Year of Faith, Year of Calamities?

(Last part)

In 2 previous columns I explained from theology and psychology the reasons for questions about people’s faith in God’s love and presence in the midst of suffering and death because of the calamities. I said that arguing philosophically and theologically about faith is useless to those who don’t have it. Excessive attention to bodily needs to the neglect of the soul and the spirit can bring about personality disorder which is a serious psychological problem.

There’s another reason: our cultural and religious upbringing. We have said recently in this same column that culture gives expression to faith. So the absence of that faith is also expressed through the way we are – our cultural way of life.

An example of this is the heavy influence of the barkada system, the Yaya system, the patronage system, the political dynasty system, etc. They are a sub-culture among the young and the old whose values are generally materialistic, clannish, enslaving, and almost bereft of morality. In these systems religious values and personal faith are slowly eroded.
The Church has to go back to the family to study how it is being affected by the secular and digital cultures, and adjust.her present pastoral and evangelizing programs and apostolates.