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BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES, PHILIPPINES Introduction They are called, by various names, in the many languages of the Philippines — Gagmayng Kristohanong Katilingban, Simbaan Sangakarrubaan, Mimting Samba-yanang Kristiyano, etc. — but they are all Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs). There are more than 50,000 of them all over the Philippines, and they aire a dynamic force in Church and social renewal. BECs began in Mindanao in the 1970% taking an inspiration from the South American experience of Basic Ecclesial Communities. They soon took on an identity in themselves and became rooted quickly in the local culture and Church structure with a vision of its own: Kingdom of GodWorld ; Priest-People : Parish-BEC. Throughout the long dark years of MartialLaw, they represented a prophetic Church that was battling social evils and injustices. And they suffered because of this prophetic stance. But in suffering they grew and spread. In the BECs, the people in the grassroots and their pastors confirmed their faith. The BECs themselves went through various growth stages: liturgical, developmental, and liberational. Today all these aspects of growth are integrated in the same BEC. The Pastoral Vision and Thrust of the Church in the Philippines So dynamic was the Church in the BEC that dioceses all over the Philippines began to look at this model of Church as one hope of the future. In 1991 the Bishops at the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines surveyed the national situation and found it fraught with economic, political, social imbalances and divisions, reinforced by ambivalent and negative cultural values. They believed that massive poverty was the social problem. They then envisioned a new evangelization for the country which they called "renewed integral evangelization" that would respond not only to the spiritual aspect of human life but also to its material and temporal dimension. To embark on such a journey of integral evangelization, the bishops envisioned a comprehensive renewal of the Church toward a magnificent vision: a Church of Authentic Discipleship, a genuine Community of disciples, a Participatory Church, an Inculturated Church, and a Church of the Poor. To provide a concrete example of such a Church, they offered the model of the Basic Ecclesial Community: Our vision of the Church as communion, participation, and mission, about the Church as priestly, prophetic and kingly people and as a Church of the poor— a Church that'is renewed — is today finding expression in one ecclesial movement. This is the movement to foster Basic Ecclesial Communities (PCP-II Text, no. 137).

hot identify the BEC as the ust of the Chur pasto the Philippines. But that the Bishops placed the greatest importance to the building of Basic Ecclesial Communities to implement the pastoral vision is quite clear from the PCP-H decrees. Seminarians are to be given opportunities to experience the life and activities of different movements and especially of BECs (PCP-ii Decrees, no. 77, #2). Even the members of traditional organization* "should be encouraged to be involved in BECs" (PCP-II Text, no. 609). PCP-IL ; in fact, has seven distinct sets of decrees related to the BEC (see Title XI1, section 3. Basic Ecclesial Communities, nos. 109—112). In 2001, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of PCP-II,'the church in the Philippines held a National Pastoral Consultation on Church Renewal. It evaluated the work of church renewal initiated by PCP-H. To facilitate the task of renewal, the Consultation identified nine major priorities, the fourth of which is "the building and strengthening of participatory communities that make up the parish as a community of communities." Here the assembly explicitly mentions in the first place the Basic Ecclesial Communities (Church Renewal, "Behold 1 Make All things New," Message of the NPCCR, Proceedings of the NPCCR CBCP2001,p.59).

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The Nature of the Basic Ecclesial Community Given the importance of the BEC in the realization of the pastoral vision of the Church in the Philippines, and given the various names by which it is called, the question naturally arises: What really is the Basic Ecclesial Community? The following is a working description; The Basic Ecclesial Community is: • a small grassroots community of believers; k that brings together families and individuals in intimate personal and social relationships based on faith; • whose members gather together with their leaders to worship the Lord; • listen prayerfully to the Word of God, reflect upon it, apply it to their daily lives; • take nourishment in the Eucharist; • share with one another, serve and support one another; • in a true fellowship of faith, hope and love — • in a word, to evangelize others and at the same time to be evangelized. The Biblical Model of the BEC The formation of the BEC harks back to the community of the early Jerusalem Christians pictured in the Acts of the Apostles. Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-35 indicate the following characteristics of the Jerusalem community: • Devotion to the teaching of the Apostles; • Unity of mind and heart; • Praying together in the Temple and praising God; • Breaking the Bread in their homes; • t Believing in Jesus and his Resurrection; • Sharing of possessions; • Distributing goods according to one's needs;

