SOME THOUGHTS ON “FILIPINO THEOLOGY” ©.G. Arévalo, S.J. Byers tein et me ft est ie word of thks tall of you who have done us the honor, all of ws awardees ofthis afternoon, of being here, after struggling through both city and campus traffic wt this time of day. We appreciate how much it as cost you, ou guests, to come and spend this afternoon with us. Salamat p. fT nay speak for all ous, I must especially give cha to is Eminence, Jaime Cardinal Sin, our beloved archbishop, and “Her Excellency, former President Corazon Cajuangeo Aquino, ‘oth of whom have so graciously accepted the university’sin- ‘tation to join us at these rites. We al now the demands made ‘on His Eminence’ ie. We know be wil celebrate his 70th birthdsy exactly oe mouth from today, but e Keep up fath- filly the hectic and energy-consuming pace of his shepherd's ‘ministry, We azo know how full Mrs. Aquino's daly scbed- ic Coneien, Ane de Ma i Landes nts om)esate and bow she as to pick and choose carefully from so ‘many invitations which abe receives. Their presence thea isa Gif fo us and we may not begin without acknowledging thi, Selamat 6. tis of course expected, and for sure gladly done, that 1 ‘begin this address with sincere thas to the President ofthe University and tits Board of Trustees, and to all those who Intinted and moved the process which has brought about the granting of this honorary doctorate ths afternoon. And yet a ou arises. Only two weeks ago I readin one of our dais ‘that Prince Edward, the younger of the late Princess Diana's sons, i quoted as saying that “In Britain if « persoo hus 20 brains he either basa tle, ors given one." wll presume the prince's remark does not apply bere for we are not inthe United Kingdom. We are in the Philippines, you see, under the en- lightened regime of President Erap Estrada. Levity abide, it isa great honor to receive this prestigious degree fom the school which has been my ama mater since 1935 when I entered grade five atthe Ateneo in Padre Faura 63 years ago. ‘Thank you theo, Fr. Nebres and Trustees, Administrators and Faculty, and Stadents, forthe precious pik you have given ‘me today. Salama pd. ‘Let me confess atthe start that it was extraordinarily dif cult forme to know wha o say here this afternoon. There are several different audiences inthis auditoriom today, but Twas eam th nmr hd a rita ‘Danaher sa tht os ws soa Aino of my aepbot eat many nn Snpr nd sow to oy ptene oso Lender tine om) ‘reminded tat it isthe university community which isthe ‘con- ‘vocation to be addressed, without of course forgetting that Ilfof those prevent - maybe even more than half are guess ‘Te was suggested tht Twas expected to say something about theology, about what might be called “Flipno theology". What ‘were andar ts concerns, what its reality, these last forty years that theological work has been my assigned occupation? And maybe: Whither ist now bound? If this addrens wil be a litle ‘on the long sie, Tbeleve i wil peak to what allour awardees, fod many ters anon you, ge resins to, inyour 1 Perhaps we can begin this way: by common agrecment, I think, more than any otber single event inthe past century of the history of Christianity, the Second Vatican Councll was the ‘most meaningful, even the most erth-sbaking of al. Three of the greatest Cuthole theologians of the century, asked 10 as- sess the Council some 25 years afer its ending, gave remurk- sly converging interpretations of wht its “bottom-line” sig nifleance was, forthe Church of eu tine. ‘The German Jesuit Karl Rane suid, that it marked the ‘ctual (if only inchoete) coming-to-be of truly world Church ‘bo longer « Church exported from Europe to other peoples, ‘but a Church in truth becoming « Chureh within each people, truly of each people. ‘The French Dominican eeclesiologst Yves Conger saw the ‘Counc signaling the emergence ofthe local churches as sub- jects of their own histories, within the catholica units, the ‘rival [to he called it} ofthe “tine ofthe heirs” ‘The Canadian Bernard Lonergan judged it, perhaps most incisvely, a the Chureh'srecognjion or acknowledgment of ‘tory, a coming-o-terms with a Church withia history, & ‘Church with history at work within itself Landes nim omOthers would sy in sina vein: the ealization that work history do not revolve around the Church, but thatthe CChurehcirles around world and history stead. (M.D. Chea, (O.P) The world and history do not "define" the Chur, but yet the Church “elles” isl ia the world, constitutes itself within itor. ‘The Belgian theologian Edward Schilebeeckx would put the same insight, in more delberntely provocative tems. Not, he says, extra ecelesiam mula salus (Outside the Church there {s no salvation), but extra mundum nulla salus (outside the ‘world, outside history, no salvation takes place). Christ did not come to take us ou of istry and save us out ofthis word. “He came