Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas

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Title: Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas
Description: Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas Official Interdiocesan Organ is published monthly by the University of Santo Tomas and is printed at U.S.T. Press, Manila, Philippines.
Issue Date: Volume XLV (Issue No. 507) September 1971
Publisher: University of Santo Tomas
Year: 1971
Language: English; Spanish
Subject: Catholic Church--Philippines--Periodicals.; Philippines -- Religion -- Periodicals.
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Place of publication: Manila
extracted text: • THE PHILIPPINE ECCLESIASTICAL REVIEW • HIS EMINENCE JULIO R. CARDINAL ROSALES Archbishop of Cebu Vol. XLV • 507 September, 1971 Boletin I7CLESIASTIC0 DE BpiLIPINAS EDITORIAL STAFF EDITOR JAIME BOQUIREN. O.P. EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS FRANCISCO DEL RIO. O.P. QUINTIN M. GARCIA. O.P. JESUS MERINO. O.P. FIDEL VIL.LARROEL, O.P. LEONARDO Z. LEGASPI. O.P. F.FREN RIVERA, 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. Yearly subscription in the Philippines, P15.00; Two Years, P26.00; Three Years, P40.00. Abroad, $5.00 a year. Price per copy, Pl.50. Subscriptions are paid in advance. Communications of an editorial nature concerning articles cases and reviews should be addressed to the Editor. Advertising and subscription enquiries should be addressed to the Business Manager. Orders for renewals or changes of address should in elude both old and new address, and will go into effect fifteen days after notification. Address all communications to: BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS Fathers' Residence University of Santo Tomas Manila D 403 Philippines Vol. XLV • 507 September, 1971 TABLE OF CONTENTS EDITORIALS Your Mass Commentator Your Organist 592 PAPAL DOCUMENTS "Octogesima Adveniens” 594 Mission Sunday Message 603 Renewal of the Religious Life 610 EPISCOPAL DOCUMENTS Letter to Palawan CC Delegates 626 DOCTRINAL Celibacy and the Emotional Life 630 PASTORAL Interior Principles in Filipinos 648 HISTORICAL History of the Church in the Philippines (continued) 662 £dli labials. YOUR MASS COMMENTATOR With the liturgical reforms introduced by Vatican II came the Mass-Commentator or Leader who . directs the participation ol the people during the religious functions. He is most welcome, indeed, because the officiating priest cannot conveniently perform the task of MC and because the presence of a layman near the altar eloquently manifests the participation of the laity at the sacred rites. However, there are occasions when instead of promoting the participation of the people and adding to the beauty of the liturgy, the Mass Commentator or Leader hinders and spoils the same. This happens under the following circumstances: 1. When the Commentator is not properly dressed for the occasion. 2. When the Commentator is not gifted with a voice appro priate for this task. 3. When he stammers and mispronounces or is not understooa. 4. When he becomes the substitute of the people in the re sponses and hymns. 5. When he does not sing properly. To be a Mass Commentator is to serve the people of God. To serve, good will and intention are not enough. One must have certain natural qualities. Hence, not every volunteer should be given thip honor. It should rather be given by invitation. We must bear in mind that the MC is supposed to help inspire :he EDITORIALS worshippers and never to discourage them from going to Church, by his shabbiness, unpleasant voice, defective reading, and out of tune crooning. YOUR ORGANIST Congregational singing is, indeed, very important in Liturgical celebrations. A Mass without music may be likened to the silent movies of yesteryears. Hence, it is very discouraging to note that in many churches the singing is very poor. One of the causes is the lack of a good Organist, and the lack of a good Organ or Harmonium in the first place. In this matter the Protestant Churches are far ahead of us. It seems to be a policy for them to have a good Organist in every Church they open. In fact Protestant Churches give scholar ships in music for that purpose. Is it really too much to ask our parishes and dioceses to provide for this urgent need of our Church? His Eminence JULIO R. CARDINAL ROSALES Archbishop of Cebu Born September 18, 1906, in Calbayog City; ordained priest on June 2, 1929; consecrated Bishop of Tagbilaran on September 21, 1946; transferred to the Archdiocese of Cebu on February 19, 1950; elevated to the Sacred College of Cardinals by His Holi ness Pope Paul VI on March 28, 1969; he celebrated his Silver Jubilee as Bishop on September 21, 1971, in the Archdiocese of Cebu. To His Eminence we extend our warmest congratulations and best wishes. • Boletin Eclesiastico de Pilipinas Papal ^bocument^ APOSTOLIC LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE PAULUS PP. VI ON THE OCCASION OF THE EIGHTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ENCYCLICAL “RERUM NOVARUM’’ (continued) CHRISTIANS FACE TO FACE WITH THESE NEW PROBLEMS DYNAMISM OF THE CHURCH’S SOCIAL TEACHING 42. In the face of so many new questions the Church makes an effort to reflect in order to give an answer, in its own sphere, to men’s expectations. If today the problems seem original in their breadth and their urgency, is man with out the means of solving them? It is with all its dynamism that the social teaching of the Church accompanies men in their search. If it does not intervene to authenticate a given structure or to propose a ready-made model, it does not thereby limit itself to recalling general principles. It developes through reflection applied to the changing situations of this world, under the driving force of the Gospel as the source of renew al when its message is accepted in its totality and with all its demands. It also develops with the sensitivity proper to the Church which is characterized by a disinterested will to serve and by attention to the poorest. Finally, it draws upon its rich experience of many cen turies which enables it, while continuing its permanent pre occupations, to undertake the daring and creative innovations which the present state of the world requires. PAPAL DOCUMENTS 595 FOR GREATER JUSTICE 43. There is a need to establish a greater justice in the sharing of goods, both within national communities and on the international level. In international exchanges there is a need to go beyond relationships based on force, in order to arrive at agreements reached with the good of all in mind. Relationships based on force have never in fact established justice in a true and lasting manner, even if at certain times the alteration of positions can often make it possible to find easier conditions for dialogue. The use of force moreover leads to the setting in motion of opposing forces, and from this springs a climate of struggle which opens the way to situa tions of extreme violence and to abuses.27 -7 Populorum Progress™, 56 ff.: 4AS 59 (1967), pp. 285 ff. But, as we have often stated, the most important duty in the realm of justice is to allow each country to promote its own development, within the framework of a cooperation free from any spirit of domination, whether economic or political. The complexity of the problems raised is certainly great, in the present intertwining of mutual dependences. Thus it is necessary to have the courage to undertake a revision of the relationships between nations, whether it is a question of the international division of production, the structure of exchanges, the control of profits, the monetary system — without forgetting the actions of human solidarity — to question the models of growth of the rich nations and change people’s outlooks, so that they may realize the prior call of international duty, and to renew international organizations so that they may increase in effectiveness. 41. Under the driving force of new systems of production, national frontiers are breaking down, and we can see new economic powers emerging, the multinational enterprise, which by the concentration and flexibility of their means can con duct autonomous strategies which are largely independent of the national political powers and therefore not subject to con trol from the point of view of the common good. By extending their activities, these private organizations can lead to a new and abusive form of economic domination on the social, cultural 596 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS and even political level. The excessive concentration of means and powers that Pope Pius XI already condemned on the fortieth anniversary of Rerum Novarum is taking on a new and very real image. CHANGE OF ATTITUDES AND STRUCTURES 45. Today men yearn to free themselves from need and dependence But this liberation starts with the interior free dom that men must find again with regard to their goods and their powers; they will never reach it except through a trans cendent love for man, and, in consequence, through a genuine readiness to serve. Otherwise, as one can see only too clearly, the most revolutionary ideologies lead only to a change of mas ters; once installed in power in their turn, these new masters surround themselves with privileges, limit freedom and allow other forms of injustice to become established. Thus many people are reaching the point of questioning the very model of society. The ambition of many nations, in the competition that sets them in opposition and which carries them along, is to attain technological, economic and military power. This ambition then stands in the way of setting up structures in which the ryhthm of progress would be regulated with a view to greater justice, instead of accentuating in equalities and living in a climate of distrust and struggle which would unceasingly compromise peace. CHRISTIAN MEANING OF POLITICAL ACTIVITY 46- Is it not here that there appears a radical limitation to economics? Economic activity is necessary and, if it is at the service of man, it can be “a source of brotherhood and a sign of Providence”28- It is the occasion of concrete ex changes between man, of rights recognized, of services rendered and of dignity affirmed in work. Though it is often a field of confrontation and domination, it can give rise to dialogue and foster cooperation. Yet it runs the risk of taking up too much strength and freedom* 20. This is why the need is felt to -8 Ibidem, 86: P. 299. 20 Gaudium et Spes, 63: A AS 58 (1966). p. 1085. PAPAL DOCUMENTS 597 pass from economics to politics. It is true that in the term “politics” many confusions are possible and must be clarified, but each man feels that in the social and economic field, both national and international, the ultimate decision rests with political power. Political power, which is the natural and necessary link for ensuring the cohesion of the social body, must have as its aim the achievement of the common good. While respecting the legitimate liberties of individuals, families and subsidiary groups, it acts in such a way as to create, effectively and for the well-being of all, the conditions required for attaining man’s true and complete good, including his spiritual end. It acts within the limits of its competence, which can vary from people to people and from country to country. It always intervenes with care for justice and with devotion to the com mon good, for which it holds final responsibility. It does not, for all that, deprive individuals and intermediary bodies of the field of activity and responsibility which are proper to them and which lead them to collaborate in the attainment of this common good. In fact, ‘ the true aim of all social activity should be to help individual members of the social body, but never to destroy or absorb them”30. According to the vocation proper to is, the political power must know how to stand aside from particular interests in order to view its responsibility with regard to the good of all men, even going beyond national limits. To take politics seriously at its different levels—local, regional, national and worldwide — is to affirm the duty of man, of every man, to recognize the concrete reality and the value of the freedom of choice that, is offered to him to seek to bring about both the good of the city and of the nation and of mankind. Politics are a demanding manner — but not the only one — of living the Christian commitment to the ser vice of others. Without of course solving every problem, it endeavours to apply solutions to the relationships men have with one another. The domain of politics is wide and com prehensive, but it is not exclusive An attitude of encroachment which would tend to set up politics as an absolute value would «o Quadragesimo Anno: A AS 23 (1931). p. 203 cf; Mater et Magiatra: AAS 53 (1961), pp. 414, 428; Gaudium et Spea, 74-76: MS 58 (1966), pp. 1095-1100. 598 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS bring serious danger. While recognizing the autonomy of the reality of politics, Christians who are invited to take up poli tical activity should try to make their choices consistent with the Gospel and, in the framework of a legitimate plurality, to give both personal collective witness to the seriousness of their faith by effective and disinterested service of men. SHARING IN RESPONSIBILITY 47. The passing to the political dimension also expresses a demand made by the man of today: a greater sharing in res ponsibility and in decision-making. This legitimate aspiration becomes more evident as the cultural level rises, as the sense of freedom develops and as man becomes more aware of how, in a world facing an uncertain future, the choices of today already condition the life of tomorrow. In Mater et Magistra31 Pope John XXIII stressed how much the admittance to res ponsibility is a basic demand of man’s nature, a concrete exercise of his freedom ajid a path to his development, and he showed how, in economic life and particularly in enterprise, this sharing in responsibilities should be ensured-32 Today the field is wider, and extends to the social and political sphere in which a reasonable sharing in responsibility and in decisions must be established and strengthened. Admittedly, it is true that the choices proposed for a decision are more and more complex; the considerations that must be borne in mind are numerous and foreseeing of the conseouences involves risk, even if new sciences strive to enlighten freedom at these im portant moments However, although limits are sometimes called for. these obstacles must not slow down the giving of wider participation in working out decisions, making choices and putting them into practice. In order to counterbalance increasing technocracy, modern forms of democracy must be devised, not only making it possible for each man to become informed and to express himself, but also by involving him in a shared responsibility. 31 AAS 53 (1961), pp. 420-422 Gaudium et Spea, 68, 75: A4S 58 (1966), pp. 1089-1090; 1097. Thus human groups will gradually begin to share and to live as communities. Thus freedom, which too often asserts itself as a claim for autonomy by opposing the freedom of PAPAL DOCUMENTS 599 others, will develop in its deepest human reality: to involve itself and to spend itself in building up active and lived solida rity. But, for the Christian, it is by losing himself in God who sets him free that man finds true freedom, renewed in the death and resurrection of the Lord. NEED TO BECOME INVOLVED IN ACTION 48- In the social sphere, the Church has always wished to assume a double function: first to enlighten minds in order to assist them to discover the truth and to find the right path to follow amid the different teachings that call for their at tention; and secondly to take part in action and to spread, with a real care for service and effectiveness, the energies of the Gospel. Is it not in order to be faithful to this desire that the Church has sent on an apostolic mission among the workers priests who, by sharing fully the condition of the worker, are at that level the witnesses to the Church’s solitude and seeking? It is to all Christians that we address a fresh and insistent call to action. In our encyclical on the Development of Peoples we urged that all should set themselves to the task: “Laymen should take up as their own proper task the renewal of the temporal order. If the role of the hierarchy is to teach and to interpret authentically the norms of morality to be followed in this matter, it belongs to the laity, without waiting pas sively for orders and directives, to take the initiatives freely and to infuse a Christian spirit into the mentality, customs, laws and structures of the community in which they live.”33 Let each one examine himself, to gee what he has done up to now, and what he ought to do. It is not enough to recall principles, state intentions, point to crying injustice and utter prophetic denunciations; these words will lack real weight un less they are accompanied for each individual by a livelier awareness of personal responsibility and by effective action. It is too easy to throw back on others responsibility for in justice, if at the same time one does not realize how each one shares in it personally, and how personal conversion is needed first. This basic humility will rid action of all inflexibility 600 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS and sectarianism; it will also avoid discouragement in the face of a task which seems limitless in size. The Christian’s hope comes primarily from the fact that he knows that the Lord is working with us in the world, continuing in his Body which is the Church—and, through the Church, in the whole of mankind — the Redemption which was accomplished on the Cross and which burst forth in victory on the morning of the Resurrection.34 This hope springs also from the fact that the Christian knows that other men are at work to undertake actions of justice and peace working for the same ends. For beneath an outward appearance of indifference, in the heart of every man there is a will to live in brotherhood and a thirst for justice and peace, which is to be expanded. EACH ONE TO DETERMINE 49. Thus, amid the diversity of situations, functions and organizations, each one must determine in his conscience, the actions which he is called-4o share in. Surrounded by various currents into which, besides legitimate aspirations, there in sinuate themselves more ambiguous tendencies, the Christian must make a wise and vigilant choice and avoid involving himself in collaboration without conditions and contrary to the principles of a true humanism, even in the name of a genuinely left solidarity. If in fact he wishes to play a specific part as a Christian in accordance with hia faith — a part that unbelievers themselves expect of him — he must take care in the midst of his active commitment to clarify his motives and to rise above the objectives aimed at, by taking a more allembracing view which will avoid the danger of selfish parti cularism and oppressive totalitarianism. PLURALISM OF OPTIONS 50- In concrete situations, and taking account of solida rity in each person’s life, one must recognize a legitimate variety of possible options. The same Christian faith can lead to different commitments35. The Church invites all Christians PAPAL DOCUMENTS 601 to take up a double task of inspiring and of innovating, in order to make structures evolve, so as to adapt them to the real needs of today. From Christians who at first sight seem to be in opposition, as a result of starting from differing options, she asks an effort at mutual understanding of the other’s positions and motives; a loyal examination of one’s behaviour and its correctness will suggest to each one an at titude of more profound charity which, while recognizing the differences, believes nonetheless in the possibility of conver gence and unity. “The bonds which unite the faithful are mightier than anything which divides them” 3C. It is true that many people, in the midst of modern struc tures and conditioning circumstances, are determined by their habits of thought and their functions, even apart form the safeguarding of material interests. Others feel so deeply the solidarity of classes and cultures that they reach the point of sharing without reserve all the judgments and options of their surroundings* 37. Each one will take great care to examine himself and to bring about that true freedom according to Christ which makes one receptive to the universal in the very midst of the most particular conditions. 