Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas

Media

Part of Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas

Title: Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas
Issue Date: L (Issue No. 561) August 1976
Year: 1976
Language: English
Subject: Periodicals
Rights
extracted text: ^eclzsiaSS de Fl LI PI NAS MISA NG BAYANG PILIPINO Editorial EVANGELII NUNTIANDI Paul VI SETTLEMENT OF MARRIAGE CONFLICTS OUTSIDE THE MATRIMONIAL COURT Florencio Testera, O.P. EMERGENCE OF THE HOLY GOSPELS Bernard LeFrois, S.V.D. VOL. L, NO. 561 AUGUST, 1976 ATENCION REVERENDOS SACERDOTES Si usted desca subscribirsc a la revista para sacerdotes PALABRA, editada en Espana, escriba hoy mismo a Sinag-tala Publishers, Inc. PALABRA cs una rcvista mcnsual de reconocido prestigio en Europa y Latin America. Consta de homilias, noticias de la vida catolica en todo el mundo, estudios monograficos y otros temas de actualidad. El coste de la subscripcion es deP55 incluidos los gastos de tramite. I 1 ! FORMATO DE SUBSCRIPCION | Sinag-tala Publishers, Inc. | ' P.O. Box 536 Greenhills. Rizal 3113 | Por favor subscribirme a la revista PALABRA. Adjunto | I T55 ( ) en giro postal ( ) en cheque para un ano de subscrip- . | cion. ' | Nombre______________________________________________ ' I Direccion ' l____________________________________________________________________I VOL. L, NO. 561 AUGUST, 1976 TABLE OF CONTENTS EDITORIAL 530 MISA NG BAYANG PILIPINO 532 IN THIS ISSUE DOCUMENTATION • Paul V 533 • Raimondo Spiazzi, O.P. 587 FEATURE • Florencio Testera, O.P. 592 BIBLE STUDY • Bernard LeFrois, S.V.D. 598 BOOKS 607 EVANGELII NUNTIANDI PRESS CONFERENCE ON THE APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION SETTLEMENT OF MARRIAGE CONFLICTS OUTSIDE THE MATRIMONIAL COURT EMERGENCE OF THE HOLY GOSPEL SHORT NOTICES ON BOOKS EDITORIAL Misa ng Baqang Pilipino Presently under consideration by the Sacred Congregation of Divine Worship in Rome is a Philippine proposal for an indigenized rite of celebrating Mass, the Misa ng Bayang Pilipino. It has been submitted as “an attempt to translate the demand of incarnating the Church’s worship in Filipino culture, and to allow this to be transparent to the worshipping community. It aims to answer the need in the country, not only for cultural identity, but also for the promotion of traditional religious values, which have kindled the faith of Filipinos for four-hundred years. It tries to capture the message of the Eucharistic celebration in the ritual and language of the people." We hail the Misa as an example of a well thought-out proposal for the radical adaptation of the liturgy envisaged by the Constitu tion on the Liturgy, no. 40. It is backed by solid theological and pastoral principles. This should not be surprising because the Misa was initiated by a professor of Liturgy, Fr. Anscar Chupungco, O.S.B. He had the wisdom of inviting a wide range of experts— bishops, liturgists, theologians, exegetes, sociologists, linguistic scientists, pastors and lay leaders — to'suggest revisions of his draft. He had the patience to study numerous proposals and counter-proposals. It can truly be said that the Misa is “the product of wide collabora tion and long consultations with various sectors of the Philippine Church.” We congratulate all those responsible for the Misa because they have avoided the whimsical innovations of some experimenters who, for example, want to inject “liberation theology" into the indigenized Mass, or to stress nationalistic tendencies to the’ detriment of Church universalism, or to make the Mass more a celebration of Man and Life or Death rather than a commemoration of the Mystery of Christ, or to incorporate religious dances to it, disregarding the generally prevailing sensibilities against such combination, or to use rice cake and native wine for the Eucharistic species, etc. Father Chupungco was correct in deciding to follow closely the structure of the Roman Mass. “Since Filipinos have not known any liturgical rite other than the Roman,” he observes, “it was felt that the introduction of a totally new structure would not be pastorally expedient. Furthermore, since the Roman Mass has become an ingredient of Filipino religious culture, the Misa should not sup plant it but coexist with it. Basic similarities are therefore desir able.” The Misa is full of little details that are happily in harmony with the Filipino spirit, such as the strewing of flower petals in the aisle during the entrance procession, the blessing of the people with the processional crucifix, the acclamation of the cross by the people, the kneeling position at the penitential rite, at the prayer of the faithful and at the consecration, the mano po of offerers to the priest after giving the gifts at the preparation of the eucharistic gifts, the distribution of the eucharist to communicants before the priest himself eats his portion (because in traditional Filipino hospi tality the host eats after his guests), the postponement of the Kiss of Peace to the end of the Mass. Perhaps one of the most important features of the Misa is the attention it gives to idiomatic expressions and Filipino maxims. Thus, the Kyrie eleison is not rendered with the imperative, Panginoon, maawa ka (the demanding tone of which is inappropriate in Filipino prayer), but with the refined Panginoon, kaawaan mo kami, which reflects an inner attitude of profound reverence for God. And since the thrice-repeated santo, santo, santo is unknown in Pilipino grammar, it is substituted with three phrases that begin with "holy”; “Banal ka, Poong Maykapal, banal ang iyong pangalan, banal ang iyong kaharian.” At the narrative of the institution of the Eucharist, the term ihain is used because of its sacrificial nuance. Students of Filipino values will be happy to note that the eucha ristic prayers of the Misa incorporate the values of reciprocity like utang-na-loob, pagpupuno sa kakulangan, and pagtitiwala, and the values of solidarity, like pakikisama and pagdadamayan. Other values have been interpreted in the context of God’s initiative and concern for man in terms of risk (pagbabakasakali) and benevolence (awa, malasakit, kagandahang-loob). The Misa is meant to offer a special form of worship. It is not intended for daily use but for Sundays and other occasions when it can be of spiritual advantage to the faithful. Let us hope that even such a limited use of the Misa will finally bridge the gap between our rich culture and our form of worship. in This Issue Time and again the Holy Father has spoken about Evangeliza tion. It is a topic that can never be irrelevant to the Church be cause It is at the very heart* of her task on earth. So we are con fident that our readers will not find it irrelevant to peruse the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi even If it is almost a year since it was given to the Church. Father Testera, O.P., continues to shed light on matrimonial questions made acute by modern developments. He reflects on the Settlement of Marriage Conflicts Outside the Matrimonial Courts. Readers will miss the Homiletics Section this month —anyway we already published the Homilies for November — but they will not miss their regular contributor, Fr. Bernard LeFrois, S.V.D., who reflects on the Emergence of the Holy Gospels. Apostolic Exhortation EVANGELII NUNTIANDI OF HIS HOLINESS POPE PAUL VI TO THE EPISCOPATE TO THE CLERGY AND TO ALL THE FAITHFUL OF THE ENTIRE WORLD ON EVANNGELIZATION IN THE MODERN WORLD POPE PAUL VI Venerable Brothers and dear Sons and Daughters: Health and the Apostolic Blessing Special commitment to evangelization THERE is no doubt that the effort to proclaim the Gospel to the I people of today, who are buoyed up by hope but at the same time often oppressed by. fear and distress, la a service rendered to the Christian community and also to the whole of humanity. For this reason the duty of confirming the brethren — a duty which with the office of being the Successor of Peter> we have received from the Lord, and which is for us a ‘‘daily preoccupation”? a programme of life and action, and a fundamental commitment of our Pontificate — seems to us all the more noble and necessary when it is a matter of encouraging our brethren in their mission as evangelizers, in order that, in this time of uncertainty and confusion, they may accomplish this task with ever increasing love, zeal and Joy. On the occasion of three events 2. This is precisely what we wish to do here, at the end of this Holy Year during which the Church, “striving to proclaim the Gospel to all people”? has had the single aim of fulfilling her duty of being the messenger of the Good News of Jesus Christ — the Good News proclaimed through two fundamental commands: "Put on the new self"« and “Be reconciled to God”? iCf. Lk. 22:32. 2 2 Cor. 11:28. 3 Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 1: A AS 58 (1966), p. 947. «Cf. Eph. 4:24, 2:15: Col. 3:10; Gal. 3:27; Rom. 13:14; 2 Cor. 5:17. •■’2 Cor. 5:20 534 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE F1L1P1NAS We wish to do so on this tenth anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council, the objectives of which are definitively summed up in this single one: to make the Church of the twentieth century ever better fitted for proclaiming the Gospel to the people of the twentieth century. We wish to do so one year after the Third General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which as is well known, was devoted to evangelization; and we do so all the more willingly because It has been asked of us by the Synod Fathers themselves. In fact, at the end of that memorable Assembly, the Fathers decided to remit to the Pastor of the universal Church, with great trust and simpli city, the fruits of all their labours, stating that they awaited from him a fresh forward impulse, capable of creating within a Church still more firmly rooted In the undying power and strength of Pen tecost a new period of evangelization.o Theme frequently emphasized in the course of our pontificate 3. We have stressed the importance of this theme of evangeliza tion on many occassions, well before the Synod took place. On 22 June 1973 we said to the Sacred College of Cardinals: "The condi tions of the society in which we live oblige all of us therefore to revise methods, to seek by every means to study how we can bring the Christian message to modern man. For It is only in the Christian message that modern man can find the answer to his questions and the energy for his commitment of human solidarity”.’ And we added that in order to give a valid answer to the demands of the Council which call for our attention, it is absolutely necessary for us to take into account a heritage of faith that the Church has the duty of preserving in its untouchable purity, and of presenting it to the people of our time, in a way that is as understandable and persuasive as possible. In the line of the 1974 Synod 4. This fidelity both to a message whose servants we are and to the people to whom we must transmit it living and intact is the central axis of evangelization. It poses three burning questions, which the 1974 Synod kept constantly in mind: 8 Cf. Paul VI, Address for the closing of the Third General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (26 October 1974): A4S 66 (1974), pp. 634, 635, 637. 7 Paul VI, Address to the College of Cardinals (22 June 1973): AAS 65 (1973), p. 383 EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 535 — In our day, what has happened to that hidden energy of the Good News, which is able to have a powerful effect on man’s conscience? — To what extent and in what way is that evangelical force capable of really transforming the people of this century? — What methods should be followed in order that the power of the Gospel may have its effect? Basically, these inquiries make explicit the fundamental question that the Church is asking herself today and which may be expressed in the following terms: after the Council and thanks to the Council, which was a time given her by God, at this turning-point of history, does the Church or does she not find herself better equipped to proclaim the Gospel and to put it into people’s hearts with con viction, freedom of spirit and effectiveness? Invitation to meditation 5. We can all see the urgency of giving a loyal, humble and courageous answer to this question, and of acting accordingly. In our anxiety for all the Churches”,” we would like to help our Brethren and sons and daughters to reply to these inquiries. Our words come from the wealth of the Synod and are meant to be a meditation on evangelization. May they succeed in inviting the whole People of God assembled in the Church to make the same meditation: and may they give a fresh impulse to everyone, especially those "who are assiduous in preaching and teaching”,® so that each one of them may follow “a straight course in the message of the truth”,1" and may work as a preacher of the Gospel and acquit himself perfectly of his ministry. ”2 Cor. 11:28 « 1 Tim. 5:17. 1,1 2 Tim. 2:15. 11 Cf. 1 Cor. 2:5 Such an exhortation seems to us to be of capital importance, for the presentation of the Gospel message is not an optional con tribution for the Church. It is the duty incumbent on her by the command of the Lord Jesus, so that people can believe and be saved. This message is indeed necessary. It is unique. It cannot be replaced. It does not permit either indifference, syncretism or accommodation. It is a question of people’s salvation. It is the beauty of the Revelation that it represents. It brings with it a wisdom that is not of this world. It is able to stir up by itself faith — faith that rests on the power .of God.11 It is truth. It merits 536 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FIL1PINAS having the apostle consecrate to it all his time and all his energies, and to sacrifice for it, if necessary, his own life. FROM CHRIST THE EVANGELIZER TO THE EVANGELIZING CHURCH Witness and mission of Jesus 6. The witness that the Lord gives of himself and that Saint Luke gathered together in his Gospel —"I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God” >-— without doubt has enormous con sequences, for it sums up the whole mission of Jesus: “That is what I was sent to do".13 These words take on their full significance if one links them with the previous verses, in which Christ has just applied to himself the words of the Prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor’’?14 13 Lk. 4.43. 13 Ibid. 14 Lk. 4:18; cf. Is. 61:1. 13 Cf. Mk. 1:1; Rom. 1:1-3. Going from town to town, preaching to the poorest — and fre quently the most receptive — the joyful news of the fulfillment of the promises and of the Covenant offered by God is the mission for which Jesus declares that he is sent by the Father. And all the aspects of his mystery —the Incarnation Itself, his miracles, his teaching, the gathering together of the disciples, the sending out of the Twelve, the Cross and the Resurrection, the permanence of his presence in the midst of his own — were components of his evangelizing activity. Jesus, the first Evangelizer 7. During the Synod, the Bishops very frequently referred to this truth: Jesus himself, the Good News of God,1'- was the very first and the greatest evangelizer; he was so through and through: to perfection and to the point of the sacrifice of his earthly life. To evangelize:- what meaning did this imperative have for Christ? It is certainly not easy to express in a complete synthesis the meaning, the content and the modes of evangelization as Jesus conceived it and put into practice. In any case the atttempt to EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 537 make such a synthesis will never end. Let it suffice for us to recall a few essential aspects. Proclamation of the Kingdom of God 8. As an evangelizer, Christ first of all proclaims a kingdom, the Kingdom of God; and this is so important that, by comparison, everything else, becomes “the rest", which is “given in addition”.* 10 Only the Kingdom therefore is absolute, and it makes everything else relative. The Lard will delight in describing in many ways the happiness of belonging to this Kingdom (a paradoxical happiness which is made up of things that the word rejects),the demands of the Kingdom and its Magna Charta,1** the heralds of the King dom,’» its mysteries,-0 its children,the vigilance and fidelity demanded of whoever awaits its definitive coming.--’ 10 Cf. Mt. 6:33. >■ Cf. Mt. 5:3-12. >”Cf. Mt. 5-7 10 Cf. Mt. 10. -° Cf. Mt. 13 -> Mt. 18 -’- Cf. Mt. 24-25 -’•‘Cf. Mt. 24:36; Acts 1:7; 1 Thess 5:1-2. -‘Cf. Mt. 11:12; Lk. 16:16. Proclamation of liberating salvation 9. As the kernel and centre of his Good News, Christ proclaims salvation, this great gift of God which is liberation from every thing that oppresses man but which is above all liberation from sin and' the Evil One, in the joy of knowing God and being known by him, of seeing him, and of being given over to him. All of this is begun during the life of Christ and definitvely accomplished by his death and Resurrection. But it must be patiently carried on during the course of history, in order to be realized fully on the day of the final coming of Christ, whose date is known to no one except the Father.-’3 At the price of crucifying effort 10. This Kingdom and this salvation, which are the key words of Jesus Christ’s evangelization, are available to every human being as grace and mercy, and yet at the same time each individual rtiust gain them by force — they belong to the violent, says the Lord,-' through toil and suffering, through a life lived according to the Gospel, through abnegation and the Cross, through the spirit of the beatitudes. But above all each individual gains them 538 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FIL1PINAS through a total interior renewal which the Gospel calls metanoia: it is a radical conversion, a profound change of mind and heart.-' Tireless preaching 11. Christ accomplished this proclamation of the Kingdom of God through the untiring preaching of a word which, it will be said, has no equal elsewhere: "Here is a teaching that is new, and with authority behind it”.20 “And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that come from his lips”.2’ “There has never been anybody who has spoken like him".20 His words reveal the secret of God, his plan and his pro mise, and thereby change the heart of man and his destiny. 23 Cf. Mt.. 4:17. 20 Mk. 1:27. 2’ Lk. 4:22 23 Jn. 7:46 20 Lk. 4:43 30 Jn. 11:52 31 Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 4: A AS 58 (1966), pp. 818-819. With evangelical signs 12. But Christ alsq carries out this proclamation by innume rable signs, which amaze the crowds and at the same time draw them to him in order to see him, listen to him and allow them selves to be transformed by him: the sick are cured, water is changed into wine, bread is multiplied, the dead come back to life. And among all these signs there is the one to which he attaches great importance: the humble and the poor are evangelized, become his disciples and gather together “in his name” in the great com munity of those who believe in him. For this Jesus who declared “I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God”,20 is the same Jesus of whom John the Evangelist said that he had come and was to die “to gather together in unity the scattered children of God”.* 30 Thus he accomplishes his revelation, completing it and confirming it by the entire revelation that he makes of himself, by words and deeds, by signs and miracles, and more especially by his death, by his Resurrection and by the sending of the Spirit of Truth.31 For an evangelized and evangelizing community 13. Those who sincerely accept the Good News, through the power of this acceptance and of shared faith, therefore gather together in Jesus’ name in order to seek together the Kingdom, EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 539 build it up and live it. They make up a community which is in its turn evangelizing. The command to the Twelve to go out and proclaim the Good News is also valid for all Christians, though in a different way. It is precisely for this reason that Peter calls Christians "a people set apart to sing the praises of God”,3- those marvellous things that each one was able to hear in his own lang uage.* 33 Moreover, the Good News of the Kingdom which is coming and which has begun is meant for all people of all times. These who have received the Good News and who have been gathered by it into the community of salvation can and must communicate and spread it. 1 Pt. 2:9. 33 Cf. Acts 2:11. 31 Lk. 4.43 33 1 Cor. 9:16. 3H “Declaration of the Synod Fathers”, 4: L'OsBcrvatorc Romano (27 October 1974), p. 6. Evangelization: vocation proper to the Church 14. The Church knows this. She has a vivid awareness of the fact that the Saviour’s words, "I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God”,3* apply in all truth to herself. She wilingly adds with Saint Paul: “Not that I boast of preaching the gospel, since it is a duty that has been laid on me; I should be punished if I did not preach it!”33 It is with joy and consolation that at the end of the great Assembly of 1974 we heared these illuminating words: “We wish to confirm once more that the task of evangelizing all people constitutes the essential mission of the Church”.31’ It is a task and mission which the vast and profound changes of presentday society make all the more urgent. Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize, that is to say in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God, and to perpetuate Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of his death and glorious Resurrection. Reciprocal links between the Church and evangelization 15. Anyone who re-reads in the New Testament the origins of the Church, follows her history step by step and watches her live and act, sees that she is linked to evangelization in her most intimate being: — The Church is born of the evangelizing activity of Jesus and the Twelve. She is the normal, desired, most immediate and most visible fruit of this activity: “Go therefore, make disciples of all the 540 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS nations”.37 38 39 Now, "they accepted what he said and were baptized. That very day about three thousand were added to their number. Day by day the Lord added to their community those destined to be saved”.3ft 37 Mt. 28:19. 38 Acts 2:41, 47 39 Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 8: A AS 57 (1965), p. 11; Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentee, 5: AAS 58 (196G), pp. 951-952. 40 Cf. Acts 2:42-46; 4:32-35; 5:12-16. 41 Cf. Acts 2:11; 1 Pt. 2:9. 