This lecture is intended to frame the main challenge confronting the Catholic Church in the Philippines in terms of a battle of moralities. Moral worldviews are inherently contentious especially in pluralistic societies. But in the Philippines, some issues have become thoroughly divisive especially under the new administration of President Duterte. Two of these issues concern the hard-line stance against criminality and the proposed plan to bury Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. There could be many other issues along the way especially because Duterte presents himself as an uncompromising president who intends to accomplish his promises.
This lecture draws insights from various studies including Vote of the Poor 2016, a study funded by the Institute of Philippine Culture. Towards the end, the speaker will present questions that now confront Catholics (or any religious individual) for ways of proceeding. The battle of moralities demands calculated responses from different sectors of the Catholic Church. Such responses ought to be timely, engaging, and relevant.
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Jayeel Serrano Cornelio, PhD
Dr Jayeel Cornelio is a sociologist of religion and the director of the Development Studies Program, Ateneo de Manila University. He is an editor of the Philippine Sociological Review, the official journal of the Philippine Sociological Society. He is also one of the investigators on Vote of the Poor 2016, a study funded by the Institute of Philippine Culture. He has written extensively on youth, religion, education, and the city. He edited the special issue of Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints on Filipino Catholicism (2014). He recently published Being Catholic in the Contemporary Philippines: Young People Reinterpreting Religion (Routledge, 2016). Dr Cornelio regularly writes for UCAN and Rappler.
