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ANNUAL REPORT ON ACTIVITIES
carried out in the Period July 2001
- June 2002
The role of ECCCE is directly linked with the first
of the 9 Pastoral Priorities of the Church as envisioned
by PCP II, which is that of Integral Faith Formation.
Our aim is to have a faith formation that is discerning
and relevant to our current circumstances. This objective
is addressed by the 8 Key Concerns of ECCCE's Strategic
Plan for 2001-03, on which I wish to base this report.
1. Revision of the National Catholic Directory of the
Philippines (NCDP).
If faith formation is to be relevant then there is
a need to update the NCDP in the light of our current
situation and bring it in line with the General Directory
for Catechesis. The first draft of the revision was
presented for discussion in the National Catechetical
and Religious Education Convention held in Cavite on
September 4 - 7, 2001, with more than 160 participants
attending.
The suggestions for improvement focused on the pastoral
and catechetical (vs. theological) content of the draft,
with the consistent recommendation being to simplify
the text to make it more reader friendly to the expected
audience, who are mostly catechists and parents.
We have now formed an NCDP Editorial Staff, with an
expert - writer identified for each of the major chapters,
namely: catechetics, social science, pastoral ministry,
doctrine, morals, and liturgy. We have nearly completed
the final draft for submission to all bishops for review
and approval.
2. Dissemination of the actual and correct use of the
Catechism for Filipino Catholics / Katesismo para sa
mga Pilipinong Katoliko (CFC / KPK).
As of June 2002, a total of 12 seminar/workshops were
conducted to achieve this objective, with close to 950
participants, consisting of head catechists and religion
coordinators, as well as parents, and parish leaders.
The areas covered include National Capital Region (NCR),
Northern Luzon-Regions I-II /Cordillera Autonomous Region
(CAR), Central Luzon, Region III, Southern Tagalog Region
IV, Bicol-Region V, Central-Eastern Visayas- Regions
VI-VII, Mindanao Regions/Autonomous Region for Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM) IX-XII, Bataan, Marinduque, Urdaneta,
the Values and Religion educators of the Archdiocese
of Ozamis, the Dominican Schools of the Congregation
of St. Catherine of Siena and some parishes (Luzon &
Mindanao), and the Military Ordinariate.
There are also pending requests from the Vicariate
of Jolo, Caraga Region, San Pablo Regional Seminary
(Baguio), Colleges and Universities of NCR, Manila Archdiocesan
and Parochial Schools Association (MAPSA) schools and
from other Religious Congregations.
We have organized a Speakers' Bureau, which serves
as resource speakers and facilitators of these seminar-workshops
in the different regions. The participants of these
seminar workshops are mostly the diocesan catechetical
directors and coordinators and head catechists (lay,
religious and priests), who will in turn be the ones
to cascade their training to the various catechists
and religion teachers.
3. The development of the Elements of Minimum Learning
Competencies (EMLC) in Religion.
This refers to identifying the indispensable CONTENT
of the Religious Education curriculum, syllabus, and
program for any given level of classes in the school
setting, or formation program in the pastoral setting.
Hitherto non-existent, its purpose is to assist authors
of Religious Education textbooks in preparation of content,
school administrators and Diocesan Censors in evaluating
textbooks, and parish priests and leaders in preparing
Christian Formation programs.
The EMLC for Kinder to Grade 3 has already been completed,
while the other grade and year levels will soon follow.
4. Catechists' Welfare and Development.
The Philippine Catechetical Apostolate and Religious
Education (PhilCARE) Foundation, Inc. was formally established
with its SEC registration obtained on November 12, 2001.
For tax purposes, we have applied for the status of
donee-institution with the PCNC (Philippine Council
for Non-Governmental Organization Certification). Phil
CARE supports all ECCCE Programs.
5. Formation of Catechists and Religion Teachers.
We are in the process of upgrading the Catechists
Basic Formation Program (CBFP) and its first draft was
presented during the above mentioned National Catechetical
and Religious Education Convention 2001. The final draft
will be completed within this month (July).
Similarly, we are also preparing an initial draft of
the Religion Teachers' Basic Formation Manual (RTBFM),
geared for teachers of diocesan, parochial and congregational
schools. This is scheduled to be completed by July 2002.
