.1 During the pre-Hispanic period, morality revolved around the ancient traditions of the clans and tribes that emigrated from Malaysian and Indonesian islands to the Philippine archipelago.

These traditions were a mélange of ancestral human wisdom and presumably divine prescriptions.2 It took an objective form in customary laws, called adat, which defined moral right and wrong. The adat and the inner voice of conscience were taken by the natives to be the voice of the gods, expressed through human nature.

Later on, during the Hispanic period, probably as an effect of the missionaries’ preaching, the prevalent theme became the “fear of the Lord.”3 Local consciences seemed moved more from the outside than from within: by laws, social norms and expectations, and ecclesiastical prescriptions. It may be said that morality during this period was a juxtaposition of two heterogeneous realities—the commandments preached by the evangelizers and colonizers, and the obedience, at least external, of the native Filipinos. This juxtaposition would be ruptured by the Philippine Revolution at the end of 19th century. In this revolution, the key concept among Katipuneros (revolutionaries who fought against the Spanish regime) was katuwiran (straight or upright reasoning—probably an echo of the European 1.

In this section, we shall basically follow Miranda’s draft of history of moral theology in the Philippines. Cf. D.M. MIRANDA, Kaloob ni Kristo: A Filipino Christian Account of Conscience, Logos Publications, Inc., Manila 2003, pp. 189-198.

2. Ibid., pp. 190-191. See also V. GOROSPE, “Sources of Filipino Moral Consciousness,” in Philippine Studies 25/3 (1977) 278-301. Gorospe considers adat as both source and force of morals during the Pre-Hispanic Period. Gorospe studies adat as the unwritten customary law of national tribal minorities in the Philippines; he considers four indigenous groups: Tasaday, T´boli, Tiruray, and Ifugao-Kalinga.

3. Ibid.

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3

Illustration) which permitted individuals to see whether the landas (way) leading from dilim (darkness) to liwanag (light) was tuwid (straight). Other key themes during this period of transition, from the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century were: the moral right of the Filipino people to become a nation, the Christian meaning of duties and responsibilities of the Filipino mother, father, and children (as epitomized in the novel Urbano at Felisa4), and the sacrifice and effort necessary to achieve change, purification, and transition (as epitomized in the Pasyon5).

The coming of the Americans to the Philippines brought a variation in the Filipinos’ moral thinking.6 A new ethos arrived, characterized by individualism, freedom, legalism, utilitarianism, materialism, democracy, critique, and analysis.

Moral consciousness was “privatized” (in the Anglo-Saxon mode), dampening development of the social, economic, political moral sense of right and wrong of the Filipinos. Additionally, the Protestant ethos made itself felt. The notions of democracy and personal liberty resulted in an even greater stress being laid on individual conscience and the right to dissent. Finally, the pragmatic way of thinking laid greater emphasis on concrete rights than on abstract notions like truth, justice and so on.7 4.

Urbana at Felisa, a novel written in 1864 by Modesto de Castro, relates the importance of purity and ideal virtues that married people should practice and cultivate.

5. Pasyon is a form of the passion narrative popular in the Philippines especially during the Lenten season or Holy Week. It exerted a strong influence on 19thcentury Filipinos. The people, especially the masses, saw the suffering and death of Christ as a hidden spiritual power enabling the people to achieve what hitherto they thought was impossible. “Filipino heroes and fighters exhorted each other to control loob at the cost of dusa (suffering) and to share in the suffering of Christ (damay) in order to reach liwanag (“light”) and kalayaan (“freedom”) in Paradise.” Cf. R. C. ILETO, Pasyon and Revolution, Ateneo de Manila University Press, Quezon City 1997, 296 pp.

6. MIRANDA, Kaloob ni Kristo, p. 195.

7. Miranda observes another aspect of the American influence that constitutes a particular problem even today. American popular culture promotes its values, particularly rugged individualism, patriotic unilateralism, crass materialism,

4

MORALITY OF THE HEART

In the post-colonial era, the problem of a “split-level Christianity” (i.e., the gap between professed Christian beliefs and actual day-to-day conduct) has become prevalent. The contemporary Filipino ethos is a potpourri, characterized as individualistic and familist, mixed with ingredients of secularization, modernization, urbanization, and even postmodernism. (Miranda observes that only in crisis does the Filipino discover or manifest his sense of the larger community or his social conscience, as for instance during the political crisis of the latter days of the Martial Law regime, which culminated in the four days of the “People Power Revolution” of 1986. Miranda also points out the important influence of the moral teachings of the Catholic Church as transmitted by the local hierarchy.

In fact, even today the Catholic Bishops’ Conference (CBCP) remains a prophetic voice of the Church which counteracts the process of secularization in Philippine society.)

B. The Filipino Identity Because the human person is the principal consideration of moral theologizing, it is essential to understand human nature, character, attitudes, orientations, traits, history, context, etc. In other words, it is necessary to be familiar with the identity of the human person, as the “humus” of moral theologizing. The human person, however, does not exist in abstract but rather concrete form. In the case of moral theology in the Philippine milieu, it is necessary to take into account the historical and cultural background of the Filipino, which gives the individual a unique identity.

Since the Philippines is a relatively young nation, any attempt at defining the Filipino identity is necessarily provisional. Foreigners even accuse Filipinos of having an indeterminate or vague identity. However, that may be due sexual hedonism, and others, through films, TV programs, video and pop music and other media forms. Cf. Ibid.

INTRODUCTION

5

to the fact that different authors have attempted to define the Filipino identity from different perspectives, particularly the social and human sciences.

In a 1971 article, Father Bernad, a Jesuit historian, posed the question: “Who is a Filipino?”8 According to him, centuries ago there were, strictly speaking, no “Filipinos.” There were only Visayans and Tagalogs and Ilocanos and Bicolanos and so forth. What we know today as the Philippine Islands was indeed an archipelago, but not one country, and its inhabitants, though racially one, were not one nation. It was only gradually that the collectivity evolved into a nation. The Spaniards put the entire archipelago under one government, thus providing the external structure which made unity possible. However, besides the external structure of government, other elements were needed to forge the Filipino people into nationhood: a common history, a common official language, and a common religion. The passage of time brought about this slow unification. In part this was easy, for although Filipinos lived in a geographically fragmented locus, they all belonged to the same race. They spoke different languages, but they belonged to the same linguistic family: the Malayo-Polynesian. Even more deeply, the archipelago’s inhabitants showed a common set of strong values: hospitality, bravery, politeness, respectfulness, gratefulness, among others. These perennial values, in Bernad’s opinion, continue to characterize the Filipino today.

For his part, Andres describes the Filipino people as hybrid.9 According to him, the present-day Filipino’s personality includes a great variety of external influences which have impinged upon and blended with the original Malay culture: Arabian, Chinese, Indo-Chinese, Hindu-Indonesian, Spanish-Catholic, and American-Protestant. Philippine culture, indeed, has drunk from the fountain of three worlds—the Asian, the Pacific, and 8.

9.

Cf. M.A. BERNAD, “Philippine Culture and the Filipino Identity” in Philippine Studies 19/4 (1971) 573-592.

Cf. T. ANDRES,, Understanding Filipino Values: A Management Approach, New Day Publishers, Quezon City 1981, pp. 2-8.

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the Western. Thus, if we dissect the Filipino, Andres says that it will turn out that the person has a heart of a Spanish Christian and the mind of the American with Malayan roots.

Many of the value judgments, and the social standards of Filipino life, are Spanish in origin, says Andres.10 On the other hand, American ingredients may be found in the Filipino ethics of rationality, of questioning, of independent thinking, of direct communication, and of pragmatism. Whereas in colonial times the Filipino had a docile and obedient mind, now he/she tends to ask questions: “Does it work?” “What has one accomplished?”

The present-day Filipino system of thought is more concerned with things, with quantities and with achievements. The Malay root still survives, however, since the two strongest strains in the Malay character—the readiness to adjust to a new situation and to desire to be above all nice—remain deeply rooted in the Filipino’s psyche. The value of “niceness” is remarkable in the Filipino, as it leads the individual to avoid not so much sin or crime as impropriety.

From the viewpoint of psychology, Licuanan11, defines the strengths and weaknesses of the Filipino character.12 Her thesis 10. The quixoticism -a combination of generosity and arrogance—is culturally Spanish, holds Andres. The Delicadeza mentality (gentility or the emphasis on appearance, reputation, privilege, and status) is likewise typically Spanish.

11. Patricia B. Licuanan, a known psychologist and educator, was then chairperson of the Department of Psychology in AdMU. She was also president of Miriam College, chief executive officer of the Forum in English of Philippine Business for Education at the Asian Institute of Management and trustee of the Center for Asia Pacific Women in Politics. She actively participates in research, training, and advocacy work in applied social psychology, education and educational reform, human resource development and gender issues in the Philippines. She is the current chairman of the Commission on Higher Education in the Aquino Administration.

12. Cf. P. LICUANAN, “A Moral Recovery Program: Building A People, Building A Nation,” in DY, M.B. (ed.), Values in the Philippine Culture and Education, Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change, Series III Asia Volume 7, The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, Washington DC 1994, pp. 35-56. Licuanan identifies strengths in Filipino character: pakikipagkapwa-tao; genuine and deep love for family: a pleasant disposition, a sense of humor, and a propensity for happiness: flexibility, adaptability, and creativity; value of hard work and industry; deep faith in God and innate religiosity; and the ability to survive. As

INTRODUCTION

7

is that many strong points of the Filipino are also sources of weaknesses. For example, being person-oriented, a Filipino shows concern and feels responsible for others. Yet, this trait also leads the person to be concerned for only some people, and yet unfair to some. Family orientation facilitates a sense of rootedness and security, both very essential to any form of reaching out to others. But at the same time, it leads to an in-group orientation that prevents one from reaching out beyond the family to the larger community and the nation. While faith in God and religiosity are sources of strength and courage, these also lead to an external orientation that keeps the Filipino passive and dependent on forces outside of oneself.

