Chapter 3
The Church as Church of the Poor
Introduction
This chapter focuses on the commitment of the Catholic Church to the poor and the marginalized
as a response to the reality of social injustice and structural sin. From the Latin American
bishops’ conferences, to the second Vatican Council, and to the second Plenary Council of the
Philippines, there has been more emphasis given to the Catholic Church being a Church of the
poor in the late twentieth century. This is an image of the Church that is also rooted in biblical
themes of justice, as will be seen in the next chapter.
Learning Objectives
7. Explain the emergence of the theme of the “Church of the Poor” from the various
movements and groups in the Catholic Church
8. Articulate the meaning of being a “Church of the Poor” as an important part of Catholic
Ecclesiology
9. Defend the importance of this theme in Catholic theology and its implications in
Catholic theology
Exposition
In the face of social injustice and the Catholic Church’s understanding of sin, how does
the Catholic Church understand itself then in relation to this present context? Various ecclesial
models have been used to describe the Church in relation to the world and to God. The Second
Vatican Council, for example, emphasized that the Kingdom of God is “already, but not yet” in
the world, and that the Catholic Church works to allow the Kingdom of God to blossom in this
world. Another example would be Avery Dulles using various models to describe the Church:
Church as an institution, as a community, as a sacrament, as a herald, as a servant, and as a
77
community of disciples.
This chapter focuses on one image of the Church as an important aspect of Catholic
social thought: that of the Church being a Church of the poor. This image of the Church is not
new, and has been developed particularly after the Second Vatican Council. Such an image of
the Church is what is highlighted and implied in Catholic social thought, and so it is important to
understand what this concept means and its development in Catholic Tradition.
27 For
more on this please see Avery Dulles, Models of the Church, expanded (New York, NY: Image Classics,
1991).
Ecclesiology in the Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council began an institutional and not just local articulation of being
a Church of the Poor that exercised the preferential option for the poor. This will later on be
rearticulated in the respective contexts of the Asian, African, and Latin American bishops’
conferences.
Prior to the opening of the Second Vatican Council, Pope John XXIII highlighted that
when “confronted by the underdeveloped countries, the Church presents herself as she is and
wants to be: the Church of all, and in particular the Church of the poor.” Though there was a
push for the theme of being a “Church of the Poor” to be explicitly stated in the documents, it
was not used as an explicit phrase; nevertheless, article 8 of Lumen Gentium, the dogmatic
constitution of the Church, elaborates on this theme and what it means to be a Church of the
Poor.
<Box: Excerpt of Lumen Gentium>
<Christ, the one Mediator, established and continually sustains here on earth His holy Church,
the community of faith, hope and charity, as an entity with visible delineation through which He
communicated truth and grace to all. But, the society structured with hierarchical organs and the
Mystical Body of Christ, are not to be considered as two realities, nor are the visible assembly
and the spiritual community, nor the earthly Church and the Church enriched with heavenly
things; rather they form one complex reality which coalesces from a divine and a human
element. For this reason, by no weak analogy, it is compared to the mystery of the incarnate
Word. As the assumed nature inseparably united to Him, serves the divine Word as a living
organ of salvation, so, in a similar way, does the visible social structure of the Church serve the
Spirit of Christ, who vivifies it, in the building up of the body.
This is the one Church of Christ which in the Creed is professed as one, holy, catholic and
apostolic, which our Savior, after His Resurrection, commissioned Peter to shepherd, and him
and the other apostles to extend and direct with authority, which He erected for all ages as "the
pillar and mainstay of the truth.” This Church constituted and organized in the world as a society,
subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the Bishops
in communion with him, although many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside
of its visible structure. These elements, as gifts belonging to the Church of Christ, are forces
impelling toward catholic unity.
Just as Christ carried out the work of redemption in poverty and persecution, so the Church is
called to follow the same route that it might communicate the fruits of salvation to men. Christ
Jesus, "though He was by nature God . . . emptied Himself, taking the nature of a slave,” and
"being rich, became poor” for our sakes. Thus, the Church, although it needs human resources to
carry out its mission, is not set up to seek earthly glory, but to proclaim, even by its own
L. Picardal, CSsR, “Spirituality and the Church of the Poor,” Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the
Philippines-Episcopal Committee on Basic Ecclesial Communities (blog), August 3, 2011,
http://cbcpbec.com/?p=2301.