3“ Ibidem, 93: p. 1113. 37 Cf. 1 Thess 5:21. as Lumen Gentium, 31: AAS 57 (1965), pp. 37-38; Avostolicam Actuositatem, 5: AAS 58 (1966), p. 842. “TO AWAKENING THE PEOPLE OF GOD” 51. It is in this regard too that Christian organizations, under their different forms, have a responsibility for collective action Without putting themselves in the place of the ins titutions of civil society, they have to express, in their own way and rising above their particular nature, the concrete demands of the Christian faith foi * a just, and consequently necessary, transformation of society38. Today more than ever the World of God will be unable to be proclaimed and heard unless it is accompanied by the witness of the power of the Holy Spirit, working within the action of Christian in the service of their brothers, at the points in which their existence and their future are at stake. 602 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS 52. In expressing these reflections to you, venerable brother, we are of course aware that we have not dealt with all the social problems that today face the man of faith and men of goodwill. Our recent declarations — to which has been added your message of a short time ago on the occasion of the launching of the Second Development Decade — particularly concerning the duties of the community of nations in the serious question of the integral and concerted development of man are still fresh in people’s minds. We address these present reflections to you with the aim of offering to the Council of the Laity and the Pontifical Commission on Justice and Peace some fresh contributions, as well as an encouragement, for the pursuit of their task of “awakening the People of the God to a full understanding of its role at the present time” and of “promoting the apostolate on the international level”30EPISCOPAL ORDINATION ANNIVERSARIES Let us pray for our Bishops on the occasion of their ordination anniversaries. 1. Most Rev- Porfirio Iligan September 3, 1968 2. Most Rev. Julio Labayen September 8, 1966 3. Most Rev. Gregorio Espiga September 10, 1955 4- His Eminence Julio Cardinal Rosales September 21, 1946 (Silver Jubilee) 5. Most Rev. William Duschak September 21, 1951 6. Most Rev. Patrick Cronin September 25, 1955 It is with these sentiments, venerable brother, that we impart to you our Apostolic Blessing. From the Vatican, 14 May 1971Paulus PP. VI ^Catholicam Ckriati Ecclesiam, AAS 59 (1967), pp. 27 and 26. MISSION SUNDAY MESSAGE * * L’osservatore Romano, Aug. 5, 1971. Beloved children, Fellow Christians, Fellow missionaries, Thus the Pope addresses you, acknowledging with wonder ing respect the apostolic dignity which it has pleased our Lord Jesus Christ to confer on each one of his followers, from the greatest to the least. You will, of course, understand, when this Message reaches you on World Mission Day, that it does not come from the Pope alone — as from some isolated figure who must bear all by himself the missionary responsibility whch has from beginning "weighed up the Church” (Ad Gentes, 5). For Christ’s command to “go into the whole world; preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mk. 16: 15) “was inherited from the apostles by the order of bishops, assisted by priests, and united with the successor of Peter” (Ad Gentes, 5). So then we address you on this Mission Day not only on our own behalf, but also as spokesman for our brother bishops throughout the world, with whom it is our joy to be united in the closest bonds of charity and in a blessed collegial soli darity. The pastors of the Christian flock, servants of all servants of God, would have you share with them on this day the won der of this thought: that they and you are members of a mis sionary Church, a Church which exists to make known to all mankind the Gospel of salvation. The people of Good are a missionary people. Christ could have asked his Father and he would have given him at once "more than twelve legions of angels” (Mt. 26: 53) to announce his redemption to the world. Instead, Christ gave the task and the privilege to us; to us, "the very 604 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS least of all the saints". (Eph. 3:8), who are indeed unworthy to be called apostles (cfr. 1 Cor. 15: 9). He deliberately left himself with no vo ce but ours to tell the glad tidings to man kind. It is we to whom this grace is given: “to preach to the gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3: 8). A TIME WITHOUT PRECEDENT And we are to preach the Gospel in this extraordinary period of human history, a time surely without precedent, in which peaks of achievement never before attained are matched by similarly unprecedented depths of bewilderment and des pair. If ever there were a time when Christians were challenged to be, more than ever before, a light to illumine the world, a city on a hill, a salt to give savour to men’s lives (cfr. Mt. 5: 13-14) surely that time is now! For we possess the antidote to the pessimism, the gloomy foreboding, the dejection and fear, which afflict our time. We have Good News! And every one of us, by the very nature of his Christianity, must feel himself impelled to broadcast this Good News to the ends of the earth. “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4: 20). No one of us Christians — be he Pope, bishop, priest, religious or layman — can d sclaim responsibility in regard to this essential Christian duty. You will certainly recall the emphasis with which the recent Ecumenical Council insisted on ths: “Every disciple of Christ (without exception) has the obligation to do his part in spreading the faith" (Ad Gentes, 23). “All sons of the Church should have a lively awareness of their responsibility to the world . . . They should spend their energies in the work of evangelization” (ibid., 36). NO EXCEPTION OF RACE OR TIME Let us be very clear on one point: Christ gave his apostles a command which is so concrete and so explicit that it excludes any possibility of uncertainty about his wishes. They were to go to the whole world, (without exclusion of any part) and preach the Good News to every creature (with no exception of race or time). PAPAL DOCUMENTS 605 The Good News is this: that God loves us; that he became man to share in our life and to share his life with us; that he walks w th us— every step of the way — taking our concerns as his own, for he cares about us (1 Pet. 5:7); and that there fore men are not alone, for God is present in their entire history, that of peoples and that of individuals; that he will bring us, if we allow him, to an eternal happiness beyond the bounds of human expectation. You will undoubtedly hear the well-meaning objection: but what of the hungry, the underprivileged, the victims of oppres sion and injustice? Does it make sense—is it even in keeping with charity? is it not rather an affront? — to talk to them of good things ahead? Would it not be better for Christianity to assist them to something approaching a human life before presuming to speak to them of a heavenly life to come? But Christ, who was himself “anointed to preach the Good News to the poor ... to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Lk. 4: 18), would not have us exclude the poor and underpriviledge — or, for that matter, the men of any particular race, colour, tribe or human condition whatever — from the joy of hearing the Good News of his Gospel. True to his spirit, our missionaries have never, at any time, thought to separate the love of God from the love of mankind, much less to oppose the one to the other. While they build the Kingdom of God, they invariably labour at the same time to improve man’s earthly condition. And it should be stated very firmly that the gentle message of the Gospel has never, in the Church’s experience, been regarded by the poor or oppressed as an affront. Without claiming to intervene “to propose a ready-made model” of civilization (Octogesima Advenicns. 42), the spread ers of the Good News bring to every people (with due loyalty to the patrimony of the teaching of Christ and due respect for the r various cultures) what they believe to be “the only, the true, the highest interpretation of human life in time, and beyond time: the Christian interpretation” (Address to the Parliament of Uganda, 1 August 1969, AAS LXI [1969] p. 852). They indeed believe thnt “Christ, who died and was raised up for all, can through his Spirit offer man the light 606 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS and the strength to measure up to his supreme destiny” (Gaudium et Spes, 10). Evangelization, which responds to man’s noblest aspirations, thus becomes a leaven of development. Thus we see the perennial need to preach the Gospel, in order to offer man the ultimate reasons for his efforts towards development: ‘‘the acknowledgement by man of supreme values, and of God their source and finality . . . faith, a gift of God accepted by the good will of man, and unity in the charity of Christ, who calls us all to share as sons in the life of the living God, the Father of all men” (Populorum Progress™, 21). NEED OF SPIRITUAL VALUES Perhaps never before has the world had such need of spiritual values, and, we are convinced, never has it been so dispose to welcome their proclamation. For the most affluent regions of the world are fast discovering for themselves that happiness does not consist in possess'ons; they are learning from a bitter “experience of emptiness” how true are our Lord’s words: “Not on bread alone does man live, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mt. 4:4). We must tell men, and keep on telling them, that "the key, the focal point, and the goal of human history” is to be found in our Lord and Master (Gaudium et Spes 10). We must tell them that this is true not only for believers, but also applies to everyone, for whom Christ died and whose ultimate vocation is to correspond to God’s design: "to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (Eph. 1: 10). We must invite all men to join the People of God, his Church, that ever-growing society of hope, which is able to look eagerly to the futui'e without closing its eyes to the pre sent; which indeed finds the present meaningful and valid and worth-while because of its very relationship to that future, and is therefore able to involve itself in the present with all the more energy and conviction. No, we are “not ashamed of the Gospel” (Rom. 1: 16). Nor are your Pope and bishops ashamed to beg for the means by which the Gospel may be made known. If, then, you find PAPAL DOCUMENTS 607 them on this World M’ssion Day with begging-bowls in their hands, beseeching alms of you for the love of God and neigh bour, this will not surprise or scandalize you. Did not Christ himself frequently beg from those near him the means by which he chose to accomplish good? Did he not feed the multitude w th a few loaves given by a boy in the crowd? Did he not beg the use of a fisherman’s boat from which he might speak the word of life to the people? Did he not readily accept the assistance offered to him and his disciples by the women who provided for them out of the'r own resources? Did he not ride on a borrowed ass down to the place of his Passion? And was he not dependent on a rich man for the very tomb from which he accomplished his Resur rection? SPREAD THE GOOD NEWS We wish to conf de to you, the whole body of the Catholic faithful—all of you our collaborators in the divinely assigned task of making the Good News known — a matter which causes us shame and embarrassment. We are unable to pro vide adequate support for the Church’s missionaries, or to give sufficient ass stance to the many good works of religion and love which they constantly undertake. These missionaries have made the commitment “for life’’ to the Gospel. They go to the nations in our stead. They carry out on our behalf the command of the Master “to preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mk, 16: 15). Nothing in our power to offer could ever repay our obligation to these men and women; but we must at least supply ther daily bread and provide the other necessities which their various works demand. For the many of us who cannot personally bear the Good News to the peoples of the earth, this is often the only way which presents itself in which we may fulfill the inescapable miss onary obligation laid on all Christians. Our constant prayer brings the grace of God on our missionaries’ under takings; our sacrifices freely offered and our sufferings gladly accepted open many doors to them. BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS To these spiritual subsidies we must add generous alms, for in the reality of our earthly s'tuation material assistance is also necessary. For almost a century and a half, the organization of this support from the Catholic faithful has been entrusted to an enterprise of charity known as the Pontifical Mission Works (now sometmies called Papal M ssion Aid). Through these Pontifical Works in each country, under the direction of zealous National Directors proposed by the bishops, the alms of the People of God are gathered each year, principally in the parish collections on Miss on Sunday. After these donations have been gathered into one fund, they are distributed to the missions. And so your contribu tions, generously and willingly given in response to the Pope’s annual appeal, are soon put to work, providing for the daily necessities of our missionaries, building churches, schools, hos pitals, seminaries and novitiates: feeding the hungry, relieving suffering and bringing emergency assistance in times of di saster. If it is indeed sadly true that the Pontifical Works now find themselves unable to meet more than a fraction of the total requirement, it is not because your gifts have become less generous, but rather because of the speed with which the work of the Gospel has been proceeding and the enormous expan sion in the works of social development undertaken by the mis sionaries. Nevertheless, we feel constrained to urge each and every one of the Catholic faithful to make yet greater sacrifices for the Faith; and not only those in the more prosperous so cieties, but those also who, like the widow so highly commended by Chr st, must give "out of their poverty” (Mk. 12: 44). Doing this, we shall more closely resemble the first community of Christians, of whose number "no one said that any of the things he possessed was his own” (Acts 4: 32). OUR PRESENT-DAY APOSTLES Just as "the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul” in that springtime of Christian ty, so must the company of believers be today; not only a society of hope, PAPAL DOCUMENTS 609 but also of faith and of charity. And certainly we must be at one with our missionaries, those present-day apostles, as they hurry on our behalf to the ends of the earth to “make all men see what is the plan of the mystery h'dden for ages in God” (Eph. 3: 9) and to “show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2: 7). • We must be at one with them in a solidarity of apostolic Christ an urgency, so that they may be enabled “with great power” to “give their testimony to the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 4: 33). And we shall thus accomplish un failingly what Christian hearts must always sincerely desire to do for their fellow-men: to cause them “to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge” so that they “may be filled with all the fulness of God” (Eph. 3: 19). As we express our thoughts to all of you, dear sons and daughters, we invoke upon you the grace and strength of the Lord, that you may be faithful to your vocation in his mis sionary Church. And to you, our beloved missionaries through out the world, we extend a very special and deeply affectionate greet ng in Jesus Christ, whom you serve in love and sacrifice and joy. To all of you, collaborators with him in the building up of his kingdom — “a kingdom of truth and life; of holiness and grace; of justice, love and peace” (Preface for the Feast of Christ the King) — we most cordially impart on this World Mission Day our Apostlic Blessing. From the Vatican, 25 June 1971. PAULUS PP'. VI APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION OF HIS HOLINESS PAUL VI on the Renewal of the Religious Life according to the teaching of Vatican II INTRODUCTION EVANGELICAL WITNESS IN THE MIDST OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD Beloved sons and daughters in Christ, 1. Evangelical ivitness THE EVANGELICAL WITNESS of the religious life clearly manifests to men the primacy of the love of God; it does this with a force for which we must give thanks to the Holy Spirit. In all simplicity — following the example given by our venerated predecessor, John XXIII, on the eve of the Council1 — we would like to tell you what hope is stirred up in us, as well as in all the pastors and faithful of the Church, by the spiritual generosity of those men and women who have consecrated their lives of the Lord in the spirit and practice of the evangelical counsels. We wish also to assist you to con tinue in your path of following Christ in faithfulness to the Council’s teaching. i i Exhortation II tempio massimo, 2 July 1962, A.A.S. 54, 1962, pp. 508-517. PAPAL DOCUMENTS 611 2. The Council By doing this, we wish to respond to the anxiety, uncer tainty and instability shown by some; at the same time we wish to encourage those who are seeking the true renewal of the religious life. The boldness of certain arbitrary transfor mations, an exaggerated distrust of the past — even when it witnesses to the wisdom and vigour of eccles'al traditions — and a mentally excessively preoccupied with hastily conforming to the profound changes which disturb our times have succeeded in leading some to consider as outmoded the specific forms of religious life. Has not appeal even unjustly been made to the Council to cast doubt on the very principle of religious life? And yet it is well known that the Counc'l recognized “this specific gift” as having a choice place in the life of the Church, because it enables those who have received it to be more closely conformed to “that manner of virginal and hum ble life which Christ the Lord elected for himself, and which his Virgin Mother also chose” -. The Council has also indi cated the ways for the renewal of religious life in accordance with the Gospel* 3. - Lumen Gentium, VI, 46, A A.S. 57, 1965, P. 52. 3 Per feet ae Caritatis, A.A.S. 58. 1966, pp. 702-712. 3. The tradition of the Church From the beginning, the tradition of the Church — is it perhaps necessary to recall it? — presents us with this privi leged witness of a constant seeking for God, of an undivided love for Christ alone, and of an absolute dedication to the growth of his kingdom. Without this" concrete sign there would be a danger that the char ty grow cold, that the salvific para dox of the Gospel would be blunted, and that the “salt of faith would lose its savour in a world undergoing seculariza tion. From the first centuries, the Holy Spirit has stirred up, side by side with the hero c confession of the martyrs, the wonderful strength of disciples and virgins, of hermits and anchorites. Religious life already existed in germ, and prog ressively it felt the growing need of developing and of taking 612 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS on different forms of community or solitary life, in order to respond to the pressing invitation of Christ: ‘‘There is no one who has left house, wife, brothers, parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who w 11 not be given repay ment many time over in this present time, and, in the world to come, eternal life” •* . *Lk. 18:29-30. 6 Cfr. Gaudium et Spes, 43 A.A.S. 58, 1966, p.1062. 6 Cfr. Lumen Gentium, V, A.A.S. 57, 1965, pp. 44-49. Who would venture to hold that such a calling today no longer has the same value and vigour? That the Church could do without these exceptional witnesses of the transcendence of the love of Christ? Or that the world without damage to itself could allow these l.ghts to go out? They are lights which an nounce the kingdom of God with a liberty which knows no obstacles and is daily lived by thousands of sons and daughters of the Church. 