Beginning 1975 I lived in the Philippines as a Redemptorist priest for 16 years. My experience with the people, especially the poor in their struggle, transformed my life. It challenged my faith, my spirituality and my way of involvement with the struggle of the people as a church person.
Written in 1985. Faith and theology had been cracked open by the reality of peoples’ lives. We sought to discover and express a spirituality arising from the struggle of those seeking justice and their “true place in the world” We walk, crawl, stumble,grope in our little caves, within our prison walls believingour illusions to be the truth of lifeWe are so sure, so secure, so...
In the time of Martial Law in the Philippines, the Governor of Metro Manila Imelda Marcos sought to “clean up” the metropolis, often through forced evictions of squatter areas. But there were other means also … The kids flew their kites– tattered, ragged, made of scraps –on our street after their fireOur street because theirs was no moreTheir fire for it swallowed all they...