Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas

Item

Title: Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas
Description: Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas Official Interdiocesan
Organ is published monthly by the University of Santo Tomas and is printed at U.S.T. Press, Manila, Philippines.
Issue Date: Volume XLVI (Issue No. 516) July 1972
Publisher: University of Santo Tomas.
Language: Spanish; English
Subject: Catholic Church -- Philippines -- Periodicals.; Philippines -- Religion -- Periodicals.
Rights
Place of publication: Manila
extracted text: Boletin Eclesiastico de piLIPINAS Vol. XLVI • 516 July, 1972 ARCHBISHOP JUAN C. SISON, S.T.D., D.D. Twenty Five Years of Service to God and His People BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE piLIPINAS THE OFFICIAL INTERDIOCESAN ORGAN EDITOR FR. JAIME BOQU1REN. OP. EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS ER. FRANCISCO DEL RIO, O.P. ER. QUINTIN M. GARCIA. O.P. FR JESUS MERINO. O.P. ER. FIDEL V1LLARROEL.. O.P. FR. LEONARDO LEGASPI. O.P FR. EFREN RIVERA. O.P BUSINESS MANAGER FR. FLORENCIO TESTER A. OP BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FiLIPiNAS, Official Interdiocesan Organ, is published monthly by the University of Santo Tomas and is p'inted at U.S.T. Press, Manila, Philippines. Entered as Second Class Mail Matter at the Manila, Post Office on June 21. 1946. Subscription Rates. Yearly subscription in the Philipp.nes. P20 00: Two Years. P36.00; Three Years, P54.00. Abroad, $6.00 a year. Price per copy. P2.00. Subscriptions are paid in advance Communications of an editorial nature concerning articles, cases and reviews should be addressed to the Editor. Advertising and subscription enquiries should be addressed to the Business Manager. Orders for renewals or changes of address should include both old and new address, and will go into effect fifteen days after notification. Address all communications to. BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE PILIPINAS Fathers’ Residence University of Santo Tomas Manila 0-403 Philippines Vol. XLVI • 516 Ju'y- 1972 Table of Contents Floods — God's Coll ............................................................... 414 Failure of Authority.................................................................. 415 Eucharist, Sign of Unity and Peace ..................................... 416 Priestly Example Reinforces Apostolate ................................. 419 Catholic Action in Modern Society......................................... 423 Pastoral Norms on General Sacramental Absolution........... 427 Pontifical Document on Marriage Cases .............................. 433 Proceedings in Cases “Super Rato" ..................................... 435 Mary and the World of Today .............................................. 448 Decision Making in Religious Communities ........................ 455 Mission of the Young 473 The Missions Today ................................................................. 476 Participation of a Nation in Crisis in the Universal Mission of Christ 481 History of the Church Chap. 25 ........................................... 491 EDITORIALS FLOODS —GOD’S CALL The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines reite rates its appeal for prayer and sacrifice in the unprecedented disaster that has befallen our people. If prayers are indispen sable every day of our lives, their need is more urgent still i.n this time of special trial, especially in the greater challenge ahead of rehabilitation and reconstruction. There are those who see in the floods a special punishment of God. Certainly Holy Scripture leaves no room for doubt that even in this life God punishes sin, and it may be that what is happening is in some measure allowed by God because we have turned from Him. It is, however, risky and presumptuous to identify any given affliction as the punishment of a definite sin (Jn. 9,2; Jer. 12:11). It could also be that* God permits such sufferings in order to remind all those who rightly seek reforms in our society in favor particularly of the poor and less privileged, that this can not be achieved should we abandon God and forget the life hereafter. It is not unlikely that God also is rebuking Christian spiritual leaders both those who have ceased to see the need of prayers as well as those who fail to translate their prayers into works of justice and love. This disaster could also be a call by God to a keener sense of community, to a deeper concern for our fellowmen, so that we may bp one flock under one Shepherd, one family under the fatherhood of God. Bishop MARIANO G. GAVIOLA Secretary General, Bishops Conference (From M.T. Aug. fl. 1972) FAILURE OF AUTHORITY An allied reason for the growth of violence is the failure of authority to exercise itself as a bulwark against crime. This failure is also due to the weakened faith of both civil and re ligious authorities. As the poet Yeats so well expressed this problem: “The best in society seem to lack all conviction, the worst are full of passionate intensity”. For violence proliferates with the breakdown of authority. And authority breaks down EDITORIAL 415 when Christian convictions are denied in theory or cowardly be trayed in conduct. When governors, superiors, law-makers, ad ministrators and teachers cease to believe they have a body of truth to teach and a code of Christian goodness to live, in culcate into others and die for, both of which come from and bind men to the God of Goodness and Love, then the community is abandoned by its leaders and left a prey to professional in citers of murder and rapine. For once bereft of effective Chris tian leadership, the masses are pathetically prone to heed the siren call to revolution. When authority is confused, apathetic, fearful of performing its duty, then society falls into the hands of the most cunning and powerful who are usually organized and proceed ruthlessly to amalgate communities into communes. When authority is weak it often succumbs to blackmail thus becoming a catalyst to fiercer attacks of the revolutionaries. For successful violence inevitably calls forth greater, bolder vio lence. What civil, and especially religious authorities must realize is that the apologists for organized violence know no loyalty, reverence no reality. They are .neo-nihilists, spiritual ly famised, deprived of God by self-denial, deprived of mature personhood by self-destruction. They are waifs of a material ist, godless civilization. What they need is not coddling, but discipline. What they admire and respond to is not cowardly capitulation, but firm convictions and adamant enforcement of moral and civil laws. When authorities, civil and religious, show a courage that is the fruit of deep Christian convictions and conduct, then the rising tide of violence, fruit of a disintegrat ing Christian civilization, will begin to fall to a low ebb. Then the spiritual starvelings who are fascinated with the violence of gangsters may be won instead to the violence of saints which conquers the kingdom of heaven and leads to a life of love with God and man. — Rev. VINCENT MICELI, S.J. (L’Oaserratore Romano, Jane 2.9, 1972) MOST REV. JUAN C. SISON, D.D. Archbishop of Nueva Segovia On the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of his episcopal ordination — July 25, 1947 — the Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas extends prayerful greetings and congratulations. EUCHARIST —SIGN OF UNITY AND PEACE Tomorrow we will celebrate the feast of "Corpus Christi”, the feast of the Eucharist. The Church has already comme morated its institution on Holy Thursday by recalling and re newing sacramentally the Lord’s Last Supper. That was so closely a part of the drama of the Passion, however, that there wa« no time for individual believers and their community to linger in particular reflection on the mystery of Jesus’ peren nial real presence in the Church itself, and of the renewal and multiplication of Christ’s sacrifice, in a bloodless manner, in the eucharistic rite. CHRIST AMONG US The feast of “Corpus Christi” is, therefore, a rethinking of that fact and that mystery. It arose as a devotion of fervent souh in the 13th century, in Flanders, and liturgically in the universal Church after the miracle of Bolsena, thanks to Pope Urban IV, with the famous Bull Transiturus in 1264, the seventh centenary of which we celebrated some years ago. The theological importance of the eucharistic mystery, that is, the sacramental presence of the real, living Christ among us, and its effective sacrificial representation, deserved this special feast to reflect upon it. Moreover, the economy of this un limited possibility of multiplication wherever this effective com memoration was celebrated called for a defence, an apologia, an apotheosis of Christ sacrificed and present as food of salva tion and life for one and all of his faithful followers. This is what we wish to tell you, and let it suffice now for this reference to the feast of “Corpus Christi”: the Eucharist is for us, pilgrims on earth, bound for heaven, the focal point, blinding and illuminating, of the whole real system of our In the course of the general audience on 31 May, the Holy Father delivered this meditation to the numerous groups present. EUCHARIST 417 Christian religion. It is the presence of Emmanuel, that is, God with us, who is redemption, a divine victim for us, in a word, a plan of divine communion in us. The more impenetra ble, the more unusual, the more miraculous the Eucharistic mystery appears to our worldly way of thinking (remember the discussion at Capernaum: “this is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” Jn. 6, 60), the more clear, logical, persuasive and beatifying it is to the man who believes and who loves Jesus Christ. The Eucharist. He is here. TRANSUBSTANTIATION We should study more deeply the mystery of the Eucha rist, beloved Sons, with regard to the internal and external conditions of the Church in our times; regarding the presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine, and therefore regarding the necessity of having one’s soul purified from every grave sin before approaching the eucharistic table (cf. Mt. 22, 12; I Cor. II, 28-29); regarding the comprehension of charity and unity, as the specific effect of the Eucharist, that is, as the ecclesial sacrament par excellence (St. Augustine’s famous exclamations should always re-echo in our minds: “0 sacramentum pietatis! o signum unitatis! o vinculum caritatis!”— In Jo. tract. 26, 13; P.L. 35, 1612-1613: and we must always remember how St. Thomas sees the specific effect, the grace, the “res” of the Eucharist in the “unity of the mystical body, without which there can be no salvation; the entrance to salva tion is open to no one, in fact, outside the Church” S. Th. Ill, 73, 3). PERMANENCE OF REAL PRESENCE It is also well to reaffirm, in the face of certain denials circulating here and there, the permanence of the real presence of Christ in the eucharistic species even after the celebration of the Mass during which they were consecrated. Christ re mains; and so a special cult of the Eucharist also outside Mass is justified, nay rather required, as the faith and piety of the Church has always professed and as, in times nearer to us. she has promoted and celebrated with ever greater reverence and solemnity (cf. F. W. Faber, The Blessed Sacrament; see particularly the Instruction Eucharisticum mysterium, in Acta A. S., 1967, p. 539, ss) . Thus the worship of Christ in the Tabernacle, private and public adoration of the Blessed Sacra418 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS ment, the procession, or the solemn worship outside the church, on the occasion of the feast of “Corpus Christi ’ (we will cele brate it tomorrow, God willing, at the Parish of the Blessed Sacrament, Centocelle), Eucharistic Congresses, all have thenraison d’etre according to faith, theology, liturgy, individual or collective piety. Let us give supreme importance, Song and Brothers, to the Eucharist, particularly in Holy Mass, the heart of our reli gion. and in communion with Christ, the Bread of life, which it offers us. Doing so, we will have given to our faith its highest expression, to the Church her genuine vitality, to our souls the school and food of our sanctification, to the world itself the beacon of its unity and peace (cf. Vonier, "The Key to the Doctrine of the Eucharist”). This is our most earnest exhortation, our most heartfelt wish! With our Apostolic Blessing. Priests themselves extend to the different hours of the day the praise and thanksgiving of the Eucharistic celebration by reciting the Divine Office. Through it they pray to God in the name of the Church on behalf of the whole people entrusted to them and indeed for the whole world. (Presbyterorum Ordinis, no. 5) PRIESTLY EXAMPLE REINFORCES THE APOSTOLATE Venerable Brothers and dear Sons, Most cordially do we greet you who, together with a throng of other pilgrims, for the first time since the war which raged throughout the world, have made your way to this city from Our beloved Hungary and have desired to come to Us. There is cause for joy in this family gathering between Us, to whom is entrusted the supreme apostolic sendee, and you, Venerable Brothers in the episcopate, and you, beloved sons, who are priests. But in this meeting not only is there joy to be expressed; it also pertains to Us to address a few words to you, words which well up from a paternal and loving heart and which may serve to sustain you. First of all there comes to mind the question of the priest ly life which, so long as it is saintly, wholehearted and a shin ing example to others, has always been and is the foundation of every kind of apostolic activity In this our own day, how very true are the words of the Apostle St. Paul: “We are made a spectacle to the world, and to angels and to men” (I Cor. 4, 10). It behooves us then to remember that the virtues with which the priest is enriched, or the defects for which he is responsible, are not only of benefit, ,or of harm, to himself but react upon the whole Church : that is to say, through the virtuous things he does enrich the whole ecclesial community, whereas his failings inflict harm on it, tend to ruin its good name, make it less easy to be believed in. So it is that by the example of his own life the priest has to bear witness to what he teaches. Moreover, by example of this kind the most powerful encour agement is given to vocations, of which the Church, especially in Hungary, is in the greatest need. During the audience on 22 May granted to bishops and priests from dioceses of Hungary on pilgrimage to Rome at the close of the millenial celebrations of St. Stephen. King of Hungary, the Holy Father addressed the pilgrims in these words. 420 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS PRESERVE UNITY May We also warmly remind you to preserve unity amongst yourselves. We mean that unity which Christ our Lord earn estly prayed for at the Last Supper, asking “that they may be one” (Jn. 17, 21). This unity begins with the faith whereby we believe the Church to be of divine origin and the Holy Spirit to be unfailingly present therein. That unity joins you in the first place to this Apostolic See and to the Successor of St. Peter. Cleave with unshaken trust to the same Apostolic See which has no other object in view in its whole mode of action than the well-being of all the chil dren of the Church, and of all its parts, and so of you too. The unity of which We are speaking binds the bishops to gether closely amongst themselves insofar as they, by their charity, sincerity and above all their fidelity towards God and concern for their duties, are at one with one another in their action, in their sermons, in their single mode of dealing with whatever promotes the good of the Church and maintains its rights. For when the consecrated Pastors form, as it were, a single structure, their spiritual strength is increased. Finally, this unity must thrive vigorously as between bishops and priests. In this context it is helpful to quote the words of Vatican Council II: “All priests, both diocesan and religious, share in and exercise with the bishops the priesthood of Christ... Wherefore they constitute one priestly body and one family, whose father is the Bishop” (Deer. Christus Dominus, n. 28). Now, as you well know, a family is in settled unity when the paternal authority is benignly and at the same vigilantly exercised, and when it is met with obedience, reve rence, compliance and love. On the same firm foundation must communion between the Bishop and the clergy be established. This unity, however, which by reason of human defects even in the ordinary course of life is not preserved without considerable labour, as experience shows, may become much more difficult in extraordinary circumstances of the times; but then it is of the greatest necessity and is productive of much spiritual fruit. We beg of you, therefore, that, faithful to your God-given vocation, you guard this unity, keeping it safe from the pitfalls which endanger it and exercising without fail the virtues belonging to the priesthood and most of all putting into practice a zealous concern for self-dedication or, as it is called, “the spirit of sacrifice”. PRIESTLY EXAMPLE 421 We do not doubt that through this sense of unity you will also be keeping in touch with those brethren of yours in the priesthood who, from various causes, are not able to work in the vineyard of the Lord. Bishops and priests will not suffer them to be deserted but with charitable concern will give them generous help. Pastoral duty meets with no small hindrances and difficulties in these days. The gravest danger of all, how ever, may threaten from the fact that the labourers in that same vineyard may be overcome by weariness and lose of heart. There are some who, because of many setbacks and vexations, feel unable to cope, feel that they are not equal to the task. Against this, reliance must be put on what they are able to do in the circumstances and on the expectation, which Christian hope will give, of better things to come. RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION In this field of pastoral endeavour there is one special matter about which We are concerned. Namely, that of religious instruction. As you are all aware, pastors of souls are bound as a con scientious duty to give this to everyone and to insist on the ne cessity of it in case of those who neglect it. We trust that you will diligently take every measure to ensure that this religious instruction will go ahead in your native kind. Undoubtedly dif ficulties are not wanting to make this element of pastoral duty sometimes most arduous; but these difficulties must not be used as an excuse and lead perhaps to inertia. Faith and zeal must be afire in priests, spurring them on to provide every kind of pastoral aid and also to seize every opportunity open to priest1\ intervention within the existing social order of things in Hungary. Nor must the special and very necessary aspect there of be forgotten which concerns the instruction of the children in the family. FAMILY CRISIS Having made mention of the family. We cannot do other than speak of the crisis affecting the institution of family life, a crisis from which your own beloved country also is .not immune. To give an example, in a certain Budapest periodical there was publ.shed recently the number of known abortions, divorces, and suicides (that is to say, ot people who had taken their own lives) Such facts should move us to the quick. And if, as We unders .an‘*i ^e public authorities are striving to deal with this state ot atlairs, the Church ought also to be urgently at work in the 422 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS same sphere, one which is so very closely allied with moral teach ing. Venerable brothers and dear sons, You decided as it were to crown the solemnities, organized for the millenial commemoration of Saint Stephen the King, in this city of Rome from which, as from a spring of living water, the Catholic Church flowed into Hungary. You have foregathered at the tomb of Peter in order to draw new strength and to be confirmed in your purpose to live faithfully in accordance with the vocation God has bestowed on you. We earnestly desire and We beg of the Giver of all good things that, with the outpouring as it were of a new Pentecost, the Catholic Church in Hungary may prove to be a spiritual leaven making for prosperity and progress in every department of life. That is what We have to say to you, being moved by sin cere love and pastoral solicitude. To conclude, We invoke the Apostolic Blessing, pledge of copious gifts from the Holy Spirit, upon you here present and upon all your brother priests who, while remaining in the home country, are with you in mind and heart on this pilgrimage. EPISCOPAL ORDINATION ANNIVERSARIES Let us pray for our Bishops on the occasion of their ordination anniversaries. Most Rev. Teodulfo Domingo July 2, 1957 Most Rev. Carmelo Morales July 5, 1967 Most Rev. Emiliano Madangeng July 21, 1971 Most Rev. Juan C. Sison July 25, 1947 Most Rev. Alejandro Olalia July 25, 1949 Most Rev. Manuel del Rosario July 25, 1955 Most Rev. Pedro Bantigue July 25, 1961 Most Rev. Antonio Mabutas July 27, 1961 ROLE OF CATHOLIC ACTION IN MODERN SOCIETY To you, distinguished members of the National Presidency of the Italian Catholic Action; To you, beloved laymen and priests, respectively diocesan Presidents and Assistants, who have come from all over Italy for the usual National Meeting; To you our greetings and our thanks for the joy you give us with your visit. Today’s meeting offers us the possibility of testifying again to the whole large family of Italian Catholic Action the trust we put in it, the hope it arouses in our heart, the reliance we place on its availability and collaboration in order to bring about the Christian animation of the modern world. This is the task that Vatican II entrusted to the Catholic laity (Lu men Gentium, 31; Apostolican Actuositatem, 7) ; and this forms the enthusiasm of your hearts, the purpose of your activity, the secret nucleus of your programmes. The subject of your meeting assures us this is so, closely bound up as it is with what will form the framework of the catechetical network for your next year of activity: “the Christian and commitment in the world”. You have, in fact, considered in the first place the role of Italian Catholic Action for the religious animation of Italian society. And in this light, we are sure, you will have confronted, clearly and objectively, also the other subject, that is the associative and organizational situation of the institution, a year after the expiry of«the three-vear period of experimentation of the new Statute. CONTINUITY OF IDEAL We wish to congratulate you heartily — and particularly the planners and speakers of the meeting—on this renewed at'L’Osservatore Romano, May 25, 1972. 