4. Esteem and affection Dear sons and daughters, you have wished by means of the practice of the evangelical counsels to follow Christ more freely and to imitate him more fa thfully, dedicating your entire lives to God with a special consecration rooted in that of baptism and expressing it with greater fullness: could you but understand all the esteem and the affection that we have for you in the name of Chrst Jesus! We commend you to our most dear brothers in the episcopate who, together with their collaborators in the priesthood, realize their own respon sibility in regard to the religious life. And we ask all the laity to whom “secular duties and activities belong properly, although not exclusively” * 6 to understand what a strong help you are for them in the striving for that hol ness, to which they also are called by their baptism in Christ, to the gloi-y of the Father0. 5. Reneical Certainly many exterior elements, recommended by found ers of order or religious congregat ons are seen today to be outmoded. Various encumbrances or rigid forms accumulated PAPAL DOCUMENTS 613 over the centuries need to be curtailed. Adaptations must be made. New forms can even be sought and instituted with the approval of the Church. For some years now the greater part of religious institutes have been generously ded eating them selves to the attainment of this goal, experimenting — some times too hardily — with new types of constitutions and rules. We know well and we are following with attention this effort at renewal which was desired by the Council7. 7 Cfr. Motu Propio Ecclesiae Sanctae, 6 August 1966, A.A.S. 58, 1966 pp. 757ff. ; Jtenovationis Causam, 6 January 1969, A’A.S. 61, 1969, pp. 103ff. 8 Cfr. Lk. 22:32. 9 Cfr. Prcfectae Caritatis, 1, A.A.S. 58. 1966, p. 702. 10 Cfr. Gal. 5:13: 2 Cor. 3:17. 6. Necessary discernment How can we assist you to make the necessary discernment in this dynamic process itself, in which there is the constant risk that the spirit of the world will be intermingled with the action of the Holy Spirit? How can what is essent'al be safeguarded or attained? How can benefit be obtained from past experience and from present reflection, in order to strengthen this form of evangelical life? According to the singular respons bility which the Lord has given us in his Church — that of confirming our brethren8 — we would like to encourage you to proceed with greater sureness and with more joyful confidence along the way that you have chosen. In the “pursuit of perfect charity”9 which guides your existence, what attitude could you have other than a total surrender to the Holy Spirit who, work ng in the Church, calls you to the freedom of the sons of God?10. THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 7. The teaching of the Council Dear sons and daughters, by a free response to the call of the Holy Spirit you have decided to follow Christ, consecrat ing yourselves totally to him. The evangelical counsels of chastity vowed to God, of poverty and of obedience have now 614 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS become the law of your existence. The Council reminds us that “the authority of the Church has taken care, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to interpret these evangelical counsels, to regulate their practice, and also to establish stable forms of living accord.ng to them” u. In this way, the Church recognizes and authenticates the state of life established by the profession of the evangelical counsels: “The faithful of Christ can bind themselves to the three previously mentioned counsels either by vows, or by other sacred bonds which are I ke vows in their purpose. Through such a bond a person is totally dedicated to God by an act of supreme love ... It is true that through baptism he has died to sin and has been consecrated to God. However, in order to derive more abun dant fruit from this baptismal grace, he intends, by the profession of the evangelical counsels in the Church, to free h'mself from those obstacles which might draw him away from the fervour of charity and the perfection of divine worshin. Thus he is more intimately consecrated to divine service. This consecration will be the more perfect to the extent that, through more firm and stable bonds, the indissoluble union of Christ with his Spouse the Church is more perfectly repre sented” * 12 >1 Lumen Gentium, 43, A.A.S. 57, 1965, p. 49. 12 Ibidem, 44, p. 50. 13 Ibidem, pp. 50-51. This teaching of the Council illustrates well the grandeur of this self-giving, freely made by yourselves, after the pat tern of Christ’s self-giving to h:s Church; like his, yours is total and irreversible. It is precisely for the sake of the kingdom of heaven that you have vowed to Christ, generously and without reservation, that capacity to love, that need to possess and that freedom to regulate one’s own life, which are so precious to man. Such is you consecration, made with in the Church and through her ministry — both that of her representatives who receive your profession and that of the Christian community itself, whose love recognizes, welcomes, sustains and embraces those who within it make an offering of themselves as a living sign “which can and ought to attract all the members of the Church to an effective and prompt ful fillment of the duties of their Christian vocation . . . more adeauately manifest ng to all believers the presence of heavenly goods already possessed in this world-”13 PAPAL DOCUMENTS 615 I — FORMS OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 8. Contemplative life Some of you have been called to the life which is termed “contemplative”. An irresistible attraction draws you to the Lord. Held in God’s grasp, you abandon yourselves to his sovere:gn action, which draws you toward him and transforms you into him, as it prepares you for that eternal contemplation which is the common vocation of us all. How could you ad vance along this road and be faithful to the grace which animates you if you did not respond with all your being, through a dynam:sm whose driving force is love, to that call which directs you unswervingly towards God? Consider, there fore, every other immediate activity to which you must devote yourselves — fraternal relationship, disinterested or remunerable work, necessary recreation — as a witness endered to the Lord of your intimate communion with him, so that he may grant you that unifying purity of intention which is so neces sary for encountering him in prayer itself. In this way you will contribute to the building up of the kingdom of God by the witness of your lives and with a “hidden apostolic fruit fulness” 14. 14 Perfective Caritatis, 7. A.A.S. 58. 196G, p. 705. 16 Cfr. Phil. 3:10-11. 9. Apostolic life Others are consecrated to the apostolate in its essential mission, which is the proclaiming of the Word of God to those whom he places along their path, so as to lead them towards faith. Such a grace requires a profound union with the Lord, one which will enable you to transmit the message of the In carnate Word in terms which the world is able to understand. How necessary it is therefore that your whole existence should make you share in his passion, death and glory15. 10. Contemplation and apostolate When your vocation destines you for other tasks in the service of men — pastoral life, m ssions, teaching, works of charity and so on — is it not above all the intensity of your * 16 616 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS union with the Lord that will make them fruitful, in propor tion to that union “in secret” ?10. In order to be fa.'thful to the teaching of the Council, must not "the members of each community who are seeking God before all else combine con templation with apostolic love? By the former they cling to God in mind and heart; by the latter they strive to assoc ate themselves with the work of redemption and to spread the kingdom of God” * 17 18 * . 10 Cfr. Mt. 6:6. 17 Cfr. Perfectae Caritatis, 5, A.A.S. 58. 1966, p. 705. 18 Cfr. Lumen Gentium, 45. A.A.S. 57, 1965, pp. 51-52; Perfectae Caritatis, 2 b. A.A.S. 58, 1966, p. 703. Cfr. Jn. 1:13: 2f Cfr. Rom. 12:2. 11. The charisms of founders Only in this way will you be able to reawaken hearts to truth and to divine love in accordance with the char sms of your founders who were raised up by God within his Church. Thus the Council rightly insists on the obligation of relig ous to be faithful to the spirit of their founders, to their evangel ical intentions and to the example of the r sanctity. In this it finds one of the principles for the present renewal and one of the most secure criteria for judging what each institute should undertake,8. In reality, the charism of the relig ous life, far from being an impulse born of flesh and blood 10 or one derived from a mentality which conforms itself to the modern world 20, is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, who is always at work within the Church. 12. External forms and interior driving force It is precisely here that the dynamism proper to each religious family finds its origin. For while the call of God renews itself and expresses itself in different ways according to changing circumstances of place and time, it nevertheless requires a certain constancy of orientation. The interior im pulse which is the response to God’s call stirs up in the depth of one’s be'ng certain fundamental options. Fidelity to the exigencies of these fundamental options is the touchstone of PAPAL DOCUMENTS 617 authenticity in religious life. Let us not forget that every human institution is prone to become set in >ts ways and is threatened by formalism. It is continually necessary to revi talize external forms with this interior driv.ng force, without which these external forms would very quickly become an ex cessive burden. Through the variety of forms which give each institute its own individual character and which have their root in the fulness of the grace of Christ21, the supreme rule of the reli gious life and its ultimate norm is that of following Christ according to the teaching of the Gospel. It is not perhaps this preoccupation wh'ch in the course of the centuries has given rise in the Church to the demand for a life which is chaste, poor and obedient? Cfr. 1 Cor. 12:12-30. -‘-’Cfr. Gaudhim et Spes, 48, A.A.S. 58, 19GG, pp. 10G7-10G9; cfr. Eph. 5:25. 32. -s Cfr. Address to the «Equipes Notre-Dame», 4 May 1970, A.A.S. G2. 1970. p. 429. II — ESSENTIAL COMMITMENTS 13. Consecrated chastity Only the love of God — it must be repeated — calls in a decisive way to religious chastity. Th s love moreover makes so uncompromising a demand for fraternal charity that the religious will live more profoundly with his contemporaries in the heart of Christ. On this condition, the gift of self, made to God and to others, will be the source of deep peace. With out in any way undervaluing human love and marriage — is not the latter, according to faith, the image and sharing of the union of love joining Christ and the Church?22 — consec rated chastity evokes th s union in a more immediate way and brings that surpassing excellence to which all human love should tend. Thus, at the very moment that human love is more than ever threatened by a “ravaging erocticism” 23, con secrated chastity must be today more than ever understood and lived with uprightness and generosity. Chastity is deci sively positive, it witnesses to preferential love for the Lord 618 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS and symbolizes in the most eminent and absolute way the mys tery of the un on of the Mystical Body with its Head, the union of the Bride with her eternal Bridegroom. Finally, it reaches, transforms and imbues with a mysterious likeness to Christ man’s being in its most hidden depths. 14. A Source of Spiritual Fruitfulness Thus, dear brothers and sisters, it is necessary for you to restore to the Christian spirituality of consecrated chastity its full effectiveness. When it is truly lived, for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, consecrated chastity frees man’s heart and thus becomes “a sign and st mulus of charity as well as a special source of spiritual fruitfulness in the world.”24 Even if the world does not always recognize it, consecrated chastity remains in every case effective in a mystical manner in the world. 24 Cfr. Lumen Gentium, 42, A.A.S. 57, 1965, p. p. 48. 25 Cfr. Mt. 10:39; 16:25; Mk. 8:35; Lk. 9:24; Jn. 12:25. 15. A Gift of God For our part, we. must be firmly and surely convinced that the value and the fruitfulness of chastity observed for love of God in relig ous celibacy find their ultimate basis in nothing other than the Word of God, the teachings of Christ, the life of his Virgin Mother and also the apostolic tradition, as it has been unceasingly affirmed by the Church We are in fact dealing here with a precious gift which the Father imparts to certain people. This gift, fragile and vulnerable because of human weakness, remains open to the contradictions of mere reason and is in part incomprehensible to those to whom the light of the World Incarnate has not revealed how he who loses his life for him will find it.25 16. Consecrated Poverty Observing chastity as you do in the following of Christ, you desire also, according to his example, to live in poverty in the use of this world’s goods which are necessary for your PAPAL DOCUMENTS 619 daily sustenance. On this point, moreover, our contempora ries question you with particular insistence- It is certa nly true that religious institutes have an important role to fulfil in the sphere of works of mercy, assistance and soc'al justice; it is clear that in carrying out this service they must be always attentive to the demands of the Gospel. 17. The Cry of the Poor You hear rising up, more pressing than ever, from their personal distress and collective m'sery, “the cry of the poor.”20 Was it not in order to respond to their appeal as God’s privi leged ones that Christ came,* 27 even going as far as to identify himself with them?28 In a world experiencing the full flood of development th s persistence of poverty-stricken masses and individuals constitutes a pressing call for “a conversion of minds and attitudes,”29 especially for you who follow Christ more closely in this earthly condition of self-emptying.30 We know that th:s call resounds within you in so dramatic a fash ion that some of you even feel on occasion the temptation to take violent action. As disciples of Christ, how could you follow a way different from his? This way is not, as you know, a movement of the political or temporal order; it calls rather for the conversion of hearts, for liberation from all temporal encumbraces. It is a call to love. 20 Cfr Ps. 9:13; Job. 34:28; Piov. 21:13. 27 Cfr. Lk. 4:18; fi:20. 28 Cfr Mt. 25:35-40. 2« Gaudhim et Spes, 63. A.A.S. 58, 1966. p. 1085. 39 Cfr. Mt. 19:21; 2 Cor. 8:9. 18. Poverty and Justice How then will the cry of the poor find an echo in your lives? That cry must, first of all, bar you from whatever would be a compromise with any form of social injustice. It obliges you also to awaken consciences to the drama of misery and to the demands of soc'al justice made by the Gospel and the Church. It leads some of you to join the poor in their situation and to share their bitter cares. Furthermore, it calls many of your 620 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS institutes to rededicate for the good of the poor some of their works—something which many have already done with generos ty. Finally, it enjoins on you a use of goods limited to what is required for the fulfilment of the functions to which you are called. It is necessary that in your daily lives you should give proof, even externally, of authentic poverty. 19. Use of the World’s Goods In a civilization and a world marked by a prod’gious move ment of almost indefinite material growth, what witness would be offered by a religious who let himself be carried away by an uncurbed seeking for his own case, and who cons'dered it normal to allow himself without discernment or restraint eveiything that is offered him?At a time when there is ah increased danger for many of being enticed by the alluring secur ty of possessions, knowledge and power, the call of God places you at the pinnacle of the Christian conscience. You are to remind men that their true and cojnplete progress consists in responding to their calling “to share as sons in the life of the living God, the Father of all men.”31 31 Populorum Progrcasio, 21 A.A.S. 59, 1967, p. 268. 3- Perfectae Caritatis, 13, A.A.S. 58, 1966. p. 708. 20. Life of Work You will likewise be able to understand the complaints of so many persons who are drawn into the implacable process of work for gain, of profit for enjoyment, and of consumption, which in its turn forces them to a labour wh ch is sometimes inhuman. It will therefore be an essential aspect of your po verty to bear witness to the human meaning of work which is carried out in liberty of spirit and restored to its true nature as the source of sustenance and of service- Did not the Council stress—in a very timely way—your necessai-y submission to “the common law of labour”?.32 Earning your own liv ng and that of your brothers or sisters, helping the poor by your work —these are duties incumbent upon you. But your activities cannot derogate from the vocation of your various institutes, nor PAPAL DOCUMENTS 621 habitually involve work such as would take the place of their specific tasks. Nor should these activities in any way lead you towards secularization, to the detriment of your religious life. Be watchful therefore regarding the sp'rit which animates you: what a failure it would be if you felt yourselves valued by the payment you receive for worldly work! 21. Fraternal Sharing The necessity, which is so imperative today, of fraternal sharing must preserve its evangelical value- Accord ng to the expression in the Didache, “if you share eternal goods, with all the more reason should you share the goods that perish.”33 Poverty really lived by pooling goods, including pay, will testify to the spiritual communion uniting you; it will be a living call to all the rich And will also bring relief to your needy brothers and sisters. The legitimate desire of exercising personal res ponsibility will not mid express on in enjoyment of one’s own income but in fraternal sharing in the common good. The forms of poverty of each person and of each community will depend on the type of institute and on the form of obedience practised in it. Thus will be brought to realization, in accor dance with particular vocations, the character of dependence which is inherent in every form of poverty. Didache. IV, 8; cfr. Acts 4:32. 22. Evangelical Exigency You are aware, dear sons and daughters, that the needs of today’s world, if you experience them in heart-to-heart union with Christ, make your poverty more urgent and more deep. If, as is evident, you must take account of the human surroun dings in which you live, in order to adapt your life style to them, your poverty cannot be purely and simply a conformity to the manners of those surroundings. Its value as a witness will derive from a generous response to the exigencies of the Gospel, in total fidelity to your vocation—not just from an excessively superficial preoccupation for appearing to be poor —and in avoiding those ways of life which would denote a 622 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS certain affectedness and vanity. While we recognize that cer tain situation can justify the abandonment of a religious type of dress, we cannot pass over in silence the fittingness that the dress of religious men and women should be, as the Council wishes, a sgn of their consecration34 and that it should be in some way different from the forms that are clearly secular. 34 Cfr. Perfectae Caritatis, 17, A.A.S. 58, 1966, p 710. 35 Cfr. Ibidem, 14. p. 709; Jn. 4:34; 5:30; 10:15-18; Heb. 5:8; 10:7; ps. 40(39) :8-9. 30 Cfr. Lumen Gentium, chaps. P-III, A.A.S. 57, 1965, pp. 5-36. 37 Cfr. Lk 22:26-27; Jn. 13:14. 38 Mt. 20:28; cfr. Phil. 2:28. 