CBCP president Archbishop Jose Palma
On orders of Pope Benedict XVI, Filipino bishops led by Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), will embark on ‘new evangelization’ in the country to try to win back anew Filipinos who have broken away and joined other churches.
“It’s possible that we failed somewhere in the sense that people are transferring to another sector because they are not happy,” Palma admitted.
Palma said the Church was willing to take up new ways and means to bring back people growing weak in their faith.
This new project by the Church, according to Palma, would actually form part of a nine-year preparation by the Church for the celebration of the 500th year of Christianity in the Philippines.
Speaking at a news conference after the close of the CBCP’s biannual conference in Manila, Palma said the journey toward March 16, 2021—five centuries since the coming of Christianity to the Philippines—was an opportunity for the Church and its clergy to reflect on their shortcomings and how they could draw back people to the Catholic fold.
The new evangelization would also include “bringing the Good News to the poor,” reaching out to the Catholic flock whose faith-life has been “largely eroded” and lost due to confusion, moral relativism, doubt, agnosticism and those who have joined other churches and religious sects.
The CBCP could not have said it any better.
But, indifference to the Church would have been a better description of the kind of malady it is suffering for a long time, which has resulted in people staying out and apathetic towards the Church.
In reality, it is not the Church, per se, but rather the demeanor and arrogance of some of the Filipino Catholic Church leaders that is making a negative impression in our belief in the man of the cloth.
Our faith in God is stronger than ever and every time we enter the silence of the Church to be in communion with Him, we feel deeply the solace and come out relieved of our pains and worries.
But, do we feel the same in the presence of priests, among the congregation attending services?
No, we don’t and what we feel instead is repugnance and distrust, especially when they start pontificating and meddling in what is clearly an affair of the State.
I wouldn’t mind listening to homilies that deals with the spiritual and moral teachings of the Church, and how we could continuously uphold our faith in God so that at the end of the day we all can attain salvation.
But what turns parishioners off is when priests and high ranking Church officials start politicizing their homilies, criticizing government, posting or tying banners outside the church about its anti-RH bill stand, threatening politicians with anti-Catholic sentiments with its Catholic votes, etc.
Yes, priests can express their rights as citizens, but first and foremost their vital role is about spiritual and sacramental leadership. So leave the political leadership to the State.
Corruption and immorality are not solely the monopoly of the State. The Church has them, too.
Unless the dictum of, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s,” is strictly followed, this ‘new evangelization’ will not prosper.
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True indeed ! And if many have left the Christian faith, there must be something
“wrong”? With what? …the Doctrine, portraying Jesus more as myth with fairy tale
ending ? …the concept of family both as a social and spiritual institution? …the
“church” to be the center of “enlightenment” than mere spiritual refuge?…the clergy
who are revered as ”holy” but at the same time ridiculed as “moral hypocrites?…
we, the laity who regard the church as a “dormat” where we can cleanse our ‘dirty life”
by making indulgences? The most important question to ask is, “Is Christianity the
religion for the “weak”?…..Has Christianity failed?….As I am both a “victim” and an
“offender”, let my humble answer be a challenge to both the clergy and the laity,
Christianity has not failed; only it has not been tested to its full extent.
If this were a multiple choice, I would say, all of the above. But again you have opened up here something that should enlighten people. I could not agree with you more. Yes, Christianity has not failed, but what has failed to my mind is the manner that the Catholic church wants Christianity to be lived. The Catholic hierarchy wants it lived like they do, as if they are perfect examples of true Christians – just because they have taken the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. But because we have our own freewill, we don’t want them imposing their own will on us. We make Christianity the way we want it to live with the sole purpose of pleasing God and not them. Therefore, what is meaningful for them and their beliefs may not necessarily jibe with our own beliefs. There is always bound to be a problem when their wish to be gratified falls short of what the people humbly bestow to God. To my mind they have become so narcissistic that if we believe in God, that we should believe them too – warts and all. To me this is the crux of the problem and this is why I say their ‘new evangelization’ won’t amount to anything.
Importantly, evangelization should go hand in hand with social amelioration. It’s difficult to educate one with an empty stomach. And likewise it’s difficult for the rich to be “educated” that all what they have is God’s and hankering for more…keeping and hoarding what they have in excess is “sin”.
Absolutely agree with you.