Church and Power

The hierarchy and power 

The Church is hierarchically structured society in which the Roman Pontiff has full, supreme, and universal power. The power structure of the Church is centralized in the authority of the Pope in the global church and the bishops in the local churches. It is also known as the perfect society of the saved. Vatican II in Lumen Gentium looks at the Church as a society, an ecclesiology almost exactly the same as formulated in the Council of Trent and Vatican I, stated: "The Church is not part nor member of any other society. It is so perfect in itself that it is distinct from all human societies and stands far above them." It further said, "the Church of Christ is not a community of equals in which all the faithful have the same rights. It is a society of unequals... whereby to some it is given to sanctify, teach, and govern, and to others, not." The conservative group maneuvered to incorporate it in the Vatican II's vision of the Church. And the Church today is moving towards that direction; it is asserting its old prestige and power as Mother and Teacher of the world.

Decentralization of power 

Decentralization of power is upheld by Vatican II and PCP-II in the image of servanthood. Instead of domination, service. The Pope himself is the Servant of the Servants of God, a title used by Pope Gregory the Great (pope from 590 to 604 CE). Bishops were seen as advocate and provider of the poor. The Council of Macon in 585 CE declared that the bishop's house was the house of the poor. "Bishops were forbidden to go out with a pack of hounds, in case these bit poor people and so prevented them free access to the person of the Bishop." Even the controversial pope in this artificial contraception debate, made a historical gesture in making the Papacy in the service to the poor, Pope Paul VI laid his tiara on the altar at the end of the Eucharist. In the Philippines, we have a few Bihops who are truly friends of the poor, prominent are Bishop Julio Labayen, Bishop Francisco Claver, Bishop Bienvenido Tudtud, Bishop Arturo Bastes, and many unnamed advocates and providers of the poor.

The ethic of participation is central in the messages of Vatican II and PCP-II. Greater participation of the lay people in the life and mission of the Church is a sign of hope but, unfortunately, the hierarchy is not ready for the decentralization of power in the Church.

The MSPC experience

One sad experience in the history of the Church was the leadership conflict between the bishops and MSPC board and MSPC secretariat in the Mindanao-Sulu Pastoral Conferences. Father Picardal observes, "The nature of the conflict was complicated for it involved ecclesiological, organizational and ideological issues.... The bishops felt that the secretariat and the board were functioning as decision-making bodies and that they were operating under the ecclesiology of a people's Church...On the other hand, the secretariat and board believed that the bishops were uneasy about the growing lay participation in the decision-making process since they could no longer exercise absolute authority and control over the MSPC." It should be noted that some members of the MSPC secretariat and board were suspected being linked with NDF and CPP. But the core issue was about power --control and dominion. Most Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs), concrete way of being Church of the Poor, are neglected by the parish priests precisely with the same reason, among others, authority and control amidst growing participation of the lay people in the decision-making process.

Time changed but the Christendon model is very much operative in our modern world. In fact, in a pluralist society like ours, the Church struggles to exercise absolute authority in the matters of morality. The Church of the Poor is more dialogical and communicative in the modern pluralist society. The Church hierarchy must wake up.

[Note: This article was a response in the INQ.net - Disqus thread. jsalvador]