23. Consecrated Obedience Is it not the same fidelity which inspires your profes sion of obedience, in the light of faith and in accordance w th the very dynamism of the charity of Christ? Through this profession, in fact, your make a total offering of your will and enter more decis vely and more surely into his plan of salva tion. Following the example of Christ, who came to do the will of the Father, and in communion with him who “learned to obey through suffering” and “ministered to the brethren,” you have assumed a firmer commitment to the ministry of the Church and of your brethren.35 * 24. Evangelical Fraternity and Sacrifice The evangelical aspiration to fraternity was forcefully ex pressed by the Counc 1. The Church was defined as the People of God. in which the hierarchy is at the service of the members of Christ united by the same charity.30 The same paschal mys tery of Christ is lived in the religious state as in the whole Church. The profound meaning of obedience is revealed in the fullness of this mystery of death and resurrection in which the supernatural destiny of man is brought to realization in a perfect manner. It is in fact through sacrifice, suffering and death that man attains true lfe. Exercising authority in the midst of your brethren means therefore being their servants,37 in accordance with the example of him who gave “his life as a ransom for many-”38 PAPAL DOCUMENTS 623 25. Authority and. Obedience Consequently, authority and obedience are exercised in the service of the common good as two complementary aspects of the same participation in Christ’s offering. For those in au thority, it is a matter of serving in their brothers the design of the Father’s love; wh'le, in accepting their directives, the religious follow our Master’s example30 and cooperate in the work of salvation. Thus, far from being in opposition to one another, authority and individual liberty go together in the ful filment of God’s w 11, which is sought fraternally through a trustful dialogue between the superior and his brother, in the case of a personal situation, or through a general agreement regarding what concerns the whole community. In this pur suit, the religious will be able to avoid both an excess've agita tion and a preoccupation for making the attraction of current opinion prevail over the profound meaning of the religious life. It is the duty of everyone, but especially of superiors and those who exercise responsibility among their brothers or sisters, to awaken n the community the certainties of faith which must be their guide. This pursuit has the aim of giving depth to these certainties and translating them into practice in every day living in accordance with the needs of the moment; its aim is not in any way to cast doubt on them. This labour of seek ing together must end, when it is the moment, with the deci sion of the superiors whose presence and acceptance are indis pensable in every commun'ty. 2. In the needs of daily life Modern conditions of life naturally have their effect on the way you live your obedience. Many of you carry out part of your activity outside your religious houses, performing a funct on in which you have special competence. Others join together in work terms having their own pattern of life and action. Is not the risk which is inherent in such situations a call to reassert and reexamine in depth the sense of obedience? 624 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS If the risk is to have good results, certain conditions must be respected. First of all, it is necessary to see whether the work undertaken conforms with the institute’s vocation. The two spheres ought also to be clearly marked off. Above all, it must be possible to pass from external activity to the demands of common life, taking care to ensure full effectiveness to the elements of the strictly religious life. One of the principal duties of superiors is that of ensuring that their brothers and sisters in religion should have the indispensable conditions for their spiritual life. But how could they fulfil this duty without the trusting collaboration of the whole community? 27. Freedom and obedience Let us add this: the more you exercise your responsibility, the more you must renew your self-giving in its full signifi cance. The Lord obliges jgach one to “lose his life” if he is to follow him40. You will observe this precept by accepting the directves of your superiors as a guarantee of your reli gious profession, through which you offer to God a total dedication of your own wills as a sacrifice of yourselves41. Christian obedience is unconditional subm'ssion to the will of God. But your obedience is more strict because you have made it the object of a special giving, and the range of your choices is limited by your commitment. It is a full act of your free dom that is at the origin of your present position: your duty is to make that act ever more vital, both by your own initiative and by the cordial assent you give the direct ves of your superiors- Thus it is that the Council includes among the bene fits of the religious state “liberty strengthened by obedience” 42, and stresses that such obedience "does not diminish the dignity of the human person but rather leads it to maturity through that enlarged freedom which belongs to the sons of God”43 44 . 40 Cfr Ibidem, 9:23-24. <1 Perfectae Caritatis, 14, A.A.S. 58, 1966, p. 708. 42 Lumen Gentium, 43, A.A.S. 57, 1965, p. 49. is Perfectae Caritatis, 14. A.A.S. 58, 1966, p 709. 44 Gaudium et Spes, 16, A.A.S. 58, 1966, p. 1037. PAPAL DOCUMENTS 625 28. Conscience and obedience And yet, is it possible to have conflicts between the super ior’s authority and the conscience of the religious, the “sanctuary of a person where he is alone with God, whose vo ce echoes in the depths of his being” ?q\ Need we repeat that conscience on its own is not the arbiter of the moral worth of the actions which it inspires? It must take account of objective norms and, if necessary, reform and rectify itselfApart from an order manifestly contrary to the laws of God or the constitut ons of the institute, or one involving a serious and certain evil — in which case there is no obligation to obey — the superior’s decisions concern a field in which the calculat'on of the greater good can vary according to the point of view. To conclude from the fact that a directive seems objectively less good that it is unlawful and contrary to cons cience would mean an unrealistic disregard of the obscurity and ambivalence of many human realities. Bes:des, refusal to obey involves an often serious loss for the common good. A religious should not easily conclude that there is a contradic tion between the judgment of his conscience and that of his suner or. This exceptional situation will sometimes involve true interior suffering, after the pattern of Christ himself “who learned obedience through suffering” *5. •' Heb. 5:8. "> Cfr. Lk 12:49-50. 17 Cfr. 1 Cor. 3:18-19. 29. The Cross — proof of the greatest love What has been said indicates what degree of renunciation is demanded by the practice of the rel gious life. You must feel something of the force with which Christ was drawn to his Cross — that baptism he had still to receive, by which that fire would be lighted which sets you too ablaze—*n somethug of that “foolishness” which Saint Paul wishes we all had. because it alone makes us wise* 17. Let the Cross be for you, as it was for Christ, proof of the greatest love. Is there not a mysterious relationship between renunciation and joy, between sacrifice and magnanimity, between discipline and spiritual freedom? (to be continued) A LETTER TO THE C.C. DELEGATES OF PALAWAN 1 1 The two delegates from Palawan are Hon. Alfredo Abueg, Jr. and Hon. Jose N. Nolledo. Delegates for Palawan Constitut'onal Convention Puerto Princesa City Bishop’s Residence Puerto Princesa Palawan August 30, 1971 Honorable Sirs: Greetings in the Lord. Our country is at the juncture of an important twist in history. The nation has elected delegates to entrust unto them' the sublime work of carving for them a better tomorrow by enshrin'ng their noble aspirations in a body of permanent and immutable fundamental laws, Much depend on you. We look with anxious eyes on every turn, decision and step you make. We long and pray for your success. Your success will be ours, your failure, likewise, ours. May God bless you all and illumine your minds to see what is good for ouicountry. In passing allow me to point out that one issue raised in the campaign in Palawan by the citizenry, the Catholics in particular — spear-headed by the Holy Name Society — was that of Profit Sharing for the working class. It is not a hidden secret that some “Blocks”, or interested groups in our Philip pine society have heavily lobbied in Congress to block the bill on Profit Sharing. I was sad to see so many of our Congress men succumb to the pernicious temptations of financial offers EPISCOPAL DOCUMENTS 627 by lobbyists of the “Blocks” or Vested Interest Groups. It was, likewise, sad to see some in the mass media sector pipe to the tune of this attempt to block a legitimate aspiration of the Fili pino people from acquiring a legislative backing. In fact, articles were published trying to obscure and diminish the meaning and importance of this aspiration of the Filipino people. Profit Sharing is a legitimate aspiration of our Filipino people. Our people have always aspired to share in the produce of their labor. Since time immemorial that drive was in them. In the colonial days they fought for it, and even shed their blood for it. In recent times the din of their clamor has been deafening, except for those who are already deaf by virtue of their greed. Being a legitimate aspiration of our Filip.no People, and the Constitution being the codification of the aspi rations of our people, Profit Sharing should be included in our constitution, probably in a special Article of Rights for Labor. Another thing that should be born in mind is the supre macy of the individual over the state and its institutions. The State and its institutions exist for the individual to help him ac quire his legitimate aspirations and well being. The State should not be so over-powering as to curtail human freedom or frus trate individual or private initiative. The role of the State as a subs diary agency to the supremacy of the individual should be clearly defined. As of present one of the most radical mis takes of our Political System is that the State in our Society has assumed a role far above its proper nature. Instead of helping, it has been the cause of hindering development and progress by producing an atmosphere adverse to the supremacy of the ind vidual. Often the State has harassed and antagonized private initiatives. This must be corrected. Any step or action of the State that will harass or hinder private endeavor already established in any sector of our society must be declared un constitut onal. The State must be committed to help and sub sidize private institutions already established, and not to sup plant them by making existence for them difficult or penal thereby forcing them to close. For these past years, we have seen a ferment brewing in our Philippine society — that of decentralization of the natio nal government, its functions, offices and departments. The 628 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS trend of centralization is an antiquated societal structure of our colonial days. It was useful, then, for the foreign powers in order to control the entire national polity thereby insuring the aliens apogee of their hegemony. This structure has been always adverse to native initiatives. It was an unjust burden imposed on our people by ruthless, callous and cruel foreigners. It served their purpose, but it was onerous to our people. It has contributed to many anomalies and graft in our government. A flagrant example of this colonial structure is that the Local Provincial Government has no footing in our present Constitu tion. One could easily conceive them as “arms” of a remote "king” or “head of State” or even a “Dictator”, and not the legitimate expression of the desire of the people from the out side, and not sprouting from their leg'timate desire to form government. The Local Provincial Government vis-a-vis with the National Government must have a strong footing in the Const’tution. Likewise, the interrelation of the two entities must be clearly defined in terms of the principle of subsidiarity. This decentralization of the centralized departments and bureaus of the Nat'onal Government may put an end to many anomalies and corruption in our present institutionalized system. Many abuses and graft from the government employees have arisen because our institutionalized structure have given them the opportunity to sprout and grow. Our inst tutions are such that they produce the environment and atmosphere conducive for abuse. An example is the present land grabbing problem. It could be minimized if the Bureaus of Forestry and Land be decentralized to the provincial level. Then people in the pro vinces can eas ly work for the processing of their land papers, can complain affectively of abuses of land grabbing, and also the government agencies can easily avoid mistakes in allocating lands already cleared by poor people. Su much blood shed can be avoided by a simple institutional change in structure. Another example of an onerous and unjust centralization is the Bureau of Prisons. By centralizing our penal system, then a few provinces — one of them our beloved Palawan — have to pay for the crimes committed in other prov.nces. Decentralization of this institutionalized structure is a felt need in our province. May both of you prove true sons of Palawan. EPISCOPAL DOCUMENTS 629 Finally, something effective must be done with sincerity to stop graft and corruption in our government. Many policies have been designed by the public sector. All of these failed because the law was never meant to succeed. It never had the sanctions and mechanics designed to be effective. Some thing must be done before our people completely lose faith in our present system and look for remedies in another system. One step towards this direction would be to put proper checks in our constitution in the Article on appropriation of the people’s money. As it stands in our present constitution, the House of Representatives has been given complete and absolute power in the appropriation of the people’s money. As experience has shown us, the money has not always been appropriated accord ing to the pressing needs of the people. To remedy this anomaly, probably it would be helpful to assign priorites in the appro priation of the people’s money according to the needs of the people. Probably these needs would take into consideration housing, education, health, road construction, economic devement, peace and order, etc. Barring the state of war, these pr orities should be met by the annual budget according to specified percentage of priorities. Being not an expert in law. I can only furnish you with the insights of a novice. There are more things that our coun try and people need. More experienced views could be furn shed. But if these four aspects of our present day society herein suggested would be taken of, probably our country would make big strides in the proper direction. I hope for your success in the convention. Your success ;s ours also. May God bless you. Taking this opportunity to greet your honor, we remain. In Christ Jesus, Msgr. Gregorio Espiga, O.A.R.,D.D. Bishop of Palawan CELIBACY AND THE EMOTIONAL LIFE’ The man who accepts a life of consecrated celibacy enters a condition in which, nowadays especially, his whole emotional life is going to be profoundly affected. “It is not good that man should be alone” said God, after having created Adam, “I will make him a helper fit for him” (Gen. 2:18), “male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27). The man consecrated by celibacy renounces obedience to this law, which God has made part of his nature and which inclines him to seek self-realization in a whole network of human rela tionships, among which the conjugal and the paternal have by far the greatest significance. Such a renunciation is bound to create difficulties on the emotional level, for the life of the affections is deprived of that which, in a normal situation, is the main source of its nou rishment and its growth. So, the man consecrated by celibacy must discover some specific and particular ivay in which this same nourishment, exercise and growth can be assured- Some how or other, his love for God and his neighbour must become incarnate in his human emotional life. Charity, which is a gift of God and a divine way of lov'ng, must become embodied in him so that his affectivity may be given a style and objec tives which are beyond the inherent capacities of human natureIt is for th:s reason that the legitimacy, the possibility and the fruitfulness of the celibate way of life will be proportion ate to the rightness and efficacy of the motives zvhich have inclined a Christian to such a commitment and wlv.ch, for the remainder of his days, must assure his perseverance and pro gress therein. Reprinted from the Clergy Review, January, 1970. DOCTRINAL 631 The Motives for Celibacy An Historical Survey The crisis of clerical celibacy is not primarily a problem of ecclesiastical institutions: at the deepest level it is a question of motivation. This is true of all problems in which the emo tional life in the celibate condition is involved. It must be noted straight away that the religious vow of chastity does not have the same motives as the celibacy of the secular priest, nor are its consequences on the institutional level completely identical—even although it must be admitted that there has, historically, been a strong reciprocal influence bet ween the priesthood and the religious life: for the vow of chas tity, taken first by monks and then by relig ous, did much to generalize the law of celibacy, while more and more religious came to see ordination to the priesthood as part of the religious life, at least in the majority of cases. What remains true is that which, over the centuries, has become what we now call “the religious life” included from the very beginning that renunciation of marriage proposed by Chrst in his famous allusion to the “eunuchs”: "there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it” (Matt 19:21). Some of the first disciples did “receive it”: there were “virgins of Chr st” among the first communities, and St. Paul can write that “the unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, hew to please the Lord” (I Cor. 7:32) and say “I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own special gift from God, one of one kind and one of another” (I Cor. 7:7). Such motivations and charismat c invitations are an essen tial part of the religious life, and are present throughout its whole evolution in the history of the people of God. A mar ried religious has never been seen and can hardly be imag'ned. Marred priests, on the other hand, there are and always have been, or rather, married men having received ordination to the priesthood- There is a certain basic similarity between BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS the motives of the celibate priests and the religious, and celibacy is particularly suitable in view of this pract cal requirements of the ministry of a priest. But in law, as in fact, celibacy is not an essential prerequisite for the priesthood, ds we are reminded in the Vatican Council’s Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests.1 History shows us the motives for clerical as evolvng in a variety of cultural contexts and undergoing cer tain modifications springing from the development of Christ ian thinking on the specific functions of the priests.1 2 1 It [perfect and perpetual continence] is not, indeed, demanded by the very nature of the priesthood, as is evident from the practice of the primitive church and from the tradition of the Oriental churches (no. 16). 2 Although both the motives for religious chastity and the manner in which it has been lived have also been influenced by historical factors, yet the institution itself has undergone no essential modification. 