42 Cf. Decree on the Church’s Missionary Acitivity Ad Gentes, 5, 11-12: AAS 58 (1966), pp. 951-952, 959-961. — Having been born consequently out of being sent, the Church in her turn is sent by Jesus. The Church remains in the world when the Lord of glory returns to the Father. She remains as a sign — simultaneously obscure and luminous — of a new presence of Jesus, of his departure and of his permanent presence. She prolongs and continues him. And it is above all his mission and his condition of being an evangelizer that she is called upon to continue.31* For the Christian community is never closed In upon itself. The intimate life of this community — the life of lltsenlng to the Word and the Apostles teaching, charity lived in a fraternal way, the sharing of bread40 41 42 — this intimate life only acquires its full meaning when it becomes a witness, when it evokes admiration and conversion, and when it becomes the preaching and proclama tion of the Good News. Thus it Is the whole Church that receives the mission to evangelize, and the work of each individual member is important for the whole. — The Church is an evangelizer, but she begins by being evangelized herself. She is the community of believers, the com munity of hope lived and communicated, the community of brotherly love; and she needs to listen unceasingly to what she must believe, to her reasons for hoping, to the new commandment of love. She is the People of God immersed in the world, and often tempted by idols, and she always needs to hear the proclamation of the "mighty works of God”1' which converted her to the Lord; she always needs to be called together afresh by him and reunited. In brief, this means that she has a constant need of being evange lized, if she wishes to retain freshness, vigour and strength in order to proclaim the Gospel. The Second Vatican Council recalled43 and the 1974 Synod vigorously took up again this theme of the Church which is evangelized by constant conversion and renewal, in order to evangelize the world with credibility. EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 541 — The Church is the depositary of the Good News to be pro claimed. The promises of the New Alliance in Jesus Christ, the teaching of the Lord and the Apostles, the World of life, the sources of grace and of God’s loving kindness, the path of salvation — all these things have been entrusted to her. It is the content of the Gospel, and therefore of evangelization, that she preserves as a precious living heritage, not in order to keep it hidden but to communicate it. — Having been sent and evangelized, the Church herself sends out evangelizers. She puts on their lips the saving Word, she ex plains to them the message of which she herself is the depositary, she gives them the mandate which she herself has received and she sends them out to preach. To preach not their own selves or their personal ideas,-13 but a Gospel of which neither she nor they are the absolute masters and owners, to dispose of it as they wish, but a Gospel of which they are the ministers, in order to pass it on with complete fidelity. -,3 Cf. 2 Cor. 4:5; Saint Augustine, Sernio XLVI, De Pastoribns: CCD XLl, pp. 259-530.. -*1 Lk. 10:16; cf. Saint Cyprian, De Unitate Ecclesiae, 14: PL 4, 527; Saint Augustine, Enarrat. 88, Sernto, 2. 14: PL 37, 1140; Saint John Chrysostom, Hom. de capto Eutropio, 6: PG 52. 402. Eph. 5:25. The Church, inseparable from Christ 16. There is thus a profound link between Christ, the Church and evangelization. During the period of the Church that we are living in, it is she who has the task of evangelizing. This man date is not accomplished without her, and still less against her. It is certainly fitting to recall this fact at a moment like the present one when it happens that not without sorrow we can hear people — whom we wish to believe are well-intentioned but who are certainly misguided in their attitude — continually claiming to love Christ but without the Church, to listen to Christ but not the Church, to belong to Christ but outside the Church. The absurdity of this dichotomy Is clearly evident in this phrase of the Gospel: “Anyone who rejects you rejects me".11 And how can one wish to love Christ without loving the Church, if the finest witness to Christ is that of Saint Paul: “Christ loved the Church and sacrificed himself for her”?1-'' 542 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS n WHAT IS EVANGELIZATION? Complexity of evangelizing action 17. In the Church’s evangelizing activity there are of course certain elements and aspects to be specially Insisted on. Some of them are so Important that there will be a tendency simply to identify them with evangelization. Thus it has been possible to define evangelization In terms of proclaiming Christ to those who do not know him, of preaching, of catechesls, of conferring Baptism and the other Sacraments. Any partial and fragmentary definition which attempts to render the reality of evangelization In all its richness, complexity and dynamism does so only at the risk of impoverishing It and even of distorting it. It Is Impossible to grasp the concept of evangeliza tion unless one tries to keep in view all its essential elements. These elements were strongly emphasized at the last Synod, and are still the subject of frequent study, as a result of the Synod's work. We rejoice In the Jact that these elements basically follow the lines of those transmitted to us by the Second Vatican Council, especially in Lumen Gentium, Gaudium et Spes and Ad Gentes. Renewal of humanity. 18. For the Church, evangelizing means bringing the Good News into all the strata of humanity, and through its influence trans forming humanity from within and making it new: “Now I am making the whole of creation new”.40 But there is no new humanity if there are not first of all new persons renewed by Baptism4* and by lives lived according to the Gospel.48 The purpose of evangeliza tion is therefore precisely this interior change, and if it had to be expressed in one sentence the best way of stating it would be to say that the Church evangelizes when she seeks to convert40 solely through the divine power of the Message she proclaims, both the personal and collective consciences of people, the activities in which they engage, and the lives and concrete milieux which are theirs. And of the strata of humanity 19. Strata of humanity which are transformed: for the Church it is a question not only of preaching the Gospel in ever wider CVANGELII NUNTIANDI 543 geographic areas or to ever greater numbers of people, but also of affecting and as it were upsetting, through the power of the Gospel, mankind’s criteria of judgment, determining values, points of interest, lines of thought, sources of inspiration and models of life, which are in contrast with the Word of God and the plan of salvation. Evangelization of cultures 20. All this could be expressed in the following words: what matters is to evangelize man’s culture and cultures (not in a purely decorative way as it were by applying a thin veneer, but in a vital way, in depth and right to their very roots), in the wide and rich sense which these terms have in Gaudium et Spes,™ always taking the person as one’s starting-point and always coming back to the relationships of people among themselves and with God. The Gospel, and therefore evangelization, are certainly not identical with culture, and they are independent in regard to all cultures. Nevertheless, the Kingdom which the Gospel proclaims is lived by men who are profoundly linked to a culture, and the build ing up of the Kingdom cannot avoid borrowing the elements of human culture or cultures. Though independent of Cultures, the Gospel and evangelization are not necessarily incompatible with them; rather they are capable of permeating them all without be coming subject to any one of them. The split between the Gospel and culture is without a doubt the drama of our time, just as it was of other times. Therefore every effort must be made to ensure a full evangelization of culture, or more correctly of cultures. They have to be regenerated by an encounter with the Gospel. But this encouter will not take place if the Gospel is not proclaimed. Primary importance of witness of life 21. Above all the Gospel must be proclaimed by witness. Take a Christian or a handful of Christians who, in the midst of their own community, show their capacity for understanding and accept ance, their sharing of life and destiny with other people, their solidarity with the efforts of all for whatever is noble and good. Let us suppose that, in addition, they radiate in an altogether simple and unaffected way their faith in values that go beyond current values, and their hope in something that is not seen and that one would not dare to Imagine. Through this wordless witness these 544 BOLETIN ECLESIASTI($) DE FILIPINAS Christians stir up irresistible questions in the hearts of those who see how they live: Why are they like this? Why do they live in this way? What or who is it that inspires them? Why are they in our midst? Such a witness is already a silent proclamation of the Good News and a very powerful and effective one. Here we have an initial act of evangelization. The above questions will ask, whether they are people to whom Christ has never been proclaimed, or baptized people who do not practise, or people who live as no minal Christians but according to principles that are in no way Christian, or people who are seeking, and not without suffering, something or someone whom they sense but cannot name. Other questions will arise, deeper and more demanding ones, questions evoked by this witness which involves presence, sharing solidarity, and which is an essential element, and generally the first one, in evangelization.11' 51 Cf. Tertullian Apologeticum, 39: CCL, I. pp. 150-153; Minucius Felix. Octavius 9 and 31: CSLP, Turin 1963, pp. 11-13, 47-48. 52 1 Pt. 3:15 All Christians are called to this witness, and. in this way they can be real evangelizers. We are thinking especially of the responbility incumbent on immigrants in the country that receives them. Need of explicit proclamation 2. Nevertheless this always remains insufficient, because even the finest witness will prove ineffective in the long run if it not explained, justified — what Peter called always having "your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you all have”112 —and made explicit by a clear and unequivocal proclama tion of the Lord Jesus. The Good News proclaimed by the witness of life sooner or later has to be proclaimed by the word of life. There is no true evangelization if the name, the teaching, the life, thd promises, the Kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God are not proclaimed. The history of the Church, from the discourse of Peter on the morning of Pentecost onwards, has been intermingled and identified with the history of this pro clamation. At every new phase of human history, the Church, constantly gripped by the desire to evangelize, has but one pre occupation: whom to send to proclaim the mystery of Jesus? In what way is this mystery to be proclaimed? How can one ensure that it will resound and reach all those who should hear it? This proclamation — kerygma, preaching or catechesies — occupies such an important place in evangelization that it has often become synonymous with it; and yet it is only one aspect of evangelization. 51 52 EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 545 For a vital and community acceptance 23. In fact the proclamation only reaches full development when it is listened to, accepted and assimilated, and when it arouses a genuine adherence in the one who has thus received it. An actfierence to the truths which the Lord in his mercy has revealed; still more, an adherence to a programme of life —a life hence forth transformed — which he proposes. In a word, adherence to Kingdom, that is to say to the "new world”, to the new state of things, to the new manner of being, of living, of living in community, which the Gospel inaugurates. Such an adherence, which cannot remain abstract and unincarnated, reveals itself concretely by a visible entry into a community of believers. Thus those whose life has been transformed enter a community which is itself a sign of transformation, a sign of newness of life: it is the Church, the visible sacrament of salvation,5-1 Our entry into the ecclesial com munity will in its turn be expressed through many other signs which prolong and unfold the sign of the Church. In the dynamism of evangelization, a person who accepts the Church as the Word which saves* 51 normally translates it into the following sacramental acts: adherence to the Church, and acceptance of the Sacrament, which manifest and support this adherence through the grace which they confer. 53 Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 1, 9, 48; AAS 57 (1965), pp. 5. 12-14. 5.3-54; Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern H’o-r/d Gnudium et S/>es 42, 45, AAS 58 (1966), pp. 1060-1061, 1065-1066; Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Geutes, 1, 5: AAS 58 (1966), pp. 947, 951-952. 51 Cf. Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 1:18. Involving a new apostolate 24. Finally: the person who has been evangelized goes on to evangelize others. Here lies the test of truth, the touchstone of evangelization: it is unthinkable that a person should accept the Word and give himself to the Kingdom without becoming a person who bears witness to it and proclaims it in his turn. To complete these considerations on the meaning of evangeliza tion, a final observation must be made, one which we consider will help to clarify the reflections that follow. Evangelization, as we have said, is a complex process made up ot varied elements: the renewal of humanity, witness, explicit proclamation, inner adherence, entry into the community, accept ance of signs, apostolic initiative. These elements may appear to be contradictory, indeed mutually exclusive. In fact they are com546 BOLETIN ECLESIAST1CO DE FILIPINAS plementary and mutually enriching. Each one must always be seen in relationship with the others. The value of the last Synod was to have constantly invited us to relate these elements rather than to place them in opposition one to the other, in order to reach a full understanding of the Church’s evangelizing activity. It is this global vision which we now wish to outline, by examining the content of evangelization and the methods of evange lizing and by clarifying to whom the Gospel message is addressed and who today is responsible for it. ni THE CONTENT OF EVANGELIZATION Essential content and Secondary elements 25. In the message which the Church proclaims there are certainly many secondary elements. Their presentation depends greatly on changing circumstances. They themselves also change. But there is the essential content, the living substance, which cannot be modified or ignored without seriously diluting the nature of evangelization itself. Witness given to the Father’s love 26. It is not superfluous to recall the following points: to evangelize is first of all to bear witness, in a simple and direct way, to God revealed by Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit; to bear witness that in his Son God has loved the world —that in his In carnate Word he has given being to all things and has called men to eternal life. Perhaps this attestation of God will be for many people the unknown God155 whom they adore without giving him a name, or whom they seek by a secret call of the heart when they experience the emptiness of all idols. But it is fully evange lizing in manifesting the fact that for man the Creator is not an anonymous and remote power; he is the Father: "... that we should be called children of God; and so we are”.™ And thus we are one another’s brothers and sisters in God. At the centre of the message: salvation in Jesus Christ 27. Evangelization will also always contain —as the foundation, centre and at the same time summit of its dynamism — a clear proclamation that, in Jesus Chrit, the Son of God made man, who m Cf. Acts 17:22-23. 56 1 Jn. 3:1; cf. Rom. 8:14-17. EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 547 died and rose from he dead, salvation is offered to all men, as a gift of God’s grace and mercy.". And not an immanent salvation, meeting material or even spiritual needs, restricted to the frame work of temporal existence and completely identified with temporal desires, hopes, affairs and struggles, but a salvation which exceeds all these limits in order to reach fulfilment in a communion with the one and only divine Absolute: a transcendent and eschatolo gical salvation, which indeed has its beginning in this life but which is fulfilled in eternity. Under the sign of hope 28. Consequently evangelization cannot but include the pro phetic proclamation of a hereafter, man’s profound and definitive calling, in both continuity and discontinuity with the present situa tion: beyond time and history, beyond the transient reality of his world, and beyond the things of this world, of which a hidden dimension will one day be revealed — beyond man himself, whose true destiny is not restricted to his temporal aspect but will be revealed in the future life.57 58 Evangelization therefore also includes the preaching of hope in the promises made by God in the new Covenant in Jesus Christ, the preaching of God’s love for us and of our love for God; the preaching of brotherly love for all men — the capacity of giving and forgiving, of self-denial, of helping one’s brother and sister —which, springing from the love of God, is the kernel of the Gospel; the preaching of the mystery of evil and of the active search for good. The preaching likewise —and this is always urgent —of the search for God himself through prayer which is principally that of adoration and thanksgiving, but also through communion with the visible sign of the encounter with God which is the Church of Jesus Christ; and this communion in its turn is expressed by the application of those other signs of Christ living and acting in the Church which are the Sacraments. To live the Sacraments in this way, bringing their celebration to a true fullness, is not, as some would claim, to impede or to accept a distortion of evangelization: it is rather to complete it. For in its totality, evangelization — over and above the preaching of a message —con57 Cf. Eph. 2:8; Iiom, 1:1G. Cf. Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith., IJcclaratio ad (idem tueadam hi mysteria Incarnationis et XX. Trinitatis e quibusdam recentibus erroribus (21 February 1972): AAS 64 (1972). pp. 237-241 58 Cf. 1 Jn. 3:2; Rom. 8:29; Phil. 3:20-21. Cf. Second Vatican Ecu menical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 48-51: AAS 57 (1965), pp. 53-58 548 BOLETJN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS sists in the implantation of the Church, which does not exist with out the driving force which is the sacramental life culminating in the Eucharist.59 59 Cf. Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaratio circa Catholicam. Doctrinam re Ecclesia contra nannullos errores liodiemos tuendam (24 June 1973): A4S 65 (1973), pp. 396-408. 00 Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 47-52: AAS 58 (1966), pp. 1067-1074; Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Humanae Vitae-. AAS 60 (1968). pp. 481-503 . Message touching life as a whole 29. But evangelization would not be complete if it did not take account of the unceasing interplay of the Gospel and of man's concrete life, both personal and social. This Is why evangelization involves an explicit message, adapted to the different situations constantly being realized, about the rights and duties of every human being, about family life without which personal growth and development is hardly possible,«« about life in society, about inter national life, peace, justice and development — a message especially energetic today about liberation. A message of liberation 30. It is well known in what terms numerous Bishops from all the continents spoke of this at the last Synod, especially the Bishops from the Third World, with a pastoral accent resonant with the voice of the milliohs of sons and daughters of the Church who make up those peoples. Peoples, as we know, engaged with ali their energy in the effort and struggle to overcome everything which condemns them to remain on the margin of life: famine, chronic disease, illiteracy, poverty, injustices in international relations and especially in commercial exchanges, situations of economic and cultural neocolonialism sometimes as cruel as the old political colonialism. The Church, as the Bishops repeated, has the duty to proclaim the liberation of millions of human being, many of whom are her own children —the duty of assisting the birth of this liberation, of giving witness to it, of ensuring that it is com plete. This is not foreign to evangelization. Necessarily linked to human advancement 31. Between evangelization and human advancement — develop ment and liberation — there are in fact profound links. These in clude links of an anthropological order, because the man who is EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 549 to be evangelized is not an abstract being but is subject to social and economic questions. They also include links in the theological order, since one cannot dissociate the plan of creation from the plan of Redemption. The latter plan touches the very concrete situations of injustice to be combatted and of justice to be restored. They include links of the eminently evangelical order, which is that of charity: how in fact can one proclaim the new commandment without promoting in justice and in peace the true, authentic advancement of man? We ourself have taken care to point this out, by recalling that it is impossible to accept “that in evangeliza tion one could or should ignore the importance of the problems so much discussed today, concerning justice, liberation, develop ment and peace in the world. This would be to forget the lesson which comes to us from the Gospel concerning love of our neighbor who is suffering and in need”.*51 The same voices which during the Synod touched on this burn ing theme with zeal, intelligence and courage have, to our great joy, furnished the enlightening principles for a proper understand ing of the Importance and profound meaning of liberation, such as it was proclaimed and achieved by Jesus of Nazareth and such as it is preached by the Church. Without reduction or ambiguity 32. We must not ignore the fact that many, even generous Christians who are sensitive to the dramatic questions involved in the problem of liberation, in their wish to commit the Church to the liberation effort are frequently tempted to reduce her mission to the dimensions of a simply temporal project. They would reduce her aims to a man-centred goal; the salvation of which, she is the messenger would be reduced to material well-being. Her activity, forgetful of all Spiritual and religious preoccupation, would become initiatives of the political or social order. But if this were so, the Church would lose her fundamental meaning. Her message of liberation would no longer have any originality and would easily be open to monopolization and manipulation by ideological systems and political parties. She would have no more authority to pro claim freedom as in the name of God. This is why we have wished to emphasize, in the same address at the opening of the Synod, "the need to restate clearly the specifically religious finality of evangelization. This latter would lose its reason for existence if 01 Paul VI, Address for the opening of the Third General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (27- September 1974): AAS 66 (1974), p. 562. 