Philippine Episcopal Church is Newest Anglican Province; Seeks Its Own Imprint as Community of Faith in Asia
Episcopal News Service. May 10, 1990 [90018_Z]
Representatives of the worldwide Anglican family joined the joyous procession and services on May 1 in Quezon City to welcome the newest member, the Philippine Episcopal Church (PEC).
After a decade of nurturing a vision of autonomy, "We are writing a history from scratch," said the Most. Rev. Richard Abellon, who was installed as prime bishop of the new church. "What we have is a chapter without texts, pages, or footnotes." The church does have a clear "invitation to see Jesus more clearly," to discern his ways, follow his plans, share his grace and power, and "cooperate with the ways of the master builder."
The colorful procession of 2,000, led by 20 bishops, began at St. Andrew's Seminary on Cathedral Heights in the Quezon City area of Manila and moved up the hill to the cathedral. The prime bishop knocked three times on the doors and was welcomed by church representatives.
The liturgy was a lively blend of the majesty of the Christian liturgy and the pageantry of Filipino indigenous music and dance. With the exception of "Lift High the Cross," all the music was written by Asians, a mix of contemporary hymns and traditional native music.
The simple yet powerful Unity Dance provided a visual metaphor for the pilgrimage of the Filipino church. To the strains of the gang-sa, a gong from the mountain province, six pairs of dancers acted out the call for partnership, solidarity, and unity. As the men moved in circles, the women deftly "wove" six strips of cloth hung from a pole at the center of the sanctuary into a single, unified tapestry.
Autonomy will make it easier for the Filipino church to identify with the struggle of the people and the "search for national integrity and sovereignty," Bishop Abellon stressed. "Indeed, our provincial autonomy should not be seen as irrelevant to the Filipino people's aspiration to be free from all forms of domination." While it is not yet clear how the church will "contribute to the freedom of the whole nation, it is clearly a call that we must respond to," Abellon said.
The prime bishop emphasized partnership, saying the PEC "can stand proudly within the Anglican Communion, not only because it is independent, but because it is a partner with the other provinces in the service of God."
Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning hailed the inauguration and said the Filipino church "has the maturity to make a major contribution to the whole Anglican Communion." Judith Gillespie, world missions executive who attended the inauguration, expressed optimism that the PEC would meet its unique challenges. "The new church faces a long process of learning to trust each other, being willing to share resources. And it must shape a structure that will make sense for them," she said.
It is toward the discovery of the Filipino Christ that the real treasure of the PEC's autonomy is found, Bishop Francis Gray of Northern Indiana said in his homily. Gray, representing the Presiding Bishop at the installation, said that the church's road to autonomy is linked with finding the treasure of Christ in the lives of the people. Gray, who was born in the Philippines of missionary parents, told of his family hiding a treasure beneath their house when they realized they were about to be imprisoned by the Japanese. Years later, Gray's father drew a map, and a member of the family was able to retrieve the treasure.
Gray urged the church to "fall in love with the treasure -- the Filipino Christ -- and not the map." While stressing that on the Anglican treasure map, the coordinates of Scripture, tradition, and reason are vital, he said it is more important for the PEC to discover Christ in the history of its people.
Bishop Abellon echoed Gray's comments when he said that the church's constitution and canons "should not be regarded as a rigid institution that builds concrete fences that prevent the flowering of more responsive and meaningful structures and ideals." Whatever structures the church finally chooses must "pass the test of genuine expressions of fidelity to God in the lives of our people, where it will gather its sinews and finally enrich its substance."
An editorial in the PEC's newspaper on the day of the inauguration pointed toward the challenge the church, with its diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, will face in making "its own unique imprint as a community of faith in Asia." While it may demonstrate some of the "confusion and worries" of an adolescent approaching "the fullness of personhood," the church is "one in its commitment that the aspirations of its witnessing community can only be realized if solidly grounded on the all-embracing Episcopal/Anglican liberal approach to proclaiming the gospel of reconciliation, justice, and peace."
In his farewell report to his colleagues at the House of Bishops meeting last September in Philadelphia, former Prime Bishop Manuel Lumpias said, "For us in the Philippine Episcopal Church the moment of truth has come. We now have decided to make the Christian journey on our own two feet without crutches. Christ wants us to live in the Philippines, not as a refugee, as he lived in Egypt during his childhood, but as a full citizen, a native of the place -- a Filipino."