Fr. Ponce co-founds Asian center for empirical study of Spirituality, Theology and Religion

His co-founder,  Fr. Dave Dean Capucao of St. Joseph Formation House of the Prelature of Infanta and president of CESSTREL-Asia said in his welcome address, “CESSTREL-Asia is a concrete realization of the collective passion and love for research of its founders.  

Organized in 2017 and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines a year later on August 3, 2018, CESSTREL-Asia also has the following trustees: Dr. Marina Altarejos of the Institute for Formation and Religious Studies (IFRS), Dr. Noel Asiones of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and Prof. Emil Ibera of the St. Vincent School of Theology (SVST) which hosted the launch-cum-international forum of  CESSTREL-Asia. 

The other trustees of CESSTREL-Asia who are from the Philippine Province of the Order of Carmelites are researchers Fr. Gilbert Sabado, O. Carm, Ph.D. and Fr. Christian Buenafe, O. Carm., Ph.D. The last member is Dr. Carmen Alviar, ISA Coordinator for External Linkages. She is CESSTREL-Asia Secretary.    

Welcome

In his welcome address Fr. Capucao noted the conference theme Exploring Themes, Methods, and Challenges in Doing Empirical Research and asked, “ While the research subjects or topics, or theories and approaches related to spirituality, theology, and religion are varied, pluralistic and thoroughly interdisciplinary, we want to develop a center that underscores the use of empirical method, broadly either quantitative or qualitative methods. But why insist on empirical?”

In answer, he quoted Johannes van der Ven from Radboud University in Nijmegen, who had been his  mentor as well as of Fr. Ponce and who had said: “Without empirical research, theology would scientifically ignore lived religion or, in technical terms, the sensus fidei and consensus fidelium, which since Vatican II have acted as criteria and sources of the authenticity of the Christian faith and the church.”

The next question that is normally asked is, “Is it not equally up to sociology, psychology and/or anthropology of religion to take empirical stock of these concrete situations and contexts?”

Here, Fr. Capucao quoted Van der Ven: “This is not an either-or question, but a matter of complementarity, as may have become clear from the combination model of interdisciplinarity.

In term of collaboration between the social sciences and theology, Van der Ven also mentioned the multidisciplinary model; Fr. Capucao therefore explained, “There is a crossing over, an overlap within and between other sciences, and even between and within theology, religion and spirituality. There is no longer an overarching umbrella discipline that embraces these three disciplines. Thus, the need to compare notes, thus, the necessity of collaboration, respecting however the autonomy of each discipline.”

Such autonomy, Fr. Capucao added, is always subjected to the scientific criteria of determining the best theory, in a scientific way, that best explains the human situation or subject under study. He stressed that the criteria are internal to the discipline and that there is an ethical criterion too. The latter refers to the theory that best responds to the values considered decisive, that can be included in a practical plan for personal or socio-political action, and is located in the area of praxis, in one’s advocacy or social causes, ethical options or political commitments.

Alongside collaboration is the distinct difference between the social sciences and empirical theology.  For one, the social sciences of religion translate the contemporary religious phenomena under investigation into sociological, psychological and anthropological concepts and theories while empirical theology translates the scientific assumptions, theories, logic or justification, and rules on research of social sciences into concepts and theories from the history of theology and its contemporary reflection.

Secondly, the social sciences accentuate the function and structure of religions, whereas empirical theology focuses on their content and meaning. And thirdly, empirical theology also requires in-depth knowledge of religions, their history, sources and traditions, their rituals and institutions, their religious and behavioral patterns.

Aims also differ. According to Van der Ven, one of the aims of the social sciences is to account, if required, to what is known as the three forums – namely, their own discipline, academia and social institutions. But social sciences do not have to do justice to the hermeneutically accessible continuity of religions with their own sources and traditions in the perspective of their future. That is the task of theology.”

‘Fr. Capucao ended his welcome address by proposing possible objects of CESSTREL’s empirical research on spirituality, theology, and religion (STR).

“Depending on the context, interest, needs, etc. of the researcher, one may examine STR on the macro-level, meso-level, and the micro-level.  Depending on the context, interest, needs, etc. of the researcher, one may examine STR on the macro-level, meso-level, and micro-level.

