The Social Development Thrusts of Couples for Christ
“2.21. COUPLES FOR CHRIST, in raising up holy Christian men and women, likewise raises up responsible members of society and patriotic citizens of countries.”
Introduction
Good morning brothers and sisters. I praise and thank God for the chance to participate with you in this first ever Migrants’ Program Convention, and to share with you in this momentous occasion, the current major thrusts of the CFC Social Development Programs.
2017 is a historic year -- historic for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement in general and for Couples for Christ, in particular.
This year marks the 50th Anniversary-- the Golden Jubilee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement, in the world. (The reckoning point was the "Duquesne Weekend" in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on February 17-19, 1967, the “beginning of the Charismatic Renewal in the Catholic Church.”) No less than Pope Francis issued an invitation that this golden jubilee be celebrated, specifically on Pentecost Sunday 2017 – that is, June 4, 2017.
This is significant for us in CFC because CFC was established in 1981 by Ligaya ng Panginoon (LNP), which was established in 1975 as a member of the Sword of the Spirit (SOS), an ecumenical charismatic community which roots its establishment and existence to the beginning of the charismatic renewal in the United States, in 1967.
This year, 2017 too—and I call attention to this – is the 20th Anniversary of the issuance by Jaime Cardinal Sin, of his Pastoral Statement to Couples for Christ. This is very important.
We all know who Jaime Cardinal Sin is. And we must all be interested on what he has said about CFC.
On February 27, 1997, 20 years ago, Cardinal Sin described CFC, and issued pastoral instructions, guidance and exhortations to it and to the Philippine Church. His words- both historic and prophetic-- still reverberate until now.
May I quote, for example, the following statements:
“PCP II recognized the contributions made by movements of renewal in the church today. …. When properly guided they draw attention to the continuing presence, power, and activity of the Spirit in the Church and in the world. (PCP II, Art. 611-612). Such is the confidence of the council to renewal movements in the church today.
Within the past few years, a strong evangelistic movement has emerged in our country. This is the Couples for Christ (CFC). CFC has spread rapidly and has had a big impact on the Church and on the country.”
“CFC is part of the renewal movement in the Philippine Church. Like other transparochial communities, it has done a lot in strengthening marriage and family life among Filipinos. For this reason, it has contributed in the work of building the church of the home.
CFC is also moving strongly into helping build the church of the poor. This is realized through its contribution in nation building by working to renew not only the citizenry but its many important government leaders and officials.”
It has been 20 years since, and now we continue to celebrate this gift of a unique mission of building the Church of the Home and building the Church of the Poor in CFC. And indeed, as aptly described by the Cardinal: CFC moved “strongly” into helping build the church of the poor.
The interplay between Church of the Home and Church of the Poor
By this time, we now know how the so-called “twin mission” of CFC proceeds on the ground: they not only complement each other; they are intertwined and inseparable.
In our Mission Conference in 2014, I had the privilege to call attention to Pope St. John Paul II’s statement that:
• “When family life is healthy and flourishing, there is likewise a strong sense of community and solidarity — two essential elements for the Church of the poor. Not only is the family an object of the Church’s pastoral care but it is also one of the most effective agents of evangelization. …
• The witness borne by being a Church of the poor will also be of inestimable value to the family in its Christian and social vocation. Indeed, without ignoring the deleterious effects of secularism or of legislation that corrupts the meaning of family, marriage and even human life itself, we may note that poverty is certainly among the major factors exposing Filipino families to the risk of instability and fragmentation………. A Church of the poor can do much to strengthen the family and to combat human exploitation.
Today, Pope Francis always reiterates what he stated in his Pastoral Exhortation Amoris Laetitia,--- which to me is one of the simplest presentation of the interplay between the Church of the Home and the Church of the Poor. He said:
44. … The family is a good which society cannot do without, and it ought to be protected. “The Church has always held it part of her mission to promote marriage and the family and to defend them against those who attack them”, especially today, when they are given scarce attention in political agendas. Families have the right to “to be able to count on an adequate family policy on the part of public authorities in the juridical, economic, social and fiscal domains”. At times families suffer terribly when, faced with the illness of a loved one, they lack access to adequate health care, or struggle to find dignified employment. “Economic constraints prohibit a family’s access to education, cultural activities and involvement in the life of society. In many ways, the present-day economic situation is keeping people from participating in society. Families, in particular, suffer from problems related to work, where young people have few possibilities and job offers are very selective and insecure. Workdays are long and oftentimes made more burdensome by extended periods away from home. This situation does not help family members to gather together or parents to be with their children in such a way as to nurture their relationships each day”.