The ambivalence of traditional local values as manifested in the Filipino’s mindset and conduct is further developed

by Bulatao in various works. He claims that the Filipino is characteristically split-leveled.”13 The “split level” may be defined as the co-existence within the same person of two or more thought and behavior systems which are inconsistent with each other. Hence, the split-leveled Filipino is one who professes allegiance to ideas, attitudes, and ways of behaving mainly derived from the Christian West; while at another level the person holds convictions which are more properly one’s “own” ways of living and believing, derived from pre-Hispanic times.

(One typical example is that of a police officer who goes to Mass regularly and considers himself a devout Catholic, but who nevertheless collects “tong” (extortion money) from small vendors in the district. Another example is that of a person who has many Christian practices but is at the same time very superstitious.)

While the phenomenon of “Split-Level Personality” may also be found in other cultures, it seems to make itself more forcefully felt regards weaknesses, Licuanan enumerates extreme personalism, extreme familycenteredness, lack of discipline, passivity and lack or initiative, colonial mentality, kanya-kanya syndrome, and lack of self-analysis and self-reflection.

13. Cf. J. BULATAO, Split- Level Christianity, Ateneo de Manila University Press, Quezon City 1966; also in Philippine Social Review 13/2 (1965) 139-151.

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in the Philippines, with its history of simultaneous colonization and Christianization by an outside power.

For his part, Claver, a Jesuit anthropologist, centers on the unfortunate, uncontrollable phenomena that unceasingly beset the nation—natural disasters.14 According to one study, the Philippines is one of the countries most affected by natural calamities (typhoons, volcanic eruptions, droughts, floods, mudslides, etc.). Claver remarks that the Philippines could rightly be called “the Natural Disaster Capital of the World.”

This fact configures the Filipino’s identity.

Claver thinks that the traits of poverty, religiosity, musicality, resiliency, love for the family, and corruption, typical of the Filipino, are partly due to the destructive occurrences of natural causation.15 Being subject to relentless disasters renders the Filipino at same time poor and deeply religious.

The Filipino firmly relies on God’s providence. At the same time, the individual can drift easily from deep religiosity to extreme superstition, which has pre-Spanish roots. As regards the Filipino’s musicality and sense of humor, Claver holds that they are the person’s ways of enduring a harsh environment. To sing and to laugh about one’s problems lighten one’s spirit. And they lead to another trait—resiliency and patience in the face of misfortune. Though some see this trait as a defect leading to mediocrity, frivolity, and passivity, it permits the Filipino to survive life’s trials. In addition, if there is anything that helps a Filipino endure misfortune and loss, it is the family. Claver considers family-centeredness as ambivalent; its negative side is that it leads to a weak sense of national identity. The positive side is that the family provides the Filipino with a firm basis of identity, and a source of strength and support, security and solidarity. Lastly, Claver identifies corruption as a modern-day trait of the Filipino. The generalized tendency in Philippine 14. Cf. F.CLAVER, The Making of a Local Church, Claretian Publication, Quezon City 2009, pp.53-57.

15. Claver claims that he is following De la Costa’s lead from an oratorical piece entitled “The Jewels of the Pauper.” De la Costa determines faith and music as the jewels of the poor Filipino.

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culture to “put one over” another, in matters big or small, is one of the causes of poverty that cripples the nation.

In a kind of summary of the diverse portraits of the Filipino, the Catechism for Filipino Catholics (CFC) offers the section “Who is the Filipino?.”16 The CFC enumerates five dominant characteristics of the Filipino: family-oriented, meal-oriented, kundiman-oriented, bayani-oriented, and spiritoriented. Because Filipinos consider almost everyone as part of their family, they are known for being gracious hosts and grateful guests.17 They love to celebrate any and all events with a special meal. Even with unexpected guests, Filipinos try their best to offer something. Kundiman is a melancholic Filipino song about wounded love.18 Filipinos are naturally attracted to heroes who sacrifice everything for love. Also, they are patient and forgiving to a fault. This acceptance of suffering manifests a deep, positive spiritual value. Related to this kind of love-sacrifice is the Filipinos’ sense and fondness for heroes (bayani).19 Filipinos tend to focalize any good cause in the person of a leader, especially when it comes to defending the weak and the oppressed. The CFC also portrays Filipinos as “spiritual,”20 in a sense that they have a deep-seated belief in the supernatural and invisible world. Thus, even in this world of science and technology, Filipinos continue to invoke God and the communion of saints, and sometimes, paradoxically, other spiritual powers.

According to the CFC, the Filipino characteristics described above are useful for explaining the mystery of Jesus Christ. The Filipinos’ strong family bonds allow them to understand Jesus Christ as the Son of God; their fondness for celebrations with 16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

Cf. CFC, 34-43.

CFC, 37.

CFC, 39.

CFC, 41.

CFC, 43.

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meals allows them to appreciate Jesus Christ as the Eucharist and Communion; the Filipinos’ readiness to love and to suffer facilitates their connection to Jesus Christ the Suffering Servant; their spontaneous attraction to self-denying heroes makes them attached to Christ the King; and their penchant for what is supernatural or “magical” attracts them to Jesus Christ as miracle-worker.21 Thus, elements of the local milieu could serve as a vehicle for bringing Christ closer to Filipinos. The CFC affirms that only “by discovering and proclaiming Jesus Christ in our personal and national Filipino culture, we Filipino Catholics invite Christ to purify and heal us, and enrich us with fuller life in his Spirit in the Church.”22 C. Local Approaches to Moral Theology In the pursuit of making moral theology more intelligible to Filipinos, what approaches have authors adopted?

A first glance at the authors and their works reveals the existence of two kinds of approaches,23 which can be called the “humus-based” approach and the “cumulus-based” approach.

Each approach, though different, does not exclude the other.

More often than not, these two approaches are complementary.

The “humus-based” approach, as its name suggests, considers traditional Filipino values as the jumping-off point.24 Much fieldwork and empirical (linguistic, sociological, archaeological, etc.) research are necessary. The detection of values present in the 21. Cf. CFC, 33, 35, 38, 40, 42, & 44.

22. CFC, 56.

23. Tesoro and Alviar indicate five local theological methods: incarnational, dialogical, integrational “symbolic vs. abstract,” and “practical vs. ivory-tower”.

Cf. D.M. TESORO – J. ALVIAR, The Rise of Filipino Theology, p.146-175. Pilario, for his part, studies three representative authors in order to specify methods of local theologizing: Arevalo, De Mesa, and De la Torre. Cf. D.F. PILARIO, “The Craft of Contextual Theology: Towards a Conversation on Theological Method in the Philippine Context,” in Hapag 1/1 (2004) 5-39.

24. Cf. J. MIRAS, “Vitaliano Gorospe, SJ. and Jose De Mesa on the Locus of Change to Effect Social Transformation,” in Diwa 17/2 (1992) 65-78.

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Philippine context leads to two further endeavors, one positive, and one negative. The positive endeavor consists in detecting positive values that have some close correlation with the moral teachings of Jesus Christ. (A thoughtful attempt is then made to translate the inner meaning of the message of Jesus Christ from one historical cultural milieu and root it into another.

This “re-rooting” has three essential steps: (a) cultural exegesis; (b) appreciative awareness; and (c) application of the dynamic equivalence model of translation.25 This approach holds that each value in a given is also present in its other counterpart culture, at least in germinal form.) The negative endeavor may be called “purification”: and it consists in critically evaluating Filipino values, without assuming that they are all pure or valid.

Any culture has lights and shadows, and so Filipino values, given their ambivalence, cannot be indiscriminately exalted in toto as loci of moral change. This approach focuses on locating the root of what ails the Philippine culture, and of applying the values of Christianity to purify or correct the deviations of Filipino values.

On the other hand, the “cumulus-based” approach takes the moral teachings of the Church as the point of departure for any attempt at moral reflection in the Philippine milieu. Here, a common two-step methodology26 could be detected: 1) From the known set of Gospel values, the authors proceed to survey the local ethical context, attempting to characterize the specific set and hierarchy of local moral values. This comparison serves to identify thought-categories and values familiar to Filipinos, and at the same time highly concordant with Christianity’s moral message. 2) Also, the authors identify those values that are not susceptible of an authentically Christian interpretation. In confrontation with Revelation, some of the local values appear as acceptable and others not. Likewise, this confrontation with 25. Cf. PILARIO, pp. 5-39.

26. Cf. D.M. TESORO– J. ALVIAR, The Rise of Filipino Theology, p. 246.

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Revelation brings to light what nuances to the original hierarchy of values must be introduced.27 (One author representative of this approach is Arevalo.28) It becomes evident that the two sets of approaches— “humus-based” and “cumulus-based”—have much in common.

The two most important points of contact are the aspects of dialogue and linguistic analysis. Dialogue happens in two ways. First, the authors dialogue with the local situations or with current circumstances—such as the problems of poverty, social injustice, or corruption—in order to apply lights from the Gospel that may suggest the way to a solution. Second, authors also dialogue with the local cultural milieu. With both respect and prudence, they put native concepts and values visa-vis revealed teaching. This comparison allows them to detect valid local elements that may be usefully kept and employed in the explanation of Christian morality to Filipinos, and others that must be excluded or rectified. These two strategies are two sides of the coin of the process. As our survey will show later, dialogue with the local situation and its problems is used more often, perhaps because of the urgency of certain local moral issues. The second important aspect is linguistic analysis. It involves studying the significance of local categories as well as 27. Cf. PILARIO, pp. 5-39. Pilario highlights three positive characteristics of this (Arevalo’s) approach: (a) its ad hoc theologizing; (b) its liberationist concerns; and (c) the centrality it accords the Magisterium and its texts. By “ad hoc,” Pilario means that this theology develops in the midst of pressing needs and urgencies that envelop the country’s social and political circumstances. By “liberationist,” Pilario means it is a reflection on liberation and development on “the concrete exemplification of the theology of the signs of the times.” According to Pilario, this approach relies not so much on ideologies as on the Church’s teachings. By “magisterial centrality,” Pilario refers to its very close and integral link with the Magisterium and its texts. Theology, in this sense, finds itself in, and consciously reads, the statements of the Council, the Popes and the Episcopal Conferences taken as ‘source texts’. Arevalo considers these “texts” to be theologies in themselves. See also, F. ESTEPA, “Two Proposals for a Filipino Ethics,” in Diwa 9/1 (1984) 57-67.