On the macro or societal level, one may examine the impact of STR on social transformations, social cohesion, separation of church and state, social trust, and the relation between STR and various social structures like economics, and STR in relation to political structures or issues.”

Fr. Capucao also proposed studying the link between STR and socio-cultural issues like inter-religious dialogue in education, secularization, folk religiosity, health). 

He explained, “One may investigate, for instance, secular nationalism or religions ‘outside the church’ which are major carriers of national identity like Bellah’s civil religion. This may also include the impact of religion on social media and vice versa.  Another area of research may be on the relation between STR and ecological concerns (religion and attitudes toward nature).”

First keynote speaker

 Prof. Dr. Hans Schilderman came all the way from the alma mater of Frs. Capucao and Ponce and CESSTREL-Asia Trustee Dr. Altarejos, the Radboud Universty, Nijmegem Netherlands. .

In his address Dr. Schilderman explored the topic Spirituality: Concepts and Method.

He pointed out: “In our modern era the academic study of spirituality often seems to be lacking both concept and method. Its definition remains fuzzy, so many scholars agree, and its empirical method has spread over so many disciplines that its study has turned into a moving target that often seems to be out of focus, at least for scholars in religion.”

Based on his decade as head of the master’s degree program in spiritual care at Radboud University, Dr. Schilderman said that his students interchange the term ‘spirituality’ with ‘meaning-making’, ‘life-goals’, ‘quality of life’ or ‘self-narrative’.

He added, “Apparently, the term spirituality itself – that is, its denotation and especially its connotation – no longer refers to a consensus in the discipline that these students are educated in: theology or religious studies. And not only in academic wording, but also in public and common understanding …–  the term seems to have sneaked out of its religious vocabulary to indicate..… Yes to indicate what exactly? Whenever I let my students answer this question, they are usually surprised by me asking, `You don’t know?” “.

Among fully-qualified spiritual care professionals, learned doctors and even patients of various backgrounds, he also encounters what he calls “the coincidence of a likewise strong significance and abstractness in the use of the term spirituality”.

Based on these experiences, Dr. Schilderman saw that spirituality continues to be defined and studied in various ways. At the CESSTREL-Asia launch-forum, he presented what he described as one exemplary definition of spirituality that indeed does attempt to address spirituality in its own terms and in seemingly simple but analytically relevant contemporary terms.

This definition is rooted in an analysis of Christian history (2007) by British church historian Philip Sheldrake: the deepest values and meanings by which people seek to live; this  implies some kind of vision of the human spirit and of what will assist it to achieve full potential’.

According to Dr. Schildermann, this core definition is helpful since it emphasizes important dimensions of spirituality which are yet to be elaborated, such as its motivational impetus (‘seek to live’), its reference to the mind (‘human spirit’), its socio-cultural background (‘deepest values and meanings’), its aim (‘vision’) and development (‘achieve full potential’).

In his talk Dr. Schildermann explored possible reasons why, in discussions on spirituality, there is an increasing emphasis on intentions, which he defined as an orientation towards purpose and meaning in personal projects and practices – and a turning away from established theological, religious and church related frameworks. Here, these established worldviews are increasingly seen as resources for individual choice of expression.

Dr. Schilderman also presented at the launch-conference a research plan as an option for the empirical study of spirituality. He said, “I will label this the ‘intentional stance model of spiritual practice’, which is a term employed by philosopher of mind Daniel Dennett to indicate the overall beliefs, desires and plans that an agent ‘ought to have’ in view of his capacities, needs and biography and for which a rational account can be assumed.”

Dr. Schilderman called the international stance model a specific theory of self-interpretation which is able to adapt to the new ways in which spirituality comes to be understood. He added that this model may be helpful in outlining an exemplary research plan for the empirical study of spirituality, from this model and which may guide a research program on spirituality:

1. What are the significant events that prompt people to engage in spiritual practices, and how are these events encoded?
2. Which ultimate values validate basic desires (spiritual wants and needs), and how do they result into intentions for spiritual practice, especially while taking into account demoralization tendencies?
3. Which core beliefs support the design of life plans (aims, goals), and how do they follow from intentions, especially while taking into account disorienting tendencies?
4. What are the envisaged final events that spiritual practices aim at, and to what extent are metacognitive(reflective)e skills conducive in feeding back to the significant events that motivate the spiritual practice?
5. Which social, economic and contextual variables influence spiritual practices?

