Karol Josef S.

Gutierrez JD3

Reflection in Catholic Social Teaching

Throughout the first half of the semester, while studying the different social
teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, I came to have 2 epiphanies which seem
most profound in my mind: first, that law and theology, no matter how hard we
may try to separate them, are, in truth and fact, absolutely inseparable, and second,
similar to the inseparability of law and theology, human dignity and human rights
cannot be separated from the human itself. I will now hereafter discuss how I came
to be enlightened as regards these two things throughout the first half of the course.

First, I came to personally realise the inseparability of law and theology in

the first half of the course when I heard and understood that the Universal
Declaration on Human Rights and even the standards of sustainability adopted by
the United Nations were, in fact, adopted from the teachings of the Church.

It is quite funny, when you think about it, how hard we try to separate the
Church and the State. It’s even included in the Declaration of State Principles
found in Article II of the 1987 Constitution. But when you think about it deeper,
there is no true way that you can make the Separation of Church and State
completely inviolable in democratic settings like the Republic of the Philippines
and even the United Nations. In democratic settings, such as the Republic of the
Philippines and the United Nations, people vote for what they feel is appropriate.
They vote according to their consciences. And for the most part, the conscience of
the people are formed to a high degree by the different belief systems which they
associate themselves with.
 Even the great constitutionalist, the late Miriam Defensor-Santiago
explained in her book, Constitutional Law 1, that in truth, there can be no absolute
separation of Church and State because members of congress are entitled to vote
based on their conscience, having in mind the will of their constituents, even if
their conscience was formed by the religions which they respectively adhere to.

Considering now the fact that the most populous religion in the world is
Christianity and the sect with the highest population is the Roman Catholic
Church, it seems only understandable that the world, represented by the United
Nations, would see fit to adopt the teachings of the Catholic Church by making a
declaration that not only recognises, but also protects the dignity of persons which,
in fact, as taught by the Catholic Church, emanates from the fact that we are
created in the image and likeness of God. Because of this fact, there are certain
fundamental rights which humans have from birth until death and can never and
must never be taken away from them seeng as doing so would constitute robbing
them of their dignity.

This, in fact, leads me to conclude how sad it is too see the Republic of the
Philippines succumbing to the leadership of a Rodrigo Roa Duterte, a man whose
iron fist has caused many Filipinos, once thought to be the hope of the Catholic
Church in Asia, being the only Christian nation in the continent. If Filipinos only
understood the social teachings of the Catholic Church that humans can never be
deprived of their dignity, then I truly, humbly, and with great conviction, do
believe that no one would have applauded during his celebrated State of the Nation
Address when he said the amusing, yet horrendous paradox, “your concern is
human rights, my concern is human life.” If only the president sat in our LSForm 3
class, I do not think he would have the guts to say those words. The rights of
humans cannot be separated from humans because when you strip women and men
of their fundamental rights to even think for themselves and live according to their
consciences, then you have stripped them of life simply because their lives are now
controlled, not by themselves, but by the one who has taken away their rights.