28. Cf. Ibid.

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traditional Christian categories, in order to arrive at a more detailed understanding of the coincidence or non-coincidence between native Philippine words and concepts, and time-tested ecclesial terms. The aim is to make moral theological terms more understandable to the Filipinos, if necessary, searching for alternative moral terminologies from the vernacular language.29 Conscience, for example, could be rendered in various ways in Tagalog: konsensya, budhi, loob or loobmoral. Ethics, too, could be translated as etika, pagpapakamatuwid, or pagpapaka-tao. According to Miranda, one can employ this strategy if one is willing to understand the meaning of certain terms within the language as a whole.30

29. Cf. MIRANDA, Kaloob ni Kristo, pp. 20-21.

30. Ibid.

PART O NE T H E W E L LS PR IN G S OF M O R A L T H E O LOGY IN T H E P H I L IPP IN E SETT IN G

CHAPTER I

moral theology i n T he Local Magi s terium

A

s successors of the apostles, the bishops, in union with the Pope, are tasked to interpret and to teach authentically the truths of faith and morals. In a given territory, the episcopal conference, without encroaching upon the office proper to the college of the bishops with the Pope, carries out this teaching mandate in diverse ways. The local bishops may issue pastoral letters to their flock, or convene in meetings, conferences, or plenary councils, and subsequently issue relevant documents.

Such documents may be considered as an exercise of the local Episcopal Magisterium.

Since its formal convocation after Vatican II, the Conference of Philippine Bishops (CBCP) has diligently discharged its function of magisterial guidance. This section focuses on three documents or groups of documents: the documents of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP-II), the Catechism for Filipino Catholics (CFC), and the Pastoral Letters which originate directly from the local episcopal conference of the Philippines (popularly known as the CBCP). These documents, taken together, will give an idea of how the bishops have contributed to moral theological reflection in the Philippines.

1. The Plenary Councils of the Philippines a. The First Plenary Council of the Philippines This was the very first major event that the Philippine hierarchy organized for the local Church. It was celebrated at St. Augustine Church in Manila from January 7 to 25, 1953.31

31. Cf. L. ROBREDILLO, “The Challenges of the Times and the CBCP’s Responses: A Historical Essay on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines,” in P. QUITORIO (ed.), Pastoral Letters 1945-1995, Pemion Press Manila, 1985, xix-

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Cardinal Norman Thomas Gilroy, Archbishop of Sydney, was appointed Papal Legate by Pope Pius XII. The council was composed of 6 Archbishops, 21 Bishops, and 4 Apostolic Prelates. The superiors of various religious orders, congregations, and societies, plus the procurator of the Metropolitan See of Manila were also invited to participate.

The Council addressed matters of concern for the local Church at that time: growing religious indifference among the rising generation, the educational system that had long excluded religion teaching, and the spread of communist ideas among the populace. It issued decrees of a primarily normative character in answer to these concrete problems.32 The decree was focused on the preservation, enrichment, and propagation of the Catholic faith in the country. For this reason, it offers little novelty in the field of moral teaching, in comparison to the Second Plenary Council, held 38 years later. In contrast to the documents of the First Plenary Council, the documents of the Second Plenary Council reflect the wider scope of moral interests in the Philippines after Vatican Council II, and it is upon these documents that we will concentrate. b. The Second Plenary Council of the Philippines b.1. History and Content33 The Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP-II) was held from January 20 to February 17, 1991 in Manila. It was attended by 489 participants coming from all sectors of the local Church. Following the prescriptions of the Canon xlviii; R. AGUILOS, “Church Realities in the Philippines: 1900-1965,” in Anuario de la Historia de la Iglesia VIII (1999) 203-213.

32. The final document of the First Plenary Council of the Philippines was written in Latin (Acta et Decretae Primi Concilii Plenarii Insularum Philippinarum). Its implementation was soon overtaken by the preparation and celebration of the Second Vatican Council. With the promotion of Vatican II, that First Plenary Council was soon forgotten.

33. Cf. P. DE ACHUTEGUI, “The Second Plenary Council of the Philippines 20 January - 17 February 1991: A Brief Account,” in Landas 5/2 (1991) 201-207.

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Law, the actual distribution of participants was as follows: 95 bishops with deliberative vote, 181 priests in various categories; 21 major religious superiors; 12 presidents or rectors of Catholic universities; 24 rectors or deans of seminaries; and 146 lay faithful chosen by the dioceses in accordance with pre-established criteria. All the sessions following the inauguration, both general and regional, were held at the San Carlos Seminary Complex in Makati, Metro Manila. The large chapel of the Holy Apostles Senior Seminary was transformed into the conciliar hall.

PCP-II had been in the minds of Philippine bishops for some time, but the project was only formulated in Rome in October 1987. It was then officially presented to the Philippine episcopal body assembled in Tagaytay City on January 1988, and was unanimously approved in secret balloting in the July 1988 assembly. It received the approval of the Congregation for the Bishops in November 1988. Subsequent to PCP II’s celebration, its Acts and Decrees were submitted to the Vatican for approval.

Almost a year later, in April 1992, official recognition of the documents was granted by the Congregation for Bishops. The Acts and Decrees were promulgated on July 22, 1992. It is worth noting that the ecclesial event of PCP II was the first of its kind in the world after the close of the Second Vatican Council in 1965 and the promulgation of the new Code of Canon Law in 1983.

According to De Achutegui, the holding of another council for the Church in the Philippines was logical and imperative.34 Numerous reasons moved the Philippine Bishops to organize the council. First, as we have already mentioned, many changes had taken place in the Church after Vatican Council II and the release of the new Code of Canon Law. The Church felt an urgent need to renew and revitalize the Filipinos’ faith, as it was evident that a large majority of Filipino Catholics suffered from appalling religious ignorance, partly due to the lack of welltrained catechists and some clergy-centeredness in the Church’s 34. Ibid., p. 203.

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life. The poverty that continued to reign over a huge portion of the populace, despite the country’s natural riches, indicated that the Christian faith had not yet fully penetrated the structures of Philippine society. Then too, the increase of the Catholic population, the dearth of priests35 who could attend to the spiritual needs of the people, and the growing consciousness on the part of the lay faithful of their role in the Church, constituted further invitations to renewal.36 Alongside these ecclesial factors were socio-political ones. As the “People Power Revolution” of 1986 showed, a fresh dialogue between the Church and the modern society was necessary, in order to establish an actualized form of relationship.37 Above and beyond these empirical facts and the all-new pressing situation, the Church in the Philippines grappled with key questions like: How can the Church be a more effective and credible evangelizer, given the present pastoral situation of the Philippines? Considering the lights and shadows of the present situation (political, economic, social, cultural, religious), how are we “to live as Christians? As Filipino Catholics?” (PCP-II, no.

35). “How must we as Church act and relate to our world? What kind of a Church must we be to meet the challenge of our society 35. Ibid. De Achutegui observes that Luzon, a more affluent region, has a

“luxury” in the number of priests while Mindanao, where poverty is stark, has an observable dearth of priests. In the face of this situation, De Achutegui asks, “What is to be done to put a prompt remedy to the glaringly uneven distribution of apostolic personnel in the various regions?

After all, if the Church is the ‘Church of the poor,’ is it not principally in the rural areas that we encounter the poor even more than in the big cities?”

36. Cf. P. DE ACHUTEGUI, “Pre-Plenary Council Statistical Profile of the Catholic Church in the Philippines,” in Landas 4/2 (1990) 182-221. De Achutegui presents a synthetic view of the profile of the Catholic Church in the Philippines. It presents the data in columnar format, so that the reader may see not simply the present situation but also the changes— progression or regression—that have taken place in the Philippine Church in the last years.

37. Cf. R. MAZO, Christ and Christology in the Philippines. An Initial Critical Evaluation of the Appropriation of the Christ-event in the Philippines, A Doctoral Dissertation, University of Navarre, 2002, p. 231.

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as we turn into the third millennium?”(PCP-II, no. 87). Could the forthcoming Second Plenary Council of the Philippines be the decisive dynamic force to get us out of the triumphalistic self-complacency in which we seem to have fallen? Could it be the beginning of a dynamic renewal of both the Christian life and the Church itself?38 Such questions were perceived as having answers and thus formulated with hope. As the actual event and subsequent documents showed, the Church in the Philippines found suitable responses, in the midst of a Pentecostlike experience.

The final conciliar document39 is composed of four parts: Part One: Our World

The Philippines: Lights and Shadows

Part Two: Envisioning a Church Renewed

The Way of Jesus

The Call of Jesus Today

Discipleship in Community—The Church

Mary, the Model of Discipleship

Part Three: A Renewed Integral Evangelization

Announcing a Message of Salvation

Announcing a Message of Liberation

Special Concerns

38. Cf. P. DE ACHUTEGUI, “Pre-Plenary Council Statistical Profile…” pp. 182-221.

39. This document was accepted unanimously by the participants (with but a

few abstentions)—a testimony to the drafters’ skill in capturing the sense and intent of the delegates. Much of the credit must go to the President of the Council, Archbishop Leonardo Legaspi, OP—whose firm leadership and listening ear kept the wide-ranging discussion on track—, to the Secretary-General Archbishop Oscar Cruz, and to the three members of the “ad hoc committee for the final drafting of the document”: Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, OMI, Bishop Teodoro Bacani and Bishop Francisco Claver, SJ.