o redeem histor itsefto save the world itself. (Hohn 3,16: Tt was aot to judge the word that God set his Son into ‘he world, but that through him the world may be saved.") ‘The martyred Archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Araulfo Romero suid, — more pastorlly(ifyou wil) — in one of is ‘homilies, "The mission of the Church ina given time and place 1s to strive to transform the history of people int salvation histor.” Finally, let me put allthis into something of a defition, borrowed from Joseph Komonchak ofthe Catholi Univesity, of Amerie: ‘Theology is atthe service of Chin's redemptive presence and role inthe world. It arses from ‘within « community convined that Jesus Christ 15 the Saviour of the world, andthe event and ‘message on which it reflects is meant to have an effect upon the course of human history. Theol- ‘gy is thus one of many ways in which the Church ‘seeks to be the sign and instrument by which ‘Christ continues tobe historically effective. This u ‘is apoint which perhaps especially needs stress ing today? ‘Thus far, something ofa defistion. Now, a mandatory paren- thesis. Before we move on thee sone absolutely ecesary lar- fleation o be made. Also in accordance with the “tot ecclesiology” of Vatican I what we mean by Church here ial ‘or who are bptzed, ay ar mach as clergy al'who profes tobe ‘members ofthe Christan community, and followers of Jesus ll ‘who make up what St.Paul calls the Body of Cit inthe word ‘This fundamental for what we are saying here Tying things together, then. Fr the theologian todsy,in- volvement inthe Churehs responsibility ia, und for, ongoing story, ate mandatory, not optional. Involvement in the (Church's if, ite engagement in changing society, it transfor: tative praxis, — all have become part of “doing theology” ‘And if, as hasbeen may times sud, more has changed in our pact ofthe globe and its history, — more has changed in the ist iy years than inthe preceding five hundred, —thenthe- ‘logy and the theologian have to come to terms with these large evolutions and their meanings, with what we have come to mane “signs of the times.” This kindof theology is a theol- ogy of “acompatar,” of “boing wit,” of “walking with”. This Kd of theology has to interface Gospel and Church with world in transition, in process, and help point it ois destina- “i tt ee he sei vee cn na es gobi heme acted anaes Beet ome secre emer eae tae areas Fees weer Semen cic me ree Seat aeeepeaee cee TER ears Linde mtn om* snsvauo tion and its destiny, « theology that strives to transform a ‘people’ journey into a pilgrimage towards what Jens called the Kingdom of God. 1. To turn now to “Filipino thedlogy,” then, ofthe lst forty years Its endeavor bas been to easre thatthe Chareh in ott ‘country bears word, bears the Gospel of Christ, precisely as it encounters whar-s-golngforvard in our common journey «8 people, going forward towards bulling« nation (Inthe ‘words of Pope Jolin XXII's Pacem in terrs) “grounded om truth, guided by justice, motivated by love, realized in fre dom, and flowering in peace." It has to be a theology in coo- tinual discernment, under the leading ofthe Spr. 1s a the ology whose agent, whose real subject, is “the whole Church “To go into some detail, without trying to be exhaustive: I believe “Filipina theology" has made is journey with gradu ally increasing self-awareness since — to give a convenient date as peg — Pope Paul VI's Populorum progresso, bis great 1967 eneyelical onthe progress of peoples, and that these were some of the milestones along the way: the concen forthe human and faith meanings ‘of social sad economic development, fom the sixties onmard; = the emergence of basic Christian communi- ties, Inter "Basic Ecclesial Communities” BEC's, the Church coming-to-be at ‘raseoots; = the growing struggle for social justice and ‘human rights, and de facto, even before that In ‘el was imported the “option forthe por"; cur own bome-grown reflection on liberation, ‘born and bred no doubt in sytony with Marast- ‘Maoist ideologieal influences i the 70°, helped such by interfusion with Latin American Ubera- Lender ntti tion theology, but shaped in substance by local events, especially by the growing resistance to the Marcos martial aw and its oppresions, = this resistance to the “ruinous dictatorship” in time gathered its disparate forces to head, and moved — we believe, not withou the guid: ‘ng and saving hand ofthe Lord, ‘= toward those four fateful days which made EDSA and “the People Power” uprising “mirace," gif bestowed, a task begun, Perhaps = we might ed in sorrow — later betrayed by ‘ow own lack of unity, of courage and politica! wal After EDSA, within the space created by our ‘uneasily restored democracy, the wrong-sulong moves fo give some consistent embodiment to the historie presence and responsibilty ofthe Church in our society. —The work