How John Paul II Surprised the Sugar Plantation Owners (Philippines)

[DemBones DemBones]

A few months ago, I read a fascinating book about political and economic strife and political murders on the island of Negros. Negros is one of the Southern Philippine Islands and large portions of the island are devoted to the cultivation of sugar cane. "Sugarlandia" is a feudal society, in which the masses of poor are dependent upon the few rich landowners to allow them to work and earn a little money. The poor want to be associated with one particular landowner because those who are receive a small measure of job security. It's basically a feudal society.

At the time the Pope visited the island of Negros, the landowners were looking forward to him coming and speaking against the communist guerillas (ever-present in the Philippines, at least back to the 1950s when I was a kid living there) and also putting the priests who were preaching liberation theology "in their places." They expected to have the Pope on their side. Here, though, is part of what John Paul II said to the crowds on Negros:


"Injustice reigns when, within the same society, some groups hold most of the wealth and power, while large strata of the population cannot decently provide for the livelihood of their families, even through long hours of back-breaking labor in factories or in the fields. Injustice reigns when the laws of economic growth and ever greater profit determine social relations, leaving in poverty and destitution those who have only the work of their hands to offer."

"Being aware of such situations, the church will not hesitate to take up the cause of the poor, and to become the voice of those who are not listened to when they speak up, not to demand charity, but to ask for justice. . . Because the land is a gift of God for the benefit of all, it is not admissible to use this gift in such a manner that the benefits it produces serve only a limited number of people, while the others -- the vast majority -- are excluded from the benefits which the land yields."

"The landowners and the planters should therefore not let themselves be guided in the first place by the economic laws of growth and gain, nor by the demands of competition or the selfish accumulation of goods, but by the demands of justice and by the moral imperative of contributing to a decent standard of living and to working conditions which make it possible for the workers and for the rural society to live a life that is truly human and to see all their fundamental rights respected."


Pope John Paul II, "To the People of the Sugar Plantations," Bacolod, Negros, Republic of the Philippines, 1981

O8)

Viva Il Papa! May God Bless and Keep John Paul the Great.

[demosincebirth]

1. He was great! Working men and women in this world had a

true advocate for justice for all working people and especially those who had no voice. Pope John Paul was no Conservative in my estimation.

[DemBones DemBones]

2. People forget -- or never knew -- much of what he said and did.

Everyone tends to focus on something he said that they disagreed with and paint him as a right-wing conservative. And, sadly, some of his biggest critics are nominally Catholic, and often adore John XXIII. AS IF John XXIII would have approved of abortion, divorce, women in the priesthood, everything demanded by some today.

:eyes:

[demosincebirth]

3. Yup, they all ways have some excuse why they don't attend mass

or why they left the church. If you really ask them, the excuses they use kind of leave me shaking my head. One person told me that the Pope should sell all of the priceless art in the Vatican and give the money to the poor. Can you believe that? thats why he doesn't attend church any more. I think we've heard that one before, but its usually from non-catholics.

[DemBones DemBones]

4. You see that argument used here at DU, that the Church

should sell all its art and give the money to the poor. Those who make that argument never seem to get it that the Church's art is available for anyone to see but if it were sold, private collectors might never show it publicly again. Nor do they think about the money the Church spends to preserve the artworks in its collections -- it's not as if they're earning interest on the Sistine Chapel ceilings

I don't think the Church should ever sell Michelangelo's "Pieta" or Raphael's "School of Athens" or any of the thousands of other artworks and I don't think the money would eradicate poverty, anyway. Poverty is a continuing problem that must be continually addressed. I think all the churches in the world (Protestant and Catholic) could give all their money and property to the poor and poverty would still exist.

I'm listening now to a homily on EWTN and the priest is talking about John Paul II and mentioning that the media and many people seem to think he'd have been a better Pope if he'd only done what they wanted him to do, and gone against the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. So true and so few seem to understand that that is what they're saying when they say the next pope should do this or that. Newsflash: the next pope will also be Catholic!

[Tinoire]

5. To hell with the media and what people

, especially non-Catholics, think about the Church. One thing people tend to forget is that

1. the Church is not a democracy
2. the entire (Catholic) world does not revolve around (Catholic)Americans.

As a Catholic, I give to the Church, on TOP of paying taxes and whatnot. I also give to the poor which is a LOT more than many hypocrites happily pointing fingers do.

One of the offenders I know who yells the loudest about how the Church should give all to the poor is driving around in a $100,000 car. Lol. Would not a $20,000 car have done as well and the $80,000 given to the poor? Hypocrisy, thy stench is revolting.

The church shouldn't sell a thing. Much of the artwork comes as gifts to the church, I remember my great-aunt traveling to the South of France and commissioning some very expensive beautifully embroidered silk that she planned to give to an American Archbishop she didn't even know. It was a gift from her and her husband (who worked 3 days/week in a clinic for the poor). How small and mean-spirited to begrudge these offerings. How small and mean-spirited to say that the Creator of this universe deserves no offerings. I think He was quite clear in the OT when He talked of "the purest gold" and "the finest artisans".

Stop the war America. Quit grumbling about the Catholic Church just because you don't agree with it. You want to feed the poor? How about not stealing from them first? How about not supporting this imperial economy built on the backs of the Third World poor? How about fighting the transnationals? Genetically modified foods? Water privatization in the third world? An obscene war budget? Expensive wars and occupation designed as liberation? Why, I truly have to wonder, is it usually those who support those very things who make so much noise about the Church selling off all its goods to help the poor :shrug: Oh the stench of hypocrisy.

People who love to point fingers should travel to the 3rd world and witness how the Catholic Church is the number 1 provider of free schools, free/affordable hospitals, free clinics and free kitchens before opening mouth and sounding so silly.


Leave her alone. You always have the poor with you.

[DemBones DemBones]

6. Amen, Amen, again I say Amen!

I just read a great historical novel based on the fact that Italian Catholics saved some 43,000 Jews (both Italian Jews and Jews who had slipped over the borders after hearing that Italians treated Jews well.) Pius XII is widely maligned now by some but Jews at the time knew that he did all he could to protect Jewish people. Anyway, the book is "A Thread of Grace" and the author's name is Mary Doria Russell. Today I visited her website

http://www.MaryDoriaRussell.info

and read about her background, the research she did for "A Thread of Grace," etc. On one page, titled "Can you help?" she suggests two charities people might wish to help, one a Jewish charity and the other a Jesuit-run school for Ojibwa children in South Dakota.

"In A Thread of Grace, Claudette and her father were aided by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, which has a long and distinguished history of supporting refugees of all religions and none. "The Joint," as it's usually called, is currently funneling money to the Indian Ocean tsumami disaster. Credit card donations are being accepted at"

www.jdc.org

"If you were impressed by my fictional Jesuits in The Sparrow and Children of God, please consider supporting the work of the real ones at"

www.redcloudschool.org


<snip>


"It costs $7300 a year to educate each Red Cloud student on a reservation where the per capita income is $4000. Many families can't afford even $100 a year for tuition.  So why doesn't the Vatican sell a painting or something? For the same reason the Smithsonian doesn't sell stuff to bankroll good public schools. Things just don't work that way. Each Catholic school is financially independent and must pay its own bills."


No doubt you can guess why I highlighted what I did! B-)