424 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS testation of awareness of the mission that Catholic Action has in society, as the organization of laymen who wish to live with complete consistency the threefold mission, priestly, prophetic, and royal, that the pastoral theology of Vatican II assigned to them. Doing so, you show that you are still in the line of absolute continuity with the ideals and purposes by which Ita lian Catholic Action has been inspired in its history, now over a hundred years old. Actually, this programme of Christian animation has been its driving force right from the beginning; so that your pre sence today and the motive that justifies it, offer us happy opportunity to praise the history of Italian Catholic Action publicly. It seems to us right to do so, and it is. In fact, this magnificent work, in the various branches into which it is di vided, with its commitment of collaboration with the Holy See and with the Episcopate, with its clearsightedness, with the firmness it has shown at difficult moments, has always offered a precious, irreplaceable help for the operative presence of the Church in the various sectors of Italian life—at the level of parishes, dioceses, works of charity, social and civic initia tives, etc. In this way it continues efficaciously that “coor dination with the Apostolic Hierarchy, which is still alive as at the times of the Apostles, because there is still the apostolate continuing in the Episcopate”, as our Predecessor Pius XI opportunely stressed (Address on 3 November 1929 to Student Delegates and Aspirants; cf. L’Osservatore Romano, 4-5 Nov ember 1929). “PRAYER, ACTION, SACRIFICE” Praise, therefore, for the history of Catholic Action; and this is what we consider opportune today to recall before you. and, through you, to the whole Italian ecclesial community. Praise, of the persons, in the first place, who left an admira ble testimony of love for Christ and for the Church, of upright lives of faith, piety and unsparing effort; who lived, in a word, m conviction and example, the great and unforgotten motto: “Prayer, action, sacrifice”. We mention the names of Giovan ni B. Casoni, a Bolognese lawyer, the pioneer of a national Cath olic association in Italy; Conte Mario Fani and Giovanni Acquaderoi, who, after a eucharistic vigil in the Church of St. Rose in Viterbo, founded, as everyone knows, the first “Society of Italian Catholic Youth”; and then, one after the other, those of Piero Panighi for the Men, Igino Righette for University ROLE OF CATHOLIC ACTION 425 graduates, Armida Barelli for Girls, Marchesa Giustimani Bandini for Catholic Action Women; Toniolo, Medolago Albani, Dalia Torre, Pericoli, Corsanego, etc. Alongside them, hidden and strong inspirers of great decisions and persevering resolu tions, there are the ecclesiastics who gave so much to the forma tion and maturity of your ranks: Mons. Radini Tedeschi, Mons. Olgiati, Mons. Pini, Fr. Gemelli, Mons. Cavagna and Sargolini and Fr. Ceresana, and so many, so very many humble and great priests, who thoroughly understood their times, and gave them selves unstintingly, according to the charism received in ordina tion, to be teachers and guides. Who does not have some per sonal memory of those who shone with special virtues, to such an extent that they could be indicated as examples sweeping people along to the heroism of Christian life? But alongside those who stood out because of their parti cular mission and tasks, we must keep in mind the thousands and thousands of faithful members who, formed in the school of Catholic Action, made up connecting tissue of the Italian ecclesial community. But Catholic Action deserves praise, not only for the per sons, but also for its foiinula, which has proved its worth for over a hundred years. Right from the beginning, in fact, it promoted the work of the laity in various sectors of the Church, in advance of the times, and prepared the way for the magni ficent development that Vatican II brought about in this field of lay activity, relying fully on laymen in all sectors of secular life, where they are called to bear witness, “in the manner of leaven” (Lumen Gentium, 31). Italian Catholic Action has done a great deal in this direc tion. In the first place, it gave the directives and encouraged study of an ecclesiology, in which laymen understood the place they must assume in the Church; and this is done particularly by means of a real spiritual formation, based on eucharistic piety and conscious participation in the Liturgy—do you re member the dialogue Masses, the first step to today’s litur gical reform?—on Marian devotion, meditation, spiritual re treats, and all the classical forms intended to nourish inner life. Catholic Action, furthermore, fostered, with its formula, the animation of the Italian ecclesial community, arousing in its various branches—from children to teen-agers, young peo ple and adults, in the various specializations characteristic of 426 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS mentality and profession or work—keen awareness of their res ponsibilities the duty to engage in the apostolate, collaboration with parish works, multiform social activity and missionary outlook. This duty is incumbent on everyone as a result of baptism and confirmation, sacraments which dispose the whole person for Christ’s service. TESTIMONY TO THE GOSPEL And just for this reason, Catholic Action, finaiiy, has pre pared all these groups for the apostolate in the modern world. It has confronted them with the ever increasing demands that the Christian vocation imposes: that is, to bear witness to the Gospel, to penetrate the people like yeast in dough and infuse the sweet perfume of Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 2,15); to take to heart the worries, anguish and questions of their contemporaries, live their experiences, become united and friendly with them, be come all things to all men (cf. 1 Cor. 9, 22), to win them all for Christ. We admit that some people, at some moments, and even at present, may have doubted the validity of this formula; yet its results in the.past prove its efficacy, and show that, if duly adapted to the necessities of today, it is still entirely suitable to sustain the Lay apostolate, desired by Vatican II. You are aware of this. This is attested by the praiseworthy initiatives about which you have informed us, especially a .new campaign among children, the renewal of the apostolate among the young, of those collaboration with the clergy, an extensive network of catechetical action, etc. We thank you for your goodwill; and we encourage you to continue along this way, without losing heart at the difficulties and lack of understanding. Christ is with you. The Blessed Virgin supports your efforts. Have faith! And Catholic Action will continue, through you, and with the generous colla boration of all its forces, to carry out its magnificent mission. This is the wish the Pope makes for you. He prays for you every day, and blesses you all with the deepest affection. PASTORAL NORMS CONCERNING THE ADMINISTRATION OF GENERAL SACRAMENTAL ABSOLUTION SACRED CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH Christ our Lord instituted the Sacrament of Penance in order that the faithful who have sinned might obtain pardon from the mercy of God for the offenses committed against him and at the same time be reconciled with the Church (cf. Lumen Gentium, 11). He instituted it when he gave the Apostles and their lawful successors the power to forgive and retain sins (cf. Jn 20:22-23). The Council of Trent solemnly taught that for full and perfect forgiveness of sins three acts are required from the penitent as parts of the sacrament, these acts being contrition; confession and satisfaction. It also taught that absolution is given by the priests, who acts as judge, and that it is necessary by divine law to confess to a priest each and every mortal sin and the circumstances that alter the species of sins that are remembered after a careful examination of conscience (cf. Sess. XIV, eanones de Sacramento Paenitentiae,, 4, 6-9: I)S 1704, 17061709). A number of local Ordinaries have been disturbed at the difficulty for their faithful to go to confession individually because of the shortage of priests in some regions. They have also been troubled at certain erroneous theories about the doc trine of the Sacrament of Penance and the growing tendency to introduce the improper practice of granting general sacra mental absolution to people who have made only a generic con fession. They have therefore asked the Holy See to recall to the Christian people, in accordance with the true nature of the Sacrament of Penance, the conditions needed for the right use of this sacrament and to issue norms in the present circum stances. 428 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS This Sacred Congregation has carefully considered these questions and, taking account of the Instruction of the Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary of 25 March 1944, makes the following declarations: I The teaching of the Council of Trent must be firmly held and faithfully put into practice. This implies a reprobation of the recent custom which has sprung up in places by which there is a presumption to satisfy the precept of sacramentally con fessing mortal sins for the purpose of obtaining absolution by confession made only generally or through what is called a community celebration of penance. This reprobation is de manded not only by divine precept as declared by the Council of Trent, but also by the very great good of souls deriving, ac cording to centuries-long experience, from individual confes sion rightly administered. Individual and integral confession and absolution remain the only ordinary way for the faithful to be reconciled to God and the Church unless physical or moral impossibility excuses from such confession. II In can indeed happen because of particular circumstances occasionally occurring that general absolution may or even should be given to a number of penitents without previous indi vidual confessions. This can happen first of all when there is imminent danger of death and even though a priest or priests are present, they have no time to hear the confession of each penitent. In this case any priest has the faculty to give general absolution to a number of people after first, if there is time, exhorting them very briefly to make an act of contrition. Ill Apart from the cases of danger of death, it is lawful to give sacramental absolution collectively to a number of faithful who have confessed only generically but have been suitably ex horted to repent, provided that there is serious necessity: name ly, when in view of the number of penitents there are not enough confessors at hand to hear properly the confessions of each within an appropriate time, with the result that the penitents through no fault of their own would be forced to do without PASTORAL NORMS 429 sacramental grace or Holy Communion for a long time. This can happen especially in mission lands but in places also and within groups where it is clear that this need exists. This is not lawful however, when confessors are able to be at hand, merely because of a great concourse of penitents such as can for example occur on a great feast or pilgrimage (cf. Proposition 59, condemned by Innocent XI on 2 March 1679: DS 2159.) IV Local Ordinaries and, to the extent that they are concerned, priests are bound in conscience to see that the number of con fessors should not become reduced because some priests neglect this noble ministry (cf. Presbyterorum Ordims 5, 13; Christus Dominies, 30), while involving themselves in secular affairs or devoting themselves to less necessary ministries, especially if these ministries can be performed by deacons or suitable lay people. V The judgment as to whether the conditions mentioned above (art. Ill) are present and, consequently, the decision as to when it is lawful to grant general sacramental absolution are reserved to the local Ordinary after he has conferred with other members of the episcopal conference. If a serious need arises of giving general sacramental ab solution apart from the cases laid down by the local Ordinary, the priest is obliged, whenever it is possible, to have previous recourse to the local Ordinary in order to grant the absolution ’ wfully; if this is not possible, he is to inform the Ordinary as soon as possible of the need of the granting of the absolution. VI In order that the faithful may take advantage of general sacramental absolution it is absolutely required that they be suitably disposed: each should repent of the sins he has com mitted, have the purpose of keeping from sin, intend to repair any scandal or loss caused, and also have the purpose of con fessing in due time each serious sin that he is at present unable to confess. Priests should carefully remind the faithful of these dispositions and conditions, which are required for the validity of the sacrament. 430 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS VII Those who have serious sins forgiven by general absolu tion should make an auricular confession before receiving abso lution in this collective form another time unless a just cause lirevents them. They are strictly obliged, unless prevented by moral impossibility, to go to confession within a year. They too are affected by the precept that obliges every Christian to confess privately to a priest once a year at least all his serious sins that he has not yet specifically confessed (cf. Fourth Lateran Council, c. 21 and also Council of Trent, Doctrina de Sacramento Paenitentiae, c. 21 and also Council of Trent, Doctrina de Sacra mento Paenitentiate, c. 5 De Confessione and canons 7 and 8: DS, 1679-1683, 1707-1708; cf. also Proposition 11 condemned by the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office in the Decree of 24 September 1665: DS 2031). VIII Prests are to teach the faithful that those who are aware of being in mortal sin -are forbidden to refuse deliberately or by neglect to satisfy the obligation of individual confession, when it is possible to have a confessor, while they wait for an occasion for collective absolution (cf. Instruction of the Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary, 25 March 1944). IX In order that the faithful may easily be able to satisfy the obligation of making an individual confession, let care be taken that confessors are available in the churches on days and at hours that are convenient for the faithful. In places that are remote or difficult to reach, where the priest can come only at rare intervals during the year, let it be arranged that, as far aspossible, the priest shall on each occasion hear the sacramental confessions of a group of penitents and give collective absolution to the other penitents provided that the conditions mentioned above (art. Ill) are present, so tliat in this way all the faithful, if possible, shall be able to make an individual confession at least once a year. X The faithful are carefully to be taught that liturgical cele brations and community rites of penance are of great usefulness PASTORAL NORMS 431 for the preparation of a more fruitful confession of sins and amendment of life. Care must however • he taken that such celebrations or rites are not confused with sacramental confes sion and absolution. If in the course of such celebrations the penitents make an individual confession, each is to receive absolution singly from the confessor to whom he goes. In the case of general sacra mental absolution, it is always to be given in accordance with the special rite laid down by the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship. However, until the publication of this new rite, the formula of sacramental absolution, now prescribed, is to be used, but changed to the plural. The celebration of this rite is to be kept quite distinct from the celebration of Mass. XI If one who is in a situation causing actual scandal to the faithful is sincerely penitent and seriously proposes to remove the scandal, he can indeed receive general sacramental absolu tion along with others but he is not to go to Holy Communion until, in the judgment of a confessor whom he is first to approach personally, he has removed the scandal. With regard to absolution from reserved censures, the norms of law in force are to be observed, calculating the time for re course from the next individual confession. XII Priests should be careful not to discourage the faithful from frequent or devotional confession. ,On the contrary, let them draw attention to its fruitfulness for Christian living (cf. Mystici Corporis, AAS 35 (1913) 235), and always display readi ness to hear such a confession whenever a reasonable request is made by the faithful. It must be absolutely prevented that individual confession should be reserved for serious sins only, for this would deprive the faithful of the great benefit of con fession and would injure the good name of those who approach the sacrament singly. XIII The granting of general sacramental absolution without observing the norms given above is to be considered a serious abuse. Let all pastors carefully prevent such abuses out of 432 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS awareness of the moral duty enjoined upon them for the wel fare of souls and for the protection of the dignity of the Sacra ment of Penance. In the audience granted on 16 June 1972 to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Pope Paul VI specially approved these norms and ordered them to be promulgated. From the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, 16 June 1972. (Sgd.) Francis Card. Seper, Prefect (Sgd.) Paul Philippe, Secretary The faithful want good confessors, who have a sound and mature grasp of doctrine, who will show to them clearly and accurately what is lawful and unlawful, who will impose no unnecessary burdens or obligations and who will come to their aid when justice or charity require it; they want prudent confessors in whom, as penitents, they can fully confide, without the risk of spiritual harm; con fessors full of the spirit of God, who know how to lead them to the perfection which corresponds with their state. Show yourselves, beloved sons, worthy of such a noble ministry. (Pius XII, Discourse to the Parish Priests and Lenten Preachers of Rome, 17 fob. 1942) NEW PONTIFICAL DOCUMENT ON MARRIAGE CASES With the Motu Propio Causas Matrimoniales of 28 March 1971 His Holiness Pope Paul VI made provision that notable modifications be made to the procedure regarding cases of nul lify of marriage, in order to ensure a more rapid solution in the judicial trial. With his approval of a new Instruction of the Sacred Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments, published in the latest number of the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, with the title “De quibusdam emendationibus circa normas in processu super matrimonio rato et non consummate servandas”, the Pope has seen fit to dispose that the procedure gov erning the drawing up of ratum et non consummation marriage cases, hitherto governed by the Norms of 7 May 1923 of the above Sacred Congregation, should be modified in several points. THREE PARTS The draft of the new Instruction was sent to the entire Episcopate, in order that each prelate might express his opinion and make observations and suggestions reflecting local needs or particular local solutions. Together with the agreement of the Episcopate there arrived suggestions and comments which it has attempted to meet in the drawing up of the final version of the document, which begins with the words Dispen sations Matrimonii. The document is divided into three parts: 1) General faculties granted to Bishops to draw up cases super rato; II) The drawing up of the case and the drawing up of the judicial acts; III) Clauses usually included in papal rescripts pro gratia. After a short introduction on the exclusive competence of the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments in cases super rato, according to the Apostolic Constitution Regimini Ecclesiae L’niversae of 15 August 1967, the document lists the innovations and derogations of the previous procedure. They are all of a 434 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS juridico-pastoral nature, and for the first time there is intro duced the general faculty a jure for the bishops to draw up cases super rato, in derogation of Canons 1557.3 ad n. 1963.1 of the Code of Canon Law. There is a limitation for the so-called “difficult cases” which, before being drawn up, are referred to the Sacred Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments. MORE EXACT DISCIPLINE Other points of important procedural modifications are those connected with the general prorogation of competence to draw up such cases, with a better and more exact discipline governing the passage of such cases from the judicial to the administrative field, with the adding of the votum of the Or dinary to that of the Tribunal, with the need to produce wit nesses (there is no longer any mention of "septimae manus” witnesses), with the physical examination of the spouses, which will be carried out when considered necessary, with the use of tape-recorders for hearing the parties and the witnesses, with the new figure of the conffde.ntial Counsellor or the Bishop and the parties at any phase of the case, with the use in the acts of the case, besides Latin, of the more commonly known ver nacular languages, and finally with the juridico-pastoral rea sons that from time to time cause the Apostolic See to include i.n rescripts pro gratia clauses forbidding the contracting of a new marriage without the nihil obstat of the Bishop or of the Apostolic See to include in rescripts affected l>y the clause shall have shown that he or she is fitted to face the duties of mar riage responsibly. The aim that the Apostolic See sets itself including such clause is the prevention of further matrimonial failures and the protection by the pro gratia provision of the spiritual, moral and social interests of third parties. The Instruction comes into force, according to the norms of law, three months from the date of the number of the Acta Apostolicae Sedis. PROCEEDINGS IN CASES "SUPER RATO" by Fr. Excelso Garcia, O.P. A. THE POPE’S VICARIOUS POWER DISSOLUBILITY OF MARRIAGE POSSIBLE There are two essential properties of marriage, namely unity and indissolubility. Marriage is by divine law, natural and positive, mono gamous and indissoluble. Though both unity and indissolubility are es sential properties of any valid marriage, there is a great difference between the two in regard to dispensation. Unity does not admit of any exception, while indissolubility does. The reason is that unity belongs to the primary precepts of the natural law, wherein no exception is pos sible. while indissolubility belongs to its secondary precepts and admits of exceptions. That is why the Jews were allowed in the Old Testament to dissolve marriage through the use of the bill of divorce. In no instance, however, was the law of monogamy relaxed. Even Christian marriage, which enjoys a special firmness and stability because of its sacramentality, is susceptible to dissolution as long as it is not a ratified and consummated marriage and there is a serious reason requiring its dissolution. It should be noted carefully, however, that a ratified and consummate'd marriage cannot in any way be dissolved. Only death may put an end to it. An absolutely indissoluble marriage should have these two elements and precisely in this order, namely sacramentality first and then consummation, not conversely. The following Christian marriages, therefore, can be dissolved, if a serious cause exists: a) a marriage which has been contracted by two baptized Ca tholics or non Catholics, but which has not been consum mated; b) a marriage which has been contracted by a Christian and a pagan who has been baptized after the celebration of mar riage, but which has not been consummated after the baptism of the latter; 136 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS c) a marriage which has been contracted between two pagans who after their marriage were both baptized, but who have not consummated their marriage after their baptism. In order, therefore, that the foregoing marriages be dissoluble, con summation should not have taken place after such marriages have be come sacraments, i.e., after both spouses are baptized. If consummation preceded the baptism of either party, such a consummation does not make the marriage absolutely indissoluble. To be such, the marriage has first to be a sacrament and then be consummated, not conversely. The threefold non-consummated marriage between two baptized, as enumerated above, is dissolved in two ways, namely by the very law through solemn religious profession and by particular dispensation of the Roman Pontiff granted for a just cause al the request of the two parties or even only one against the will of the other. It is not our purpose to deal with the first way of dissolving a merely ratified marriage, but only to study the second, especially in regard to the new norms contained in the Instruction Dispensationis matrimonii issued by the Holy See on March 7, 1972. We shall see therefore how a non consummated Christian mar riage may be dissolved by the Roman Pontiff and then we shall comment on the procedure to be followed in order to obtain the dispensation, taking into account the new rules issued by the Holy See on the matter. VICARIOUS POWER OF THE POPE That the Roman Pontiff is vested with the power to dissolve valid marriages other than a ratified and consummated one is beyond any doubt. The constant practice of this power throughout the centuries, the