550 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS it were to diverge from the religious axis that guides it: the King dom of God, before anything else, in its fully theological mean ing .. .”.02 Evangelical liberation 33. With regard to the liberation which evangelization proclaims and strives to put into practice one should rather say this: — it cannot be contained in the simple and restricted dimension of economics, politics, social or cultural life; it must envisage the whole man, in all his aspects, right up to and including his open ness to the absolute, even the divine Absolute; — it is therefore attached to a view of man which it can never sacrifice to the needs of any strategy, practice or short-term efficiency. Centred on the Kingdom of God 34. Hence, when preaching liberation and associating herself with those who are working and suffering for it, the Church is certainly not willing to restrict her mission only to the religious field and dissociate herself from man’s temporal problems, Never theless she reaffirms the primacy of her spiritual vocation and refuses to replace the proclamation of the Kingdom by the pro clamation of forms of .human liberation; she even states that her contribution to liberation is incomplete if she neglects to proclaim salvation in Jesus Christ. On an evangelical concept of man 35. The Church links human liberation and salvation in Jesus Christ, but she never identifies them, because she knows through revelation, historical experience and the reflection of faith that not every notion of liberation is necessarily consistent and compatible with an evangelical vision of man, of things and of events; she knows too that in order that God’s Kingdom should come it is not enough to establish liberation and to create well-being and deve lopment. And what is more, the Church has the firm conviction that all temporal liberation, all political liberation—even if it endeavours to find its justification in such or such a page of the Old or New Testament, even if it claims for its Ideological postulates and its norms of action theological data and conclusions, even if it pre52 Ibid. EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 551 tends to be today’s theology — carries within itself the germ of its own negation and fails to reach the ideal that it proposes for itself whenever its profound motives are not those of justice in charity, whenever its zeal lacks a truly spiritual dimension and whenever, its final goal is not salvation and happiness in God. Involving a necessary conversion 36. The Church considers it to be undoubtedly important to build up structures which are more human, more just, more respect ful of the rights of the person and less oppressive and less enslaving, but she is conscious that the best structures and the most idealized systems soon become inhuman if the inhuman inclinations of the human heart are not made wholesome, if those who live in these structures or who rule them do not undergo a conversion of heart and of outlook. Excluding violence 37. The Church cannot accept violence, especially the force of arms —which is uncontrollable once it is let loose —and indiscri minate death as the path to liberation, because she knows that violence always provokes violence and irresistibly engenders new forms of oppression and enslavement which are often harder to bear than those from which they claimed to bring freedom. We said this clearly during our journey in Colombia: "We exhort you not to place your trust in violence and revolution: that is contrary to the Christian spirit, and I can also delay instead of advancing that social up-lifting to which you lawfully aspire”.®3 "We must say and reaffirm that violence is not in accord with the Gospel, that it is not Christian; and that sudden or violent changes of struc tures would be deceitful, Ineffective of themselves, and certainly not in conformity with the dignity of the people”.®* Specific contribution of the Church 38. Having said this, we rejoice that the Church is becoming ever more conscious of the proper manner and strictly evangelical means that she possesses in order to collaborate in the liberation of many. And what is she doing? She is trying more and more to encourage large numbers of Christians to devote themselves to the liberation of men. She is providing these Christian "liberators" 03 Paul VI. Address to the Campesinos of Colombia (23 August 1968) : AAS 60 (1968), p. 623 ®* Paul VI, Address for the “Day of Development” at Bogota (23 August 1968): AAS 60 (1968), p. 627; Cf. Saint Augustine, Epistola 229. 2: PL 33, 1020 552 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE F1LIPINAS with the inspiration of faith, the motivation of fraternal love, a social teaching which the true Christian cannot ignore and which he must make the foundation of his wisdom and of his experience in order to translate it concretely into forms of action, participation and commitment. All this must characterize the spirit of a com mitted Christian, without confusion with tactical attitudes or with the service of a political system. The Church strives always to insert the Christian struggle for liberation into the universal plan of salvation which she herself proclaims. What we have just recalled comes out more than once in the Synod debates. In fact we devoted to this theme a few clarifying words in our address to the Fathers at the end of the Assembly.'1"1 It is to be hoped that all these considerations will help to remove the ambiguity which the word "liberation” very often takes on in ideologies political systems or groups. The liberation which evangelization proclaims and prepares is the one which Christ him self announced and gave to man by his sacrifice. Religious liberty 39. The necessity of ensuring fundamental human rights cannot be separated from this jbst liberation which is bound up with evangelization and which endeavors to secure structures safeguard ing human freedoms. Among these fundamental human rights, religious liberty occupies a place of primary importance. We recently spoke of the relevance of this matter, emphasizing “how many Christians still today, because they are Christians, because they are Catholics, live oppressed by systematic persecution! The drama of fidelity to Christ and of the freedom of religion continues, even if it is disguised by categorical declarations in favour of the rights of the person and of life in society!”1*1 IV THE METHODS OF EVANGELIZATION Search for suitable means 40. The qbvious importance of the content of evangelization must not overshadow the importance of the ways and means. 03 Paul VI, Address for the closing of the Third General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (26 October 1974): AAS 66 (1974), p. 637. 00 Address given on 15 October 1975: L’Osaervatoro Romano (17 October 1975) EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 553 This question of “how to evangelize” is permanently relevant, because the methods of evangelizing vary according to the dif ferent circumstances of time, place and culture, and because they thereby present a certain challenge to our capacity for discovery and adaptation. On us particularly, the pastors of the Church, rests the respon sibility for reshaping with boldness and wisdom, but in complete fidelity to the content of evangelization, the means that are most suitable and effective for communicating the Gospel message to the men and women of our times. Let it suffice, in this meditation, to mention a number of methods which, for one reason or another, have a fundamental importance. The witness of life 41. Without repeating everything that we have already men tioned, it is appropriate first of all to emphasize the following point: for the Church, the first means of evangelization is the witness of an authentically Christian life, given over to God in a com munion that nothing should- destroy and at the same time given to one’s neighbour with limitless zeal. As we said recently to a group of lay people, "Modern man listens more willingly to wit ness than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses”."' Saint Peter expressed this well when he held up the example of a reverent and chaste life that wins over even without a word those who refuse to obey the word.08 It is therefore primarily by her conduct and by her life that the Church will evangelize the world, in otherr words, by her living witness of fidelity to the Lord Jesus — the witness of poverty and detachment, of freedom in the face of the powers of this world, in short, the witness of sanctity. A living preaching 42. Secondly, it is not superfluous to emphasize the importance and necessity of preaching. “And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear with out a preacher?... So faith comes frrom what is heard and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ”.0’-’ This law once laid down by the Apostle Paul maintains its full force today. 07 Pope Paul VI. Address to the Members of the Consilium de Lai cis (2 October 1974): AAS 66 (1974), p. 568. 08 Cf. 1 Pt. 3:1 00 Rom. 10:14. 17 554 BOLETIN ECLESIAST1CO DE FIL1PINAS Preaching, the verbal proclamation of a message, is indeed always indispensable. We are well aware that modern man is sated by talk; he is obviously often tired of listening and, what is worse, impervious to words. We are also aware that many psycho logists and sociologists express the view that modern man has passed beyond the civilization of the word, which is now Ineffective and useless, and that today he lives in the civilization of the image. These facts should certainly impel us to employ, for the purpose of transmitting the Gospel message, the modern means which this civilization has produced. Very positive efforts have in fact already been made in this sphere. We cannot but praise them and encourage their further development. The fatigue produced these days by so much empty talk and the relevance of many other forms of communication must not however diminish the permanent power of the word, or cause a loss of confidence in it. The word remains ever relevant, especially when it is the bearer of the power of God.'" This is why Saint Paul’s axiom, “Faith comes from what is heard’’,"' also retains its relevance: it is the Word that is heard which leads to belief. Liturgy of the Word 43. This evangelizing preaching takes on many forms, and zeal will inspire the reshaping of them almost indefinitely. In fact there are innumerable events in life and human situations which offer the opportunity for a discreet but incisive statement of what the Lord has to say in this or that particular circumstance. It suffices to have true spiritual sensitivity for reading God’s message in events. But at a time when the liturgy renewed by the Council has given greatly increased value to the Liturgy of the Word, it would be a mistake not to see in the homily an important and very adaptable instrument of evangelization Of course it is neces sary to know and put to good use the exigencies and the possibi lities of the homily, so that it can acquire all its pastoral effective ness. But above all it is necessary to be convinced of this and to devote oneself to it with love. This preaching, inserted in a unique way into the Eucharistic celebration, from which it receives special force and vigour, certainly has a particular role in evangelization, to the extent that it expresses the profound faith of the sacred minister and is impregnated with love. The faithful assembled as a Paschal Church, celebrating the feast of the Lord present in their midst, expect much from this preaching, and will greatly be nefit from it provided that it is simple, clear, direct, well-adapted, profoundly dependent on Gospel teaching and faithful to the MagisEVANGELII NUNTIANDI 555 terium, animated by a balanced apostolic ardour coming from its own characteristic nature, full of hope, fostering belief, and pro ductive of peace and unity. Many parochial or other communities live and are held together thanks to the Sunday homily, when it possesses these qualities. Let us add that, thanks to the same liturgical renewal, the Eucharistic celebration is not the only appropriate moment for the homily. The homily has a place and must not be neglected in the celebration of all the Sacraments, at para-liturgies, and in assem blies of the faithful. It will always be a privileged occasion for communicating the Word of the Lord. Catechetics 44. A means of evangelisation that must not be neglected is that of catechetical instruction. The intelligence, especially that of children and young people, needs to learn through system atic religious instruction the living content of the truth which God has wished to convey to us and which the Church has sought to express in an ever richer fashion during the course of her long history. No one will deny that this instruction must be given to form patterns of Christian living and not to remain only notional. Truly the effort for evangelization will profit greatly —at the level of catechetical instruction given at church, in the schools, where this is possible, and in every case in Christian homes— if those giving catechetical instruction have suitable texts, updated with wisdom and competence, under the authority of the Bishops. The methods must be adapted to the age, culture and aptitude of the persons concerned; they must seek always to fix in the memory, intelligence and heart the essential truths that must impregnate all of life. It is necessary above all to prepare good instructors — parochial catechists, teachers, parents — who are desirous of per fecting themselves in this superior art, which is indispensable and requires religious instruction. Moreover, without neglecting in any way the training of children, one sees that present conditions render ever more urgent catechetical instruction, under the form of the catechumenate, for innumerable young people and adults who, touched by grace, discover little by little the face of Christ and feel the need of giving themselves to him. Utilization of the mass media 45. Our century is characterized by the mass media or means of social communication, and the first proclamation, catechesis or the further deepening of faith cannot do without these means, as we have already emphasized. 556 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS When they are put at the service of the Gospel, they are capable of increasing almost Indefinitely the area in which the Word of God is heard; they enable the Good News to reach millions of people. The Church would feel guilty before the Lord if she did not utilize these powerful means that human skill is daily render ing more perfect. It is through them that she proclaims “from the housetops”^ the message of which she is the depositary. In them she finds a modern and effective version of the pulpit. Thanks to them, she succeeds in speaking to the multitudes. Nevertheless the use of the means of social communication for evangelization presents a challenge: through them the evangelical message should reach vast numbers of people, but with the capacity of piercing the conscience of each individual of implanting itself in his heart as though he were the only person being addressed, with all his most individual and personal qualities, and evoke an entirely personal adherence and commitment. Indispensable personal contact 46. For this reason, side-by-side with the collective proclama tion of the Gospel, the other form of transmission, the person-toperson one, remains valicT'and important. The Lord often used it (for example with Nicodemus, Zacchaeus, the Samaritan woman, Simon the Pharisee), and so did the Apostles. In the long run, is there any other way of handing on the Gospel than by transmitting to another person one’s personal experience of faith? It must not happen that the pressing need to proclaim the Good News to the multitudes should cause us to forget this form of proclamation whereby an Individual’s personal conscience is reached and touched by an entirely unique world that he receives from someone else. We can never sufficiently praise those priests who through the Sacrament of Penance or through pastoral dialogue show their readiness to guide people in the ways of the Gospel, to support them in their efforts, to raise them up if they have fallen, and always to assist them with discernment and availability. Role of the Sacraments 47. Yet, one can never sufficiently stress the fact that evange lization does not consists only of the preaching and teaching of a doctrine. For evangelization must touch life: the natural life to which it gives a new meaning, thanks to the evangelical perspectives that it reveals; and the supernatural life, which is not the negation but the purification and elevation of the natural life. 7-Cf. Mt. 10:27; Lk. 12.3. EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 557 This supernatural life finds its living expression in the seven Sacraments and in the admirable radiation of grace and holiness which they possess. Evangelization thus exercises its full capacity when it achieves the most intimate relationship, or better still a permanent and unbroken intercommunication, between the Word and the Sacra ments. In a certain sense it is a mistake to make a contrast between evangelization and sacramentalization, as is sometimes done. It is indeed true that a certain way of administering the Sacraments, without the solid support of catechesis regarding these same Sacraments and a global catechesis, could end up by depriving them of their effectiveness to a great extent. The role of evange lization is precisely to educate people in the faith in such a way as to lead each individual Christian to live the Sacraments as true Sacraments of faith —and not to receive them passively or to underto them. Popular piety 48. Here we touch upon an aspect of evangelization which cannot leave us insensitive. We wish to speak about what today is often called popular religiosity. One finds among the people particular expressions of the search for God and for faith, both in the regions where the Church has been established for centuries and where she is in the course of becoming established. These expressions were for a long time regarded as less pure and were sometimes despised, but today they are almost everywhere being rediscovered. During the last Synod the Bishops studied their significance with remarkable pastoral realism and zeal. Popular religiosity of course certainly has its limits. It is often subject to penetration by many distortions of religion and even superstitions. It frequently remains at the level of forms of worship not involving a true acceptance by faith. It can even lead to the creation of sects and endanger the true ecclesial community. But if it well oriented above all by a pedagogy of evangelization, it is rich in values. It manifests a thirst for God which only the simple and poor can know. It makes people capable of generosity and sacrifice even to the point of heroism, when it is a question of manifesting belief. It involves an acute awareness of profound attributes of God: fatherhood providence, loving and constant pre sence. It engenders interior attitudes rarely observed to the same degree elsewhere: patience, the sense of the Cross in daily life, detachment, openness to others, devotion. By reason of these as558 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS pects, we readily call it “popular piety", that is, religion of the people, rather than religiosity. Pastoral charity must dictate to all those whom the Lord has placed as leaders of the ecclesial communities the proper attitude in regard to this reality, which is at the same time so rich, and so vulnerable. Above all one must be sensitive to it, know how to perceive its interior dimensions and undeniable values, be ready to help it to overcome its risks of deviation. When it is well oriented, this popular religiosity can be more and more for multi tudes of our people a true encounter with God in Jesus Christ. V THE BENEFICIARIES OF EVANGELIZATION Addressed to everyone 49. Jesus’ last words in Saint Mark’s Gospel confer on the evangelization which the Lord entrusts to his Apostles a limitless universality: " Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation”.™. The Twelve and the first generation of Christians understood well the lesson of this text and other similar ones; they made them into a programme of- action. Even persecution, by scattering the Apostles, helped to spread the Word and to establish the Church in ever more distant regions. The admission of Paul to the rank of the Apostles and his charism as the preacher to the pagans (the non-Jews) of Jesus’ Coming underlined this universality still more. Despite all the obstacles 50. In the course of twenty centuries of history, the genera tions of Christians have periodically faced various obstacles to this universal mission. On the one hand, on the part of evangelizers themselves, there has been the temptation for various reasons to narrow down the field of their misslonery activity. On the other hand, there has been the often humanly insurmountable resistance of the people being addressed by the evangelizer. Furthermore, we must note with sadness that the evangelizing work of the Church is strongly opposed, if not prevented, by certain public powers. Even in our own day it happens that preachers of God’s Word are deprived of their rights, persecuted, threatened or eliminated solely EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 559 for preaching Jesus Christ and his Gospel. But we are confident that despite these painful trials the activity of these apostles will never meet final failure in any part of the world. Despite such adversities the Church constantly renews her deepest inspiration, that which comes to her directly from the Lord: To the whole world! To all creation! Right to the ends of the earth! She did this once more at the last Synod, as an appeal not to imprison the proclamation of the Gospel by limiting it to one sector of mankind or to one class of people or to a single type of civilization. Some examples are revealing. First proclamation to those who are far off 51. To reveal Jesus Christ and his Gospel to those who do not know them has been, ever since the morning of Pentecost, the fundamental programme which the Church has taken on as received from the Founder. The whole of the New Testament, and in a special way the Acts of the Apostles, bears witness to a privileged and in a sense exemplary moment of this missionary effort which subsequently leave its mark on the whole history of the Church. She carries out this first proclamation of Jesus Christ by a com plex and diversified activity which is sometimes termed “pre evangelization” but which is already evangelization in a true sense, although at its initial and still incomplete stage. An almost in definite range of means can be used for this purpose: explicit preach ing, of course, but also art, the scientific approach, philosophical research and legitimate recourse to the sentiments of the human heart. Renewed proclamation to a dechristianized world 52. This first proclamation is addressed especially to those who have never heard the Good News of .Jesus, or to children. But, as a result of the frequent situations of dechristianization in our day, it also proves equally necessary for innumerable people who have been baptized but who live quite outside Christian life, for simple people who have a certain faith but an imperfect knowledge of that faith, for intellectuals who feel the need to know Jesus Christ in a light different from the instruction they received as Children, and for many others. Non-Christian religions 53. This first proclamation is also addressed to the immense sections of mankind who practise non-Christian religions. The Church respects and esteems these non-Christian religions because 560 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE F1L1PINAS they are the living expression of the soul of vast groups of people. They carry within them the echo of thousands of years of search ing for God, a quest which is incomplete but often made with great sincerity and righteousness of heart. They possess an im pressive patrimony of deeply religious texts. They have taught gene rations of people how to pray. They are all impregnated with in numerable "seeds of the Word”'* and can constitute a true “pre paration for the Gospel”,7’’ to quote a felicitous term used by the Second Vatican Council and borrowed from Eusebius of Caesarea. 