3 Cf. Paul Audet, Structure of the Christian Priesthood, Sheed & Ward 1967, Chapter V, pp. 125-51. ■* In the Old Testament abstinence from sexual intercourse is an essential prerequisite for the performance of any sacred action, cf. for example, Genesis 19:15 and I Samuel 21:5. Until the beg nning of the third century the functions of the Christian minister were not, unlike those of his pagan or Jewish counterpart, specifically connected with “the sacred”. The minister of the new alliance “feeds" the flock, “oversees” it and “presides" at the breaking of the bread. He is the “mi nister" (leitourgon) of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, in the priestly service (hierourgounta) of the gospels, so that the of fering of the gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:16). According to Fr. Paul Audet3 it is only towards the begin ning of the third century that the vocabulary of the sacred (hierus, sacerdos, consecratio, etc.) appears in Christian lan guage, and the priestly function becomes “the service of the altar and the sacrifices" rather than the service of the people and the word. Are we to see in this a return to an Old Testament * or even a pagan notion of the priesthood? Does it represent the revival of a more ancient feeling for and religion of the sacred? Or is it, again, the result of an increase in the number of Christ ians, increase entailing a greater area of qualitative mediocrity, a higher degree of institut onalization and a progressive hierarchization of ecclesiastical structures? DOCTRINAL Whatever the answer to these questions, the fact is that the reintroduction of the notion of the sacred into the sphere of concepts concerning the priestly funct on brought with it the notions of pure and impure, especially in relation to sexuality, which tended, under certain cultural influences active in the Greco-Roman world, to be considered as impure even in mar ried life. The Platonic, as the stoic, cast of mind, gnosticism, mazdeism and manicheism all show a tendency to refuse and to condemn the body, with its passions and sexual ty and this tendency could not but influence contemporary Christian thought. From Origen to Clement of Alexandria, from Tertullian to St Augustine, these profane influences were to lead Christians to see in the use of marriage a “concess on” (I Cor. 7:6) J The use of marriage thus appears incompatible with the exer cise of the ministry, which is seen as something sacred and priestly ” St. Ambrose gives a clear example of this attitude: “Thou unclean in mind and body,” he asks, “wouldst thou dare to pray for others and minister to them?”-’ Convinced that the priest hood would be profaned by conjugal relations, he esteems that the sacred ministry requires one to approach the altar with one’s body free from all “impurity”, part'cularly that involved in married life. If celibacy has become an obligation for priests in the Western church, it would seem to have been for this type of motive in which the not ons of purity and impurity are domin ant, without, of course, forgetting the obvious economical ad vantages of celibacy.1 * 3 Celibacy is not so much “for the king dom of heaven” as for the altar and the sacred things. 1 Cf. J. T. Noonan, Jr. Contraception, Harvard U.P.. 1965. Chap ters II to IV. Tu illotus monte pariter et corpore audes pro aliis supplicarc, audes aliis ministrare?" De Offidis Miwstrorum, I, 50. 3 At the beginning of the fourth century, the Spanish Council of Elvira (which is the first known document in which the marriage of priests is forbidden) makes it illegal for Bishops and priests to travel outside the limits of their own provinces with a view to undertaking the more lucrative kinds of business transaction (necessary for the sup port of their families) Later on, reminders about the obligation to celibacy are motivated by the dangers of somny and of the transmission by heritage of Church property to the children of the clergy. Cf. Henry Charles Lea, History of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church, first edited 1867, reprinted by the University Press, U.S.A. 634 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS Together with the accent on the priest’s function of serv ing the altar, this complex and ambiguous ensemble of motives for clerical celibacy has been handed down through the centu ries. To this must be added the consequences of a mentality which became generalized in the western world from the four teenth century onwards, mentality which produced a peculiarly legalistic and voluntaristic type of morality, which the basis was obligation as such without any reference to the internal laws of human nature and reason: Kant’s categorical impera tive is very much in thus line. An action in morally good be cause God has so decided it in his absolute freedom: it is for man but to obey what has thus been commanded- The moral categories are reduced to two: that ivhich is allowed and that which is forbidden-, to wh'ch category the different possible human acts belong being decided by the authority of God or of his representatives on earth. Such a moral system was at once the cause and the effect of excessive sentiments of culpa bility in the sexual sphere, which became riddled with scrupples and obsessional anxieties, being dominated by social constraint rather than a concern for internal authenticity. Even outs de the Church, sex was treated as a forbidden subject, surrounded by silence and hypocrisy. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, for example, considered that children should be kept in a state of complete ignorance about such things until they grew up. Adolescent masturbation was held responsible for all the very worst evils, both for the individual and for civilizations In such a climate, one can well understand that celibacy should be presented to future priests as an obligation coming directly from God, to which it was sufficient and necessary to submit. Paradoxically enough, a vocation was presented as something imposed by God on the subject. In 1925 the superior of a seminary wrote that “one does not choose a vocation, it is an act of authority from on high, an act of possession by the Divine.” The junior seminarist who did not persevere to the end was threatened with compromising his eternal salvation. If he “lost” his vocation, this could only be a defection, a lack of generosity. The great concern was to preserve such young adolescents, the “future priests”, from the dangers of relation ships with the opposite sex. There was little concern for in formation, still less for any real formation in the theological DOCTRINAL 635 light and inspiration which alone can promote the groivth of the authentic virtue of Christian chastity as St Thomas under stands it: it was fear that was incidcated rather than the evan gelical motivation of the Kingdom of God There is no question here, of course, of attaching blame to any particular individuals: such a way of presenting and of living the celibacy of the pr esthood was too closely connected with both the Christian and the secular mentalities of the nine teenth centuray for things to have been otherwise. But it is quite understandable that clerical cel bacy should not have been as fruitful as it might have been, that it should, further, have entailed a certain emotional immaturity among many priests, making it diff cult for them to avoid becoming obsessional in this sphere, or even leading them to complete failure It is also understandable that, at a time when sexual taboos are beginning to disappear, when Christian thought no longer associates with marred love the taint of impurity it has received since the third century, and when not only has the proclaimation of the Gospel been restored to its rightful position, but the whole pastoral action of the Church as well has appeared to need rethinking so as to pass from the fight against de-chrstianization to an acceptance of the fact of secularization, that at such a time, the law of celibacy should be called into question both by priests and by the laity themselves. One must also take into account the fact that, throughout the ages, cel bacy has been associated with a certain social category, that of the “clerk” or elerje, who, throughout the his tory of mediaeval Europe, had a quasi-monopoly of education and a decisive influence in the social and political spheres. The clergy, indeed, came to constitute a distinct social stratum: thus, in pre-revolutionary France they constituted the first of the three orders of the Etats Generaux du Royaume. Nowadays on the other hand, the clergy are ceasing to have any recog nized social position. Many of them deliberately seek to appear less "ecclesiastical” in order to be better priests. Now one of the major factors that can contribute to the development of a man’s emotional maturity is the ease which he feels in his sit uation in his milieu. He needs to be recogn zed for what he is, both in his own person and in his functions. Among priests 636 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS there is, at the moment, a basic feeling of insecurity precisely on this point, feeling revealed in the various movements for the “declericalization” of the clergy. All this is not without its effect on the affectivity of the priests, particularly on his feelings towards celibacy. It ap pears to many that the value of celibacy as a sign, explicitly mentioned by Vat can II,1 runs the risk of passing unperceived by our contemporaries. 1 On priestly celibacy, the Decree on the ministry and life of priests expresses itself thus: “In this way, they [they clergy] profess before men that they desire to dedicate themselves in an undivided way to the task assigned to them . . . they evoke that mysterious marriage which was established by God and will be fully manifested in the future, and by which the Church has Christ as her only spouse. Moreover they become a vivid sign of the future world . . .’ (no. 16). The traditional motives for priestly celibacy, then, are seriously lacking in credit and in force. The future belongs to the new motives, which are also the oldest, those formulated by Christ and by St Paul. If, nowadays, priestly celibacy is so generally questioned throughout the world, and that in an atmosphere of some con fusion, this obsolescence of the "classical” motivations, which have gradually increased in rigidity since the third century, particularly during the fourteenth and nineteenth centuries, is one of the main causes. To it may be added certain serious deficiences on the part of those responsible for the formation of priests and religious, deficiencies apparent both in the dis cernment of vocations and in the education of candidates with regard to consecrated chastity. The transformation by which a celibacy st:ll intimately con nected with the "sacred”, experienced primarily as a prohibi tion, becomes a celibacy lived “for the Kingdom of God” will, of course, present diff culties to many priests. Their emotion al life, previously regarded with deep suspicion as a source of transgressions, must be brought under the regime of charity and of the Holy Spirit. It seems that what St Paul wrote about the “curse of the law” (Gal-3:13) is particlarly applicable here. "The command- 1 DOCTRINAL 637 ment was meant to lead me to life, but it turned out to mean death for me, because sin took advantage of the commandment to mislead me, and so sin, through that commandment killed me” (Rom. 7:10, 11), but "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (II Cor. 3:17). In the measure that the emotional life of the priest comes to benefit from this freedom, this go ng beyond the law, he is likely to experience great con fusion as long as the more fundamental motivation is not fully in possession in him. “For me,” says St Paul, “there are no forbidden things ... but I am not going to let anything domi nate me” (I Cor. 6:12)- “If you are guided by the Spirit you will be in no danger of yielding to self-indulgence” (Gal. 5:16)This basic re-motivation of priestly celibacy zvill not, then, be easy, but it is inevitable and it is pood. It demands a re education and lived re-invention of the particular kind of emo tional life rvhich follows from the voluntary acceptance of celi bacy as a means of total consecration to God’s work. This is the essential problem that celibacy poses for the priest in the modern world. The Problem of Emotional Maturity Man is not only a mind, he is also a heart. The latter too must live, not only through the activity of reason (that reason of the heart, or better that rational desire that has come to be known as the will), but also through the affectivity and the passions which the stoics mistakenly sought to eliminate rather than to humanize and control.1 1 Cf. St. Thomas, Summa Tlieologica, la Ilac, Q. 24. This human affectivity is nourished and developed by the experience of human relationship in the context of a given soc'al and cultural milieu- Experimental psychology throws into sharp relief the importance of such relationships from early infancy onwards: the concept of relationship is prom ncnt in the works of contemporary philosophers, for example, Buber and Sartre. Love, of course, is the essential relationship. The child reaches awareness of self through the love of its mother, which BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS it gradually learns to reciprocate. Now it is through its body and with its body that it experiences this love. The gestures of tenderness and affection, the care that is lavished on the satisfaction of infant needs, the very nourishment that it re ceives are all physical realities which aere experienced, and whose meaning is gradually perceived, through the senses. Thus the relationships of the child, however “spiritual” they are to become later on, remain “physical” or at least “incarnate”, so that in adult life no relatonship with another is possible without the words, the facial expressions, the ges tures that are the physical and sensorial manifestation of one human body faced with another. But these human bodies are not asexual. On the biological level, they possess not only the appropriate organs but a whole sexually determined somatic structure and functioning. This physiological basis is the foundation of two d fferent forms of presence in the world, two complementary approaches to total humanity in the milieu that conditions its realization. All effect've relationships are, therefore, at least in a wide sense, .sexual. Human affectivity is sexual in so far as affection for another human being differs in kind depending on the sex of the persons concerned. It is, of course, in mar ried life that the affective relationship finds its highest ex pression. Thus the man who is celibate, even when his celibacy is a consecration to God, I'-ves in a state of profound emotional deprivation, and it is not by refusing to look this fact in the face that it can be coped with adequately. The man who is living a celibate life must still have an emotional life-, if he does not, there is not only the risk of the slow death of his heart to be considered (slow death that will reduce a priest to a mere functionary or a relig'ous to an “observant” auto mation), but also the vain search for effective compensations (activism, authoritarianism, marginal occupations that assume too great an importance, eccentricities, a spirit of contestation or revolt, etc.). DOCTRINAL 639 Ultimately there is always the possibility that a man will be forced to seek to escape from an intolerable situation. An American doctor who, over a period of time, had to ekamine about a hundred priests in a psychiatr c clinic, mentions, in a published report,1 the cases of several “model" priests who abandoned the priesthood- In all the cases there was a very real search for perfection, a conscientious performance of all the duties of the priestly life, and a complete repression and denial of the true life of the affect’ons. The impulses of aggressivity and sexuality, the most primary emotional needs, were regarded, in each case, as intolerable: all the subjects gave the appearance of having completely rid themselves of such things. But that which was denied finally pierced through the wall of denial and repression. The desire for priestly per fection had led these men to refuse all that made them human, so that the eventual rediscovery of their humanity led to a rejection of the priesthood. 1 Cf. Journal of Religion and Health, July 1965, p. 335. These observations lead us to the very centre of our prob lem, a problem that may be resumed in two propositions: 1 — it is necessary that the man who lives a life of celi bacy should reach some sort of emotional fulfilment. 2—the renunciation of marriage and paternity deprives a man of the basic relationships through which emo tional fulfilment is normally achieved. It is easy enough to state the solution of this problem: but putting it into words will be easier than putting it into practice. The statement of the solution may be given in the following terms: the man who lives a life of consecrated celiba cy must I've out in the sphere of his affectivity the development in himself of the supernatural virtue of charity. Like the religious life, the vocation to the priesthood has no other foundation than charity. “Simon, Son of John,” asks the risen Christ three times, “do you love me more than these others do?” and Simon Peter replies, “Yes Lord, you know, I love you”: it is then that Jesus says to him “feed my lambs” (John 21: 15-17). It is true that this triple ques 640 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS tion is intended to teach Peter a lesson in humility, but it is his love for Christ that is the basic factor in the vocation in which he is confirmed. As for the religious life, we know that its specific charac teristic is to offer to those who enter it the most suitable means for the growth of charity by the practice of the evangelical counsels.1 1 Cf. Vat. II, Decree Perfectae Caritatis on the renewal and adapta tion of the religious life. 2 Cf. Rom. 12:10. St. Paul uses here the Greek word Philostorgos 3 Cf. St. Thomas, Summa Theologica Ila Ilae, Q.23, Art. 8. Priest or rel’gious, the man who accepts a life of consecrater celibacy has found a treasure hidden in a field and “in his joy sells all he has to buy that field” (Matt. 13:1-1). The fundamental and, in a sense, exclusive love of his life is the love of Christ inseparable from the love of men, all men. But such love is not “natural” for man, it is beyond his powers. It is a gift of God, for “the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us" (Rom. 5:15). This “love that is in Christ Jesus” (I Tim. 1:13), this divine way of lov.ng, described by Christ himself when he tells his disciples “Just as I have loved you, you must love one another” (John 13:34), is the fruit of the Holy Spirit: it is grace. Accepted .and lived by a man, on the level of his spiritual affect.vity or will, it must progressively penetrate his heart, with all its reserves of human tenderness. “Love each other as brothers,” says St. Paul, “in tenderness of heart ”1 2 Growth in charity does not necessarily mean loving a greater number of people, but allozving one’s love to be pene trated more deeply and more extensively by this supernatural reality. The affectiv.ty and the passions must be animated by charity, and in the man who loves thus, charity itself be comes a passion. For St Paul, charity can mean a burning anxiety for the Church (II Cor. 11:19). St. Dominic’s love of God, too, was not without clear emotional manifestat ons, ac cording to his biographers. This is the meaning to be given to the classical adage that charity is the “form” or “mother” of all the virtues.3 DOCTRINAL 641 This, in effect, is the only way in which the man who is living a life of consecration by celibacy can keep his heart alive, the only way in which he ivill find genuine affective fulfilment. His prayer, in which his love for God is chiefly exercised, must be frequent, intense and “affective”. His neighbour must be for him a “sacrament” of Christ, so that he can love the men and women whom he meets with a charity that is active in a truly human heart, giving without counting the cost1 but being capable also of receiving just as much with his total human sensitivity and affection. >Cf. I Cor. 13:14, and Matt. C:3. 2 It would seem legitimate to apply to this problem what St. Thomas says about the passions in general. He rejects the early stoic ideal of apatheia, declaring the passions themselves to be capable of becoming virtuous and thus allowing that the temperate man is not lacking in desire, for he desires what is fitting in a fitting manner (Summa, la Pars, Q.95, Art. 2, ad 3 um.). The manner in which the passions can thus share in the movements ofcharity is explained by St. Thomas in many passages the teaching of which has too often been neglected. Thus, when treating the question of the order to be established among the objects of charity, he remarks that blood-relationships and other natural affinities should lead to a growth in charity, thus family ties will be animated by charity (Ila Ilae, Q.26 art. 7 etc.) . Likewise he explains that mercy is a passion which, when animated by charity, be comes one of the greatest of virtues (Ila Ilae, Q.30, Arts. 3 and 4). 