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Part Four: The Community of Disciples: Workers

of Renewal The Lay Faithful

The Religious

The Clergy

Other Communities of Renewal

Conclusion Part I offers a unified empirical description of the actual situation of the Philippine Church and Philippine society. Part II is a theological depiction of the Church as a supernatural community of disciples, a community-in-mission, called upon especially to attend to the poor and underprivileged. Part III is a reflection on “Renewed Integral Evangelization,” done through catechesis, worship, social apostolate and a spirituality of social transformation. Part IV deals with the respective vocations of the laity, the religious, the clergy, and other communities that act as agents of evangelization. True to the bishops’ desire for a new Pentecost for the Church in the Philippines, Legaspi, the President of the Council, assured that the entire conciliar framework was Christcentered, its orientation pastoral, its spirit apostolic, and its context Filipino. This was the very ecclesiological framework used by Peter in his testimony on Pentecost day.40 According to Archbishop Legaspi, the impulse stemming from the use of this framework inevitably pointed towards the direction of reform.41 Ecclesia semper reformanda est.

40. Acts 2:24-40.

41. Homily delivered by Most Rev. Leonardo Z. Legaspi, OP, D.D., during the Eucharistic celebration marking the Opening of the PCP-II held at the Manila Cathedral, Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Intramuros, Manila, on January 20, 1991.

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To any reader, it becomes evident that the document’s key ideas and operative words are “integrated” and “renewal.”42 “Integrated” refers to the involvement of the whole person: mind, will, heart, and hands. It is opposed to any dichotomizing of human life: spiritual vs. material; religious vs. secular; heavenly vs. earthly. The bishops in the council were aware that such dichotomies tended to dominate the religious outlook of most Filipinos. On the other hand, “renewal” means taking the good elements present in the Filipino culture and traditions as the starting point for a genuine deepening of Filipinos’ faith-life.

A good summation of PCP-II’s contribution was drawn up by Archbishop Quevedo (who would soon become the president of the Philippine Episcopal conference). The substantial question facing the Church in the Philippines, he said, was this: “How shall we as Catholics, individually and as Church, preach the Gospel more effectively?”43 It was a question, he averred, not simply of doctrinal belief, but of lived faith. PCP-II, in answer, took hold of the idea of “contextualization.” It reasoned that Christ’s message should not be proclaimed in an abstract or theoretical manner, but rather concretely and practically.

Specific challenges abounded in the local moral field: e.g., how could the Christian faith be made to percolate into the Filipino economic sphere, so as to solve effectively the problems of mass poverty, under-development and the gap between the rich and the poor? In politics, too, how could the Christian faith penetrate so as to unmake long-standing structures of corruption and the concentration of power in the hands of a few? It was clear that some purification of the local culture and mindset was necessary in order to uproot ambiguous “values” that tended to deform economic and political life in the country. This in turn led to the deeper question: should 42. Cf. T. H. GREEN, “Spirituality in PCP II: Integrated, Scripture-based, Communitarian,” in Landas 6 (1992) 133-144.

43. O. QUEVEDO, “The Directions of Pastoral Renewal the Philippines,” in Philippiniana Sacra 29 (1994) 99.

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Christian beliefs remain confined within the walls of churches, maintaining the dichotomy between spirituality and daily life?

The final document of PCP-II, and in particular its proposed answers to the above challenges, have subsequently been the subject of extensive commentaries by authors. The thoughts of two in particular are here worth citing. Quevedo himself, for one, understood that the formula for renovation proposed

by PCP-II was along the line of “integral evangelization.”44 This means that evangelization by its very nature requires expounding the social message of the Gospel, the teachings of the Church on justice, and the social implications of being a Christian. If that is so, evangelizers must change their mindset in no small way, to embrace both the personal and social exigencies of the Gospel message. Thus, Quevedo maintained, renewed evangelization could only be accomplished by evangelizers with a renewed mindset.

Bishop Bacani, on the other hand, identified the theme of “The Church of the Poor”45 as the central and foremost suggestion of the Council. As a participant of the Council himself, he recalled that very few expected this idea to assume crucial proportions. The composition of the assembly did not seem to favor it, as many of the participants came from well-to-do social classes. And, in fact, the formula emerged only in the second half of PCP-II. After it did, however, it was warmly received by all participants. According to Bacani, PCP-II did not come to hear the Church in the Philippines’ vocation to be the Church of the Poor by hearing a voice from the heavens but by seeing the widespread poverty of the suffering masses. This was a case of reading the signs of the times in the light of the Gospel according to Vatican II’s teaching (GS, no.4).46 Bacani was convinced that 44. Ibid.

45. PCP II spelled out amply the meaning of Church of the Poor in par. 122-136 of its Acts.

46. Cf. T. BACANI, “Church of the Poor: The Church in the Philippines’ Reception of Vatican II,” in EAP Review 42 (2005) 147-164. Bacani states further that PCP-II incarnated for the Church in the Philippines a vital aspect of the Gospel already

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the local Church could only move towards becoming a Church modeled after the Trinity, a Church of koinonia, if it becomes truly a Church of the Poor, following Christ’s own example.

Reaching this goal, he added, was a necessary pre-condition for the successful building of the community of disciples proposed by PCP II, and ought to serve as the litmus test for a truly “integral” evangelization. 47 b.2. PCP-II on Moral Theolog y Part Three of the document of PCP-II is a monument to the importance of moral theology in the Philippines. Here, the Council centers its gaze upon the Christian moral spirit that should imbue every Filipino. The entire vision is stated in the following lines: That all may have lifeWe shall have to create a free nation: Where human dignity and solidarity are respected and promoted; Where moral principles prevail in socio-economic life and structures; Where, justice, love, and solidarity are the inner driving forces of development.

We shall have to build a sovereign nation: Where every tribe and faith are respected; Where diverse tongues and traditions work together for the good of all; Where membership is a call to participation and involvement And leadership summons to generous service.

Ours will have to be a people: In harmony with one another given impetus by Vatican II itself: the spirit of poverty in the Church and the Church’s concern for the poor and needy. At the same time, PCP-II unfolded a potential not sufficiently expressed by Vatican II itself. The Church of the Poor is the centerpiece of PCP-II. The Church of the Poor is the Church in the Philippine’s way of receiving and inculturating one of the most potent but undeveloped seeds which Vatican II sowed in the Lord’s orchard.

47. Ibid.

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Through unity in diversity; In harmony with creation. And in harmony with God. Ours shall be a civilization of life and love.

This vision gives just attention to the practical and social implications of following Christ. It stresses specific areas of Moral Theology such as integral development based on human dignity and solidarity, the universal purpose of earthly goods and private property, social justice and love, peace and non-violence, preferential love for the poor, the value of human work, respect for the integrity of creation, and empowerment of people. The Council considers all these areas as requiring urgent attention in the Philippine setting.48 Indeed, it may be affirmed that PCP-II develops important themes of moral theology, especially related to social responsibility. This may be seen in some of the subheadings of PCP-II’s Acts and Decrees: “Our Socio-cultural, Economic and Political Context,” to “Jesus’ Mission of Preference for the Poor,” “Church of the Poor,” “A Renewed Social Apostolate,” “Social Apostolate Towards Transformation,” “A Spirituality of Social Transformation,” “The Social Doctrine of the Church.” Is this a clear admission that the Church in the Philippines has yet to make faith lived in the very heart of Filipino social life, and to pay preferential attention to the large majority of the populace— the poor? In the mind of PCP-II, the “preferential option for the poor,” “social transformation,” “tilting the center of gravity of the entire community in favor of the poor” are non-negotiable moral concerns. b.3. Implementation and Reception As the President of the Council proclaimed, “PCP-II will become the Magna Carta guiding the evangelizing mission 48. Cf. G. HEALY, “Teaching Moral Theology According to the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines,” in Landas 6 (1992) 167-177.

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of the Church in the Philippines into the third millennium.”49 It was expected to put the Philippine Church in line with the Vatican II’s leitmotif of “aggiornamento” and to apply the Gospel Message to the Filipino context and culture. Indeed, PCP-II became part of the heritage of the Church in the Philippines, laying the foundations for a renewed Church that is credible and effective, a Church faithfully and zealously fulfilling its mission of integral evangelization and acting as a Gospel leaven in Philippine society, transforming society from within. The task of implementation fell naturally on the very shoulders of the Church herself, since success depended largely on the newfound fervor and vigor in the Church to make the vision a living reality. In the homily at the close of PCP-II, Archbishop Legaspi said prophetically: “Only after the proposals of the Council have taken root in the life of far flung communities like Tayum in Abra, Jordan in Guimaras, Banay-banay in Davao will our land be blessed with a New Pentecost”.50 Shortly after PCP-II, and inspired by it, the following dioceses convoked their Pastoral Assemblies: Nueva Caceres (1992), Nueva Segovia (1993), Bacolod (1993), Laoag (1994), Gumaca (1994), San Fernando, Pampanga (1996, 2003), Lingayen-Dagupan (1996), Palo (1996), Catarman (1996) and Marbel (1996). Likewise, inserting Vatican II and PCP-II in a diocesan context, the following held their Synods: Dumaguete (1992), Antipolo (1993), Surigao (1993), San Pablo (1994), Kalibo (1996), Borongan (1997), Kabankalan (1997), Naval (1999), Romblon (2000), Legazpi (2000), Boac (2003), Bacolod (2005), Balanga (2006), and Jaro (2006). These and other convocations in some other localities signify that the Pentecost that was PCPII has continued to trickle down into the different geographical regions of the Philippines.

49. Cf. L. LEGASPI, Homily during the Closing Ceremony of PCP-II Celebration, February 17, 1991.

50. Ibid.

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b.4. Ten Years Later In 1994, in his personal capacity as bishop, Quevedo reflected on the pastoral directions of the Church of the Philippines after PCP-II.51 In his article, he identifies four pastoral challenges confronting the present-day Church. (1) In the economic sphere, that of massive poverty, under-development, the gap between rich and poor. 2) In the political order, that of lack of political power among the poor, the concentration of power in the elite, the lack therefore of a truly representative democracy. And here the popular perception is that those who hold political power do not have a consistent ideology in favor of the poor. (3) In the cultural sphere, that of ambivalent cultural values whose negative aspects reinforce, perhaps even cause, the negativities of presentday economic and political life. (4) In the area of religious beliefs and practices, that of “split-level Christianity,” the dichotomy between faith and life, the inability to put religious convictions into practice, and ritualism, individualism and privatism in religious faith.

