The Letters of Gregorio Aglípay y Labayan, Supreme Bishop of the Philippine Independent Church, 1902-1905 (original) (raw)
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Aglipayan: The Flourishing of Independent Catholicism in the Philippines
2020
Aglipayan: The Flourishing of Independent Catholicism in the Philippines chronicles the history of a long-oppressed people who, failing to overthrow American imperialism at the turn of the twentieth century, channeled their energy into casting off the Spanish frailocracy of the Roman Catholic Church. Forming their own nationalist church, they created a rational, catholic faith that has appealed to millions of Filipinos during the last 120 years. This work explores the life and service of Supreme Bishop Gregorio Aglípay, the namesake who led the church during its initial 38 years of growth, as well as his successors through the present day.Hon. Rev. Dr. Jayme Mathias serves as pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church in Austin, Texas. During ten years of ordained ministry for the Roman Catholic Church, Father Jayme served as president of a college preparatory school and as pastor of Austin’s largest Spanish-language Roman Catholic congregation. After completing his Ph.D. in 2011, he educated lay leaders on Independent Catholicism and together they founded Austin’s largest inclusive Catholic community. Dr. Mercedes Lynn de Uriarte serves as Professor Emerita at the Moody College of Communications of The University of Texas at Austin School of Journalism. A former reporter and opinion editor for the Los Angeles Times, she formed the UT student newspaper, Tejas, the only UT publication to win the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Award for Outstanding Journalism. Dr. de Uriarte is a Kellogg Fellow whose research focuses on providing voice to marginalized communities.
Catechism of the Philippine Independent Church (1912)
2023
Prepare yourself to step back in time. In 2022, we celebrated the 120th anniversary of Philippine Independent Church. Ten years after its founding, the church’s Supreme Council of Bishops approved a catechism written by Supreme Bishop Gregorio Aglípay y Labayan and edited by the church’s co-founder, Isabelo de los Reyes, Sr. 110 years later, this catechism provides insight into the world in which it was written and the individuals who compiled it. Riddled with errors and inconsistent punctuation and formatting, the book reveals the challenges of printing in that era. This edition lightly edits the work for consistency and inclusivity, knowing that its references, for instance, to “man” signify “person” or “humankind.” Tellingly, this catechism shares a jaded perspective on the “Romanists” and the “frailocracy” [the rule by friars] of the Roman Catholic Church, who, due to their historical alliance with colonizing forces, was perceived as an oppressive source by many people in the Philippines. This work reflects the extent to which its compilers were influenced by modern thought and rationalist Enlightenment thinking. Its dismissal of the doctrine of the Trinity, “the imaginary Holy Spirit,” angels and demons, hell and purgatory, miracles and other scientifically non-verifiable phenomena shows its esteem for Science, a word always capitalized in the work, and for human rationality. The work’s dark conclusion, with the implosion of the sun in some 18 million years and the demise of the earth “much before then,” does little more than illuminate “the only way to truth, which is Science.” A word of caution for the reader: Please read this work as the historical document it is on “the religion of Science,” written by people in a particular time and place, and not as a Catholic catechism that might reinforce the faith that you were taught as a child. Sufficient catechisms have been published for that purpose. Imagine, as the first page of the work suggests, what clergy of the Philippine Independent Church were apparently expected to know prior to ordination. Consider the possible reasons for which the Philippine Independent Church no longer uses this catechism 111 years later. And dare to push the limits of your own religious beliefs, perhaps in a way not too dissimilar to that of the now-famous marginal Jew, Jesus of Nazareth!
Church realities in the Philippines: 1900-1965
Anuario De Historia De La Iglesia, 1999
This year, 1998, the Philippines commemorates the centenary since her independence from a foreign domination. At the time of this writing, it is «all-systems-go» for this former Spanish colony, with both government agencies and non-government organizations pooling all human and material resources for a successful once-in-a-lifetime celebration. In the academe, various historical societies have been organized-if not revived-both in the national and regional levels, in an effort to put into writing slices and fragments in history that have been for long relegated to oral traditions and folklore. «What happened to the Church in the Philippines of the post-Spanish era?» Or, «How did the Filipinos fare being Catholics after our forebears left their shores for good?». These are questions perennially posed by modern-day Spanish nationals about the country Spain had ruled for close to four centuries. A short paragraph culled from a paper presented to the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre in 1995 by a Spanish lady-scholar shows the demographic profile of contemporary Philippine Church: «The Philippines is a clear testimony of the good seed of faith sowed there by the Spanish missionaries, and the pastoral efforts of those who followed them thereafter. Today in those islands there exist thirteen ecclesiastical provinces with a total of thirty-one suffragan dioceses.