28 Amado
example, humility and self-sacrifice. Christ was sent by the Father “to bring good news to the
poor, to heal the contrite of heart," "to seek and to save what was lost." Similarly, the Church
encompasses with love all who are afflicted with human suffering and in the poor and afflicted
sees the image of its poor and suffering Founder. It does all it can to relieve their need and in
them it strives to serve Christ. While Christ, holy, innocent and undefiled knew nothing of sin,
but came to expiate only the sins of the people, the Church, embracing in its bosom sinners, at
the same time holy and always in need of being purified, always follows the way of penance and
renewal. The Church, "like a stranger in a foreign land, presses forward amid the persecutions of
the world and the consolations of God," announcing the cross and death of the Lord until He
comes." By the power of the risen Lord, it is given strength that it might, in patience and in love,
overcome its sorrows and its challenges, both within itself and from without, and that it might
reveal to the world, faithfully though darkly, the mystery of its Lord until, in the end, it will be
manifested in full light.29
The emphasis on Jesus’ emptying himself—his kenosis—and his carrying the work of
redemption through poverty and solidarity with the marginalized rather than in power reflects the
importance of the poor and marginalized in God’s saving work. If Jesus is the one the Catholic
Church follows, then the way of Jesus is what the Catholic Church must follow: the way of the
poor, kenosis, and at times, the cross. “Besides following the path of evangelical poverty, the
Church is called to alleviate the condition of the poor, to serve the poor. The Church, therefore,
follows the example of Christ in his poverty and in his care for the poor. While the council said
very little about this vision of the Church, the seed of the ecclesiological vision of the Church of
the Poor had been planted.” This theme runs implicitly through other documents in the Second
Vatican Council, such as in Gaudium et Spes, its opening line states that “the joys and the hopes,
the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way
afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.”31
Later Magisterial Uses
The World Synod of Bishops used the same language in their document “Justice in the
World” in its articulation of a Church that ought to “live and administer its own goods in such a
way that the Gospel is proclaimed to the poor...if instead the Church appears to be among the
rich and the powerful of this world, its credibility is diminished.” The synod called for the local
Churches to be in solidarity with one another across rich and poor, “through spiritual communion
and division of human and material resources.” This is what it means to be a Catholic and part
29 Second
Vatican Council, “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: Lumen Gentium,” Vatican.va, November 21,
1964, http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_l 964112 l lumengentium_en.html. Hereafter referred to as LG. LG 8.
0 Picardal, CSsR, “Spirituality and the Church of the Poor.”
31 Second Vatican Council, “Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modem Word: Gaudium et Spes,”
Vatican.va, 1965, http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vatii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html. Hereafter referred to as GS. GS 1.
32 World Synod of Catholic Bishops, “Justice in the World,” Villanova University, 1971,
https://wwwl.villanova.edu/content/dam/villanova/mission/JusticeIntheWorldl971.pdf. Hereafter referred to as JW.
JW 47.
33 JW 59.
of a Church that will be a “leaven in the world,” which also entails a self-awareness of the
Church’s own practices—that these, too, are just, lest the Church be hypocritical in its work for
and with the poor.34 Such an articulation of what the Church is would now make its way into the
various local bishops’ conferences, particularly for those in the developing countries.