Interestingly, in 2000, ten years after the convocation of PCP-II, Quevedo, in his capacity as President of the CBCP, spearheaded a national consultation. The consultation sought to discern again God’s call to renewal within the changing historical and ecclesial context of the country. The efforts of the consultation focused on recollection, reflection, and recognition of the steps (and missteps) taken following the spirit and guide of PCP II. The consultation found that much of what was said ten years ago remained fully valid. Old problems remained.52 New factors had simply spawned new forms of old ills.53 According to 51. O. QUEVEDO, “The Directions of Pastoral Renewal in the Philippines,” in Philippiniana Sacra 29 (1994) 99.

52. “‘Behold I Make All Things New’ Message of the National Pastoral

Consultation on Church Renewal,” in Landas 14 (2000) 257-263.

53. Ibid., 260. “The global economy, in tandem with superb new technologies

and means of social communications, has produced a global culture that has been radically changing the culture of Filipinos, especially of the young,

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the published conclusions of the consultation, the local Church needed to confess some responsibility for many of the persistent ills of Philippine society. It had left many prescriptions of PCPII unimplemented. It needed to continue struggling for true conversion.

The Philippine episcopate has committed itself to focusing on ten pastoral priorities: integral faith formation, empowerment of laity towards social transformation, active presence and participation of the poor in the Church, the family as focal point of evangelization, building and strengthening of participatory communities that make up the parish as a community of communities, integral renewal of the clergy, journeying with the youth, ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, animation and formation for mission “ad gentes.” Each of these priorities requires a radical conversion of mind and heart, remind the bishops.

2. The Catechism for Filipino Catholics54 a. Historical Background The publication of the Catechism for the Filipino Catholics (CFC) may be considered as an eloquent sequel to the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP-II). It is the first-ever national catechism for the Philippines. As we shall see, this work is an important contribution to contextualized Moral Theology in the country.

From the earliest days of evangelization in the Philippines, missionaries wrote catechisms in the different local dialects, even in rural areas. Individualism, materialism, a “feel good” morality are eroding civic and religious values. Respect for tradition, committed relationships and self-sacrificing love are often sacrificed on the altar of pragmatism. New forms of oppression of the poor are appearing, systematically blinding, and enslaving their minds and hearts. Corruption in government has reached scandalous proportions.”

54. Cf. J. ROCHE–L. LEGASPI, A Companion to CFC, ECCE/WORD Publications, Manila 1998.

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to transmit the faith more easily to the inhabitants of diverse regions. The very first catechism prepared and published in the Philippines was the Doctrina Cristiana en Lengua Espanyola y Tagala, printed in 1593, and it marked the beginning of a long string of local catechisms published in the archipelago. No attempts were ever made, however, to prepare a catechism for nationwide use, nor were efforts exerted to compile or integrate the various “regional” catechisms into a unified text.

In the years following Vatican Council II, the local Church hierarchy realized that the great mass of Filipino Catholics were in dire need of a sound, systematic, updated, continuing catechesis. Changes in the world, in the country, and in the Church had occasioned changes in the people’s reception of the faith, and their belief now required firmer grounding.

This realization became the seed for the project of a national catechism. Another motivation was PCP-II’s call for a greater contextualization effort to respond to the present-day needs of evangelization in the country. Indeed, the Philippine bishops felt a need to concretize the saving message of Christ better, so that it might inspire the daily living of Filipinos.

The planning of the Catechism for Filipino Catholics began in October 1983, pre-dating that of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) by a good two years. It was conceived as a follow-up to the earlier National Catechetical Directory of the Philippines (or NCDP). This direct link with the NCDP was crucial in deciding the basic structure and the arrangement of chapters of the Catechism. Also, the NCDP’s key notion of “integration” served as another major guiding principle in the preparation of the CFC. The text of the Catechism finally gained official Vatican approval in March 1997, and in that same year the CFC was promulgated and distributed among the faithful in the Philippines.

The CFC is a catechism designed to be used by all who are actively engaged in communicating or studying the faith—priests, religious, catechists, religion teachers, and perhaps most of all,

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parents.55 It is a basic “adult catechism.” Among its outstanding qualities, we may enumerate the following: (1) a Christ-centered vision, situated within a greater Trinitarian scheme; (2) a solid rooting in Scripture, the living Word of God; (3) an authentically Filipino, i.e. inculturated, approach to doctrine and morals.

It is interesting to note that the structure of the CFC differs somewhat from that of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC). Though both catechisms contain a central portion on the Creed, the CFC inserts its section on Christian Moral Life immediately after the section on the Mystery of Jesus Christ.

Christian conduct is thus presented as the practical living out of the consequences of discipleship. (This follows a thematic sequence earlier enunciated by the NCDP: Doctrine, Morals, and Worship.) As such, the structure of the CFC is simple and straightforward, yet theologically coherent. It is in keeping with the Catechism’s desire to be practical and contemporary.

The structure chosen for CFC’s approach to Catholic morality strikes a balance between two current approaches to teaching morals. Briefly stated, one approach stresses Biblical sources and focuses on the primary themes of virtue and character, while the other, more traditional approach focuses on the Commandments. By introducing Catholic Morality in the Gospel terms of “following Christ” (Chapters 13-14), and the Ten Commandments relative to Christ’s own teaching and deepening of the Two Love Commandments (Chapters 1521), the CFC achieves a harmonious fusion of these two moral approaches.56 55. Cf. J. ROCHE, “Studying the New Catechisms: Catechism of the Catholic

Church and Catechism for Filipino Catholics,” in Landas 9/1 (1995) 101112. In contrast, CCC is intended primarily for the Bishops and those preparing national and regional catechisms. It is not supposed to be used as a direct text in any and all catechetical situations. CFC, on the other hand, is not intended for Bishops but was prepared by the Bishops through the Bishops’ Commission on Catechesis (ECCE) for “Filipino Catholics engaged in communicating the Faith, and all who wish to know more about Catholic Faith today.” (CFC, 27).

56. Cf. J. ROCHE, “The ‘Reality Principle’ in CFC’s Communicating the Faith,” in Landas 12/1 (1998) 4-25.

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b. Content and Observations The catechism opens with an introductory section entitled Foundations. This section is followed by three major Parts, the format of each Part being the same: Opening, Context, Exposition, Integration and a Question-and-Answer section.

Finally, the CFC has an Epilogue, which in fact is a commentary on the Lord’s Prayer.

Foundations

Who is a Filipino Catholic God’s Call Revelation Our Response: We Believe Our Unbelief Part One: Christ, Our Truth Catholic Doctrine: Christ, Our Truth God, the Father Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth The Fall from Glory God Promises a Savior Jesus Christ: Mission and Person Christ Has Died Christ is Risen and Will Come Again Part Two: Christ, Our Way Living as Disciples of Christ The Challenge of Following Christ The Christian Law of Life-Giving Love Love the Lord Your God Love One Another Respect God’s Gift: Life Respecting Human Sexuality Building Justice Respecting Truth Part Three: Christ, Our Life The Holy Spirit: The Giver of Life The Catholic Church: Nature and Mission

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Catholic Prayer and Worship New Life in Christ: Baptism and Confirmation Christ the Living Bread of Life: The Eucharist Christ’s Healing: Reconciliation and Anointing Vocations in Christ: Marriage and Holy Orders Final Goal: Resurrection of the Body and Life Everlasting Epilogue The Lord’s Prayer c. Moral Theolog y in the CFC Perhaps the most obvious difference between the CFC and the CCC is the former’s treatment of the moral life, immediately following the exposition of the mystery of Christ the Savior. It is evident that the document wants to emphasize the intrinsic relationship between believing and living. This means departing from the more common approach of expounding morality at the end, almost like an after-thought, or “something flowing from faith as a second moment but not intrinsic to authentic belief in itself.”57 Thus, rather than presenting morality as a set of laws to be obeyed, the CFC presents it as a person, Jesus Christ, to be followed. In answer to the difficulties and challenges of moral life today, the “following of Jesus Christ”58 may be the best single formula that expresses the core of “the good life.”59 How the believer can make his faith concrete and alive in every situation is something that no catechism can possibly codify. Thus, the CFC’s chosen approach is to define and present Christ as the paradigm or criterion for daily behavior.

Admittedly, “following Christ” is a formula that is easy to state but difficult to put into practice.60 And this seems particularly 57. Cf. NCDP, 251.

58. JOHN PAUL II, in his encyclical Veritatis Splendor, emphasizes that moral life ultimately means the following of Christ (VS, 16). “But we follow him not by any outward imitation but by becoming conformed to him who became a servant, even to giving himself on the Cross” (VS, 21). Following Christ means “holding fast to the very person of Jesus” (VS, 19).

59. Cf. CFC, Introduction, Part II. 60. Cf. CFC, 676.

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true in the Philippine setting, in which the last decades have brought about dramatic changes in the country. The traditional Filipino ways of relating to one another, largely inspired by the Gospel, are quietly fading away. Profound changes are occurring in the Filipino way of thinking and acting,61 due in part to the phenomenon of the Filipino diaspora, involving 11 million persons living abroad and being exposed to ways of thought and life quite different from the traditional Filipino manner.62 Along with its defense of Filipino traditional values, the CFC calls attention to the “shadows” present in the local culture.

