Need continuing education
S. Bill Jimenez
6 May 2009
The Call for Social Change
I couldn’t agree more with Archbishop Oscar Cruz on his Viewpoints regarding the call by the CBCP for social change involving the laity. Since the Philippines is predominantly Catholic, the role of the laity is supremely important.
As a democratic and Christian country where we recognize freedom, let’s exercise that freedom for what is good. The apostle Paul exhorts, “My friends, you are chosen to be free. So don’t use your freedom as and excuse to do anything you want. Use it as an opportunity to serve each other with love” (Galatians 5:13). Bernard Baruch also said, “One of the greatest blessings of democracy is freedom; but in the final analysis our only freedom is the freedom to do good.”
The voice of the people is supposedly the voice of God, so the people must wisely declare that voice during election time. The electorate who vote for the leaders of the country must be wise and moral in the process. They should not elect convicted felons and plunderers just because they are popular and have celebrity status.
To prepare the laity for the role in nation building, there is a need for proper continuing education beginning with children. As the Bible says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6). Parents, teachers, religious leaders and others have the responsibility to train and educate children and adults, through precepts and examples, to become good citizens and lay leaders. As Henry Brooks Adams aptly said, “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” The Lord Jesus also taught, “Good people bring good things out of the good stored up in them, and evil people bring evil things out of the evil stored up in them” (Matthew 12:35).
The Church can involve the laity in the municipal, provincial and national levels through social change dialog. Politicians may be invited to speak on social changes. As they participate, they might learn to change their attitude and character. This may be a slow process, but it’s better than constantly harping on politicians’ moral shortcomings, which seems to have no effect.
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