Pope John Paul II would also use the phrase in Laborem Exercens in 1981 in light of the
alienated working conditions many people experienced. He argues that if the Church is to take
justice seriously as part of its mission and truly become a Church of the Poor, it ought to create
movements of solidarity with all the people in various forms of poverty:
In order to achieve social justice in the various parts of the world, in the various
countries, and in the relationships between them, there is a need for every new
movements of solidarity of the workers and with the workers...so that she can truly be
the “Church of the poor”. And the "poor” appear under various forms; they appear in
various places and at various times; in many cases they appear as a result of the
violation of the dignity of human work: either because the opportunities for human
work are limited as a result of the scourge of unemployment, or because a low value
is put on work and the rights that flow from it, especially the right to a just wage and
to the personal security of the worker and his or her family.35
The Development of Liberation Theology and the Church of the Poor
Latin American Bishops’ Conference
In response to extreme and abject poverty in Latin America, the bishops conference came
together in Medellin, Colombia in 1968, and denounced the poverty that many people
experienced. It called the Church a poor Church that did not simply witness to evangelical and
spiritual poverty but was also bound to it.36As Gustavo Gutierrez notes, that such a Church
would both announce the good news of salvation, and at the same time denounce the present
state of injustice that manifested in the systemic oppression of the many poor of Latin America.37
The conference condemned a system that objectified and commodified people in all aspects:
from education, to work, to consumerism, and states that “in order to identify with the poor the
Church must shed its own privileges, separating itself from a power elite living on the fruits of
exploitation.”38
The phrase “preferential option for the poor” began to be used, picking up on the major
themes in Scripture and Tradition that focused on welcoming and including the marginalized and
34 JW
38-41.
Paul II, “On Human Work and on the Ninetieth Anniversary of Rerum Novarum: Laborem Exercens,”
Vatican, va, September 14, 1981, http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hfjpii_enc_14091981_laborem-exercens.html. Hereafter referred to as LE. LE 8.
36 Amado L. Picardal, CSsR, “Pope Francis and the Church of the Poor,” Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the
Philippines News, June 7, 2018, http://www.cbcpnews.com/cbcpnews/?p=15944.
37 Gustavo Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation, trans. Caridad Inda and John
Eagleson, Revised edition (Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books, 1988), 150-51.
38 David Abalos, “The Medellin Conference,” Cross Currents 19, no. 2 (Spring 1969): 132.
35 John
oppressed—the poor in Scripture and in history—into the Church and giving them a voice. This
is particularly tied with the Scripture passage of Matthew 25:
<Box: Matthew 25:31 -46>
< “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the
throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one
from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his
right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you
that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to
drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick
and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer
him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you
something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked
and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And
the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are
members of my family, you did it to me.’
Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal
fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was
thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked
and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also
will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick
or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as
you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away
into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”>
This passage reflects Jesus’ self-identification with the poor and the marginalized, and points to
care for these people as an integral aspect of the Catholic faith commitment and salvation
history. This becomes central to liberation theology and the idea of the preferential option for the
poor, and will be discussed further, along with other scriptural passages, in the chapter on
Scripture.
Asian Bishops’ Conferences
The Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference (FABC) has used the phrase “the Church
of the Poor” frequently as part of its mission in Asia. In 1970, even before Laborem Exercens. a
speech given during an Asian Bishops’ Conference would be one of the first times that the
phrase “the Church of the Poor” was explicitly used, where the FABC first committed
themselves to be as such because majority of Asia was economically poor, though culturally
rich.39 “There was an Asian vision of responding to a continent that had nearly two-thirds of the
world’s population, most of it poor, most of it non-Christian.”40 It further highlighted that:
The Church of the Poor is one where before the Lord we confess our poverty of
spirit, the poverty of our sinfulness, as well as our total dependence on God. It is a
Church that pledges option for the poor, is in solidarity with them and strives to
defend their rights and dignity. It is a sharing and serving Church that promotes
social justice for the poor with their many faces. Its Lord is Jesus of Nazareth who
made himself poor that we might become rich with his grace.41
Since then, the image of the Asian Churches as the Church of the Poor would continue to be
used. For example, the method of the FABC, called the triple dialogue, underscores the need for
the Catholic Church in Asia to encounter and engage three particular contexts as part of its
mission: the poor, other cultures, and other religions. The poor as one of the dialogue partners of
the Catholic Church was especially highlighted in discussion such as those on industrial workers
in 1987. If the Church is to be a Church of the Poor, it would side firmly with the workers and
their efforts for just and living wages and working conditions, and whose experiences and lives
were often marred with the opposite: unfair wages and inhumane working conditions. The
Church experiences God in the “poverty of the workers which is the very life of God...as in
history, God hears the cries of the nation.”42 The Catholic family is also understood as the
domestic Church of the Poor, bound together by a deep communion of love from God through
the Holy Spirit, involved and sent forth on a mission of mercy and new evangelization to other
families and communities.43 44
The Second Plenary Council of the Philippines
In 1992, the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines was convened as a way of
continuing to bring the teachings of the Second Vatican Council into the Philippine Catholic
Church. Attended by lay, religious, and ordained, the Council brought together “the dreams of
our people for a revitalized Church and a re-evangelized country...through these gospel values,
the structures of injustice and corruption in our midst can be firmly dismantled.”
