The Adolescent and the Moral Climate in the Philippines

- Every person has a dignity and should be respected for each one is made in the image and likeness of God.

- “When we protect the rights and safeguard the general well- being of children and youth, we pave the way towards a better nation.”

- Filipino youth is hungry for Christ and His Word. Therefore, they need to be evangelized. On the other hand, they must also become evangelizers themselves.

- SOCIAL STRUCTURES-• When patterns of human interaction

become habitual, social structure is formed.• When the patterns of social interaction are

affected by sin, it becomes SINFUL social structures.

• Social Sins are sinful acts which affect others and stem from self- centeredness.

• Sins give rise to social situations and institutions that are contrary to the divine goodness.• Stuctures of sin are the

expression and effect of personal sins. They lead their victims to do evil in their turn. In an analogous sense, they constitute a social sin.

Institutions seem to have a life of their own:

(1) They can multiply good with their beneficial effects comparatively independent of personal generosity or the lack thereof;

(2) They can multiply evil, with tendencies adversely affecting the lives of many

people with malice far surpassing the

malice of individuals involved.

Sinful Social Structures

1. Secularism- a view of life that excludes God from human thinking and living

2. Proliferation of Mass Media3. Weakening of the

Christian “sense of sin”4. Consumerism5. Imbalance in the World

Today

Social structures are sinful when they violate and oppress human dignity, promote

individual selfishness, limit or prevent human development and growth, and treat people not as persons, but as mere

objects, not as individuals, but as members of a group.

Five Predominant Filipino Characteristics with Five Essential Traits of Jesus Christ/

‘Filipino Way’ to JesusFilipino

CharacteristicJesus

A. Self- Identity Family- oriented As both the Son of God and the Son of Man

B. Meaning in Life

Meal- oriented As Eucharist

C. Sufferings in Life

Kundiman- oriented

As the Suffering Servant

D. Life- Commitment

Bayani- oriented As Christ the King

E. World View Spirit- oriented

The Filipino Catholic

We are a people who have experienced in one way or another that our Filipino

identity, meaning, suffering, commitment and world- view

are all tied to Jesus Christ.

Family- oriented

Family- centeredness supplies a basic sense of belonging, stability and security= sense of self- identity.

Meal- oriented

Filipinos are gracious hosts and grateful guests.

Communion constitutes the core witness of the early Church as a Eucharistic community.

Kundiman- oriented

• Kundiman- a sad Filipino song about wounded love

• Filipinos are naturally attracted to heroes sacrificing everything for love. We are patient and forgiving to a fault. This acceptance of suffering manifests a deep, positive spiritual value of Filipinos’ kalooban.

Bayani- oriented

• We are natural hero followers.

Spirit- Oriented

• Filipinos are naturally psychic. We have a deep- seated belief in the supernatural and in all kinds of spirits dwelling in individual persons, places, and things.