173 ❚Special Issues❚ □ Priestly Formation in the Asian Contexts Priestly Formation in the Asian Contexts: Application of the Church’s Teachings to the Philippine Church and Society* 1 Fr. Rodel E. Aligan, O.P. 〔Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, Philippines〕 A. The Philippine Situation as a Catholic Nation 1. Evangelization Context 2. Socio-Cultural Context 3. Economic and Political Context 4. The Present Situation of the Catholic Church in the Philippines B. Priestly Formation in the Philippine Context: Application of the Church Teachings to Philippine Church and Society 1. Circumstances of Present-Day Asia 2. Priesthood in the Asian Contexts 3. Priesthood in the Philippine Context 4. The Vision-Mission Statement of the Church in the Philippines 5. Nine Pastoral Priorities of the Church in the Philippines in the Light of PCP II and the National Pastoral Consultation on Church Renewal 6. New Pastoral Priorities of the Church in the Light of the New Evangelization in the Philippines 7. The Implications of the Pastoral Priorities to Priestly Formation in the Philippines 8. The Role of Inculturation on Filipino Priestly Formation *1이 글은 2015년 ‘재단법인 신학과사상’의 연구비 지원을 받아 연구·작성된 논문임. 174 Priestly Formation in the Asian Contexts More than twenty years ago the Philippine Church held the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines on January 20-February 17, 1991, the first being held 38 years ago (1953). It was to take a stock of where the Philippine Church was; to look at where it was going; to reanimate its life in Jesus Christ; and to unite all things in Him.1 During its conclusion after four weeks of discerning it was hoped to be another Pentecost; Christ descending upon the Filipino people, going forth spirited to renew the face of the world ― the Filipinos world first, and through this little world, the wider world of Asia and beyond, giving of ourselves unto the renewal and unity of God’s creation.2 PCP II in the Spirit has looked back in wonder over the Filipinos’ journey as a Christian nation. There are lights, there are shadows, successes as well as failures, but through them all the Spirit breathes mightily and palpably, guiding, prodding, and leading them, on to where they are now.3 A. The Philippine Situation as a Catholic Nation 1. Evangelization Context The faith came to the Filipinos, though not always without an element of duress, in an age which glorified the union of cross and sword. It was an age of colonization that accompanied Christianization. But the faith was implanted deeply, making the country over time “one people, one nation, though driven, even as they are by geography, cultural traditions, 1 Eph 1:10. 2 CBCP, “Introduction”, Second Plenary Council of the Philippines, Manila: CBCP, 1992, n. 7. 3 PCP II, n. 9. Rodel E. Aligan / Priestly Formation in the Asian […] 175 languages and ethnic origins.”4 The outward symbols of the faith were alien to the Filipinos but they made them their own: enriched them, transmuted them and invested them with the spirit that is truly theirs. The controversial character of the cross is mirrored in Philippine reality. In many books of Philippine history the Spanish conquest of the Islands has often been described as have been achieved through the cross and the sword. Many Filipinos see the cross as a despicable reminder of conquest and centuries of colonization by a foreign power.5 Yet, at the turn of the century when Filipinos sought their independence against Spain, they remained loyal to the faith. They kept the tradition of their forebears in the faith even to these days: fiestas and festivals, the Filipino rites on Christmas and Holy Week especially the Pabasa,6 devotion to the Santo Niño (Holy Child), the Virgin Mary, the saints and the dead ― all witness to the strength of those traditions. They may be external rites but speak nonetheless powerfully of an internal faith. We look at expressions of popular piety and the strong influence of pre-Spanish religion in them ― superstitious, they often are: sacramentals becoming “anting-antings” (amulets) saints taking over “anitos” (ancestor spirits), the Supreme Deity approachable only through lesser intermediaries.7 Analysts of Philippine culture distinguish between official and folk Christianity. The first only includes those beliefs and practices which are approved by Church authority. The second includes all other beliefs and practices derived from popular and folk culture which though not officially approved, are 8 nevertheless supported and encouraged by tradition in the community. 4 PCP II, n. 10. 5 Fr. Guillermo Villegas, SVD, The Cross and the Philippines: The Good News for Our Times, Manila: Logos Publications, Inc., p. 1. 6 Rodel Aligan, O.P., “The Biblical and Folkloric Elements of the First Tagalog Pasyon”, Philippiniana Sacra, Vol. XXVII, No. 81, 1992, pp. 341-394. 7 PCP II, n. 12. 