official pronouncement of the magislerium and the common opinion of theologians and canonists are evident proofs of the existence of this power in the Church. The use of this vicarious power can be traced back to Alexander III (1159-1181). Later on. Innocent III (1160-1218), and in the XV century Martin V and Eugene IV used this power, its use becoming more frequent in the XVI and following centuries. The Codex states that “the non consummated marriage between two baptized by the very fact of solemn marriage between two baptized or between one baptized and one un baptized, is dissolved by the very fact of solemn religious profession, and also by dispensation of the Holy See, granted for a just cause at the request of the two parties or even of one of them against the wish of the other”.1 The vicarious power to dissolve valid marriages belongs to the Supreme Pontiff as a personal prerogagtivc, as Vicar of Christ, not as ■ Canon 1119. "SUPER RATO” 437 Head of the eclesiastical community. In other words, this power is not a proper and connatural power enjoyed by the Church as a perfect society, but a most special an singular power conferred upon the Pope as God’s representative here on earth. The first known official pronouncement on this matter pointing to this exclusive prerogative of the Roman Pontiff by divine law, was made by Innocent III, when he said: “There is no doubt that the Almighty God . . . reserved the dissolution of the marital union, existing between a man and a woman, only to the judgment of the Roman Pontiff.”2 The Sacred Congregation for the Oriental Church af firms the exclusive prerogative of the Pope by divine law when she says that “Only the Roman Pontiff was divinely granted the power of dispensing the parties from a marriage ratified and nonconsummated."2 The poslConciliar Motu Proprio De Episcoporum muneribus, issued by Paul VI on June 15, 1966, points out also that the vicarious power is a prerogative of the Roman Pontiff. It states that "the Supreme Pontiff alone may dis pense, when using the vicarious power, from the divine laws, natural and positive, as it happens in dispensing from a ratified and non-consummatcd marriage, on matters related to the privilege of faith and others.”4 When exercised, the primary active subject of the vicarious power is God Himself, the Roman Pontiff being only its secondary active subject. The Pope’s role in the use of the vicarious power is merely instrumental er ministerial. He docs not act in his own name but in God’s name. That is why this power is called the Pope’s vicarious power as contrasted with his proper power in ruling the Church. Both are attached to his supreme office, but while the latter is exercised by Him as Head of the Church, the former is exercised in God s name, as His Vicar. Along the foregoing difference between the proper and vicarious powei existing in the Church, the proper power would properly be called eccle siastical, as connatural to the social structure of the Church. It belongs to her as perfect society and without it the Church cannot guide her members to attain their common and individual end, namely their sanc tification and final salvation. Its exercise, therefore, is restricted to the limits of her social jurisdiction, i.e., her laws. The vicarious power, how ever, is divine and supernatural, not belonging to her as a perfect society. Without it the Church could perfectly achieve her salvific mission. It was given to her for the welfare of souls in individual cases. Its exercise surpasses the limits of her own laws, and enters the sphere ruled by the divine law. That is why we have said before that though the proper 438 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIP1NAS and vicarious power of the. Church are .jurisdictional in nature, the former is ecclesiastical, the latter is divine,. The exercise of the vicarious power on matrimonial matters is shown in the dispensation from the divine law of indissolubility of marriage. It is of common knowledge that any valid marriage is indissoluble by divine law, natural and positive. Only God, Author of this law, can dispense anyone from its implementation. He can relax His own law cither through His personal intervention or through somebody delegated by Him. Usually, God does not show his personal intervention in relaxing His laws, but He does show His will through His representative, the Church established by Him to continue His divine mission here on earth. He endowed her with full power when He said to Peter: “All that you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and all that you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven’’ (Matth. XVI, 9). “This power is so ample an effective.’’ says Leo XIII, “that all her actuations will be ratified by God’’.5 REQUIREMENTS TO DISSOLVE A RATIFIED MARRIAGE Does the foregoing mean that the Pope can relax the law of indis solubility at his will? Certainly no. TWo facts are to be established beyond any reasonable doubt before a dispensation from a merely ratified marriage be granted by the Roman Pontiff: the non-consummation of the marriage and the existence of a just or proportionately grave cause. All concerned should be told, says the S. Congregation,6 that the validity of the dispensation is based on the non-consummation of marriage and the existence of a just or proportionately grave cause. Either of the two wanting, the dispensation given would be invalid. A subsequent marriage entered into because a previous one was dissolved on the false assumption that these two facts existed, can be declared null and void because of the invalid dispensation granted. NON-CONSUMMATION The Codex stales that a marriage is ratified and consummated “when between the spouses has taken place the physical act which the marriage contract has in view, and by which the parties become one flesh.”t On the other hand, the object of the marriage contract is pointed out in canon 1081, par. 2, as the “acts suitable by themselves for the procreation of children”. A marriage, therefore, is consummated when the marital “SUPER RATO” 439 act has taken place in the right manner. If after the celebration of marriage the parties have lived together, “the marriage is supposed in law to be consummated until the contrary is proved”.8 This is, of course, only a legal presumption which will yield to contrary proof. The rules given by the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments on May 7, 1923° should be followed in order to prove the non-consummation of the marriage, as long as they are not contrary to the ones given in the recent Instruction Dispensationis matrimonii. The fact of non-consummation of marriage can be established in two different ways, namely a priori by showing that the spouses could not consummate their marriage after its celebration; or a posteriori, by cor poral inspection of the spouses or spouse and by the sworn testimony of the parlies, confirmed by the witnesses and other documents that might throw light on the fact of non-consummation of the marriage.10 The con cordant confession of both spouses on the non-consummation has a special value. The nature of the fact is such that it is primarily and directly known to them and through them to others.11 This moral argument drawn from the sworn testimony of the spouses cannot be resorted to when there is a discrepancy between them with regard to the non-consummation, specially if the wife is not trustworthy. The proof of non-consummation need not be thoroughly established in all the above-mentioned ways. The defect in one way may be supplied by the sufficiency of arguments afforded by the other. Moral certainty achieved from accessory information will make the process useful and valid. The Congregation points out that the non-consummation of the mar riage usually takes place when there has been a defect in the matrimonial consent, when marriage has been entered into under force or intimidation, when frem the very beginning of the married life aversion of hatred between the spouses has existed, and when there is impoteney, either absolute or relative.1-1 A JUST CAUSE If the Roman Pontiff, in using the vicarious power, acts in God’s name, as His Vicar, he may dispense from the law of indissolubilityonly when God is supposed to relax such a law. Now, God is supposed to relax the law of indissolubility when a good greater than the one in■ Ibid., pur. 2. ’ AAs. 15. 1923. pi>. 3S9. tt. ”S. ConBr. of Sacramento, Kegul.-..- M-nminv. cap. IV. n. 20; S.lt. Kola. AuguM S.lt. itou. Jul, It. n. u. '■Ibid. Augunt II. 1931. n. 11. '■ S. Congr. of SncrnmenU. Ilerrw ..f M:.v 7. 1023. ran. XII. n v(l 140 BOLETIN ECLES1AST1CO DE F1LIPINAS volved in an indissoluble marriage can be achieved. This greater good is no other than the welfare of souls. The Pope therefore may grant a dispensation from the law of indissolubility when the spiritual welfare of the spouses is imperilled by maintaining their marriage indissoluble. Such a situation is a just cause14 for relaxing the law of indissobility. God is supposed to relax it in order to achieve the salvation of the souls in volved. A dispensation, however, without such a just cause would be not only unlawful but also invalid17’, since it would be a dispensation from a law issued by God Himself, not by the Pope. To judge whether the reason alleged for a dispensation is strong enough or not to grant the favor be longs exclusively to the Roman Pontiff, This does not mean that, a just cause existing, the petitioner has a right to be dispensed from the law of indissolubility of his marriage. The papal concession of the favor is entirely gracious, to which no married person is entitled to. The dissolu tion of a valid marriage is an exception to the law of indissolubility, to which nobody may claim a right.10 The following causes arc considered as just causes for a dispensation super rato ct non consumm'ato: impotency or a serious illness posterior to the celebration of marriage which impedes the use of the marriage; deep hatred of the spouses without any hope of possible reconciliation; an at tempted second marriage by one of the spouses with a third party; civil divorce obtained by one of the spouses; probable antecendcnt impotency which, not being entirely proved, is insufficient to declare the marriage null and void; probable lack of sufficient consent to the marriage or pro bable existence of a diriment impediment; danger of incontinence, due to excessive procrastination of consummation on the part of one spouse; danger or perversion in one spouse’s faith in cohabiting with the other party. A question may be raised in this respect: Can this vicarious power of the Pope be delegated to others? Some writers hold that such a power, though susceptible to delegation, has never been delegated. Others believe that the ministerial power has actually been delegated in some instances. Finally, others hold the opinion that this power is of such a nature that it cannot be delegated. The last opinion seems to be the most acceptable, and we adhere to it. A distinction should be made between the power to grant the dispen sation and the power to verify whether the conditions required to grant the dispensation exist. The power to grant the dispensation from the law ■nd elx ‘SUPER RATO” 441 of indissolubility of marriage is a personal prerogative enjoyed by the Roman Pontiff as Vicar of Christ, and cannot be delegated. The power, however, to institute the informative process in order to find out whether the essential requirements for the dispensation exist or not, can be de legated and usually is delegated. The cases mentioned by the authors of the second opinion do not imply real delegation of the vicarious power itself, but the verification of the existence of the conditions required for a valid dispensation, or at the most, its execution. The alleged delegated persons were commissioned only to verify the existence of the conditions required for the dispensation by the Roman Pontiff. Once those conditions had been found as fulfilled, the dispensation granted by the Pope was executed by them. Hence, the actual concession of the favor was granted by the Roman Pontiff himself, rot by the persons delegated. The dispensation of the law of indissolubilitty in the case of a merely ratified marriage may be granted only when two requirements are ful filled, namely the non-consummation of the marriage and the existence of a just cause. These two factors are indispensable for the validity of the dispensation. Now, how can the Roman Pontiff know that these two re quirements arc present for the dispensation? Obviously through an in formative process which will engender at least moral certainty as to their existence. This process is, by commission of the Holy See, to be instituted by the diocesan Bishop of the parties concerned. The Bishop can do it through his diocesan tribunal, through the tribunal of the nearer diocese, or through the regional one operating for the entire ecclesiastical province. On May 7, 1923, the Sacred Congregation for the Discipline of the Saraments issued the Decree Catholica Doctrina'7 on the process to be made in cases super rato et non-consummato. On March 27, 1929, the same Congregation issued another supplementary, document18 on some pre cautions to be taken in order to avoid fraud by the parties and others in the trial of these cases. Finally, on March 7, 1972, a new Instruction has been issued by the same Congregation on certain changes to be introduced in the norms to be followed in these trials super rato. We shall limit our comment on the main points of this new Instruction. B. THE INSTRUCTION “DISPENSATIONIS MATRIMONII” In the short introduction of the document, it is explained that the Instruction has been given in consideration of the increasing number of " AAS.. XV 1923. pp. 369-136. ■* AAS.. XXI. 1923. p. 490. 442 BOLETIN ECLES1ASTICO DE F1LIP1NAS petitions for a dispensation super rato et non consummate. This asks for some changes in the process in order to expedite the study of the cases wherein a dispensation is possible. The Instruction is divided into three parts. The first part deals with The General Faculty to Institute the Pro cess on a Ratified Non-consummated Marriage; the second one with The Drawing up of the Case and Drawing up of the Acts; finally the third part deals with Some Clauses that May Be Found in the Rescript, when the favor is granted. GENERAL FACULTY Canon 1963, par. 1, states that “no inferior judge can institute the process in cases of dispensation super rato, unless the Holy Sec grants him such a faculty”. In Canon 259, par. 3, it is prescribed that “it belongs lo the exclusive competence of the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments to institute a process on the consummation of marriage and the existence ot cause in order to grant a dispensation”, which is confirmed by the Const. Regimini Ecclesiae Universae on the reform of the Roman Curia (III, c. IV, n. 56). Notwithstanding the foregoing prescriptions, the new Instruction stales that "by its virtue all diocesan Bishops are granted the general faculty to institute the process on a ratified non consummated marriage in their respective territory”. There is no need to ask permission from the Holy See as before. This faculty is given them until the new Codex will be promulgated. The Instruction reminds the Bishops of the prescriptions contained in articles 7 and 8 of the Norms given by the Sacred Congre gation on May 7, 1923. Art 7 points out the right of the faithful to send their petition to the Holy See, although they should be advised to send it through their local Ordinary, who will add bis votum to the the petition. Art. 8 says that, for this matter, the proper Ordinary is the Bishop of the place wherein the marriage was celebrated or where the petitioner has his domicile or quasi-domicile or, when the spouses are illegitimately separated, where the other party has domicile cr quasi-domicile. How ever, the petitioner can bring the case to the Ordinary of his present residence, especially if the majority of the witnesses live there. It should be noted that the faculty to institute the process is granted to the diocesan or residential Bishops and those regarded in law as their equals, namely the Apostolic Vicars and Prefects, Apostolic Administrators permanently constituted, Abbots and Prelates nullius. The Coadjutor and Auxiliary Bishops, Apostolic Administrators not permanently constituted. General Vicars, Capitular Vicars, Episcopal Vicars, and Delegated Vicars are not empowered to institute these processes. Even the Matri‘‘SUPER RATO” 443 monial Tribunals are not given the faculty to accept and discuss these cases super rato. They need to be delegated in order to institute the process. In the causes of non-consummation, there is no judicial trial. It is an administrative process, the purpose of which is to find out whether the favor of dispensation super rato might conveniently be given by the Roman Pontiff or not. Hence, there is no plaintiff, but only a petitioner. The purpose of the process is to gather the sufficient proof of the nonconsummation of marriage and of the existence of a just or proportionately grave cause to grant the favor. In case the proofs arc not enough, the Ordinaries may be asked to supplement with others. The dispensation may be asked for only by both parties or by any of them even against the other’s wish. The fact of non-consummation of the marriage and the reasons why the dispensation super rato is requested should be clearly stated in the bill of petition, addressed to the Holy Father. Although the petition can be sent directly to the Sacred Congrega tion, addressed to the Holy Father, it is more expedient to direct it to the local Ordinary, who can immediately start the process if he deems it convenient. When only one of the spouses requests for the dispensation, the other party should also be heard before starting the trial, unless it would seem to be more proper to do otherwise. Before starting the proceedings, the Bishop should see whether there is a juridical ground and convenience for the petition. Likewise, every effort should be made to reconcile the parties, unless to do so would seem to be futile and useless. Cases of non-consummation that involve special difficulty of a juridical or moral nature should be referred to the S. Congregation of the Sacraments, which will study the case an instruct the Bishop what to do. When a prudent doubt on the validity of marriage itself conies out from the petition for a dispensation of a ratified non-consummated mar riage, the Bishop can advise the petitioner to ask for declaration of nullity in the usual judicial way10 or allow to draw up the process on a ratified and non-consummated marriage, if there is a juridical ground for Sometimes during the trial for the nullity of a marriage on the ground of impotency, it is discovered that instead of impotency the non-consuni for the diepenulion of super . 27. 1929, n.151. been suffi implie. the 444 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS mation of the marriage exists. In such a case, if the party or parties ask for a dispensation super rato et non-consummato, the acts of the pro cess with the comments of the Defender of the Bond and the votum of the Tribunal and the Bishop based on the law and on the facts should be sent to the Sacred Congregation, who will study the case. As to the votum of the Bishop, he can endorse the same Tribunal's votum, as long as the existence of a just or proportionately grave cause for the dispensation and the absence of scandal of the faithful can be clearly established. If the proofs gathered on non-consummation are not sufficient ac cording to the Norms given on May 7, 1923, in the judgment of the Tribunal, the trial should be finished by the Instructor Judge and all the acts with the comments of the Defender of the Bond and the votum of the Tribunal and the Bishop should be sent to the Sacred Congregation. When the nullity of marriage is discusssed in a trial on some other grounds, as lack of consent, violence, and fear, and in the judgment of the Tribunal there is no certainty of its nullity, but incidentally there appears a probable doubt on the non-consummation of marriage, the party or parties may request the Pope for a dispensation super rato et nonconsummato and the Instructor Judge can immediately institute the pro cess according to the Norms above-mentioned. Once the trial is finished, the acts the comments of the Defender of the Bond, and the votum of both the Tribunal and the Bishop should be sent to Rome, as stated before. The Bishop should take care in preventing the parties, witnesses, and experts from deposing false testimonies or hiding the truth. All concerned should be told that the validity of dispensation is based on the non-con summation of marriage and the existence of a just or proportionately grave cause. Either of these two requirements wanting, the favor granted would be invalid and a subsequent marriage of the parties could be declared null and void. PROCEEDINGS AND ACTS As regards to the institution of the process, some changes have been made. There is only one Instructor Judge in the tribunal. The Defender of the Bond should also be present during the process, as well as the Notary who will write down tho acts of the trial. The Bishop of a diocese which is small or where there is a scarcity of priests familiar with Canon Law, due to which the process super rato et non consummate can hardly be instituted in his Curia or Tribunal, may transfer the case either to the nearby diocesan tribunal, or to the interdiocesan or regional one operating in the place. “SUPER RATO” 445 In cases of non-consummation, both spouses must substantiate the alleged non-consummation of their marriage with sworn affidavits stating the fact. Besides they must present witnesses who can testify on their probity and sincerity regarding the non-consummation of their marriage There is no mention of the so-called “septimae manus” witnesses in the new Instruction. The Instructor Judge may add ex-officio other witnesses to those presented by the parties. A few witnesses are enough as long as a valid proof and moral certainty can be drawn from their unanimous testimony. This is usually achieved when the witnesses, being exceptionably reliable, strongly agree under oath on the information they have obtained irom the parties or their relatives about the non-consummation of mar riage, pointing out when and how they were told about it. Moral in ference will be given due value in these cases as a source of moral certainty on the non-consummation. The Instruction Dispensationis matrimonii does not mention the pre cautions to be taken in order to avoid fraud by the parties or others during the process super rato et non-consummato. The Decree issued by the S. Congregation of the Sacraments on March 27, i929 on this matter should, therefore, be borne in mind, most especially when the process is instituted in a place other than the diocese of the parties, as allowed by the present Instruction, II, a.). Sometimes a virgin is fraudulently substituted for a woman whose virginity is lost or a normal man is ma liciously substituted for one who is impotent. The measures to be em ployed in identifying the parties are enumerated in this Decree of March 27, 1929. The spouses’ corporal inspection should be performed when it is necessary to show the juridical proof of the non-consummation. It should be done, in case of the wife, by medical experts or midwives or at least skillful women designated by the Bishop. It can be omitted, however, when in accordance with the Decree of the Holy Office. June 12, 1942.-’11 considering the moral integrity of the parlies and witnesses and their own altitudes, as well as all arguments and circumstances, there is, in the Bishop's judgment, a full proof of the non-consummation. Its dispensa lion, however, should be reasonable beyond any doubt. Said physical examination should not be urged when the woman refuses to submit her self to it. The Episcopal Conferences may state more ample executory norms on this examination, in accordance with the circumstances of the The acts of the process should be written down and safely kept by the Notary. A tape-recorder can be used, with the permission of the Bishop. 