• Enjoying the good will of the people; • Increasing the number of believers. In today's language we would describe the Jerusalem community as a, believing and praying community, centered in Jesus and the Eucharist, devoted to orthodoxy as well as to orthopraxis, living in solidarity with the poor, serving as a contrast cortimunity, and attracting many to this new way of life, a new way of being community. Characteristics of the BEC In the light of this biblical model of Christian cbmmunity, the following charac teristics of the Basic Ecclesial Community can be better understood: a) Faith-based. A BEC is first a community of believers in Jesus. Their life together usually begins at the liturgical level. The emphasis is on coming together as a community of faith in order to pray, read and reflect on the Word of God in Sacred Scriptures. By this the members of the BEC confirm one another's faith and celebrate the faith they hold in common. Bible Sharing and Bible Services are regular weekly activities. The Bible Service is also celebrated on the occasions of birthdays, anniversaries, wakes, etc;, when no priest is available to celebrate the Eucharist. b) Christ-centeredness. BEC people speak of Jesus as God and Savior at the very center of their lives as well as of their community. He is the Word of Lift and the Bread of Life, the Eucharist. His life and message in the Gospels serve as inspiration and norm of behavior and action. BEC people speak of the Kingdom of God that Jesus proclaimed as the goal of salvation history. They regard the Kingdom of God as "the new heavens and the new earth where^ according to his promise, the justice of God will reside" (see Revelation 21:1-4; 2 Peter 3:13). In their situation of poverty and deprivation, they speak of Jesus as Healer and Liberator, Teacher and Guide. c) Community-orientedness, Co-Responsibility* Solidarity; These flow fundamentally from a deep sense of community among the members, their striving to be of one mind and heart. They have a strong senseof co^responsibi-lity and solidarity, in the sense of a "firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say, to the good of ajl and of each individual because we are really responsible for alPV (John "Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 38). Such values operate in the BEC partly because the families belong to the same neighborhood, know one another and usually have some form of daily interaction. Moreover, members and leaders are formed and educated to be "pro-people" and "pro-community." Hence they have a strong awareness of their personal and social inteMelatedness in terms of rights, obligations and tasks in the community. Their prayers, their liturgies, their socio-economic projects have an explicit community orientation that draws out the social dimension of prayer, the sacraments, and of Christian living.

d) Participatory* Participation is based on the understanding of and respect for the different charisms given by the Holy Spirit at Baptism and Confirmation. "There are different gifts but the same Spirit; there are different ministries but the same Lord; there are different works but the same God who accomplishes ail of them in everyone. To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good" (1 Corinthians 12:412). For this reason, participation is absolutely necessary in the BEC. It is a fundamental dimension of community organizing. The widest member-participation possible characterizes the selection of BEC leaders, the process of decisionmaking, the liturgies and prayer sessions, planning, and implementation of BEC decisions. This is to assure not only community bonding but also effective community action. 'While, governance of the BEC remains the responsibility of the parish priest, the day-to-day leadership of the community and of its prayer life, centered on the Word of God, lies in the hands of lay leaders trained for these purposes. e) Service and Sharing/Explicit in the consciousness of BEC leaders and* members are the values of service arid sharing. These inspire them to be other-orierited rather than selforiented, to give rather than to take, to serve . rather than be served. This attitude requires a lot of humility. One of the harshest evaluations that members couldgive would bethat their leaders are arrogant and self-serving. For them, leadership has to be patterned after that of Jesus, who was ready even to lay down his life for others. f)Love. This is the value that underlies all others. It is the giving of oneself for others because of one's friendship with the Lord and with one's neighbor (see 1 Corinthians 13; Luke 10:25-37). Only love can really adequately explain the persevering service of lay leaders in Basic Ecclesial Communities during the dark days of Martial Law when many of them were suspected as subversives, picked up, detained, and even tortured. Some were in fact killed. The above values are deliberately emphasized in BEC formation sessions. They not only become buzzwords among BEG leaders and mernbers but also become principles of livings acting and relating. They are likewise used as explicit norms for evaluating leaders and members. With the above characteristics, the BEC as church at the grassroots manifests a newway of being Church. It is, indeed* a vibrant and dynamic community of believers, rnainly among the poorvstriving to be authentic disciples, participatory, a Church 6f the Poor, and struggling to transforni their own economic, political, and social situation in the light'.of the Kingdom of God. The Family in the BEC The 2001 National Pastoral Consultation on Church Renewal identified "the Family as the fociis of Evangelization" as the third pastoral priority of the Church in the Philippines, As the focus of evangelization, the family is meant to be both subject (agent) and object of evangelization, to which all evatigelizing efforts in the parish are to be oriented. The family is thus both a primary target of evangelization as well as a principal agent of evangelization.

