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CLERICALISM in the 21st century vs SERVANT-LEADERSHIP (Pilario, D., 2023)
SERVANT-LEADERS
(2) Danny Pilario - SERVANT-LEADERS [Excerpt of my talk at the 7th... | Facebook
[Excerpt of my talk at the 7th National Institute for Seminary Formators, October 23-27, 2023 in Iloilo City].
“Servant Leadership” is the most dominant image and vision of the priesthood in the Ratio Formationis Sacerdotalis Nationalis (the recently updated Philippine Formation document) which we are reflecting on today.
This is based on the favorite image of the priest in PCP II (1991): “PCP II calls ordained ministers as servant-leaders of the community. In the name of JesusChrist the head of the body, priests build up the Christian community of which they are part through their service as leaders and leadership as servants” (RFSN, 23).
That is a worthy and valuable vision. This is the image of Jesus himself who came to serve and not to be served. We need this so that we would know where we are going, what formation programs are necessary to reach the goal.
But we are very far from reality. This is the challenge of formation. This is the challenge of seminaries. This is the challenge to the whole Phillippine church.
The results of the synodal consultations in the dioceses bear out these comments from our people. There are positive points too, but it might help us more if we confront ourselves with the challenges.
This is how our people experience the priest. This is how our people experience the Catholic church, its processes, its ways of doing things, its ways of treating people. I am forwarding this to help us in a real examination of conscience. It is hard but we need to face it. Cf. Salubong, https://synodphilippines.com/.../Philippines_National...
PROBLEMS WITH AUTHORITY. Priests are “authoritative and powerful”. Some have attitude problems. They scold people in public and do character assassination in the pulpit. Others are involved in abuse scandals
PROBLEMS WITH COMMUNICATION. The church’s communication process is top down. Consultations are devoid of real conversations. Listening is selective; they only listen to the rich. Information dissemination whereby [people] are heard under the guise of consultation but in reality, it is only a means for ratification and immediate execution
PROBLEMS WITH ACCOUNTABILITY. Church management is perceived to be fraught with irregularities and inconsistencies. Inefficient in the administering of temporal goods; no accountability in matters of finances. No consultation with the faithful in the appointment of leadership roles; lack of transparency in the decisions that are made.
Some parish priests do not like Parish Finance Councils, even if this is mandated by canon law. Some abolish their Parish Pastoral Councils; they run their parishes alone like monarchs. They are soloists. They do not like to sing in the choir, as it were. They abolish the choir.
These are the priests which our seminaries have produced. We do not invent these; this is how our people experienced us.
Pope Francis has identified the culprit: clericalism. It is feeling a sense of entitlement as priests, of being enmeshed in positions of power, of wielding authority with brazen power. One young priest said in front of his parishioners: "Ako ang parish priest dito. Kaya ako ang masusunod."
It is a situation quite far from the image of the priest as “servant leader”. In the church, Pope Francis says, “the only authority is the authority of service, the only power is the power of the cross.” This is where authentic power resides, the power of witness and service, the power of the cross.
Quite a tough challenge for seminary formation in the Philippines of our times which needs to produce real “servant leaders” in our communities.
Daniel Franklin E. Pilario, C.M.
Adamson University
Manila
Thursday, October 5, 2023
Thursday, September 28, 2023
28 Sept -- San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila
(20+) Facebook Danny Capili
Today, 28 September, is the Feast Day of San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila. He is the first Filipino saint canonized by St. John Paul II.
Saint Lorenzo Ruiz was born around the year 1600 in Binondo, Manila in the Philippines. He was the son of a Chinese father and a Filipino mother. Both were Christians and took care to raise Lorenzo as a Catholic. He served happily in his parish church as an altar boy and calligrapher.
As a young man, Lorenzo joined the Dominican Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary.
Later, he married a woman named Rosario. The happy couple had three children, two sons and one daughter. By all accounts, the family was ordinary and happy.
In 1636, Lorenzo was accused of murder. Allegedly he killed a Spaniard. However, to protect his safety at the time, he fled home and found refuge on board a ship with three Dominican priests and a leper. There are no details of this alleged crime other than a journal entry by two Dominican priests, that he joined their group to escape possible arrest. The ship departed the Philippines on June 10, 1636, bound for Okinawa.
A shock awaited the holy passengers when they arrived in Japan. At the time of their arrival, the rulers of Japan, the Tokugawa Shogunate, were persecuting Christians. Prior to this persecution, the Christian population of Japan was thought to number 50,000 souls.
Now Lorenzo was arrested by Japanese officials for the crime of being a Christian and ordered to recant his faith. When he refused he was imprisoned for two years. On September 27, 1637, Lorenzo and his companions were taken to Nagasaki to be tortured and killed if they would not recant their faith.
Lorenzo and his companions were tortured by water, which was forced into their mouths and down their throats and out their noses and ears. Despite the painful torture, the men refused to do so.
Following this, Lorenzo was hanged upside down, with a rope around his ankles. This method of torture was known as tsurushi, or "gallows and pit." The torture forces a person to be hanged upside down with a gash cut in their forehead to prevent too much blood from gathering in the head. The gash also causes the victim to bleed to death over an extended period of time.
Those who have survived the torture have said it is unbearable.
One hand is left free so the victim can offer an agreed symbol that will represent their desire to recant their faith. Those few who recant are spared and allowed to live. But few people ever recanted, choosing instead to die for their faith.
Lorenzo refused to recant. According to the record of his death, his last words were, "I am a Catholic and wholeheartedly do accept death for God. Had I a thousand lives, all these to Him I shall offer. Do with me as you please."
His traveling companions were all killed, steadfast until the end.
Lorenzo was beatified by Pope John Paul II on February 18, 1981. The beatification ceremony was held in the Philippines making it the first beatification ceremony ever held outside the Vatican.
A miracle attributed to his intercession occurred in 1983. A two-year-old girl, Alegria Policarpio, suffering from hydrocephaly, a condition she had since birth, was miraculously cured.
His canonization took place at the Vatican on October 18, 1987.
Saint Lorenzo Ruiz is the patron saint of Filipino youth, the Philippines, people working overseas, and altar servers.
PRAYER TO SAN LORENZO RUIZ DE MANILA:
Beloved SAN LORENZO RUIZ DE MANILA, confronted with death, you proclaimed your readiness to die a thousand times for your Christian faith. Today the whole world admires your courage. We feel particularly proud of you as our brother. And we pray: You, a family man, protect our families. Keep them united in love. You, who bore your sufferings with patience and resignation, intercede for the sick of mind and body; help them to receive the grace of God’s miraculous healing. You, who died in a foreign country, take care of Filipinos living and working in this country and in other parts of the world. You, an example of Christian fortitude, sustain our faith and make it spread and grow strong all around us. You, the Philippines’ first saint, be the country’s special protector. Unite us as one people; help us to work in harmony for development and progress; and give us peace. AMEN.
(State your intentions).
San Lorenzo Ruiz, pray for us.
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