The Filipino Church of the future

INQUIRER FILE

Pastoral dynamism vis-à-vis the status quo. Imagine the venerable local Ordinary leading the most dynamic pastoral work in the diocese, 24/7, without letup, refusing to stay in the unreachable bishop’s palace, always ready to roll up his sleeves, and get the dirty work done.

Imagine all parish priests and their assistants taking a quick breakfast after celebrating the early morning Holy Mass and, with lay volunteers, going out to the “peripheries and the frontiers,” themselves smelling like sheep,” looking for the lost sheep.

Imagine a time when you call the parish office to invite the priest for lunch and they tell you that he is out and personally visiting the aged and anointing of the sick (functions only the priest can perform), or conducting strategic planning with catechists and Christian Living Education instructors of the whole vicariate – and it is already 12 noon.

When that day comes, you realize that, not only in Nueva Segovia, Marinduque, or Zamboanga, but also in other ecclesiastical provinces, all ordained ministers, headed by their indefatigable bishop, are all out in the field, proclaiming to all the value of human dignity and rights, making sure that the basic catechism and solid doctrine are added to folkloric and popular religiosity of the faithful.

The religious landscape will change drastically. The Church will no longer be the green Antipolo parish patio, the tourist-attracting edifice of the famous town in Bohol, or the great Basilica Minore de Santo Nino square. The local Churches in Marawi, Nueva Caceres, and Kalibo will become a “field hospital after battle,” always near and accessible, always available “to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful” (Pope Francis).

Imagine one hundred of ordained ministers lined up inside a huge gymnasium or an open field, happily hearing confessions (functions only the priest can perform), hopping from one vicariate to another – until the last soul has been invited.

Lay Catholics are co-responsible

Someday, the hierarchical pyramid will be inverted and Filipino Catholic laity will perform more than recommendatory tasks and will be co-responsible for the sustenance and regrowth of the mustard seed once planted by the early missionaries. Competent lay Catholics will be appointed parish/diocesan administrators so that the clergy could do what they do best, pastoral and spiritual tasks.

In the future, ordained ministers of Pasig, Tuguegarao, Manaoag, Novaliches, Bulacan, Cavite, Caloocan, and other dioceses will disengage with their secondary roles (as parish administrators – maintenance, finances, human resources, fiesta preparation – as school administrators, diocesan managers, church construction supervisors, and fund-raisers) and will spend full-time to do their primary duties, particularly confession, education of the faithful, and the anointing of the sick.

A “Church of the poor” crystalized

The 1991 PCP II’s vision of the Filipino Church as a “Church of the poor” will no longer remain a yearning, a wish upon a star, barely a hope, but will be a work in progress of the Filipino Church.

In the words of Pope Francis (Evangelii Gaudium): We read that the first Christians “ate their food with glad and generous hearts” (Acts 2:46). Wherever the disciples went, “there was great joy” (8:8)… even amidst persecution they continued to be “filled with joy” (Acts 13:52).

As a result, every Filipino family will be caring, truly caring, as we share bread to feed the body and share the Gospel to nourish the soul, so much so that no one will be hungry in body and spirit until the Second Coming of Christ.

Asians will be edified again while watching Pinoy Catholics who, touched by the Holy Spirit, are so committed in doing their individual and collective acts of love and justice, coupled with mercy and compassion.

Jose Mario Bautista Maximiano ([email protected]) is the author of 24 PLUS Contemporary People: God Writing Straight with Twists and Turns (Claretian, 2019).