Dr. Schilderman readily pointed out that this first set of research questions needs elaboration and a discussion of the literature before operationalization or application. He then presented a grid which analyzes spirituality in terms of an account which involves the dimensions of validation as well as of communication.   

The first dimension to account for spiritual practices is validation; how is man’s commitment to an ultimate cause to be understood in an empirical sense; what is its meaning and purpose? Here, he proposed to apply a distinction by French scholar of religion Danielle Hervieu-Legér, that takes religion as a commitment to validate what and how to believe and with whom. She uses the idea of spiritual validation regimes – namely individual, mutual, communal, and institutional ways of validating what the significance of religion is to one’s life.

Each of these regimes has its criteria for what is deemed spiritually orthodox, proper, meaningful, true or right, and each has its own referent that corroborates that this is indeed the case. Thus, a validation regime distinguishes between the practice type of spiritual interpretation on the one hand, and the agency that confirms the authority of this interpretation, on the other.’’

Dr. Schilderman believes that even if Hervieu-Legér presents her views primarily to study how religions are affected by modernity processes like individualization and deinstitutionalization, her views do offer a generic structure to describe spirituality, inasmuch as they focus on practices of interpretation.

Each of these regimes has its criteria for what is deemed spiritually orthodox, proper, meaningful, true or right, and each has its own referent that corroborates that this is indeed the case. Thus, a validation regime distinguishes between the practice type of spiritual interpretation,  on the one hand, and the agency that confirms the authority of this interpretation, on the other.’’

Dr. Schilderman also believes that even if  Hervieu-Legér primarily studies how religions are affected by modernity processes like individualization and deinstitutionalization, her views do offer a generic structure to describe spirituality, as they focus on practices of interpretation.

First, the regime of self-validation holds as its referent the individual to herself or himself, whose commitment is based on validation criteria of subjective certainty. Here, spirituality comes to be expressed as a personal and autonomous quest for meaning. Self-assurance is the sole basis for experiencing spirituality as a personal – almost ideographically significant –  commitment even if it is expressed according to a fluid entry in and exit from loose networks of kindred spirits.

Secondly, a regime stressing mutuality has as its referent one’s fellow man, with whom one shares a culture of understanding and for which the validation criterion is authenticity. Here, an experienced sense of social and spiritual proximity, affinity and mutual comprehension offers a valid base to express religious identity. Public scrutiny of one’s personal appropriation of a spiritual identity attests to its validity and counts as a valid criterion for membership in a group of kindred spirits.

Thirdly, a communal regime has the group as such as its referent, and coherence as its validation criterion. One attests to religious validity by living with members of more or less distinct communities characterized by common goals, joint action and mutually scrutinized conduct. Here, egalitarian representatives give voice to the spiritual commitment of its members.

Also, Dr. Schilderman believes that even if  Hervieu-Legér presents her views primarily to study how religions are affected by modernity processes like individualization and deinstitutionalization, her views do offer a generic structure to describe spirituality, as they focus on practices of interpretation.

And lastly, an institutional regime has institutionally qualified authority as its referent, and conformity as its validation criterion. Here, the public self-validation of a religion refers to a loyalty towards rules and norms that offer stable benchmarks for the organized assembly of believers or its included ‘spiritual families’ (its orders, congregations, movements, cults). Clear-cut institutional representatives define the boundaries between religion and non-religion; battle over orthodoxy and heresy; and demarcate denominational differences of adherence.

According to the speaker, each of these regimes has its criteria for what is deemed spiritually orthodox, proper, meaningful, true or right, and each has its own referent that corroborates that this is indeed the case. Thus, a validation regime distinguishes between the practice type of spiritual interpretation,  on the one hand, and the agency that confirms the authority of this interpretation, on the other.’’

The second dimension to account for spiritual practices refers to its communication. It relates to the decoding and encoding practice of spirituality, in which meanings and purposes come to be imparted, conveyed, exchanged. Here, Dr. Schildermann named basic socio-linguistic properties of the intentional stance, namely genre, style and register. ‘

First, a spiritual genre is a category socially-agreed upon and defined by cultural and religious conventions that have developed over time. Obvious examples are forms of spiritual practices like prayer, song, sermon, meditation, or worship, while less religious forms may include life cycle ceremonies, death rites and initiation practices.

