AN
OVERVIEW OF THE BASIC ECCLESIAL
COMMUNITIES
(BECs)
by
Msgr Lope C. Robredillo, VG
[Note:
This is the English version of a talk delivered by the author at the First
Diocesan Congress of Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) of the Diocese of
Borongan, participated in by all the parishes, held at the parish church of St
Anthony of Padua, Llorente, Eastern Samar, on January 19, 2006]
Introduction: Why the
BECs in the Diocese?
The 1997 First Synod of Borongan is a milestone in the
history of the
Included in
its mission is the formation of basic ecclesial communities. With PCP II, the Synod believes that the
renewed diocese it envisions finds expression in one ecclesial movement: the
BECs. (PCP II, 137). That is why, the 2004 pastoral plan of the Diocese provides for the establishment of the
BECs in all the parishes.
What Is Meant by Basic
Ecclesial Community (BEC)?
Terminology. In trying to see the meaning of BECs, it
is instructive to note that they came to us under various brands. In the 1960s and 1970s, they were known as
base communities, basic communities, or grassroots-communities.
But to
specify its religious character, and especially its adhesion to the Church,
they became known, in Latin America, as communidades
eclesiales de base, which is translated as base-level ecclesial communities
or basic church communities (CEB). In Africa, they are called small Christian communities
(SCC).
In the
Philippines, they have various names: Kriska
or Kristohanong Katilingban, Gagmayang
Kristohanong Katilingban, Munting Sambayanang Kristiyano (MSK), Basic Christian Community.
But why are
they called Basic Ecclesial Communities?
Before we describe them, let us first of all look at the meaning of each
term:
Basic means “at the lowest
level of society,” grass-root; they are not at the vertex (diocesan or
universal); rather, their members are at the bottom of the social and ecclesiastical
pyramid; it also means “coming from the faith of small or simple baptized
Christians. The word also refers to
their size, which is small—small enough for each member to know each other, yet
they are not a barkadahan.
Ecclesial signifies the basic
motivation for the BECs—to live and continue the life and mission of Christ in
a group of people, who are in communion with the local Church. The members of
these communities manifest, experience and localize the Church at the
grass-roots level. It is not a natural community.
Community is used to signify
that the BECs are not prayer groups, discussion groups, or service groups. Rather, it means that the members live in close proximity and know each other; personal
relationships are important; they exercise sharing and mutual help; they have
common values, common commitment, and common mission; each member participate
in decision making; they face community problems and challenges.
How
Did BECs Start?
There is no doubt that
the greatest factor that influenced the rise and growth
But how did the BECs come into being? In Brazil (Latin America), they started in
1956 with the evangelization movement, which eventually evolved into a
situation in which communities without a priest, among other things, would
gather around the radio to pray aloud the people’s part of the mass being
celebrated by the Bishop and hear his homily.
By 1963, there were about 1,410 radio schools.
In the
Philippines, the barangay sang birhen
of the 1950s is their precedent, since this strengthened the sense of
community, but the BECs as we have them now started in the rural areas of
Mindanao as a pastoral strategy to renew the Church following Vatican II. Many of them came from existing sociological
or parochial structures (chapel organization, neighborhood organization), but
were eventually Christianized. While lay
people composed them, they were organized and supported by the priest. Others were organized by the Mindanao-Sulu
Pastoral Conference, the NASSA, and the Redemptorist Mission Teams. But no doubt, the socio-economic and
political situation influenced the way these were organized.
In
Australia, we might single out the Adelaide Archdiocese where the BECs were
established by Archbishop Faulkner himself in 1994; he enshrined their
formation in the diocesan vision, and asks his priests to move toward the BECs.
How
Are We to Define the BECs?
The 3rd General Conference of Latin American
Bishops (1979) gave the following description (“Evangelization at Present and in the Future of Latin America,” par
642): “As a community, the CEB brings together families, adults and young
people in an intimate interpersonal relationship grounded in the faith. As an ecclesial reality, it is a community of
faith, hope and charity. It celebrates
the word of God and takes its nourishment from the Eucharist, the culmination
of all the sacraments. It fleshes out
the Word of God in life through solidarity and commitment to the new
commandment of the Lord and through the service of approved coordinators; it
makes present and operative the mission of the Church and the visible communion
with the legitimate pastors. It is a
base-level community because it is composed of relatively few members as a
permanent body, like a cell of a larger community.