8 Douglas Elwood / Patricia L. Magdamo, Christ in the Philippine Context, Quezon City: 176 Priestly Formation in the Asian Contexts Studies in the Visayas, the Ilocos, Panay and the Bicol Region all agree in concluding that the traditional belief system has been enlarged more than it has been modified through contact with Christianity.9 Folk Christianity is an unconscious blending of Christian teaching with popular religious beliefs and practices of earlier origin. John Phelan traces the difference between official and folk Christianity to the two early forms of Christianity assumed in the Philippines: the “cabecera” (poblacion church-type) and the “visita” form (barrio chapel-type) introduced by the Spanish missionaries in their attempt to adapt Hispanic Catholicism to the Philippines.10 As a consequence, two distinct forms of Christianity have developed: (1) rural Christianity, in which Christian beliefs are generally weakened by locally supported beliefs and practices; and (2) urban Christianity, in which traditional beliefs and practices are generally weakened by Church-approved rites. 11 Catholic concepts in the rural areas are often articulated with the people’s way of life; in urban areas with ritual performance.12 In other words, rural people tend to integrate their religious beliefs with their social, economic and cultural activities; whereas urban dwellers more often separate their religious commitments from their ways of life. Thus for most Filipinos nowadays, faith is centered on the practice of the rites of popular piety, not on the Word of God, doctrines, sacramental worship beyond Baptism and Matrimony. Such religiosity is not even community-based or of building up the world New Day Publishers, 1971, p. 18. 9 Agaton Pal, “A Philippine Barrio”, Journal of East Asiatic Studies, Vol. 5, (October 1956), pp. 449-452; also Landa Jocano, “Conversion in Malitbog”, Philippine Sociological Review 13, No. 2, (April 1965), pp. 96-119. 10 John L. Phelan, The Hispanization of the Philippines, Madison: University of Wisconsin, 1959, p. 47. 11 Elwood, p. 19. 12 F. Landa Jocano, “Filipino Catholicism: A Case Study in Religious Change”, Asian Studies (April 1967), p. 45. Rodel E. Aligan / Priestly Formation in the Asian […] 177 into the image of the kingdom of God. Given the historical, cultural and religious background the vast majority of Filipinos greatly lack knowledge of and formation in the faith. If we go to the Philippine crime index especially of violence, graft and corruption, abuse of power, the many grave ills that plague the country, we have to wonder about the nation’s claim to Christianity. Filipino Christians have to accept their failures but also cling to hope. There is so much of the Gospel that has become part of the Filipino faith ― compassion, forgiveness, caring, piety making the Filipinos decent. They have a solid base to build on. As PCP II tells us: “They are the great mass of our Catholic people. There are not so many of them because there are not enough priests, religious and other Church personnel to work with them. And the lack of workers in the vineyard is due in turn to a lack of Church-going, of catechesis and formation, the very factors that would encourage more vocations of service to the Church. A vicious circle.”13 2. Socio-Cultural Context The Philippines is a pluralistic society and the prime factor of our pluralism is the diversity of cultural heritage. Lowland cultures have been heavily influenced by three centuries of Spanish colonial rule, the Muslim peoples of the south by Islamic traditions, and the mountain tribes especially in Luzon, Mindanao and Mindoro have retained much of their pre-Hispanic characteristics.14 Despite the differences we can speak of a generic Philippine culture. Filipinos can do so if they focus on the structuring of so many social and ethnic groups and the basic values that 13 PCP II, n. 16. 14 PCP II, n. 18. 178 Priestly Formation in the Asian Contexts go with that structuring.15 Basic values (family itself, loyalty to family, concern for security, stress on authority and respect for elders) which antedated contact with Muslim and Christian traditions are supportive of the sociological fact. The commonalities are more striking than the differences, and we can conclude there is indeed common culture and common social structure that we can truthfully call Filipino.16 Even as we note the basic soundness of Filipino values as a whole it is rather too particularistic being too focused on the good of small social groups (the extended family, the clan, little in-groups). This has led to factionalism and regionalism depriving one of a wider perspective: wider groupings, the community, the nation, humanity and the world at large. Therefore, one should take a look at how Filipino Christian faith values can strengthen the good in the people’s cultural values or correct what is excessive in them and supply their deficiencies.