A second property of the intentional stance model is spiritual style, the socially recognized form that is performed to attract a specific audience. Here, the focus is on the way it is expressed and understood as an accepted and appreciated performance. It can be regarded as the ‘stance-taking’ of an agent that appeals to taste or to judgments of value in one’s audience, for which canon and fashion offer norms. Thus, the Gregorian chant is a typical spiritual style that is well adapted to Roman-Catholic liturgy, while a biography speech may be better appreciated as a farewell ritual in a secular setting of a funeral parlor.

 Thirdly, a spiritual register is expression used for a particular purpose or in a particular communicative situation. Here, social relationships are at the center, and specific social codes are closely followed. Thus, a liturgy is a register where practices follow strict prescriptions that are closely observed; or, again at death ceremonies, what is important is not variety of expression but formal routines of dignity that qualify the event as meaningful.

These elements are in the following grid which led to the second set of research questions proposed by Dr. Schilderman:

The second set of research questions proposed by Dr. Schilderman is as Follows:

1. What are the referents and criteria by which spiritual practices are accounted for?
2. How are these referents and criteria of validation communicated in terms of genres, styles and registers?
3. What decoding and encoding aspects of the intentional stance mode in spirituality are especially relevant?

Again, Dr. Schilderman acknowledged that these research questions need far more elaboration as can be given in his talk, but pointed out that his model shows that an analytical approach in action theory offers a potential program in the empirical study of spirituality.

In closing, he expressed the hope that he had stirred the interest of the conference participants “in what remains – at least to me – a complex concept that is hard to do justice to in applying empirical methods. But this offers all the more reason to celebrate this day in which this beautiful CESSTREL research center on spirituality is established and I do congratulate us all with this splendid opportunity for study and exchange.”

Reactors to the first talk

A co-alumnus of Frs. Ponce and Capucao at Radboud, Dr. Handi Hadiwitanto from Duka Wacana Christian University, Yogjakarta, Indonesia , served as reactor to the speech together with   Dr. Noel Asiones of the UST Research Center for Social Sciences and Education.

Dr. Asiones, agreed with Dr. Schilderman on the need to define spirituality, given the many foci of contemplative experiences. In the context of a qualitative approach to the study of spirituality, he said he welcomes the intentional stance model as a guide for framing questions, conducting interviews, and monitoring results.

“My method,” said Dr. Asiones, “will now be to ask questions that elicit an interviewee’s experiences and understanding of spirituality. Rather than being purely data-driven and top down, it could also be story-driven and thus explain and shed light on the problems being studied.  Needless to say, it could be an either-or or a mixed method, depending on a researcher’s purposes, questions and contexts.”

Dr. Asiones also believes that Dr. Schilderman’s scheme can be useful to the UST Center for Social Sciences and Education as it studies indigenous peoples, including their spirituality.

For his part, Dr. Handi Hadiwitanto stated, “I am happy that Dr. Schilderman has shown us some indicators for spiritual practices. These indicators remind us in theology that it is useful and important to remember that ours is a multi-dimensional and multi-disciplinary field.

“It is also important for us to raise questions. In our field, sociological questions can be key. We can learn from sociology and then, go back to theological reflections. In my humble opinion, this model will guide us.”

Dr. Hadiwitanto spoke on the subject of his thesis: the special approach of using experience as a source of theology. In particular, he mentioned such terms as institutional church; experiences of people; re-traditioning spirituality; tradition or innovation; sustainability as against change.

He also focused on his findings in 2017 on how people still trust institutional religion in that more than 70% of Christians in Java go to church.

“This is a challenge to us,” he pointed out. “Theologian Aloysius Perris says religion is still salient in Asia and is not caught in the tension between religion and spirituality. With 76.3% of my respondents saying that that they go to church once or more in a week, I see in the Asian context the need to study spirituality and the community, including the institutional Church.”

Using the intentional stance model, Dr. Hadiwitanto would do research in what he called practical theology. Here, he mentioned the fields of church development and transformation, .  context or image of God, the quality of the image of the Church, organizational issues and shifts, sense of commitment, cultural and church context, and religious practices.

