pastoral letter
“to guide our feet into the way of peace”
October 31, 1986
To my dearly beloved People of God in the Archdiocese of Manila:
During the February
revolution, I called upon you to go out to the streets to prevent the shedding
of Filipino blood. It is once more “to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Lk 1:79) that I address you now as pastor of the
Archdiocese.
I do not intend to prescribe
any practical or economic solutions for such is not my competence. But I would
be amiss in the performance of my duty as pastor if I do not seek “to convert
solely through the divine power of the Message the Church proclaims, both the
personal and collective conscience of people...” (Pope Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, no.
18).
The February revolution ushered
in a welcome change of government. We have started to regain and exercise our
freedom. A sense of new hope has set in. Inflation and the price of many
commodities has been trimmed down. The ransacking of
government coffers has been stopped. The Constitutional Commission has finished
drafting a new Constitution.
But serious problems continue
to beset the country. Many people still go jobless and hungry, the majority of
our people still live below the poverty line, labor-management conflicts have not decreased; graft and corruption persists in many
offices of government; the NPA appears to have grown in strength and
aggressiveness, and the Mindanao problem continues to defy solution.
We experienced a miracle in
February. Perhaps we expected the miracle to continue, but God is now telling
us that his work must truly be our own. We must earnestly put our hands to the
plough, and respond to God’s work by a continuing conversion. This conversion
entails a struggle, because we are confronted with two great temptations.
The
Temptation of Liberal Capitalism
The first temptation comes
from liberal (materialist) capitalism, which upholds profit as the chief motive, and competition (exercised through any means)
as the supreme law of economic activity and progress. The right to property is
considered as an absolute right, and property itself devoid of social
responsibility (cf. Pope Paul VI, “Populorum Progressio,” no. 26). In this type of capitalism, human
dignity, and even human life are often sacrificed at the altar of profit. The
value of human beings is judged primarily according to how much they possess,
purchase or produce.
The practice of this type of
capitalism in our country has produced a culture of poverty. Poverty has become
a way of life for the vast majority of our people, while a few unproportionately enjoy the material advantages of life.
Political power and the benefits of culture have been practically monopolized
also by these few.
The
Temptation of Communism
This has led many of our
countrymen to the temptation of Marxist communism. Communism holds out
the vision of a classless society, where everyone will contribute according to
his ability and receive according to his needs. Recognizing the oppression of
the masses by the moneyed and powerful few, communism promotes class struggle
as the method of progress. It seeks to abolish private property and transfer to
the State ownership of all the means of production. It not only foresees, but
actually pursues the abolition of religion, which it sees as the opiate of the
people. God’s very existence is denied, and the freedom of worship curtailed.
Rejection
of Liberal Capitalism
While admitting the legitimacy
of private initiative in economic activity, we must reject liberal
(materialist) capitalism. Such capitalism may increase wealth, but will not
distribute equitably. It may improve the quality of goods, but it will not
improve the quality of life. It may result in material advancement for a few
but it will not bring peace and prosperity to the majority. In the end, not
even those who practice this kind of capitalism will be able to enjoy its
fruits. Capitalism of this sort is an idolatry of things and degrades both its
victims and practitioners. It is institutionalized evil (Puebla). To those who worship the false god of money/things,
the words of the Lord are pointedly addressed: “What, then, will a man gain if
he wins the whole world and ruins his life?” (Mt 16:26)
Rejection
of Communism
While admitting the necessity
of a more equitable distribution of wealth and power, we must reject Marxist
communism. For this system acknowledges no power greater than that of man,
denies the existence of God, and considers religion as an idealistic illusion
to be fought (cf. Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter, “Dominum
et Vivificantem,” no. 56). Further, it not only
recognizes class struggle as a fact, but promotes it as the motor and method of
progress. No Christian, who seriously endeavors to obey the Lord’s new
commandment that we love one another as he loved us (Jn
13:34), can accept this ideology. The abolition of private property and
ownership of all the means of production by the State has been historically
shown as non-viable. Communism is an idolatry of the collectivity, and
ultimately oppresses those whom it would uplift.
There is a great temptation
among some committed Christian who have despaired of remedies within our given
socio-political structure to believe that genuine change can be achieved
through a type of communism that is uniquely Fili-pino.
This temptation must be unmasked either as an illusion or as a deception (cf.
Pope John Paul VI, Octogesima Adveniens, no. 34). Historical and dialectical
materialism, which involves a denial of God, is at the core of Marxist
communism (Dominum et Vivificantem,
no. 56). To call ourselves Christians and to espouse Marxist communism is
to fall into a contradiction.