7* Cf. Saint Justin, I Apol. 46, 1-4: PG 6, II Apol. 7 (8) 1-4; 10, 1-3; 13, 3-4; Florilegium Patristicum II. Bonn 1911. pp. 81, 125, 129, 133; Clement of Alexandria Stromata I, 9, 91; 94; S. Ch. pp. 117-118; 119110; Second Ecumenical Council, Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 11: AAS 58 (1966), p. 960; cf. Dogmatic Constitu tion on the Church Lumen Gentium, 17: AAS 57 (1965), p. 21. 75 Eusebius of Caesarea Praeparatio Evangelica, I. 1: PG 21, 26-28; cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 16: AAS 57 (1965), p. 20. 70 Cf. Eph. 3:8. Such a situation certainly raises complex and delicate questions that must be studied in the light of Christian Tradition and the Church’s Magisterium, in order to offer to the missiona ries of today and of tomorrow new horizons In their contacts with non-Christian religions. We wish to point out, above all today, that neither respect and esteem for these religions nor the com plexity of the questions raised is an invitation to the Church to withhold from these non-Christians the proclamation of Jesus Christ. On the contrary the Church holds that these multitudes have the right to know the riches of the mystery of Christ7'’ — riches in which we believe that the whole of humanity can find, in un suspected fullness, everything that it is gropingly searching for con cerning God, man and his destiny, life and death, and truth. Even in the face of natural religious expressions most worthy of esteem, the Church finds support in the fact that the religion of Jesus, which she proclaims through evangelization, objectively places man in relation with the plan of God, with his living presence and with his action; she thus causes an encounter with the mystery of divine paternity that bends over towards humanity. In other words, our religion effectively establishes with God an authentic and living rela tionship which the other religions do not succeed in doing, even though they have, as it were, their arms stretched out towards heaven. This is why the Church keeps her missionary spirit alive, and even wishes to intensify it in the moment of history in which we are living. She feels responsible before entire peoples. She has no rest so long as she has not done her best to proclaim the Good News EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 561 of Jesus the Saviour. She is always preparing new generations of apostles. Let us state this fact with joy at a time when there are not lacking those who think and even say that ardour and the apostolic spirit are exhausted, and that the time of the missions is now past. The Synod has replied that the missionary proclamation never ceases and that the Church will always be striving for the fulfilment of this proclamation. Support for the faith of believers 54. Nevertheless the Church does not feel dispensed from pay ing unflagging* attention also to those who have received the faith and who have been in contact with the Gospel often for genera tions. Thus she seeks to deepen, consolidate, nourish and make ever more mature the faith of those who are already called the faithful or believers, in order that they may be so still more. This faith is nearly always today exposed to secularism, even to militant atheism. It is a faith exposed to trials and threats, and even more, a faith besieged and actively opposed. It runs the risk of perishing from suffocation or starvation if it is not fed and sustained each day. To evangelize must therefore very often be to give this necessary food and sustenance to the faith of believers, especially through a catechesis full of Gospel vitality and in a language suited to people and circumstances. The Church also has a lively solicitude for the' Christians who are not in full communion with her. While preparing with them the unity willed by Christ, and precisely in order to realize unity in truth, she has the consciousness that she would be gravely lack ing in her duty if she did not give witness before them of the full ness of the revelation whose deposit she guards. Non-believer9 55. Also significant is the preoccupation of the last Synod in regard to two spheres which are very different from one another but which at the same time are very close by reason of the challenge which they make to evangelization, each in its own way. The first sphere is the one which can be called the increase of unbelief in the modern world. The Synod endeavoured to describe this modern world: how many currents of thought, values and countervalues, latent aspirations or seeds of destruction, old convic tions which disappear and new convictions which arise are covered by this generic name! 562 B0LET1N ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS From the spiritual point of view, the modern world seems to be for ever immersed in what a modern author has termed "the drama of atheistic humanism”.77 78 77 Cf. Henri de Lubac, Le drame de I’humanisme athee-, ed. Spes, Paris, 1945. 78 Cf. Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 59: A AS 58 (1966), p. 1080. On the one hand one is forced to note in the very heart of this contemporary world the phenomenon which is becoming almost its most striking characteristic: secularism. We are not speaking of secularization, which is the effort, in itself just and legitimate and in no way incompatible with faith or reli gion, to discover in creation, in each thing or each happening in the universe, the laws which regulate them with a certain auto nomy, but with the inner conviction that the Creator has placed these laws there. The last Council has in this sense affirmed the legitimate autonomy of culture and particularly of the sciences.’8 Here we are thinking of a true secularism: a concept of the world according to which the latter is self-explanatory, without any need for recourse to God, who thus becomes superfluous and an encum brance. This sort of secularism, in order to recognize the power of man, therefore ends up by doing without God and even by deny ing him. New forms of atheism seem to flow from it: a man-centred atheism, no longer abstract and metaphysical but pragmatic, systematic and militant. Hand in hand with this atheistic secular ism. we are daily faced, under the most diverse forms, with a con sumer society, the pursuit of pleasure set up as the supreme value a desire for power and domination, and discrimination of every kind: the inhuman tendencies of this "humanism”. In this same modern world, on the other hand, and this is a paradox, one cannot deny the existence of real stepping-stones to Christianity, and of evangelical values at least in the form of a sense of emptiness or nostalgia. It would not be an exaggeration to say that there exists a powerful and tragic appeal to be evange lized. The non-practising 56. The second sphere is that of those who do not practise. Today there is a very large number of baptized people who for the most part have not formally renounced their Baptism but who are entirely indifferent to it and not living in accordance with it. The phenomenon of the non-practising is a very ancient one in the history of Christianity; it is the result of a natural weakness, a EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 563 profound inconsistency which we unfortunately bear deep within us. Today however it shows certain new characteristics. It is often the result of the uprooting typical of our time. It also springs from the fact that Christians live in close proximity with non believers and constantly experience the effects of unbelief. Fur thermore, the non-practising Christians of today, more so than those of previous periods, seek to explain and justify their position in the name of an interior religion, of personal independence or authen ticity. Thus we have atheists and unbelievers on the one side and those who do not practise on the other, and both groups put up a considerable resistance to evangelization. The resistance of the former takes the form of a certain refusal and an inability to grasp the new order of things, the new meaning of the world, of life and of history; such is not possible if one does not start from a divine absolute. The resistance of the second group takes the form of inertia and the slightly hostile attitude of the person who feels that he is one of the family, who claims to know it all and to have tried it all and who no longer believes it. Atheistic secularism and the absence of religious practice are found among adults and among the young, among the leaders of society and among the ordinary people, at all levels of education, and in both the old Churches and the young ones. The Church’s evangelizing action cannot ignore these two worlds, nor must it come to a standstill when faced with them; it must constantly seek the proper means and language for presenting, or re presenting, to them God’s revelation and faith in Jesus Christ. Proclamation to the multitudes 57. Like Christ during the time of his preaching, like the Twelve on the morning of Pentecost, the Church too sees before her an immense multitude of people who need the Gospel and have a right to it. for God “wants everyone to be saved and reach full knowledge of the truth The Church is deeply aware of her duty to preach salvation to all. Knowing that the Gospel message is not reserved to a small group of the initiated, the privileged or the elect but is destined for everyone, she shares Christ’s anguish at the sight of the wander ing and exhausted crowds “like sheep without a shepherd” and she often repeats his words: “I feel sorry for all these people”.'*' But the Church Is also conscious of the fact that, if the preaching of I Tim. 2:1 Mt. >>:3G; 15:32. 564 BOLETIN ECLESIAST1CO DE PILIPINAS the Gospel is to be effective, she must address her message to the heart of the multitudes, to communities of the faithful whose action can and must reach others. Ecclesial “communautes de base” 58. The last Synod devoted considerable attention to these “small communities”, or communautes de base, because they are often talked about in the Church today. What are they, and why should they be the special beneficiaries of evangelization and at the same time evangelizers themselves? According to the various statements heard in the Synod, such communities flourish more or less throughout the Church. They differ greatly among themselves both within the same region and even more so from one region to another. In some regions they appear and develop, almost without exception .within the Church, having solidarity with her life, being nourished by her teaching and united with her pastors. In these cases, they spring from the need to live the Church's life more intensely, or from the desire and quest for a more human dimension such as larger ecclesial communities can only offer with difficulty, especially in the big modern cities which lend themselves both to life in the mass and to anonymity. Such communities can quite simply be in their otfn way an extension on the spiritual and reli gious level — worship, deepening of faith, fraternal charity, prayer, contact with pastors — of the small sociological community such as the village, etc. Or again their aim may be to bring together, for the purpose of listening to and meditating on the Word, for the Sacraments and the bond of the agape, groups of people who are linked by age, culture, civil state or social situation: married couples, young people, professional people, etc., people who already happen to be united in the struggle for justice, brotherly aid to the poor, human advancement. In still other cases they bring Christians together in places where the shortage of priests does not favour the normal life of a parish community. This is all presupposed within communities constituted by the Church, especially individual Churches and parishes. In other regions, on the other hand, communautes de base come together in a spirit of bitter criticism of the Church, which they are quick to stigmatize as “institutional” and to which they set themselves up -In opposition as charismatic communities, free from structures and inspired, only by the Gospel. Thus their obvious characteristic is an attitude of fault-finding and of rejection with regard to the Church’s outward manifestations: her hierarchy, her EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 565 signs. They are radically opposed to the Church. By following these lines their main inspiration very quickly becomes ideological, and it rarely happens that they do not quickly fall victim to some political option or current of thought, and then to a system, even a party, with all the attendant risks of becoming its instrument. The difference is already notable: the communities which by their spirit of opposition cut themselves off from the Church, and whose unity they wound, cSn well be called communautes de base, but in this case it is a strictly sociological name. They could not, without a misuse of terms, be caled ecclesial communautes de base, even if, while being hostile to the hierarchy, they claim to remain within the unity of the Church. This name belongs to the other groups those which come together within the Church in order to unite themselves to the Church and to cause the Church to grow. These latter communities will be a place of evangelization, for the benefit of the bigger communities, especially the individual Churches. And, as we said at the end of the last Synod, they will be a hope for the universal Church to the extent: — that they seek their nourishment in the Word of God and do not allow themselves to be ensnared by political polarization or fashionable ideologies, which are ready to exploit their immense human potential; . — that they avoid the ever present temptation of systematic protest and a hypercritical attitude, under the pretext of authen ticity and a spirit of collaboration; — that they remain firmly attached to the local Church in which they are inserted, and to the universal Church, thus avoid ing the very real danger of becoming isolated within themselves, then of believing themselves to be the only authentic Church of Christ, and hence of condemning the other ecclesial communities; — that they maintain a sincere communion with the pastors whom the Lord gives to his Church, and with the Magisterium which the Spirit of Christ has entrusted to these pastors; — that they never look on themselves as the sole beneficiaries or sole agents of evangelization — or even the only depositaries of the Gospel —but, being aware that the Church is much more vast and diversified, accept the fact that this Church becomes incarnate in other ways than through themselves; — that they constantly grow in missionary consciousness, fer vour, commitment and zeal; — that they show themselves to be universal in all things and never sectarian. 566 B0LET1N ECLESIASTICO DE F1LIPINAS On these conditions, which are certainly demanding but also uplifting, the ecclesial communautes de base will correspond to their most fundamental vocation: as hearers of the Gospel which is pro claimed to them and privileged beneficiaries of evangelization, they will soon become proclaimers of the Gospel themselves. VI THE WORKERS FOR EVANGELIZATION The Church: missionary in her entirety 59. If people proclaim in the world the Gospel of salvation, they do so by the command of, in the name of and with the grace of Christ the Saviour. “They will never have a preacher unless one is sent”,81 wrote he who was without doubt one of the greatest evangelizers. No one can do it without having been- sent. 81 Rom. 10:15. 82 Declaration on Religious Liberty Dignitatis Humanae, 13: AAS 58 (1966), p. 939; cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gen ii-. AAS 57 (1965) pp. 7-8; Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 1: AAS 58 (1966), p. 947. 83 Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 35: AAS 58 (1966), p. 983. 84 Saint Augustine. Enarratio in Ps 44:23: CCL XXXVIII, p. 510; cf. Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 1: AAS 58 (1966), p. 947 But who then has the mission of evangelizing? The Second Vatican Council gave a clear reply to this question: it is upon the Church that "there rests, by divine mandate, the duty of going out into the whole world and preaching the gospel to every creature”.82 And in another text: .. the whole Church is missionary, and the work of evangelization is a basic duty of the People of God”.83 We have already mentidned this intimate connection between the Church and evangelization. While the Church is proclaiming the Kingdom of God and building it up, she is establishing herself in the midst of the world as the sign and instrument of this King dom which is and which is to come. The Council repeats the follow ing expression of Saint Augustine on the missionary activity of the Twelve: “They preached the word of truth and brought forth Churches” 84 EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 567 An ecclesial act 60. The observation that the Church has been sent out and given a mandate to evangelize the world should awaken in us two convictions. The first is this: evangelization is for no one an individual and isolated act; it is one that is deeply ecclesial. When the most obscure preacher, catechist or pastor in the most distant land preaches the Gospel, gathers his little community together or ad ministers a Sacrament, even alone, he is carrying out an ecclesial act, and his action is certainly attached to the evangelizing activity of the whole Church by institutional relationships, but also by pro found Invisible links in the order of grace. This presupposes that he acts not in virtue of a mission which he attributes to himself or by a personal inspiration, but in union with the mission of the Church and in her name. From this flows the second conviction: if each individual evange lizes in the name of the Church, who herself does so< by virtue of a mandate from the Lord, no evangelizer is the absolute master of his evangelizing action, with a discretionary power to carry it out in accordance with individualistic criteria and perspectives; he acts in communion with the Church and her pastors. We have remarked that the Church is entirely and completely evangelizing. This means that, in the whole world and in each part of the world where she is present, the Church feels respon sible for the task of spreading the Gospel. The perspective of the universal Church 61. Brothers and sons and daughters, at this stage of our reflec tion, we wish to pause with you at a question which is particularly important at the present time. In the celebration of the liturgy, in their witness before judges and executioners and in their apologe tical texts, the first Christians readily expressed their deep faith in the Church by describing her as being spread throughout the universe. They were fully conscious of belonging to a large com munity which neither space nor time can limit: From the just Abel right to the last of the elect”,“indeed of the ends of the earth”,>» “to the end of time”.*’ This is how the Lord wanted his Church to be: universal, a great tree whose branches shelter the birds of the air,*>s a net which ’’■’’Saint Gregory the Great, Hornil. in Eiangelia 19, 1: PL 76, 1154. Acta 1:8; cf. Didnche 9 1: Funk, Patrea Apustolici, 1, 22. 