34. mi Cnn2oo"'ion ,l017 De" Q‘"‘ “in,njl"ri curn Jun«' *2- ,9,2: AAS446 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE F1LIP1NAS whenever it can help in taking the testimony of the parties and witnesses, and in writing more accurately the acts of the process. However, only the acts written in accordance with the prescriptions of the law will be con sidered reliable and legal. No advocate or procurator is admitted in the process on non-consum mation. An innovation, however, is introduced by the new Instruction. The Bishop may allow, or may ex-officio prescribe that the help of experts or advisers, especially ecclesiastical, be used in drafting the petition for the dispensation, in helping during the process or in completing the acts of the process so that, the truth of non-consummation being established, the welfare of souls may be better provided for. It belongs to the Bishop alone, after hearing the Defender of the Bond, to designate the experts or advisers and instruct them, through a peculiar decree, about the secret to be kept under oath with regards to the acts ot the process. In the process on non-consummation, the judge does not make known its results nor give any decision on the case. He merely forwards the acts of the process to the Sacred Congregation, together with his votum on the case. In drafting his* opinion or votum, the Bishop must consider the nature and merits of the case in a concrete and practical manner, i.c., he should consider all peculiar circumstances of the persons and those of the non-consummation, as well as the advisibility and prudence in granting the favor requested. The Instr. Dispensationis matrimonii of March 7, 1972, does not men lion the votum of the Defender of the Bond. The Norms of May 7, 1923 re quired his votum to be sent with that of the Bishop.-1 We believe that such a requirement is still valid. In cases of nullity of the marriage, the acts of which should be sent to the Sacred Congregation for the dispensation, and in cases of nonconsummation, which are to be discussed by a tribunal other than the diocesan of the parties, the Ordinary of the Tribunal’s see, in making his judgment on the case, should confer with the Bishop of the parties, who, knowing better the conditions of their place, can foresee any pos sible scandal to be originated from the dispensation. Any unreasonable scandal should be avoided or repressed in the best possible way. All acts of both the cause and the processs— as well as other docu ments can be written either in latin or a commonly known vernacular “SUPER RATO” 447 language. It is allowed to translate into this language the acts and docu ments that originally are written in a language less known. Three authenticated copies, photostatic included, of the acts of the process and of the documents should be sent to the Sacred Congrega tion. The original or handwritten text should be kept in the archives of the curia or the tribunal. If requested by the Sacred Congregation, it should be sent to Rome, with due precautions. It is most convenient that the exemplar of the judicial acts and the documents be typed, all pages numbered and bound with the signature of the Notary attesting to the faithful translation, its completeness, and its authenticity. PROHIBITORY CLAUSES Once the pontifical dispensation from the bond of a ratified non consummated marriage is granted, the parties may re-marry, unless ex pressly prohibited. The Holy See sometimes includes some clauses pro hibiting a new marriage until the parly or parties arc considered fitted to face the duties of marriage responsibility. The purpose is to prevent further matrimonial failures. A prohibition is expressed by the words ad mentem and vetitum. a) The prohibitory clause ad mentem is used when the fact of nonconsummation depends on causes of less relevance. Its removal is com mitted to the Bishop, who should not allow a naw marriage unless the party asking for the removal can assume the conjugal obligations and promise to fulfill them in the future honestly in accordance with Christian tenets. b) In peculiar cases, i.e., when the fact of non-consummation is due to a physical or psychical defect of a serious nature, the prohibitory clause vetitum for a subsequent marriage is used which, unless otherwise ex pressly stated, is not a diriment impediment, but only prohibitory. Its removal, however, is reserved to the Apostolic See, which allows the party to marry again only when it is believed that said party is able to perform the conjugal act in the right manner. MARY AND THE WORLD OF TODAY by Cardinal Leo Jozef Suenens If I try to describe this world in the midst of which we are living, I think it can be said that it is: — A world that is trying to find its way: — A world that is suffering in body and soul; — A world that is hoping and dreaming of a better world. I would like to contemplate with you, for a few moments, Mary as the answer for a world that is seeking, suffering, hop ing. Vita, dulcedo et spiffs nostra, salve. MARY IN A WORLD TRYING TO FIND ITS WAY Our world is living a marvellous human adventure. One has only to become aware of everything that the space adven tures represent: men on the moon, in a jeep, digging the soil of the moon, discovering a certain green stone that might very well go back to four billion years and more. It is a dazzling triumph of human science. And there are not only these discoveries outside ourselves: science is also penetrating more and more deeply into the human soil: tomorrow perhaps, it may succeed in moulding and re making man according to its own plan. All that is at once grandiose and redoubtable. But if science opens horizons indefinitely, it does not, how ever, solve the vital, essential questions that every man raises: what is, in the end, tho ultimate meaning of this human adven ture and of my life here below? What is there beyond death, even if it is delayed artificially? This is where real human con cern lies, the mystery that mankind is ever probing. This is the text of the paper of His Eminence, Cardinal Leo Jozel Suenens, Archbishop of Malines-Brussels, President of the International Marian Congress, read to the 13th International Marian Congress at Za greb in August 1971. MARY AND THE WORLD 449 ' Those questions need an answer, they need an answer at all’ costs. It is not enough to multiply means of living and tech niques ; the world needs reasons for living even more fundamen tally, as Cardinal Marty so rightly said, not. long ago. It is here that Mary appears, offering men her Son, as the One who alone possesses the words of eternal life. Mary is at the heart of the mystery of the Incarnation: she is the Mother of Him who will be “the way, the truth and the life” for all time to come. On the threshold of men’s search to solve the mystery of life, Mary offers herself to us, with a unique qualification, as the introducer. The story of the Wise Men is not just a story of the past: it is also the symbol of this permanent human quest. The Wise Men set out through the desert and the nights, watching out for the light that was to take them in the end to Bethlehem. The Scriptures tell us. with regard to them, that “going into the dwelling, they found the child there, with his mother Mary, and fell down to worship him” (Mt. 2, 11). The discovery of Christ is made through meeting the Saviour’s Mother: the Mother cannot b” dissociated from the Child, nor the Child from the Mother, because the very mys tery of the Incarnation takes on its whole significance only through the faithful and humbly consenting collaboration of her whom Tradition will call “Theotokos” ESSENTIAL QUESTION The world today needs to meet the face of its Saviour and the face of its Mother. The world is saturated with ideologies and philosophies which, whatever their contribution may be, do not answer its vitiil need, its essential questions. Recently. I asked the German theologian. Karl Rahner, how he explained the present drop in Marian piety in the Church. His reply deserves attention: Too many Christians, he answered, v'hatever their religious obedience may be tend to make Chris tianity an ideology, an abstraction. And abstractions do not need a mother. What Mary offers the world of today is the living and con crete reality of the Saviour of the world i.n his Incarnation. She forces us to believe that Christ is not. as we sometimes uncon sciously imagine, a being partly God and partly man. but that He is completely divine and completely human. Mary safeguards the realism of the mystery of the Incar nation. Her presence prevents Christianity for ever from being 450 BOLET1N ECLESIAST1CO DE FIL1PINAS a Docerism, a gnosis, a “Weltanschauung", a construction of the spirit. She is a source of life, not only for piety, but for Christian thought. At Louvain University, we venerate Mary under the title “Sedes Sapientiae”. Every master in theology, after his aca demic promotion, goes with his professors in a procession to the collegiate church of St. Peter, where her image is vene rated. May our seekers of today pay her filial cult. May we offer men in search of vital truth a Saviour who remains indissolubly the only-begotten and beloved Son of the Father, the ever loving Son of Mary, his Mother. MARY IN A SUFFERING WORLD The world of today is rich in hope, but it is, alas! also tormented by anguish in many forms. Vatican II expressed this ambiguous situation in the following pithy words that open the pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes and which all re member: “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are pool- or in any way afflicted, these too are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts. For theirs is a community composed of men. United in Christ, they are led by the Holy Spirit in their journey to the kingdom of their Father and they have welcomed the news of salvation which is meant for every man. That is why this community realizes that it is truly and intimately linked with mankind and its his tory” (n. 1). The world is suffering: it would take too long to enumerate its ills: it is enough to open 2 newspaper every morning and listen to the radio or look at TV every evening, to see how unfit for habitation our earth still is and how much men are victims of fratricidal struggles, social conflicts and racial hatred. We need, more than ever, a vast movement to humanize the world, a movement of real “sweetness of life'’, “vita dulcedo”. Men aspire to see the world traversed, as by a Gulf Stream, by a vast movement of goodness, and real brotherhood. And here again, Mary offers herself to us. as a kind of rainbow, an oasis of peace, a refuge for the brotherhood of men beyond what separates them. In a disunited family, the first step towards the reconciliation of the children is generally taken MARY AND THE WORLD 451 in memory of their mother or at her appeal. Disunited Chris tians have also to hear her motherly voice, inviting them to forget the past, to rediscover their common home and its warmth. Mary is a permanent invitation to Christians of every reli gious tradition: she urges them to rediscover the benefits of a unity that should never have been broken. The Church suffers from her internal divisions; the world, too, suffers in its flesh and aspires to the peace that con tinually eludes us and to the brotherhood which alone can make a society lasting and true. I am not surprised to find Mary mentioned in the Scrip tures at the very time when we meet with the story of her Son’s passion. It can be said that her compassion at the foot of the cross is so deep that it forms one with the passion of her Son. We must gaze earnestly at Mary, standing at the foot of the cross. The fiat of the Annuntiation included, it is true, the fiat of Calvary, since the child to which she would give birth was to be the price of redemption; but at the foot of the cross, Mary completed, in her heart, what God did not require Abraham to go through with: the sacrifice of her only Son. In doing so, Mary penetrates, according to her station, of course, but like no human creature, the mystery of the re deeming sacrifice which she assumes in her name and in ours A theologian. Father Laurentin, has written: “Mary’s suf ferings are not juxtaposed alongside those, of Jesus. They pro ceed from His; they are the very echo of the Son’s suffering in the Mother’s heart. And the Saviour is no more ignorant of these feelings of Mary than Mary is of Christ’s pain. There is an exchange reaching the point of a kind of fusion between them. The Mother makes her Son’s passion her own, and the Son makes his Mother’s compassion his own... Marv mad'? her Sen’ sufferings and intentions her own. And Christ took and integrated in his redeeming sacrifice the acts through which his Mother cooperated in it. Ry virtue of this close sharing, the Sovereign Priest can say to Mary what the priest says to the faithful: Meum ac tuum sacrificium” (P 42 48- R Not re-Dame et la Mes.se). Mary will help us to sanctify suffering and makes it an instrument of redemption, if we are able to accept it humbly. ”i faith, like her and with her. Marv too did not understand everything hidden at the heart of the ordeal. The Gospel tells us explicitly that she did not undei’stand why Jesus remained 452 B0LET1N ECLESIASTICO DE F1L1PINAS in Jerusalem for three days, without the knowledge of Mary and Joseph. But in the night of the ordeal, her loyalty remains indefectible. Today, the world is still in darkness and the Church is wit nessing painful defections. We are living a new kind of Good Friday: it is permissible to think that we are advancing through this suffering towards a purification of the Christians that we are, towards a .new sense of the evangelical demands. But dawn is not yet breaking. Mary, Mother of the Church, is near us in those hours of crisis. May her motherly love envelop us and stimulate us — within the suffering of the Church and of men — to the faithfulness that is able to stand at the foot of the Cross and which knows that one day the Lord will roll away the stones that seem to seal a tomb. MARY IN A WORLD THAT HOPES However deep human suffering may be, the hope that lives in man’s heart is tenacious and is continually reborn Man cannot but hope in a better world. After every war, he re constructs ruins and declares it will be the last of wars and that a new society is about to be born. He tirelessly begins again his dream of a better world. And here again, at the heart of this hope, we meet Mary: vita dulcedo et spes nostra. On the first page of the programme of the Congress, I found to my joy the following inscription: Mary, the source of a better world: Maria origo mundi melioris. The world asks us to help it to make it more human, to give it a new face. To help to create this better world and bring men nearer one another, Mary appears to us not only as she who gave us Christ, the hope of men, but she is also, in her own special way, as the Council said: “A sign of hope for the pilgrim people of God”. She is. according to Father Bouyer’s fine expression: “the eschatological image of the Church”. She shows us the future and the anticipation of the kingdom of God. What mankind expects of the Church today, is the “sup plement of soul” of which Bergson spoke. By virtue of the Spirit, the Church has the mission of assuming this role as “supplement of soul”. The Church as the MARY AND THE WORLD 45i) living community of Christ’s disciple, is not a reality alien tb the world. Like the people bearing witness to Christ, she herself, be longing to the human family, lives in the midst of men as a community of exchanges, in order to keep “Christ’s Word alive and operating”. Now, did not this Word of Christ appear, from its first forceful appearance in Judea, and throughout the centuries, as a gospel, that is good news which not only announces good things, but above all brings them about to the extent to which it is accepted in “the obedience of the faith”, that is, in listen ing and faithfulness? St. Paul calls these good things the fruits of the Spirit. Their names are: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, good ness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5, 22-23). What the Word of Christ brings about in the world, through the mediation of all those who open themselves to this Word and to the extent to which they open themselves to it, is not a flight into the desert, but a very pure sense of man, concern for one’s neighbor without respect of persons, a deep trans formation of human relations; in short, just what our world, in search of truth, justice and freedom, needs so much just now. Christianity presupposes high esteem for man, inseparable, moreover, from belief in an infinitely good God, the Father of all humans. It appeared in the world as a factor of humani zation. liberation and social solidarity of generous fruitfulness, conferring on every human person a dignity that transcends all earthly goods, and on human life an infinite value. Christianity contributed greatly to introducing and main taining in the world respect for life and death, the sentiment of the radical equality of all men, love of truth and of truthful ness (If your word be: yes, if it is yes; no, if it it no. the Gospel says), a high conception of freedom and responsibility, modesty and sweetness in human relations, a sense of modera tion and a horror of fanaticism, faithfulness in love and the sacred character of family society, the priority of work over money; in short, the admirable range of ethical and spiritual values, the nature of which is precisely to save the human per son from the dictatorship of the anonymous forces that threat en it, namely, the excessive mechanization of human work, and 454 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS all-powerful technocracy, the anonymity of a public opinion based on demagogy. The Church believes she is the depository of spiritual riches which can make the earth a better place to live in. She is advancing towards this world of today, as once Peter advanced towards the man lying on the threshold of the temple. He expected a gesture of assistance from Peter; the latter said to him simply: “Silver and gold are not mine to give, I give thee what I can. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” (Acts 3, 6). Mary is she who continually prepares the future: it was she who gave birth to Jesus, the chief of the elect, and she wants his kingdom to come and grow in all. Mary is the one whose whole destiny is to hasten the coming of Christ. For all men, she is Our Lady of Advent. She is this for the baptized, in whom Christ is already born, but in whom He must still grow and increase to reach his full stature. She is this also for all those who have not yet discovered the Saviour, for those souls of goodwill groping for'Him in the darkness, but who have not yet made out the signs in the sky, or those who, if they have seen the star shine, have not yet had the strength to leave their native land, set out, lay the gold, myrrh and incense at his feet. She calls us to the Lord’s service, so that we may, with her bring Christ to men who are dying because they do not know Him. In communion and in faithful and active collabora tion with her, may Mary daily become to an increasing extent Our Lady of Epiphany for the world that is coming. With the light of a faith nourished by spiritual read ing, priests can carefully detect the signs of God’s will and the impulses of His grace in the various happenings of life, and thus can become more docile day by day to the mission they have undertaken in the Holy Spirit. The can always find a wondrous model of such docility in the Blessed Virgin Mary. Led by the Holy Spirit, she devoted herself entirely to the mystery of man’s redemp tion. With the devotion and veneration of sons, priests, this Queen of the Apostles and protectress of their ministry. (Presbyterorum Ordivis, no. 18) DECISION MAKING IN RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES Some Guidelines from Behavioral Science, Business Management, and Public Administration by Gerardo Ty Veloso, O.S.B. Decision making constitutes a paramountly vital concern in the life of a religious institute — as in any organization. Superiors, officials, and the religious themselves constantly face the task of deciding questions both on material levels and specially are the spiritual levels, in regard to people, things, and concepts. The recent decree from the Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes (February 2, 1972; see Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas, vol. XLVI, number 514, April 1972, pp. 261f.) affords us an occasion to offer some guidelines for making decisions, from the sectors of behavioral science, business management, and public administration. The said decree answers two questions. To the first query: whether the application of collegiality to the ordinary government of religious communities might eliminate the personal authority of the superior, the Congregation answered in the negative. To the second query regarding the eligibility of ex-religious men to hold qcclesiastical offices without special permission from the Holy See. the Congregation answered in the affirmative. Restricting ourselves to the first question-answer, we notice that theCongregation in conserving the personal authority of the religious supe rior face to face with collegiality states as much as that certain mat ters should still belong to the final decision of the superior. Just the same, religious after Vatican II play a role greater than before in making the decisions governing their life and apostolate. THREE SECULAR SCIENCES In their might find delicate office of making decisions, superiors and religious some helpful points in the following recommendations we 456 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS shall offer below taken from three secular disciplines. But first let us say a few words about each of these three profane studies Behavioral science investigates the patterns of human actions. In connection with decision making, behavioral science studies the factors that lead the human person to decide one way or another, whether wisely or unwisely. An acquaintance with the laws of human conduct not only enables one to make satisfactory decisions, but also forewarns him as to the reactions of others to his decisions. Business management pursues the policy of making promts with the least outlays of material, financial, and human resources, at the least investment Of time. From business mentors both superior and religious certainly could learn not a few practice-proven canons in the art of deciding matter—though superior and religious contemplate not so much temporal gains as religious ends. In recent history, business doctrinaires have worked out some sophisticated reliable techniques for making sound decisions. Religious administrators will de well to keep abreast of such developments in business sectors. Public administration sjjjdies the ways and means whereby govern ment could function with greater facility in serving the citizenry. A relatively new field of studies, public administration has borrowed much from scientific business management. However, public administration differs totally from business management by virtue of its goal: namely, lo serve the people efficiently. The religious institute as an organization could profit much from the conclusions drawn by scholars of public administration on decision making process in government offices. From behavioral science religious communities could learn the why and how people decide the way they do. From business management they could employ the rules and techniques developed by business theorc ticians, not so much to make temporal profits, as to procure spiritual benefits. From public administration superiors and religious alike should find some efficacious instructions on how to serve the Church and souls at large with greater results. TWO WORDS OF CAUTION However, religious institutes must always bear in mind the super natural dimensions of their societies. The danger always exists in utilizing secular sciences of sinking to the material level of these sciences. One tends to overlook spiritual values, to underrate the workings of divine grace in human actions and reactions. Religious superiors and communities in employing the guidelines taken from secular sciences for making decisions should always keep in view the supernatural ob DECISION MAKING 457 jectives of religious life; and they should always