This pastoral priority has long been implemented in the BEG/If the BEC is the church at the grassroots, the family ay the church in the home, or the domestic church, has the most prominent role in the BEC. Without "family groups" there would be no BEC. Indeed, the BEC is a community of communities since it consists of several families, perhaps seven to 15 families in some types of BEG (more in other types). Prayerful Bible.sharing sessions are often held alternately in the homes of the different member-families. Fathers and mothers are supposed to lead their families in the activities of the BEC. Families bond together for prayer, for mutual help, and for community discernment and action. Organizationally, the family structure of the BEC facilitates communication, consultation, and coordination in the-pansh. it enables the pansh pnest to have a rather quick access to various sectors, thus facilitating his work as shepherd of the whole parish community. & BEC Formation and the Word of God r'< This. .«ew way of being Church is not possible without proper faith formation. This is why BEC members undergo a lot of formation sessions in integral faith, i.e., in faith that can respond to the daily material or temporal problems of life, to problems of poverty and sickness, injustice, and perhaps lack of peace in the community. Much of the formation is Bible-based and uses the method of Praxis-Reflection. This approach makes it possible for people at the grassroots, sometimes with little formal education, to reflect on their life-situation in the light of the Word of God — in the Scriptures and in the Church. Thus the catechetical part of BEC formation is explicitly related to the Word of God and to the realities of life. Particularly emphasized is the history of salvation as on going, the Paschal Mystery of Jesus as the new Exodus, participation in Church and society by virtue of the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, and the Eucharist as central to Christian life. Formation seminars to evangelize BEC members almost invariably use this dialogica! process of praxis and reflection. This is how fhe BEC people appropriate biblical teachings and the teachings of the Church, and apply them to their daily life. It is a way, too, of investing daily life with the dimension of faith. BEC members thus learn the meaning of God's Word by the light of their experie/iCe and at the same time Team the meaning of their experience by the light ef God's Word. ' ■\ .: Hence, BEC faith is not dualistic. It does not compartmentalize and separate faith and life. It understands faith as flowing into daily life. BEC• faith is community-oriented, it is transformative'.'.of social relationships and structures. It is not ri uaJistic but realizes that beyond the mere practice of devotions and the ritual offering of sacrifice are their deeper meanings of mercy, justice and peace, truth and love. BEG formation thus begins with biblical form As a result, Bible sharing and Bible Services in the BEC are both occasions of prayer and also of faith-forma-

tion. In praying with the Bible, BEC members catechize and evangelize one another. Faith Discernment in the BEC The same process of praxis-reflection is used for Christian discernment for the purpose of arriving at a decision and making a proper Christian response to a pastoral situation. The general question that is usually posed for discernment is: In this particular situation what does my faith tell me to do? What does the Word of God say to me? What am I supposed to do as a Christian? These questions arise during Bible sharing as BEC members apply the Word of God to the problems of their families or of their community. They listen to the Word of God. They prayerfully reflect on it, just like Mary who "treasured all these things and reflected on them in her heart" (Luke 2:19). If the BEC needs to know whether or not a particular situation in their family or in their community "leads to death" or "leads to life and peace" (see Romans 8:6), it is subjected to the double optic of the Bible and of the teachings of the Church, the official and authoritative interpreter of the word of God. If the situation leads to death, the response would be denunciation and rejection. If to life, the response would be affirmation and positive action. Such faith-responses manifest authentic discipleship, the following of Christ, and of the quest for the Kingdom of God. Dynamic Movements of Change through the BEC As people go through the processes of BEC formation and BEC living, they undergo fundamental movements of renewal. They move: • from faith-dualism to faith-integration; • from mere private ethics to an ethics of social involvement and participation; • from individualism to community. As Church they also move: • from institution-centeredness to pastoral program-orientation; • from top-to-bottom decision making to co-responsibility and participation; • from rote ritual to worship "in spirit and truth." Indeed, liturgy in the "BEC.is far from "dry." As the people bring the context of their lives to prayer or to the ritual offering, the liturgy becomes a celebration of life, its pains and joys. It becomes an experience of God's active saving presence, a participation in the Paschal Mystery of Jesus. BEC Spirituality Such dynamic movements of change do not simply happen. They flow from var ous processes of BEC formation such as in catechesis, lay leadership, youth formation, family life ministry, social action, etc. Ultimately, renewal flows from constant, on-going formation in BEC spirituality. It is a formation to authentic discipleship. It is concerned with how the poor follow the way, the life, and the truth of Jesus in their situation of poverty and

