Episcopal Commission on Culture (ECC)

The Creation (Activation) of

Catholic Cultural Centers
in the Philippines
 MEMBERS OF THE CBCP- ECC

Chairman: Bp. Elenito Galido (Iligan)

Vice Chairman: Bp. Emmanuel Cabajar, CSsR (Pagadian)

Members:
Bp. Jose S. Bantolo (Masbate)
Bp. Julito B. Cortes (Cebu)
Bp. Renato P. Mayugba (Pangasinan)
Bp. Marlo M. Peralta (Alaminos)

Executive Secretary: Sr. Mary Anthony E. Basa, PDDM

Programs Coordinator: Mina C. Harada

 Tasks of the ECC:
1. Shall promote the encounter between the saving
Message of the Gospel and the culture of our times.
2. Shall undertake the appropriate initiatives to
promote dialogue between faith and cultures, and
to foment intercultural dialogue by activating
Catholic Cultural Centers all over the Philippines.
3. Shall oversee the cultural initiatives of the Church
in the Philippines in the national, regional and local
levels, making these propitious occasions for the
dissemination of the pertinent Directives of the
Pontifical Council for Culture.
4. Shall enter into dialogue with regional and
diocesan centers with the aim of encouraging
fruitful exchange about the research, initiatives
and cultural accomplishments carried out by local
Churches and enabling the whole Church in the
Philippines to benefit from them.
5. Shall collaborate with national Catholic
organizations of a historical, philosophical,
theological, scientific, media, artistic and
intellectual value, and to promote reciprocal
cooperation.
6. Shall ensure the effective participation of the
Philippine Church in national congresses concerned
with science, media, culture and education.
7. Shall facilitate Church-culture dialogue at the level
of universities and research centers, seminaries,
organizations of artists and specialists, media
practitioners, scientists, researchers and scholars,
and to promote worthwhile meetings among these
cultural groups.
8. Shall use all means of arts and media of social
communications to proclaim the message of the
Gospel and to evangelize all peoples especially the
youth and family.
Background:
The Pontifical Council for Culture (1982):
Intention of strengthening the Church’s
pastoral presence in this new millennium to
promote the meeting between the saving
message of the Gospel and the cultures of
our time and to search for a common cultural
communication with all people of good will.
 But, there is a
need for a common
forum or centre
where this encounter
or dialogue between
faith and culture can
happen; a centre
which could also be
an appropriate venue
for a new
evangelization in our
time.
 WHY a Catholic Cultural Center?

The phenomenon of
globalization calls
us to reflect on the
consequent
changes in the
various areas of
human relations
and lifestyles.
In Our World Now…
 Satellite
determines signals of world
economy and finance.
 Horizonsin which we live become wider
and wider.
 Streams of news, information and knowledge
fill our minds with dramatic immediacy.
Development has displaced
cultural groups and
indigenous people ....
Television influences the language,
traditions, beliefs, knowledge and even
personalities.
New Pop Language
Indeed, globalization is a phenomenon that
makes us reflect on the extraordinary
complexity of human and institutional
relations, which have never been so intense
and widespread, so fast and fretful.
Though the advancement in technology
and widening of the frontiers of
knowledge may have brought us some
advantages but there are undeniably
disturbing facts that characterize the
present conditions:
What new cultures are evolving in
our present time?
I want it NOW !!!
 The culture of
INSTANT GRATIFICATION
The provision of daily nourishment is
shifting from family kitchen to
supermarkets, prepared food industries
and fast food chains...
The FAST FOOD CULTURE
is also what we call...
Mc Dona-lization
or Jolibee-zation
The value of family meals where the
members share their day’s experiences
of joys and failures are slowly
disappearing…
Children’s media exposure to TV, video games,
and ‘adult’ themes is increasing, and it motivates
violent and sexually exploitative behavior...
Television in particular influences the
language, traditions, beliefs, knowledge,
identities and offer more problematic
solutions to life’s problems (TELESERYE)...
People and human relations become goods to be
used and consumed in the great supermarket of
the world, where there is neither place nor time
for authentic spirituality, for a dialogue with God
as well as with oneself.
 Our world has become a
large, impersonal busy
institution. We are
alienated from each
other.