regard persons, objects, and values through the supernatural looking glass. Nonetheless, in the guidelines we shall offer below, the reader will come across not a few pointers already brought up by saintly writers on the art of spiritual governance. The similarity of thoughts between profane teachers and saintly authors points to the unity and universality of wisdom. Not rarely, the supernatural character of an art derives not so much from itself as from the purposes for which one employs it. WHO MAKE WHAT DECISIONS In determining which superiors should make which decisions, one should not start from the hierarchy of authority but from the import of the decision matter. A superior could lawfully decide any question falling within the purview of his authority. But authority docs not guarantee that lie will make the right decision or the best one. Lawful decisions need not lie always with good decisions. One should rather inspect the decision matter to discover what special skill it demands and which level in the organization it most affects. If the decision matter requires the expertise of a personnel administrator, and it directly touches the unskilled laborers of a company, then not the higher official but the foreman directly in charge of the laborers should make the decision. Specific expertise and proximity o: involvement pinpoints the deci ion maker, not the extent of formal authority. BRIEFING AND REVIEWING In placing a man in any post, it goes without saying that the superior must insure that the man possesses both training, skill, and concern or interest required by his work. However, these factors do not seem adequate to make sure that the subordinate not only makes right deci sions. but that he also directs his decisions to fall in line with the plans of the official above him. In order to obtain subordination and coordina tion between the decisions of the inferior and the plans of the superior, the latter must brief his subordinate and helper on what he expects from him. Moreover, he must constantly review the decisions of his assistant — not necessarily to countermand them, but to insure by progressive instructions that his helper in making future decisions will converge more and more into the designs of his chief. On the part of one newly installed in a position where he has to make decisions that jibe with overall policies and objectives, some period of 158 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS consulting the superior in order to learn his mind will prove wise, spe cially in the first decisions of his office. When he has learned fully the expectations of the superior, he could then bring to play his creative talents, and possibly make better decisions in regard to the wishes ol his superior, than this latter himself could make to meet his own exigencies. RESPONSIBILITY TO ONLY ONE HEAD An official should account for his decisions to only one other person: his immediate superior. He must have derived his authority from this higher official; and therefore he should not feel obliged to answer to any ether superiors but to the immediate source of his competence. No man can serve two or more masters without losing focus in the decisions he will have to make. And without the singularity of vision necessary for making good decisions, an official will either step beyond the bounds of his office (step on the toes of others), or make movements lacking any well defined directions. All because he will either want to satisfy superiors higher than his manager, or seek to please various heads of diverse departments on the same level with the superior. In either case his decisions — though they might exhibit consummate skill of tact and diplomacy — serve no purpose on the operational basis. The decisions made by him exceeding his competence have no force. And the decisions which say everything in general — in order to please all or not to displease anyone — and say nothing in particular will defeat any attempts at implementation. Sound decision making dictates that the decision maker should answer to only one other person: his imme diate superior. NO COUNTERMANDING ALLOWED A superior should almost never countermand the decisions made by his subordinate, when the latter has acted within the limits of his com petence. Even though the superior might not consider the decisions of his inferior better than the ones he would himself make; nonetheless, once the inferior has made his decisions, the job of the superior consists in standing by his subaltern. The superior need not positively defend the merits of his inferior’s decisions. Of course he could and should point out to his inferior the possibility of making better alternatives — in private. Suppose the superior sees some greater benefits in substituting his inferior’s decisions with his own, or even in inhibiting them, should he DECISION MAKING 459 not act accordingly, in order to procure more good to the organization? The advantages derived in specific instances will never measure up to the long term harms resulting from the decline of morale in the inferior. UNDERMINING ASSISTANTS MORALE The superior will have lost an assistant. Though he might stay on, his performance will lag. He will tend to refer even matters within his competence to the superior: either to play safe or out of spite or both. If a lower official refers matters within his purview to his superior, then he has outlived the purpose of his existence. The superior who brought about such a posture in his subordinate by his habit of counter manding the latter's decisions must bear the responsibility himself for losing the utility of obtaining others in the personnel of his organization to work with him. If the superior must by all means change the decision of his sub ordinate, there exists nonetheless a way to do it without emasculating the morale of his assistant. Let the inferior himself modify, suspend, or cancel his own decision. In really very serious cases where pursuing the decision of the inferior could not only fail to attain greater good, but also lead to detriments for the enterprise, the superior could lay the facts before his subordinate, and let him modify, suspend, or cancel his own decision. The superior will do even belter if he refers people who want to have the decision changed, deferred, or retracted, to the inferior, and have them deal directly with his subordinate. Superior and subordinate should even get together to find a way out that would not detract from the integrity, dignity, and authority of the inferior’s office. DELEGATION OF DUTIES The task of the inferior docs not consist in making those decisions which not even the superior himself could authoritatively formulate. If the superior has no power to make them, much less could the inferior cope with them. The job of the inferior consists rather in lightening the burden of his superior, so that this could attend to more weighty or general matters. If the superior could conveniently make all the decisions which he had assigned to his subordinate, then he does not i.eed an assistant. One must find the right helper to perform a neces sary service, not create unnecessary position to occupy superfluous people. 460 BOLET1N ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS If indeed the responsibility of the superior reaches such dimensions, that he must employ assistants to enable him to carry out the functions of his department; then when he has obtained the competent subordinates, he must relegate to them whatever they could perform for him, reserving to himself only those questions which call for his personal attention. In accordance with this canon the superior will abstain from making any decisions that his subordinates could make for him. Otherwise he will defeat the purpose for which subordinates exist under him, and learn that his performance and that of his department has declined — simply because he could not possibly attend to ail the aetails of his office by himself alone. If you want to do a iob well, do it yourself. Yes, if you have nothing more important or more general to attend to. Otherwise, let subordinates do what they can and should do for you. KINDS OF DECISIONS What kinds of decisions should a head relegate to his officials? Cer tain questions of an office, cover routine matters; others entail strategic factors. Routine matters follow familiar directions. They do not concern an extensive area of the organization. Strategic decisions on the other hand occur with rare frequency. And they take a protracted time to make. They swerve whole sectors of an establishment toward new ventures. And they affect both the internal overall operations as well as external factors, like relations with the public. A superior could easily assign decision making power to subordinates to handle routine questions; then he would have the time and mental clarity to attend to strategic problems. Strategic matters properly fall to him as to a general who must plan and direct a campaign involving various forces deployed over extensive space and time. Attending to strategic matters means no less to keep abreast of developments in the ether sectors of the organization, and gel acquainted with new discoveries and trends outside that might enhance one's department. GOALS, WAYS, AND OPERATIONS We could distinguish decisions according to whether they pursue goals and policies, or they have to do with general ways and means, or they deal with day to day operations. The top officials of an enterprise must concern themselves with decisions touching the goals and policies of their organization. They must leave to intermediary heads to handle decisions regarding ways and means for achieving the projected ends. DECISION MAKING 461 Finally, day to day operations should conveniently belong to foremen, superintendents, and supervisors, etc. Such a hierarchy of decision making authority works in huge institutions. The trouble here lies not at all with the lowly foreman telling the board of directors what goals or policies to pursue, as with the topmost officials occupying themselves with the quality of brooms used by janitors. PARTS AND WHOLE Still another way of dividing decisions breaks them up into those covering only one area, those touching several sectors, and those affect ing the whole establishment. Decisions covering one area do not entail much uncertainty due to their limited repercussions. They belong to the head of the area concerned. Those involving several sectors contain complex factors. The official in charge of these areas, who should have a command of their situations, should make the best decisions to govern them all. Lastly, those decisions affecting the whole enterprise require the attention of one, who should have general and total grasp of the entire organization, and he should proceed in terms of the corporate health. DECISION MAKING UY ONE MAN The one man decision has the quality of quickness to commend itself. At least normally it should take less time for one head to make up his mind than for several. In an emergency, when it takes time to bring different decision makers together and it takes additional time for them to ponder the question, one can see the advantage of having a single brain to decide matters. Moreover, the responsibility of seeing to the execution of the one man decision lies with one person, who because the decision came from him alone will feel the full stimulus of carrying it out. In the case of a deci sion collectively issued by a group, most likely none in the group will feel himself responsible for the efficacious implementation of the corporate decision. The minority who submitted to the majority will experience a most natural indifference, if not downright antagonism toward the happy execution of the decision. Among the majority, those who fought (or the adopted decision will not necessarily show the same fervor as regards the responsibility of carrying it into effect. Not much leadership exists in the implementation of a group decision. 462 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS them. And in order to reach a definite decision, the joint decision makers have to make some mutual concessions, so that they could come up with a solution acceptable to all. But a solution borr of compromise might placate the objections of everyone, and yet still docs not make up the best or the better decision. The recourse to majority decision serves effectively to break the im passe—if one can manage to obtain the required majority. The decision, however, of the majority still need not represent the best or the better course of action. Numerical superiority does not warrant quality. Group decision making in which everyone enjoys an equal say tends to break up the group itself, on account of inevitable conflicting views and interests. The minority who lost to the majority will feel alienated. They will tender their token assent, but not necessarily their involved cooperation in carrying out the decision. The divisive trend in group deci sion making constitutes the most serious objection against it. THE ADVISORY GROUP The advisory group in decision making makes up some middle way between the one man decision process and the determinative group judg ment. Unlike the determinative group where each member enjoys equal power with the rest, above the advisory group stands the chief who adopts I he final decision. The rest essentially play the role of consultants. Al though the head normally echoes the mind of the group; nonetheless, he need not follow the recommendations of the group—not strictly. But he must have very good reasons to take a path different or even against the view of his advisors, specially when these have reached a consensus. If no consensus prevails in the advisory group, the chief could make his mind from the recommendations given. Not rarely the leader for mulates his decision from other data not accessible to his advisory staff Sometimes the head possesses knowledge which he could not share with his subordinates. Thus the inferiors could discuss the divergent sides of the question, but they know that the chief could, after listening to their debates, come up with a decision totally different from any of their sug gestions, and yet not really in disregard of their combined wisdom. The leader exercises a unifying force in the group. LEADERSHIP But supposing that the head chooses a course of action patronized only by a faction of the advisory group or clearly unaceptable to the DECISION MAKING 463 On the other hand, if a decision depends upon a single person, it lends to savor of arbitrariness. Besides, one could certainly question the inerrancy or at least the absolute impartiality of the sole decision maker. Never can one man alone see all the pertinent angles of a question, fore see all its possible consequences, and meet the expectations of every concerned party. Rarely does a single person possess vast and repeated experiences required to make right decisions. GROUP DECISION MAKING Due to the shortcomings of the sole decision maxer, it would seem that several brains could do a better job than one. However much col lective decision making has its disadvantages, it also carries some very sound points as well. On the assumption that democracy excels autocracy, group decision making should produce more benefits, for it leads to a decision of the people by the people and for the people —to some extent. Since the group decision comes from the group mind of several per sons, it should obviously please more people than the cne man decision. The group decision should satisfy the people responsible for it. otherwise they would not have articulated it. When several brains get together to study a problem, they together see more aspects of the problem than a single head. And if they re present specialties from different fields, their joint expertise will enable them to penetrate more deeply the various facets of a question. Finally, several people will bring together a rich accumulation of experience that will certainly broaden the vision of the entire group. Although experience in a person not rarely narrows his decision mak ing faculties to the data of his limited past^ preventing him from appre hending other possible alternatives; nonetheless, in a participative deci sion making process, the collective experience opens to the aggregated cere brum a multiplex range of considerations, contingencies, and options. In decision making the danger more often than not consists not in taking too much into account, but in not taking enough into consideration. This peril plagues the group less than the solitary person. MAJORITY VERSUS MINORITY On the other hand, the group must arrive at some kind of common decision. Evidently, they could not simply agree to disagree agreeably — which does not settle anything: the matter still awaits a decision. If they have to make a decision, they must come up with one that represents 464 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS whole body, will he not alienate some or all of his men? Here lies the true test of leadership: the ability to persuade his followers as regards the soundness of his decision, though it does ot appeal to some or to all of his men. If the chief really stands as the leader of the group, the people under him will not find it difficult to acquiesce to his judgment. If they do r.ot look up to him as to their leader, a decision made by him not agree able to some or all of his subordinates will inevitably trigger a crisis of confidence, or more appropriately, a crisis of leadership. The advisory group under an unchallenged leader on the one hand avoids the arbitrariness of the sole decision maker, and on the other hand reduces the divisiveness of decision making among a group of equals. It has both the benefits of the combined intelligence, expertise, and ex perience of many heads, and the integrative dynamism of one leader. In this connection the advisory group in decision making would seem to relieve a certain renowned soldicr-stateman of his quandary: which to fear more: one bad general or two good generals. The leader who could persuade his advisors to accept his final deci sion different or even against their view proves himself indeed the master of men. And if events should bear out the wisdom of his decision, he should enhance his power tremendously, and the people will worship him. But if events fail to back up his decision, and worse, should establish the disastrous nature of his decision, then the leader has ended his leader ship days. RATIONALITY IN DECISIONS Good decisions have the quality of rationality. Rationality here means the fusion of all those considerations that dictate the adoption of a specific course of action in preference to others. Contrarywisc, irrationality in a decision making process means to fail to take all possibly available informations into account—or at least not sufficiently into account. In order to make right decisions, one must increase the rationality of the decision making process and decrease any source of irrationality. Mental concentration constitutes the first step in decision making. One must use intellect, imagination, memory, etc. intensively and extensively. To avoid hasty decisions with low rationality content, take time out to think. An emergency does not dispense decision makers from taking time out to think. It means less time to ponder the pros and cons;hence they must think faster. Making quick decisions does not mean making hasty decisions. DECISION MAKING 465 Approach complex problems systematically. Dissolve the intricate question into its component parts and aspects. Solve each segment and aspect of the problem and find out how the solution would fit into the whole question, before proceeding to another. CRUX OF THE PROBLEM Not rarely the key to an intricate issue consists in locating its crux. Once this essential point has surfaced, the right decision comes within sight. The crux of the enigma could lie in the least likely place. For example the superior of a convent noticed that late comers have increased at conventual Mass, and some merely make a token appearance toward the end of Mass. To him the problem seems one of discipline and observance. Should he decide to enforce punctuality by enacting penal measures, he knows that the religious would rebel. So he studied the possible circumstances responsible for tardiness at conventual Mass, and learned that the crux of the problem lies with a new television program aired nightly from 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. He could counteract by is suing a rule against watching television after 11:00 p.m., which more probably would not obtain compliance. He could remove the television set from tn? convent, which could provoke a revolution. Finally, he came up with a good solution, which both retains the television sei and procures punctuality at conventual Mass. He has the program video-recorded and replayed the next evening during community recreation. Now his religious go to bed early and go to Mass early. Religious houses not having video tape recorder in the audio visual section of their schools or other apostolatcs would have to look for some other solutions, after locating the crux of the problem. Just the same, half of decision making consists more often not in locating the crucial factor. OPTIMIZATION Experts of scientific business management talk about optimization, suboptimization, maximization, and minimization in decision making. In our present context, we could speak of optimization as the search for the best choice from among a number of alternatives. Suboptimization then would mean that in complex matters, the decision maker will break them up into their components and find out which option contains the best components. Both optimization and suboptimization involve the processes of maxi mization and minimization. Maximization consists in speculating on the 466 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS most good results that the decision maker could obtain from the contem plated course of action. Minimization refers to how much of the evil consequences, that come with the adopted choice, the decision maker could offset: he will seek to reduce them to the minimum possible. Sometimes maximization and minimization denote quite opposite things. Maximization then means projecting the most things that could go wrong with a decision; and minimization requires the decision maker to expect the least good from the contemplated ehoice. If after maximiza tion and minimization of this kind fail to disrobe the contemplated deci sion of its attractive features, then the decision maker has a good gua rantee of its soundness. INFINITY OF OPTIONS To decide means to select from a number of options. In order to select, one must know the options. Hence, the more options the decider knows the greater his range of choice, and the more likely will he not only pick the right one but the better one. The number of options in creases with the number of viewpoints from which the decider could look at each. He has to consider also the short range and the long range consequences of his selection; the diverse sectors it will affect. Neither may he overlook its emotional, esthetic, moral, religious, and public values or objections, in.concentrating on its more immediate and lucrative possibilities. In order to collect as much alternatives as possible, and in order to see as many aspects of each alternative as possible, the decision maker must seek the help of others, specially experts who have no personal interest in advocating one or another preference, but point out only its good and bad sides. Employing a think lank serves the purpose very well of penetrating into all the intricacies involved in choosing the optimum answer. A think tank brings together several people of the greatest differences pos sible: in back-ground, ages, academic refinements, temperaments, specializations, etc. Each one will contribute whatever construc tive, destructive, positive, negative ideas that come to his mind toward the solution of the proposed problem or against the materialized thoughts of others. By this process of brain-storming, extensive discovery of pos sibilities and their evaluation take place; and the decision maker even tually sees the best way out. SOME CONSTRAINTS Constraints refer to those factors which disadvise the decision maker from embracing an