Thus, in a world that is becoming ever more competitive and materialistic, “success” is often seen by Filipinos as the way to a happy life, whereas “failure” is imagined by them to lead to unspeakable suffering and dereliction. In such a pressurized atmosphere, solidarity fades before the egotistic pursuit of goals.63 Likewise, in the wake of modernization and economic growth, human relationships tend to become more functional and impersonal—a tendency that is quite opposed to the Filipino’s penchant for cultivating close personal relationships.64 If such shadows are not purged from the culture now emergent in the Philippines, the original Christian soul of Filipino moral living may be in danger.

With the “passing away” of traditional Filipino/Christian values, glaring contradictions have begun to surface – new, un-Christian ways of understanding freedom, life, the family, marriage, etc.65 It may be affirmed that the Filipino nations’ evolution is leading to a wholly new and different scenario. The CFC cites, among other things, graft and corruption and ruthless destructive exploitation of natural resources, as examples of newly intensified social ailments that require an urgent response 61.

62.

63.

64.

65.

Cf. CFC, 731.

This comprises 10% of the country’s population (91 million).

Cf. CFC, 729.

Cf. CFC, 938.

Cf. CFC., 732.

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from Filipino Catholics. The shift, from bayanihan (solidarity) to selfish gain, signifies a tragic reversal of values, and the Filipino Bishops could not be more correct in calling it “the cancer” of society.

Against this “fading” Christian background and its replacement by secular/materialist ways of life, the CFC seeks to re-awaken Christian values that Filipinos have for so long treasured—values so much in keeping with the Filipino psyche.

Among the valuable moral concepts stressed by the CFC, we can enumerate the following: The Human Person: The CFC teaches the centrality of the human person in moral life.66 He/She is the moral agent who has the capacity to realize the fullness of being for the person is innately endowed with freedom and conscience. “Christian moral life is simply the call to become loving persons, in fullness of life-with-others-in-community before God.”67 This teaching acquires a typical Filipino slant vis-a-vis the traditional Western philosophy which establishes a noted distinction between body and soul. The Filipino thinks of the human person holistically.

The human being (tao) is seen simultaneously as a self, as a feeling, willing, thinking, and acting subject: as a total whole—a “person,” conscious of one’s freedom, proud of one’s dignity, and sensitive to any violation of these two.68 Thus, for the Filipino Christian, each human being is a conscious, historical, unique, relational embodied spirit with innate dignity—created, redeemed, graced for eternal life. For the Filipino, tao refers to the total human reality, without distinguishing excessively between physicality or “spirituality” or inner reality. It is a concept useful for grounding an “integral” or “holistic” morality and spirituality.

66. Cf. CFC, 682-714.

67. CFC, 682.

68. Cf. L. MERCADO, Elements of Filipino Theology, Divine Word University Publications, Tacloban City 1994, pp. 50-51.

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Following Christ: Because moral life is fundamentally the following of Christ, the CFC sketches the key dimensions of this pursuit.69 According to the CFC, to follow Jesus is to allow faith “to influence moral life by offering a new distinctive Christian vision of moral good and developing Christ-like attitudes and values and by strengthening moral motivation by giving reasons for acting in a Christian way.”70 Aware that this is never an easy task, the CFC points to the role of the institutional Church, which serves as the context and communal support for the moral life of its members.71 Human Life: The theme of human life in the Philippines includes a wide range of concerns. Based on Christian revelation, the CFC expounds the truths about human love, the sanctity of marriage, respect due to parents and the family, and the value and dignity of human life (so often threatened now by destruction or abuse).72 The Catechism identifies elements in local culture that help to understand these truths. For instance, Filipinos generally consider children as a gift from God and bunga ng pagmamahalan (literally, fruit of love). Furthermore, in Philippine culture each child is an element of unity in the family. Thus, there is a naturally pro-life mentality in the local culture.

Justice: The CFC deals at length with the social obligations of Christians, particularly in its explanation of the 7th and 10th Commandments of the Decalogue. The Catechism underlines the importance, not just of justice towards individuals, but justice towards the collectivity.73 The CFC stresses that the awareness of one’s social responsibility ought to form part of a Christian’s conscience. The Catechism identifies one local concept which may be useful in any catechesis about justice—gaba, a cultural 69.

70.

71.

72.

73.

Cf. CFC, 734-789.

CFC, 780.

Cf. CFC, 754-759.

Cf. CFC, 995-1027.

Cf. CFC, 1134-1197.

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notion which includes not only inner contrition but also proportionate reparation.

3. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines At present, the CBCP covers 86 ecclesiastical jurisdictions or territories throughout the Philippines: 16 archdioceses, 57 dioceses, 7 apostolic vicariates, 5 prelatures and 1 military ordinariate. There are 95 active members and 24 honorary members (retired and resigned bishops). Understandably, this gathering of shepherds always involves a strenuous process of discernment. The bishops must interpret the signs of times in order to respond to the needs of the faithful. At times, they differ in their points of view, reflecting their geographical provenance, pastoral experience and background or training. The CBCP’s decisions are enforced more through negotiated consensus—a “gentleman’s agreement,” as it were. Buhain, a former assistant executive secretary general of the CBCP, has remarked that while there is a mental acceptance of the principle of collegiality among the bishops, much remains to be desired in its actual practice.74 Varied authors treat the evolution of the CBCP in distinct ways. Josol, in his compilation of selected documents of the Church hierarchy, divides CBCP’s history with reference to the Martial Law years: Pre-Martial Law, During Martial Law, and Post-Martial Law75. Santos,76 and in a separate work, Robredillo,77 74. Cf. R. JIMENEZ, “Special Report on the CBCP: In Search of Unity Amid Diversity,” in P. GIORDANO, Awakening to Mission, The Philippine Catholic Church 1965-1981, New Day Publishers, Quezon City, 1988, p. 27. See also, F. CLAVER, “Discordant Prophets,” in Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila, 11/09/2007.

75. Cf. A. JOSOL (ed.), Responses to the Signs of Times, Selected Documents: Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, Claretian Publications, Quezon City and Redemptorist Publications, Cebu City, 1991.

76. R. SANTOS, “A Short History of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, 1945-1995,” in Philippiniana Sacra 96/32 (1997) 395-450.

77. L. ROBREDILLO, “The Challenges of the Times and the CBCP’s Responses: An Historical Essay on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines,” in P. QUITORIO (ed.), Pastoral Letters 1945-1995, Pemion Press, Manila 1985, xix- xlviii.

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describe the 50 years of existence of the CBCP in reference to the changing social and the ecclesiological framework within which the Conference has discharged its functions.

The present work divides the history of the CBCP into three periods. The first, when the collegial body was still called Catholic Welfare Organization (CWO); the second, the CBCP in its first 30 years; the third, the CBCP during the period before the celebration of the Jubilee Year of 2000. a. Catholic Welfare Organization (1945-1965) The CWO’s beginning can be traced to February 15, 1945 when Bishop William Piani, the Apostolic Delegate, was ordered to form an organization to serve as a liaison between the United States Armed Forces of America and the Filipino civilian population. In the words of Piani, “the major objective of CWO was to meet the war emergency created by the destruction of so many towns.” Piani asked Father John F. Hurley, S.J., then Jesuit Superior General in the Philippines, to take charge of the relief work. He named Hurley as Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer of the organization, while he himself assumed the position of President General. With them were 18 Philippine bishops and apostolic prefects who served as directors in their respective local territories.

On July 17, 1945, all the bishops of the Philippines met in Manila for the first time after the Japanese Occupation. After that meeting, Piani turned over the leadership of the organization and governance of the CWO to the Philippine bishops.

Subsequently, the organization was to be recognized as the official body of the Hierarchy of the Church in the Philippines.

It was incorporated and duly registered at the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 23, 1946. Understandably, though the organization retained the name CWO, its function had broadened. This was evident in the Article II, Section 1 of its Constitution. “The objectives to this organization shall be: to unify, coordinate, and organize the Catholic people of the

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Philippines in the works of education, social welfare, religious and spiritual aid, and other activities under the direction of their Excellencies the Most Reverend members of the hierarchy of the Philippines.” By this, it meant the transition from the original task of CWO and graduated to serving the spiritual needs of Filipino Catholics.

Meanwhile, four outstanding ecclesiastical events may be credited to the CWO amidst the vicissitudes of postwar years.

First, the bishops convoked the First Plenary Council of the Philippines which was held in Manila from January 7 to 25, 1953.

Second, the Marian Congress which was held in Manila from December 1 to 5, 1954. This event was presided by Cardinal Fernando Quiroga, the archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, with no less than the president of the country, Ramon Magsaysay attending. Third, the Pontificio Collegio-Seminario Filippino was inaugurated in Rome on October 7, 1961. Lastly, the bishops spearheaded the celebration of the Fourth Centenary of the Philippine Christianization in Cebu. This event was graced by Archbishop Egidio Vagnozzi, Apostolic Delegate to the United States of America. From this celebration sprang the Philippine Mission Society. It signified, among other things, that it was now the turn of the Filipinos to spread to other lands the faith that they had received four centuries ago. b. Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (1966-1995) The aggiornamento proposed by the Second Vatican Council had its own implications for the Philippine hierarchy. The CWO was transformed to become the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). The body’s purpose came to be reformulated thus: “to study, promote, coordinate in a way corresponding ever more to the needs of the present time the apostolate of the Church in the Philippines.” The Holy See approved the CBCP’s Constitutions on December 12, 1967.

Unlike the CWO, the CBCP was now a proper canonical body in accordance with the norms of the Holy See.

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The changes that occurred in the Philippine Church during the immediate post-conciliar period were paralleled by no deeper changes in the socio-political arena. It was in this period of the late sixties and the seventies that social unrest became more intense, following the declaration of Martial Law by President Marcos. During the early stages, of the Martial Law regime the Philippine hierarchy was conspicuously silent. This silence some sectors of society took to be tantamount to adherence to and support of Marcos. Later, disagreement arose among the members of the hierarchy, with some bishops finally going out into the open to denounce the maladies of Martial Law and dictatorship. Other bishops, for varied reasons, preferred to keep silent and stay away from burning political and social issues.