The Second
Plenary Council of the Philippines devotes two paragraphs to describe the BECs
(138-139): “They are small communities of Christians, usually of families who
gather together around the Word of God and the Eucharist. These communities are united to their pastors
but are ministered to regularly by lay leaders.
The members know each other by name and share not only the Word of God
and the Eucharist, but also their concerns both material and spiritual. They have a strong sense of belongingness and
of responsibility for one another.
“Usually emerging at the grassroots among poor farmers and
workers, Basic
Personally, to me, one of the best descriptions of the BEC,
if only because it is easy to grasp, comes from Abp Orlando Quevedo, formerly
President of the CBCP. According to him,
the BEC is
1) a small grassroots
community of believers;
2) that brings
together families and individuals in intimate personal and social relationship
based on faith;
3) whose
members gather together with their leaders to worship the Lord;
4) listen
prayerfully to the Word of God, reflect on it, apply it to their daily lives;
5) take
nourishment in the Eucharist;
6) share with
one another, serve and support one another;
7) in a true
fellowship of faith, hope and love—
8) in a word,
to evangelize others and at the same time to be evangelized.
Chief
Characteristics of the BECs
What are the chief
characteristics of these communities? In
his book, Charism and Power, Latin American
theological Leonardo Boff sees five points that characterize them: (1) an
oppressed yet believing people; (2) born from the Word of God; (3) a new way of
being Church; (4) sign and instrument of liberation; and (6) a celebration of
faith and life.
Following J. van Nieuwenhove, Lode Wosten, in his book, Doing Ecclesiology,
On the other hand, Quevedo enumerates 5 characteristics:
(1) faith based; (2) Chris-centeredness; (3) Community-orientations; (4)
participatory; (5) serving and sharing; (6) love.
For our
purpose, the following may suffice:
(1) Poor yet Believing—a concrete realization
of the Church of the Poor:
1. They emerge
from among the poor, at the grass-roots level;
2. Yet, they
are people of faith, they are a community of faith
3. They look at
Jesus as the center of their lives—his life is the norm and the inspiration
4. They believe
in his promise of the Kingdom
of God; God cares for
them, and he will eventually change this world into a new one.
5. Contrast feature: They imply that the
Church need not always be a Church of the poblacion;
it is also a Church of the periphery; it need not always be a Church of the
learned, the famous, the money, but also of the illiterate, the neglected, the
scum.
6. Contrast feature: They do not profess any
ideology (like communism, socialism, or capitalism), rather they draw
inspiration from the Word of God, from the teachings of the Church, and look at
realities from the perspective of their faith.
(2) Community-oriented---
1. Their
members live in proximity or in the same neighborhood, like a squatter area, or
a barangay where they know each other
by name, and relate to each other. Thus,
it is small enough to permit personal
relationship among the members, and large enough to contain itself in its
basic needs;
2. They strive
to be of one heart and one mind;
3. They have a
strong sense of co-responsibility and solidarity; there is mutual care, sharing
and support
4. Contrast feature: it is not a church of
individuals who do not know each other, who pray alone, who go to mass alone,
who think that they go to heaven alone.
(3) Participatory—Consultative
1. Participation
is absolutely necessary. It is based on
the understanding of and respect for the various charisms or gifts;
2. The
selection of leaders, process of decision-making, planning, prayer sessions,
and implementation of decisions—all these are characterized by the widest
member-participation.
3. Charisms are
recognized in the ministries: youth, family, liturgy, social action,
catechesis, education, etc.
4. Thus, the
BECs participate in the life and mission of the Church.
5. Contrast feature: unlike the parish, it
is headed by a lay person who leads in the celebration of the Word, the
priestless Sunday service, meeting, and other community affairs. Hence, lay ministries are recognized in the
small community. It is not hierarchical,
but closely connected with the hierarchy in the person of the priest.
