MANILA Archbishop Cardinal Jose Advincula yesterday lamented the failure of the Catholic Church in the Philippines to fulfill its mission of being one with the poor as he said giving dole-outs is not enough.
“During our synodal consultations in the Philippines, one of the most disturbing realizations we had is that our local Church is far from being the Church of the poor that we aspire to be,” he said in Rome during Mass at the Pontificio Collegio Filippino.
“There is a dark and wide gap between the Church and the poor in our country… It is not enough that we simply distribute dole-outs or `ayuda,’” he added.
Advincula said the Catholic Church “does not know the poor, and the poor does not know the Church.”
He also said the poor feel that their views and values are disregarded in Church communities and organizations.
For the Church to be united with the poor, Advincula said, it needs to be “immersed deep enough in the lives of the poor so that we smell like the poor.”