UNIT II Lesson A: The Social

Mission
of the Church
Presented by:

Monday, September 9, 19
 Activity: Picture Analysis (Hapag ng Pag-asa)

Look at the picture.

What does the picture
tell us?
Monday, September 9, 19
 Activity: Picture Analysis (Hapag ng
Pag-asa)
Reflections:
1. What does the picture
tell us?
2. Historically, how did
Jesus respond to the
issue of poverty?
3. Does the Church imitate
the example of Jesus in
responding to pressing
social issues?

Monday, September 9, 19
 Further Reflections
1. Is the Church a church
for the poor or the
elite?
2. How should one
understand the
principle of the
separation of the
church and state?
3. Are Filipino Catholics
merely sacramentalized
but not evangelized?

Monday, September 9, 19
 Art II: Declaration of Principles and
State Policies

• SECTION 6. The separation of Church and State shall be

inviolable.

Monday, September 9, 19
 Art III Sec 5: Bill of Rights
• SECTION 5. No law shall be made respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of
religious profession and worship, without discrimination
or preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious test
shall be required for the exercise of civil or political rights.

Monday, September 9, 19
 Art VI Sec 29: The Legislative
Department

• SECTION 29 No. 2. No public money or property shall be

appropriated, applied, paid, or employed, directly or
indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect,
church, denomination, sectarian institution, or system of
religion, or of any priest, preacher, minister, or other
religious teacher, or dignitary as such, except when such
priest, preacher, minister, or dignitary is assigned to the
armed forces, or to any penal institution, or government
orphanage or leprosarium.
7

Monday, September 9, 19
 Art XIV Sec 3: Education, Science and
Technology, Arts, Culture, and Sports

• SECTION 3 No. 3. At the option expressed in writing by the

parents or guardians, religion shall be allowed to be
taught to their children or wards in public elementary and
high schools within the regular class hours by instructors
designated or approved by the religious authorities of the
religion to which the children or wards belong, without
additional cost to the Government.

Monday, September 9, 19
 The Church and the Questions of ‘Just
Relations’ among People
• The Church as the forerunner of
truth and justice among the
Filipinos regardless of ethnicity,
gender and religion.
• It is not to be identified with any
political partisan in order to
become a credible herald of
peace, justice and truth; and
proponent of unawa
(understanding), awa (mercy) and
gawa (deeds) among people
particularly the marginalized.
Monday, September 9, 19
 The Church and the Questions of ‘Just
Relations’ among People
a. Respect versus Discrimination
• The Church in the Philippines is
expected to be the advocate of
impartiality that shuns any form
of discrimination, conflict and
political animosity.
• The Church is also called to
promote respect for races,
genders, religions and point of
views so that national unity and
healing are attainable.

Monday, September 9, 19
 The Church and the Questions of ‘Just
Relations’ among People
a. Respect versus Discrimination
• Discrimination and neglect are obstacles to the full
development of persons and of society as a whole.
• Everyone has a role and needs to have the opportunity to
improve themselves so that they can take their place in
society and participate fully in the community they find
themselves in.
• This aspiration can only be achieved through the
recognition of people’s capacities, potentials, and rights
as well as in ensuring that the structures in the
communities and in society as a whole support this goal.

Monday, September 9, 19
 The Church and the Questions of ‘Just
Relations’ among People
b. As Agent of Hope and Transformation
• It is through baptism that members of the Christian
community “are called to a holiness of life in the world
befitting disciples of Jesus.”
• “Discipleship is the fundamental vocation in which the
Church's mission and ministry find full meaning.”
• As disciples of Jesus, we are called into communion
with both God and others and are sent in mission to
proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom.
• As disciples, all members of the Church “should
everywhere on earth bear witness to Christ and give an
answer to everyone who asks a reason for hope.

Monday, September 9, 19
 Responding to the Demands of our
Contemporary Communities
a. The Fact of Religious Pluralism
• The Church recognizes and
defends the fundamental dignity
of man to be free from coercion in
matters religious.
• “All men are called in freedom to
Jesus Christ and to his Church,
which has a divine mission…to
evangelize the whole world… so
that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bend…and every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord…” (Phil 2:10–11).
Monday, September 9, 19
 Responding to the Demands of our
Contemporary Communities
b. Truthful Tolerance
• Dignitatis Humanae states: “… the human person has a
right to religious freedom. This freedom means that
• all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of
individuals or social groups and of any human power
• no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own
beliefs
• Not to be restrained from acting in accordance with his own
beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in
association with others, within due limits.
• The right to religious freedom has its foundation in the
very dignity of the human person, as this dignity is known
through the revealed word of God and by reason itself.”
Monday, September 9, 19
 Responding to the Demands of our
Contemporary Communities
c. Fidelity to Proclaim the Kingdom of God
• The Church, endowed with the gifts of her founder and
faithfully observing his precepts of charity, humility and
self-denial, received the mission of proclaiming and
establishing among all peoples the Kingdom of Christ and
of God, and she is, on earth, the seed and the beginning
of that Kingdom.”
• The Church’s mission is the same as it was yesterday,
today, and tomorrow: to evangelize the whole world. “It is
the duty of the Church, therefore, in her preaching to
proclaim the Cross of Christ as the sign of God’s universal
love and the source of all grace
Monday, September 9, 19
 Individual Activity

Write a four-line
poem of how the
Catholic Church
responds to the
issues of injustice.

Monday, September 9, 19