(4) Gathered around the Word of God and the
Eucharist
1. The
Gospel is heard, believed, shared, and lived in the community,
2. The
participants reflect on the Gospel in order to interpret the life and events in
the community, and see their life and happenings in the light of the Word of
God.
3.
Therefore, they look at realities and events in the light of their faith, and
their reflection on the Word of God.
4. Hence,
once or twice a week, the gather for Bible sharing and reflection, usually in
one of the homes of the members
5. They
study the Bible in relation to their daily life, and draw inspiration
6. They
denounce the sins of society in the light of the Gospel.
7. They
announce the good news to the society.
8. They
gather to celebrate the Sunday service without the Priest.
9. Contrast feature: it is not primarily
for an income-generating project, for the building of a new structure, but they
gather primarily to hear the Word, receive the Sacraments, and live the Word
and Sacraments in their daily life.
9. They have
high regard for popular religiosity—novenas, rosary, celebration of feasts,
processions, etc.
(5) Sign and Instrument of Development and
Liberation
1. They are concerned with the
material well-being of their members and the community.
2. They try to build a community
of peace, based on justice, freedom and love.
Thus, they have health care projects, mutual aid fund, transfer
technology in agriculture. Other may
have communal farms, or involved in issues of justice and peace, or take
position against business malpractices.
3. That is why, during Martial
Law, the BECs defended human rights, protested against oppressive laws, etc.
3. Contrast feature: they are not concerned only with the spiritual
realities, or with only one aspect of the human person; but with the entire
aspects that make the human person—economic, political, cultural, environment,
spiritual, bodily, etc. They aim at
total human development and liberation.
The
BECs in the Diocese of Borongan
In
implementation of the diocesan thrust, the BEC program opened in the diocese
under two forms, the first one being that of Daughters of Charity (DC), through
Sr Alicia Arreglo, DC, diocesan coordinator of the basic ecclesial
communities, the second, that of the
Redemptorist Mission Teams (RMTs), under Rev Carlo Villaflor, CSsR.
(1) The DC
model has several components: formation, community organizing, agricultural
component, income-generating projects, cooperatives and health programs. Sr Areglo started organizing basic ecclesial
communities in June 1995 in 5 parishes (Guiuan, Borongan, Balangkayan,
Lalawigan, and Sulat) and
As of 2004,
the program covers 11 parishes, with 70 BECs, and is under Ms. Virginia Raagas,
a school supervisor of Oras. In this
sustaining phase, the BEC Office is engaged, among others, in the monitoring of
on-going projects—(a) rice mill in Balogo, Balangkayan; (b) copra buying in
Cantubi, Balangkayan; (c)
(2) In contrast with the
first which is barangay-based, the other BEC model is parish-based, handled by
the Redemptorist Mission Teams (RMTs).
The latter operated in Lawaan, Quinapondan, Sulat, Buenavista, San
Julian and Sulangan.
As of December 31, 2005, the
Diocese has 88 BECs, present in 14 parishes: Arteche (10), San Policarpo (10),
Oras (10), Dolores (10), Maslog (2), Canavid (2), Sulat (10), San Julian (10),
Borongan (4), Lalawigan (2), Balangkayan (4), Guiuan (7), Homonhon (3), and
Salcedo (3).
Final Word: What Does
the Hierarchy Say about These Communities?
Since they emerge from the grassroots,
one might wonder if these
Not surprisingly enough, in 1991 during the Second Plenary
Council (PCP-II), Church in the Philippines adopted the establishment of the
BECs as the pastoral priority in all its diocese: “Basic Ecclesial Communities
under various names and forms—BCCs, small Christian communities, covenant
communities—must be vigorously promoted for the full living of the Christian
vocation in both rural and urban areas.
Active non-violence will be a guiding principle in their approach to
social change” (PCP II, Art 109). For
this reason, the Council directed the Conference to “issue an official
statement on BECs, on their nature and function as recognized by the Church,
making it clear that they are not simply another organization” (Art 110 #1).
FIRST
DIOCESAN CONGRESS ON BECs
Parish of St Anthony of
Padua, Llorente
January 18-20, 2006
