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This paper aims to provide a pastoral response to the increase in the number of suicides in the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper will look into the reasons and statistics related to suicide since there was a sudden spike in number during the pandemic. The See–Discern–Act method is used in this study so that the current social issue will be viewed from the teachings of the Church. First, we will discuss the reports on the cases of mental health issues. This issue has alarmed several professionals that focus on protecting one's mental health. Second, we will discuss key concepts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church to present the view on suicide. Also, John Paul II's Evangelium Vitae will be cited to provide a perspective on the value of human life. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church will also be tackled to explain the Church's view on mental health and well-being. Third, we will attempt to unearth the mental well-being of some Filipinos concerning suicide cases in the Philippines in light of the Church's teachings. Hence, our goal is to provide a perspective on this problem using the teachings of the Church on human life so that we may draw a proposed pastoral theological response. Hence, we propose that the Church must provide plans for prevention, intervention, and postvention when it comes to people involved in any suicide case as these actions are aligned with the goal of the Church to take care of those who suffer from mental illness and emphasize the value of human life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates Catholic religious practices and Filipino values in the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to show that religious practices conducted with proper social distancing help in the development of a renewed understanding of Filipino values without contributing to the spread of the virus. This qualitative study makes use of expository writing and content analysis. First, religious practices before the pandemic marked by maximum social interaction are presented. Then, the paper shows religious practices during the pandemic marked by social distancing. Thirdly, the paper looks into how Filipino values are recontextualized in relation to religious practices despite the need for social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ultimately, the researchers claim that those who participate in religious practices with social distancing do not contribute to the transmission of the virus while still developing a renewed understanding of Filipino values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions about what walking a synodal path means for the Church in different local contexts surely occupies a central place in academic and pastoral discussions regarding the currently convoked synod on synodality. A particular concern is how the youth can be actively involved in processes like this. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of the campus ministry in living out and actively participating in the process of synodality in response to Pope Francis' call for a Synodal Church. Vatican documents will be analyzed and compared with local Church and university documents for the purpose of this study. The result of this study reveals that despite the common vision of inclusivity in terms of "journeying together", the local interpretation of synodality in the Philippines takes a different route. Moreover, Campus Ministry programs that could animate the youth to be engaged in the synodal process also fall short of providing appropriate avenues for the praxis of the synodal vision from the perspective of both the Vatican and the local context. Since the Church is both global and local, or "glocal" in nature this paper proposes an assimilation of the global and the local Church vision in navigating the synodal processes in the local context. Identifying the direction to which the Campus Ministry must walk also needs to be further identified. Thus, this study probes into the Synondal Campus Ministries in the Philippines. Researcher investigation goes deeper however in a specific context of De La Salle Araneta University or its Campus Ministry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarship has paid little attention to the regular clergy's ethnographical understandings in the making of a new model of Catholicism in the Asian colonial space. The article investigates indigenous material culture in the Luzon province at the end of the 17th century. It will start from a report written by Dominican Archbishop Felipe Pardo on September 1, 1685, in Manila, after having dealt with some papers which had been sent to him by fray Juan de Todos los Santos. The report contained some inquiries concerning the instruments and materials that the natives of those towns used to sacrifice to their idols, called Anitos. These untapped sources today kept in the Archivo General de Indias provide the opportunity to become acquainted with the names of the original indigenous instruments, their functions and purposes, their circulation within and outside families, and the indigenous people's strategies to avoid their confiscation by the missionaries. The article will also pay attention to 1) the indigenous capacity of resistance and assimilation through their own material universe; 2) the Hispanic Church's religious syncretism in the face of the impossibility to eradicate the pagan practices of the Zambales, the inhabitants living in those places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent correspondence suggested that taking home ashes and launching digital Lenten ashes filters are non-traditional yet creative ways for the Catholic Church to perform the ritual practice in celebrating Ash Wednesday. These creative practices are deemed as necessary so that the Catholic community can celebrate the liturgical celebration while ensuring public health. With this, we propose in this paper practices that can be done during the holy week so that the spread of the coronavirus will be mitigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite historical and current connections between the Catholic Church and social work in the Philippines, studies investigating these connections have been limited. Using an exploratory research design, this study examined this relationship by drawing on existing documents: legislation; curricula and minimum standards for social work programmes; course syllabi; the Code of Ethics; and textbooks. Three themes emerged in the analysis, offering tentative explanations for the Church's widespread influence: religion as embedded in Filipino life; the Catholic Church and Catholic-based organisations as key partners in the delivery of social services; and the intersection of Catholic teachings, social work principles and Filipino values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent correspondence claimed that the establishment of community pantries across the Philippines embodies a spirituality of "Alay Kapwa" as it connects people, especially in a time of crisis such as the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, to be persons for others. 1 This article highlights that the rise of community pantries was primarily aided by social media. It claims that if social media is utilized ethically and with positive disposition and perspective, it can be a powerful tool in the Church's mission of evangelization, and in its response to this pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grit plays a crucial role in the development of emerging adult seminarians as they undergo a rigorous process in preparation for a lifelong commitment to God and the Church. It entails a combination of persistence and passion, driving individuals to pursue their long-term goals despite facing challenges and obstacles. This study aimed to assess the extent of grit in emerging adult seminarians in four diocesan seminaries in Negros Island, particularly in terms of perseverance and consistency, and its relationship with their birth order, family structure, and income. Utilizing descriptive-correlational design, 142 emerging adult seminarians in four diocesan seminaries in negros island answered the 12-item Grit scale. The study findings indicate that the respondents, as emerging adult seminarians, possess average grit. Specifically, they demonstrate higher scores in the perseverance of effort compared to the consistency of interest. Further, the demographics such as birth order, family structure, and family income were found to have no significant correlations with grit. The results suggest that while the seminarians have the drive to endure setbacks, they may struggle with maintaining consistent choices over time. The findings also highlight that the development of grit is a personal journey, independent of factors like birth order, family structure, or family income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Populists often demonize outgroups while undermining institutions that protect citizens against the abuse of state power. Under these conditions, how can vulnerable communities protect themselves? We argue that actors coupling a normative commitment to human rights with the local organizational capacity to intervene can systematically reduce victimization. Focusing on the Philippine Catholic Church in the country's ongoing "drug war," we identify five potential mechanisms producing protection. Directly, these actors can raise attention, offer sanctuary, or disrupt enforcement, while indirectly they can shrink vulnerable populations and build local solidarity. We evaluate this argument with a mixed‐method research design. A new dataset of over 2,000 drug war killings throughout Metro Manila shows that neighborhoods with a Catholic parish experience approximately 30% fewer killings than those without. Original interviews with clergy and laity in these parishes support both direct and indirect mechanisms, with strongest evidence for attention raising and building community solidarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we argue that transnational social protection (TSP) is becoming the norm in the context of globalisation, heightened mobility and neoliberalism, but cannot be understood without addressing its religious components. TSP differs significantly from national welfare state regimes, which place the responsibility for providing social support firmly on the shoulders of the state. In contrast, TSP regimes involve multiple actors and opportunities in origin and receiving states and place most of the onus for social protection on individuals and families. This article investigates church and state interaction in the development of TSP across the Italian, Mexican and Filipino contexts. It advances scholarship in three key ways: first, it showcases how TSP is replacing state social welfare arrangements and brings to light those shifting church-state entanglements that are central to this shift; second, it highlights the historically rooted trajectories of church-state entanglements that these three cases have in common; and third, it shows that as TSP becomes a state tool in governing non-resident citizens, the church's critical stance in relation to state provisioning is central to TSP as a mode of migration government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]