CONTRARY to the view that clerics should be completely
hands-off and quiet about politics, we need to realize more deeply
that clerics, in fact, have the grave duty to evangelize politics just
as they ought to do the same in all the other temporal affairs of men
and women, like in business, the arts, sciences and technology, sports
and recreation, even in fashion, etc.
They have to bring the spirit of Christ to bear on all
these human concerns, because that spirit should be involved in
everything that is human. In fact, it has to be made known that that
spirit is supposed to be what is proper to animate all these human
affairs.
I think that it would be wrong to think that
evangelization should just remain in the level of the spiritual and
the supernatural, or in the level of the theoretical. Clerics should
have a working knowledge of how things go in these fields of human
endeavor. Their evangelization should lead and cause some practical
and concrete transformation in people and in the way they do politics
and carry out their earthly responsibilities.
Except that extreme care has to be done so that this duty
of evangelization is not turned into playing partisan politics. This,
of course, is not easy to do since things can be confusing and we are
always in the constant process of knowing things better. So, a lot of
prudence and patience are always needed and a keen desire to clarify
and help others should be kept and developed.
And when we, the clerics, happen to commit mistakes in
this area, as when we overstep our authority, we should be humble and
simple enough to acknowledge those mistakes and do the necessary
corrections.
What is meant by evangelizing politics is that aside from
proclaiming what is absolutely moral and immoral, it should foster an
environment of frank and cordial dialogue among the different and even
conflicting parties involved, keen desire with matching effort to
pursue the common good, adherence to agreed rules of engagement as
articulated in our legal and judicial systems, etc.
Of course, our human systems can never be absolutely
perfect. They will always be a work in progress, always in need of
updating, adapting, polishing, refining. We should learn how to live
with that condition, and how to make the necessary improvements in
them as we go along.
Let’s always remember that we are not expected to agree on
everything. And part of evangelizing politics should be that we learn
how to disagree without compromising charity and unity among
ourselves.
It’s important that the channels of dialogue should always
be open no matter how different and conflicting our views are. Thus,
it is very advisable to be always friendly and in talking terms with
everyone, no matter how in conflict our views are.
We should avoid rash judgments, reckless and inflammatory
words, or any antagonistic action and gestures that can suggest and,
worse, agitate people to have a recourse to violence, or an invitation
to hatred, etc.
Also, putting labels or branding people as liberal or
conservative, progressive or regressive, or fanatically sticking to
party and ideological lines, while valid up to a certain extent, do
not capture the whole dynamic of people’s real thoughts and
intentions. We should be wary of habituating ourselves in them. They
usually oversimplify things and give rise to unnecessary
misunderstandings.
Everyone has to remember that in matters of opinion, like
in many political issues, no one has all the good reasons. It’s
important that we listen to each other, since everyone has a reason
for his opinions and preferences, then study the issues well, before
we make and defend our own positions.
The moment people do not talk to one another anymore, and,
worse, are harboring ill-feelings and antagonistic attitude towards
others, that’s when we are creating a toxic environment that is not
healthy to our society. We should do everything to avoid this
situation.
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