OUR DAYS This day...13 February 2008 Michael Tan of Philippine Daily Inquirer files this report - The Church
A few years back, when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo first faced allegations of serious corruption, people—the President herself and her supporters, the opposition, the citizenry -- waited with bated breath for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to speak out. When the bishops finally spoke out, it was to urge the people to be calm and to wait. There was a media frenzy, with often heated discussions about the statement. This time around, in the wake of Rodolfo Noel Lozada’s Senate testimony, the CBCP has issued a stronger statement, “Reform Yourselves and Believe in the Gospel,” acknowledging that “our country has (for) too long been captive to the corruption of people in governance.” There was also a cryptic but strong call: “The truth challenges us now to communal action.” Yet, reactions to this latest statement have been, to say the least, muted. True, the statement made front-page headlines but the reactions, in favor or opposed, have been anemic. Opposition politicians have been largely silent. Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye issued a formulaic statement expressing respect for the bishops but saying the call for communal action was “premature.” By and large, people are shrugging their shoulders and going their own way. The relative silence is intriguing... Symbolic Capital Both local and foreign media often refer to the influence of the Church in the Philippines. “The Church” -- I’ve always felt uneasy about the term because it tends to exclude other religious (or, in current politically correct language, “faith-based”) groups, notably the Protestant churches, the Iglesia ni Cristo (which, incidentally, is not considered Protestant), and the Muslims... In more recent history, we’ve seen EDSA People Power I, which toppled Ferdinand Marcos, and EDSA II, which ousted Joseph Estrada. In both cases, the role of the late Jaime Cardinal Sin and other bishops was significant in mobilizing people. To understand the politics of “the Church” in the Philippines, it’s important we begin now to recognize that it is not one monolithic body. We have the hierarchy, represented by the CBCP, but even among the bishops, there can be very diverse views on social and political issues. Then there are the rank and file religious, again with not just diverse but divergent views. Finally, there are the “people of God,” the women and men brought together loosely by baptism, with varying degrees of religious practice and even more divergent views about society. The Catholic Church thrives because of what social scientists call “symbolic capital.” We all know the importance of economic capital, which the Catholic Church does have, in large amounts. But there’s also symbolic capital, which is based on non-material resources or attributes. For the local Catholic Church, this comes from an often vaguely-defined concept of “holiness,” of representing God. Lozada’s “spiritual bodyguards” is an example of this symbolic capital. The military and hired goons would be less willing to use force when confronting a man or woman “of the cloth.” That last term is important in showing the power of symbolic capital: the religious need to wear their habits to be able to express their symbolic capital -- and to protect Lozada. But while the Catholic religious’ symbolic capital remains powerful, it does not necessarily mean people follow what they preach. People have their own minds, their own interests. Right now, the Catholic Church is seen as dealing mainly with “holy” affairs (read: affairs of the next world). During the Marcos dictatorship, there was a more “activist” Catholic Church involved in social action, down to the grassroots levels, helping farmers with their land tenancy problems, workers with their labor grievances. Remember the film “Sister Stella L”? That was based on real events, and real people who subscribed to “liberation theology” and the need to work with the poor and the oppressed. By 1986, people were fed up with the Marcos dictatorship. People were organized, by both religious and non-religious groups. They also knew the Catholic Church, which had become more and more vocal and visible on social justice issues, was there to offer refuge, guidance, protection. The rallies and protest actions grew, always including the religious, properly attired, as marshals. Cardinal Sin was crucial because he represented the Catholic Church’s accumulated symbolic capital. His call brought out the “faithful,” not necessarily in the religious sense alone, but people with faith in justice and the possibilities of change. Times have changed. Pope John Paul II opposed “liberation theology” and although a politician himself, was wary of too much involvement. We know now he did not approve of Cardinal Sin’s role in EDSA People Power II. The present Pope is even more conservative and clearly affects the way the CBCP moves today. No doubt, the bishops and religious still speak out on social justice issues, in behalf of the Sumilao farmers for example...but the Catholic Church’s current social action agenda pales in comparison with what they did in the 1970s and 1980s. Instead, we hear more from the bishops and religious speaking out against family planning than about social issues. Those in power have learned, too, how easy it is to play with the Catholic Church’s symbolic capital. All they need to do is to borrow the aura of “holiness,” expressing agreement with the bishops in their opposition to family planning and other issues related to sexual “morality” and never mind social morality...Is the public’s muted response a sign of weariness, not just of political rhetoric but of pastoral letters? _________________________________________________________________________________
OUR
JOURNEY We can easily identify with Michael Tan's categorical definition of the church as "the--people of God--the women and men brought together loosely by baptism, with varying degrees of religious practice and even more divergent views about society." This definition we believe is more inclusive and should relieve Mr. Tan of any "uneasiness" about the term. The true symbolic capital these women and men of faith have in common is "baptism" - recognized as a sacrament signifying that the Christian is blessed and called to Christian service. In the words of a seventeen-year-old United Methodist faithful -
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IN YOUR PASSWORD
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TRIBUTE Pray for grace to open your heart to someone and to let go of fear, hurt, anger, prejudice, or whatever gets in the way of that relationship (Kyle Dugan and Craig Mitchell, Choosing Pilgrimage, p. 36) . Such grace may yet pave the way for genuine confession and repentance, restoration and equitable distribution of the nation's wealth, cleansing and reformation of structures of government, renewal of people's trust in one another and common affirmation of faith in God and celebration of the grace of Christian baptism.
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02/13/08 |