CSsR, “Pope Francis and the Church of the Poor”; Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference-First Asian
Institute for Social Action, “Becoming the Church of the Poor: With Industrial Workers” (Federation of Asian
Bishops Conference, 1987), 2.
40 Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference-First Asian Institute for Social Action, “Becoming the Church of the
Poor: With Industrial Workers,” 4-5.
41 Federation of Asian Bishops Conference Plenary Assembly, “The Catholic Family in Asia: Domestic Church of
the Poor on a Mission of Mercy” (Federation of Asian Bishops Conference, 2016), 4.
42 Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference-First Asian Institute for Social Action, “Becoming the Church of the
Poor: With Industrial Workers,” 42.
43 Federation of Asian Bishops Conference Plenary Assembly, “The Catholic Family in Asia: Domestic Church of
the Poor on a Mission of Mercy,” 35-36.
44 Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, Acts and Decrees of the Second Plenary Council of the
Philippines (Manila, Philippines: Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, 1992), XCV. Hereafter referred
to as PCP II when paragraphs are cited.
39 Picardal,
This council explicitly called the Philippine Catholic Church to be a Church of the Poor
in light of the Philippine context as well as the teachings of the Second Vatican Council. It called
on the Catholic Church to be a:
A Church that lives in evangelical poverty which combines detachment from
material possessions with a profound trust in the Lord as the only source of salvation;
A Church that defends and vindicates the rights of the poor even when doing so
spells for itself alienation or persecution;
A Church where the poor, equal to all others in Christian dignity, are not only
evangelized but become evangelizers themselves;
A Church where no one is so poor as to have nothing to give, and no one is rich as to
have nothing to receive.45
The basis of this Church is the early Christian community, where no one was in need and all
were in communion with each other.46 In the spirit of aggiornamiento, the guiding framework of
the council focused on the following points. First, Jesus Christ ought to be the focus in the
Catholic faith commitment, with his life and person as the main example of one lives our his or
her life; second, the council focused love and communion in its pastoral approach, rather than
condemnation and legalism; lastly, the council stressed the need for a new evangelization that is
“linked to the struggle for a just society since it carries a message of evangelical liberation.”47
<Box: Excerpts from the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP II) articles 122 - 140)
<In the Philippines today, God calls us most urgently to serve the poor and the needy. The
poverty of at least half of the population is a clear sign that sin has penetrated our social
structures. Poverty in the sense of destitution is not God’s will for anyone. Vatican II teaches that
“Every man has the right to possess a sufficient amount of the earth’s goods for himself and his
family.” To the shanty dwellers of Favela dos Alagados, Pope John Paul II asserted: “Do not say
that it is God’s will that you remain in a condition of poverty, disease, unhealthy housing, that is
contrary in many ways to your dignity as human persons. Do not say ‘it is God who wills it.’”
In order credibly to witness to the love of God in Christ Jesus, we need to become the “Church of
the Poor.” This expression, used by Pope John Paul II, does not mean the Church should include
only the materially poor and that there is no place in the Church for those who are not. For the
Church must, like her Savior, embrace every one of every economic class.
What then is the “Church of the Poor?”
45 Catholic
Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, XCVI-XCVII.
4:32-34.
47 Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, Acts and Decrees of the Second Plenary Council of the
Philippines, LXXI-LXXV.
46 Acts
It means a Church that embraces and practices the evangelical spirit of poverty, which combines
detachment from possessions with a profound trust in the Lord as the sole source of salvation.
While the Lord does not want anyone to be materially poor, he wants all his followers to be
“poor in spirit.”
The “Church of the Poor” is one whose members and leaders have a special love for the poor.
The Second Vatican Council tells bishops of their obligation to form the faithful “in a love of the
whole Mystical Body of Christ and, in a special way, of the poor, the suffering, and those who
are undergoing persecution for the sake of justice.”
