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Monday, April 25, 2005
A new heaven-a new pope?
By Orlando P. Carvajal
Uncut gems
In Europe, the slower economies are those of Catholic Spain and Ireland. In the Americas, Catholic South America is as poor as the Protestant North is rich. In Asia, Catholic Philippines is the sick man.
Coincidence? I think not. But it would also be naïve to point to religion as the cause of the grinding poverty in these countries. In Latin America and the Philippines, poverty is directly related to the elitist colonial governance models forced on the natives. The revolution against Spain in the Philippines, for instance, was led and won (after they got rid of Bonifacio) by the elite, the illustrados. On the surface, they wanted freedom for Filipinos but in reality as shown by the way they governed us, they really only wanted to replace the old colonial masters. Once in power, they proceeded to rule the Philippines in much the same elitist (read: oppressive) way their Spanish, and later American, predecessors did. They simply became the new masters of the masses of Filipinos.
So where did religion come in? Religion's contribution to the mismanagement of the Philippines and the ensuing poverty of Filipinos came about when the Filipino Catholic hierarchy and clergy simply continued the work of the Spanish hierarchy and clergy before them which was to legitimize the use of the sword to conquer the Philippines. On paper, there was separation of Church and State in the independent republic. But in reality, the Church continued to legitimize the post-colonial government's elitist orientation. The official deadly mix of theology and ideology that legitimized our systematic oppression by a Catholic Spanish Government continued unofficially after the colonizers were long gone.
The Church, living as it does in the glass house of an essentially monarchic and elitist style of governance, could not possibly throw stones at the elitist political set-up of the country during post-colonial times.
The most critical activity of the Church towards this purpose was the preaching of a medieval heaven. For centuries, we have been taught that the physical world is evil, the body an instrument of the devil. Heaven is in another world and we can get to it by suffering patiently and with a smile the iniquity here below. The subliminal message is practically that suffering or hell on earth is the price to pay to get to heaven.
Yet, the Our Father that Christ taught us, is very clear about what we should do about heaven. It says "your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven." There is, therefore, a chance that life on earth can mirror heaven since we have been asked to pray (and naturally work) for the bringing down of heaven's qualities to earth.
We have a new pope, a confirmed conservative, and I would be less than candid if I did not say I am disappointed. But then I knew him as a liberal archbishop and am clueless as to the circumstances of his turning ultraconservative. As pope, however, he would face new circumstances. Hence, I still hope and pray that these would challenge and open his heart more than they would close his intellect. And he does have a good heart. So, I still hope that he would be all things to all people, that here in the Philippines his conservatism would not include forbidding the Church to actively get involved in the very earthy work of eradicating poverty - our hell on Earth. So, Long Live the Pope. (opc@sunstar.com.ph)
(April 25, 2005 issue)
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