Today, July 1, 2010, Bishop Francisco Claver, S.J., retired Filipino bishop died at the age of 81.He was a very different bishop, who loved the poor, got involved in the nonviolent movement in the Philippines, and was probably responsible for the strong statement of the Filipino bishops against the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Here are a few quotes from his book The Making of a Local Church, published by Orbis Books, in 2008, that I read last year.
It is the task of the Gospel to bring about personal conversion and spiritual growth in individual Christians. But those Christians in turn must work for the transformation and sanctification of the society in which they live. (p. 167)Would that we had more bishops like him.
Base Ecclesial Communities
are worshiping communities of faith-discernment and -action
at the lowest levels of the church
that try, in a participatory way
and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit,
to put life and faith together into an integrated whole. (p. 91)
Broad change in people as societies will not take place effectively unless the people themselves participate freely and conscientiously in the processes from beginning to end, setting ends, deciding on means, planning actions, assigning task, doing those tasks, evaluating them when done, trying new approaches, and so forth. (p. 5)
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The photo is from UCA News with an interesting article.
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