3 Cf. Vatican II, Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, no. 16. The community life of the religious, the carefully fostered social and pastoral relations of the priest with his colleagues in the diocese, his care for those to whom he is sent by God, such things as these, constitute the world of relationships of the man who is consecrated by celibacy. Through such rela tionships his emotional life can develop in the context of an affect vity which, while inspired by supernatural charity, does not cease to be as fully human as possible.* 2 This then, is the task of the man consecrated by celibacy: to integrate charity and affectivity. In this way, and in no other, can he groiv in charity and in humanity: thus, and thus alone, will it be seen how perfect continence "simultaneously signifies and stimulates pastoral charity and is a special foun tain of spiritual fruitfulness on earth."3 If this is the ideal, real ty nonetheless obliges us to recog nize that, for the man who is living a celibate life, charity 642 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS cannot be as “natural” as would have been the love of a wife and children. Time, and a particular style of life twill be neces sary if the integration of the affective life into the movement of charity is to be successfully achieved. It must even be admitted that, where the heart is concerned, something will always be missing: to say nothing of the complete abstinence from sexual relations. The fact that the man who is living a life of consecrated celibacy is, like other men, a sinner, does noth’ng to diminish the difficulty. He bears in himself the consequences of ori ginal sin: he is wounded from birth, and notably in this, that his sexuality and his affectivity are extremely difficult to har monize both between themselves and with his spiritual facultiesNor will grace eradicate totally the consequences of the ori ginal fault as long as he is still in via-1 1 Cf. St. Thomas, De Veritate, Q.25, art 7, in corpore. 2 Aristotle, Politics, Bk. I Chap. 3; St. Thomas, Summa, la pars, Q.83, art. 3, ad 2 urn; la Ilae, Q.56, art 4, ad 3 urn; Q.58, art. 2, in corpore. Freud had already noted that there seems to be something in the human sexual instinct that is opposed to complete ful filment. It is difficult enough for the married man to integ rate his sex-life, his heart and his spiritual facilities: one need not therefore, be at all surprised if the man who lives a celibate life, whose psychological balance and emotional fulfilment de pend on the integration of an affectivity that is sexuality frustrated into the movement of supernatural charity, should discover particular difficulties in this sphere. And yet such harmony and fulfilment are not impossible, although they suppose a particular kind of education, an edu cation of the affections dominated not by interdict and repression, but by their submission to the power of Divine Love. The government of the passions, to return to the analogy favoured by Aristotle and St. Thomas1 2 should be modelled not on the police methods of the political tyrant, but on the democratic principle that government should not reduce minor ity views to silence and condemn those who hold them to inactivity, but persuade minorities to work for the good of the DOCTRINAL 643 country according to the views of the majority: having re course to police measures only in extreme and exceptional circumstances. St. Thomas also makes use of other images, conditioned, of course, by the customs of his time, which all show a similar “respect” for the impulses of passion, which must be mastered for the sake of their own enrichment. He instances the authority of husband over wife1 and of father or teacher over a child.* 2 ' I)e Veritate, Q.15, art. 2, ad !> uni. 2 Ila Ilae, Q.lal, art. 1, in corpore. 3 In III Sent, Dist. 23, art. 1, ad 1 um. We may sum up St. Thomas’s teaching without images and in his own words by saying that a man’s control over his pasions is imperfect when they suffer violence and are con demned to a sterile inactivity: this control becomes perfect when it becomes, as it were, a second nature for the passions to participate spontaneously in the love of the intelligent af fectivity, when passion itself becomes intelligent.3 It must be recognized that an education in the virtue of chastity according to the principles of St. Thomas has not been the custom in the past, especially in seminaries and novitiates. An attitude of silence and fear has been all too common. Often the educators themselves have not had an adequate formation. The only woman who was allowed a place in the life of the candidate for the priesthood and of the priest himself was his mother, which, in itself, could not fail to create as many problems as it was supposed to solve. But whatever has to be said of this recent (and even pre sent) past, it must be admitted that, even in the most favourable circumstances, the affectivity of the man who is consecrated by celibacy, an affectivity which cannot express itself in a normal scx-l'fe, will only be integrated into the movement of supernatural charity slowly and progressively. In other words, such a man will be living in a continual fast of the affections. 644 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS Now one mistake that he will be tempted to make in these circumstances will be to allow a sentiment of shame and culpa bility to be associated with certain desires. But a man who fasts feels hungry: this hunger is a natural phenomenon and a sign of health. Hunger is perfectly normal when one has not enough to eat, either because there is no food available or because one is fasting. The man who is fasting finds in this hunger the material of his self-denial and his offering to God. Christ fasted and was hungry (Matt. 4:2). Why, then, should the fast of the affections and sexual abst nence not lead to feelings of deprivation and need? The man who is consecrated by celibacy would be utterly mistaken were he to allow any culpability to be attached to his emo tional and sexual hunger-feelings, interpreting them either as an infidelity to his vocation or as a sign that his vocation is in any way unreal or illusory. For such misplaced culpability is the effect of a morality of negation and fear: it will often lead to a struggle against “temptat on” that simply exacerbates desire rather than giving it a positive significance and can easily bring into play psychological mechanisms of an obses sional character. It tvould seem more authentic and more efficacious to ac cept such hunger in a spirit of interior peace, for it is only in such a climate that it can receive a positive meaning “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven". The only positive meaning possible is precisely that of the movement of charity, wh ch alone can initiate the process by which, to use the Freudian language of stiblimation, sexual impulses are attracted torvards objects that are not, in themselves, sexual. This kind of sub limation is what is required to take over and perform far more effectively the task that ivas mistakenly entrusted to a regime of interdict and repression. Such a solution, as Freud himself was willing to recog nize, is only possible in the measure that man learns to appre ciate what we may, in a wide sense, call the pleasures of the spirit. For the man who lives a life of consecrated celibacy DOCTRINAL 645 they can be identified with the joys of charity,1 joys, which can overflow into the senses through all that is soundly human in those relationships with others through which he lives out his “sacramental” relationship to God. The more the celibate priest can find joy in his ministry, his way of life, his vocar tion,‘ the more he will be able to integrate these things into his emotional life, and the more fruitfully will he live his celibacy. 1 What the Spirit brings ... is love,, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal. 5:22, 23). “God’s gift was not a spirit of timidity but the Spirit of power, love and self-control” (II Tim. 1:7). On the joy of charity, cf. Summa Theoloffica Ila Ilae, Q.28. 2The joy of charity does not, as St Paul points out, exclude tribula tions. Cf. II Cor. 4:7, 12; 6:1-10; 12:7-10. If, on the contrary, the affective and sexual impulses have been suppressed rather than sublimated, forbidden and made objects of blame rather than made to share in objectives and satisfactions which surpass and inspire them, celibacy ivill be more or less intolerable, especially if the subject suffers from some deep-seated neurotic tendency. Freud himself notes that the more a person is disposed to neurosis, the less able he is to support sexual abstinence. It is in the context of his own singular spiritual and psychological dispositions, dispositions that will tend to be of one of the two kinds outlined above, that a man ivho is more or less at ease in his celibate condition establishes relationships with the opposite sex. It is in such a context that he may well find himself falling in love, to use the everyday terms, with a member of the opposite sex, who reciprocates in some degree his feelings. Experience shows that the significance and outcome of such a relationship will depend in a very large measure on the affective and sexual maturity of the man and ivoman con cerned. If the man concerned, in particular, has been unable to harmonize his affectivity with the positive motives for his celibacy, if he does not find a large degree of emotional ful filment in the activities of his ministry, if, most of all, he 1 2 646 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS suffers from neurotic tendencies cultivated by an education that has been built upon repression and fear, then the rela tionship will be contaminated by ambiguities of various kinds1 and be unlikely to lead to any real growth in maturity. The final outcome may well be sexual relations and a marriage which, though it can be sacramental, will not always prove stable and happy, for the primary aim of matrimony is not therapeutic. On the woman’s side, certain neurotic tendenc’es may also be operative. It is posible that Szondi’s thesis, which gives neurotic complementarity an important role in the cho:ce of a marriage partner, would be particularly applicable in such Cases.1 2 1 The ambiguous elements may include a dissociation of the affective and the sexual, a latent and unconscious homosexuality, a search for a mother-substitute, sentiments of neurotic aggression against authority, narcissism, etc. 2L. Szondi, Schicksalsanalyse, Wald in Liehe, Freundscajt, Beruf und Tod,, 2nd edition, Basle 1948.. It is to be feared that, while capable of maternity, the woman will suffer from frigidity and have, in fact, a maternal attitude towards a partner who, • in his turn, may well have remained, in a.state of over-dependence on his mother. The woman may also have had difficulties in solving the problem of her relationship with her fathor. ’ 3 St. Francois de Sales, Oewres Completes, Tome XII, p. 285. If, on the contrary, the two partners in such a relation ship have already achieved a happy condition of emotional maturity, each in his or her oivn condition, there is every hope that the relationship will lead to a further enrichment of the affectivity on both sidesj which will make it an even better instrument of supernatural charity. The example of the saints and the experience of many devout Christians, priests, religious and lay people, allows this conclusion to be drawn. It is im possible not to quote here what St. Francis de Sales wrote to the Baroness de Chantal: . . . this, then, is the bond that unites us, these are the ties that hold us together, and the closer they draw us, the more ease and freedom will they give us. Know then, that I hold myself closely bound to you, and seek to know no more, save that this bond is incompatible with no other, whether of vow or of marriage.3 DOCTRINAL 647 In such conditions, the heart of the man consecrated by celibacy will remain undivided 1 and his affectivity will be truly enriched. Such a heart, being more alive, can be filled with yet more charity towards all men. 1 Cf. 1 Cor. 7:32-34. Speaking of priestly celibacy, the Council’s Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests (no. 1G) containes this state ment, concerning priests consecrated to Christ by celibacy: “They more easily hold fast to him with an undivided heart.’’ - This attitude of irresponsability and revolt is often manifested in a certain psychological exhibitionism, a need for the support of public opinion and various other attempts to escape feelings of misplaced cul pability. If this sexual but not sexually active relationship is not allowed to became an absolutely vital and essential need, if both partners, according to the recommendaton of St. Paul, do not become engrossed in it (I Cor. 7:31), accepting it rather as one of the added gifts that can accompany the search for the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 6:33), then it will be highly beneficial to both. In the other kind of case that we have mentioned, one can only insist on posing the problem of the real meaning of the relationship and invite both partners to face up to what is really happening in the hope that they will discover or renew at a deeper level the impact of the evangelical and pastoral motives of chastity. A dialogue with some suitable confidant would .seem in dispensable and is likely to favour the sort of authenticity that is required to counterbalance an immature culpabil.ty. The confidant too must, of course, be personally at ease with such problems, in order to be able to help those concerned to dis cover the truth. The absence, and most of all, the refusal of of such a dialogue indicates an attitude of irresponsibility and revolt1 against authority which augurs ill for the future, whatever it may beIn conclusion, we may rate highly the chances of genuine happiness arising from a particular friendship between two people who are already making satisfactory progress towards emotional maturity. For others, it is Hable to prove a grave misfortune. Thus it would seem that, in this sphere, the enig matic words of Christ are verified: “I tell you, to everyone who has will be given more, but from the man who has not, even what he has will be taken” (Luke 12:26). Albert Ple, O.P. P'tledld and, Ont&UG'i P'u.H.cifiled. In tyi.Ufi.inGd • Wilfredo C. Paguio We have said that interior principles are the objective norms of morality which we have learned from the Church and the school. These consist in the eternal law, the natural law, the decalogue, the Church laws, the governmental laws and other social laws. In short, these interior principles are the norms which we are supposed to follow in order to live according to the spirit of Christian faith. This is the law to do good and avoid evil. This is the sixth commandment spe cially intended to this our age of sexual permissiveness. This is also the Land Reform Laws which we must, with all patience, try to implement, not only because they are provided for by governmental laws by also because they are commanded by en cyclicals such as the Rerun Novarun, Quadragesino Anno, Mater et Magistra and Populorun Progressio. In our prevous articles, we have dealt about the Filipino exterior principles. We have dealt about hiya, iitang-na-loob and the Filipino materialistic tendency. In treating on them, we have pointed out some ways through which we can make use of them in “interiorizing”, as it were, objective Christian values towards a more integrated Filipino Christian personality. We have tried to suggest some methods on how, through them, it can be easier for us to follow the interior principles. In our present article, moreover, we shall attempt to in vestigate our pre-Spanish concept of God, examine our Spanish past, inquire into our reactive American regime, consider our faith at present, look into the two principal approaches to it and derive some conclusions and observations that can help us suggest some practical means of pastorally “interiorizing” our Christian principles which we can add to what we have already said in our past articles. PASTORAL 649 OUR PRE-SPANISH CONCEPT OF GOD Philosophers have theorized that man begot the idea of God out of the feeling of fear. Man, they say, in the begin ning, did not know God. But when the heavens flashed, he began to hide himself. When he felt the strength of the storm, he started to look for an alien power to protect himself — and he found God. God compensated for his weakness. Man con ceived God as almighty. And in a time when might was right, man became afraid of God as he was afraid of the most power ful man in his tribe. He began to serve Him. He tried to reckon His will and to do His wishes out of fear of punishment. In the Philippines, during the pre-Spanish times, the natives called this God by the name of Bathala. It was believed that when Bathala was displeased by a person, He puts dif ficulties and sorrows in his way. When He is pleased, He facilitates the persons’ way. His power over life and death, happiness and sorrow of human beings has made Him a Being to be obeyed and feared. Thus, we still find some people afraid to hurt priests, not because of ex-communication nor of any legal or canonical con sideration, but because they are afraid to displease God repre sented by the priest. And when one goes against the priests and he meets misfortunes, as for instance, an accident or bankruptcy in his business, people usually think of that mis fortune as a punishment from God. On the other hand, if people are very close to the Church and they get rich or they win in the sweepstakes, they consider this as a reward from God, and they never forget to say that “nagpapasalamat nga kami sa Diyos sa lahat ng mga ipinagkakaloob Niya sa amin”. (We really thank God for all that He has been giving us.) Even natural calamities are interpreted as punishments from God. The Ruby Tower incident, the typhoons which de vastated Bicolandia, the flood which paralyzed business in Manila and suburbs and even the cyclone in Pakistan were considered as punishments from God due to the growing crime rate which manifest man’s forgetfulness of his duties to the Supreme Being. Some even interpreted these as punishments 650 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS for the bomba films. For as they say “Gustong-gusto ninyo ng bomba. 