He also called attention to  the context of his study in that it used terms like established (solid)  and liquid church; willingness to produce creative efforts for  the so-called non-institutional church; believing, behaving and belonging to a church;  (?): ; institutional church vs. experiences of people; re-traditioning spirituality;

He sees a positive change in behavior, for example, and said, “I try to learn from scholars in the First World and see a conceptual model of Church practice. I also see components which form part of the empirical circle: namely, observation, inductive and deductive methods, reflection, strategy and behavior.”

Second keynote speaker

The second speaker at the CESSTREL-Asia launch-conference was Dr. Jayeel Serrano Cornelio, director of the Development Studies Program of the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University. He has conducted research on such topics as taboos in world religions and beliefs systems, and the state of Christianity among Filipinos in Southeast Asia.

At the launch-conference, Dr. Cornelio spoke on “Doing Qualitative Research in Religion in the Philippines” and defined such research as understanding meanings that underpin the different elements of social life, including people’s roles, motivations, relationships, groups and lifestyles.

He also cited the advantages of qualitative research as helping people go to the core of the matter and understand it. Particularly for sociology of religion, he described its working premise as methodological atheism which involves suspending moral judgment and belief in God as a potential expectation/

“God is out of the question in interviews,” he said. “For example I talk to a member of the Iglesia ni Kristo (INK), I suspend judgments about cults and false prophets because otherwise, their members will feel our biases.”

In terms of studies on religion, Dr. Cornelio pointed out that choosing a methodology includes deciding on the level of analysis to be used. One level could be institutional, such as analyzing documents prescribed by the magisterium such as statements of the Pope, the bishops and priests. The opposite would be the level of popular, lived and everyday religion.

“Here, lived religion is when people want to be crucified and flagellated as an expression of their faith, and when members of the El Shaddai charismatic group invert their umbrellas to receive graces, and when some born-again Catholics attend Victory Fellowship. But which one is valid? Neither is more valid than the other.”

He also asked “Can we do qualitative research on theories of change or on secularization?”. “It is up to you to decide for yourself. When doing research on the church in the Philippines, do we do this as the people of God or as the Church in the Philippines?”

Dr. Cornelio then summarized his experiences in qualitative research projects: namely, his Ph.D dissertation (now a book) on ethnography on Philippine Catholicism; views on the prosperity gospel; and Christian responses to President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.

The basic findings of his study on being Catholic in contemporary Philippines come from Catholic students in Catholic organizations based in private Catholic, non-sectarian  and  public (state)  universities  in the National Capital Region of Metro  Manila.

Dr. Cornelio generated case studies on 70 students taking courses ranging from nursing to maritime studies.  He also conducted focus group discussions before crafting the questionnaire. so as to test ideas and to know what words they use (e.g., fake spirituality), and used participant observation in the course of the study.

Among his questions were their definition of Catholicism and their living out their lives. From the answers he discerned how the students were re-interpreting rather than relativizing Catholicism and using the self to define Catholicism; for example, he heard this answer: “I may not go to church often but I believe in God”.

Students are also taking signs from everyday experiences; an engineering student quoted a song by Gloria Stefan entitled “Take One Step from a Time” and a line there (“God, this must really be you telling me…”) becoming a religious moment for him.

Other students are asserting that right living is more important than right believing

Dr. Cornelio stressed, “Here, the role of parishes is crucial. If a youth is known by the parish priest, as in evangelical churches, he or she will not be distant.”

In the second study he shared, he discussed the prosperity gospel (now called prosperity ethics). He recalled how in the 1990s.the evangelist Bro. Mike Velarde would exhort El Shaddai followers to open their umbrellas to the heavens and to “Give and it will be given back.”

Next came Bo Sanchez who speaks English, holds meetings in mega churches and tells the attendees, mostly from the middle class, “Your miracle is coming. Surround yourself with winners and you will become like them.”

Next came the e-books with such titles as The Happy Millionaire and How Good People like You can Become a Millionaire by prosperity preachers.

Dr. Cornelio conducted a content analysis (“The Rise of Prosperity Ethics”) on the re-incarnated prosperity gospel and documented how it values upward movement (“Name it, claim it, it’s yours, Brother”) as well as uses biblical principles to justify practical rules to acquire wealth.

He also did a thematic analysis on prosperity ethics which carries such themes as individual industriousness desiring upward mobility In particular, the title of one chapter is “How I Made My First Million” and the one by Bo Sanchez is “Don’t Blame the Government for Poverty”.