option otherwise favorable. In thinking up all the DECISION MAKING 467 possibilities, repercussions, and contingencies involved in making a deci sion, almost as many constraints come up as plausible solutions, so that the most acceptable alternative should implicate the least constraints. There exist however two constraints which the decision maker and execu tive should bear in mind, in order to save himself time and trouble in going through improbable answers. These two constraints cover the goal and the structure of the organization. On the assumption that the goal and the structure of the organization must not undergo change or compromise, any solutions that impugn the goal or the structure of the establishment by no means merit further consideration. Decision makers must therefore use the goal and structure constraints as two imperative guidelines in the choice of a decision. On the ether hand, one could ask the question whether the establish ment's goal and structure really and absolutely possess an untouchable nature. Sometimes the very survival of the organization depends upon the introduction of new goals, if not the alteration of the original one: er the restructuring of its operational mechanism. PASSIONS AND INTUITION Just as making good decision requires mental concentration, so also making poor decisions stems from the neglect of rational approach. One of the rules for making bad decisions runs thus: Make decisions when emotionally disturbed. The passions will lead you to make hunches, to take your cl.ance and hope for the best. Sometimes not so much excited emotions move the decision maker to espouse or shun one or another plan, as a certain vague presentiment for or against an idea, a thing, or a person. In all such cases, the decision maker must deal with his passions and intuitive leanings rationally. He must find out how much of his feat, hostility, attachments, and impulses could contribute to the solution or further embroilment of the problem. Sometimes they could dictate good decisions, because they arose from past experiences which created instinctive judgment for the evalua tion of good and bad. Ofientimes they simply cloud or limit the vision of the decider, so that he could not see clearly the objective issues or he would not look beyond the satisfaction of his personal emotions: fear, anger, antipathy, attachment to people, pride, cupidity, etc. PREMATURE CLOSURE An effective way of making poor decisions cr at least not making better ones consists in foreclosure of the decision making process at the first appearance of an adoptable suggestion. Native human indolence 468 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS accounts for failures to explore further possibilities or to look into other angles of the problem or of the solution preferred. Undue optimism which refuses to consider possible shortcomings or hostile developments inde pendent of the decision explains also many instances of premature closure of the decision making process. “If only we had thought further, we could have come up with some belter idea, then we should obtain more.. In this connection, when possible, trial study of the few restant deci sions realized from a rigorous screeming process will disclose the best option to embrace. PRE-SET MINDS Bad decisions also come from pre set minds men who have the habit of choosing the option before going through the decision making process. In this event the decision making process serves not to find the best answer to a question, but to concoct the most convincing excuses for the answer. The self-deceiver authors an even greater tragedy if he sue ceeds in persuading others to accept his self-delusion. The pre-set mind would not tolerate the devil’s advocate among his advisers; and he gets only people who agree with his pre-set decision. Hence, he could not know the valid objections against his preemptive selection, except until disaster takes place due to his narrow decision. The self-fulfilling prophecy represents one of the trends of the pre set mind. Businessmen would project so much profits for the coming period of operations. And then even though they come io learn of the hollowness of their projections, they will nonetheless make their succeeding decisions tend toward the achievement of their prophecies, straining their com panies precariously. They also succeed in unleashing a rash of ulcers and not a few nervous break-downs among their personnels. The vice of self-fulfilling prophecy generally afflicts people with megalomaniac ten dencies, specially when forecasting results. Pre-set mind also stems from an obsession with sunk costs. Since a company (or a religious community) has invested so much in human and material resources for a certain project, it seems a waste to abandon it or to pursue other directions. Hence the pre set mind would not see further than the possibilities allowed for by sunk costs, closing thereby his creative imagination to the boundless horizon of other feasible ventures. TEMPORIZING Because the pre-set mind makes decisions prior to the decision mak ing process, his decisions savor of haste. On the opposite side, the deci DECISION MAKING 469 sion maker who temporizes in the name of forthcoming data makes an even bigger blunder, because he keeps everyone in a limbo. To make a decision means to move forward, to proceed in another direction, to turn backward, or to slay put—one needs also to make a decision to maintain the status quo. The temporizing executive puts his people on a razor edge where they neither move in any direction nor do they enjoy any secure stability. Procrastination in decision making indicates a reluctance to assume responsibility on the part of the decider. The office holder who defaults in issuing the required timely decision indeed fears the onus of possible reverses more than he hopes for the credit of success. But often he fears as well the burden of commitment: the work, time, and sacrifices lie would have to expend to see his decision all the way through. Every new decision involves its author in new obligations, restricts his liberty further, and makes his life more complicated, until he has pursued it to its denouement. The mean spirit prefers to temporize in the face of challenge. EXCESS OF TECHNIQUES Bad decisions could come as well and no less from the excess of decision making techniques employed. Notwithstanding the conclusions of scientific studies in the fields of human behavior, business manage ment, and public administration, common sense must still govern sound decision making. A sense of proportion will dictate how much time, at tention, and technical expertise to devote to every decision. Even an intricate question sometimes needs only little mental and material outlays to solve, as long as common sense secs at once the key to its secrets. Sometimes the decider knows which decision: one way or another, to adopt, but either because he docs not want to bear the opprobrium ol its unpleasant consequences to some people, or because he wants to enhance its marketable worth, he will call on outside experts, launch pro ject studies, or make use of sophisticated methods, all consuming time and money, in order to finally formulate the decision which he knew all along. When common sense dictates the decision, decision makers should not waste time and money in computers, operations research, quantifica tion, models, linear programming, simulity, and come up with a poor decision. Such an approach calls to one’s mind the supposedly primitive method of preparing roast pork by burning down the house. 470 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS SOME CONCLUSING OBSERVATIONS Every decision must have the quality of firmness. Still, if possible, • he provident decision maker will try to equip his decision with safety valves: allowances for changes and even reversals should the decision prove unworkable due to unexpected evelopments. The brave man will make his decisions; but the braver man will change or retract them when necessary. No decision will please everyone. No two decision makers will make the same decision when faced with the same problem. However, the decision maker must sec to it that most people would accept his decision. He should abstain from any decision that will surely earn the antagonism of a good number of people under him, if not all; for then the decision will serve no purpose on the operational level, except as a stumbling block to his personnel. Due to the human mind’s inability to see all the sides of a question. Io take all factors into account, and to forecast possible future develop ments, r.o decision ever meets all the tests of the hypothetical best deci sion. And no decision evdr embodies exclusively good points. Every decision involves some risks, some compromise between the good and the bad. But the good decision maker strives to reduce risks as much as possible, to tolerate only the minimum evil unavoidable. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Barish, N.N., Economic Analysis for Engineering and Management Deci sion-making, New York 1962. Blake, R.R. and Mouton, J.S., Group Dynamics—Key to Decision Making. Houston 1961. Burnstein, E. and Katz, S., Individual Commitment to Risky and Conserva tive Choices as a Determinant of Shifts in Group Decision, in Journal of Personality 39 (1971) 564-80. Carr, C.R. and Howe, C.W., Quantitative Decision Procedures in Manage ment and Economics: Deterministic Theory and Applications, New York 1964. Chapman. J., Generate Decisions Pragmatically, in College and Univer sity Business 49(1970)59-60. Cooper, C.L., CIA and Decision-making, in Foreign Affairs 50(1972)223-36. DECISION MAKING 471 Dimock, M.E. and Dimock O.G., Public Administration, New York 1966 Ord ed.), np. 232-4. Dyckman, T.R., Management Decision Making Under Uncertainty, Lon don 1969. Edelstein, J.D. and Warner, W., Voting and Allied Systems in Decision making, in Human Relations 24(191)179-88. Fishburn, P.C., Theory of Representative Majority Decision, in Econometrica 39(1971)273-84 Frei, M.D., Administrative and Socio-psychological Constraints of the Busi ness Decision Making Process, in Management International Review 11(1971)67-83. Gore, W.J. and Dyson, J.W., (edd.), The Making of Decisions: a Reader in Administrative Behavior, New York 1964. Hall, J. and O'Leary, V., Getting Better Decisions Ironi a Group, in Supervisory Management 16(1971)28-32. Haynes, W.W., Management: Analysis, Concepts, and Cases, Englewood Cliffs 1969 (2nd ed.), pp. 385-493. Henshel, II.B., President Stands Alone, in Harvard Business Review 49(1971 )37-45. Holsti, O.R., Crisis, Stress and Decision-making, in International Social Science Journal 23(1971)53-67. Johnson, D.M., Psychology A problem-solving Approach, New York 1961, pp. 271-292. Johnson, R.F., Executive Decisions: Human Element Factors, Manage ment Functions, Social Repercussions, Cincinnati 1963. Kaufmann, W.. Avoiding Decisions, in Time March 6. 1972. Approach to Problem Solving and Decision Making, New York 1965. Kepner, C.IL, and Tregal, B.B.. The Rational Manager: a systematic Koenig, L.W., The Chief Executive, NcNw York 1964, pp. 331-53. Koontz, II., Management: a Book of Readings, New York 1968, pp. 92-173. Lonergan, B.J.F., Insight: a Study of Human Understanding, New York 1965, pn. 596-619, 707-730. Mao, J.C.T., Quantitative Analysis of Financial Decisions, London 1969. Marshall, M.L., Focus on Leadership in Group Decision Making, in The Clearing House 45(1970)41-44. 472 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS Meeker, B.F., Decisions and Exchange, in American Sociological Review 36(1971)185-95. Mongar, T.M., Personality and Decison Making: John F. Kennedy in Four Crisis Decisions, in Canadian Journal of Political Science 2( 1969)200-25. Moskowitz, H., Managers as Partners in Business Decision Research, in Academy of Management Journal 14(1971)317-25. Munn, N.L., Psychology: the Fundamentals of Human Adjustment, Boston 1966, pp. 548-555 Myers, D.G., Responsibility Diffusion and Drive Enhancement Effects on Risky Shift, in Journal of Personality 38(1970)418-25. Peale, N.V., You Can Stop Being a Procrastinator, in Reader’s Digest January 19972, pp. 131-3. Pfiffner, J.M., and Presthus, R.V., Public Administration, New York 1967 (5th ed.), pp. 108-26. Roberts, B., Influence of Individuals over Group Decisions, in Southern Economic Journal 37(1971)434-44. Shell, R.L. and Stelzer, D.F., Systems Analysis: Aid to Decision Making, in Business Horizons 14(1971)67-72. Simon, II.A., Smithburg, D.W. and Thompson, V.A., Public Administra tion, New York 1960, pp. 219-21. Streufert, S. and Streufert, S.C.? Effects of Increasing Failure and Success on Military and Economic Risk Taking, in Journal of Applied Psvchology 54(1970)393-400. Summer, E.E., and O'Connell, J.O., The Managerial Mind: Science and Theory in Policy Decisions, Homewood 1964. Van de Ven, A., and Delbecq, A.L., Nomina] versus Interacting Group Processes for Committee Decision making Effectiveness, in Academy of Management Journal 14(1971)203-12. Ways, M., Don’t We Know Enough to Make Better Public Policies? in Fortune 83(1971)64-71. White, D.J., Decision Theory, London 1969. MISSION OF THE YOUNG Most Rev. Carmine Rocco, D.D. The twentieth National Assembly of the Diocesan Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies is memorable in that it coin cides with the three hundred fiftieth anniversary of the Sacred Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the Propaga tion of the Faith. Tn these brief remarks I would like to confine myself to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith of which you are the diocesan directors. It would be well to recall that this organization owes its origin to the laitv. The Propagation of the Faith was founded by a laywoman. Pauline Jaricot. in Lyons, France, who. at the time, was only twenty years old. A person of deep faith and heroic zeal, she lived to the age of 63, dying in absolute poverty, after having given all her inheritance—which was substantial— to the missions. She was officially pro'daimed foundress of the Propagation of the Faith by Pope Leo XIII long after her death; but during her lifetime, missionaries whom she had helped called her “the mother of the missions”. In 1922. one hundred years after its foundation the Holy See assumed responsibility for this organi zation, making it a Pontifical Work, to give it more prestige and effectiveness. From its very beginning the policy of the Propagation of the Faith, even when it was still administered in France, was to serve all missions in need. One of its mottos was: “Charity without frontiers”. When the administration of the Propaga tion of the Faith passed over to Rome, this ideal remained, and until now it is the moving force behind all its world-wide activities, in mobilizing assistance for the missions. Any mis sionary, whether in Asia, or Africa, or South America, or any 474 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS where else, can appeal for help. All appeals are received with sympathy and understanding. Every effort is made to accom modate all requests from whatever source, to the limit of availa ble resources. Unfortunately in the recent past, while the .needs of the missions have steadily grown, the, amount collected has decreased. However, a hopeful note was sounded in the last General Assembly of the Pontifical Works in Rome when it was announced that in the past year the amount collected was slightly higher than in previous years. But even with this slight increase, it is foreseen that not all requests from mis sions can be satisfied. It must be borne i.n mind that the role of the Propagation of the Faith is not simply to collect alms for the missions, but to arouse the interest of the faithful in the work of the mis sions, which is to carry out Christ’s command to preach the gospel to all nations (Mt. 28, 19; Mk. 16, 16). In this manner it is hoped that all the People of God will respond generously with prayers and sacrifices to help the missionaries actually laboring in the field. In the words of the Holy Father, “. .. no Christian should feel himself exempt from this duty, since by virtue of baptism he has been incorporated in a Church that is essentially mis sionary. Consequently, all Christians are obliged to cooperate with the mission apostolate according to his proper capacity: some do this by preaching, others by offering their sufferings; some by giving money, others by donating manual labor and sacrificing their time. All have the opportunity to offer for the missions their prayers, their tribulations, their joys, their sorrows”. (Messagio del Santo Padre per la Giornata Missiona ria 1972). These inspiring words of the Holy Father should be your guiding norm, as directors of the Propagation of the Faith. The appeal should be made to all, to the old as well as to the young, to the wealthy as well as to the needy, because all can contribute, all can give something of themselves to help the missions of the Church. Never hesitate to appeal to the young especially, remem bering that the Propagation of the Faith came into being be cause of the courage and generosity of a twenty year old girl. The young are naturally generous and idealistic. They are waiting only to see something worthwhile to give of their time and their energy, and they will respond with all the spirit of sacrifice that is part of their nature. Unfortunately some DECISION MAKING 475 have been misled into activities that are less constructive. But their numbers are relatively small compared to the youth of all nations. In the youth you have a tremendous potential which you could tap in the work of the Propagation of the Faith. I have in mind particularly the promotion of missionary vocations among the young. More than material help, more than even prayers and sacrifices, you can contribute ,in a very concrete manner, to the spread of the faith by sending your brothers and sisters as missionaries to other Asian lands. There they will be witnesses to other peoples of the faith that you have received and nurtured during these 400 years. Naturally speaking, the best missionaries for Asia are are Asians. But from the very beginning, except in isolated cases, we have been content with the second best, Europeans and Americans, for lack of native Asian missionaries. As the only Christian nation in the Far East, this country has been beneficiary of the sacrifices of many nations, not only in terms of material support, but especially in terms of mis sionaries of their own flesh and blood, who, through the cen turies, have labored and died and are buried under Filipino soil. Don’t you think the time has come for the Filipino people to assume the responsibility towards neighboring peoples “who live in darkness and the shadow of death”? (Lk. 1, 79). I admit this is a long range plan, but a start must be made. It would seem to me that this should be high on the list of priorities of the Propagation of the Faith in the Philippines. I would like to end these remarks by thanking you for inviting me to the opening ceremonies of your Assembly. It is a pleasure to be with you. Let me.then finally congratulate you on this significant anniversary of your foundation and wish you a successful and fruitful meeting. THE MISSIONS TODAY Most Rev. Epifanio B. Surban, D.D. I am supposed to give a welcome address to all of you, de cided as you are to do something for the missionary work of the Church. We all agree that the importance of this mis sionary activity in our Church can never be overemphasized. So, I wish to quote here one of the provisions of the Decree on the Missions, “Ad Gentes”, that says: “Since the whole Church is missionary and the work of evangelization is a basic duty of the people of God, all members must cooperate in the missionary apostolate.” (Ad Gentes, No. 35). With the preceding thought, I wish to open this welcome address. To my mind, to continue pondering on the relevance of the missionary activity, let us turn to better sources, such as the Documents of Vatican II, the words of the Holy Father, and the New Testament itself. 1. Vatican II. In No. 39 of the Decree “Ad Gentes,” the Fathers of Vatican Council II say: “The priests represent the person of Christ and are collaborators with the order of Bishops in the threefold sacred task which by its very nature bears on the mission of the Church. They should fully understand that their life has also been consecrated to the service of the mis sions. By means of their own ministry which deals principally with the Eucharist, as the source of perfecting the Church, they are in communion with Christ the Head and are leading others to this communion. Hence, they cannot help realizing how much is yet wanting to the fulness of that Body and how much therefore must be done if it is to grow from day to day. Consequently, they will organize their pastoral activity in such a way that it will serve to spread the Gospel among non-Christians. In that pastoral activity they will stir up and preserve amid the faithful a zeal for the evangelization of the world: —by instructing them in catechism classes and in sermons about the Church’s task of announcing Christ to all nations; MISSION OF THE YOUNG 477 —by teaching Christian families about the necessity and the honor of fostering missionary vocations among their own sons and daughters; —by promoting mission fervor among young people who attend Catholic schools and associations so that among them may arise future heralds of the Gospel. Let them train the faithful to pray for the missions and let them not be ashamed to ask alms of them for this purpose, becoming ‘like beggars for Christ and for the salvation of souls.’ Without continuing further, here we have the whole basic program of our missionary activity. It is quite traditional, in the sense that the salvation of souls has precedence over the insistent idea of the ultra-modernists regarding development even if both are important as we shall see later; they are not incompatible anyway. 2. Words of the Holy Father. Pope Paul VI. in his sermon for Mission Sunday celebration in 1970. tells us these encourag ing words that can serve as guidelines for our missionary work: “Missionary activity would be failing in its ‘raison d’etre’— reason for being — if it turned aside from its religious axis: the kingdom of God before everything else, the kingdom of God understood in the vertical, theological, religious sense, freeing man from sin and presenting him with the love of God as the supreme commandment and eternal life as his ultimate des tiny. That is to say, the kerygma, the word of Christ, the Gospel, faith, prayer, the Cross. Christian living.” In these words, the Holy Father clearly delineates the program of priori ties, ends, intentio - and duties in our missionary activities. 