The “Church of the Poor” is one where, at the very least the poor are not discriminated against
because of their poverty, and they will not be deprived of their “right to receive in abundance the
help of the spiritual goods of the Church, especially that of the word of God and the sacraments
of the pastors.”
The “Church of the Poor” is one that will be in solidarity with the poor. It will collaborate with
the poor themselves and with others to lift up the poor from their poverty. “The Church
encompasses with her love all those who are afflicted by human misery and she recognizes in
those who are poor and who suffer the image of her poor and suffering founder. She does all in
her power to relieve their need and in them she strives to serve Christ.” Pastors and members of
the Church will courageously defend and vindicate the rights of the poor and the oppressed, even
when doing so will mean alienation or persecution from the rich and powerful.
The “Church of the Poor” will also mean that the Church will not only evangelize the poor, but
that the poor in the Church will themselves become evangelizers. Pastors and leaders will learn
to be with, work with, and lean from the poor. A “Church of the Poor” will not only render
preferential service to the poor but will practice preferential reliance on the poor in the work of
evangelization.
When the Church in the Philippines becomes truly this Church of the Poor, the poor will feel at
home in her and will participate actively, as equal to others, in her life and mission. The Church
will then become truly a communion, a sign and instrument of the unity of the whole Filipino
nation.>
The Council thus makes clear that the Church is called to serve the poor, to have a special love
for the poor, and that poverty is not God’s will for any person. The poor are blessed “because
their poverty has been historically the privileged place of the gracious intervention of God’s
saving grace,” and not simply because the poor are more faithful than the well off. The leaders
of the Church as well as those who are well off are especially enjoined to have a special love for
the poor. The poor are thus the subjects of the Catholic Church’s life and mission, as not simply
people to be pitied or to be given handouts, but as active agents in their lives and in the life of the
Church. The poor are part of the community of disciples of the Church, with their own unique
gifts and talents to share. The Church of the poor can thus be summarized to be communitarian
48
PCP II 123.
in its way of life, meaning that it values “fellowship, unity in diversity, solidarity, partnership,
friendship and sharing.”
This understanding of the Church as a Church of the Poor continues in the Catholic
Church even up to today, though admittedly at times the Church has struggled in this regard: the
issue of the “Pajero bishops” during the Arroyo administration serves as just one example of how
the Philippine Catholic Church has also at times failed to live up to its core value of being a
Church of the poor.49 50 Thus, there is a need for constant vigilance and effort towards being a
Church of the Poor so as to not let it become mere lip service. Through liturgy, art, music, and
the actual social work and initiatives of the Catholic Church both at the institutional and local
level, the Church is constantly reminded
Sample photo of the Last Supper by Joey Velasco as an example of how the Church reminds
itself of its being a Church of the Poor.
The Church of the Poor Today Under Pope Francis
Pope Francis’ papacy has once again brought the idea of the Church of the Poor to the
forefront of what it means to be Church in the modem world. There are many metaphors,
images, and ways to understand the role of the Church in society today, but the content and tone
of Pope Francis’ messages, documents, and homilies have emphasized the option for the poor
and inclusivity: “how I would like a Church which is poor and for the poor!”51 Pope Francis took
49 Picardal,
CSsR, “Spirituality and the Church of the Poor.”
R. Cinco and Maricar Uy, “Bishop Cruz Tells ‘Pajero 7’: Confess,” Inquirer.net, June 29, 2011,
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/19014/bishop-cruz-tells-%e2%80%98pajero-7%e2%80%99-confess.
51 Joshua J. McElwee, “Pope Francis: ‘I Would Love a Church That Is Poor,’” National Catholic Reporter, March
16, 2013, https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/francis-chronicles/pope-francis-i-would-love-church-poor.
50 Jocelyn
on the name of St. Francis of Assisi when he became pope in order to emulate the saint’s ways of
peace and poverty, and he later recalled that, when the votes for then Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to
become pope reached the two-thirds majority needed, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, Archbishop
Emeritus of Sao Paolo, Brazil, embraced and kissed Pope Francis, telling him “don’t forget the
poor.”52 53
His calling of the extraordinary jubilee year of mercy is just one example: in 2016, Pope
Francis called for an extraordinary jubilee year of mercy through the Pope’s papal bull
Misericordiae Vultus (The Face of Mercy), extraordinary because it was not predetermined:
ordinary jubilees were celebrated every 25 years, with the last jubilee year being the year 2000.