Although crowded, we
are lonely and distant.

Pushed together but

uninvolved.
The culture of Insensitivity (“I don’t care”)
 The Culture of
Indifference
“Elevator Culture”

It’s like we are occupying common space but

have no common interests, as if we are on an
elevator with rules like : "no talking, smiling
or eye contact allowed without written
consent of the management.......”
No longer do most neighbors visit across
the backyard fence.

Hoarding & flaunting

have replaced sharing &
caring.

The culture of “GREED”

The culture of “POLITICS”
Bribery and Corruption

You might want a new

car... Just remember
my contract
 “I need it and
I want it all”

The culture of
“CONSUMERISM”
 Therefore…

Most people, especially the youth are

ever confused and diffused...
…inability to take
responsibility and be
in control of one’s life
…inability to focus
and consentrate…
constantly distracted…
 Extreme individualism leading to
fragmentation and separation (i.e., slogan “I
create my own culture”; “just do it...”) has
become a new culture...
 Thus, the ensuing gaps among peoples and
cultures have resulted into a “crisis in
communication and transmission of cultural
and religious values”.
A breakdown of Communication…
A breakdown of Families…

A breakdown of society…

A breakdown of ecology…
A breakdown of the Absolute…
everything is now relative…
“The breakdown between the
Gospel and culture is without
doubt the drama of our
time.”-(Evangelii Nuntiandi # 20)
“The hopes and joys, griefs and anxieties of
people today…are the hopes and joys, griefs
and anxieties of the disciples of Christ and
there is nothing that is genuinely human
that has no echo in their hearts.” Gaudium et Spes # 1
 The need to create CATHOLIC
CULTURAL CENTERS is being seen as a
concrete and viable move to provide the
people a stable foundation for a faithful
cultural reawakening…
 As St. Paul
reminds us, “Do not
conform yourselves
to this age but be
transformed by the
renewal of your
mind, that you may
discern what is the
will of God, what is
good and pleasing
and perfect”
(Rom. 12:2)
 A Cultural Reawakening and
Rootedness in the Gospel

What values and culture do we

need to preserve in our
secularized world today?
The WORD of God

The Gospel Values…

 Prayer
and
Silence …
The Family ALTAR
The Culture
LOVE…
(Care and
Kindness)
The Culture of LIFE
Culture of Peace
Respect for the Elders
Care for the
Elders…
The Bayanihan or
Community Spirit
Pope Benedict XVI: “As if dazzled by technical
efficacy, man forgets the essential horizon of
the question of meaning and is linked to a
mentality which generates a dangerous
imbalance between what is technically
possible and what is morally good, with
unpredictable consequences.”

Catholic University of
Sacred Heart
in Rome,
on May 3, 2012
“it is therefore important for culture to
rediscover the vigour of meaning and the
dynamism of transcendence. In a word, it
must open itself decisively to the horizon
of ‘quaerere Deum. “

To respect a human person,

Science cannot do without
FAITH …
The Christian believer is a simple
person: bishops should protect the faith
of these little people against the power
of intellectuals. Benedict XVI.
- Archbishop Chito Tagle, Communion in the Word
through Mary, 50th International Eucharistic Congress,
Dublin, Ireland
"We see in our time so much
exchange of words happening
at high speed and across
national boundaries. But
unfortunately the world is as
divided as ever. Why is
communion not achieved in
spite of the exchange of
words? Because Jesus is not
the word they share and
receive."
 WHAT is a Catholic Cultural Center?

