2. Concept of the Poor: Who are the
Poor?
The Basic and Primary meaning of
who the poor are:
Material poverty
• It usually brings along with it the other
qualifications of poverty.
• The Bible says that Jesus was poor. He was
materially poor.
• The Church documents of our days speak of the
poor, it often means first of all the materially
poor.

4. CLASS SITUATION IN THE
PHILIPPINES IN 2005
2006 McCann Inter-Generation Study
Class AB(2% of population)
The most affluent group whose homes and lifestyle exude
a lack of economizing.
HH Income: P100,00 or more/mo or P3,300/day
Class C (7 % of population)
Upper/middle class households whose homes and lifestyle
reflect comfortable living and the capacity to indulge in a
few luxuries.
HH Income P30,00 to P50,000/mo or P1,000 to
P1600/day (C2); P50,000 to P100,000/mo

5. CLASS SITUATION IN THE
PHILIPPINES IN 2005
Class D (68% of population)
Households who have some comfort and means but
basically thrive on hand-to-mouth existence.
HH income: P7,000/mo to P30,000/mo or
P230/day to P1,000/day
Class E(23% of population)
Those who face great difficulties in meeting their basic
survival needs.
HH income: P7,000/mo to as low as P1500/mo
or P230/day to P50/day.

6. Education
Philippine Star May 27, 2007
 6 million children aged 6-15 are out of
elementary and high school.
 10.5 million citizens aged 16-77 are
illiterate or innumerate.
 6 out of 1000 grade six public school
students are qualified for high school,
and 2 out of 100 public high school
graduates are qualified for college.

7. Education
19% of public school teachers are not
capable to teach English.
10,000 teachers are needed
nationwide for the public schools
In 2006 out of 45 nations surveyed,
Filipino students rank 41st in
Science and 42nd in Math.

8. Indications of Poverty
• 19% of Filipinos (15 million) are very poor,
living on $1 (50 PhP) a day, i.e., PhP 1500 a
month
• 43 million Filipinos live on $2 (100 PhP) a
day, i.e., PhP 3000 a month (World Bank, Phil.
Daily Inquirer, April 17, 2007)
• 1.4 million (20.3%) of the projected 6.7
million Filipino rural household families and
1.6 million (14.8%) of the projected 10.6
million urban households experienced
unwanted hunger at least once in the past 3
months (SWS Survey, Sept 24-Oct 2, 2006)

9. Indications of Poverty
• 608,370 houses needed to answer the
housing problem of the nation
• Unemployment rate: 8.2 % (NSO, April 2006)
• Underemployment rate: 17-22%; roughly 1
out of 5 workers want additional hours of
work (DOLE, April 2006)
• 977,552 – total number of OFWs deployed
in 2005.

10. Indications of Poverty
• A World Bank study shows the Philippines
has the second lowest in both per-capita
health expenditure and health spending as
a percentage of GDP
• According to Health Secretary Duque
some 6,000 Filipino doctors are presently
studying nursing
• According to Dr. Castro, Pres. Of the Phil.
Medical Association, 30% of the more or
less 100,00 Filipino doctors are now
abroad.

11. What attitudes can we have
towards the poor?
1. DISDAIN.
2. INDIFFERENCE.
3. PATRONIZING.
4. USING THE POOR.
5. GENUINE
CONCERN AND
lOVE.

12. Nelson Mandela
Overcoming poverty
is not a gesture of
charity. It is an act of
justice. Poverty is
not natural; it is
man-made and can
be eradicated by the
actions of human
beings.

13. "Action in behalf of justice and participation
in the transformation of the world fully
appear to us as a constitutive dimension of
the preaching of the Gospel, or, in other
words, of the Church mission for the
redemption of the human race and its
liberation from any oppressive situation.”(#6
Justitia in mundo)

14. We are in solidarity with the
poor because:
1. They are the most
in need.
2. They are the great
majority of our
people.
3. It is the way of
Jesus Christ.

15. When John the Baptist was having
doubts about Jesus, Jesus’ answer to John’s
question: “Are you the one who is to come or
are we to expect someone else?” was: “Go
back and tell John what you have seen and heard:
the blind see again, the lame walk, those suffering
from virulent skin-diseases are cleansed and the deaf
hear, the dead are raised to life, the good news is
proclaimed to the poor” (Lk 7, 20-21) The sign that
Jesus gave that he is the one is what he was
doing to the poor and the oppressed.

16. CHURCH OF THE POOR
(Self reliance)
“The world is quite thorny for the poor. No
one will voluntarily make room for them.
The scope of maneuvering for the
poor ultimately depends on the
organizational efforts of the poor
themselves. How quickly they can build
up their solidarity and hence the
countervailing power… determines the
extent of benefits which will accrue the
poor.”

17. The CHURCH OF THE
POOR….
• Embraces and practices the spirit of
evangelical poverty; it combines
detachment from possessions with
profound trust to the Lord.
• Shows special love, a love of preference,
for the poor.
• Does not discriminate against the poor, but
vindicates their rights.
• Gives preferential attention to the poor.

18. The CHURCH OF THE POOR….
• Has pastors and leaders who will
learn to be with, work with, and
learn with, and learn from the
poor.
• Not only evangelizes the poor, but
recognizes that the poor will
themselves become true
evangelizers.
• Orients and tilts the center of
gravity of the entire community in
favor of the needy.