Religion and Revolution: The Roman Catholic Church in Candon, Ilocos Sur, Philippines, 1897 to 1906
College of Social Sciences, UP Baguio, 2019
The research at hand seeks to explore the connection between religion and social upheavals in the years 1897 to 1906 coinciding with the second phase of the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War as well as the general rehabilitation and transition to civil government in Candon, Ilocos Sur. It attempts to give nuance to historical events and nodal points which are normally explored in terms of the political aspect of history through an exploration of the changing and transitory roles of religion during these social upheavals. The following sections provides an overview of the entire study, its background, significance, the objective of the study, and limit the study to a spatial, temporal, and topical context. It attempts to situate the study within a general context as well as give a general overview of the study at hand. Further, the chapter provides the topics, questions, and goals which the study aims to satisfy. The study uses the available sources -- both primary and secondary -- found in the National Archives of the Philippines, the main libraries in the University of the Philippines Baguio and the University of the Philippines Diliman, the Archives of the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia, the City Library of Candon City, and an interview with Barangay Captain Albert Abaya – grandnephew of Revolutionary Hero Isabelo Abaya – and have these sources subjected to interpretation through a framework based on New Political History which will be further discussed in the third chapter of this research.
Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints, 2017
Fr. Horacio de la Costa became the first Filipino Superior of the Jesuit Province in the Philippines (1964–1970) at a time when the Filipinization of religious orders was intensely contested. As a young priest, De la Costa sought the training of more Filipino priests so that the Catholic Church would “take root” in the country. Filipinization, however, entailed two further questions: Filipino assumption of leadership positions and the role of foreign missionaries. This article examines how De la Costa’s approaches to these issues shifted when he became provincial and as the crisis in Philippine society deepened, revealing the intertwining of national and church history.
This is a partial and rough translation of the Spanish original book of Eusebio Gomez Platero’s “Catalogo Biografico de los Religiosos Franciscanos de la Provincia de San Gregorio Magno de Filipinas desde 1577 en que llegaron los primeros hasta las de nuestras dias,” accessed 10 Dec. 2015 @http://bdh-rd.bne.es. Translated by Dominador N. Marcaida Jr., using the online translator provided by spanishdict.com and the “Diccionario Nuevo de las dos Lenguas Española é Inglesa” by Frs. Tomas Connelly and Tomas Higgins. During more than three centuries from the year 1521 up to 1896, fanatic missionaries went on their frenetic rampage to discover new lands in order to plant their old religion in East Asia and to name them for their king. It was thus that the Spaniards discovered almost all the Philippines in this way. In translating Platero’s work from the Spanish original into the English language, it is our intention to help researchers trace the root for some of the present-day familiar Filipino surnames from the surnames used by the Franciscan friars who founded or ministered the early Philippine towns.
The Ascendancy of Gabriel M. Reyes to the Archbishopric of Manila (1949-1952)
PHILIPPINIANA SACRA, 2022
This research will discuss, narrate, and analyze the factors that led to the appointment of the first native Archbishop of Manila and how he responded to the challenges of making the faith timely for the laity during his three-year stewardship guided by Arnold Toynbee's Challenge and Response theory applied on the micro level. The seat of the Archbishopric of the Archdiocese of Manila was regarded as the premier office to be occupied by any clergy in the Philippines. For almost four centuries, this prime seat was given to foreigners, dominated by the Spaniards. Political and religious factors determined the archbishop-to-be: the patronato real during the Spanish era and the preference of the American officials during the American period. The choice for the episcopal seat took a paradigm shift after the codification of the Canon Law in 1917 when the appointment for the episcopacy rested solely on the Pope's decision based on the candidate's credentials. The same Canon Law was in effect on 1949 when the Archdiocese of Manila had its first native Coadjutor-Archbishop. The native clergy who was the designated successor of the ailing Archbishop Michael O'Doherty was Gabriel M. Reyes, an Aklanon, formerly of the Archdiocese of Cebu.