290. “The family is thus an agent of pastoral activity through its explicit proclamation of the Gospel and its legacy of varied forms of witness, namely solidarity with the poor, openness to a diversity of people, the protection of creation, moral and material solidarity with other families, including those most in need, commitment to the promotion of the common good and the transformation of unjust social structures, beginning in the territory in which the family lives, through the practice of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy”. All this is an expression of our profound Christian belief in the love of the Father who guides and sustains us, a love manifested in the total self-gift of Jesus Christ, who even now lives in our midst and enables us to face together the storms of life at every stage. In all families the Good News needs to resound, in good times and in bad, as a source of light along the way. All of us should be able to say, thanks to the experience of our life in the family: “We come to believe in the love that God has for us” (1 Jn 4:16). Only on the basis of this experience will the Church’s pastoral care for families enable them to be both domestic churches and a leaven of evangelization in society
THE CFC SDPs
At this point, I call to mind Section 2.21 of the CFC Statutes, which say:
“2.21. COUPLES FOR CHRIST, in raising up holy Christian men and women, likewise raises up responsible members of society and patriotic citizens of countries.”Indeed, while CFC pursues personal holiness, evangelization and formation, CFC should never lose the passion to help build the Church of the Poor through programs and activities in pursuit of social justice and Total Christian Liberation.
Fortunately, we have the gift of the Social Development Programs. The SDPs ensure that CFC will not get lost in pursuing the CFC mission.
As set forth in our International Statutes:
– 2.33 Total Christian liberation. COUPLES FOR CHRIST is committed to work for the liberation of the human person, especially the poor, from whatever is not of God, from such evils as poverty, oppression, injustice.
“11.1 COUPLES FOR CHRIST has established various Social Ministries in order to work for total human liberation and for justice and peace in the world.
11.11 The CFC Social Ministries constitute COUPLES FOR CHRIST’s work of Building the Church of the Poor.”
11.2 The various CFC Social Ministries are the following:
CFC OSM (Armed services ministry)
CFC STMA (Socio-political renewal)
COOPS for Christ (Socio-economic renewal)
GKARE (Health)
ISAIAH 61:1 (Prison ministry).
OIKOS SOCIETY (Socio-environment renewal).
And of course, CFC MIGRANTS PROGRAM
Last year, by God’s grace, we were able to hold the first ever Social Development Congress of CFC ANCOP on June 14, 2016, at the Function Room 4, SM Mall of Asia SMX, Pasay City.
The SDP Congress 2016 has brought together CFC leaders, brethren, partners and volunteers who were engaged in the various CFC Social Development Programs, namely--- CFC SAINT THOMAS MORE AND ASSOCIATES, CFC MIGRANTS’ PROGRAM, COOPS FOR CHRIST, GKARE, CFC ORDER OF ST. MICHAEL, CFC OIKOS SOCIETY and ISAIAH 61 PRISON MINISTRY.
Together with the stakeholders from the different sectors,--- members, sponsors, government agencies, clergy, and other interested parties in the work of Human Development – the SDP Congress served as:
(a) venue in expressing our experience of Joy of Answering the Cry of the Poor through the CFC Social Development Programs;
(b) a forum where authoritative studies and observations, (i.e “The Couples for Christ: Suborganizational Framing and Sociopolitical Mobilization in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.”) were presented affirming that the CFC-- as a community, through its SDP,-- has been making a difference in the protection and promotion of human dignity and development.
(c) a chance to share and produce materials to further strengthen the commitment to participate, promote and even take leadership roles in the various social development work.
It was during this event that we appreciated more fully the gift of the SDP in CFC, in the country and in the world. We had the chance to look closely at all of them and hear truly amazing, inspiring and good news from them.
Allow me to give you some updates.
CFC OSM
From April 3, 2014-2017, OSM- by conducting its Character Enhancement Programs in the Philippine Army, Scout Rangers, Marines, Navy, even BJMP and cadets in the Philippine Military Academy - was able to already reach almost 10,000 uniformed military/police personnel (9, 068 participants by 2016).
CFC OSM now has three (3) CEP modules: Only for the Brave; Strength to Succeed ; Heart to Serve.
And due to the urgent need to serve more and serve better, OSM has launched what it calls as SPEARHEAD – the creation of trained local service team and pool of speakers for deployment in their respective areas across the the country.
