POLITIC TRANSUBSTANTIATION:The Role of the Roman Catholic Church in Philippine Politics

Today’s red hot rolling issue of House Bill 5043 , otherwise known as the Reproductive Health Bill has now been a major concern of each and everyone of us. It has entirely reached every corner of the street, each dining table of the family, and even the sacred altar of the church. Meanwhile, its main flux lies on the question, “Should the Catholic Church interfere in the undertaking of House Bill 5043?”

According to Rev. Fr. Juvy Leonardo, our parish priest in St. Polycarp Parish, “The Church indeed has the right to interfere in this Reproductive Health Bill issue. Its main concern is morality, and since this HB 5043 is a moral issue, then we have to meddle in this matter. Tulad ng korupsyon, ito rin ay isang usaping moral, hindi lang tungkol sa family planning kundi buhay-moral ng pamilya. What we are promoting is responsible parenthood, the moral responsibility of the parents and the protection of human life itself. Dahil sa pagtutol nami dito(HB 5043), sinasabi nila na traditional daw ang Simbahan. Pero hindi naman ganito ang Simbahan, ang tanging hangad namin ay pangalagaan ang buhay ng bawat isa. The defense of life has to start from the very inception of life itself, which is the time of fertilization and not implantation (as what HB 5043 promotes). Because of this critical difference, we may define contraceptive methods as abortifacients in reality. How could you protect life if you are promoting the culture of death? Kailangang tignan sa moral aspect ang real value nito, nakikialam kami kapag moral na ang pinaguusapan.”

Here, we may visibly situate the Catholic Church in the Philippines’ political arena. To clarify this notion, I am coining the term “politic transubstantiation”. Combining “politic” (which pertains to the government, the welfare of the State, and the whole political system itself) with “transubstantiation”(a Catholic doctrine referring to the conversion and transformation of the elements in the Eucharist present during consecration such as the host and wine into the genuine body and blood of Christ), I vigorously put credence in to further explain the function of Catholic Church in politics in the pursuit of a totally just societal structure. In his encyclical letter Deus Caritas Est, Pope Benedict XVI speaks more of this, “The just ordering of society and the State is a central responsibility of politics. As Augustine once said, a State which is not governed according to justice would be just a bunch of thieves: Remota itaque iustitia quid sunt regna nisi magna latrocinia. Fundamental to Christianity is the distinction between what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God(Matthew 22:21), in other words, the separation of Church and State, or as the Second Vatican Council puts it, the autonomy of temporal sphere. The State may not impose religion, yet it must guarantee religious freedom and harmony between its followers who are the very people which the State serves. For her part, the Church, as the social expression of Christian faith, has a proper independence and is structured on the basis of her faith as a community which the State must recognize. The two spheres are distinct, yet always interrelated.”

A just society is the core criterion of politics. As an authority of accountable leaders, its goals are profoundly attached to justice, in which its nature has something to do with ethics. But the seeming problem is on practical reason; the proper exercise of power in accordance to morality. For me, our politicians are marred in to an ethical blindness of the overwhelming and glaring effects of power and self-interest. Eventually, the Church responds to this by liberating politics from its blind spots. This is where Catholic social doctrine finds its place; it has neither intended of giving the Church power over the State nor dictated the views and conducts of our political leaders. Its aim is merely to aid in purifying political reason and more importantly, to contribute to the acquisition of what is just for the common good.

Therefore, I have not come here to defend my Catholic faith or to deeply secure its location in the political arena. Rather I withstand here to evidently present the Catholic Church’s ever-significant role in changing our country’s political system. At this juncture rest the Church’s indirect duty of purification of reason and the revival of the morality of the nation. And this is the so-called ecclesial responsibility of the Church, a counterpart of social responsibility which definitely translates that “politic transubstantiation”.