Pastoral Letter
“HE HAS SENT ME TO BRING
THE GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR” (Lk 4:18)
Circular No. 13; Series
of 1986
March 1986
To my dear Rev. Monsignori and Fathers:
Peace!
Christ was sent to preach the
gospel to the poor. The whole Church has come to realize that the preferential
(neither exclusive nor excluding) option for the poor is a gospel demand for
our times.
The need to evangelize the
poor was shown in a very special way by recent events in our history. In our
Archdiocese, during the elections, those who allowed themselves to be
manipulated by unscrupulous elements were largely poor people. They fell prey
to the machinations of those who would thwart the true will of the people,
because of their own economic necessities, and because these poor people had
not been reached sufficiently by our pastoral letters.
In the February 22 - 25
Revolution, the poor were also not represented in proportionately great
numbers.
Indeed, the poor were
marginalized. It would seem that they have not been as well reached by
evangelization efforts as their more economically fortunate brothers have been.
We must correct this situation
of the marginalization of the poor in our
evangelization efforts. The poor must be both evangelized and become
evangelizing. Our evangelization efforts must be directed more emphatically
towards them, with a view to getting them to participate actively in the
evangelization efforts of the whole Church.
You will recall that we had
already spoken of this in our Manila Synod. There we wrote:
The Church is “conscious of
the fact that, if the preaching of the Gospel is to be effective, she must
address her message to the heart of the multitudes, to communities of the
faithful whose actions can and must reach others. For us in Asia, this means more
particularly dialogue with the poor” (Source: Statutes, p. 6).
And we added:
The focus of evangelization in
the archdiocese shall be directed especially towards the “multitude” or
“grassroots” as delineated by Evangelii Nuntiandi (Source: Statutes, p. 10).
But now the moment has arrived
for us to realize more fully the importance of these past directives. If people
power is going to be Christian people power and if it is to continue to be used
for the good of our country and of the Church, then the people — the
multitudes, especially the poor — must be evangelized effectively so that they
can be effective witnesses to the good news.
Our evangelization of the poor
and marginalized must aim at this:
1) that they feel at home in the Church, and have a sense
of “belonging in the Church”;
2) that each Church member participates fully in the
life and apostolate of the Church.
To achieve this purpose, it is
necessary that we reach out to the poor not only to help, but to motivate and
inspire them to do what they can do for themselves and for the Church. In other
words, we have to help them to realize their dignity and potentials, and to
challenge them to contribute these to the Church and to society.
Secondly, it is also very
important to promote small Christian communities where people can truly feel
they belong and they matter.
Thirdly, while welfare,
development and justice activities need to continue in the Archdiocese, it is
of the utmost importance that the spiritual and moral dimensions of Christian life
be inculcated among the poor. We must make sure that development and liberation
work has a soul.
I know that there are already
many efforts being exerted to this end, but these efforts must be intensified
and given renewed emphasis. If we put our preferential love of the poor into
practice, we can be sure that we are doing the will of Christ and we will be
contributing to the re-building of our nation.
Sincerely in the Lord,
(Sgd.) +JAIME L. CARDINAL SIN, D.D.
Archbishop of Manila