Eventually, the relations between the Church and the government became increasingly strained. Some bishops and layworkers were subjected to repression and harassment. Certain convents and religious houses became suspect of assisting leftist activists. Some priests and nuns were placed under surveillance.

Besides all these, the Church also faced other pressures such as the campaigns to legalize divorce and to tax Church-owned school and hospitals.

As a consequence, the CBCP members became more united and they consolidated their voices against the repressive regime.

Through forceful pastoral letters, the bishops challenged and sharply criticized the abuses of Martial Law. It is not surprising that from 1983 to 1986 almost all joint pastoral letters and statements published by the bishops had direct reference to the Martial Law regime and the grave problems it engendered.

The height of the CBCP’s involvement came in 1986.

Marcos called for a snap election to give him a fresh mandate for his already dwindling popularity and power. The CBCP took up the issue and came out with a pastoral letter entitled “We Must Obey God Rather Than Men.� The bishops represented a voice reminding the people to be vigilant and not to succumb to cynicism, fraud, and deception during the electoral process. The

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NAMFREL (National Citizens’ Movement for Free Election) was formed, through the initiative of the bishops to ensure honest and peaceful elections.

As had been feared, the elections were marred by deception, cheating, and fraud. The results were tainted with suspicion.

Immediately, the bishops issued a pastoral letter condemning the supposedly democratic exercise, and labelling the elections as unparalleled in fraudulence. They went further denouncing Marcos’ dictatorial government and declaring that it no longer had any moral basis to rule. Few days later, the bishops called for the people to rally and defend their rights and the nation’s democracy. The so-called EDSA Revolution was born, and under the pressure of “People Power,” the Marcos regime collapsed.

Thus, quite aside from displaying its faith in the power of prayer, the CBCP appeared as a moral leader of the people.

After this socio-political upheaval, it appeared to the bishops that the opportune time had come for renewing the local Church.

With this aim, the CBCP decided in January 1988 to hold a national plenary council. The groundwork immediately began, and after a preliminary phase, the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP-II) was celebrated from January 20 to February 17, 1991. The decrees of PCP II were given recognitio by the Holy See on April 25, 1992. They were promulgated at the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Manila on July 22, 1992.

As a natural consequence of PCP-II, the CBCP drafted and began implementing a National Pastoral Plan in 1993. Further, in 1994, it oversaw the publication of the final draft of the Catholic Faith Catechism, an inculturated catechism.

The year 1995 was significant for the Philippine Hierarchy, as it celebrated its 50th year of existence and service to the Philippine Church. What could be more fitting to celebrate its milestone than to play host to the Successor of Peter and to gather millions around him on the occasion of the World Youth Day? During the visit of Pope John Paul II, which lasted

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from January 12 to 16, 1995, the Philippine Hierarchy was deeply involved in making sure that the visit and celebration went smoothly and fruitfully. c. Into the Third Millennium (1996-Onward)78 The Philippine Hierarchy arrived at the dawn of the celebration of the Great Jubilee Year 2000 animated by its past achievements, most especially the celebration of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines and the approval of the National Pastoral Plan. The Holy Father himself in his message to the Philippine Bishops at the Arzobispado de Manila on January 24, 1995 stated: “The Second Plenary Council of the Philippines, celebrated in accordance with the directives of the Second Vatican Council, is a decisive landmark in your journey to the Great Jubilee Year 2000. I urge everyone… to make the implementation of the Acts and Decrees of the Plenary Council and the National Plan the fulcrum of your lives and apostolate.”79 Thus, socio-political issues faded momentarily into the background, as the renewal of the Church herself became the principal concern of the Philippines. The Bishops reviewed and assessed their own organization, in terms of nature, structure, mission and functions. This led to the revision, amendment, and ratification of the Constitutions and By-Laws during the 78th Plenary Council in January 1999; the setting up of the Research Office, the Legal Office, and the Media Office as independent offices; the re-launching of The CBCP Monitor80 with a new format and wider circulation; the setting up of the official website; and the creation of three new offices (Office on Bioethics, Office on Women, and the Committee for the Cultural Heritage).

78. Cf. P. QUITORIO, CBCP: On the Threshold of the Next Millennium, CBCP Publications, Manila, 1999.

79. Ibid., Foreword.

80. The CBCP Monitor is the official publication of CBCP. It is published forthrightly by the Conference for information and information on the Conference, the Philippine Church and the universal Church.

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At the same time, as part of the preparation for the third millennium, the Philippine Hierarchy issued a series of in-depth Pastoral Exhortations for each year leading to the Great Jubilee Year. In 1997, the CBCP issued the “Pastoral Exhortation on Philippine Politics”; in 1998, the “Pastoral Exhortation on Philippine Economy”; and in 1999, the “Pastoral Exhortation on Philippine Culture.”

With the above-mentioned activities, the Philippine Hierarchy led the Filipino faithful into the Third Millennium.

The history we have sketched covers a little more than a half century. It may be called short in terms of quantitative time. Nonetheless, it is full and meaningful as regards tasks, trials, travails, and triumphs of the shepherds of the Philippine Church. Born from the ravages of war, the CBCP has evolved to become a significant moral force in the Philippine context. From the original task of giving postwar relief and social services, the CBCP has widened its role to guiding and enlightening the faithful through five decades of national vicissitudes. Robredillo describes CBCP’s history as that of transformation: “…from a CWO that was mainly defensive of the legitimate institutional interests to a CBCP that serves in the integral liberation of the society; from a CWO that viewed the Church as a social institution to a CBCP that understands the Church as a Communion of the People of God; from CWO that tended to pronounce general moral principles to a CBCP that speaks of and judges the morality of the concrete socio-political and economic actions and situations….”81 Needless to say, the advent of the Second Vatican Council made possible this transformation. Vatican II, with its call to renewal and dialogue with the world, pointed the Philippine Hierarchy towards wider horizon. The Bishops’ reaction may be gleaned from the change in tune of their collective pastoral letters to the Filipino people. Before Vatican II, these documents were concerned primarily with doctrinal and disciplinary 81. Cf. L. ROBREDILLO, “The Challenges of the Times…” pp. xix- xlviii.

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matters. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, the letters became more and more concerned with fostering the mission of the Church, and of its members, in the secular world. d. Pastoral Letters82 “The role of proclaiming the Good News especially fall on the bishops and priests.”(LG, 17.2) It is by way of pastoral letters that the Philippine Bishops often exercise their office as shepherds of their flock. The letters are published and often read in Sunday Masses before the congregation, and thus represent a deliberate, continuous, and consistent corporate effort on the part of the episcopal body to respond to signs of the times in the Philippines. These letters, so to speak, are the bishops’ voice and staff in caring for their flock.

Letters issued by the Philippine Hierarchy are normally titled “Pastoral Letters.” This denomination is to be taken in a broad sense. It includes statements, exhortations, appeals, special messages, norms, and pastoral indications. The letters are issued collegially by the Hierarchy and bear an official character which commits the Conference to a particular position. Many of them have been issued by the Permanent Council, which takes care of releasing formal statements when the Plenary Assembly is not in session; some of them, by the CBCP President himself or by the Secretary General, in urgent circumstances.83 Such documents constitute a concrete attempt to root the church’s moral teachings 82. Thus far, there are already five published compilations of CBCP Pastoral Letters.

In 1984, Dr. Richard P. Hardy, edited the The Philippine Bishops Speak (1968-1983). In 1990, the Cardinal Bea Institute in cooperation with the CBCP General Secretariat came up with Letters and Statements which covered the period 1984-1990. In 1991, Abdon Ma. C. Josol. CSsR compiled and edited the Responses to the Signs of Times: Selected Documents of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. And in 1995, in celebration of the Golden Anniversary of the Philippine Hierarchy, Pedro Quitorio, the then Assistant Secretary General of the CBCP, compiled and edited Pastoral Letters 1945-1995. Then in 1999, Quitorio followed up his work of compilation covering the years 1996 to 1999 in CBCP: On The Threshold of the Next Millennium.

83. The document entitled “An Open Letter on the Elections for the Batasang

Pambansa on April 7, 1978” was issued upon instructions and by the authority of the Plenary Assembly.

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in the local milieu. They are an aid, too, for the formation of the consciences of the faithful.

In the period from 1945 to the present, the Philippine Hierarchy has issued nearly 200 pastoral letters. These letters may be said to have exerted a significant impact upon the thinking of the populace, and thus influenced the development of moral theology in the Philippines. A list of these pastoral letters is offered in the Appendix. These pastoral letters, in their chronological arrangement, reflect the very history of the Filipino people. This allows us to affirm that, without doubt, the Philippine Bishops have consistently been interested and deeply involved at each and every turn of Philippine history. The Bishops have, in the course of more than half of a century, defended human dignity and rights, supported people suffering from different forms of oppression, denounced modern threats to the family, voiced out concerns for the situation of the youth, echoed the true teaching of the Church, etc. As their letters show, the local bishops have been truly solicitous over the Filipino people.84 From the list of the documents, it is evident that from 1945 onward, the Philippine Hierarchy has been issuing pastoral letters relatively often; but with no set frequency, the issuance depending largely on the concrete situation. In 1947, 1958, 1960, 1963, 1966, and 1974 the bishops did not publish any document.

Such voicelessness is intriguing, probably indicative of local upheavals; for instance, the latter two years, 1966 and 1974, witnessed momentous and crucial events: the after effects of the celebration of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1966), and the initial implementation of Martial Law (1974), respectively.

It is worth noting that two of the letters issued in the first decade after Philippine independence were in Spanish. This indicates the persistence of Spanish influence in the Philippine 84. Cf. F. GUSTILO, Towards the Inculturation of the Salesian Family Spirit in the Filipino Context. (A Comparative Study of the Filipino and the Salesian Interpersonal Relations ValueSystems), A Doctoral Dissertation, Salesian Pontifical University, Rome 1989, p. 114.

