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Villegas urges Catholic Church to adapt to ‘rapid’ changes in PH

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<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2017/tvpatrol/01/29/20160213-villegas-socrates-nppa.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) President and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas. <cite>File Photo</cite></div></figcaption></figure></div>MANILA -- Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas urged the Catholic Church on Saturday to adapt to “rapid” changes in Philippine society during the opening session of the 114th plenary assembly of the CBCP.“There are rapid changes happening in Philippine society and it is imperative for us churchmen to acknowledge them so that our pastoral praxis can better answer the needs of the Filipino nation,” he said.Villegas said shifts in Philippine society call for shifts in pastoral approaches as well, noting that a “defensive Church will not inspire and ignite souls.”“We have our liturgical pageantry but are our rituals connected to the hopes and frustrations, the joys and grief of our people? We issue pastoral letters but are we still understood and relevant to the struggles and visions of our people? Can we listen to gutter language without judgment?” he asked.Villegas also explained that many institutions that symbolize stability and permanence have become “shell institutions,” that are pretty on the outside but have nothing on the inside.“Families and religion have become shell institutions but the inside has radically changed. The relationships have changed; the understood submission to authority has shifted, the presumptions with regard to decision making have evolved. We still carry the shell but the shell can be deceptive, illusory and fictitious,” he said.“Are we not becoming shell institutions lovely to see with nothing inside?” he added.Villegas also urged the clergy to ask themselves whether they have given themselves to the serious study of theology to answer the “the vexing problems in human hearts, the agnosticism of many of the young, and the indifference of those who think that the days of religion have given way to the age of science.”“There has to be openness in the Philippine Church that is confident, at the same time, in its rootedness to the indefectible Spirit of the Lord,” he said.

Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) President and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas urged the Catholic Church on Saturday to adapt to “rapid” changes in Philippine society during the opening session of the 114th plenary assembly of the CBCP.

Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) President and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas urged the Catholic Church on Saturday to adapt to “rapid” changes in Philippine society during the opening session of the 114th plenary assembly of the CBCP.