ECUMENISM IN THE MOST TRYING TIME

By: Paquito Cardo

As of 2000, the Philippines population was 76,506,928. Thirteen million six-hundred ninety-four
thousand seven-hundred forty (13, 694,740) or 17.9 percent of the population were PROTESTANT
DENOMINATION members. What happened to the campaign of the Church about ECUMENISM? Is this
what we really need in the current time?

As we recall in the history, PROTESTANTISM was developed in the Philippines after the Spanish
American War when the United States acquired the Philippines from the Spanish with the 1898 Treaty of
Paris. Under American rule, the Catholic Church was disestablished as the state religion, giving
Protestant missionaries more opportunities to enter the islands. In addition, there was a backlash
against the Hispanic Catholicism and a greater acceptance of Protestantism represented by the
Americans. The dominance of the Catholic Church in all aspects of life in Spanish Philippines and
Protestant anti-Catholic animosity were prominent reasons for the start of Protestant missionary
activity. In 1901 the Evangelical Union was established in the Philippines to coordinate activities
amongst the Protestant denominations and laid the foundations for an indigenous religious movement.

Now, if ECUMENISM is still the answer for the contemporary menace of time, why Protestant
denomination are kept increasing? ECUMENISM is a Churchs effort towards the visible and organic
unity among Christian churches. Of course, we need unity as Saint Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:10:

10 I APPEAL TO YOU, BROTHERS AND SISTERS, IN THE NAME OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, THAT ALL OF
YOU AGREE WITH ONE ANOTHER IN WHAT YOU SAY AND THAT THERE BE NO DIVISIONS AMONG YOU,
BUT THAT YOU BE PERFECTLY UNITED IN MIND AND THOUGHT. 1 Corinthians 1:10

However, from the year 1898 until now why there are still divisions among Christians Churches all over
the country? Where is the unity when in fact it was continuously maintained for a hundred years ago? It
might be, there is wrong in the implementation of this campaign or maybe its a high time to embrace
another strategy to win back the lost souls of our brothers and sisters deceived by PROTESTANT
DENOMINATION. Maybe we can strategize an approach that will counter the house-to-house
evangelization, bus evangelization, street evangelization and other strategies done by our Protestant
brothers and sisters.

According to the Code of Canon Law 879, The sacrament of confirmation strengthens the baptized and
obliges them more firmly to be witnesses of CHRIST BY WORD AND DEED AND TO SPREAD AND DEFEND
THE FAITH. It imprints a character, enriches by the gift of the Holy Spirit the baptized continuing on the
path of Christian initiation, and binds them more perfectly to the Church.

In the same manner, The Acts and Decrees of Second Plenary Council of the Philippines states that:
221 ECUMENICAL DIALOGUES between the Church and these aggressive non-Catholic groups has been
RENDERED EXTREMELY DIFFICULT AT THE MOMENT. The aggressiveness of their activities, and their
ways of evangelizing, perceived as negatively critical, have justly caused the Church leadership to be
very cautious in allowing any Catholic contact with these groups.

222 Faced with these realities; there is need of WIDESPREAD CATECHESIS AND APOLOGETICS. We need
not apologize for apologetic catechesis. Since its birth, Christianity has been subject to attacks from
which it has had to defend itself. JESUS HAD TO ANSWER OBJECTIONS TO HIS EARLY CHRISTIAN ERRORS,
and CHARGED HIS DISCIPLES TO PROTECT THE FAITHFUL FROM THEM while keeping pure the deposit of
the faith. Apologetics has always been part of the pastoral and theological tradition of the Church. We
must today BE WILLING AND ABLE TO DEFEND OUR TEACHING IN PUBLIC FORA, and we NEED TO EQUIP
THE FAITHFUL SO THAT THEY CAN DEFEND THEIR FAITH. Parish priests must encourage and support the
training of LAY CATHOLIC FAITH DEFENDERS.

Is the Churchs mandate in the presents need will only remain in a PIECE PAPERS? Of course not! The
Church must uphold to her teaching that says:

89 For by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and
are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, MORE
STRICTLY OBLIGED TO SPREAD AND DEFEND THE FAITH BY WORD AND DEED (Catechism of the Catholic
Church, 1285). Hence, a call to defend our faith in PUBLIC just like in a PUBLIC DEBATE is a reasonable
way for ANSWERING ALL ALLEGATIONS AND ACCUSATIONS thrown by our Protestant brothers and
sisters to us. It is the time to CORRECT, PINNED DOWN, AND DEBUNKED them with gentleness and
respect as it was written:

15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to MAKE A DEFENSE TO
ANYONE who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. 1
Peter 3:15 ESV

Thus, engaging in a HEALTHY PUBLIC DEBATE can bring about logical consistency, factual accuracy and
some degree of emotional appeal to the audience where the TRUTH often prevails over the other. With
this, the audience might realize the TRUTHFULNESS that the debater wanted to convey with help of the
Holy Spirit. The TRUTH may HURT us, but at the end through reconciliation it can bring us unity in the
most trying time. And so, my appeal is, let us altogether defend our FAITH PUBLICLY.