1,7 Mt. 28:20 "sCf. Mt. 13:32 568 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS catches fish of every kinds# or which Peter drew In filled with one hundred and fifty-three big fishes#" a flock which a single shepherd pastures.01A universal Church without boundaries or frontiers except, alas, those of the heart and mind of sinful man. The perspective of the individual Church 62. Nevertheless this universal Church is in practice incarnate in the individual Churches made up of such or such an actual part of mankind, speaking such and such a language, heirs of a cultural patrimony, of a vision of the world, of an historical past, of a particular human substratum. Receptivity 1 to the wealth of the individual Church corresponds to a special sensitivity of modern man. Let us be very careful not to conceive of the universal Church as the sum, or if one can say so, the more or less anomalous federa tion of essentially different Individual Churches. In the mind of the Lord the Church is universal by vocation and mission, but when she puts down her roots in a variety of cultural, social and human terrains, she takes on different external expressions and appearances in each part of the worlds Thus each individual Church that would voluntarily cut itself off from the universal Church would lose Its relationship to God’s plan and would be impoverished in its ecclesial dimension. But, at the same time, a Church toto orbe diffusa would become an abstraction if she did not take body and life precisely through the individual Churches. Only continual attention to these two poles of the Church will enable us to perceive the richness of this relation ship between the universal Church and the individual Churches. Adaptation and fidelity in expression 63. The individual Churches, intimately built up not only of people but also of aspirations, of riches and limitations, of ways of praying, of loving, of looking at life and the world which dis tinguish this or that human gathering, have the task of assimilating the essence of the Gospel message and of transposing it, without the slightest betrayal of its essential truth, into the language that these particular people understand, then of proclaiming it in this language. »• Cf. Mt. 13:47. »» Cf. Jn. 21:11. »* Cf. Jn. 10:1-16. EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 569 The transposition has to be done with the discernment, serious ness, respect and competence which the matter calls for in the field of liturgical expression,®2 and in the areas of catechesis, theological formulation, secondary ecclesial structures, and ministries. And the word "language” should be understood here less in the semantic or literary sense than in the sense which one may call anthropolo gical and cultural. The question is undoubtedly a delicate one. Evangelization loses much of its force and effectiveness if it does not take into consideration the actual people to whom it is addressed, if it does not use their language, their signs and symbols, if it does not answer the questions they ask, and if it does not have an impact on their concrete life. But on the other hand evangelization risks losing its power and disappearing altogether if one empties or adulterates its content under the pretext of translating it; if, in other words, one sacrifices this reality and destroys the unity without which there is no universality, out of a wish to adapt a universal reality to a local situation. Now, only a Church which preserves the awareness of her universality and shows that she is in fact universal is capable of having a message which can be heard by all, regardless of regional frontiers. Legitimate attention to individual Churches cannot fail to enrich the Church. Such attention is indispensable and urgent. It responds to the very deep aspirations of peoples and human com munities to find their own identity ever more clearly. Openness to the universal Church 64. But this enrichment requires that the individual Churches should keep their profound openness towards the universal Church. It is quite remarkable, moreover, that the most simple Christians, the ones who are most faithful to the Gospel and most open to the true meaning of the Church, have a completely spontaneous sen sitivity to this universal dimension. They instinctively and very strongly feel the need for it, they easily recognize themselves in such a dimension. They feel with it and suffer very deeply within themselves when, in the name of theories which they do not under stand, they are forced to accept a Church deprived of this univer sality, a regionalist Church, with no horizon. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrotunictum Concilium, 37-38: A,IS 56 (1964), p. 110; cf. also the liturgical books and other documents subsequently issued by the Holy See for the putting into practice of the liturgical reform desired by the same Council. 570 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS As history in fact shows, whenever an individual Church has cut itself of from the universal Church and from its living and visible centre — sometimes with the best of intentions, with theolo gical, sociological, political or pastoral arguments, or even in the desire for a certain freedom of movement or action — it has escaped only with great difficulty (if indeed it has escaped) from two equally serious dangers. The first danger is that of a withering isolation ism, and then, before long, of a crumbling away, with each of its cells breaking away from it just as it itself has broken away from the central nucleus. The second danger Is that of losing its free dom when, being cut off from the centre and from the other Churches which gave it strength and energy, it finds itself all alone and a prey to the most varied forces of enslavery and exploitation The more an individual Church is attached to the universal Church by solid bonds of communion, in charity and loyalty, in receptiveness to the Magisterium of Peter, in the unity of the lex orandi which is also the lex credendi, in the desire for unity with all the other Churches which make up the whole —the more such a Church will be capable of translating the treasure of faith into the legitimate variety of expressions of the profession of faith, of prayer and worship, of Christian life and conduct and of the spiritual influence on the people among which it dwells. The more will it also be truly evangelizing, that is to say capable of drawing upon the universal patrimony in order to enable its own people to profit from it, and capable too of communicating to the universal Church the experience and the life of this people, for the benefit of all. The unchangeable deposit of faith 65. It was precisely in this sense that at the end of the last Synod we spoke clear words full of paternal affection, insisting on the role of Peter’s Successor as a visible, living and dynamic prin ciple of the unity between the Churches and thus of the universality of the one Church.™' We also insisted on the grave responsibility incumbent upon us, but which we share with our Brothers in the Episcopate, of preserving unaltered the content of the Catholic faith which the Lord entrusted to the Apostles. While being trans lated into all expressions, this content must be neither impaired nor mutilated. While being clothed with the outward forms proper to each people, and made explicit by theological expression which takes account of differing cultural, social and even racial milieux, it must remain the content of the Catholic faith just exactly as the ecclesial Magisterium has received it and transmits it. •Ji Pau) VI, Address for the closing of the Third General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (26 October 1974): AAS 66 (1974), p. 636. EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 571 Differing tasks 66. The whole Church therefore is called upon to evangelize, and yet within her we have different evangelizing tasks to accom plish. This diversity of services in the unity of the same mission makes up the richness and beauty of evangelization. We shall briefly recall these tasks. First, we would point out in the pages of the Gospel the insist ence with which the Lord entrusts to the Apostles the task of pro claiming the Word. He chose them,"* trained them during several years of intimate company,constituted0® and sent them out0' as authorized witnesses and teachers of the message of salvation. And the Twelve in their turn sent out their successors who, in the apostolic line, continue to preach the Good News. The Successor of Peter 67. The Successor of Peter is thus, by the will of Christ, en trusted with the pre-eminent ministry of teaching the revealed truth. The New Testament often shows Peter “filled with the Holy Spirit” speaking in the name of all.0K It is precisely for this reason that Saint Leo the Great describes him as he who has merited the primacy of the apostolate.00 This is also why the voice of the Church shows the Pope “at the highest point—in apice, in specula — of the apostolate”.* 100 101 * The Second Vatican Council wished to reaffirm this when it declared that “Christ's mandate to preach the Gospel to every creature (cf. Mk. 16, 15) primarily and imme diately concerns the Bishops with Peter and under Peter”.‘°i •‘Cf. Jn. 15:16; Mk. 3:13-19; Lk. 6:13-16. "■•Cf. Acts 1:21-22 00 Cf. Mk. 3:14. Cf.. Mk. 3:14-15; Lk. 9:2. 08 Acts 4:8; cf. 2:14; 3:12. 00 Cf. St. Leo the Great Sermo 69, 3; Sermo 70, 1-3; Sermo 94, 3; Sermo 95, 2: S.C. 200, pp. 50-52; 58-66; 258-260; 268. 100 Cf. First Ecumenical Council of Lyons. Constitution Ad apost-olieae dignitatis: Conciliorum Oecnmenicorum. Decreta, ed. Istituto per le Scienze Religiose. Bologna 1973, p. 278; Ecumenical Council of Vienne, Constitution Ad provider™ Christi, ed. cit., p. 343; Fifth Lateran Ecume nical Council, Constitution In apostoliei culminis, ed. cit., p. 608; Consti tution Postqnam ad universalis, ed. cit., p. 609; Constitution Superfine dispositionis, ed. cit., p. 614; Constitution Dirina disponents dementia, ed. cit., p. 638 101 Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 38: AAS 58 (1966), p. 985 572 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE F1LIPINAS The full, supreme and universal power103 * 105 which Christ gives to his Vicar for the pastoral government of his Church is thus specially exercised by the Pope in the activity of preaching and causing to be preached the Good News of salvation. 103 Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 22: AAS 57 (1965), p. 26. lu:1 Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 10, 37; AAS 57 1965), pp. 14, 43; Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 39: AAS 58 (1966), p. 986; Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests Presbyterorum Ordinis, 2, 12, 13: AAS 58 (1966) pp. 992, 1010, 1011. Cf. 1 Thess 2:9 105 Cf. 1 Pt. 5:4' Bishops and priests 68. In union with the Successor of Peter, the Bishops, who are successors of the Apostles, receive through the power of their episcopal ordination the authority to teach the revealed truth in the Church. They are teachers of the faith. Associated with the Bishops in the ministry of evangelization and responsible by a special title are those who through priestly ordination "act in the person of Christ”.103 They are educators of the People of God in the faith and preachers, while at the same time being ministers of the Eucharist and of the other Sacraments. We pastors are therefore invited to take note of this duty, more than any other members of the Church. What identifies our priestly service, gives a profound unity to the thousand and one tasks which claim our attention day by day and throughout our lives, and confers a distinct character on our activities, is this alm, ever present in all our action: to proclaim the Gospel of God.1®* A mark of our identity which no doubts ought to encroach upon and no objection eclipse is this: as pastors, we have been chosen by the mercy of the Supreme Pastor,1*’’- in spite of our in adequacy, to proclaim with authority the Word of God, to assemble the scattered People of God, to feed this People with the signs of the action of Christ which are the Sacraments, to set this People on the road to salvation, to maintain it in that unity of which we are, at different levels, active and living instruments, and un ceasingly to keep this community gathered around Christ faithful to its deepest vocation. And when we do all these things, within our human limits and by the grace of God, it is a work of evange lization that we are carrying out. This includes ourself as Pastor of the universal Church, our Brother Bishops at the head of the individual Churches, priests and deacons united with their Bishops EVANGEL1I NUNTIANDI 573 and whose assistants they are, by a communion which has its source in the Sacrament of Orders and in the Charity of the Church. Religious 69. Religious, for their part, find in their consecrated life a privileged means of effective evangelization. At the deepest level of their being they are caught up in the dynamism of the Church’s life, which is thirsty for the divine Absolute and called to holiness. It is to this holiness that they bear witness. They embody the Church in her desire to give herself completely to the radical demands of the beatitudes. By their lives they are a sign of total availability to God, the Church and the brethren. As such they have a special importance in the context of the witness which, as we have said, is of prime importance in evange lization. At the same time as being a challenge to the world and to the Church herself, this silent witness of poverty and abnega tion, of purity and sincerity, of self-sacrifice in obedience, can be come an eloquent witness capable of touching also non-Christians who have good will and are sensitive to certain values. In this perspective one perceives the role played in evangelizalization by religious men and women consecrated to prayer, silence, penance and sacrifice. Other religious, in great numbers, give themselves directly to the proclamation of Christ. Their mis sionary activity depends clearly on the hierarchy and must be coordinated with the pastoral plan which the latter adopts. But who does not see the immense contribution that these religious have brought and continue to bring to evangelization? Thanks to their consecration they are eminently willing and free to leave everything and to go and proclaim the Gospel even to the ends of the earth. They are enterprising and their apostolate is often marked by an originality, by a genius' that demands admiration. They are generous: often they are found at the outposts of the mission, and they take the greatest of risks for their health and their very lives. Truly the Church owes them much. The laity 70. Lay people, whose particular vocation places them in the midst of the world and in charge of the most varied temporal tasks, must for this very reason exercise a very special form of evangelization. Their primary and immediate task is not to establish and develop the ecclesial community — this is the specific role of 574 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS the pastors — but to put to use every Christian and evangelical possibility latent but already present and active in the affairs of the world. Their own field of evangelizing activity is the vast and complicated world of politics, society and economics, but also the world of culture, of the sciences and the arts, of international life of the mass media. It also includes other reali ties which are open to evangelization, such as human love, the family, the education of children and adolescents, professional work, suffering. The more Gospel-inspired lay people there are engaged in these realities, clearly involved in them, competent to promote them and conscious that they must exercise to the full their Christian powers which are often buried and suffocated, the more these realities will be at the service of the Kingdom of God and therefore of salvation in Jesus Christ, without in any way losing or sacrificing their human content but rather pointing to a trans cendent dimension which is often disregarded. The family 71. One cannot fail to stress the evangelizing action of the family in the evangelizing apostolate of the laity. At different moments in the Church’s history and also in the Second Vatican Council, the family has well deserved the beautiful name of “domestic Church”. >o® This means that there should be found in every Christian family the various aspects of the entire Church. Furthermore, the family, like the Church, ought to be a place where the Gospel is transmitted and from which the Gospel radiates. In a family which is conscious of this mission, all the members evangelize and are evangelized. The parents not only communicate the Gospel to their children, but from their children they can them selves receive the same Gospel as deeply lived by them. And such a family becomes the evangelizer of many other families, and of the neighborhood of which it forms part. Families resulting from a mixed marriage also have the duty of proclaiming Christ to the children in the fullness of the consequences of a common Baptism; they have moreover the difficult task of becoming builders of unity. ■WJ Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 11: AAS 57 (1965), p. 16 Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity Apostoltcam Actuo sitatem, 11: AAS 58 (1966), p. 848; Saint John Chrysostom, In Genesim Senn. VI, 2; VII, 1: PG 54, 607-68. EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 575 Young people 72. Circumstances invite us to make special mention of the young. Their increasing number and growing presence in society and likewise the problems assailing them should awaken in every one the desire to offer them with zeal and intelligence the Gospel ideal as something to be known and lived. And on the other hand, young people who are well trained in faith and prayer must be come more and more the apostles of youth. The Church counts greatly on their contribution, and we ourself have often manifested our full confidence in them. Diversified ministries 73. Hence the active presence of the laity in the temporal realities takes on all its importance. One cannot, however, neglect or forget the other dimension: the laity can also feel themselves called, or be called, to work with their pastors in the service of the ecclesial community, for its growth and life by exercising a great variety of ministries according to the . grace and charisms which the Lord is pleased to give them. We cannot but experience a great inner joy when we see so many pastors, religious and lay people, fired with their mission to evangelize, seeking ever more suitable ways of proclaiming the Gospel effectively. We encourage the openness which the Church is showing today in this direction and with this solicitude. It is an openness to meditation first of all, and then to ecclesial minis tries capable of renewing and strengthening the evangelizing vigour of the Church. It is certain that, side-by-side with the ordained ministries, whereby certain people are appointed pastors and consecrate them selves in a special way to the service of .the community, the Church recognizes the place of non-ordained ministries which are able to offer a particular service to the Church. A glance at the origins of the Church is very illuminating, and gives the benefit of an early experience in the matter of ministries. It was an experience which was all the more valuable in that it enabled the Church to consolidate herself and to grow and spread. Attention to the sources however has to be complemented by atten tion to the present needs of mankind and of the Church. To drink at these ever inspiring sources without sacrificing anything of their values and at the same time to know how to adapt one self to the demands and needs to today — these are the criteria which will make it possible to seek wisely and to discover the 576 BOLETIN ECLES1AST1CO DE FILIPINAS ministries which the Church needs and which many of her members will gladly embrace for the sake of ensuring greater vitality in the ecclesial community. These ministries will have a real pastoral value to the extent that they are established with absolute respect for unity and adhering to the directives of the pastors, who are the ones who are responsible for the Church’s unity and the builders thereof. These ministries, apparently new but closely tied up with the Church’s living experience down the centuries — such as catechists, directors of prayer and chant, Christians devoted to the service of God’s Word or to assisting their brethren in need, the heads of small communities, or other persons charged with the responsi bility of apostolic movements — these ministries are valuable for the establishment, life, and growth of the Church, and for her capacity to Influence her surroundings and to reach those who are remote from her. We owe also our special esteem to all the laypeople who accept to consecrate a part of their time, their energies, and some times their entire lives, to the service of the missions. A serious preparation is needed for all workers for evangeli zation. Such preparation is all the more necessary for those who devote themselves to the* ministry of the Word. Being animated by the conviction, ceaselessly deepened, of the greatness and riches of the Word of God, those who have the mission of transmitting it must give the maximum attention to the dignity, precision and adaptation of their language. Everyone knows that the art of speaking takes on today a very great importance. How would preachers and catechists be able to neglect this? We earnestly desire that in each individual Church the Bishops should be vigilant concerning the adequate formation of all the ministers of the Word. This serjous preparation will increase in them the indispensable assurance and also the enthusiasm to pro claim today Jesus Christ. VII THE SPIRIT OF EVANGELIZATION Pressing appeal 74. We would not wish to end this encounter with our beloved Brethren and sons and daughters without a pressing appeal con cerning the interior attitudes which must animate those who work for evangelization. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the name of the Apostles Peter and Paul, we wish to exhort all those who, thanks EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 577 to the charisms of the Holy Spirit and to the mandate of the Church, are true evangelizers, to be worthy of this vocation, to exercise It without the reticence of doubt or fear, and to neglect the conditions that will make this evangelization not only possible but also active and fruitful. These, among many others, are the fundamental condition which we consider it important to emphasize. Under the action of the Holy Spirit 75. Evangelization will never be possible without the action of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit descends on Jesus of Nazareth at the moment of his baptism when the voice of the Father —“This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased”107 — manifests in an external way the election of Jesus and his mission. Jesus is "led by the Spirit” to experience in the desert the decisive combat and the supreme test before beginning this mision.100 * . It is “in the power of the Spirit”100 that he returns to Galilee and begins his preaching at Nazareth, applying to himself the passage of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me”. And he proclaims: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled”.110 111 * . To the disciples whom he was about to send forth he says, breathing on them: "Receive the Holy Spirit”, m 107 Mt. 3:17 100 Mt. 4:1 100 Lk. 4:14 110 Lk. 4:18, 21; cf. Ia 61:1. 111 Jn. 20:22. 113 Acts 2:17 113 Cf. Acts 4:8 111 Cf. Acts 9:17 116 Cf. Acts G:5, 10; 7:55. 