3. The New Testament. When Christ said, according to St. Matthew: “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” He wanted us to “preach the good news.” (Rom. 10, 15). The Acts of the Apostles tells us in detail the missionary works of Christ and his apostles. St. John calls Jesus the Way that leads us to the Father (John 14, 9). Spirituality. If missionary work has to be effective and relevant to Christ’s teachings, priorities have to be set. The first one at issue is the importance of the spiritual aspect both for those responsible for conveying the message as well as for those to whom the message is conveyed. In other words, the necessity of emphasizing the spiritual training is of utmost urgency. The missionary, as we often say. is the true witness to the Faith and he must lead the people to the Way which is 478 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS the hope that never deceives, according to St. Paul (Rom. 5, 5). Because if Faith is lived then the message of salvation can be passed on in a living manner, according to Cardinal Leger in his article “You Shall Be my Witness.” The example of a good missionary whose spiritual life is beyond question, lest we forget, is in itself a heavy loaded sermon. We all agree in Philosophy on the basic principle of “nemo dat quod non habet”—nobody gives what he does not possess. The Mission Sunday magazine gives us this interesting account of a man who had met Pope Pius XII when he said: “I do not practice any religion. I am not a believer, but when one wit nesses the prayer and the Mass of this priest, one feels tempted to do as he does.” We priests should be able to repeat the words of our Master: “I sanctify myself for them so that they also may be holy.” (John 17, 19). We speak of dynamism and relevance in this age of techno logical and material development, but let us not be deceived by the material progress of our times, surprising and hair-split ting though they may-tie. This seems to be the idols we have to contend with and if we give way to their influence, the spiritual values of our mission can be watered down consider ably. The missionary Church in her life-long history since its foundation has always been confronted with barriers and dif ficulties raised by three types of civilization which have trans formed mankind: the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Secularization of technology. We seem to feel ineffective at the thought of technological advances that made man the mas ter of space and the conqueror of the moon. Ours is only to proclaim the Faith and for that we only need to have faith in God and sanctifying grace to make our words more convincing and lasting. Material Means. The technology that has pervaded our times can be tapped as valuable aids to our mission work. (a) The mass media of social communication which has also been sufficiently discussed at Vatican II are very powerful means to help us proclaim the message of salvation with more success. “This means,” the Holy Father says, “that missionary activity must be conceived in broad and modern terms. A new approach is necessary... in publicity, recruitment, training; in the methods and organization of the actual works, we know that this renewal will help build up a climate of successful public relations that create an atmosphere of acceptance or at least sympathy if not approval of the message conveyed. MISSION OF THE YOUNG 479 (b) The mass media are a potent vehicle for conveying the two concepts of what the general direction of missionary activity should be; concepts which may be summed up in two words: evangelization and development. And I would venture tc bring to your attention the fact that, as I stated in the begin ning, many missionaries believe that the latter is more impor tant than the former, and unfortunately many go on to say that development is the sole concern of man here on earth. And yet the Holy Father says: “For us believers, it would be un thinkable that missionary activity should make of earthly real ity its only or principal end, losing sight of its essential end, namely, to bring all men to the light of faith, to give them new life in baptism, to incorporate them into the Mystical Body of Christ that is the Church, to teach them to live like Christians, and to hold out the expectation of an existence beyond this earth ly one.” In other words, the sacraments are still important. Evangelization and development are rather a question of method. We can not abandon prayer and the ministry of the word — this is the reason for the fecundity of our apostolate. But at the same time under the same category we cannot omit th* basic duties of human charity. We must not forget the solemn teaching of the Gospel on the law of our needy and suffering neighbor (Matt. 25, 31-46), reiterated by the Apostles (1 John 4. 20) : If someone says. “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For he cannot love God whom he has not seen, if he does not love his brother whom he has seen. And what good is it for a man to say, “I have faith,” if his actions do not prove it? (St. James 2, 14-18). What good is there in your saying to them, “God bless you! Keep warm and eat well!” (St. James 2. 16) if you don’t give them the necessities of life? The same is also confirmed by the Church’s missionary tradition. Specific Goals and Conclusion. Before you will be allowed to sleep or be impatient with this type of welcome address, I would rather cut short my taxing your patience. But, one im portant factor we cannot also deny is that of becoming beggars for Christ for His mission work. Bishop Sheen has a very lengthy article just on this. The title is “The Vocation of a Beggar.” We can compare statistics just to show you how we fare in this necessary task of begging or collecting alms and support for our famished missionaries in the developing coun tries of Africa, Oceania, and our neighboring Asian countries. Father Pizarro has given us the summary of our collection for 480 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS 1971, to wit: P865.769.42. It is just like a drop of water in the big ocean. We are some thirty million (30,000,000) Catholics and each Catholic gives barely three centavos (P0.03) as a sacri fice for Christ in the missions. If we compare this with the collections of smaller countries in Europe like Portugal. Belgium perhaps, and maybe Holland with only five million Catholics, how do we stand? Last but not least, I hope you will allow me to say a few words about the Mission Society of the Philippines. With but a meager material support despite the promises of all the bish ops, it has withstood, thank God, the vicissitudes of a new foundation. We are proud to say here that, new and young as it is, we have already sent two priests to Thailand two-and-ahalf years ago, ordained one priest about two years ago, and we shall ordain four deacons to the holy priesthood this coming December. This also needs your constant understanding and sympathy, and generous help both spiritual and material, ra ther financial. We also have to beg from all our brother Fili pinos. This missionary activity finds its reason in the will of God “who wishes all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all” (I Tim. 2:4-5), “neither is there salvation in any other” (Acts 4:12). Therefore, all must be converted to Him as He is made known by the Church’s preaching. All must be in corporated into Him by baptism, and into the Church which is His body. (Ad Gentes, no. 7) PARTICIPATION OF A NATION IN CRISIS IN THE UNIVERSAL MISSION OF CHRIST Ma. Ramona Mendiola, I.C.M. At the outset, I wish to acknowledge with gratitude the pri vilege that I received in having been invited to speak before you during this celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth an niversary of the establishment of the Society for the Propaga tion of the Faith on a topic that is deeply enrooted in my being, namely, the participation of our nation, a nation in crisis, in the universal mission of Christ. Whatever 1 shall share with you today is the fruit of several years of personal reflection on my own vocation and of partici pation in the search of my own congregation for our vocation in the world today I claim no other authority in this paper than the thoughts and insights resulting from discussion, com munal reflection and dialogue with those with whom I have had the privilege of studying the demands upon us Christians to live the universal mission of Christ. 1 presume that we are all convinced of the prime value of the good news of Christ for every human person and of the ur gency that we do our bit to bring over this good news to peo ples living beyond our national boundaries. But I would like to clarify some ideas that I am using as my starting point in this paper. I would like to explain particularly what I mean by the universal mission of Christ and by our nation in crisis. The universal mission of Christ is the total mandate that Christ gave to his apostles before he left our world to take his place “at the right hand of his Father”. It is the mandate that results from the authority given to Christ by his Father in heaven and on earth, namely: “Go and make disciples of all nations.” (Matt. 28:19). This mandate, Ln effect, coincides with 482 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS the covenant call reported in Genesis as given by God to Adam and Eve in other words, from the beginning of creation: Be fruitful and increase, fill the earth and subdue it... (Gen. 1:28) and later to Abraham, . . leave your country, your kinsmen and your father’s house and go to a country that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you and make your name so great it shall be used in blessings. (Gen. 12.1-2). Whereas until some years ago we believed that this dis cipleship consists in giving or handing over the Christian mes sage to a people or even as the implanting of the Cross of sal vation, today we begin to understand better and better that God reveals himself and his plan to all peoples of all nations even as it has beeai the experience of peoples throughout the history of salvation which is recorded for us in Scripture. That is why, missiologists today speak of the mission of the Church as the participation in the task of all peoples to discern God’s message to and God’s plan for them in their own beliefs, their mores, their hierarchy of human values, their own native wor ship and ritual so as to bring them to the discovery of the dy namic presence of the risen Christ among them and among all men. We find it understandable therefore that to initiate dis cipleship of Christ or evangelization is to initiate a continuing dialogue between Christians and other peoples during which dialogue the process of purification of the beliefs and the values of the peoples as continuing Christ’s message will take place, sc that both the Christian messenger and the indigenous peo ples will discover the presence of Christ in every human situa tion and in every human community. The second clarification I need to make is my meaning of our nation in crisis. I am referring to the continuing realiza tion of our people that our present institutions of government, business and economic enterprises, social relationships in the family or the conglomeration of families, kin and friends that is the society, our educational system, our religious and eccle siastical institutions, have become ineffectual in bringing about the welfare of the larger sector of our population, whose wel fare we mean when we speak of the common welfare. I also refer to the continuing unrest, up till now ineffective, against these institutions which hopes to provoke a new social order that will bring about effective^ and dynamically the long over due "liberty and justice for all.” PARTICIPATION OF A NATION 483 My thesis is that within the setting of our national crisis and of our growing realization that every people and every na tion must discover the latent good news of Christ in their own personal and national life, we Filipino Christians are called upon to participate in this universal mission of the Church. THE CALL TO PARTICIPATION Note that I start from the fact that we are called upon to participate in Christ’s universal mission. On this thesis hinges my conviction that Filipinos today will and do experi ence the call to move out of their country, their family and social group to peoples of other nations so as to render service in the latter’s authentic search for Christ today. If Christ’s good news and his abiding presence for peoples of other nations. The realization of this value and of the urgency of the service to bring this value to others is the proper setting that Christ uses to invite the Christian to participate in his mission. But can this be an experience in our country today, when the need is for us to achieve our national identity and to consoli date our strengths so as to minimize the inhibiting effects of our weaknesses and our limitations as a people? My answer is the very fact that there are Filipino men and women who respond to this call proves the reality of such a vocation. This experience should not surprise us, neither should we find this anomalous, for as the Vatican II document Ad Gentes (The Missionary Activity of the Church) states: The members of the Church are impelled to carry on such mis sionary activity by reason of the love with which they love God and by which they desire to share with all men the spiritual goods of both this life and the life to come. (Ch. 1:7) Since our society has experienced the proclamation of the good news, since we have accepted it and have since grown into a society attempting these past four hundred years to live from and by that good news, our society has become like the wellprepared ground for the sowing of the seed that is the call to share in Christ’s mission. However, T grant that our society is not uniformly penetrated by the gospel of Christ. It is only normal therefore that the call of Christ for this participation will be experienced by Christians in such communities, rather r}11 ’.n °thers. where Christianity has penetrated more or less effectively. Without discounting the probability and even the 484 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS fact that in the less developed Christian communities Christ can call some of the members to this vocation, what I want to stress is that for these latter communities, the main and the urgent task is their internal development both as human and as Christian communities. Ad Gentes supports this contention when it says: Since the particular church is bound to represent the universal Church as perfectly as possible, let it realize that it has been sent to those also who are living in the same territory with it, and who do not yet believe in Christ. (Ch. 111:20) Over and above the call experienced by individual persons to participate in Christ’s mission is the call experienced by hu man groups within the society or by the society as a whole. In the Philippines, these three dimensions of the missionary vo cation fall within our experience. In 1965, when we celebrated the fourth centennial of the Christianization of our country, the Philippine hierarchy verbalized the experience of such a call in our society when they created the Foreign Mission So ciety of the Philippines. *Ilis Eminence Julio R. Cardinal Rosa les, speaking for the Catholic Hierarchy of the Philippines, declared: Desirous to fulfill our divine commission to “preach (he Gospel to every creature”, we, the Catholic Hierarchy of the Philippines, herewith declare our firm determination to share the light of the Faith with our less fortunate neighbors. It our conviction that we as a Christian Nation have reached a mature stage in our four centuries of development and that we are prepared to assume the responsibilities of such maturity. We, therefore, proclaim officially our intention to undertake a national effort to orient our people to the Missions. To achieve this end and to express in the con crete our gratitude to God for the gift of our Faith we organize the Foreign Mission Society of the Philippines. While I cannot subscribe to the expression of this procla mation in its entirety, particularly to its undertones of condes cension towards the non-Christian peoples, I cannot but feel happy about the declaration of the official Church in our coun try of a legitimate Christian experience. This Foreign Mission Society of the Philippines as well as the missionary and the re ligious missionary congregations in our country provide us with the organized possibilities for effective participation in the uni versal mission of the Church and of Christ. PARTICIPATION OF A NATION 485 PARTICIPATION OF A NATION IN CRISIS One apprehension that our people have whenever someone is called upon to volunteer for the foreign missions is the con sequent dearth of people who can work effectively for the de velopment and the Christianization of our country. But we need not be anxious that a mass exodus of capable Christians from our country will take place. The call to share in the universal mission of Christ will never lead to a mass exodus. In God’s own plan of salvation, this is not meant to be. The call of the Christian is basically that of service oriented towards his local Christian community. Every people must grow to full Christian maturity so that the members of every Christian community can initiate their own contact with Christ and with the Fa ther within their own culture, their own human institutions and their own situations. From among them therefore should arise Christian ministers and leaders who will initiate this con tact. But because no one person or one human community can be its own healer or its own. exclusive architect of human rela tions and social services, God wills all Christians of all times and from all countries to assist in the bringing about of God’s Kingdom among peoples in other countries. From this stand point, we can perceive a double aspect of the Christian task, namely that of internal development of the community and ol < xternal development. By this I mean that the task of the Christian can be either to contribute his share in the building ol his own Christian community or in the building of the Chris tian community of other peoples who eventually become his own people, too. However, the greater majority of Christians will be called for service in their own local community. Only a mi nority will be call'd upon for service outside their own local communities. Even from a psychological aspect, this call will be the ex perience of a minority. The call to be a missionary is the call to a specific way of life and to a specific form of service. Per sons who are called to this life are those who possess certain psychological capacities and personality characteristics that will insure integration with peoples of other cultures and other na tionalities as the prerequisites to effective service. I do not wish to be misunderstood at this point, 1 do not imply by any means that the missionary is necessarily superior to other hu man persons, I am trying to bring home the point that today, more than in the not too distant past, the demands on a for eigner who desires to render service in another country are such that he must possess specific psychological capacities to Le 486 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS able to render effective service which capacities need not be required of him who works within his own local community. The foreign missionary is expected to possess the capacity and the readiness to integrate with a community of another culture. He must possess the dynamic attitudes of readiness to learn, to listen, to take second place rather than the limelight, to wait until such a time when he will be called upon to render a ser vice rather than to give in to his eagerness to initiate a ser vice that is alien to the community’s way of life or a ser vice for which the people are not ready. The vocation to be a foreign missionary presupposes a person’s capacity to render one or another service with efficiency and effectively, not in a spirit of competition with the members of the community where he is sent, but as a complementary function. Missionary ser vice presupposes, too, that the living out of a collaboration in the universal mission of Christ can assume the form of serv ice towards the humanization of a community, hence, a service of human and community development But the missionary per forms his service from this starting point that he wants to live out Christ’s good newS* in this service. The missionary is, first and last, always and at all times, a messenger of the good news of Christ. His service of human or community development is the channel or the diving board for effective evangelization. When we consider the highly developed countries where the gospel has not yet been effectively proclaimed, as in Japan or Nationalist China, then we can understand that the missionary need not be a development worker because what he will be asked for is effective evangelization. While it is true that we need all our capable and generous Christians to help resolve our own crisis situation, we have to consider that even in the secular sphere of our national life, we are daily confronted with the urgency that we cannot live our life as a people in isolation from the rest of the world. The po litical philosophy of isolationism has become ridiculous today. International relations are called for in the political, scientific, trade, financial, military and professional spheres of human existence. No country, in fact, was thoroughly or absolutely isolated from outside relations and influences, not even the People’s Republic of China, much less the Latin American coun tries. To live as a nation today is to live in relation with other nations. To the extent that one nation refuses to open itself to this situation to that extent is its progress stunted and its destiny stifled. It is interesting to note that this tendency to isolationism is the experience of underdeveloped nations for PARTICIPATION OF A NATION 487 whom, more than for others, the impact of international rela tion can spell either progress or disaster. Hence, if in the se cular spheres of human and national existence, international re lations are part and parcel of becoming man and of becoming community, it is not surprising then, that in the theological real ity, the unfolding of the history of salvation, the totality of the Christian vocation is expressed in its universal dimensions. Missionary activity is closely bound up evei with human nature itself and its aspirations. For by manifesting Christ, the Church reveals to men the real truth about their condition and their whole calling, since Christ is the source and model of that redeemed hu manity, imbued with brotherly love, sincerity and a peaceful spirit, to which they all aspire. Christ and the Church, which bears witness to Him by preaching the Gospel, transcend every peculiar ity of race or nation and therefore cannot be considered foreign anywhere to anybody. (Ad Gentes. Ch. 1:8). To be fully human and to be fully Christian is to be in relationships with other Christians and other human persons of whatever nationality or creed. To become fully a nation, is to come into relationships with other nations and other hu man groups. Our Christian vocation calls on us, not only to live and to let live, but to be persons to persons and human community to human communities. It is both significant and undeniable that the fate of our world is often decided on the international chessboards by a handful of persons who, unless they try to be persons to each other, in mutual acceptance of diversities and of differences, can only project their mistrust of each other and their selfish interests and thus bring about international catastrophes. Through all. these human relation ships. the perception of Christ’s gospel message is pivotal. But must the Filipino play a role in the universal mission of the Church? And why not? is my response. We play a role in the field of international relations. We have and will continue to have diplomatic missions, participation in interna tional experiences for our professionals, our agricultural work ers. our scientists, our economists, our financiers, our labor groups. Why not in the task of the Church? One service that the Filipino renders today on the plane of international rela tions is his ease in bridging the gap between two hemispheres. ” e can only make up our minds to exploit our value in this role because I can foresee that within a short span of time, our younger generation who will be tomorrow’s leaders and profes 488 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS sionals and missionaries will find more difficulty in integration with different nationalities because they possess a sharper national identity. The more we sharpen national identities, the more we heighten cultural differences, the more we are prone to cultural shocks and the less easily we can benefit from transcultural experiences. The Filipino of today who is called upon to participate either in international relations or experiences or in the universal mission of Christ and his Church, comes equipped with the capacity for integration into other cultures and other nationalities because it is not too long ago that we had, as a nation, to integrate into the other cultures that tried to penetrate our culture. Although we may regret that we are neither thoroughly Asian nor, thank God, thoroughly Western, we have a facility for becoming a world citizen. On the other hand, we can identify with the countries and the peo ples of the Third World, because we ourselves are undergoing the struggle for national maturity and for world recognition as a nation in the world of nations. For this reason, the Fili pino foreign missionary cannot be the one who wishes to escape the service of his countrymen in their struggle to reform our existing