of inereligious dslogue, so nec- ‘essary forthe Church in Asi, has been some- thing of atecomer in the consciousness of many {in our country, but benceforth it has to move 10 ‘rot and center, inthe decades to come. The Second Plenry Council ofthe Philipines (PCP- 1991) was a summative moment, «remarkable effort at defi tion of the Chureh’s mission, explicitly formulated and articw- lated, as official in character as we could want iI proposed 4 vision, rooted inthe Gospel, discerned in and through the long histori process of “evangelization.” PCP-Ilset out upon ‘renewal ofthe Church a renewal itself inservice to thie v= ‘sion, ‘with clergy and laity meant to work together athe daunt- ing task it named asthe “building ofthe Church ofthe poor” TILT “Filipino theology” could not have been the work of ‘theologians in any eal isolation from the crises and cureats Lan* anevsio round us, It had to find expression in the midt ofthe move iments and iatercrostings of the most diverse sectors of & CChurch atthe heart of "history isl inthe making" A theol- ogy of bits-andpleces gathered and seotch-taped together in ‘hours of doing and sufering, In dalogue and confrontation, in reflection and prayer, in emptines, in confusion and paralysis, “inal the ines and seasons of Goheleth, it would seem! — in struggle, sometimes in anguish ad despair, sometimes with the shedding of real blood and tars, Tht “Filipino theology” ‘as been the eration ofen entire Church, and all hese things “land more — were pat of toy. ‘That is why I belive it ean be argued that our bisho pastoral eters, coming to focused term in the Second Ple- ‘ary Council of the Philippines, — documents which area far try from the magaificent summae ofthe middle ages, texts ‘which only poorly reselble the mueb-labored-overconstita- tions of Vatican Il — these documents are yet the substantive Filipino theological texts of our generation, May I submit that they can bear the weight of the name “theology.” They are pastoral and missionary reflections and dreotves, true, yet roughly articulating a developed practical ‘ecclesiology inthe ine of what has been called "an ecclesiology of transformative praxis in history.” May T submit that they represent, despite obvious deficiencies, the FAITH and HOPE. ‘of the Flipino Catholie community secking to understand it- Self and is mission today. And expressing its LOVE, inthe Spirit, — a love seeking to name its imperative and oumber ‘ts deeds. Is this ot itself authentic theological endeavor? Even «prophetic theologiel word? You might even call, the the- ‘logy of our patristic age. For it isa tue theological search to ‘understand and ive out the Gospel of Jesus and make it effec tively redemptive in ur history ‘And thus iit not expected thatthe Fipino theologian of Landes mn 98) the present will continue to work ths vein in years to come, laboring “from below,” inthe urgent service ofthe Church's ‘mission ia ou me and place? But al the while, for tis isthe deeper consequence, constructing # local Church on mission in response to the hairs that is upon us? And not incidentally, this isthe most conerete meaning of inculturtion apd its the= ‘ology Fo ncultaration iat base the task of local church in the process of is selrealization in history.” Litmus-paper teat: Name all the Filipino theologians who sre present onthe scene today and, to your mind, making some thing ofa difference, and you will see that (I believe without exception) this is where they are, and what they are doing. For {his is what the Church i the Philippines today asks of thers Otter theological tasks, of course, accompany this work; for worship, preaching, ‘atechess, pastoral practice), needful and useful concerns, hich at all times and inal places must goon inthe Chute. We do not set them aside; none isto be omited or belied, Let them go forward, for what sand wil be needed, now and So much forthe Fllipino theology of the recent past and the present 1V.And what may be said of the future? An educated guess only is what may be offered. In the journey of pst-Vatican IT 20° century ecclesiology has led, by imme msus, to Landes nnn om)hstologial search, Already Pope Paal VI foresaw it: the deeper Knowledge ofthe Church woul take us to renewed turning to Jesus. The “Counell of the Church” which was Vatican IL, was ultimately re-cenerag on Christ. John Pel 1, beginning his magisterium with Redemptor homints, Chis. as redecmer of humanity, has brought us, more explicitly than any Pope before him, tothe cruiied and risen Lord, and in fand through him, to the Trinity and trintrian labor in our sword ‘Thus the foture search of our theology will center, I be- lieve and I hope, on Jesus the Crist. And, repeating only what ‘many outstanding theologians today are saying, it willbe athe ‘logy constantly renewed by a personal and an ecclesia expe- ‘lance of Chit. The Holy Father sud, in the United States in 1993, “Sometimes even we Catholics have ort or maybe never had the chance to experience Christ personaly; not Christ as mete “paredigm’ of “valve, bul Christ experienced atthe iv ing Lord: be whois the Way the Truth andthe Life” Pages can be filed with smile statements from the moa influential of contemporary theologians.