110 Acts 10:44 1,7 Acts 9:31 In fact, it is only after the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost that the Apostles depart to all the ends of the earth in order to begin the great work of the Church’s evangeliza tion. Peter explains this event as the fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel: “I will pour out my Spirit”.1111 Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit so that he can speak to the people about Jesus, the Son of God.113 * * Paul too is filled with the Holy Spirit11* before dedicating himself to his apostolic ministry, as is Stephen when he is chosen for the ministry of service and later on for the witness of blood.116 The Spirit, who causes Peter, Paul and the Twelve to speak, and who inspires the words that they are to utter, also comes down "on those who heard the word”.110. It Is In the "consolation of the Holy Spirit” that the Church increases;117 The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church. It is he 578 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS who explains to the faithful the deep meaning of the teaching of Jesus and of his mystery. It is the Holy Spirit who, today just as at the beginning of the Church, acts in every evangelizer who allows himself to be possessed and led by him. The Holy Spirit places on his lips the words which he could not find by himself, and at the same time the Holy Spirit predisposes the soul of the hearer to be open and receptive to the Good News and to the Kingdom being proclaimed. Techniques of evangelization are good, but even the most ad vanced ones could not replace the gentle action of the Spirit. The most perfect preparation of the evangelizer has no effect without the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit the most convincing dialectic has no power over the heart of man. Without him the most highly developed schemas resting on a sociological or psycho logical basis are quickly seen to be quite valueless. We live in the Church at a privileged moment of the Spirit. Everywhere people are trying to know him better, as the Scripture reveals him. They are happy to place themselves under his Inspira tion. They are gathering about him; they want to let themselves be led by him. Now if the Spirit of God has a pre-eminent place in the whole life of the-Church, It Is In her evangelizing mission that he Is most active. It is not by chance that the great inaugura tion of evangelization took place on the morning of Pentecost, under the Inspiration of the Spirit. It must be said that the Holy Spirit is the principal agent of evangelization: It is he who impels each individual to proclaim the Gospel, and It is he who In the depths of consciences causes the world of salvation to be accepted and understood.”® But It can equally be said that he is the goal of evangelization: he alone stira up the new creation, the new humanity of which evangeliza tion is to be the result, with that unity In variety which evange lization wishes to achieve within the Christian community. Through the Holy Spirit the Gospel penetrates to the heart of the world, for it is he who causes people to discern the signs of the times — signs willed by God — which evangelization reveals and puts to use within history. The Bishops’ Synod of 1974, which Insisted strongly on the place of the Holy Spirit in evangelization, also expressed the desire that pastors and theologians — and we would also say the faithful marked by the seal of the Spirit by Baptism — should study more thoroughly the nature and manner of the Holy Spirit’s action in 118 Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentea, 4: AAS 58 (1966). pp. 950-951. EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 579 evangelization today. This is our desire too, and we exhort all evangelizers, whoever they may be, to pray without ceasing to the Holy Spirit with faith and fervour and to let themselves prudently be guided by him as the decisive insplrer of their plans, their initia tives and their evangelizing activity. Authentic witnesses of life 76. Let us now consider the very persons of the evangelizers. It is often said nowadays that the present century thirst for authenticity. Especially in regard to young people it is said that they have a horror of the artificial or false and that they are searching above all for truth and honesty. These "signs of the times” should find us vigilant. Either tacitly or aloud — but always forcefully — we are being asked: Do you really believe what you are proclaiming? Do you live what you believe? Do you really preach what you live? The witness of life has become more than ever an essential condition for real effec tiveness In preaching. Precisely because of this we are, to a certain extent, responsible for the progress of the Gospel that we proclaim. "What is the state of the Church ten years after the Council?” we asked at the beginning of this meditation. Is she firmly established in the midst of the world and yet free and independent enough to call for the world’s attention? Does she testify to solidarity with people and at the same time to the divine Absolute? Is she more ardent in contemplation and adoration and more zealous in missionary, charitable and liberating action? Is she ever more com mitted to the effort to search for the restoration of the complete unity of Christians, a unity that makes more effective the common witness, "so that the world may believe”?110 We are all respon sible for the answers that could be given to these questions. 110 Jn. 17:21. 120 Cf. Acts 20:28 We therefore address our exhortation to our brethren in the Episcopate, placed by the Holy Spirit to govern the Church.* 120 We exhort the priests and deacons, the bishops’ collaborators in as sembling the People of God and in animating spiritually the local communities. We exhort the religious, witnesses of a Church called to holiness and hence themselves invited to a life that bears testi mony to the beatitudes of the Gospel. We exhort the laity: Christian families, youth, adults, all those who exercise a trade or profession, leaders, without forgetting the poor who are often rich in faith and hope —all lay people who are conscious of their evangelizing 580 BOLET1N ECLESIASTICO DE F1L1PINAS role in the service of their Church or in the midst of society and the world. We say to all of them: our evangelizing zeal must spring from the true holiness of life, and, as the Second Vatican Council suggests, preaching must in its turn make the preacher grow in holiness, above all by the love for the Eucharist.'-1 121 Cf. Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests Presbyterorvm Ordinis, 13: AAS 58 (1966), p. 1011. 122 Cf. Heb. 11:27. The world which, paradoxically, despite innumerable signs of the denial of God, is nevertheless searching for him In unexpected ways and painfully experiencing the need of him — the world is calling for evangelizers to speak to it of a God whom the evange lists themselves should know and be familiar with as if they could see the invisible.121 122 The world calls for and expects from us sim plicity of life, the spirit of prayer, charity towards all, especially towards the lowly and the poor, obedience and humility, detach ment and self-sacrifice. Without this mark of holiness, our word will have difficulty in touching the heart of modern man. It risks being vain and sterile. The search for unity 77. The power of evangelization will find Itself considerably diminished if those who'proclaim the Gospel are divided among themselves in all sort of ways. Is this not perhaps one of the great sicknesses of evangelization today? Indeed, if the Gospel that we proclaim is seen to be rent by doctrinal disputes, ideolo gical polarizations or mutual condemnations among Christians, at the mercy of the latters’ differing views on Christ and the Church and even because of their different concepts of society and human institutions, how can those to whom we address our preaching fail to be disturbed, disoriented, even scandalized? The Lord’s spiritual testament tells us that unity among his followers is not only the proof that we are his but also the proof that he is sent by the Father. It is the test of the credibility of Christians and of Christ himself. As evangelizers, we must offer Christ’s faithful not the image of people divided and separated by unedlfylng quarrels, but the image of people who are mature in faith and capable of finding a meeting-point beyond the real tensions, thanks to a shared, sincere and disinterested search for truth. Yes, the destiny of evangelization is certainly bound up with the witness of unity given by the Church. This is a source of responsibility and also of comfort. EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 581 At this point we wish to emphasize the sign of unity among all Christians as the way and instrument of evangelization. The division among Christians is a serious reality which impedes the very work of Christ. The Second Vatican Council states clearly and emphatically that this division "damages the most holy cause of preaching the Gospel to all men, and it impedes many from embracing the faith”.1-’3 For this reason, in proclaiming the Holy Year we considered it necessary to recall to all the faithful of the Catholic world that "before all men can be brought together and restored to the grace of God our Father, communion must be re established between those who by faith have acknowledged and accepted Jesus Christ as the Lord of mercy who sets men free and unites them in the Spirit of love and truth”.131 123 Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ar Gentes, 6: AAS 58 (1966), pp. 954-955; cf. Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio, 1: AAS 57 (1965), pp. 90-91 IS* Bull Apostolornm himina, VII: AAS 66 (1974), p. 305. 123 Rom. 5:5. 123 Cf. Jn. 8:32. And it is with a strong feeling of Christian hope that we look to the efforts being made in the Christian world for this restora tion of the full unity willed by Christ. Saint Paul assures us that "hope does not disappoint us”.125 While we still work to obtain full unity from the Lord, we wish to see prayer Intensified. More over we make our own the desire of the Fathers of the Third General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, for a collaboration marked by greater commitment with the Christian brethren with whom we are not yet united in perfect unity, taking as a basis the foundation of Baptism and the patrimony of faith which is common to us. By doing this we can already give a greater common witness to Christ before the world in the very work of evangelization. Christ’s com mand urges us to do this; the duty of preaching and of giving witness to the Gospel requires this. Servants of the truth 78. The Gospel entrusted to us is also the word of truth. A truth which liberates133 and which alone gives peace of heart is what people are looking for when we proclaim the Good News to them. The truth about God, about man and his mysterious des tiny, about the world; the difficult truth that we seek in the World of God and of which, we repeat, we are neither the masters nor the owners, but the depositaries, the heralds and the servants. Every evangelizer is expected to have a reverence for truth, espe cially since the truth that he studies and communicates is none 1 582 B0LET1N ECLESIASTICO DE F1L1PINAS other than revealed truth and hence, more than any other, a sharing In the first truth which is God himself. The preacher of the Gospel will therefore be a person who even at the price of personal renun ciation and suffering always seeks the truth that he must transmit to others. He never betrays or hides truth out of a desire to please men, In order to astonish or to shock, nor for the sake of origin ality or a desire to make an Impression. He does not refuse truth. He does not obscure revealed truth by being too Idle to search for It, or for the sake of his own comfort, or out of fear. He does not neglect to study It. He serves It generously, without making it serve him. We are the pastors of the faithful people, and our pastoral service Impels us to preserve, defend, and to communicate the truth regardless of the sacrifices that this Involves. So many eminent and holy pastors have left us the example of this love of truth, in many cases It was an heroic love. The God of truth expects us to be the vigilant defenders and devoted preachers of truth. Men of learning — whether you be theologians, exegetes or his torians— the work of evangelization needs your tireless work of research, and also care arid tact in transmitting the truth to which your studies lead you but which is always greater than the heart of men, being the very truth of God. Parents and teachers, your task — and the many conflicts of the present day do not make it an easy one — Is to help your* children and your students to discover truth, Including religious and spiritual truth. Animated by love 79. The work of evangelization presupposes in the evangelizer an ever increasing love for those whom he is evangelizing. That model evangelizer, the Apostle Paul, wrote these words to the Thessalonians, and they are a programme for us all: "With such yearning love we chose to Impart to you not only the gospel of God but our very selves, so dear had you become to us”.12? What Is this love? It is much more than that of a teacher; It Is the love of a father; and again, It Is the love of a motherj* 128 It is this love that the Lord expects from every preacher of the Gospel, from every builder of the Church. A sign of love will be the concern to give the truth and to bring people Into unity. Another sign of love will be a devotion to the proclamation of Jesus Christ, without 122 1 Thess 2:8; cf. Phil. 1:8. 128 Cf. 1 Thess 2:7-11; 1 Cor. 4:15; Gal. 4:19. EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 583 reservation or turning back. Let us add some other signs of this love. The first is respect for the religious and spiritual situation of those being "evangelized. Respect for their tempo and pace; no one has the right to force them excessively. Respect for their conscience and convictions, which are not to be treated in a harsh manner. Another sign of this love is concern not to wound the other person, especially if he or she is weak in faith,129 with statements that may be clear for those who are already initiated but which for the faithful can be a source of bewilderment and scandal, like a wound in the soul. 129 Cf. 1 Cor. 8:9-13; Rom. 14:15 >*»Cf. Rom. 12:11 Yet another sign of love will be the effort to transmit to Chris tians, not doubts and uncertainties born of an erudition poorly assimilated but certainties that are solid because they are anchored in the Word of God. The faithful need these certainties for their Christian life; they have a right to them, as children of God who abandon themselves entirely into his arms and to the exigencies of love. With the fervour of the Saints 80. Our appeal here is inspired by the fervour of the greatest preachers and evangelizers, whose lives were devoted to the aposto late. Among these we are glad to point out those whom we have proposed to the veneration of the faithful during the course of the Holy Year. They have known how to overcome many obstacles to evangelization. Such obstacles are also present today, and we shall limit our self to mentioning the lack of fervour. It is all the more serious because it comes from within. It is manifested in fatigue, disen chantment, compromise, lack of Interest and above all lack of joy and hope. We exhort all those who have the task of evangelizing, by whatever title and at whatever level, always to nourish spiritual fervour.’ao This fervour demands first of all that we should know how to put aside the excuses which would Impede evangelization. The most insidious of these excuses are certainly the ones which people claim to find support for in such and such a teaching of the Council. Thus one too frequently hears it said, in various terms, that to impose a truth, be it that of the Gospel, or to Impose a way, be it that of salvation, cannot but be a violation of religious liberty. 584 BOLETIN ECLES1ASTICO DE F1LIPINAS Besides, it is added, why proclaim the Gospel when the whole world is saved by uprightness of heart? We know likewise that the world and history are filled with "seeds of the Word”; Is It not therefore an Illusion to claim to bring the Gospel where it already exists in the seeds that the Lord himself has sown? Anyone who takes the trouble to study In the Council’s docu ments the questions upon which these excuses draw too superficially will find quite a different view. It would certainly be an error to Impose something on the consciences of our brethren. But to propose to their consciences the truth of the Gospel and salvation In Jesus Christ, with complete clarity and with a total respect for the free options which It pre sents— “without coercion, or dishonourable or unworthy pressure"131 — far from being an attack on religious liberty Is fully to respect that liberty, which Is offered the choice of a way that even non believers consider noble and uplifting. It It then a crime against other's freedom to proclaim with joy a Good News which one has come to know through the Lord’s mercy.132 And why should only falsehood and error, debasement and pornography have the right to be put before people and often unfortunately Imposed on them by the destructive propaganda of the mass media, by the tolerance of legislation, the timidity of the good and the Impudence of the wicked? The respectful presentation of Christ and his Kingdom Is more than the evangelizer’s right; It Is his duty. It Is likewise the right of his fellowmen to receive from him the proclamation of the Good News of salvation. God can accomplish this salvation In whomsoever he wishes by ways which he alone knows.133 134 And yet, If his Son came, it was precisely in order to reveal to us, by his word and by his life, the ordinary paths of salvation. And he has commanded us to transmit this revelation to others with his own authority. It would be useful If every Christian and every evange lizer were to pray about the following thought: men can gain salva tion also In other ways, by God’s mercy even though we do not preach the Gospel to them; but as for us, can we gain salvation If through negligence or fear or shame —what Saint Paul called “blushing for the Gospel”13* — or as a result of false Ideas we fail to preach it? For that would be to betray the call of God, who wishes the seed to bear fruit through the voice of the ministers of 131 Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration on Religious Liberty Dignitatis Hwmanae, ns AAS 58 (1966), p. 933. 132 Cf. Ibid., 9-14: lot. cit., pp. 935-940. 133 Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 7: AAS 58 (1966), p. 955. 134 Cf. Rom. 1:16. EVANGELII NUNTIANDI 585 the Gospel; and it will depend on us whether this grows into trees and produces Its full fruit. Let us therefore preserve our fervour of spirit. Let us preserve the delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing, even when it is in tears that we must sow. May it mean for us —as it did for John the Baptist, for Peter and Paul, for the other Apostles and for a multitude of splendid evangelizers all through the Church’s history —an interior enthusiasm that nobody and nothing can quench. May it be the great joy of our consecrated lives. And may the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the Good News not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, Impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervour, who have first received the joy of Christ, and who are willing to risk their lives so that the Kingdom may be proclaimed and the Church established in the midst of the world. CONCLUSION Heritage of the Holy Year 81. This then, Brothers and sons and daughters, is our heart felt plea. It echoes the voice of our Brethren assembled for the Third General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. This is the task we have wished to give you at the close of a Holy Year which has enabled us to see better than ever the needs and the appeals of a multitude of brethren, both Christians and non-Chrstians, who await from the Church the Word of salvation. May the light of the Holy Year, which has shone in the local Churches and in Rome for millions of consciences reconciled with God, continue to shine in the same way after the Jubilee through a program of pastoral action with evangelization as its basic feature, for these years which mark the eve of a new century, the eve also of the third millennium of Christianity. Mary, Star of evangelization 82. This Is the desire that we rejoice to entrust to the hands and the heart of the Immaculate Blessed Virgin Mary, on this day which is especially consecrated to her and which Is also the tenth anniversary of the close of the Second Vatican Council. On the morning of Pentecost she watched over with her prayer the begin586 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FIL1PINAS ning of evangelization prompted by the Holy Spirit: may she be the Start of the evangelization ever renewed which the Church, docile to her Lord’s command, must promote and accomplish especially in these times which are difficult but full of hope! In the name of Christ we bless you, your communities, your families, all those who are dear to you, In the words which Paul addressed to the Philippines: "I give thanks to my God every time I think of you — which is constantly, In every prayer I utter — rejoicing, as I plead on your behalf, at the way you have all continualy helped to promote the gospel... I hold all of you dear — you who... are shares of my gracious lot... to defend the solid grounds on which the gospel rests. God himself can testify how much I long for each of you with the affection of Christ Jesus”.1®'1 Given in Rome, at Saint Peter’s on the Solemnity of the Imma culate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 8 December 1975, the thirteenth year of our Pontificate. PAULUS PP. VI EVANGELIZATION IN THE MODERN WORLD PRESS CONFERENCE ON THE APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION The following is a summary of Ft. Spiazzi's address in presenting the Apostolic Exhortation “Evangelii Nuntiandi" to journalists in the Press Office of the Holy See. In addressing this Exhortation to the Bishops, clergy and all the faithful of the Church, the Holy Father deals with a matter essential to the mission of the Church, to the point of being syno nymous with it: evangelization. Nature of the Document In accordance with the ministry proper to him in the Church, the Holy Father “confirms" evangelizers in the many efforts already undertaken and in which he rejoices. He helps them to discern the possible ambiguities, to surmount the obstacles, and above all to rediscover the living source of the apostolate. Finally, he under takes with them a long meditation on the mission of evangelizers today; he adopts a pastoral and familiar tone. He deals with the needs and means and new problems, and give the necessary restatements, but in every case he takes care to point out the positive aspect and to give a fresh missionary impulse. The occasion This intervention by the Holy Father has been prompted by the present-day questions and studies on the subject of evangeliza tion, and above all by a specific missionary problematic attitude. Three events have provided the occasion and the theme (cf. Intro duction): the Holy Year to which the Bull of Indiction Apostolorum Limina has assigned evangelization as one of the principal themes, and which must be prolonged in the future (a task presented anew in the conclusion, paragraph 81); the tenth anniversary, celebrated on 8 December, of the close of the Second Vatican Council, the documents of which are frequently quoted; and in particular the Third General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which took place just a year ago and which was devoted to evangelization. In con formity with the request of the Synod Fathers, the Holy Father 588 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE F1LIPINAS has made a point of taking up once more the abundant material provided by this Synod, In order to give precise orientations, respond to still pending questions, and renew the appeal made by his Brothers and give a new impulse to the Church’s apostolate. This example of utilizing Synod consultation