CFC OIKOS SOCIETY
To raise awareness about our mission to be stewards of God’s creation, Oikos has been conducting Laudato Si training seminars in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, with 45 provinces represented.
It has an annual nationwide tree growing project. CFC Metro Manila alone has planted 14,000 trees in 24 hectares of DENR-designated watershed areas. The target is to reforest 60 hectares of watershed areas.
STMA
To this date, St. Thomas More and Associates is present in at least 25 Government Agencies in Metro Manila, consistently conducting Christian Life Programs, Quarterly Assemblies and Prayer Meetings and also households for their members. Recently, St. Thomas More and Associates was able to conduct a Christian Life Program inside the National Bureau of Investigation wherein 32 participants completed the modules.
COOPS FOR CHRIST
CFC Cooperatives Federation is already composed of 49 active Cooperatives nationwide. They are providing Multipurpose Loans to all CFC members including mission loan. Coops Metro Manila alone has 7, 000 members. Nationwide, it has 25,000 members with total assets of P220M.
It has 11,698 Total Number of borrowers, and the Total Amount of loans granted? Ask me how much: P405,080,000
GCARE
For 19 years, Give Care Health Foundation was able to serve 80 cities and provinces nationwide to conduct surgical missions, ophthalmological and dental missions handling over 5, 000 major health cases and 20, 000 minor cases.
Bohol was their latest area of mission. This and many more are done by Give Care Health Foundation to uphold their goal that “If our poor fellowmen cannot afford to go to the hospital for operation, then brings health services to them.”
ISAIAH 61:1
Last year, 16 of our leaders/members in Couples for Christ and Singles for Christ received the Gawad Paglilingkod Award from CBCP - Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care. They are among the thousands of prison care volunteers across the country who extend much of their valuable time, talent and efforts to reach out and share Christ's merciful love to our brothers and sisters in jail.
CFC MIGRANTS PROGRAM
In 2016, Migrants Program was able to conduct their Moral Values Reorientation Program to 41, 447 participants including those from the Schools, LGUs, Parishes, Recruitment Agencies and even to drug surrenderers. Their FGAS or the Financial Growth, Abundance and Stewardship Seminars were attended by a total of 1, 068 participants. Aside from this, Migrants Program was also able to conduct various activities such as Forums on Solo Parenting, Family Fun Ride and Facilitators Training for their volunteers. They are able to reach Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Singapore, Brunei, Hongkong, Macau, Japan and Guam and is also on board in the Diocese of Iba, Baanga, Bataan, Antipolo and Pasig through their Migrants’ Desk since its starting date.
Since last year too, the Social Development Programs has been entrusted by CFC to take a leadership role in initiating, forming, and implementing CFC’s response to the drug problem in the Philippines through CFC Project ReForm which, to date-
(1) Has already conducted six (6) Trainings for Rehabilitation and Formation Counsellors in Metro Manila, Luzon and Visayas. Now it has a total of 260 counsellors;
(2) Has served in the Community Based Treatment Services in Youth Centers in QC (200) and Cebu (170), 3 barangays and parishes, as well as street children in QC area.
(3) Conducted Substance Abuse Prevention Seminar to 6,000 students of the University of Makati.
Indeed, the Lord has continued to bless CFC by making use of the social development programs, to create sacred spaces in the homes, in the marketplace, in traditional civil spaces and in the peripheries.
THRUSTS
Presently, CFC has entrusted to the Social Development Programs, 3 major thrusts of the community, as follows:
(1) to “expand the reach”;
(2) to “strengthen the core”; and
(3) to “Stand Firm in the Faith”;
On September 15, 2015, at Christ the King Parish, Greenmeadows, Quezon City, CFC Chairman Joe Tale gave the direction for CFC to “Strengthen the Core, Expand Your Reach.”
Sharing his reflections, Joe Tale noted three current realities: the “intensified attacks on marriage and the family,” the “intensified attacks on the dignity of the human being” through widespread poverty and violence, and the “unbridled destruction of the environment.”
“We, in CFC have done much,” said Joe Tale, but. “For as long as we are not yet light to the nations, there is still more to do.”
The role of the SDP in the community’s thrust to “Strengthen the Core”
Joe Tale first exhorted the CFC leaders to “Strengthen the Core”.
This “core” is “our selves,” who must continue to strive in personal holiness, grow in the fruit of the Spirit and have a deeper formation.
The ‘core “ also refers to CFC’s Mission Core, who must live up to the name “CFC Mission Core.” He exhorted all to ask and reflect: “Am I still called to be Mission Core.”
