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Successful
Evangelization is Justice
Keynote
Address delivered by Rev. Fr. Ernesto M. Arceo, OP,
the Rector of the University of Santo Tomas on January
10, 2007 during the National Catechetical Convention
held on Jan. 10-12 at St. Michael Retreat House, Antipolo
City, organized by ECCCE.
Sometime
after the US Twin Towers tragedy, an email message
has been forwarded to many people. I received it some
years ago. I suppose a number of you have read it.
Just the same, let me recount to you the story in my
own words. Accordingly, many Americans confronted God
and expressed their resentment and disappointment to
Him after the twin towers tragedy.
My
son was too young. He had yet to live his life fully.
Why did you allow him to die? You
knew 1 loved my wife. Now she is dead. Why? My
parents were so good. They were in the plane that
hit the TwinTowers. Why? Many
more cases. Many more questions. And
all of them were asking God,Where were you when we
needed you?
And
God responded, "You know I wanted very much
to intervene. But I remember you had tried so hard
to shut me out of your life. In so many ways you
had indicated you did not need me and you
did not want me to have anything to do with your
life. I had gotten so used to being ignored and rejected
that during that tragedy, I was not sure whether
you wanted me around to intervene in your life or
not.
Of
course, God intervened and He was around. This story
is meant to show us the general attitude of many Americans
regarding God. In schools, they want to remove all
signs that remind them of God, like the cross and crucitix
for examples. Somebody even petitioned a court to stop
the school practice of requiring the students to recite
the oath of allegiance because the said oath contains
the words God Almighty.
And
yet you look at a dollar bill and you will see the
words In God we trust. In a lecture I attended,
the professor said that the word God on a dollar
bill does not really refer to God. It refers to the
dollar bill. The dollar is their god and in god they
trust. That is materialism in its purity. Mammon and
everything it implies has become the god for many.
Some
years ago, the European Union formulated a charter—a
kind of constitution to be followed by all the member
countries. Those who wrote the charter deliberately
omit any mention of anything pertaining to God, religion,
Christianity. They were and even now are allergic to
anything religious, anything Christian, anything godly.
Freedom of religion is now understood by them as freedom
from religion, freedom from God.
One
time a Spanish Dominican priest told me that the general
mentality of the people in Spain and in Europe in general
is secularism. It means that God is irrelevant and
therefore, they don't care whether He exists or not.
In fact they don't have any space for Him in their
society…
Materialism
and secularism are infecting the West at present. Added
to the list is religious relativism that implies that
all religions are equal—Islam, Judaism, Buddhism,
Christianity and others.
The
above-mentioned aberrations are confronting the church
face-to-face in the international scene. In different
degrees, they pose challenge to the church in the Philippines
as well. However, there are two religious problems,
or rather challenges, that Christianity in the country
has to address. And they are the following:
1.
Religious Fanaticism. Any religious practice that is
unreasonable is fanatical.
Any
devotion that tramples upon the dignity of the hunan
person, or violates the rights of others is in fact
irreligious. In the past, some people—mostly
children and the elderly—died during the Feast
ofthe Black Nazarene of Quiapo. They were literally
crushed to death. I was told that during the celebration
of the Feast of tbe Lady of Penafrancia in Naga City,
some people also got hurt now and then.
As
human beings, we need to ritualize our religious sentiments,
our devotions. However, our devotional or religious
practices should be in keeping with our human dignity
and should be respectful of the rights of others. In
this regard, the church has to evangelize the expressions
of our religious devotion.
2.
Split-Level Christianity. This is separation or divorce
between religion and life.
Christians
go to church to pray, make their confession, participate
in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist and receive
Holy communion, and yet, they have number 2, number
3, or even more depending on their financial capacity.
They cheat during election. They accept bribes and
sell justice to the highest bidder. Graft and corruption
seem to go very well with being Christian.
In
a number of conferences I have attended dealing with
education, this question almost always comes to mind, "Why
is it that in spite of the fact that many of our government
leaders are graduates of Catholic schools, our government
and our society in general are characterized by a culture
of graft and corruption?" Even PCP II raised this
issue. Indeed, most of our leaders are intelligent.
They are experts in law, economics, politics. However,
generally, their moral integrity is questionable. It
has been. said that judges and justices, and politicians
in the Philippines should be presumed guilty unless
proven otherwise. The former chief of the Supreme Court
himself, Chief Justice Panganiban, in one of his talks
published in national newspapers commented that some
of our lawyers are worse than the criminals they defend.
If
we are to consider the moral disposition of a given
society as a determinant of the kind of evangelization
it receives, we have to admit with humility and regret
that in the Philippines, it seems that the church has
not been very successful in the work of evangelization.
One of the first indications of a successful evangelization
is justice. When the Lord entered the house of Zacheus,
the latter exclaimed in freedom, "I give half
my belongings, Lord, to the poor. If I have defrauded
anyone in the least, I pay him back fourfold."
Justice
is an integral and constitutive part of the preaching
of the kingdom. In fact it is the basic requirement
and manifestation of love. Love at the expense of justice
is no more than all illusion. The crucifixion of the
Lord constitutes inseparably the restoration of justice
and the magnanimity of love. God is inseparably just
and loving.
I
think in the Philippines, the Church has to work more
for the promotion of justice, which is really the promotion
of the kingdom. It is always tempting to preach love
as if it could be divorced from the demands of justice.
It is easier to preach forgiveness apart from retribution.
It sounds neutral. It does not antagonize even the
criminals. It consoles. It affirms. It sympathizes.
However, in the end, it promotes a corrupt society.
According
to Albert Nolan, a Dominican theologian, in the face
of injustice, Christianity cannot be neutral for to
be so would really be to side with evil.
Obviously,
the impact or success of evangelization depends largely
on the number and quality of the evangelizers. If we
are to consider mainly the clergy as agents of evangelization
their number is very small in proportion to all the
Catholics in the Philippines. Fortunately, however,
the mission to evangelize pertains to all Christians the
clergy, the religious, and the lay people. In a very
special way, the church depends on the lay catechists.
I really don't know if by now, we already have enough
catechists in the country, consideriug that about 80
per cent of the Filipinos are Catholics. It will be
a great service to the evangelizing mission of the
church if we have more and more catechists.
More
important than the number is the quality of our evangelizers
whether belonging to the clergy, religious or lay.
In this regard, it is usually understood that for the
ministry of evangelization to be effective, the medium
should be the message. As you know very well, moral
values are not taught. They are caught. For this reason,
the good examples of the evangelizers are the best
audio-visual aids for imparting positive values to
the students.
The
doctrinal and moral components of evangelization are
better addressed when the catechists are intellectually
prepared and morally integrated. Our students should
know the doctrines of our faith so that they may be
able to express their religious devotions and sentiments
without being fanatical. They should also be formed
according to the moral teachings of the church in order
that they may eventually serve as agents of moral transformation
in our society.
The
catechists are our direct collaborators in the work
of evangelization. They do a very noble task. Their
work is more than a profession or a means of livelihood.
It is really sharing in the mission of the church.
It is a vocation.
I
believe that this gathering is meant to recognize and
appreciate the work our catechists are doing for the
church. I would like to congratulate an the people
involved in putting up this conference… It's
a privilege for me to share my sentiments with you,
my colleagues, my co-workers in the vineyard of the
Lord. Congratulations, thank you, and Happy New Year!
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