0, ayan pati mga bahay ninyo pinagbomba." (You like bomba, films so God caused even your houses to be stripped and be unroofed.) The cyclone in Pakistan was inter preted as a punishment for the complaints and hard headedness of some who would not obey the teachings of the Holy Father on birth control in his encyclical, Humanae- Vitae. In the same way, there is a belief that one should not travel during the hours of mass on Sundays for fear of incur ring the anger of God who can cause them accidents along the way. Thus, we see how fear occupies an important place in the God-man relationships of our ancestors. This has even come down to us as we know from experience. EXAMINATION OF OUR SPANISH PAST After having dealt on our pre-Spanish era, we now go into the examination of our Spanish past. Here, we shall treat on the Filipino Spanish Christianization and on Christian indigenization. Indeed, it has often been said that Christianity in our country, during the Spanish times, has been greatly indigenized rather than the people being christianized. In this part of our article, we shall discuss the extent of influence these Christianization and indigenization had towards the “interiorization” of Christian principles. FILIPINO SPANISH CHRISTIANIZATION In this section, we shall deal on the methods used by the Spaniards in implanting the Christ an faith in our ancestors. We shall divide this section into three, namely, the apostolic method, the goodwill method and the latigo (whip) method. APOSTOLIC METHOD — There are diverse patterns which can be used as models for the Span sh Christianization of the Philippines. There is the then contemporary method used by Portugal, the pattern followed by St. Francis Xavier and the model undertaken for the con PASTORAL 651 version of the Moors of Granada. Examination, however, shows that the first missionaries in the Philippines used as a more responsive and adequate method the tactics util.zed by the apostles. There are indeed stinking similarities between the task done by the apostles and the missionaries to South America and the Philippines. Just to mention a few parallelisms, we can point out the novelty and magnitude of the undertaking, the mass conversions and the expiditionary nature of the work. The success of this method in the South American missions really gave an incent ve for the Council of the Indies to use “our usual methods” in the Philippines. Besides, most of the missionaries sent here were /lores escogidas en el esplendtdo campo de los trabajos apostolicos realizados en America. Thus, the first group of Jesuits were instructed that as soon as they arrive in the Philippines they should apply themselves to the task of “saving their (the Filipinos’) souls as far as you can according to our usual methods”. GOODWILL METHOD — To add to the preceding method, the first miss onaries used this second method, the goodwill method. They tried to get the confidence of the natives by “becoming all things” to them. The mis sionaries “visited the sick, fed the hungry, clothed the naked, defended the weak, instructed the ignorant, look for a life partner for those who desired to marry but could not find one, saved the condemned from execution, settled disputes and petty quarrels”. In short, the missionaries became “the consoler of the afflicted, the pacifier of families, the promoter of useful ideas and the example of everything good.” They became the nat ves’ “father and mother, their lawyer and attorney, their protector and defender, their shield and protection which for their sake receive the blows of any adversity, their physician and healer of corporal wounds and infirmities, as well as of the sins and faults they commit; weak and •wretched as they are, to them they turn the’r labors and persecutions, hunger and needs, and with them they came to rest weeping and wailing just like children to their mother.” Aside from these, the missionaries also assumed the stance of being defenders of justice. The First Synod of Manila (1581-1582) sternly reminded the colonial authorities of their BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS primary duty to dispense justice to the natives. This was regarded as the very least they could do, for “the only justifica tion for our being in this country is that we may administer justice”. Injustice :s sinful no matter against whom it is com mitted but it acquired a special heinousness when committed against the natives, “the fruits of whose labor we eat”. The then Bishop Salazar of Manila has passed into his tory as the real champion of the rights and welfare of the early Filipinos. It was because of his untiring efforts that the Royal Audiencia was established by a royal decree. LATIGO (WHIP) METHOD —In discussing Filipino Spanish Christianization, moreover, it cannot be bypassed that the Spaniards also did a number of abuses in the name of faith. Thus, historians has always maintained that the Filipinos were converted through the cross and the sword. Churches, for example, are said to have been built under the threat of the latigo. This, however, is explained to have been done with the intention of making the people feel their unity and involvement in the new faith. Non-reception of sacraments was regarded as suspect. Preaching lashed fear into the souls of the people with threats of hell though tempered by a promise of heaven. In general, it is said that towards the last part of Spanish rule, the abuses of Spaniards were so rampant both in civil and ecclesiastical fields that these caused the revolution. CHRISTIAN INDIGENIZATION Having made a short exposition of the Spanish effort in christianizing the Philippines, we now proceed into, the inves tigation of the Filipino receptivity to this Spanish apostolate. We shall attempt to look deep into the Filipino soul and see the values which we deem vulnerable enough to be responsive to the call of Spanish Catholicism. We shall talk on our pakilo'sama system, our pasikatan system and our authoritarian system. PASTORAL 653 OUR PAKIKISAMA SYSTEM — Filipinos are natural diplo mats. They will never want to hurt the feelings of other people. Pliability is, therefore, one of the greatest traits of the Filipino. In the name of palcikisama, or as it has been very well termed “smooth per sonal relationship”, the Filipino has always been accused of conformism or even conservatism — if not praised for sociabi lity or agreeability. Usually, the Filipino cannot say an absolute yes or an ab solute no. If he wants to disagree, he uses such expression as pangit naman ‘ata? (It seems not to look nice, does it?) or siguro (perhaps ox * possibly). Sometimes, he even agrees com pletely with the speaker even if deep inside him, he disagrees. At other times, he just says exvan or that he does not know the answer to the question of the speaker even if he knows. Indeed, in spite of incongruities of opinions with other people, the Filipino can still manage to please and force a smile. This is specially true if the person to whom he talks is a benefactor. Out of xitang-na-loob, the Filipino w.ll never “insult” him by disagreeing with him. As a natural consequence of this, the Filipinos could not contradict the teachings of the Spaniards because of the ser vices these have given them in almost every field of endeavor. OUR PASIKATAN SYSTEM — Filipinos are pasikat (boast ful). They love to show others their superiority. Often, we find them presenting some extraordinary things which they have just acquired (nagpaparangalan). As a natural consequence of this trait, Filipinos are observed to be great lovers of pageantry. Th:s is said to have been inherited by us from the Chinese who have this motto: sageliness inside and kingliness outside. It is no won der then that our ancestors were captivated by the beautiful solemnity of Christian ceremonies. Aware of this Filipino characteristic, the Council of the Indies commanded that the first missionaries in the.r preaching must “wear at least surplice and stole with the cross in the hand” for the purpose of eliciting the admiration and attention of the natives. 654 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS And it is precisely this trait which commands the Filipino to stand in awe at the picturesque and the spectacular, since these are expressions of his inner desires, that caused Rajah Tupas and his Cebuano subjects to dispel their hostility and suspicion of the foreigners Because of this, the daily mass was done with the utmost pomp possible. Musical instruments and congregational singing were even utilized precisely to at tract the natives. OUR AUTHORITARIAN SYSTEM —This is what is termed in modern Philippine scene as tuta-ism. This originated from the Chinese filial piety which we inherited. Obedience to parents was regarded as a rule of ethics and honor even in pre-Spanish times. This, moreover, acquired a wider extension during the Spanish regime when our central government was established extending the obe dience, formerly due only to parents and elders, t<? civil and ecclesiastical authorities. Thus, our authoritarian social system originated. The aristocratic and superior stance taken by the Spaniards was equated by the Filipinos to authority. Whatever proposal, therefore, which came from them was regarded as commands which must be obeyed with resignation. Even the status quo must not be criticized because this will imply “lack of omni science” in the part of the superiors and hence an insult to them. It is said that one of the means how the old still hold the young’s loyalty is the narration of stories about the myster'ous tianalc, asivang and other such evil spirits in a way that the elders appear to have known the mystery, unknown to the young, behind these beings. This, it is also said, epitom'zes the manner how authority works in the Philippines. The young just believe the stories of the old includ ng religious narratives. And when they narrate these stories, they just cite the authority of their grandfather of grandmother reflecting the relation of the people to the Church where the people just know what the Church is for, but often, they do not know what they are for because they have really never had an actual personal exper ience with the Church and her teachings. PASTORAL 655 INVESTIGATION OF THE REACTIVE AMERICAN REGIME The American regime is a great blow to Philippine Catholi cism. This began a more pragmatic outlook in life, which hampered Filipino religiosity to a great degreeThe separation of Church and state principle lessened the authority and prestige of religion. The abolition of religion classes in public schools plus the withdrawal of government subsidies slowed down ecclesiastical efforts to develop well in tegrated Filipino Christians with a more balanced outlook on things. Masonic and protestant influences, capitalizing on the anti-clericalism which was then prevalent, spread unhindered. A great number of parishes then under the ministration of foreigners were forcefully vacated leaving the faithful without any spiritual leadership thus alienating them from the Church indifferentism and immorality. Liberal minded publications, manuals, magazines and news papers usually anti-religion came out of the press leading to indifferentism and immorality. CONSIDERATION OF THE PRESENT We shall devote this part of our article in more thoroughly discussing the principal effects of the American regime which we are now experiencing. We shall subdivide it into three general topics, namely, utilization, secularization and democra tization. UTILIZATION — We speak here of relevance. It is a sad fact that today when we talk to farmers about their problems, they give us a response of amazement. It really seems that the present generation has forgotten the times when priests act as leaders in the community. The functions once upon a time usually performed by the Church — the assist ance to the poor and the destitute, care of the sick, the fight for social justice — are now left into oblivion. It really seems that the period of rest induced by the American regime have been too long. BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS We now awake in a situation when the mere mention of a traditional doctrine is going-establishment. This is a la mentable fact which is still worsened by the consciousness that the people who reject these doctrines have not really had a chance to have a complete knowledge and understanding of them- Indeed, what is worst is that the Church now awakes when the present generation can no longer understand her tongue and the contemporary language can hardly be used by her in transmitting her good news. Spanish terms, for exam ple, can hardly be understood nowadays. Even some Tagalog words used in the Church can no longer be deciphered by an average listener. Evolution of languages is indeed so fast that the Church must take extra care in always keeping herself abreast so that she may at least be understood. The involvement of the Church in temporal affairs of na tionalistic significance has also long been overdue. It is a his torical fact that nationalistic tendencies have given rise to different Filipion sects. The Church of Aglipay is one of these, the Wataivat ng Lahi, the Lapiang Malaya. This need was even recognized by the Dominican friars, though it did not maintain its right path, when they organized the Guardia de Honor of Pangasinan. The Church must learn how to utilize this nationalistic tendency of the Filipino in order to be rele vant. The Church certainly cannot just content herself today with having a reputation of being a mere museum exhibit. It is a good sign that the new generation of clergy is now heading towards the same relevant Church which we had in the past. These membership of the clergy should never, however, always brush aside the guidance of the old. SECULARIZATION — We refer this term to the current tech nological age brought about by scientific advances. We now live in a time when the cross no longer serve as a protection, like an anting-anting (talisman), against sickness, thunder and lightning. Ours is a time of two conflicting generations, namely, the old. and. the young. The old generation is the victim of the American imperialism which denied religious instruction to them. These well intentioned people, however, in spite of their PASTORAL 657 ignorance, still cling to the faith of their fathers — a faith which principally consists in processions, in chanting the Pas sion during the Holy Week, in approaching the altar through their knees and in rubbing their handkerchiefs on the images of the saints. This is the faith which seems to have been left vacuum by years — a faith which repulses the youth of our time. The young generation of our age looks for meaning in this faith. We, therefore, think it time to exert our greatest possible effort in the education of our people. This, indeed, is a good chance for us to implant in them a more solid faith — a faith which can make a new generation of Christians in our country in whom Christian principles will really work and be obeyed. DEMOCRATIZATION — The Church has obviously had an authoritarian tradition. This, how ever, is largely due to the low educational attainments of the laity in the past. Today, there is a growing intelligentia with in the folds of the Church. The middle class and upper classes now want to be heard in ecclesiastical circles. The disrepute incurred by the clergy, during the Spanish times when there was a mass ordination of sacristan priests still have a sort of hangover in the minds of our faithful. The fact that majority of our priests come from the poorer level of society is another factor pointed out as spurring on the decreas ing respect had by the people to the priest. These plus the increasingly high standard of education of the laity correspon ding to the lowering of the standard of seminary education, specially in suburban seminaries, lead to the more strengthened conviction of the lion-clerical members of the Church to have a voice in her decisions. Even the present atmosphere of change either unknown or disregarded by some conservative segments of the Church specially in the provinces promote this growing tendency. It is obvious, however, that democracy in the Church is unfeasible. But the need for an active laity properly guided can be a tremendous help to our apostolate. The Cursillo Movement is today a potent factor in the establishment of an active, organized laity. 658 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS TENDENCIES TOWARDS REFORM Faced with the above problems which naturally calls for some changes or modifications in the conservative outlook and approach of the heirarchical Church towards a more “interiorized” Christian principles in her faithful, a researcher in this field will find two prominent and seemingly opposing ten dencies towards reform, namely, the tendency towards personal ization and the tendency towards socialization. PERSONALIZATION — This tendency is certainly of the older generation. We find this in Quiapo, in Baclaran and in St. Jude’s Church. Personal novenas, pri vate rosaries, retreats, solitude fall under this heading. Usual ly, this type is only for those who have more or less been trained under this aspect of worship. Children of religious family traditions follow these devotions. We cannot, however, condemn these practices because, properly motivated, they aYe in themselves good if not exercised to tJie extreme as for example, to the extent of fanaticism. As a matter of fact, everyone needs this in order to see his existence in perspective. Besides, in our country, where there is no ri valry between sects — except in few cases where in a parish there is really a tight rivalry between Catholics and Aglipayans — we need these exercises in order to confirm our faith so as not to endanger its life to utter lukewarmness. The growing popularity of drugs, “eastern” mysticism and yogas also show how this personalization is important in this age of the absence of self-reflection. SOCIALIZATION — This is the tendency which has transform ed our otherwise silent congregat on into an unruly swinging group of faithful. It should, however, be noted in this regard that the Filipino has for long practiced a sort of socio-religious practices of his own. We have men tioned this before but it is good for us to be reminded of it in relation to our present topic. In the barrios specially, some occasional religious practices are centered on the family for whom the priest comes to say mass. Baptisms, weddings, fune rals, Christmas, Holy Week, Easter, All Saints’ Day are occaPASTORAL sions for family gathering. There is, therefore, a certain degree of socialization in the Filipino religious practices. But they are just as wide as the family in extent. The Filipino aloofness from the non-members of the family, therefore, plus the so-called ruling class ideology of the Church which makes the suffering patiently bear his lot because in the other life there is a reward awaiting him are mentioned as our present real problems which ask for solutions. These however, can be easily remedied. The present threat of communism can be used to unify the faithful against a com mon enemy and thus transcend the family line. The tendency of young priests to universalize Church teachings, as for exam ple, by applying Church doctrines to both the rich and the poor, is a healthy sign. Processions can also help a lot in ushering in unity in our parishes. There seems, as a matter of fact, a subconscious reflection of this in our youth today — their love of demonstra tions. OBSERVATIONS We must have noticed that during the pre-Spanish regime, there was a great tendency to obey divine norms only because of fear. This was even heightened during the Spanish regime by the moral and physical threats given by Spaniards for non conformity to their laws. Obedience out of fear as we all know, tends to be only surface-deep. It cannot last Love, which is the true Christian motivation must, therefore, be em phasized. During the Spanish regime, we must have also observed that the values we discussed together with the methods of Christianization used by the Spaniards seem to have only brought about an external faith among the converts leading to a permanent formation of exterior principles among Filipinos. Our pakikisama system, our pasikatan system and our au thoritarian system also actually influenced those mass conver sions which presuposes baptisms without the necessary prepa rations. 