is worth noting. The document is divided into seven parts. I. From Christ the Evangelizer to an evangelizing1 Church It is in the whole of his life and death that Christ was essentially the bearer of a Good News for all mankind. This Good News has two aspects: the Kingdom of God and liberating redemption. The Church Is presented as the community of those who accept this Good News, and In her turn she becomes an evangelizer, both of her own members and of others. Evangelization is therefore her proper mission, as it were her identity. n. What Is evangelization? The term “evangelize” has been chosen In preference to the term “being missionary”,'because It has a broader and deeper mean ing. Rather than give a definition, the Exhortation describes the essential elements of evangelizing action. These elements are com plex, and they must be neither separated nor opposed to one an other. It Is a question of an interior change of humanity, every person individually, and of the “strata of humanity” with their mentalities, by means of a personal and collective conversion. It is a question of an Impregnation of cultures by the Gospel, which is identified with no single one of them and yet which must enter into connection with each of them. Evangelization includes at one and the same time the witness of the life of faith and an explioit proclamation. It involves, on the part of those who accept this proclamation, a sincere acceptance, entry into the ecclesial com munity, sharing in the Sacraments, and a fresh evangelizing Impetus. in. The content of Evangelization What are the most important elements that make up the message itself? What is the alm of the message? It proclaims the Father's love, salvation in Jesus Christ, communion with Christ and the Church through the Sacraments, the need for fraternal love, the meaning of suffering, hope In eternal life. In fact the message “addresses itself to” the whole of people’s personal and collective lives, according to the individuals’ rights and duties. ON APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION 589 Following the line of the Synod, the Holy Father carefully ex amines the links between evangelization and liberation — mutual links that are very profound —in which it is necessary to avoid all ambiguity or reduction of one to the other. The need to recognize religious liberty is opportunely noted here. IV. The methods of Evangelization In dealing with the manner of evangelizing, the Holy Father emphasizes a number of fundamental means which must neces sarily complement one another: — the witness of life; — the need for a living preaching, in particular in the form of the homily; — the importance of the mass media, which is never an excuse for doing without personal contact, which is often decisive; — the catechesis in preparation for the Sacraments, for it is not a question of opposing a pastoral plan for the Sacraments to evangelization. At this point, again following the line of the Synod, the Holy Father turns his attention to “popular religiosity”, of which he shows the importance, the limitations and the risks; he prefers to call it "popular piety”. V. The beneficiaries of Evangelization The Holy Father Insists on. the fact that evangelization is addressed to all people and to all social milieux. He then examines the situations that require a particular pastoral strategy: — "those who are far off” and often in need of “pre-evangelizatlon”; — the baptized who are not evangelized, or who are dechris tianized; — the intellectuals, who call for a fresh presentation of the Christian message; — members of non-Christian religions, for whom the document manifests a profound esteem, without avoiding the complex theolo gical problems and without avoiding the consequent duty of pro claiming Jesus Christ to them; — the non-believers, and those whom secularism (carefully dis tinguished from secularization) transforms into practising atheists; 590 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS — the non-practising, characterized by Indifference; — “those who are near”: the faithful who must not be deprived of spiritual nourishment and consolidation; and non-Cathollc Christians who have the right to know the fullness of the deposit of faith guarded by the Church. Under another aspect, the document takes into account the prolem of the “multitudes” to be reached, and, by comparison, the present phenomenon of the small communities (ecclesial communautes de base): the Holy Father emphasizes the positive sense, while being conscious of their risks and their limitations, and establishes the conditions under which they become privileged points of en counter and points of departure for evangelization. VI. The workers for Evangelization Before describing the active part played by each category In the Church that Is entirely missionary, the Holy Father Insists on the fact that evangelization Is always an ecclesial act, performed In the name of the Church. Jlere he explains the twofold perspective which the evangelizer must take Into account at all times: that of the universal Church, and that of the individual Church. The document then speaks of the particular role of the Pope, of the bishops and priests, of Religious, of lay people, with a special consideration for the family and for young people. The evange lizing role of the laity is evoked in its double aspect: Inserting the Gospel Into temporal realities; and collaborating with the Pastors in the service of the ecclesial community. And here the Holy Father emphasizes the importance of the non-ordained ministries. VII. The spirit of Evangelization In order to arouse a fresh effort at evangelization, which is the whole purpose of the Exhortation, the Holy Father stresses: — the dynamism given by the Holy Spirit; — the authenticity and holiness of the witnesses; — the search for truth; — care for preserving unity: the ecumenical effort appears here as an essential dimension of evangelization; — love for those being evangelized and respect for their condition. ON APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION 591 The whole Exhortation culminates in an appeal for missionary fervour. Here the Holy Father examines the spirit of “opting-out” which affects certain persons, in the guise of false pretexts, some times even Invoking the Council He clearly distinguishes between imposing the truth (which is not to be permitted) and proposing the truth, which is a duty of love towards and a mark of respect for other’s liberty. The Holy Father is convinced of this point: nothing can quench the interior ardour that has animated so many evangelizers. This conviction is as ft were a new missionary sending forth, on the eve of the third millennium of Christianity. THE SETTLEMENT OF MARRIAGE CONFLICTS OUTSIDE THE MATRIMONIAL COURT By Fr. F. Testers O.P. The problem of the so-called “intolerable marriage" underscores the need of searching for new avenues towards its immediate solution in cases of deserving couples involved in juridically insoluble marriage con flicts. A typical case in point is that of Glenda. She is a filipino girl who fell head over heels in love with a charming, thoughtful and generous “well-heeled” foreigner-tourist. After his whirl wind courtship she said ‘yes’, and they middle-aisled it. She thought him to be the epitome of an ideal man and husband, for he was a catholic too, in addition to other personal .assets. But he later confided that he was a divorcee, having been civilly married to a protestant girl who gave him several children. However, he had obtained an official divorce, and thus was a ‘free’ man at the time of his marriage to her. But she was in for some more shocking discoveries about him during their early weeks together. Their honeymoon was not yet over, when she learned that her man had had his vasectomy and thus was sterile. He also confided to her that his notion about marriage was that of a tem porary union while everything is rosy and sweet, but not permanent “in poverty, sickness, till death”. As months glided on, came the inevitable misunderstandings, little and trivial at first but growing more and more in number and gravity. After one year Glenda could not bear any longer and decided to leave him and seek an annulment from the Church, and indeed on apparently valid grounds and just motives. But will her allegations prosper in the ecclesiastical court? Will the husband serve her wishes by disclosing officially his vasectomy and his queer idea about the nature of marriage? Can she get witnesses to testify on her behalf? For indeed the burden of the proof of the reasons for a probable declaration rests squarely on her. Even if her marriage were ab initio invalid, as she contends, it could not be declared null and void until she presented juridically evident arguments of its nullity. And without such an official declaration of nullity, she is barred from taking a second husband. She could marry, only if at all, outside the Church, at which she revolted for she had been brought up a pious and practicing catholic. SETTLEMENT OF MARRIAGE CONFLICTS 593 So after her separation from the first man in her life, Glenda is caught in the horns of a painful dilemma of whether to spend the rest of her life in solitariness, or rather to get a new man at any cost, even without the benefit of a Catholic marriage. She refuses to accept either alternative and is bent in asking from the Church a remedy to her pre dicament that would allow her to have a family life again with the stamp of the Church’s approval. So the question arises: Is there anything the Church can offer Glenda for her comfort and peace of mind? THE PASTORAL ARRANGEMENT The Pastoral Arrangement is a common practice among lutherans. Il consists in permitting a second marriage when, in the opinion of the lutheran pastor, it is established that the first bond no longer exists, and that the spouse seeking a second marriage is the innocent party in the first union.1 There is no need to bring the case to the Lutheran Marriage Court. Is this solution or something similar feasible and admissible within the framework of the Catholic Church law? We may begin answering this question by saying that the assumption that in the Catholic Church all marriage cases must be settled in the ecclesiastical tribunal is totally unwarranted. For there are cases of an exceptional nature, in which it is not necessary to follow the procedures and proceedings of a formal trial. Though exceptional in nature, such cases are not necessarily few; and they can be settled entirely at the Diocesan Chancery, though in some instances there may be a need to have recourse to the competent Roman Congregation. In fact the hand ling of marriage cases arising from certain invalidating impediments — such as age, impotence, consanguinity, solemn vows, pre-existing bond, etc., demands formalities similar to those of a juridical procedure, but needs not be brought to ecclesiastical court, whenever there is unequivocal proof from certain and authentic documents, such as the certificate of baptism, marriage, death, an expert’s pronouncements... that the im pediment really exists and that no dispensation has yet been granted.2 Marriages of catholics, when they have been performed outside the Church,® are handled administratively at diocesan levels or by the pastor or parish priest in consultation with his bishop. The same is true with 'HERTEL, J. R., When Marriage Fails. Paulist Press, NJ., 1969, pp. 30, 54. 2 Motu Propio “Causas Matrimoniales". .4.4S. 63 (1971), p. 441-446; CIC. c. 1990. -1 CIC. c. 1094. 594 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS cases involving the following: the presumption of death of the former spouse, the lack of valid mandate for the proxy, etc.*1 4 HUDSON, E., Handbook for Marriage Nullity Cases, Saint Paul University, Ottawa, pp. 168-172. 5 KELLEHER, S.J., The Problem of the Intolerable Marriage. Ame rica CXIX (1968), pp. 178-182. 8 HERTEL, op., cit., p. 53. AU these exceptions not withstanding, the soUcitous concern of the Church on this matter is necessary and understandable. The pastor must be always ready to offer immediate assistance to couples in distress, at least by referring them to experts who have had some training in mar riage problems and in the complexities of canon law and court proce dures. The rank and fUe of the clergy is indeed unprepared for this dif ficult task, and even unequal to the simple duty of maintaining a healthful attitude towards the role and function of the law in the life of the visible Church. Oftentimes a parish priest has come to reaUze only the hard way that the settlement of marriage problems does not depend merely on good wiU and pastoral concern, but that it requires a special expertise and skiU, which many a pastor lacks, at least to a degree of competency. Thus he can have a sigh of reUef only when he is instrumental in turning over the responsibUity of solving such intricate cases to the diocesan tri bunal or chancery*. THE PERSONAL CONSCIENCE SOLUTION Persons caught in the mealstorm of an intolerable marriage have the right to decide their problem in accordance with their individual con science, for conscience is the proximate norm of human action. If a spouse honestly and conscientiously believes that he is a “free” man or woman, then he or she should be permitted to try his or her luck in a second marriage.® This is the gist of the Personal Conscience Solution. This theory, in the words of Hertel, “presupposes that Christian faith in its ideal state is a living force in the lives of the people. It is a pre supposition highly desired and to be striven after with incessant zeal. But we simply have to face the unpleasant truth that such is not the case. Not only is ideal Christianity far from realization in the lives of most (including the clergy), but the factor of genuine, emotional, psycho logical turmoil in the distraught spouses very often precludes the objective vision so essential for the operation of an upright conscience.”8 In truth, for those who would use this criterion or solution, the mar riage bond will seldom, if ever, be given a chance to prevail over the personal decision of the spouses desperately yearning and struggling to 4 5 * * SETTLEMENT OF MARRIAGE CONFLICTS 595 see it broken. In other words, the anguished and tormented, whoever they are or in whatever circumstances they may find themselves, are under the influence of emotion rather than clear, objective reason. And who will dare calling the attention of the spouses as morally lax and even guilty in adopting a solution just because it is favorable to them and in consonance with their desires? THE CASE OF THE DIVORCED SPOUSES The case of the divorced spouses who entered a second marriage with out having waited for a declaration of nullity of the former union, poses serious problems in the juridical as well as in the pastoral order. The legal system has little to offer as a relief to the painful situation of such remarried persons. The law must uphold the indissolubility of mar riage and the existence of a true union till the contrary is proven. The spouse who fails to show the court the non-existence of the previous ma rital bond can not expect his second marriage to be legitimated. So married divorcees are forced to live in the state of sin or to lead a ‘sinful life’, and are barred from the sacraments, specifically from penance and the holy eucharist. However, on the strength of a personal convic tion of the nullity of their first marriage, the spouses look at the new union as legitimate and they insist in receiving the sacraments. The dilemma is self-evident. The case is an irreversible one and the law finds itself inadequate to disentangle it. The divorced spouse on ac count of the inadequacy of the system, or perhaps due to his own fault, or to both, is actually living in ‘sin’. Should she or he be denied inde finitely the active participation in the sacramental life of the Church? The motherly concern and solicitude of the Church for her children seems to have discovered a suitable solution to the problem at least in the pastoral aspect. That is, remarried spouses can avail themselves of the sacraments in foro interno though only under certain conditions. According to Ziegle, this practice, which is called the Internal Forum Solution, has been sanctioned in and for the internal forum only by the Sacred Penitentiary, and has been in use in many dioceses of the USA for the last twenty years or more? This was made possible in the past and is being done at present under the following conditions: — That there must exist a well founded doubt regarding the validity of the first marriage. The petitioner should be given ample time and be aided In the study of his personal problem. If after a serious and pro longed consideration of the case she or he comes to form a ‘certain con1 ZIEGLE, B.A., Marriage Today. Alba House, N.Y., 1973, p. 272; CAREY, R. C., The Good Faith Solution. The Jurist, XXIX (19C9), p. 428. 596 B0LET1N ECLESIASTICO DE FIL1P1NAS science’ or conviction as to the non-existence of the first marital bond, then the second marriage may "be regarded as a union ‘in good faith'. The admission of the spouses to the sacraments is then in order, but it should not be looked upon as a recognition of the validity of the first marriage. — That the remarried divorcee or divorcees must have been living to gether for years, and that their union must have enjoyed and shown a certain degree of stability. — That an assurance should be secured from the parties that when they took marital vows for the second time, they did so in good faith, and were motivated by their personal conviction that there was no breach of God’s laws in their union. — That extreme caution should be exercised to avoid scandal among those not familiar or conversant with the problem.* But this Good Faith Solution is sure to raise grave problems and meet objections. It may be asked at the outset: Who is supposed to esta blish or guarantee the sincerity and certainty of the decision arrived at by the spouse or spouses in their own recondite consciences or hearts? Perhaps the distraught parties themselves? Or rather the pastor? Or still the marriage counsellor? Surely such a decision should not be left to the spouses themselves. On the other hand the endorsement by the pastor or counsellor carries no guarantee of the Church’s approval and support of such a private or non juridical decision. Yet the disturbed and anguished spouses need the reassurance that the Church is behind the course of action they have de cided to follow, if only for psychological reasons. J. Catoir, presiding judge of the Patterson Matrimonial tribunal, USA, introduced this practice which has been adopted in many other diocesan and regional matrimonial courts. The task of passing judgment upon, and upholding, the decision arrived at by the parties or spouses regarding the nullity of the prior marriage devolves on, and is reserved to, the Tribunal. The remarried spouses are admitted to the sacramental life of the Church in fore Interno once the Tribunal has been duly and fully convinced that the second mar riage was entered into in good faith, even if juridically outside the Church.8 9 8 ZIEGLE, B. A., op. cit., p. 273. 9 CATOIR, J. T., The Church and Second Marriage. Commonweal. LXXXVI 1967, p. 113. Some ecclesiastical savants would prefer that the remarried spouses should have been left undisturbed at the very outset. However, it seems better founded and more practical for both the spouses and their pastor SETTLEMENT OF MARRIAGE CONFLICTS 597 to have the decision of the parties supported and sanctioned by the Ec clesiastical Tribunal in a quasi-official manner. The method could serve as a partial and interim solution of marital conflicts or problems where one of the spouses fails to establish canonical grounds for annulment despite the solid probability that such grounds really exist. In situations where the conditions set above can not be met, as when the validity of the first marriage can not be doubted or questioned, then “the pastoral charity of the Christian and the priest must be capable, with regards to those excluded from the sacraments, of revealing the face of a Church that remains a Mother for them, even when she can not admit them to the sacraments. It should also be capable of leading remarried divorcees to accept their fate with trust in the Lord, as a stage to their conversion to Christian life, and as a painful reminder of the value of the indissolubility of marriage.”10 10 L’Oeeervatorc IlonuiMo. July 1, 1976, p. 4; KOSNIK, A., The Pastoral Care of Those involved in canonically Invalid MarriafjM. The Jurist, XXX (1970). pp. 31-34. BIBLE STUDY THE EMERGENCE OF THE WRITTEN GOSPELS By Bernard J. LeFrois, S.V.D. Christ the Lord commissioned his Apostles to "go forth into the whole world and proclaim the Good News to all creation” (Mk. 16:15). This commission was given around the year 30 A.D. and for fully thirty years, If not more, the oral proclamation of the Good News held sway before any of our four written Greek gospels, as we have them today, came into existence. The oral preaching or kerygma can best be described as “the solemn and public pro clamation of salvation In Christ made in the name of God to nonChrlstians; it was accompanied by an appeal to signs and wonders to dispose the hearers to faith, conversion and a return to God” (New Cath. Encyclopedia, 8: 167). CONTENT OF THE ORAL KERYGMA In the Act of the Apostles St. Luke gives a digest form of the oral kerygma in the early days of the believing community by placing it on the lips of Peter in five chapters: 2: 22-41; 3: 12-26; 4; 10-12; 5: 30-31; 10: 34-43. From these passages It can be gleaned that the oral kergyma In its early form contained the following chief focal points: 1) Christ’s mission was divine, proved by miracles, witnessed by many. 2) His passion and death, also witnessed by many, were accord ing to the divine plan. 3) He is risen from the dead, for the Apostles themselves are witness to this; and his exaltation at God’s right hand with the subsequent outpouring of the Holy Spirit, manifested him as Messiah-King and Lord of all. 4) At the restoration of all things in the consummation he will come as judge of the living and the dead. THE WRITTEN GOSPELS 599 5) To obtain remission of sins and the gift of the Spirit, there is need of a change of heart (metanoia) and an external rite (baptism), which would give one entrance to the believing com munity. From the first few chapters of Acts it can be seen how this dyna mic message took the audience by storm, moved also as it un doubtedly was by the inner working of the Holy Spirit bearing wit ness to the Risen Lord. It was only to be expected that the neo phytes would seek to know more about the person and message of Jesus, and began an all-out search for his words and deeds. DEVELOPMENT QF THE ORAL KERYGMA In the five focal points of the oral kerygma one can already perceive the broad outlines of the written gospels, granted that the first point is developed far more than the others because of its nature and