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Why Are They Leaving the Churches?

DURING the almost 450 years since Ferdinand Magellan planted the first cross and attended the first mass on Cebu Island, the Philippines has frequently been hailed as “the only Christian country in the Far East.” And apparently not without good reason, for 83 percent of Filipinos today are Catholics, while another 10 percent also claim to be of the Christian faith.

Being a very religious people, Filipinos flock to the churches by the millions on Sundays and holidays, giving the impression of a vigorous and flourishing Christianity. Unlike in England, where attending church is called in Time magazine “a vanishing way of life,” Philippine churches are more often than not filled to overflowing.

But in spite of this seemingly robust condition of Philippine churches, there are signs that not all is well. Many are leaving the churches, looking for something more satisfying to their needs. For instance, just last year a sixty-eight-year-old woman in Tayabas, Quezon, who had spent most of her life as a Catholic lay leader left the church for another religion. A Caloocan City man, active in the church since he was a teen-age choirboy and who served as president of the Catholic Action in the Araneta University, also changed his religion in 1969. Another devotee, who used to walk on her knees from the church door to the altar twice a week and who for a time led a monastic life in a convent, left Catholicism last year.

Why would such devout persons leave the church? Is the church responsible in any way? That this may be the case is indicated by what Maximo Soliven said in his daily column “By the Way” in the Manila Times of March 27, 1970: “Christianity in the Philippines, alas, has become as comfortable and familiar as an old shoe.” He added: “Once the Christian church has grown fat and complacent, and become part and parcel of the Establishment, it begins to wither and lose strength.” Contrasting this attitude with that of Christ, he commented: “Jesus came down to earth to bring about a revolution in men’s hearts; he was a manly and strong Christ, not an effeminate and lily-fingered ascetic. He asked his followers not just to pray but to ACT.”

A similar lament was aired by a Protestant leader, the Executive Secretary of National Fellowship for Philippines Evangelism, in the same newspaper two days later: “Although we profess to believe the resurrection and the rest of the Apostles’ Creed, yet we failed to live up to what we believe. . . . The Christian Church of our times has failed in its mission to men and society. Yet I submit that the problem with Jesus’ Way of Life is not that it has been tried and found wanting; rather it is that it has not been tried, not in a thorough and total manner.”

That these comments about Christendom’s churches are not exaggerated can be seen by the fact that the average Filipino Catholic knows little about the Bible. Few have one in their homes. One man in Santa Cruz, Manila, says: “I am now sixty years old. My parents and grandparents were all Catholics. Yet at this age I left the Catholic religion because I learned little, except how to use the prayer book and rosary, which were always used in the same manner without any change.”

Many clergy and lay leaders are aware of the spiritual neglect of the Catholic layman. “For as long as we can remember,” says lay leader Jeremias Montimayor, “the Bishops and priests were supposed to speak and the layman to listen. The Bishops and priests were supposed to decide and the laymen to follow.” (Italics his.) To try to change this, the cursillo was introduced in 1964, a three-day course for laymen in Catholic doctrine. Recently, following a meeting of two hundred leaders of the cursillo movement in Manila, Priest Ben A. Carreon, O.M.I., commented: “Some of the leaders, including bishops and priests, have to admit the propensity of many cursillistas [graduates of the cursillo] to count gains in terms of the number of conversions, instead of a deepening of faith in an already-convinced Christian.” Do you feel that your church is more interested in gaining members than in “a deepening of faith”?

In his 1970 “Easter” message, Rufino Cardinal Santos of the Archdiocese of Manila said that “although the Mother Church emphasizes the primacy of the spirit, she has nevertheless striven to foster man’s earthly well-being and development.” Could it be, though, that in striving to “foster man’s earthly well-being,” the church has abdicated its ‘primary’ responsibility to build faith and spirituality? A former Catholic Action leader, looking back on a lifetime as a Catholic, thinks so. He says: “My Catholic faith was utterly devoid of spirituality. We excelled in the enhancement of everybody’s pleasure by way of picnics, programs and parties. My former church is more of a country club than a religious one.” Do you find the same to be true in your church?

Other sincere Catholics are concerned that their church is becoming too involved in worldly pursuits. One wrote: “Personally I don’t believe in priests getting involved directly in national issues, most especially in the current student activism.” Do you think that Christ, who said, “My kingdom is no part of this world,” would get involved in such things if he were on earth today?​—John 18:36.

Not a few Filipinos are openly wondering why, in a country reputed to be 93 percent Christian, crime and violence are on the increase, why prisons are as full as the churches, why more emphasis is put on material values than on spiritual ones. Many Catholics complain of hypocrisy in the church, and unknown thousands no longer go to church because of disillusionment. Yet they remain Catholics “in name,” evidently thinking they would be disloyal to God, to the church and to their parents if they entered another religion. Is this true? Is it wrong to change one’s religion?