Ecclesia in Africa, Pope John Paul II, 1995:

“Catholic cultural centers offer to the Church

the possibility of presence and action in the
field of cultural change. They constitute in
effect public forums which allow the Church
to make widely known, in creative dialogue,
Christian convictions about man, woman,
family, work, economy, society, politics,
international life, the environment. Thus, they
are places of listening, respect and
tolerance.”
 They carry out a
decisive role in
repairing the
broken relationship
between faith and
culture, providing
an open and
sincere, correct and
meaningful
dialogue between
the Church and all
those who hold
dearly the good of
humanity.
•The Catholic Cultural
Centers shall respond
to the call of Pope
Benedict XVI to
profess our faith in the
Risen Lord in all places
and opportunities so
that everyone may feel
a strong need to know
better and to transmit
to future generations
the faith of all times
(Porta Fidei #8).
CATHOLIC

Beginning with the faith; Committed to the faith

-connected to a diocese, parish,

religious order, church, Catholic university, lay
movements, seminaries, associations, etc.
CULTURAL

Supporting people where they are at and helping

them grow in their culture…
In the culture sector…
• in the arts, circles for artists (sculptors, painters,
musicians, architects, writers, arts, and crafts groups,
etc.), centres for literature groups, exhibitions and
concerts making the beauty of Christian art accessible
to all…
• in the sciences, a platform for meeting,
researching, discussing, evaluating…

• in popular culture, showing the patrimony of

values and cultural goods which form cultural
identity…
Engaging with contemporary cultures:
Discussing philosophy, theology, science,
culture, economics, etc..in the light of the
Word of God
Responding with the aid of Faith to current
issues in secular culture …
CENTRE: Equipping people for their community

* local, rooted in a terrain, providing

permanence and continuity …

*a platform for meeting , for speakers, for

debates, dialogues, encounters, exhibitions …

*libraries, resources, associations, think-

tanks, secretariats, research groups,
conferencing…

*can be virtual: circles, clubs, foundations,

associations or real: buildings with halls, rooms,
offices…
 Examples of Catholic Cultural Centers

Where faith and culture meet

Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, “Paul VI Centre”,

offers ongoing courses for adults to keep their
academic interest alive, deepen their faith and
stimulate the academic community.

Moscow, Russia, “The Library of the Spirit”,

translates and publishes theological materials,
also conferences, evenings, galas, coffee-bar
“CASE”.Great Britain, internet-based agency of
the Bishops’ Conference providing resources to
parishes, a forum for discussion and
empowering people for the new evangelisation.

Washington DC, USA, “The John Paul II Centre”,

and Paris, France, “College des Bernardins”,
conference centres hosting exhibitions,
congresses, lectures, organising ceremonies,
etc.
Saigon, Vietnam, “The Catholic Centre of Vietnam”,
a house of tradition and national centre that
organises conferences addressing issues of
Vietnamese culture, history and popular piety, art
and folklore.

Paraiba, Brazil, Formation Centre “Padre

Ibiapina”, cultural exchanges on ecology,
intercultural and interreligious dialogue, arts and
leisure.

RossanoCalabro, Italy, “Il Lievito”, animated by the

episcopal vicar for culture, organizes conferences
acress the diocese, with a tri-annual formation
programme.
In short...

The Catholic Cultural Center is a

GOSPEL ZONE which preserves the
Gospel values and the Catholic culture...
The Catholic Cultural Center is a
model and a light on top of a mountain
shining through and reflecting God’s
love, mercy and justice to all
humankind and creation.
Guide questions for reflection /discussion:
•What are the effects of Globalization to the
general life of the people (especially the young
people and the family), their faith, and the culture
of your place?

•What are the cultural, spiritual and social values

that strongly remain in the daily life of the people
amidst modernity?

•What are the cultural, spiritual and social values

that are disappearing or getting lost in the midst of
the modern world? What lost values do we need
to recover? How?
•What new (or sub cultural) cultural, spiritual
and social values are currently evolving in your
community, region or in country in general?
How do we respond to these current issues?

•What is your institution and the local church

doing about these issues?

•What are the obstacles and limitations do we

see or experience that make it difficult for us to
respond to these issues?
 That Jesus
our Divine Master
may be known, loved
and served by all...