660 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS In this regal’d, we believe that the education of our people can remedy this problem. There should be a Catholic school in every parish. The tendency of the laity to participate in Church affairs is a good sign. This means that they can al ready reason out and not merely say yes out of pakikisama or respect of authority or because of admiration brought about by Church pageantry which is now little by little being mnimized. More solid Christian interior principles, therefore, are slowly gaining ground within the Filipino soul. But religious education is still a must. Meanwhile to remedy the bad effects of the American re gime, we suggest that priests frequent the barrios so that our people there may have a more suitable expression of their reli gious needs. Seminaries should train seminarians on how to live in these rural areas. Temporary assignments bring a very bad effect to the ministry because lack of dedication is observed since one never knows when he rvill be transfered. This state only makes the priest dream for a better parish instead of trans forming his present parish into the pat-ish he dreams of. Per manent parishes are, therefore, suggested. Through these means, the alienation of our people from the Church will be at least lessened. Besides, it is still true that the presence of a priest and his example of total dedication to the teachings of Christ seen by the faithful can give them an assurance that our Christ ian principles are still relevant and thus more ivorth practicing than the pragmatic principles preached by the Americans. About the present, we can say that our faithful are now faced by an apparent dilemna Old beliefs, habits and devotions “are now discredited and made to seem foolish.” On the other hand, the newer forms are “too sophisticated and too daring.” These, in short, are the two tendencies which we have discussed, namely, personalization and socialization. We have pointed out that these two do not necessarily contradict each other. In their applications, prudence and vigilance must be the rule. For example, personalization which is equivalent to superstition must never be permitted. On the other hand, socialization which will hamper the ministry of the priest as when he at tacks corrupt politicans with many relatives and followers in his parish from the pulpit must also be avoided. PASTORAL 661 To conclude, we can say that if we can only educate our people more, if we can only work for them with a little more dedication, if we can only implant in them the true Christian principle of charity, then there is a great hope that we shall succeed in inject ng Christian motives in their daily lives. For, indeed, a nation with amok and juramentados cannot forever re main superficial in her beliefs. REFERENCES ARENS, RICHARD, Scientists Point the Way to Religious Acculturation and Accomodation,” Philippine Sociological Review, VI :1 (January, 1958), 14-18. BACOLOD, GREGORIO, “Methods in the Christianization of the Philip pines,” Benavides, 1:1 (1965), 3-10. BULATAO, JAIME, SJ, “Unfolding the Mystery: A Social-Psychological View of the Philippine Church,” Home Life, (April, 1965), 41-47 (Manila; St. Paul Publications). DOHERTY, JOHN, SJ, “The Image of the Priest: A Study in Stereo typing,” Philippine Sociological Review, XII:1 & 2 (Januarv-April, 1964) , 70-76. LEGASPI, LEONARDO, OP, “The Church in the Philippines since 1900”, Boletin Ecclesiastico de Filipinos, XXXIX :435 (January-February, 1965) , 339-352. HICHLOCK, JAMES, “Christian Values and a Secular Future," America, vol. 121, (Sept. 13, 1969), 155-159. Pablo Fernandez, OP THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN THE PHILIPPINES * (Continued) Chapter 18 OTHER RELIGIOUS AND LITURGICAL PRACTICES Fast and Abstinence. Since there was such a variety of races in the Philippines, there was likewise a difference in the observance of the law of fast and abstinence. For the present, we are interested only in the native-born Fili pinos, the mestizos and the Europeans or their descendants in the Philippines. With regard to the. Filipinos, suffice it to say that during the Spanish regime, they enjoyed a special indult granted to all the natives of the West and the East Indies through the bull of Pope Paul III, Altitudo divini consilii of 1 June 1537. According to this bull, the law of fast was binding on the vigils of Christmas and Easter and the seven Fridays of Lent; the law of abstinence obliged on Ash Wednesday, the following six Fridays of Lent, Spy Wednesday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, the vigils of Pentecost Sunday, Ascension Thursday, Assumption of the blessed Virgin Mary, Christmas and the feasts of Saints Peter and Paul. Paul III did not include the mestizos in the indult. Doubts naturally came up in time regarding their obligation to fast and abstain. Until 1852, then, they did not enjoy the privilege granted to the indios; but on 3 March of this year, on the peti tion of Fr Francisco Gainza, the above indult was granted to them too. Only meztizos who were half-indio or more, ac cording to weighty authors, enjoyed this extension. It was thus not applicable in the case of the children of a European father and a mestizo mother, or vice-versa. HISTORICAL 663 Philippine residents not included in these categories had to follow the common law of the Church until 1865, when Arch bishop Gregorio Meliton of Manila obtained from the Holy See the faculty to extend to all the inhabitants of the country re gardless of race or nationality, the privilege granted by Paul III to the indios, but only with regard to the law of fasting. This extension had to be renewed after a certain number of years. Furthermore, the clergy had to observe eight additional days of fasting to be designated by the Metropolitan of the Islands. Long before this extension of Paul’s Ill’s privilege, those who had obtained the bull of the Crusade enjoyed the privileges with regard to fast and abstinence granted by the Holy See in this bull to Spanish subjects. By papal dispensation, military personnel and their families likewise enjoyed certain added privileges in this matter.1 1 J.A.R., S J. Explicaciin razonada que sobre ayunos y abstinencias obligatorios a log habitantcs de Filipinos dedica a log PP. Migionerog de Mindanao (Manila: Imprenta de Santa Cruz, 2-Carriedo-20, 1892), 10-30. The '‘Sanctorum,” From the first years of the preaching of the gospel in this country, a religious con tribution known as the “Sanctorum” was approved on the ad vice and consent of both civil and ecclesiastical authorities. Each tribute-paying individual was obliged to give one and a half reales when he made his annual confession. The fund thus collected was set aside for the solemn celebration of the major feasts of Holy Thursday, Corpus Christi and that of the Patron Saint of each town. This money paid for the wax and the singers, with the remainder being set aside to cover the deficit of the priest’s stipends and the building expenses of the church. In the course of time, some abuses must have crept in, for in 1755, Archbishop Pedro Martinez de Arizala provided in the arancel he issued, with the approval of the Audiencia, that the money remaining after liquidating the expenses of the fiesta should be set aside for the construction of the church. The Royal Ordinance of 1768 arranged that the collection be in the charge of the Alcalde mayor, while the money was to BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS be deposited in a safe under a triple key: one in the hands of the alcalde, the other in the minister’s, and the third in the custody of the gobernadorcillo. Previously, the cabeza de barangay made the collection.2 2 Reales ordenanzas formadas por el superior gobiemo y real acuerdo de estas islas, en 26 de Febrero de 1768, etc. (Manila: La Imprenta de Sampaloc, 1801), Ordenanza 46 p. 40. a Ibid. 4 APSR (Ciudad de Quezon), Seccidn “Ordenes religiosas,” (Nueva Segovia), 1848. For the sake of truth, we must say that abuses were commit ted only in the areas around Manila. In the dioceses of Cebu and Nueva Segovia, the cabezas de barangay, shortly before or after the fiesta, went around for the collection, which they left with the gobernadorcillo, who, in turn, brought it to the parish priest. The collectors were exempt from paying, while the gobernadorcillo received some compensation.3 This arrangement lasted until the decree of the Superior Government, dated 13 January 1836, which ordered that in the archdiocese of Manila, cabazas de barangay would be charged with the collection of the “Sanctorum” and directly bring it to the alcalde mayor, without the priest’s intervention. As com pensation, they were to receive 5% of the amount collected, and another 5% went to the .alcaldes and governors in their capa city as sub-collectors. On 23 August 1843, Governor Francisco de Paula sought to extend this arrangement, already in force in Manila and Nueva Caceres, to the dioceses of Cebu and Nueva Segovia. But the bishops begged to leave things in their traditional set-up. Finally, however, on 13 January 1847, these two dioceses had to follow the system of collecting the “Sanctorum” practiced all over the rest of the islands.4 Feast Days of Obligation. In his bull Altitudo divini consilii, Pope Paul III arranged that, be sides Sunday, the natives were obliged to observe the following feast days: Christmas, the Circumcision, Epiphany, Ascension, Corpus Christi, the Nativity of our Lady, the Anuntiation, Purification, Assumption, and the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. The holy Father Pius IX, in his brief Qnum pluris (2 May 1867) promulgated in the Philippines by royal order of 13 August 1877, reduced the number of obligatory feasts HISTORICAL 665 for the Spaniards and the other Europeans, while the Filipinos continued to enjoy the indult of Paul III. Because of this varied arrangement which prescribed as obligatory for Span iards and not for natives the feasts of Saint James the Apostle, All Saints, the Immaculate Conception; and obligatory for the natives, but not for the Spaniards, the feast of the Nativity of our Lady — the archbishop of Manila presented through Governor-General Domingo Moriones a petition before the peninsular government on 17 October 1877 to equalize the num ber of feasts for which was granted on 1 January 1678.5 * * * 5 Boletin eclesi<i8tico del arzobispado de Manila, No. 52, 11 de Noviembre de 1877, pp. 501-507. 0 Tamayo, P. Serapio, O P., Idea general de la disciplina eclesiastica en Pilipinas durante la domination espahola (Manila: Est. Tip. del ColeRio de Santo Tomas, 1906), 75-76. On 23 November of this year, the archbishop published a decree announcing that, despite the reduction by papal brief of the number of feasts, the feast of Saint Andrew Apostle, 30 No vember, was still obligatory in the city of Manila, but not in the suburbs. Pope Leo XIII proclaimed in his brief Annus iam quintus, dated 5 December 1879, the Immaculate Conception as the patron of the Manila archdiocese. The same pontiff, in his brief Quod paucis, dated 28 January 1896, made the feast of Saint Joseph obligatory in Spain and in her overseas domi nions.0 Decrees of Festal Solemnity. The feasts of obligation during the Spanish regime were classed according to their “number of crosses ” Feasts of greater so lemnity were feasts of “three crosses.” These were, aside from Sunday, the feast days already cited as obligatory on Spaniards and natives alike, according to a privilege of Paul III. But there were other obligatory feasts for the Spaniards, as those of Saint John the Baptist, the Apostles and Evangelists, Monday and Tuesday of Easter week, Pentecost, the Transfi guration of our Lord, Saint Lawrence, Saint Michael, All Saints, Saint Martin, Saint Stephen, and the Holy Innocents. On these days, the Spaniards could not force the natives under obligation to serve them to go to work, nor could they be hindered from hearing mass, even though by disposition of the Church, the natives were not dispensed from work or obliged to hear mass. 666 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS In feasts of “one cross,” however, like that of the Immaculate Conception and that of Saint Joseph, the Spaniards could oblige the natives to work.7 9 Del Rio, Manuel, O.P., Instrucciones morales y religiosas para el gobiemo, direction y acierto en la prdctica de nuestros ministerios que deben observar todos los religiosos de esta nuestra provincia del Santo Rosario de Filipinos del Orden de Pred:cadores (Manila, en el Colegio y Universidad del Serior Santo Tomas, 1739), 18v. 10 Barrion, Sister M. Caridad, Op. Cit. 271. In eighteenth-century Manila, people venerated with special devotion the Apostle Andrew, patron saint of the city; Saint Potenciana, patroness of the Islands; Saint Anthony Abbot, Manila’s protector from fires; and Saint Polycarp, helper against earthquakes.8 But the feasts which without question stood out above the rest in solemnity and in the enthusiasm with which the Filipinos celebrated them, were the "three feasts” of Holy Thursday, Corpus Christi, and the titular feast of each town church. The religious celebration of the feast day used to include solemn vespers, mass and sermon, and a procession.9 The Bull of the Crusade. The Filipino shared in the privileges granted in the bull of the Crusade, consisting of the opportunity to win indulgences, plenary and partial, on fulfillment of certain conditions, besides enjoying a dispensation from abstinence and from fast on certain daysIn return for these privileges, the faithful gave some small alms, which the Church used for works of charity.10 The Use of the Dicipline. Chirino relates that around the years 1596-97, a canon named Diego de Leon who was studying in the Jesuit college, intro duced the practice of inviting to the Jesuit church men of dif ferent social standing, in order to take the discipline three times a week, especially during Lent. The natives, attracted by the penitential practice, lost no time imitating the Spaniards. In time, this spirit of penance lost its appeal, becoming in many places, according to the Jesuit historian Pedro Murillo Velarde, 7 Serrano, Miguel Garcia, Casos morales (Manila, 1629), 101. MJarrion, Sister M. Caridad, O.SB, Religious Life of the Laity the Eighteenth-Century Philippines (typewritten doctoral dissertation), 326-327. HISTORICAL 667 a mere external ritual11 On the other hand, during the Holy Week processions, many impelled more by fanaticism than by true devotion, went to extremes of bloody penance.II 12 13 * II Blair and Robertson, XI,IV 111-112 '-’/bid. 13 Apparatus ad coueilium maailanum. die xix Maii anni MDCCLXX1 cclebiandum: APSR. .1/SS, Seccion “HEF” (NS), Actio IV, Titulus I, Caput VI: “In the church, let places with distinct sections be assigned for women, for virgins, for the married and for men, for the religious and the secular clergy, for children who will bo in the charge of the school teacher lost they play or cause noise.” (Folio 3G7) "Blair and Robertson, XL, 231. ' Ibid. III “The minister ought to exercise great care that all the faithful hear mass, reading carefully the padron to find out those who are absent and so punish them, for it is notoriously known how lazy the indios are on this matter. And, if someone excuse himself, saying that he has heard mass elsewhere, the minister should not easily believe him without the certification of the other priest, whose mass he says, he heard.” (Op. cit., 16v-17) Deportment Inside the Church. In the churches in the Philip pines, there was this laudable custom, taken doubtless from the primitive church, of sepa rating the clergy from the laity, and the men from women. The school children were assigned a special place under the im mediate supervision of their teacher.33 Sinibaldo de Mas relates that there were three separate sections in the churches. One side was for the men, the other for the women, and in the middle was the section for the principales and gobernadocillos.1* The preparatory schema for the Manila Council contains complaints against the lack of respect for the sacred places, like entering with arms or being followed by dogs, or with the head covered.15 * Bishop Miguel Garcia for his part severely inveigled against the fact that the young girls in Pangasinan entered the church, their head covered only with a small hand kerchief. Mass Attendance. Because of the dispersion of the parish ioners through their rice fields, attendance at Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation was not as satisfactory as desired. This neglect of the obligation to hear mass was helped by the fact that in many places Sunday was also market day. That is why Fr. Manuel del Rio could say that native apathy towards Sunday mass was notorious.10 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS In view of this, this same priest instructed the Dominican missionaries to arrange with the gobernadorcillos, so that at the end of the mass, they might send officers of the law around to the houses to punish the guilty and negligent. In other places the fiscalillos were charged with seeing that the people in the town go to mass.17 If a town had an important visita more than a league away from the church, the parish Sundays and holy days of obligations, if the visitas were not too impor tant, mass was said there during the week.18 n Ibid., 16-17. 18 Ibid., 21v. 19 Barrion, Op. cit. 20 Del Rio, Op. cit., 26. 21 Tamayo, Op. cit., 78-79. After the mass and sermon, the people remained in the church to recite the rosary, repeat the Christian doctrine and pray the Acts of Faith, Hope and Charity. Public Recitation of the Canonical Hours with the People. The canonical hours were nothing strange to the Filipinos, for the missionaries had taught them to join the first and second vespers of Sundays and the more solemn feasts. In general, it was the chanters who sang them, while the people, especially the children, just listened. In certain areas, the school children recited or chanted the vespers of the Little Office.19 Matins were sung on Christmas eve, in the last three days of Holy Week and on Easter Sunday. For the greater solemnity of the liturgy, parishes with more than 500 tributes (about 2,000 souls) had eight cantores (chanters) paid by the government or from local church funds-20 In parishes with less tributes, there were only four chanters. Misa de Aguinaldo. The name “misa de aguinaldo" which is traditionally given to the mass said in many churches of the Philippines at dawn during the nine days previous to Christmas, was added, just like the Saturday votive mass in honor of the Virgin Mary, for the preservation of the Catholic Church in these Islands. Monsignor Felipe Pardo forbade them, in obedience to a decree of the Sacred Congre gation dated 16 February 1677; but the same congregation approved it later in a decree of 24 January 1682 and since then this mass has continued to be said until now.21 HISTORICAL 669 Holy Week Observance. The Holy Week liturgy was held in the town, or at least in a visita which was as big as a poblacion, in which case it was alter nately held first in one and then in the other. The liturgy that stands out especially is the solemn chanting of the Tenebrae (Matins and Lauds). On Holy Thursday, the parish priest prepared a dinner for 12 poor men, at the end of which he washed their feet, assisted by the principales and the of ficials of the town. In some places, there was a tradition of staging the “descent from the cross,” followed by solemn Tenebrae in the afternoon of Good Friday. Against this, however pious as it may seem, both the Manila Council and the Synod of Calasiao raised a voice of disapproval, because it occasioned for many of the faithful the erroneous belief that Christ really died each Good Friday.22 Instead the Synod suggested that the parish priest should preach a “fervent and touching” sermon, which was to be followed by the procession of sacred burial. In time cer tain abuses led to the diminishing of the solemnity and pomp of the Holy Week liturgy, as for example, the use of peni tential garb, self-flagellation inside the church or in the streets, the presentation of profane dramas inside the church or in the cemeteries.23 During the Easter Sunday procession, it was customary, at least in the diocese of Nueva Segovia, for the women to carry the image of the Blessed Virgin. Due to the difficulty in uprooting this custom, the Synod of Calasiao counselled that at least the bearers of the image should be satisfied with ordinary decent clothes.24 22 Bantigue, Pedro N , The Provincial Council of Manila of 1771 (Washington, D.C., The Catholic University of America, 1957), 123. -■3 Ibid. 24 APSE, MSS, “Aetas,” De la procesion, folio 237v. CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR FELLOW SEMI NARIANS WHO HAVE RECEIVED THE HOLY ORDERS THIS SEPTEMBER, 1971 MINOR ORDERS DEACONS Rev. Rogelio Alforte Masbate Rev. Melquiades Anda Lucena Rev. Moises B. Andrade, Jr. Malolos Rev. Firmo Dayac Cebu Rev. Tito Gelito Capiz Rev. Merlin Logronio Dumaguete Rev. Rafael Magno Pangasinan Rev. Wilfredo Paguio Bataan Rev. Winston Maisog Lipa Rev. Ernesto Mandanas Lipa Rev. Norberto Castillo, O.P. Rev. Honorato Castigador, O.P. Rev. Eduardo Flotildes, O.P. Rev. Alexander Ignacio, O.P. Rev. Rolando Macale, O.P. Rev. Bienvenido Chiquillo Calbayog Rev. Ismael Hembra Palo Rev. Romeo Ribo Palo Rev. Leovigildo Roca Palo Rev. Herbert Javier Laoag Rev. Lope Jarapa Lucena Rev. Senen Malapad Lucena Rev. Pedro Urtola Lucena Rev. Froilan Zalameda Lucena Rev. Nelson Toledo Jaro Rev. Leoncio Santiago Tagbilaran THE SEMINARIANS U.S.T. Central Seminary Manila FERIA, FERIA, LUGTU & LA’O ATTOItXHYS AXD COUXSICI.LORS AT RAW PHILIPPINE TRUST BI.DG.. Pl.AZA GOITI . P. O. BOX 12)9 . MANILA JOAQUIN RAMIREZ FRANCISCO ORTIGAS, JR. RAFAEL ORTIGAS JOAQUIN RAMIREZ, JR. RAFAEL ORTIGAS, JR. SainirpH Sc ©rtigas Abcigabos Pl.50 a copy Avail tble at the Smo. Rosado Pans!). 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