Barangay
Centro 07 of Tuguegarao City is experiencing some BIRTH PANGS in the task of
forming a BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITY (BEC).
These
birth pangs may be categorized into three:
1.
The Pangs of Commitment
2.
The Pangs of Conviction
3.
The Pangs of Celebration
1. The
Pangs of Commitment: Most Christians still see the Church as
“Sila”, namely, that the clergy are the “Active” members of the Church and the
laity are just the “Passive” ones, or simply “followers”. Hence, they believe that the role of the
laity is simply to “kneel, sit, listen, pray and pay”. Vatican II, however, has emphasized that the
Church is all the People of God and everyone, clergy as well as the laity,
should have an active role in the life of the Church. This is a paradigm shift in understanding the
nature of the Church which is the foundation of a BEC, because essentially BEC
is a “Participatory Church”.
2. The
Pangs of Conviction:
Even with this conviction of the New Way of Being Church, there is still
the challenge of how to put it into practice.
In Barangay Centro 07, the great majority of the population are
businessmen who are in the barangay only during the day, but reside at night in
different barangays. They encounter a problem of choosing to which Community
Church should they belong and where they should be actively involved.
3. The
Pangs of Celebration: The
BEC, being a Community of Believers, are expected to manifest their solidarity
in praising and thanking God in a Community Mass at least once a month. Due, however, to the pressure or demands of a
business enterprise, many encounter the challenge of giving “time” for a
regularly scheduled Community Mass.
These are the basic challenges in
Barangay Centro 07 on the formation of BEC.
They are, indeed, formidable challenges.
With God’s grace, however, we trust that in one way or another they can
all be overcome, for “WITH GOD NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE”.
by: Buddy Cagurangan
April 22, 2012
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