To help guide the above documents, a survey on the
Shape of Religious Education in the Philippine Catholic
Schools Today was done by UST, together with consultations
with schools and universities on the state of their
Religion teachers.
6. Relationship between ECCCE and
Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines
(CEAP), Manila Archdiocesan and Parochial Schools Association
(MAPSA), Archdiocesan Catechetical Ministry (ACM), and
Diocesan Catechetical Offices and Catechetical Formation
Centers.
We now have Regional representatives of the various
Diocesan Catechetical offices, elected during the above
Convention in Cavite, to facilitate communication and
coordination between them and ECCCE. An example of this
cooperation is shown on how these various organizations
cooperated in conducting the above mentioned seminar/workshops
on the actual and correct use of the CFC/KPK. The Diocesan
Catechetical directors were also consulted on the revision
of the NCDP.
7. Catechetical development in trans parochial communities
and other settings.
We launched the Adult Catechesis Workshop Series starting
February 2002 until May 2003 with our target audience
being leaders of the various transparochial charismatic
communities. We have also initiated contact with the
Head of the Education Committee of EI Shaddai.
8. Advocacy.
Our efforts in this area has resulted in the initial
success we obtained in addressing our concerns in the
Basic Education Curriculum 2002 and in promoting House
Bill 137, which I will later describe.
Also, a PR package is being prepared to generate support
for the PhilCARE foundation. More are planned to inform
the various publics of our role and the importance of
our catechetical efforts.
Allow me to report on the other efforts of ECCCE and
developments that have a significant impact on the Commission,
namely:
- The Basic Education Curriculum (BEC) 2002. This
is the revised educational curriculum that the Department
of Education plans to implement in all public schools
in School Year 2002 - 2003. We believe that the objectives
of the planned BEC 2002 responds to the educational
needs of the Filipino in the new millennium, and are
consistent with our view that human development, in
order to be Christian, should be wholistic. We also
fully endorse the goals of the BEC, namely to make
our young people "makabayan," "makatao,"
"makakalikasan," and "maka-Diyos."
However, we are concerned that in the implementation
mechanics of this new curriculum, Religious Instruction
as a nominated subject has been omitted.
His Eminence, Jaime Cardinal Sin and myself wrote the
Department, expressing our serious concern about this,
and am pleased to report that we recently received an
advise from Undersecretary Fe Hidalgo that the status
quo, as it pertains to Religious Instruction, would
continue. A memorandum to this effect will be issued
to all schools.
- House Bill 137. Secondly, we are vigorously advocating
for the passage of House Bill 137, sponsored by Congresswoman
Villaflor Angara-Castillo, which is an "Act to
Rationalize the Teaching of Religion in Public Schools."
When passed into law, this will make Religious Instruction
mandatory in all public schools, in line with our
Philippine Constitution. Public hearings on this bill
has been held recently with very positive views expressed
by the participants.
Let me now turn to what we are doing in the Catholic
Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP).
Our efforts have been focused on various development
programs that address the functional as well as religious
needs of our members.
- Management Development Programs. A total
of three seminars have been conducted on Educational
Leadership and Management Development for our emerging
educational executives to enable them to cope with
the changing demands in education. A financial Management
and Investment seminar was conducted among school
administrators to help ensure better management of
financial resources and ensure long term viability
of our schools.
- Religious Education. We conducted four seminars
and/or conventions in the following areas and topics:
creating an authentic Catholic culture in our schools,
pro-life featuring Dr. Nathanson (a former abortionist
turned Catholic), environmental awareness in schools.
- A joint CEAP Diamond Jubilee Convention and
L' Office International de l'Enseignement Catholique
(OIEC) Asia Millennium Congress was also conducted
in September 2001 in Cebu, with the aim of broadening
horizons of participants in educational initiatives
within the Asian region.
Finally, the commission submitted a report to the Vatican,
through the CBCP, on the "Catechetical Situation
in the Philippines at the Beginning of the Third Millennium".
This report consisted of the presentation of the key
results of the National Catechetical Survey conducted
in 2000 and our response to this situation, some of
which are the efforts that I presented earlier. Also
included in this report is the reception of the Catechism
of the Catholic Church (CCC) and what we are doing to
promote its usage visa-vis the CFC, and the steps we
are taking in revising the NCDP.