“ And most recently and retound- Jy fom the Asin bishops inthis year's Synod, in personal Interventions and in their final message. Inthe yers send, I believe we wil se a rediscovery of ‘Jesus Christ nour Asian theology and even within an ucknowl- ‘edged content of religious pluralism in Asa, we will see emerg~ ame ov: ee ne ats wo i a tne: ar tas Gn rte aed br ng ag (Sea mp cgi ta on a en mag aly es ‘hey is or my orn eng ng ‘Se tae yt es tv ene pe ‘Fate ces tc ronl ese eprint far ef Testeg ens wate hamatn rte henna hal ‘ pemel cereetn s Bene aeseyme pi 1B ate Camembert be pane td mie ogee He ing — maybe forthe fist ime, maybe in wnexpected depth and splendor, and with wonderment, — the “Asian face of Chis.” Ina true sense, the history of theology in Asa in the Pilip- pines, has aot yet really bogun in earnest. Righty it wil begin, {nthe deep mind and heat, with an encouater with Jesus Crs. ‘As I was writing these reflections, I e-tead one of the lst essays our Faber Horacio dela Costa wrote before be went ‘off to Rome to be one of Fr. Pedro Arrupe's General Assie- tants Its «paper writen with the grace and originality we always expected of him, and bears the title, "The Eastern Face cof Christ."* Without preaching, he suggests what the Asian Bishops on thee own have repeated fr years ov, almost as refrain: that the “Asian fae of Crist” will only emerge when ‘ve, with Asian faces, inw Chur tse with an Asian face and ‘voice, willicarnate anew tothe 97% of Asians who are not of ‘ur faith and not of our Church, the One who, being the Way, the Truth andthe Lif, is “yesterday, today, andthe same for- ‘ever Now eopecially tht the Asian Synod has rounded the ‘alo incuturation with both insistence and authority, it gxins Added relevance for vs, speaking as it does of Chis and his Gospel in whom all the deepest Asian aspiration wil ind ful- slimes. If may cite Fr. de ln Costa's conctuding paragraph also ‘that Lay pay this wfternoon a tribateto his memory 1 cannot be without significance thatthe coun ‘uy which stand almost atthe geographical ce ter of the Far East, the Philipines, should also ‘be that in which Christianity has taken the deep- ‘ent root. There ina Providence that guides the course of human airs Providence whose high an Com Th Et Pa fC” ode Prine ed wy a Co i tn Pang 1 180. Landen in cmpurposes we can glimpte even if we cannot com= pletely grasp them. ‘Surely its not presumptuous to sein this prov- dental disposition the destiny to which we are called, weak and unworthy though we are: thet, ‘ofbeng a spiritual aswell as a geographical cen- ter, a vital centr, in which all Asia may Bin that which it has log sought but has not yet found itself, ts own mind and heart, aot changed but ‘ransfigured and made whole inthe mind and heart of Christ, Such, I sugges, might be our des- tiny a8 « people Y. One last point and I am done. Pope Paul VI sud, many years. ago, thatthe contemporary world, surfited with words, pays litle heed to teachers, whe are aftr all mainly purveyors of words (Include inthis category, practitioners of theology.) Te word listen to teachers, Paul VI said, itis only because ‘they are witnesses fist of al. This also what the Asan bish- ‘ops sd, in their recent Synod.” Ths has become mandatory, they insist, foF those of us who do theology as our mtr, 10 live as witnesses, if there will bea rightfil and honored place for usin the Church of Asia tomorrow.® “i 68 : 7ct See fr Ala “Mange te Peapod a Ori (8 May 99h, 27 ig Pope Peal sod Cadel ue Duran 3° Sacro paca who br sre ip Goderpetne a as ‘Tome ea ‘hep th pecans, Sloe, ano A, met manent Lendee ntti 0 Let me bring this rambling discourse to its end here, asking you, dear fends, for mypelf aad others who are tying to be Filipino theologians, tht you will pray, to we may learn to be ‘witnesses also, even witnesses fst ofall, and thus incaraate ‘the word we must poclaln, and so, In the end, be found wor thy, with you, to receive the promises of Chris. inthe feo mignon ‘pate porte A pent eve ee Ana Cun Sc Sh re et ‘Sieriebrmeing of er Arne treo low wn pasa ‘Scr epicure nd ceca sonarouy Taine ua ea stare hve hs oe ied pre af heft wt at Gan rar pon Home, SED0S Senet rey {Syn a tor oe Heton!Coate gon semaine hee ‘op maos e woing ppe f e1998 Asan Syn, ges (eof on man pou mar by feta Snap be eget Rome ‘sent bape’ mayne Se Lnaeta pptin teu ‘Spon er mde Ae Sec weet" a SESRR Sain yen nia ern che ain tro "ann as Wing ps tse Tar Fox “haps SESE ait pret nan! 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