The “core” also means CFC’s “central call”, which is Marriage and Family.
In this strategic direction to “Strengthen the Core”, the SDP has contributed and shall continue to do so, in initiating deeper formation programs on the work with the poor as well as the social doctrines of the Church.
CFC leaders and members must not lose sight of the mission.
The CFC Mission Core –top leaders of CFC – must even have deeper formation on this mission.
Hence, last year, the first ever Mission with the Poor Weekend was piloted in MM Central A, and this year, in the United Arab Emirates. The MWTPW is a 1 ½ day retreat aimed at equipping participants with a better understanding of what poverty is, who the poor is, and of our efforts with and for the poor. The Primary Target Participants are CFC leaders in the Mission Core level (chapter, cluster, sector/provincial/ country, governance team, Family ministries cluster coordinators and up) who are engaged in any aspect of service (program heads, regular manpower, fund generation) in CFC’s work with the poor in an area. It consists of 4 talks:
Session 1: The Church of the Poor
Session 2: Caring for the Person in Need
Session 3: Sharing for the Common Good
Session 4: A Future Full of Hope
The highlight is an immersion consisting of Works of Mercy activity. This is the reason If done within the Philippines, the venue can be in an ANCOP site or a retreat house with a nearby ANCOP site. If this retreat is done abroad, the venue can be in a retreat house near a prison facility, depressed area, a hospital, or any location or facility where corporal and spiritual works of mercy can be exercised.
We expect that in the next run of this retreat, the SDP leaders would be the participants.
Also in the offing will be the CFC Institutes inaugural offering on the Social Doctrines of the Church. Efforts are now underway to put together this “college” that will ensure our continuing formation and learning on building the Church of the Poor.
At this point allow me also to call attention that each of the SDP has its own core of leaders and volunteers. Each also has your Trainor’s trainings (like in Oikos); Coops has Lakbay- aral; OSM has Speartheads; Isaiah 61:1 has continuing formation under the auspices of the CBCP-ECPC; Migrants Program even has its volunteers trained in Counselling thru EFA. STMA is set to be trained on Pre-Judicial Marriage Counselling. All these should continue and must be supported.
The role of the SDP in the community’s thrust to “expand the reach”
Joe Tale exhorted the CFC leaders to “Expand Your Reach”. Explaining that, “we do not exist for ourselves,” he pressed the leaders to pursue new evangelization opportunities head-on, with new ways, new methodologies, new target areas – specifically mentioning the Migrants sector, the schools, and the mission areas now of CFC’s Order of St. Michael.
He urged CFC to “tell the world of His Love” by making a beachhead in media, and doing evangelization projects that could go viral in the social media.
Finally, he reminded CFC of its prophetic role and the need to exercise it. For this, he mentioned the resurgence of the role of the CFC Social Development Programs.
All these, Joe Tale explained, is “like training, making sure that we are ready-- by preparing spiritually and through deeper formation,-- to serve the moment the opportunity comes.”
To pursue this strategic imperative, the SDPs have been characterized as part of the Beautiful in this Evangelization Strategy tagged as “The True, the Good and the Beautiful.” Let me spend a bit more time explaining this.
The Mission to the Poor Directorate (dubbed before as BCOP directorate) is now known simply as ANCOP. Hence, we now have ANCOP the directorate, under which are the ANCOP programs of ANCOP Foundation (CSP, Cornerstone, ComDev) as well as the SDP programs.
Since last year, our top leaders in CFC has directed us to adopt an evangelical strategy that moves from the “beautiful to the good, and finally, to the true.”
The pattern is more or less as follows:
– first the beautiful (how wonderful!),
– then the good (I want to participate!), and finally,
– the true (now I understand!).
For CFC, we call them as follows: the beautiful means “gateway evangelization”; the “good” means CFC; the true “Mission Core”
The Social Development Programs shall essentially be there in the “beautiful”. They shall be our gateway evangelization. Henceforth, SDP shall no longer be exclusive to CFC. Yes, we have partners but our programs shall no longer be limited to CFCs or are solely meant to invite people to CFC. We shall continue to create sacred spaces. We shall simply, expand the reach.
The role of the SDP in the community’s thrust to “Stand Firm in the Faith”
Our theme this year is not “Stand for our Faith” nor “Be firm in the faith” but STAND FIRM IN THE FAITH.
The dictionary meaning of the phrase “Stand Firm” can make our theme clearer. “Stand Firm” means “to refuse to change a decision, position”. It means to “stand up or offer resistance to somebody or something; to hold out, resist, withstand, fight down, oppose, fight, fight back, defend.”