deprivation as well as their struggle for fairness and equity—justice —in the world. Terms such as "spirituality of the poor," "spirituality of struggle/' "spirituality of persecution and martyrdom," "spirituality of liberation" have been used to describe such a spirituality. BEC spirituality is really a spiritual process or jrJurney of discipleship with a two-fold immersion — in the life of the poor and in the life of Jesus. The first immersion makes us grow in our fraternal concern for the least of Christ's brothers and sisters (Matthew 25:31-46), deepens our love of preference for the poor, helps us think, suffer and rejoice the way they do, and transform affective compassion into effective action on behalf of the poor. The second immersion —- in the life of Jesus — makes our, pro-poor orientation truly Godward, Christ-centered. It enables us to know Christ more deeply and love him more intimately. Immersion in Christ enables us to love and serve not as ideologues but as disciples of the Lord. Both processes of immersion bring us into communion with Christ and with the poor. Indeed, BEC spirituality is a spirituality-of communion. With communion comes mission. For BEC leaders and members, already immersed in their own poverty, such a spirituality brings with it a transforming awareness of personal dignity, of their being favored by Jesus who is God made poor for our sake, of their active role in God's saving plan and mission. Communion impels them to participate actively in transformational action to help build the Kingdom of God "now here and yet still to come" at the end of time. BEC spirituality is also Kingdom spirituality^ spirituality of involvement and action. The Word of God figures prominently in BEC spirituality. The Word of God calls to conversion as the first step on the journey of discipleship. Keep in mind the call of the Apostles and how they had to "leave everything behind" in order to follow Christ. Jesus in the Gospels speaks ■ about humble faith and confident hope. Discipleship requires personal surrender, a repeatedly willingness to "leave" home, father and mother, one's family — even to the point of losing one's life in the following of Jesus (Matthew 10:37 ff; Luke 14:26 ff.). The Word of God presents the values of the Kingdom, expressed in the Beatitudes, as necessary for authentic discipleship. Discipleship is a witnessing, to Jesus, his life and message, even the manner of his death. God's Word offers the pattern of Christ's death as the pattern of discipleship (see Philippians 3:10). Indeed, this is a requirement for disciples to be immersed in the sufferings of the poor and take up their cause as Jesus himself did. Ultimately, discipleship is a witnessing to the resurrection of Jesus, the new life that Jesus now lives with the Father and the Spirit. In the BEC there is also a spirituality of leadership. It is the spirituality of the participatory servant-leader. We find the necessary spiritual qualities of the servant-leader in the Scriptures, in the various images of shepherd, false and true (e.g., Jeremiah 2:8; 3:15; 10:21; 23:1-2, 4; Psalm 23:1-4; Ezekiel 34:2-10). The image of the truly spiritual leader culminates in Jesus the Good Shepherd (John 10:1-6,

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10-16; Matthew 18:12-14; Luke 15:3-7). His spirituality embodies humility ant! utter selfgiving love, servanthood and shepherding especially those who need the greatest care — even to the sacrifice of self so that all might have life and have it to the full (John 10:10). Given all the above, it is evident that prayer and prayerfulness are indispensable in BEC spirituality. To be rooted in Christ and be in communion with Him means prayerfully and faithfully listening to God in the Scriptures and in the Church. For BEC people, prayer empowers and prayerful action transforms. Conclusion What the BEC is really all about is the idea of a "contrast community." The BEC stands in stark contrast to the wider society that is fraught with division and conflict, imbalances and dichotomies, lack of participation, neglect of the poor and marginalized, and lack of solidarity. It is also in contrast to the old type of parishes where the poor rarely have a chance to participate, where people in the big poblacion hardly know one another, much less the people from the barrios, and where participation is often limited to the better off in society and to members of religious organizations. Truly the BEC is a new way of being Church, It represents a new paradigm of Church. It is a Church that is genuinely a "community of families," making the parish a "community of communities." It is a Church at the grassroots that is transforming itself into a Church of the Poor, a Church of servant leadership by the clergy and religious with full participation by empowered lay people, particularly by the poor. It is finally a Church that is engaged in transforming the wider community into a better reflection of the Kingdom of God.

Most Rev. Orlando B. Quevedo, OM.L, D.D. Archbishop of Cotabato Chairman: Basic Ecciesial Community (BEC) Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)