content. How did the oral kerygma develop into the written gospels? The School of Form Criticiam, whose chief exponent is Bultmann, maintains that oral proclamation tends to follow certain set patterns of expression. At first separate units were gathered and circulated, such as the death-resurrection ac count, the passion account, the miracle stories, sayings (logia) of Jesus, controversial encounters, parables, and several other units. Each of these developed its own peculiar "form” of expression which eventually came to be written down, first as separate units and finally as a composite whole. (For fuller treatment, see Bol. Ecl. Feb. 1975, 131-136) The Lutheran Scandanavian School (Stendahl) Is rather of the opinion that) from the very start there was concen trated work and planned procedure in presenting the kerygma, per haps along the lines of the five focal points delineated by St. Luke and placed on the lips of Peter, as mentioned above. At any rate, the oral preachers or evangelists did not merely learn the message by heart and hand it down in a stereotype form. Every preacher will employ all the oratorical skill at his disposal to bring home his message, and thus the finished form would some what differ, accordingly as the abilities and insights of the preachers differed. Then, too, the kerygma was a living message. It had great potential. As Vatican II points out clearly (Divine Revela tion, no. 19), the bearers of the message pondered It and presented it In the light of the Easter events and under the enlightenment of the Spirit they had been given In order to bear witness to Christ (Jn. 15:26-27). They thus penetrated the deeper meaning of the words and the significance of the deeds of Jesus, Incorporating it Into their preaching so that It became an organic whole. Certain situations and existential problems cropped up also In the commu600 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS nities with mentalities differing from their own, and this de manded an application of the words of Jesus to meet those situa tions. With the Spirit’s guidance this was done and likewise incor porated into their instructions, which were fcatechetical in nature, or molded to meet the needs of liturgical services. Thus it is evident that there is development in the kerygma, like a tree develops from the seed which carries all the pontentlal of the tree. It was expanded as time went on and circums tances demanded it, the salvific meaning of the words and deeds of Jesus brought out more clearly and heightened by added expla nations, all of which became part of the oral kerygma and later on of the written gospels. THE WRITTEN GOSPEL From the foregoing it ought to be clear that the written gospels are not a sort of chronicle or a mere historical account of the words and deeds of Jesus, handed down as a static dead letter announce ment. They emerged only after several decades of development of the kerygma and evidently contain much theology on the salvific deeds of Jesus. Another factor must also be taken into account: the respective authors (or schools) of the written gospels were no mere stenogra phers recording the oral kerygma, no mere compilers of oral and written sources. They are true authors in the fullest sense of the word,writing their composition with a very definite purpose of their own in mind (which was different in each individual case) drawing on materials on hand or obtained through interviews, and molding all this to fit their planned purpose and to suit the audience for whom they were writing. They manifested decidedly creative abi lity in their presentation, each one unique in his own way even though one may depend on another for his material in many instances (cf. Bol. Ecl. Jan. 1975, 48-49). Vatican H has adopted the best of modern scholarship in this matter. "The sacred authors wrote the four gospels — 1) selecting things from the many which had been handed down by word of mouth or In writing, 2) reducing some to a synthesis, 3) explicltlng some things In view of the situation of their churches, 4) and pre serving the form of proclamation, but always in such a fashion that they told us the honest truth about Jesus" (Divine Revelation, no. 19). Note well that mention is made of a selecting. So each evange list (or what is more exact, each school representing the main author) chose what best suited the purpose of the writing, using THE WRITTEN GOSPELS 601 both written and oral sources. As an example, our present Greek Matthew in all likelihood incorporated the substance of an existant Aramaic Matthew (which has not come down to us), utilizing much material from Mark (which preceeded the Greek Matthew), incor porating much likewise from another source (common to both Mat thew and Luke), and also making use of oral traditions such as the basic historical substance of the infancy narratives. Another example of selection and arrangement of material is found in the “Sermon on the Mount” (Mt. 5-7). Though this "sermon" may well embody basic points of a typical discourse used by Jesus in his various commitments in the towns he visited, yet it contains much more. Matthew has drawn on material which belongs to other parts of the public life of Jesus, for we find the same material in another context scattered throughout the gospel of Luke, and sometimes even repeated in Matthew (as Mt. 5:32 and 19:9). In the "sermon on the mount” Matthew has a definite pur pose In concentrating the material In his first of five discourses, for there Christ is shown to be the great Teacher and the true Moses. The arrangement of the material of the public life of Jesus in Matthew and Mark (and also Luke, if "Galilee” is the correct reading Instead of “Judea” in 4, 44) is a striking example of total disregard of chronological sequence of events and arrangement ac cording to a definite plan. In general It follows the same pattern: after baptism and temptation, only the Galilean ministry is set forth. The Judean and Jerusalem ministry Is not touched upon till toward the end of the public life. But from John’s gospel, It 1s clear that Jesus came to Jerusalem several times, and that even at the outset there was a Judean ministry. Today scholars offer as a plausible solution a symbolic sequence of events for theological purposes. The Galilean ministry symbolizes Christ’s initial success (wherever it took place) in his preaching of the Kingdom. When his real message, which is deeply spiritual and challenging, fails to take hold, he is depicted as withdrawing from Galilee, to sym bolize his withdrawing from the people at large and concentrating more Intensively on the preparation of the Twelve who would be the foundation stones of the Kingdom in its earthly phase. The Judean ministry would then symbolize the opposition of the leaders of Israel (with Jerusalem their stronghold) which led finally to consummation through death and resurrection. John’s plan is quite different: his is the dramatic self-revelation of the Person and role 602 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE Fl LIPINAS of the Messiah, Son of God, and he arranges his material according ly, not necessarily in chronological order either (though that opinion held for a long time). Every new journey to Jerusalem, the cultic center of Israel, intensifies this manifestation of Christ’s person. An example of reducing some things to a synthesis would be the confession of Peter at Caesarea Philippi (Mt. 10:16). In Mk. 8:29, the earliest witness to this scene, Peter professes only the Messlahship of Jesus, and this is also the tenor of Lk. 9:20. But Matthew uses a double title: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." If this Is only a profession of Messlahship of Jesus, these words are tautological. But if it is also a profession of Christ’s divinity, it is difficult to understand how Peter could have com pletely disregarded it at the time of the Passion. A more satisfying solution is to assume that the author is synthesizing (telescoping) two scenes into one: Peter’s profession of messlahship at Caesarea, and the profession of the divine Sonship after the resurrection, when the Risen Christ had manifested to them the depth of his personality. Matthew, writing many decades after the events, could well combine both and the structure of his gospel bears this out, for from chapter 14 to 17 fre has no less than seven indications of the divine personality of Christ. (Compare 14:32: 15:13; 16:16; 16-17; 16:27; 17:5). A further example of synthesis is the sixth chapter of St. John where the author seems to have combined into one long discourse several discussions on the same topic stretched over several Sab baths. He developed his theme by the well-known Semitic tech nique of concentric waves of thought, interweaving discussion on the Bread of Life with a secondary theme, the need of faith to ac cept Jesus for what he really is. Other examples of synthesis are found in the bringing together of two parables of the Lord and treating them as one, for the sake of brevity, or because of a close relation of one to the other, as Mt. 22:1-10 the wedding feast and the following verses 11-14 the wedding garment. To telescope two events into one as in the case of miracles, denies nothing of their historicity, and the purpose of the author (theological, catechetical, may well be brought out better by this technique. “The sacred writers explicate some things in view of the situa tion in their churches": Mt. 5,32 is a good example of this. In Luke’s parallel text (16:18) the statement on divorce is clear. Matthew seems at first to be giving one exception, but to make an exception would be to destroy the weight of Jesus’ argument which can be THE WRITTEN GOSPELS 603 seen in the proper context of the statement (Mt. 19: 1-9). The phrase "except on the grounds of unchastity” is best explained if we take them not as the very words of Jesus, but as an explanatory solu tion to certain marriage cases in the Early Church. They were not considered binding because the Synagogue also held them as not binding. Of importance is the final sentence of the wording of Vatican H: “they preserved the form of proclamation, but always in such a fashion that they told us the honest truth about Jesus.” This latter Is clearly a departure from Bultmann’s contention that the Early Church invented the miracles and other things attributed to Jesus, such as his resurrection, ascension and Parousia. "Holy Mother Church has firmly and with absolute constancy held and continues to hold that the four Gospels faithfully hand on what Jesus Christ, while living among men, really did and taught for their eternal salvation, until the day he was taken up into heaven” (no. 19). Thus, the Evangelists did not invent his deeds or his message. However, in proclaiming that message and those deeds, they have developed it, amplified it along the lines mentioned above. They used any kind of literary techniques or presentation that best brought out the message, such as symbloic presentation of the matter, dialogue composition, question and answer tech nique, and the like. The message is that of Christ, the deeds are those of Christ. The way this message and those deeds are pro claimed either orally or in writing, is the contribution of the evange lists of both the oral and the written gospels. That is why the same document on Divine Revelation (no. 18) states: "The four Gospels are 1) the principle witness of the life and teaching of the Incarnate Word, 2) they are of apostolic origin, 3) they are the foundation of the faith, 4) they bear witness to the apostolic faith as preached.” Hence, the gospels are documents of the faith. They were never intended to be a mere chronicle of the life of Jesus nor just a narrative account of his words and deeds. They are written to deepen the faith, handing on faith fully what Jesus did and said. However, the Council Fathers were careful not to state in what manner or in what literary form this was done. They merely state it to be in the form of proclamation, leaving to scholars to study further how the deeds of Jesus are presented to make them easier to grasp and acceptable to all minds. They are convinced that these deeds are not always presented in a historical narrative style. 604 BOLET1N ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS Since our written gospels are complex literary compositions and have been put into writing only after a longer development of the oral kerygma, one is Justified in speaking of three levels of interpretation. The first or top level would be the meaning of the words and deeds of Jesus which the Evangelist wanted to utilize for his precise purpose. At times it could be that angle of the message of Jesus which suited the author’s purpose at a given mo ment. The second level of interpretation would be the same words or deeds of Jesus with the interpretation given by the oral evange lists in the long development of the oral proclamation. Since the words and deeds of Jesus are capable of many nuances, that angle of the message was chosen which suited the audience on a given occasion. Thus, the explanation of the parable of the sower in Mt. 13:18-23 would be the allegorical meaning which the preachers pre sented to their audiences when the parable in Mt. 13:1-9 no longer had the Jewish audience that Jesus had before him when he spoke the parable. This first meaning of the parable represents the third level of interpretation, which Jesus intended for his Jewish audience namely, that despite many obstacles to a good harvest for the Kingdom of God, the disciples need not be disheartened, for there will be an abundant harvest after all. Thus at times, the gospel words are capable of having more than one interpretation according to the level of interpretation one keeps in mind. THE GOSPEL DEMYTHOLOGIZED The name most associated with demythologization is that of Rudolph Bultmann, though subsequent authors have developed it further. He wanted the Bible to be relevant for his contempora ries, and asked whether the New Testament has an answer for human existence in today’s modern scientific (cybernetic) world. Yes, he answered, it is relevant. It has the answer, but it is in the language of myth. According to present-day scholars, myth is the symbolic ex pression of belief of a people, which is difficult to express clearly, and hence resort is had to popular expression, picture language, story-form and the like. The symbolic and myth-language must be stripped away so as to arrive at the core of the matter. The core of the matter for the gospels is the Christ-event. Only the Christ-event has made man’s existence meaningful and shown him what its fulfillment is. Man is confronted by this Christ-event in the proclamtion of the kerygma, and this compels him to come THE WRITTEN GOSPELS 605 to a personal decision. If he accepts the kerygma, he gives mean ing to his existence. Thus, in existential language, it is an en counter which issues in an authentic commitment. Is this acceptable? As stated above, It is acceptable, and in this sense one can state that there is myth in the gospels, because the belief of the Early Church is often expressed in popular form, symbolic language and at times story-form. Yet, Vatican n has consistently avoided the expression, lest It mislead. The reason for this Is Bultmann’s further claims. From his studies in form criticism Bultmann came to the conclusion that we know next to nothing about the historical Jesus. He distinguishes the Jesus of history from the Christ of the Early Church’s faith. What is men tioned in the gospels of Jesus’ miracles, resurrection, ascension, parousia, are all inventions of the Early Church’s nascent faith, and hence must be demythologized In order to understand the real message of the author. But, according to Bultmann, it is not im portant if they are realities or not, since the personal decision of the Individual comes from his confrontation with the proclamation (kerygma), regardless of the historical reality of that which Is pro claimed. Not only did Vatican H in the above-mentioned quotation (no. 10) take a definite stand against this, stating clearly that the tour gospels faithfully hand on what Jesus really did and taught until the day he was taken up into heaven, but many present-day scho lars have also rejected Bultmann’s claims. R. Marie (Introd, to Her meneutics, 47f and 59f) asks pointedly how the Cross can be the decisive event unless there be something unique about the person who died on the cross. It is Christ who. saves, not the proclama tion about him. The document on Divine Revelation (no. 17) also refers to the resurrection and ascension of Jesus as realities to which the New Testament stands as a perpetual and divine wit ness (Cf. A. Dulles, Myth, Biblical Revelation and Christ, Corpus Books, 1969, 34.40-44). Description of Christ's resurrection, ascension, Parousla as well as the descent of the Holy Spirit can be said to be the language of myth, but this in no wise detracts from the essential content of the realities contained In those descriptions. The essential point of the resurrection appearances is not the description of the Risen Christ, but the fact that Jesus of Nazareth who had died and was 606 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE F1LIPINAS buried was truly risen and was a living personality, known and re cognized by his own Apostles and by many others who saw him as the Risen One in their midst. The essential point of the ascen sion description is not whether Christ rose up from the ground and was soon hidden by the clouds (which may well be Luke’s manner of describing the essential point) but the fact that Jesus was with the Father and would no longer be visible to their sight. The rising of Jesus from the ground could signify his exaltation in glory. The essential point of the Pentecost event is not whether various phenomena like the sound of wind, the fire and the tongues were visible, but that the Spirit himself was given to the believing community who himself is Fire and Might and Witness to Christ. The essential point of the Parousla is not the apocalyptic descriptions of that event but the fact that the God-Man will come In glory as Judge of the living and the dead to hand over the kingdom to the Father. We demythologize when we penetrate behind the symbolism and the ‘‘myth’’ language to the reality within. But we destroy the kerygma entirely when we empty it of its very salvific content. We must learn to distinguish the reality from the garment In which it is presented, and then apply the age-old task of bringing the gospel message up to the date by clothing Its realities in language suitable for our age: ’Further References: J. McKenzie, “Bultmann and the Bible” in Vital Concepts of the Bible, p. 133ff; H. Schlier, The Relevance of the Naw Testament, 76-93. B Ahern, C.P., The Gospels in the Light of Modern Research, in “Contemporary New Testament Studies, 131-138. SHORT NOTICES ON BOOKS Horman, Karl: Diccwna/rio de Moral Cristiano.. Editorial Herder, Bar celona, 1975 — 688 pags. — Rustica 850 pesetas, tela 950 pesetas. The author is a scholar of vast erudition, endowed with a surprising power of synthesis. This book is a most comprehensive handy encyc lopedia of orthodox Catholic morals. All libraries will be enhanced with this book; nay, every priest and lay man or woman who can afford its reasonable price should procure a personal copy. Semina rians will certainly obtain higher grades in Moral Theology by often leafing through this precious book. Rodrfguez, Mauro: El Celibato. Editorial Herder, Barcelona, 1975 — 256 pigs. — Rustica 280 pesetas. This book, which has the imprimatur from the Ordinary of Barcelona, is an objective and dispassionate study of the relevance of celibacy in the modern world. The author adheres to time-honored doctrines about the dignity and even need of priestly celibacy in the Latin rite; and to St. Thomas’ dictum that God will never cease to provide His Church with enough worthy priests. Nevertheless, he calls our attention to the following disturbing facts: 1. Vocations to the priest hood are continuously dwindling against a backdrop of an exploding population. 2. More and more priests and nuns are quitting. 3. A big portion of the Catholic clergy exercises non-sacerdotal tasks, es pecially in school administration. 4. There are many rumors and even front-page scoops about lecherous priests, which have been depicted in some Italian and other movies. This book is thought-provoking for the hierarchy, especially in the higher echelons, who have a voice on whether to relax somewhat the millenia! institution of priestly celibacy. 608 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE F1LIP1NAS Schelkle, Karl Hermann: Teologia del Nuevo Teatamento, tomo III. Her der, Barcelona, 1975 — 504 pags. — Rustica 600 pesetas; tela 750 pesetas. This is a book on Moral Theology based on the New Testament. After the fundamental concepts, attitudes, objectives and concrete realities, all of which afford a panoramic view of Christian morals, it deals in a practical and easy style about marriage, the family, work, property, the State, and winds up with Christian perfection. This is a very dependable and useful book. Taize: Concilia de log jivenea, jpara qu6? On August 30, 1974 there opened a big congress at Taiz£, attended by more than 40,000 youths from many parts of the world, representing many Christian faiths, including Catholicism, the oldest form of Chris tianity. While the Taiz4 movement is Protestant, it is friendly towards the Catholic Church. For those who were present in that congress thiB book will be a souvenir to revive their vivid experiences; and for those who did not attend that mammoth youth jamboree this reportage on it will afford all the information about the aims, achievements and inspirations of this and similar activities of or in Taize. Wright, John: La Iglesia, Esperanza del Mundo. Editorial Herder, Bar celona, 1975 — 212 pigs, — Rtistica 275 pesetas. John Cardinal Wright is the Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy in charge over nearly 450,000 Catholic priests the world over. This book is a collection of speeches in the style of pep-talks delivered in different places of Europe and America. The themes are all practical and relevant. These heart-to-heart talks offers many sound advices, and evinces an optimistic stance towards the future of both mankind and the Catholic Church. BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO de FILIPINAS THE OFFICIAL INTERDIOCESAN ORGAN EDITOR EFREN RIVERA, O.P. ASSOCIATE EDITORS POMPEYO DE MESA, O.P. REGINO CORTES, O.P. JOSE MA. B TINOKO, O.P. EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS FRANCISCO DEL RIO, O.P. JESUS MA. MERINO, O.P. QUINTIN MA. GARCIA, O.P. FIDEL VILLARROEL, O.P. LEONARDO LEGASPI, O.P LAMBERTO PASION, O.P. BUSINESS MANAGER FLORENCIO TESTERA. O.P 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. Entered as Second Class Mail Matter at the Manila Post Office on June 21, 1946. Subscription Rates (Effective January, 1976). 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