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Impact is officially approved as general reference material for students in the Secondary and Tertiary levels and a general professional reading material for teachers in all levels on June 8, 1987.

land (JPIC) MillHill, London; Sulak Sivaraksa, Thailand, (Commu- nications); S. Santiago, India, (Community Development); Juan Tan (BATU), Philippines (Labor); Jessie Tellis Nayak, India, (Women); Dr. Paulita V. Baclig, Philippines (Health); Maximo T. Kalaw Jr., Philippines, (Alternative Futures)

“There is also a correlation between democracy and peace. Democracies are less likely to fight each other than non-democracies.”

WE have reprinted liberally in this issue the Editorial ofI m p a c t of March 1967—which was especially is- sued for the First National Rural Congress,I m p a c t being its official organ; not for a comparative note or nostalgia, but simply to establish cursory point of departure.

Like in the movies, sequels or recalls are seldom any better than the original. The old editorial describes the first: “In terms of impact on the public consciousness, the recent Rural Development Congress, sponsored by the Catholic Hierarchy, was undoubtedly one of the most successful held in the Philippines in recent years.”

tions, programs and speeches, but most specially the mind and the perspective of the times—enthusiastic as the Church was about social activism which was a happy departure from a baroque ecclesiology that was “aggiornamentoed” by the Second Vatican Council.

“The Church goes to the barrio” was not only a theme of the National Congress for Rural Development—its was a new ecclesiology flowering from a very potent document of Vatican II, “Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World”( G a u d i u m e t S p e s ) which was promulgated in December of 1965 by Pope Paul VI, upon whose prodding and initiative the first Rural Congress was held in the Philippines in February of 1967.

There was some urgency as maybe gleaned from the message of Rufino Cardinal Santos, then Archbishop of Manila: “For time is of the essence. We must mediate between the rich and the poor and, with God’s unfail- ing grace, let us go hand in hand toward the Kingdom of heaven. But meanwhile let charity and justice pre-

The rural congress “marks a beginning of a consoli- dated response of the Church in the Philippines to the needs, the anxieties, the difficulties of the people living in our rural areas,” wrote Zamboanga Archbishop Lino Gonzaga, then President of Catholic Welfare Organization (the forerunner of CBCP).

In his message, Gonzaga said: “May God bless this Congress with a realization by our people that if we hope to find sound solutions to our social problems, we must rouse ourselves to action and build without delay an unshakable national and social structure set firmly on justice as a foundation and brought to perfec- tion by charity.”

But how about the Second National Rural Congress? The blueprint is beautifully enshrined in a Pastoral Statement “The Dignity of the Rural Poor—A Gospel Concern.” The overarching thought is: “But this time our farmers must do that speaking by themselves, the discerning, the proposing of their own ideas, the plan- ning of how we must as a people come together to work for the common good of the country and ourselves.”

Sister Pinky Barrientos, FSP, asks in our cover story, “Is the Church really listening to the cry of the poor?” Whether by rhyme or reason, the poor of today have learned to express themselves in a wide spectrum of perspectives. Is the Church willing to accept plurality as it does in initiatives of inter-religious dialogue? Read on.

Agrarian Reform and Economic Development ... 8 The shameful history of population control...... 12 ‘The Church goes to the barrio’............................ 20 Is the Church interested in rural progress?....... 21

Quote in the Act....................................................... 2 News Features.......................................................... 22 Statements................................................................ 25 From the Blogs......................................................... 26 From the Inbox........................................................ 28 Book Reviews.......................................................... 29 CINEMA Review.................................................... 30 News Briefs.............................................................. 31