Church people who are tempted
to believe that “Filipino Marxism” will be different should awaken to this
sobering reality: In no place, where it has established itself, has Marxist
communism shown tolerant of the Church. Repression of the Church and of genuine
religious freedom is a common denominator of Marxist regime. “All the concrete
historical experiments of Marxism have been carried out within the framework of
totalitarian regimes that are closed to any possibility of criticism and
correction” (Puebla). The historical record of
communism even in Asia provides no basis for believing it will be different if
it triumphs here.
I know that we Filipinos will
reject communism because it runs counter to our Filipino values, especially our
belief in God and the unity of the Filipino family.
Our
Christian Alternative
Faced with these two opposing
ideologies that are even now causing untold miseries to our people, what does
the Lord bid us do? What I propose now is not an alternative ideology. I merely
wish, drawing from the social teaching of the Church, to set down a few
imperatives for the present times.
Our most valuable contribution
as Christians for the rebuilding of society is our faith put into vital
practice (cf. Vatican II, “Gaudium et Spes,” no. 42). But here, I refer to an integral faith
that combines profession and worship with a life of justice and love, and
unites inseparably love of God and love of one’s fellow human beings,
especially the poor. This faith hopes for eternal life while committing itself
to renew the world. It is a faith that is concerned not only with eternal
salvation but also with the people’s temporal welfare. It is a faith, finally that seeks not only
the salvation of individuals but the unity of mankind under the fatherhood of
God. We need this kind of faith that works through love (cf. Gal 5:6). We
manifested and experienced this kind of faith during the February revolution.
We must rekindle that experience in ourselves.
Such a faith will move us all to
avoid greed, to live simply, and to share especially with the poor and
underprivileged. It is the poor in spirit who are blessed (Mt 5:3). St. Paul’s
words lose none of their force today: “Warn those who are rich in this world’s
goods that they are not to look down on other people; and not to set their
hopes on money, which is untrustworthy, but on God who, out of his riches,
gives us all that we need for our happiness. Tell them that they are to do
good, and be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share — this is
the way they can save up a good capital sum for the future if they want to make
sure of the only life that is real” (1 Tim 6:17-19).
Our faith will tell us to shun
violence — both the unbloody violence of unjust
acts and social structures that result in the poverty, deprivation and death of
millions, and the bloody violence of arms (used in the name of national
security or in terroristic activity) that have taken
its toll in thousands of lost Filipino lives.
This faith will lead us to give
peace a chance. By God's grace we were able to achieve a momentous change
in our society through peaceful means. We must speak the truth and lay aside
deceit. We must obey just laws, fulfill just obligations, respect democratic
processes, and seek to achieve our goals though peaceful work, dialogue and
negotiations. If the roots of the insurgency problem are economic deprivation
and injustice, and if, as is the case, the majority of the insurgents are not
ideological communists, one can see the inadequacy of a purely armed response
to the situation.
In this connection, while
acknowledging the right of the State to defend itself even militarily when
necessary, I cannot but praise the preference for negotiation and dialogue as a
primary means of solving the insurgency problem and as being especially in
conformity with the Gospel.
Allow me to echo here the
appeal of the Holy Father that those in conflict “undertake and pursue a
reflection on the motives that compel them to seek by means of force with its
consequence of human misery that which could be obtained instead through
sincere negotiations and recourse to the other means offered by law” (Address
in Lyons, Oct. 4, 1986).
Our faith will put the
human person in his totality at the center of our concerns. Indeed it is
the human person, body and soul, an individual living in society, who is the
touchstone of the genuineness of our concerns. Both liberal (materialist)
capitalism and Marxist communism show themselves deficient when measured by
this test. Liberal capitalism subordinates the human person to profit, while
Marxist communism subordinates him to the collectivity. For the Church and for
Christians, however, “Man in the full truth of his existence of his personal
being and also of his community and social being... is the primary and
fundamental way for the Church, the way traced out for her by Christ
himself... the way that, in a sense, is the basis of all other ways that the
Church must walk because man — every man without any exception whatever — has
been redeemed by Christ, and because with man — with each man without exception
whatever — Christ is in a way united, even when man is unaware of it” (Pope John
Paul II, Redemptor Hominis,
no. 14).
I close this letter with an
appeal for solidarity. We all need to go beyond our particular ideas,
interests and concerns. Each of us is called to participate in the attainment
of the common good. In the humanly inevitable disagreements that characterize
relationships, in society. We need to express our differences aware of our call
to unity as Christians and as Filipinos. While everyone must do his part to
achieve this solidarity, there is a special obligation incumbent upon our
leaders, and upon the rich and the powerful to use their resources that justice
and peace may be realized in our country.
“Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of
him to whom men commit much they will demand the more” (Lk
12:48).
Concluding
Prayer
May the God of peace bless us
with the peace to which we have been called (cf. 3, 15) and for which Christ
died and rose again. Peace, and our Mother accompany us in our journey towards
peace!
(SGD. ) + Jaime L. Cardinal Sin, D.D.
Archbishop of Manila
October 31, 1986
