To the Editor
Church can exercise influence in political arena through laity
HE NEWS item titled “Church to join fight vs political dynasties” (News, 1/17/14) is very suggestive of Dante Alighieri’s dictum that evil is much easier to describe than positive good. For the report shows a Church contemplating a course of action that does not readily translate into a coherent and compelling vision that makes the crucial link between promise and performance.
Political success requires tenacity, but tenacity should not be measured by the number of cheap shots some bishops, like retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz, have directed against government. Political tenacity should involve a creative presentation of a coherent vision and alternative plan. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has been making passionate statements on how things ought to be, but it has fallen short with its prescriptions.
The task of the Church is to shape the values by which we guide ourselves in society through evangelization. But Church participation in the crucial decisions facing society today has been more by accident than by deliberate intent. For instance, good governance is not limited to government; it necessarily includes the private sector, the Church and the civil society. All four are critical in the task of ensuring a sustainable human development program for the country. The state is responsible for the creation of conducive political and legal frameworks for human development. The private sector’s role is to provide jobs and income for the citizens while the Church, along with civil society, acts as facilitator in the social and political interaction and mobilization of people in socioeconomic and political activities.
Therefore, in the course of having to deal with value changes and various interactions, the Church must show a coherent understanding of the different variables involved in the issues it raises before the people and government. After all, change is shaped by, adapts to and reacts to both internal and external factors and actors. It relates to governance dynamics, to the complex webs of power and to formal and informal relationships that exist in all organizations.
Today, there is an overpoliticization that dominates Church activities, and this could make Catholic truths appear like a mere
It is not amatter of the Church trying to do what political parties are better equipped to do
partisan ideology. As Christians, we cannot choose to remain in the sidelines and watch our country and fellow citizens suffer due to a culture of impunity and the arrogance of the rich and powerful. But neither should the Church be reckless in losing its moral anchor by becoming simply another special interest group to be placated or, as cautioned by no less than Pope Francis, just another “compassionate NGO.”
Elections in the Philippines have never been oriented toward policies and issues. Voting is a mere exercise of having to choose from among the political organizations of the political elite. And since politics is undertaken through personalistic mechanisms, the majority of our people are not prepared to exert their political power through organizational channels.
In another essay, I dealt with the need for a strong disciplined political party to sustain growth by resolving the collective-action problem of the Philippines. Our achievements—and we have numerous artists, writers, scientists, managers who are equal, and often superior, to those of the First World—are individual, whereas our failures are societal.
What the Church should be concerned now is how to institutionalize the reforms started by President Aquino to prevent policy reversal. A bad or even mediocre successor to P-Noy can readily destroy the reforms. If we want enduring reforms, if we want policy continuity, then the Church should help build program-anchored political parties instead of becoming a lobbying organization. It should guard against being compromised by getting involved in policy debates as in the 2013 elections and focus on how Catholics can acquire a steadfast adherence to moral principles that could serve as a guide to their policy positions.
It is through the laity that the Church should exercise a significant influence in the political arena. It is not amatter of the Church trying to do what political parties are better equipped to do. That would be both impossible and undesirable. The Church should merely seek to strengthen the fertile and creative actions of civil society.
Catholics can definitely change public policy. They just have to do a better job of organizing themselves so as to be heard clearly by the politically powerful—many of whom are avowed Catholics!