The textual analysis yielded rules-based practices such as practical tips from Bo Sanchez (on the stock market, direct selling, self-employment and mutual bonds). Hard work is part and parcel of the niche of religion and wealth, as shown in his The Feast Sunday meetings.

According to Dr. Cornelio, a crucial point was reached in 2005 when the 1990s “The Lord reigns” theme  with the urban poor was replaced by “There can be miracles if you believe” and with the middle poor aspiring to rise from being  transit poor (sometimes poor and sometimes not) but  needing practical tips from God.

“This is something for us as pastoral workers and as the people of God to reflect on,”, he said,.

The last study which Dr. Cornelio discussed was his study on Christianity and the drugs problem in the urban poor area of Payatas, Quezon City where there is a parish run by Vincentian fathers assisted by St. Vincent School of Theology, host for the founding Congress of CESSTREL-Asia.

He said, “We simply wanted to document what the Catholic Church was doing as an alternative to President Duterte’s war on illegal drugs. But when we went around, we saw one church after another developing there: Iglesia ni Kristo, Baptists, Holy Ground. We thought, maybe we should interview the pastors and the theologians there. We formed the working hypothesis that Filipinos see the war on drugs as a case of justice and not as a secularized one. We checked by asking, ` Are you familiar with the war on drugs? Do you agree with it? Here in Payatas, do you agree with it? How do you think God sees things here in relation to the war on drugs?’ “

The study uncovered how religious leaders see the drug user: – sinner or victim? A pastor who said that the law and order in society is God’s design and that the law of God is the law of the land has partnered with barangay officials to look for and identify drug users around the area.

A female leader argued that one cannot be neutral about the drugs war; her context is that someone in her congregation has died because of it.  Quoting the Bible, she said, “The Lord would spit you out if you were lukewarm.”

The minority view came from a priest, who urged respect for life.

To conclude his talk, Dr. Cornelio expressed the hope that his brief lecture would inspire the participants to ask questions “about things we thought we could assume and to quote Pierre Bordeau on the promise of sociology, to uncover things taken for granted.”

Reactors to the second speaker

Dr. Esmeralda Sanchez, the president of the Philippine Association for the Study of Culture, History and Religion and a retired professor from UST, was the first reactor.

She said she was expecting Dr. Cornelio to explain the method of bracketing of experience because he was recommending methodological atheism (“I had a nosebleed reading it thrice”).

Dr. Sanchez said she is glad for Dr. Cornelio’s description of phenomenology, particularly the hermeneutical one, in discussing the state of Catholic youth today.

As for her reaction to the popularization of the prosperity gospel, she traces it to her studying El Shaddai from 1998 to 2003. During its first anniversary, she joined the group at the spacious Rizal Park and turned her umbrella to the heavens.

On Bo Sanchez she remembers telling his representative at the Consultation of World Religions who had named the middle class as their audience: “Wow, how very selective. I pity the poor, whose only source of security is the Church.”

And on Dr. Cornelio’s study in Payatas, Dr. Sanchez believes that parents of the victims could have been interviewed since they have more to say about the program on illegal drugs.

Fr. Jason Laguerta, Ph.D. was the second reactor to the talk of Dr. Cornelio. The parish priest of Sacred Heart Parish along Sta. Mesa Boulevard in Manila, he is also director of Archdiocesan Institute for Research and Development which, he said, uses the works of Dr. Cornelio as basis for further research and for dealing with the youth in the context of the New Evangelization.

“Perhaps a generation gap is taking place here,” he said. “The society is young but the managers of evangelization are old. At the average age of 55, today’s priests are old. Within a decade, 120 priests in the Archdiocese of Manila will be retiring. I was at the Bishops’ Synod for the youth and I did not know how anyone there would take it when the youth spoke to them.”

Fr. Laguerta also thanked Dr. Cornelio “for your efforts in waking us up to institutional approaches and responses to what is happening at hand. But is it just institutional versus lived religion? Between them I see the various movements in parishes and I sense their power.”

Fr. Laguerta then inquired if  Dr Cornelio uses Siklolohiyang Pilipino as a basis for  research methodology, noting that first and foremost, its concept of pakikipag-kapwa  (seeing someone as a neighbor) can help establish relationships with respondents.

