Cardinal Louis Antonio Tagle of Manila on Feb. 1 said the efficiency of
the church’s evangelization efforts needs to be reassessed to counter
the effects of secularization in modern-day Philippines.
Addressing
the Manila Archdiocesan General Pastoral Assembly (MAGPAS), he said
that the predominantly Catholic country might need a deeper catechetical
approach to effectively reach out to the faithful.
“Whatever
ministry we participate into, I hope that we will all be treading the
same direction. Members of the parish council may change, but what is
important is for us to have one vision,” he stressed the need for
everyone to be united in the common goal of intensifying efforts to
evangelize the good news.
Records from the 2013 Catholic
Directory of the Philippines showed that the total number of priests in
the country as 9,040 for the year; too few to attend to the spiritual
needs of 76.18 million Catholics out of an estimated population of 96.8
million.
The cardinal noted that while priests in other countries
rarely get the chance to administer the sacraments due to the dwindling
number of Catholics in their area, Filipino priests could hardly
accommodate all those needing pastoral guidance.
“With the many
individuals to whom we administer the sacrament of reconciliation, are
they being catechized properly? With all those who are getting married,
do they really live by the teachings of the good news?” he asked.
The
prelate urged the faithful to come up with a formation program for the
archdiocese that would address its specific needs to be holistically
catechized.
“It would be better if we are all together—priests,
religious, and the lay people—this year of the laity so we may come up
with a formation program for the archdiocese,” Cardinal Tagle said.