A DISTURBING FACT
It is interesting to note the immense disproportion
between the number of public schools and the private
schools. Even if we add up all the elementary denominational
and nondenominational schools present in the parishes
that responded to the survey, we barely reach the total
figure of 389, which is a rather poor show when compared
with 9,814 public elementary schools. The contrast is
less striking in the high school level: 763 private
high schools as against 1,344 public high schools.
We can safely assume that such a disproportion must
necessarily exist also in the number of enrollees, including
the Catholic enrollees. This means that the greatest
majority of Catholic children and youths are enrolled
in the public schools, while a relatively much smaller
minority are enrolled in private (Catholic) schools.
Such a huge number of Catholic children enrolled in
public schools has very serious implications for the
catechetical apostolate. We all know the present concrete
situation in the Philippines concerning the state of
religious instruction in the public school system: very
little time devoted to religious education; very few
(if any) didactic materials; insufficiently trained
and insufficiently paid catechists… And all this
with no realistic prospects that the situation may change
for the better any time soon.
Unfortunately, in the Philippine Constitution we find
the clause that, while "Religion shall be allowed
to be taught within the regular class hours," this
will be done "at no additional cost for the government."
This simply means that the burden of providing religious
instruction in the public school system lies only on
the different religious denominations. All that the
government is prepared to offer is class space and class
time. In practice, we all know how difficult, sometimes,
it is to get even these, due also to the poor shape
of the public education system.
While from a certain perspective this "separation"
between church and state has its own advantages, it
also leaves the Catholic community with the apparently
unbearable burden of shouldering all the expenses relevant
to the religious instruction of the Catholic children
in the school setting. Regrettably, for long, long time
and up to the present the best teaching resources of
the Catholic Church have been and still are invested
in the private school sector. while only a tiny fraction
of them are involved in the public school system. The
disastrous result of such an "inverted disproportion"
is that, in spite of all the goodwill of the persons
concerned, there exist a very high degree of religious
ignorance among the Catholic students enrolled in public
schools.
Unfortunately, there seems to be no viable alternative
to the teaching of religion in the public schools. Our
parishes are not in a position to offer adequate religious
instruction in their premises to the immense number
of children who are enrolled in public schools, if these
children are not taught the content of their faith in
school, the greatest majority of them will simply remain
ignorant of the faith in which they were baptized, and
no one should be surprised if in one generation or two
even the proportion of baptized Catholics will decrease
dramatically in the Philippines.
But this is not all. An additional remark has to be
made. If we compare the number of enrollees in both
types of schools during the past several years, one
can notice that the number of enrollees in public schools
is increasing not only in absolute figures but also
in proportional figures. This simply means that, every
year, an ever-greater number of students are enrolling
in public schools and an ever smaller number of them
is enrolling in private elementary and high schools.
The reason for this growing disproportion is not the
better performance of the public schools, but rather
the greater difficulty experienced by so many parents
to find the money needed to pay the tuition fees required
by the private schools.
If such a trend continues (and all the signs are that
it will, unless a substantial form of subsidy for the
private schools is introduced very soon) it will reduce
the greatest majority of private schools to "schools
for the upper class and upper middle class," while
the immense majority of our children and youth will
enroll in the public school system which, unfortunately
is not noted for its efficiency and effectiveness. It
would be interesting to reflect on the educational and
cultural implications of this trend, but we leave this
task to others. Here we wish to limit our remarks to
its implication for the catechetical ministry. Crudely
put, the implication boils down to this: the catechetical
situation in the public schools will become worse than
it is at present unless the Church invests a greater
amount of financial and human resources in them.
Will the leaders of the Church move in the direction,
and what will this mean in practice? An intelligent
use of the means of social communication even in teaching
Religion in public schools could help improve the situation.
But this, too, will require plenty of money. Shall we
be able to find those huge sums of money? The success
of whatever solution may be attempted, however, will
largely depend on the collaboration that the Church
leaders will get both from the religious and the lay
faithful.
I would like to thank the Secretariat of the Commission
which provides the communication and coordination efforts
behind many of the activities I mentioned above.
+LEONARDO Z. LEGASPI, O.P., D.D.
Chairman - ECCCE
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