The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to all at baptism. They, however, take on a specific intentionality when a baptized member is sacramentally ordained for leadership in the Church. They become a mainspring of efficacy in the exercise of the ministerial priesthood, being the sacrament “by which Christ unceasingly builds up and leads His church” (LG 10.1-2). In seven broad strokes, allow me to sketch the challenges posed by these gifts to Church leaders in the changing landscape of Philippine Catholicism.
The gift of wisdom summons the Philippine Church to discern the ramifications of the shortfall of ministers amidst an exponential rise of its Catholic population. With nearly 86 million Catholics in 2020 and only about nine thousand priests, the ratio is far from ideal. Pastoral zeal is never wanting but shepherds are overloaded with work. The flock long for pastors who “journey with them and reach out to so many people,” says the Philippine Synodal Report, but, with the “inadequate responses to their needs,” many feel demoralized and left out. The “unfolding of (their) baptismal grace” (LG 10) continues to suffer. Vatican II mandated the reinstitution of the diaconate (LG 29), but Philippine bishops took heed of it only last year and nothing has been heard since. Filipino women have long played crucial roles in ecclesial life which often amounts to real diaconal ministry, but the possibility of being called by God to the diaconate is excluded from the discernment.
The gift of understanding invites Church leaders to integrate and accompany the fragility of marital and familial unions. Recent data have seen an increase in civil marriage, a decline in Catholic weddings, a dramatic rise in cohabitation, a surge in de facto if not legal separation, an increasing acceptance of divorce, a build-up of domestic violence, and incest in alarming numbers. The endless repetition of marital indissolubility and the constant prophesies of doom against the so-called ‘Western’ or ‘liberal culture’ are worn-out strategies. Pope Francis has shown to Philippine bishops a different pathway in Amoris Laetitia (2016), but since then there has never been a comprehensive audit nor review of hitherto church programs on marriage, family, and sexuality.
The gift of counsel ought to guide Church leaders when confronting moral dilemmas and disagreements. It does not replace their moral due diligence but “helps (them) sort through the complexity and arrive at a confident, free decision,” says Pope Francis. A test case of such complexity was the “War on Drugs” waged by the Duterte regime (2016-2022). Over 12,000 Filipinos fell victim to the large-scale extrajudicial violence perpetrated by government forces and anti-drug vigilantes. Would events have turned out differently had official Church discourse framed drug abuse less as a crime but a public health problem requiring multi-faceted solutions? Would the witch-hunt and carnage have been avoided had they not imposed as a moral duty to report drug users to the authorities? Would the drug war policy have failed had the institutional church been unequivocal in publicly refusing to legitimate the state-sanctioned violence? Of late, well-meaning citizen groups have succeeded in filing the case against Duterte in the International Criminal Court but not a voice of support, nay a whisper, is coming from the Church leadership.
The gift of fortitude calls our bishops and priests to be free from the illusory pursuits of political power and influence. Church leaders in the Philippines are most visible during elections period. They issue moral guidelines and support watchdogs to help people make honest and right choices. But, despite their avowal to be non-partisan, many bishops, priests, and religious do not shy away from publicly endorsing candidates. The clerical support for the populist autocrat Duterte and the endorsement enjoyed by the liberal Robredo in the two succeeding presidential elections are but few of the many examples. Trust in the institutional Church remains high, but “(its) influence in the realm of politics should be limited,” says a national survey. Call it a sense of the faithful or public perception, being prophetic requires pastors the fortitude to disengage from ways of exerting moral influence on the electoral outcome which are tacitly or publicly partisan and needlessly divisive.
The gift of knowledge summons Church leaders to avoid the hegemonic proclivity of a Catholic morality in a rapidly modernising secular nation. The Church positively values the gift of knowledge drawn from sciences and human experience and values their reciprocity with Christian morality. Such is necessary “so that the faithful may be brought to a more adequate and mature life of faith” (GS 62). But during the search for a moral consensus on a national policy on population and reproductive health, this gift was not made to bear on the hierarchy’s moral position. They merely repeated the absolute ban on contraception despite its rejection by many Filipinos in obedience to conscience. Worse, no church statement has invited poor families to value their experience and consider limiting family size using natural family planning methods. The rejection of contraceptives was presumed to be the only conclusion all must arrive at, and those who hold otherwise are in moral error or in bad faith. The gift of knowledge calls for the sober appreciation that moral knowledge is not a sole privilege of hierarchical authority.
The gift of piety is the Spirit’s prompting to take a broader view of Catholic life and identity. Filipino Catholics in recent years live and express their faith in ways they deem “important, relevant, and authentic,” studies suggest. Popular devotions endure as a personal intimate way of making the Christ or Marian story their own, far beyond the biblical imagination or catechetical instruction. Many are turning to charismatic groups to answer their hunger for God’s word and the joyful testimony of God’s redeeming action in their lives. Those exposed to the global diaspora exhibit a kind of double or multiple belonging as they deepen their faith through a selective attachment to Islamic or Buddhist injunctions without renouncing their Catholic/Christian identity. Far from being a self-absorbed pietism, this reinterpretation of identity is also expressed through diverse avenues of social activism to address all forms of marginalization in ways that do not need, or may not align with, hierarchical mandate. Filipino Catholics have come of age and their “liberty is a true and proper right that is not derived from any kind of ‘concession’ by authority but flows from Baptism which calls them to participate actively in the Church’s communion and mission” (Christifidelis Laici, 29).
The seventh gift, the fear of the Lord, lays bare the vulnerabilities and transgressions of pastors and fills them with hope in the mercy of God. The nationwide Synodal consultation in 2022 reports of a lack of structures of mutual listening, collective discernment, collaborative planning, and participatory decision-making in the relationship between clergy and laity. The management of temporal goods is prone to irregularities and inefficiencies due to the absence of mechanisms of transparency and accountability. Preaching God’s word is readily weaponized to castigate individuals or groups perceived as church enemies or disobedient flock. Sacraments and rituals are still attached to monetary considerations as they are still the cleric’s main source of livelihood. And new ministries to respond to new needs lack the support of pastors.
The Spirit, like the wind, is blowing where She wills. If my reading is correct, the seven gifts are pathways for Church leaders to take in shaping the future of a flourishing Philippine Catholicism.