“This is because Filipinos are not very direct,” he explained about the strategy. “We have some literature on loob-labas (insider-outsider),pagkataong-Pinoy (Filipino personality) and ugaling Pinoy (Filipino customs),  and believe that it is good that with 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines approaching in 2021, we are studying what has happened to us as  a people.”

Fr. Laguerta conceded that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) can help with questions on history (“as in, where was the first Mass?”) but  he also hoped  that researchers can help enrich 2012 from different angles.

“Then we can move on into social identity. Maybe priests can do more on this, and maybe this group can help.”

Open forum

After the reactors had given their thoughts and comments, CESSTREL-Asia Trustee and conference moderator Fr. Christian Buenafe, O.Carm. invited questions from the floor. The following is a summary of the interaction with the speakers.

Prof. Renato Dela Cruz, Philosophy Department of Miriam College, asked Dr. Cornelio how to engage the youth in re-constructing and re-interpreting the faith and then  how to authenticate these.

Dr. Cornelio thanked Prof. Dela Cruz for a sharp, smart and valid question, because “authenticity does not have anything to do with truth.” But from the point of view of sociology, authenticity has changed from magisterial proclamation and the Romantic Period to modernity – with its authority to redefine authenticity –  and with post modernity, the emphasis on the self and with sociology itself.

According to Dr. Cornelio, he would be interested if the youth are now relativizing the truth as they recognize that there is a certain hierarchy of values. He explained, “This is the reality of our youth. Do we ask them what is it that they are saying, and is the Church a family to young people, instead of a number of steps?  I leave it up to the teachers and the pastoral workers to help answer this.”\

For his part Dr. Schilderman answered that there is more to authenticity than individual claim to access the truth. He added two points to authenticity. The first is on moral claims where the audience decides for authenticity and where social interplay plays a part in defining who is wrong and right, making it susceptible to rhetoric reasoning.

The second point is that in these changing times, the Church, can no longer regard itself to be merely the supplier of faith but must also take a demand-oriented stance.

Dr. Schilderman added:  “Bishops need a set of skills for competent methods to gain knowledge of what faith, as you had mentioned the need for perspective for a person to get access the truth. What this research has to offer is to show the need to define Church and pastoral responsibility.”

The next question came from Prof.Nestor Ravillas of Penuel School of Theology, who said that he is striving to connect the intentional stance model with what he called the emerging prospecting scheme of Bo Sanchez and the Church look like. According to him, the problem of evangelical Churches is that the drive for individual success is in some way qualified by wealth as a problem which makes him view it as inequality in the world.

Dr  Schilderman thanked the professor for his observation and replied that the intentional stance is a model of interpretation by  Daniel Dennett. It is a cognitive model to understand and to look at religion moving from an ontological perspective to an expectant one where experience is important.

It arose from a need for a method to look at experiencing lived faith academically and scientifically as well as the need to understand and to be self-critical as to what faith has to offer. From the said ontological perspective, it moves to finding out the cognitive assumptions for experiencing faith. It is also a way closer to an understanding of faith as a culture framing to orient oneself to self good.

The intentional stance is basically taking a self-perfecting stance, a motivational side to orienting oneself to wants, needs and a life plan. It is used by Paul Rikken and John Roles  in philosophy And so, it features cognitive consent  as a step beyond a set of norms; but to conceptualize this intentional stance  of spirituality is to experientially understand spirituality, including  —– Atherton’s divide in religion.

Dr. Schildelman said, “Our very definition of spirituality is completely humanistic, and has pushed God aside.”

Prof. Ravillas pointed out that in some literature the intentional stance is under fire , as in  —— Hildegard against Emmanuel Levinas or Lavinas questioning —–  Butler. In addition, Levinas is into ontology instead of metaphysics, the biblical God and philosophy.

Dr. Schilderman replied the word intentional was used by Daniel Dennet, who has a good grasp on interpreting his views on —–  Atherton) and does not  necessarily depend on many philosophers for  his interpretation.

The third participant with a question was Mr. Macalinao from the Institute for Formation and Religious Studies (IFRS). Because he sees spirituality as a Christian term which is now being used in different fields, he asked Dr. Schilderman if it should be given another name so as not to cause confusion.