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soil even after independence. By contrast, three of the more recent pronouncements of the Philippine Hierarchy were issued in both the English and Filipino idioms. Could this be a signal on the part of the bishops, an attempt to inculturate their teachings, or just another recourse in order to be better heard and understood by their flock?

While the letters cover a wide spectrum of topics, it is possible to identify specific themes on which the CBCP has insisted time and again. Hence, the issues85 of justice and peace, morality in politics, family and life, education and religious instruction, may be said to be the major themes of the bishops’ letters. Figure 1 shows the thematic percentages of the CBCP letters. 86 Figure 1. Percentage Distribution of CBCP Pastoral Letters by Theme

85. The researcher takes liberty in grouping all the letters into themes according to the relatedness of one topic with another.

86. In the Doctrinal-Pastoral group, we include the pronouncements of the Philippine Bishops concerning doctrines (on Mary, on the Eucharist, about Liturgy, Catechesis, among others), as well as instructions regarding visits of the Holy Father to the country and proper Christian lifestyle and conduct in the world. On the other hand, in the Education and Religious Instruction group, we include pronouncements about Catholic education, including the prohibitions of some works of literature detrimental to the Catholic Faith. In the group Others, we include letters issued by the bishops on behalf of specific groups, especially marginalized ones.

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For the purposes of this study, more attention will be devoted to the pastoral letters that deal directly with the values and morals of the Filipino people: Justice and Peace, Morality in Politics, and Family and Life. Specific letters that are deemed to be of special importance will be highlighted, due to their extension and depth, as well as their considerable impact on Philippine society.

Justice and Peace Whereas the earliest pastoral letters of the CWO/CBCP dealt with themes like materialism, Sunday rest, Masonry, etc., from the 1960’s onward—especially after Vatican Council II—they began dealing more frequently with justice and peace issues: human rights, labor problems, migrants’ welfare, human development, agrarian reform, graft and corruption, and the local peace process. These letters repeatedly point out that the most fundamental problem in the national reality is that the human person is not accorded the centrality foreseen in God’s plan.87 The basic truth seems to have been forgotten, that the human person is the foundation, cause, and end of every social institution.88 Human rights and dignity are thus easily trampled upon, in pursuit of “higher” causes.

The CBCP reminds Filipinos that justice and peace can only be achieved when due respect is accorded the dignity and priority of the human person (GS, 23).

Certain letters are here worth mentioning, as they are highly representative of the teachings of the Philippine Bishops on Justice and Peace. Because of their extension and depth, they may be considered as significant contributions to the corpus of Filipino moral teachings.

These three early letters published successively may be grouped together as a series on justice: Statement of the Ecclesiastical 87. Cf. CBCP Pastoral Letter on Social Transformation.

88. Cf . JOHN PAUL II, Discourse to Sugar Planters, Bacolod City, February 20, 1981.

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Hierarchy of the Philippines on the Social Principles ( January 20, 1948); Joint Pastoral Letter of the Hierarchy of the Philippines on the Virtue of Justice ( January 22, 1949); Social Justice: A Joint Pastoral Letter of the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines (May 21, 1949). These letters echo the general moral principles of the Universal Church’s teaching, and are rather devoid of the contextual dimension. They do not attempt an in-depth analysis of the Philippine setting, nor propose a concrete line of social transformation. It would take another 18 years (1967) for the Philippine Bishops to produce another pastoral letter touching on the issue of justice. In the spirit and teaching of the Second Vatican Council, the Joint Pastoral Letter of the Philippine Hierarchy on Social Action and Rural Development ( January 8, 1967) was published.

The Pastoral Letter of the Catholic Hierarchy of the Philippines on Evangelization and Development ( July 4, 1973) is also worthy of particular attention. The Philippine Hierarchy claimed that this letter did not pretend to present startling, new ideas. It sought rather to extract basic relevant inspiration from official documents of the Church, such as the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, the encyclicals of Pope John XXIII (Mater et Magistra and Pacem en Terris), those of Pope Paul VI (Populorum Progressio and Octogesima Adveniens), and the document of the Synod of Bishops on Justice in the World in 1971.

In this letter, the Bishops expound the ideas which constitute the solid foundation to a proper understanding of evangelization and development. Significantly, within the document, the Bishops may be seen to present their reflection in close contact with the Philippine context. Terms and concepts like pakikisama (cooperation), pagkakaisa (solidarity), pagkabayani (heroism) appear in the document. Then, too, the letter contains extracts of varied studies on the Philippine situation and setting, as signs of an attempt at inculturating Catholic moral teaching.

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What Is Happening To Our Beautiful Land? A Pastoral Letter on Ecolog y ( January 29, 1988) is a CBCP letter that may be considered as a landmark. It is the first document to be published by a national Episcopal conference that deals with the pressing moral issues related to ecology. “What is Happening to our Beautiful Land?” is a warning voice against the dire consequences of irresponsible exploitation of the nation’s natural resources. The letter denounces as sinful all activities, inspired by materialistic and selfish aims, that cause widespread destruction or alteration of natural habitats in the Philippines. It reminds all Christians that the goods of nature are God-given gifts, whose integrity and beauty must be cared for.

Later, in 1998, the CBCP issued a letter opposing the Mining Act of 1995, as it considered that law to be unjust as well as neglectful of environmental concerns. The country’s resources, stated the document, are now being over-exploited, while the native dwellers in rich territories are actually becoming poorer.

The document constitutes a statement in favor of sustainable development and a reminder of citizens’ moral responsibility before future generations.

Morality in Politics The Philippine bishops have issued numerous letters that contain exhortations on the exercise of politics; statements on various referenda, plebiscites and elections; principles in the conduct of public governance; teachings on the principles of the relationship between the Church and the State, etc. Time and again, the Bishops have insisted that there was a moral dimension to politics; for any activity performed by humans assumes a quality of goodness or badness. Christians ought to bear this in mind, reminds the CBCP, whenever confronted by a choice between different political programs or candidates. They should choose in accordance with Gospel values. Certainly, the Church cannot dictate to the faithful for what or whom they

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should vote; but it can provide guidelines to help them make choices consistent with the Christian faith.

Quite a number of these CBCP letters were issued from the late 1960’s until the middle of the 1980’s (period of the Martial Law regime), and on the occasion of diverse election periods in the country. The Philippine Bishops could never be accused of negligence in reminding the people about their right to vote and the need to be vigilant in the practice of democracy.

A Dialogue For Peace: A Joint Pastoral Letter of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (February 20, 1983). To some extent, this CBCP document represents a direct confrontation with the increasing repressions exerted by the political regime on members of the Church. Harassment and threats were becoming more common in the 1980’s. Thus, the Bishops decided to speak out against the arrest and detention of priests, religious, and Church workers; on the deeper unresolved issues of poverty and development; and on other unacceptable policies and practices of the government. They asked, “Are the issues so purely political in nature that it should be said, as the government claims, that they are beyond the scope of the Church’s concerns? Or do they fall under the stated task of structuring and consolidating the society according to divine law?” The bishops held that the cited issues do fall under the religious mission of the Church. “Working for justice is a constitutive element of the preaching of the Gospel,” they declared.

Pastoral Exhortation on Philippine Politics (September 16, 1997) In the spirit of preparing for the third millennium, and heeding the call of Pope John Paul II for conversion and renewal, the Philippine Bishops decided to issue each year (1997-1999) a special full-length pastoral letter dealing with an aspect of Philippine life which urgently needed change and renewal according to the Gospel. The series began with a document on Philippine politics. According to the letter, “Philippine politics— the way it is practiced—has been most hurtful of us as a people.

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MORALITY OF THE HEART

It is possibly the biggest bane in our life as a nation and the most pernicious obstacle to our achieving full human development.”

The bishops claim that the Church must intervene in this area, albeit on the moral and religious planes. While remaining nonpartisan, the bishops insist that it is the right and duty of the Church to teach moral and religious truths in order to guide and transform Philippine politics in conformity with the Gospel.

Family and Life Although the Philippine hierarchy’s letters reflect the intense local debates around population control and the encyclical Humanae Vitae, they also touch on other issues related to health care, etc. In this group, we may include the appeals and short statements of the Bishops for various international meetings like the 1994 Cairo Conference on Population and Development and the Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995.

Significantly, the first pastoral letter (in 1968) of the CBCP on life issues was a declaration of the bishops’ acceptance and support of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae. The members of the local hierarchy took advantage of this occasion to express their communion with the Roman Pontiff, precisely in difficult moments.

A few months later, the Bishops issued more documents in the same line. They began to criticize the government’s policy of population control, denouncing immoral public measures aimed at limiting family size.

Since then, the CBCP has often insisted in its documents that life must always be considered as a gift from God; that a contraceptive mentality runs counter to natural law; that Natural Family Planning is the only morally acceptable way of limiting the number of children. The two most significant documents are: Pastoral Letter on the Encyclical Letter “Humanae Vitae” (October 12, 1968) Although the content of this pastoral letter simply echoes the teaching of the encyclical of Pope Paul VI, it expresses nonetheless

MORAL THEOLOGY IN THE LOCAL MAGISTERIUM

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the loyalty and obedience of the Philippine Hierarchy to the Successor of Peter. The bishops affirm the teaching authority of the Pope. His encyclical Humanae Vitae, they declare, commands assent from the Catholic faithful.

Guiding Principles of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines on Population Control (July 10, 1990) According to this document, the Pope and the College of Bishops are the only authoritative voice that can proffer the official Catholic moral teaching on human reproduction. Aware of the many differences in perspective and postures in the country, the Bishops set forth the following guiding principles: respect should be given to the sacredness of human life in all its stages; marriage and marital acts have two aspects (unitive and procreative), which should not be separated through human initiative; directly willed abortion is gravely wrong in itself; only Natural Family Planning is morally acceptable in practicing responsible procreation; and lastly, decision on the number of children lies solely with the parents after due discernment of God’s will. “Our faith response to life is not just to refrain from killing, but to promote, protect, and enhance the quality of life,” assert the Bishops.