order or in the establishment of a new social order. Rather, he is the one who has identified himself with the pains and the humiliations of all underdeveloped peoples, conscious of the reality that all men are brothers to each other and that Christ is present among us to make this brotherhood blossom under the Fatherhood of God. Today, more than at any other time in our national his tory, our experience of being called upon to share in the uni versal mission of Christ is most enriching and most fulfilling During this crisis situation, the Christian Filipino who seeks to respond to a foreign missionary vocation will be taken to task by our people. He will be confronted by the various needs of our people and by the various possibilities of equally ful filling and equally valuable services that he can render to one people. In this conflict, he will find the opportunity to dis cern what his true vocation is, what his place in the history of man and of Christianity is and his strength will lie in the fact that by responding to Cnrist’s call he is living a mystery of love and of hope by which he submits to a reality greater than himself which rules the destiny of persons and of nations. He can find comfort in the thought that there will be no mass PARTICIPATION OF A NATION 489 exodus among our countrymen for missionary service brings neither economic security nor comfort to the missionary. If we can speak of the psychology of a nation, I can say that much that it is good for ourselves as a nation in crisis todav is to know that we are not alone in this world. That while we need the help of other nations to become ourselves, other peoples, too, can benefit from our services to help them become themselves. It is decidedly valuable for us to know that we are helping to realize the fulness of Christianity, the coming of God’s kingdom, a task not meant for the distant future, but for today. God’s Kingdom will not come by itself in the re mote future unless it comes today. The reality that we ar° all one family under God’s fatherhood cannot be postponed until all nations will have have achieved fulness of maturity and self-reliance. We are a people dependent on one another for our maturation and for our total Christianization. Just as in the development of the human personality it is wholesome to face the reality that we have strengths and capabilities which give us the ease in initiating relationships, in the same way it is equally wholesome for us to know that we have to accept our limitations and weaknesses so that we can graciously ac cept help when help be needed. In this tension of being capa ble and of having limitations and in its resolution, the human person matures and becomes his true self. Being-community for the human person is necessarily constitutive of himself. For the Christian Filipino, therefore, the experience of participating in the work of the universal Church is as valua ble as working for our own country. For the Filipino is to strive not only to consolidate his forces towards the achieve ment of national identity, but equally important for him is to awaken to the realization that to be Filipino is to belong to an international world, and to be Christian is to be a brother to al) men. CONCLUSION During this commemoration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the Society of the Pro pagation of the Faith, we find the appropriate occasion to seri ously reflect on our responsibility to participate in the universal mission of our Church. I find no better impetus among our 490 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS people to live this participation, than to give full support and encouragement to those of us who will be and are called to spend our lives in the service of Christ outside our country and among peoples of other nations. We can only be fully Church when we can say in truth that we share in the apostolic man date to make disciples of all nations. While we do this, we shall be enriched by our experience of solidarity with other nations, for it is a valid human experience that we can be consci ous of another nation and another people when we have rela tionships with individual persons of that country and that nation. In order that this missionary zeal may flourish among those in their own homeland, it is very fitting that the young churches should participate as soon as possible in the universal missionary work of the Church, and send their own missionaries to proclaim the Gospel all over the world, even though they themselves are suffering from a shortage of clergy. For their communion with the universal Church will be somehow brought to perfection when they themselves take an active part in missionary zeal towards other nation^. (Ad Gentes, Ch. 111:20) To become a foreign missionary is to answer a call: God calls whom he chooses. In the last analysis, it is God who calls for it is God who saves. But we can create the climate that will enhance the blossoming of this call. One thing we can be assured of that in our country today. Let us give then our support and our encouragement, while seeing to it that they do not alienate themselves from our people and from our Chris tian community. Let us offer them a worthy preparation for this service so that when they go out as the ambassadors of cur Church and of our country, their effectivity will be found in their readiness to love as Christ loved, to the point of lay ing down their lives for their friends in their country of adop tion. “Missions” is the term usually given to those particular undertakings by which the heralds of the gospel are sent out by the Church and go forth into the whole world to carry out the task of preaching the gospel and planting the Church among the peoples or groups who do not yet believe in Christ. (Ad Gentes, no. 6) Pablo Fernandez. O.P. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN THE PHILIPPINES Chapter 25 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES Without setting aside its primary purpose of saving souls, the Catholic Church has not neglected to dedicate a surprising amount of its energies to the material welfare of the people of this choice corner of the Orient. This effort bore fruit, as time passed by, in works as varied as the erection of towns, the clearing of forests, the reclamation of malaria-infested swamps, the cultivation of wild and extensive drylands, the buildings of roads and sewage systems, the building of dikes and irrigation canals, etc. In this chapter, we shall limit ourselves to agri cultural improvements. We shall discuss, first, agriculture in general; then, agricultural products; and finally, some of the im provements introduced or taught by the missionaries to the faith ful as a means of fostering this important sphere of human activity. I. AGRICULTURE IN GENERAL During the years before the conquest and colonization, Philippine agriculture was rudimentary. Agricultural produc tion was limited almost exclusively to rice and some tubers, as camote, </(ibi and ubi. This was due partly to the fertile soil which, with minimal effort from the planter, yielded in certain areas a harvest of 100 to 1. Partly, too, this was due to the limited needs of the people who. by natural habit, were content with what the land spontaneously yielded. Contributing to the slow progress of agriculture was the frequent fighting between the kinglets and tribes which produced a perpetual state of insecurity. 492 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS Work tools were likewise rudimentary. The plow, the shovel, the hoe, the rake, etc. were not in use until they were brought in by the missionaries. At the time, cain(/in farming was widespread in certain regions of the country, which was the system of burning a piece of forest land, digging a well and then sowing the seed. Besides introducing farm implements and work tools, the missionaries also tried, through the media tion of the elders and officials of the tribes, to parcel the land equitatively in order to benefit all. Likewise, they explained methods of clearing and weeding the soil, of levelling the crops so that water did not flow down the slope, the selection and preparation of seeds and seedlings and the use of the plow. It was in this way that in the course of the years were formed the extensive rice fields of the basic food for the country.1 1 Zamora, Eladio, O.S.A., Las Corporaciones religiosas en Filipinas (Valladolid. 1901), 279-281. 2 Marin, O.P., Valentin, Ensayo de una sintensis de los trabajos realizados par las corporaciones religiosas en Filipinas, (Manila, 1901), Tomo II. 637. We could cite here a long list of missionaries who were tireless in their efforts to promote agriculture in the towns under their care, but we shall mention only two cases. The first was in Zambales during the last two decades of the seven teenth century, and the second in the island of Negros in the second half of the nineteenth century. In order to teach the new Christians of Zambales how to break new ground and plant crops, the Dominicans brought old Christians from Pangasinan to train the former in the use of the plow. They gave them animals and work tools, brought across the mountains from the hacienda of Lolomboy.2 In 1848, the island of Negros hardly produced the few necessities of its 30,000 inhabitants. With the arrival of the Recollects that year, it began to change its condition, such that by the end of the century, the population rose to more than 300,000. This unexpected increase was due to the interest of the missionaries to improve agriculture, especially the cultivation of_ sugar cane. This greatly improved the standard of living in the island, attracted many colonists to it, and explained why its ports were daily visited by foreign traders. A missionary, PHILIPPINE CHURCH HISTORY 'ike Father Fernando Cuenca, not content with giving answers to agricultural Questions, succeeded after much planning and long sleepless nights, in installing a hydraulic press in the town of Minuluan in 1872, which facilitated the process of crushing the sugar cane and resulted in the extension of sugar cane fields.3 * 3 Ruiz, I.icinio, Xinopsis historic" de la proenici<i. de San Xicolas de T<d< ntino (Manila, 1925), Tomo II, 134. II. PRODUCTS CULTIVATED BY THE MISSIONARIES 1. Abaca. Perhaps, the missionary who contributed most to the planting and the development of abaca in the Philippines was Fray Francisco Espallargas, a Franciscan missionary in Bacon, Sorsogon. Around 1656, he conducted several experi ments on the abaca fiber and, having obtained satisfactory results both in making ropes and weaving the abaca cloth, he taught the people how to raise the plant. He also fashioned the knife which, until recently, the abaca planters of the Phil ippines have used. Other Franciscans in the region helped by their encouragement of the people to adopt the same process. Unfortunately, enthusiasm did not last long and things returned to their former condition. The people were satisfied with exploiting the wild abaca that grew in the mountains or amid underbrush of the forests, for this way, they obtained enough to manufacture cordage for ships and textiles for clothing. They, obviously, had no interest in exporting. This situation continued until 1835, when the Franciscan parish priests in Camarines and Albay began an active program of educating the people to plant and cultivate abaca in view of the immense profits awaiting them, • for foreign boats were beginning to dock in those ports looking for such a useful pro duct to industry. As a result, these provinces which till then had been some of the poorest in the archipelago, began to pros per such that the Iraya region alone which in 1835 had exported 3,000 piculs, at the end of the century, exported 300,000. In Leyte, the parish priests of the same Franciscan Order, seeing that th ' soil was admirably suited for the raising of abaca, did not stop until, beginning with the year 1840, their faithful put into practice the method of Fray Espallargas io produce the textile. They took special care and watched the 494 BOLETIN ECCLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS plantations lest the quality of the fiber deteriorate, and they thus brought it about that the abaca of Leyte had an easy market.4 * Marin. Op tit., II, 367-368. »Ibid., 138. « Zamora, Op. tit., 283-284; Cfr. Martinez de Zuniga, O.S.A., Joaquin, El eetadismo de las Islas Filipinas, Tomo I, 344, 404-405, 493-494. 7 Liquete, Leoncio, G., Repertorio histirico, biogrrifico y bibliogrdfieo (Manila, 1930), 212. •Antolin O.P., Francisco, Camino de Ituy y Paniqui. APSRiMSS, Tomo III, fols. 123v, 189; Tomo 118, fols. 136, 137. Members of the other religious families emulated the zeal of the Franciscans to raise abaca where the terrain was good. We shall mention only the work of the Augustinian Fray Mi guel Rosales in Tapas, Capiz.5 * 2. And. Anil or indigo grew wild in the Philippines, but naturalist Fray Matias Octavio, an Augustinian, noticed that the pocket hidden beneath its leaves contained a blue liquid. After several experiments, he succeeded in extracting the valuable dye which the mestizos of Tambobong immediately began to use to tint their cloth. This happened towards the year 1774. Its cultivation spread rapidly especially in Ilocos, where it be came a rich source of income for the towns, adulterated by Chinese traders, it lost its value in the Foreign trade.® 3. Cacao. According to some, it was a Jesuit, Davila; according to others, a brother of the beneficed cleric Bartolome Bravo, who introduced the cacao plant to the Philippines in 1663. However, it is certain that long after, there were cacao plantations in Carigara, Leyte, where the same Jesuit had con ducted the first tests. Likewise, this plant grew well in Lipa, Batangas, thanks to the initiative of the Filipino Juan del Aguila.7 Ten years later, the Augustinian Fray Ignacio Mer cado was distributing cacao seed in abundance to the people of Lipa. Later, the Augustinian worked tenaciously to deve lop cacao plantations in Batangas because it brought in hand some profits. Of these priests, we shall mention only Fray Roman Sanchez and Fray Benito Vargas in San Jose; Fray Guillermo Diaz and Fray Domingo Ibanez in Cuenca. The province of Nueva Vizcaya was grateful for its extensive cacao plantations to Fray Francisco Antolin, Fray Tomas Mallo, Fray Francisco Rocamora, Fray Ruperto Alarcdn, Fray Juan F. Villaverde and Fray Jose Brugues, all Dominicans.8 PHILIPPINE CHURCH HISTORY 495 4. Coffee. When the first missionaries arrived in the Philippines, they found coffee already growing here, although they soon saw that the natives did not know how to make use of it. Dedicated also to effect the material well-being of the people, they took special care to teach the people the uses of that small plant, which in its wild state produced, according to them, a few bitter grains. Fray Elias Lebrado, an Augustinian, promoted the cultivation of this product in Lipa in 1814 and Fray Varas ceaselessly encouraged it, such that the town came to be, by the end of the century, a rich emporium due to its busy trade in coffee.9 10 9 Marin, Op. cit., II, 64, 65, 66. 10 El Correo Sino-anamita (Manila), XXVI (1893), 274-277. 11 Op. cit., 284. The Dominican fathers also engaged in this praiseworthy task of promoting the culture of coffee in the province of Nueva Vizcaya in 1874. But because of native indolence, the farms began to fail until they disappeared altogether. For a second time around 1892, the missionaries revived the industry because of the sudden increase in the price of coffee' since 1887 which, by 1893 cost P32 a picul. Coffee farms spread so fast — a missionary wrote with obvious exaggeration there were millions and millions of them — that the province became one extensive coffee plantation. But it was necessary to convince the prov incial leaders who were, at first, indifferent because they did not realize perhaps the riches promised by the industry.19 5. Sugar Cane. Father Eladio Zamora writes: “ . . . the Filipinos knew five kinds of sugar cane: zambal, red, white, stripped and dark red. The first four are good only for chew ing, by which they extract the sugary juice, because they are soft and watery. The fifth, i.e„ the dark red, they used also in the same way, although it was harder and woody, until the missionaries taught them the use of primitive, rudimentary and rather defective crushers of wood and stone . . . but the sugar industry had not yet developed the iron cylinders nor did they have the means for better equipment at the time.11 To the Augustinians belongs the glory of having brought in from Mexico the first sugar presses, popularly known by the name of trapiche, which, helped to increase the cultivation of sugar cane. Of the Dominicans who fomented the raising of sugar cane, we could cite some of the missionaries in Nueva Vizcaya. 496 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS 6. Coconut. Notable in this matter are efforts of Fray Aparicio, who planted 50,000 coconut trees in Lingayen and supervised their growth. Something similar, although in a minor scale, was done by Fray Manuel de Rivas in Santa Cruz de Malabon in Cavite province.17. Corn. Because rice harvest in the Philippines were not always sure due to drought, the scourge of locusts or other accidents, the missionaries found it necessary to look for a substitute that could remove the people from the spectre of hunger. Nothing of those they sought succeeded so well as corn. Brought in from Mexico, it ripened in 40 days and could be raised in abundance. It is still the best substitute for rice in some poor provinces, or in times of disaster when rice crops fail. 8. Orange. Although the Philippine orange can in no way compare in quality or quantity with the foreign species, orange is still grown in sufficient numbers to supply the markets of Manila and the nearby provinces. It is successfully raised in Batangas province, especially in Tanauan, where Fray Alvaro Calleja introduced it with such good results that its annual sales reached the amount of P50,000 to the good of the people.* 13 9. Potatoes. The potatoes that are raised and harvested in the Baguio area were probably introduced by the Igorrots there, to whom the Dominican Fray Miguel Vazquez had given them to plant in those mountains, when the price of imports to Manila became very dear. According to a document, “so excel lent and plentiful were the fruits which the potatoes and the judias of beans produced that in a short time no priest or go vernment official needed to buy them in Manila.”11 10. Tobacco. Tobacco has been one of the products of the Philippines which, for its excellent quality, has always found an easy market abroad. But its cultivation has not been such as to come up to expectations, considering the time and effort expended by the tobacco raiser. Besides, many missionaries, aware of these difficulties and always seeking the spiritual >- Ocio, O.P., Hilario Maria, Compendio de la reseiia biogrdfica de lox religiosos de la Provincia del Santisimo Rosario de .Filipinas (Manila, 1895), 723. 13 Marin, Op. cit., 67. >< APSR. tomo 118, fol. 147. PHILIPPINE CHURCH HISTORY 497 well-being of the people, frequently appealed to the government to end the tobacco monopoly which caused so much dissatisfac tion and unhappiness. Despite this, some missionaries encour aged its cultivation in some places where it proved to be bene ficial. Among them we shall mention only the Augustinian Friars Roman Sanchez in San Jose, Batangas and Mateo Perez in Argao;15 some Franciscan missionaries in the towns of Jaro, Maripipi, Palo in Leyte province.10 11. Wheat. In 1583, the Franciscan Fray Tomas Miranda succeeded in the first attempts to plant wheat in the Philippines in the towns of Tanauan and Lipa, where generally enough was raised for sale to the buyers of wheat bread in Manila. In the nineteenth century, wheat ceased to be planted because of competition from foreign imports.17 12. The Grapevine. The Recollect Fray Antonio Fuertes succeeded in obtaining from the stem of the grapevine which he had raised moscatel wine which, on analysis, turned out to be good for the celebration of the sacrifice of the Mass. During the centenary celebration in Manila of the feast of Saint Therese of Jesus, Fray Fuertes presented some speciments of the wine he had extracted to the Jury, for which he was awarded a silver medal and a certificate.18 13. Other Products. The first missionaries to the Philip pines also tried to bring in other products from America and Europe, like the squash, the cucumber, the onion, the tomato, pepper and watermelon. But these did not develop, for it was necessary to renew the seeding each year.111 111. OTHER SERVICES One of such services which the religious parish priests performed to foster the agricultural development of the Phil ippines was to encourage the migration of families who scarcely Marin, Op. cit.. 65. " Ibid.. 373. 17 Zamora. Op. cit., 282: Gomez Platero, O.F.M., Eusebio, Catdlor/n biotfrafico <le los relipiosos franciscanos (Manila, 1880), 42. 18 Marin. Op. cit.. 209. ’»Zamora, Op. cit., 209. ............. 498 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS had land enough in their residence to other areas still untilled. Notable were the efforts on this regard of the Recollect Fathers in Negros, where there was an increase in population due to the influx of families from Panay, and of the Dominican mission aries in Cagayan Valley. The latter through letters and memo randa to the authorities did not cease in their efforts to invite every now and then the Ilocanos to migrate and make use of their proverbial laboriousness in the agricultural development of the valley. Foremost in this was, above all, Fray Francisco A. Carrozal and Fray Juan F. Villaverde. Other missionaries were tireless in their efforts to obtain animals, ploughs and other work tools, in order to raise the agricultural concerns of those incipient Christian societies to a level beyond the rudi mentary, like Fray Juan Ormaza and Fray Remegio R. del Alamo in Nueva Vizcaya. As the crown of this chapter on the contribution of the Church to the development of Philippine agriculture, we ought to speak here of the dikes, irrigation canals and drainage sys tems, but we would rather leave that for another chapter. only answer the native aspirations of his own people, but also express their native wisdom and learning for the enrichment of the There is a widespread feeling today that philosophical and theological education, and the faith itself, in the Philippines is too "foreign”. Filipino priests must not only be contemporary but also culturally incarnate, if apostolate is to be effective. The priest as the bearer of the Good News, must formulate for himself and comin unicate to others the Christian message in a way that will not 71) Christian 'A'orld. {Philippine Program of Priestly Formation, no. FERIA, FERIA, LUGTU & LA’O attorneys and counsellors at law PHILIPPINE TRUST BIJlG PI.AZA GOITI . P O BOX III! . MANILA JOAQUIN RAMIREZ FRANCISCO ORTIGAS, JH. RAFAEL ORTIGAS JOAQUIN RAMIREZ, JR. RAFAEL ORTIGAS, JR. iSaitttrPH ©rtinas AboQabns oil KOXAS BLVD BUILDING. MANILA TEL. 4T.93-7T Id A DOMINICAN TERTIARY AFTER VATICAN 11 lenge as to whether the Third Order of St. Dominic (or of any one else matter I should bo abolished as out dated and obsolete booklet of some 80 ed understandably Although this to a particular T*1.5() a cony Rosario p.-.r:si-., I’.S I.. group concerned. the principles which F'r. Guillermo Tejon uses to defend the validity of tho Third Order today will be of general in terest to all F'or the principles he uses are the very ones laid down by Vatican II VKRAUT art glass*neon 879 BILIBID VIEJO • MANILA • TEL. 47-39-23

Item sets: Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas

Media: Decision making in religious communities; Eucharist--sign of unity and peace; Failure of authority [editorial]; Floods--God's call [editorial]; History of the Church; Mary and the world of today; New pontifical documentation on marriages cases; Participation of a nation in crisis in the universal mission of Christ; Pastoral norms concerning the administration of general sacramental absolution : sacred congregation for the doctrine of the faith; Priestly example of reinforces the apostolate; Proceedings in cases "super rato"; Role of Catholic action in modern society; The missions today