Leading by example is the way forward

It is indeed a cause to celebrate and commend the CBCP’s bold and maybe long-overdue decision to stop accepting donations from businesses that are proven destructive to the environment (“The bishops’ bold move,” Editorial, 2/05/2022). It also urged other church organizations to withdraw not later than 2025 their resources from banks and other financial institutions, which are without clear commitment to divest from fossil fuels. In turn, Filipino Catholics are called to stand with their pastors and assist them in this fight to save our common home.

While it is easier said than done, its expected impact on the financial resources of the whole Church and the individual dioceses still reeling from the significant drop in collections due to suspended public Mass must have weighed heavily on them. The Church mainly depends on in-person, pass the basket donations, and the arancel system or fixed rates for baptisms, confirmations, weddings, funerals, and offering of Mass intentions. It must be noted that the CBCP also gradually seeks to abolish the system as it can hinder the poor from receiving God’s grace and blessings. Regardless, the Church depends on divine providence and the generosity of its members to meet its financial needs. As Bishop Broderick Pabillo bravely said, “The Church survives on faith, not fees.”

Be that as it may, it remains to be seen how the individual bishops will walk this talk in their own dioceses. In the exercise of its apostolic and pastoral role, the CBCP does not encroach on the autonomy of the individual bishops whether to implement this policy statement in the varying context and needs of their dioceses. In this regard, we can only pray and hope that at least most if not all the bishops shall find the courage and wisdom to change the things that they can to promote that “greater good which the Church offers to humankind, especially through forms and programs of the apostolate which are fittingly adapted to the circumstances of the time and place” (CIC, c. 447). In a world where people listen to witnesses more than teachers, the bishops cannot but lead by example!

CARMELO PABLO
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