DAVAO CITY, February 7, 2009 –Although the emergence of the Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) in various parts of the world including Philippines is one of the significant developments in the Church after Vatican II, still many BECs laid back especially when confronted with social issues and could not be sustained on its formation.

This is the opinion of BEC expert Redemptorist Priest Father Amado Picardal why many people are tolerant with social problems confronting society today like killings, environmental destruction, poverty, hunger, injustice, armed conflict among others.

Picardal said many BECs remain inward looking communities that lack social concern for their activities revolve around bible-sharing and liturgical celebrations.

“They (BECs) do not respond to social problems and issues that they face. At times, these BECs are helpless in the midst of poverty and armed conflict,” said Picardal, adding:

“BECs are either incapable of addressing these concerns or they think that they should only focus on spiritual concerns.”

He also cited as problem the lack of sustainability of BECs especially when the parish priests who initiated them were transferred and those who took their place were not supportive.

“This was also the case, when external pastoral agents who helped form BECs were gone. Some BECs have a “ningas cogon” mentality. The members were very enthusiastic at the start but they lost interest after a while,” Picardal said.

OTHER PROBLEMS

There are BECs, where only a few actively participate in the ongoing activities like the weekly bible-service and bible-sharing and this is a problem, said Picardal.

“Most of those who attend are women. The men and young people are seldom seen. Worse, because attendance and participation will only increase during community masses and during fiesta, Christmas and Holy Week,” he said.

Picardal also pointed out as a problematic situation in the BECs the implementation of policies and sanctions especially in some dioceses here in Mindanao.

“Sanctions like only active members of BECs can avail of the sacraments like baptism, confirmation and matrimony are being implemented. Communities without active BECs or those who fail to pay their monthly dues cannot have fiesta masses. So, many participate due to coercion,” said Picardal.

“But this is problematic because this has also driven others away and some have transferred to other Christian denominations,” he added.

Picardal also sees as factors why BECs could not be sustained the presence of leaders who are incompetent and lacking in commitment.

“Others have leaders who are very authoritarian and dictatorial. Some are acting like “pari-pari” or little-priests, falling into a new form of clericalism of lay leaders,” he said.

Picardal continued, “The leaders lack team-work. Many don’t go out of their way to reach out to the members and to encourage them. Others resort to policies and sanctions to assert their authority.”

Also, a factor to consider the not-so-good relationship between BECs and lay organizations, movements and associations (LOMAs) in the parishes.

“Some members of LOMAs regard BECs as just another organizations and because of this there is no need to participate in the BECs since they already belong to an organization. Others claim that their organizations can be considered as BECs, so again there is no need to be members of the BECs in their neighborhood or village,” said Picardal.

But, worse than that is the fact that “some members of BECs who become members of LOMAs stop participating in their BECs. Consequently, a spirit of antagonism and competition prevails between BECs and LOMAs,” he added.

VISION, NATURE OF BECs

More than anything else, Picardal said there is a need for practitioners and members of BECs to have an adequate understanding of the vision and nature of BECs.

“There are many who associate BECs exclusively with the small group or cell, composed of six to ten members, who gather weekly to reflect on the word of God. In this case, the BEC becomes just an activity or that small exclusive group,” he said.

“With this understanding of BECs, any small group can be considered as BECs –the small cells in the neighborhood, inside the classrooms, within the seminary, a small prayer group (SPG) or the Couples for Christ household unit,” said Picardal, adding, “their focus now is on the smallness, rather than community dynamics and ecclesiality.”

Picardal said most of these problems and concerns are interrelated and the problems of sustainability and poor participation in BECs may be the result of lack of the support of the clergy, problematic leadership, the use of coercive policies and sanctions, problematic relationships with LOMAs, failure to respond to social concerns and inadequate understanding of the vision and nature of BECs. (Mark S. Ventura)