Civilize before you christianize

Title

Creator

Roxas, Sixto K.

Language

English

Year

1951

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

The first job of Cotholic Action Civilize Before You Christianize By SIXTO K. ROXAS There is a sense in which it is true to soy thot the immutable Cotholic Church must keep up with the changing world. And that is in this sense: that in each age, there is alwoys one particular set of Catholic doctrines out of the unchanging treasury, thot must be stressed. You might soy Catholicism is on ormory of varied weapons. Each age brings a new enemy which must be vanquished with a particular weapon. Or to change the metaphor, Catholicism is a medicine chest. Each age is afflicted with o different disease which can be cured with a definite medicine. The disease of this age is the social cancer. And out of the Catholic chest must come, the Christian concept of. social justice. The monster that approaches with fire and fury is Communism. Out of the armory must come the sword of Godgiven humon rights. But these weapons must be wielded by men. Abstract doctrines are useless if men do not reolize them in practice. Medicines do not cure, unless they are applied. In no place is this application more needed than in the Philippines. Our country is a seething volcano of social discontent. Despite all the attempts of our President to dismiss all warnings of our gathering storm as "foreign-inspired propagandq," still the fact cannot be denied. The Philippines is not a poradise of plenty for the workingmon, and that means for 17,000,000 of its 19,000,000 Filipinos. The city laborer, if he is skilled, is expected to keep an average family of five not only housed, clothed and fed but also provided with education and healthy recreotion with the enormous sum of P7.30 a day, — a task which would have been impossible even before the war. The task is even more f rightening now <when every peso, by pre-war standards is worth only 22 centavos. And these are the maximum wages. Unskilled laborers receive about two thirds that amount. And they ore still millionaires com14 APRIL, 1951 pored to the farm workers who receive less than two pesos a day. And what happens when these miserable laborers try to organize themselves into legitimate unions to bargain for the human treatment which their dignity demands? Managers, government officials and often even courts conspire against them, until they cry (as one of them did) "You cannot fight the rich." And, men still ore amazed at the spread of Communism in this country. Big businessmen, sadly including prominent Catholics, wave their hands, tear their hair and run all around looking for ways to stop Communism, when all the time, with a little sincerity, good will, and the true Christian spirit, they could find the onswer in their very backyards— sore spots of social injustice. As for the Catholic majority in this country, it has been in a state of coma. When supposed Catholic leaders will think nothing of wrecking legitimate unions, the only means by which the oppressed worker can fight for his right to a decent human existence, there is something deathly wrong. The encyclicals of Popes Leo XIII ond Pius XI give the cure — the social doctrines of the Church. But who will apply them? We say "The Church/' But that is too vogue. Who? The Hierarchy — the priests, prelotes ond bishops? — Yes, but in a very limited woy. Ultimately the application must be made by laymen — Catholic laymen. But most of the old Catholic laymen in the Philippines have been suffering from a weakness that grows out of exaggerating one virtue and neglecting another. They have been suffering from too much prudence and too little fortitude. They have made of the Church a delicate and flimsy thing that must t?e kept out of this trouble ond kept out of thot fight. What o far cry from the militant organization that Christ instituted — a Church built on rock against which all the fury of hell beats in vain! How far we have strayed from the wild and furious religion which was so much in the thick of trouble that the ancient Roman emperors identified it with trouble! The days are past when tbe sure place to find a Catholic was in the dungeons, and the favorite quarters of priests were torture chambers. Catholics have become too comfortable in this country. They have forgotten thot Christ come with the gift of the sword and we are not called the Church militant for nothing. The Church in this country has lost the divine recklessness of St. Francis of Assisi, of St. Thomas More, ond Blessed Edmtind Campion. The young Catholic student must recapAside from recapturing the pristine vigour of Christianity, the Catholic must also change his methods. The old opqlogetics approach of spreading the Catholic religion will no longer work now. It is useless to argue with a man whose stomach is empty. The first Jofj of Catholic action Is 16 THE CROSS to fight for the basic humon rights — the right to three square meals a day for a mon and his family, the right to home ond comfort, the right to rest and recreation. You con teach a man's children Cathecism all day — but unless you do something to better the conditions under which those children will grow, your efforts are like words spoken to the winds, useless of most ond at worst, the seeds of o bitter cynicSo to the Catholic we say whot the Popes have said so often: "Go to the workingman:" but go, not with empty words, but with fruitful deeds. Study the encyclicals—master the Catholic social doctrine. Learn the principles of trade unionism — for strong and free unions led by men of Christian principles are the strongest means for building a Christian social order. Investigate the conditions of your fellow Filipinos who must live by their labor. No true Cotholic can rest in comfort while his brothers live in' squalor—(victims of injustice). In your own homes, moke sure thot your servants have not degenerated into impersonal household appliances — like a dumb woiter or a vacuum cleaner. Remember that they ere human like you, ond must be treated as humans, with fiumon warmth and human kindness. They,. too, must eat decent food and wear decent clothing, ond not left-overs and rags. Whenever you have an opporunity to defend the workingmon, do so. Do not be afraid you will soil your hands or involve the Church in a scandal. Remember — Christ was a workingmon working among workingmen. WOMEN DRIVERS A young woman learning to drive in Bodaran was proceeding along a little-used side street at a nominal speed. As on impatient motorist passed her, he shouted nastily, "Why don't you learn to drive?" Unabashed, she smiled sweetly ond shouted bock, "I am." THE AUDITOR COUNTS SHEEP An auditor got out of bed one morning and complained that he had not slept a wink. “Why didn't you count sheep?" asked his wife. "I did and that's what got me into trouble," answered the auditor. "I made a mistake during the first hour and it took me until I woke up this morning to correct it."

Media