According to Dr. Schilderman, there are various ways to understand spirituality, including Eastern religions, religious and theoretical studies, those outside of theological and religious studies, and those within social science and medical science.

“The term is developing and so, we theologians are no longer in charge, as I was clarifying this morning,” he added. “It is used and developed in various terms by different groups. And so, this a call for conceptual research on how we understand it.”

Addressing Dr. Cornelio, he expressed happiness that the latter’s research “corrects the idea that we are still champions. “

Dr. Cornelio acknowledged that sociologically, the concept of spirituality is being debated and that the popular term “Spiritual but not Religious (SBNR)” has emerged. He cited the case of the Philippines where his research has shown that millennials do not affiliate with religion anymore but will not.consider or want to be associated with atheism, either.

Dr. Cornelio also called for more research on how people use the words “religious” and “spiritual” because they might have  global links but  have a different  meaning in the Philippines. It was in this context that he said that he does not use such Western term as “baby boomers” which is a mistake being made in the Philippines.

Fr. Buenafe then ruled that the open forum end after the last three questions. Mr. Fred Laceda from the Penuel School of Theology asked Dr. Cornelio, “Sociologists are called   heretical, and you also used the term atheistic. But what can you transgress by making moral claims especially in making extrajudicial killings more straightforward? We need people who will put their minds on these killings.”

Dr. Cornelio replied that sociologists became atheists because God is a social construct of reality.

“To continue believing in God is a challenge,” he said. “This has helped me understand God. Am I heretical? Yes, but it depends on the audience: whether my fellow sociologists or the audiences of public lectures like this. With sociologists I would be more forthright and present well-argued scholarly works, but not for Rappler, which has been accused of being over-critical and not helpful because of being oppositionist (dilawan or yellow-wearing activists loyal to former Presidents Cory and Noynoy Aquino).

“To be honest I could just be a professor who writes in scholarly.journals. But sociology has been influenced by Karl Marx in questioning contractualization of labor. It is therefore the work of engaged social scientists in oppressive theological situations where politicians use the Bible to oppress lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBT) in the name of peace and order.”

The last question came from Atty. Ben Moraleda, SVST student in MA Theology major in Biblical Studies. On the empirical approach to spiritual life, he asked if the model for an intentional-stance Church equal new wine in new skin. Is it a reactive, proactive or interactive model?

Dr. Schilderman said that Atty. Moraleda had made an important point which Dr. Schilderman did not make in his talk: four questions related to the model. These are the following: one, wants and needs of people; how this model is valued from the social perspective; what aims to be pursued in the name of Christianity; and what its beliefs are about aims for life.

“What is it to be human? The intentional stance wants people to be aware of this and to address it. Yes, it might be sectoral model but it is also what is religion is all about – a human project. The Bible informs us about it but how to communicate its content is my intention. I hope I have re-formulated the relevance of this model.”

Closing

 Fr. Buenafe signaled the end of the session and thanked the speakers and reactors. He invited Fr. Capucao, president of CESSTREL-Asia, to present plaques of appreciation to them. For posterity he asked them to pose next to the picture of Fr. Van der Ven, and said he looked forward to seeing them in the next conference.

For his part, Fr. Ponce said it was an honor to close the historic event – the official launch of CESSTREL-Asia despite the bad weather. He also thanked the participants for joining the workshop on possible research topics for the organization, and added that it would be up to the Board of Trustees and the Executive Committee to examine this outcome of the launch.

Fr. Ponce also thanked Fr. Pilario “for the beautiful venue”; all the volunteers, especially the seminarians of Fr. Capucao, the staff of ISA for the technical and logistical support , the dynamic emcees, the  male and female folk dancers of the San Gabriel Parish of the Diocese of Kalookan (whose song Planting Rice is Never Fun drew a comment from Fr. Buenafe on the disadvantages of the Rice Tariffication Law sponsored by Sen. Cynthia Villar whose family is said to dispossess farmers and to threaten food security when it converts farmlands to exclusive subdivisions and upscale malls).

“We hope you will become a part of CESSTREL-Asia,” reiterated Fr. Ponce.

For the closing rites, Fr. Buenafe asked everyone to form a large circle and quietly pray for the wishes he singled out, including peace, justice, kindness, friendship and blessings.

Perla Aragon-Choudhury