Pananagutan natin [editorial]

Title

Language

English

Year

1977

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

EDITORIAL Pananagutan Natin Significantly the ALAY KAPWA theme has moved from a call to personal accountability, “Kapwa Ko, Pananagutan Ko” (1976) to a summons for communitarian responsibility, “Kapwa Natin, Pananagutan Natin”. Both the individual and the communitarian aspects of our involvement in works of charity and justice need emphasis. To get Christians personally concerned over the sorrowful plight of countless persons struck by a disaster or oppressed by injustices, it is necessary to let them feel the sting of individual duty. But to make sure that our acts of charity are not just ningas cogon and our participation in just causes not merely a fad, something higher, deeper, broader and longer is needed than just the harmonized goodwill of many individuals for a short period. Acting together does not necessarily mean getting involved as a community. For example, in times of disaster many people join hands to help but they promptly disband when the crisis is over. They act together but they do not act as a community. They lack that spirit that moves them to care, share, interact, work together, so as to grow together. Our charity and justice, to be truly Christian, must be communitarian — they must be the charity and justice of the Body of Christ. This means that we must love and do justice inasmuch as we are moved towards our brothers and sisters by the Spirit of Jesus. Our love and justice for our brothers and sisters must also be governed by Christ the Head, draw life from him, originate from him, be centered on. him. and be oriented to him. “Kapwa Natin, Pananagutan Natin’’ also means that our charity and justice are not just “special projects” of our community but must be acknowledged as the warp and woof of our community life. This year's ALAY KAPWA theme is beautiful. Looking at it one way, people should realize that works of charity and justice must be backed by a community in order to be truly effective. Looking at it another way, people should see that these works are necessary for a community to grow. To make one theme out of the Church’s concern for social involvement and for community building is the special merit of this year’s ALAY KAPWA motto, “Kapwa Natin, Pananagutan Natin.” In This issue WOMEN take the spotlight in this issue. Although the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith confirms the ageold tradition of the Church baaing the ordination of women to the priesthood, the document it has drawn up to explain its stand helps us appreciate the great dignity given to women by God. Priesthood is a function. It does not make the priest a better Christian, a greater Christian or a higher Christian. It only differentiates him from others as having a function different from their functions. Priestly ordination is not a promotion to a special caste of Christians. It is a consecration to a special service. It should be clear that the assignment of different functions to men and women should not militate against their basic equality. The ordination of women cannot be raised as a valid issue of women’s equal rights. No one ever has a right to ordination. God, through the Church, bestows it as a free gift. Why he gives it to men and not to women is a question we cannot resolve through our own wisdom.

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