• 1.4 COUPLES FOR CHRIST is a missionary body, and the families throughout the world that make up COUPLES FOR CHRIST are to be families that will be instruments of the Holy Spirit in renewing the face of the earth.
We will stand firm on that.
• 2.3 COUPLES FOR CHRIST carries out its mission of renewal throughout the world by focusing on three basic areas – evangelization and Church renewal, family life renewal, and total Christian liberation.
• 2.31 Evangelization and Church renewal. COUPLES FOR CHRIST is called to a work of evangelization that is rapid, massive and global.We will all stand firm on all of those.
• 2.311 Every CFC member is to be an evangelizer and is to live an evangelistic lifestyle.
• 2.32 Family life renewal. COUPLES FOR CHRIST’s work of evangelization, formation and support is situated in the context of Christian family living.
• 2.321 COUPLES FOR CHRIST is committed to the defense and strengthening of families and of Christian family values.
• 2.322 COUPLES FOR CHRIST seeks to build a network of committed Christian couples and families throughout the world.
• 2.33 Total Christian liberation. COUPLES FOR CHRIST is committed to work for the liberation of the human person, especially the poor, from whatever is not of God, from such evils as poverty, oppression, injustice.
And more.
Allow me to call attention to the following statements in Familiaris Consortio which has become of tremendous relevance during these present times:
“The social role of families is called upon to find expression also in the form of political intervention: families should be the first to take steps to see that the laws and institutions of the State not only do not offend but support and positively defend the rights and duties of the family. Along these lines, families should grow in awareness of being "protagonists" of what is known as "family politics" and assume responsibility for transforming society; otherwise families will be the first victims of the evils that they have done no more than note with indifference."[110]Our Church speaks of being “protagonists”. CFC shall be a protagonist. The SDPs, as ever, shall be at the forefront in this.
Specific to Migrants, I call attention to Pope Francis message to the participants in the International Forum on Migration and Peace held very recently, on 21 February 2017. He said:
1
“Our shared response may be articulated by four verbs: to welcome, to protect, to promote and to integrate.To welcome. “Rejection is an attitude we all share; it makes us see our neighbour not as a brother or sister to be accepted, but as unworthy of our attention, a rival, or someone to be bent to our will” (Address to the Diplomatic Corps, 12 January 2015). … what is needed is a change of attitude, to overcome indifference and to counter fears with a generous approach of welcoming those who knock at our doors.”
To protect. … the migratory experience often makes people more vulnerable to exploitation, abuse and violence … Protecting these brothers and sisters is a moral imperative…
To promote. Protecting is not enough. What is required is the promotion of an integral human development of migrants, exiles and refugees. This “takes place by attending to the inestimable goods of justice, peace, and the care of creation” (Apostolic Letter Humanam Progressionem, 17 August 2016). Development, according to the social doctrine of the Church (cf. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 373-374), is an undeniable right of every human being. As such, it must be guaranteed by ensuring the necessary conditions for its exercise…
To integrate. Integration, which is neither assimilation nor incorporation, is a two-way process, rooted essentially in the joint recognition of the other’s cultural richness: it is not the superimposing of one culture over another, nor mutual isolation, with the insidious and dangerous risk of creating ghettoes. … Furthermore, for the Christian community, the peaceful integration of persons of various cultures is, in some way, a reflection of its catholicity, since unity, which does not nullify ethnic and cultural diversity, constitutes a part of the life of the Church, who in the Spirit of Pentecost is open to all and desires to embrace all (cf. John Paul II, Message for World Migration Day, 5 August 1987).
Let me end by reminding all of us of the pronouncement by Archbishop Arguelles, in 1995. At the time he was in the Military Ordinate while serving as Spiritual Adviser to SOLD
• “The Couples for Christ are aware that they play a big role in that unfinished struggle for national renewal…. [This renewal] is hidden, mysterious, profound, lasting, seemingly slow but sure. That happens wherever Couples for Christ set foot in, with prayerful songs and outbursts of inner joy. The joy of the Lord brings a new and different kind of life. It can transform a whole nation. It has happened in the past. It has to happen again and again…Good morning once again. May God be praised!
Delivered by Arnel M. Santos
at the CFC MIGRANTS’ PROGRAM- CALABARZON CONVENTION,
April 29, 2017, 8 Anchors Cultural Center, Seamen’s Village, Dasmariñas Cavite
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