Similar to other jubilee years, it is a year of universal pardon and remission of sins; what this
particular jubilee year specifically emphasized was mercy for all—the least, the last, and the
lost—especially the poor and vulnerable. An ecclesiastical letter Pope Francis authored, titled
Misericordia et misera that concluded this jubilee year, established the World day of the Poor,
celebrated on the 33ld Sunday of Ordinary Time. This day is meant to remind the Church of the
importance of remembering and including the poor in the Church, and to continue to allow their
voices to be heard and to give them aid through various short and long-term initiatives.
The pope’s understanding of the Catholic Church being a Church of the Poor focuses on
solidarity and mercy with the marginalized. He imagines the poor in the Catholic Church as
wounded, needing tending to, and thus the Church of the Poor is like a field hospital that tends to
those in need: “The field hospital marshals all its institutional resources in order to serve those
who most need help now.” His understanding also of the Church is that the Church is not free
of sin and acknowledges that it isn’t just a Church of sinners, but it has been a sinful Church as
well—a Church that has not lived up to its teachings to care for the poor and the marginalized.
Thus, there is an urgency to reorient the Church towards realizing the image of being a true
Church of the Poor by using the talents and voices of the people:
That is Christ’s challenge for the church today: to be a field hospital for the needy.
To bring those glad tidings, not to sit back and wait for those who need them to ask.
To go out, to travel to the peripheries where the oppressed reside. To be with the
wounded on the field of battle. This is what is acceptable to the Lord. It is radical.
Mercy always is. And as Pope Francis continues to remind us of this truth, he takes
us back to our Christian roots, helping us realize that this challenge has been with us
all along.54
Summary
Christian Tradition has used many metaphors and images to describe its identity and
relationship to the world: as the Bride and Body of Christ, a communion, a herald, and so on. As
52 McElwee.
53 Blase
J. Cupich, “Cardinal Cupich: Pope Francis’ ‘Field Hospital’ Calls Us to Radically Rethink Church Life,”
America Magazine, December 29, 2017, https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2017/12/29/cardinal-cupich-popefrancis-field-hospital-calls-us-radically-rethink-church-life.
54 Cupich.
mentioned in the first chapter, we are in the phase where solidarity and mercy are what is
emphasized from the Catholic Tradition. This now affects the kind of ecclesiology the Church
focuses on: a Church of the Poor whose good news invites and includes everyone.
It is important that the Church’s self-understanding is that of a Church that sides with the
poor and oppressed, as Jesus did, because the lure of power, prestige, and privilege are persistent,
particularly for a Church that has many followers and has formed relationships with the wealthy
and powerful. This can make it difficult to speak truth to power, particularly in the Philippine
culture where relationships can become more important than the truth and doing what is right, as
seen in how people may either stay quiet or even side with one friends or family even when they
do wrong, because of the relationship formed. Throughout history, this has been a constant
temptation for the Church, especially with its ties to those who held power over history: the
various empires and governments that have risen and fell. At times, the Church has held its
ground and was able to exemplify the values that Jesus held; in others, it was complicit in the
very structures of sin it sought to destroy. While the Church’s past may not be perfect, it
nevertheless looks to the future to continue to work towards making reparation for its sins as well
as working towards a Church that sincerely is a Church of the Poor, a “return of the Church to a
way of life conducive to that of service, poverty, and commitment.”55
55 David
Abalos cites Yves Congar in emphasizing the need for conversion and metanoia even within the Church.
Abalos, “The Medellin Conference,”
Guide Questions
1. What important insights and themes did the Latin American conference give the Second
Vatican Council? From the Second Vatican Council to the Second Plenary Council of the
Philippines?
2. What does it mean to say that the Catholic Church is a Church of the Poor?
3. As a Catholic, what implications would being part of a Church of the Poor have on
a Catholic’s faith commitment
Bibliography
Abalos, David. “The Medellin Conference.” Cross Currents 19, no. 2 (Spring 1969): 113-32.
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. Acts and Decrees of the Second Plenary
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