19. Diakonia as a responsibility
of the Church
( Deus Caritas Est #25. a)
The Church’s deepest
nature is expressed in her three-fold
responsibility: of proclaiming the word of God
(kerygma-martyria), celebrating the sacraments
(leitourgia), and exercising the ministry of
charity (diakonia). These duties presuppose
each other and are inseparable. For the
Church, charity is not a kind of welfare
activity which could equally well be left to
others, but is a part of her nature, an
indispensable expression of her very being.

20. Role of the Church in bringing about
a just social order
The Church is duty-bound to offer,
through the purification of reason and
through ethical formation, her own
specific contribution towards
understanding the requirements of justice
and achieving them politically…. The
Church cannot and must not remain on
the sidelines in the fight for justice. (DCE
#28)

21. Role of the Church in bringing about
a just social order
The Church has to play her part through
rational argument and she has to reawaken
the spiritual energy without which justice,
which always demands sacrifice, cannot
prevail and prosper. A just society must be
the achievement of politics, not the Church.
But the promotion of justice thru efforts to
bring about openness of mind and will to the
demands of the common good is something
which concerns the Church deeply (DCE #
28)

22. LET US BEGIN THE EFFORT
** That the social doctrine of the Church be
part of formation in faith for every
one, at all levels of laity, religious
and clergy.
** That the formation of faith-inspired
social conscience be a priority task in
catechesis, media, schools and other
apostolates of formation.

23. Benedict VI:
Sacramentum Caritatis # 91
In a particular way, the Christian laity,
formed at the school of the Eucharist, are called
to assume their specific political and social
responsibilities. To do so, they need to be
adequately prepared through practical education
in charity and justice. To this end, the Synod
considered it necessary for Dioceses and
Christian communities to teach and promote the
Church’s social doctrine.

24. 7 PARADIGM
SHIFTS
DUE TO THE
CATHOLIC
SOCIAL
TEACHINGS

25. 1. An assault on political
apathy.
- politics is a “vocation”
aimed at the transformation
of society.
- “prophetic stands” in
situations of political and
economic corruption.”
Pope Paul VI

26. 2. A commitment to justice.
- action in behalf of justice
and the social
transformation of society is
a “constitutive” dimension
of the preaching of the
Good News of Salvation in
Jesus Christ.
Synod of Bishops, 1971

27. 3. Imaging the Church as
the “People of God.”
- from passive to active role
of all faithful in defining
and shaping their history
in the contemporary
world.
Vatican II

28. 4. Reading the “signs of the
times.”
- God speaks in and
through human history.
- Signs both reveal God’s
presence in the world
and manifest God’s
designs for the world.

29. 5. A greater reliance on
Scripture.
- The living word of God,
personal experience
and general societal
history as the new
basis of revelation.

30. 6. The primacy of love.
- Love is at the heart of the
virtue of justice and
brings the actions of
justice to their fullest
potential, meaning, and
life.
- Love is the motivation to
act on behalf of justice.

31. 7. An orientation to pastoral
planning and action.
- Praxis, the action that
comes out of reflection and
leads back to reflection.
- Correct action
(“orthopraxis”) completes
correct doctrine
(“orthodoxy”).

32. 6 WAYS
TOWARDS
GREATER
SOCIAL
INVOLVEMENT

33. WAY # 1:
We regularly join in
social action
activities.

34. WAY # 2:
Exposure to
advocates, victims,
situations, is crucial.

35. WAY # 3:
We join in social
concerns that are
within our
capabilities.

36. WAY # 4:
We integrate our
faith with our
experience and with
our analysis of our
social situations.

37. WAY # 5:
Social action
involvement means
“doing with” rather
than “doing for.”

38. WAY # 6:
Social action involves
works of mercy,
works of
development and
works of justice

39. Strategies for Overcoming Poverty
◦ WORKS OF MERCY
- Poverty Alleviation
◦ WORKS OF DEVELOPMENT
- Poverty Reduction
◦ WORKS OF JUSTICE
- Poverty Eradication

40. The salvation offered in its
fullness to men in Jesus Christ by
the God the Father’s initiative,
and brought about and
transmitted by the work of the
Holy Spirit, is salvation to all
people and of the whole person: it
is universal and integral salvation.
It concerns the human person in
all his dimensions: personal and
social, spiritual and corporeal,
historical and transcendent. (cst

41. With her social doctrine not only does the
Church not stray from her mission but she is
rigorously faithful to it. The redemption wrought by
Christ and entrusted to the saving mission of the
Church is certainly of the supernatural order. The
dimension is not a delimitation of salvation but rather
an integral expression of it. The supernatural is not to
be understood as an entity or place that begins where
the natural ends, but as the raising of the natural to a
higher plane. In this way nothing of the created or the
human order is foreign to or excluded from the
supernatural or theological order of the faith and
grace, rather it is found within it, taken on and
elevated by it. (cst #64)

42. “The joy and hope,
the grief and anguish
of the men of our
time, especially of
those who are poor or
afflicted in any way,
are the joy and hope,
the grief and anguish
of the followers of
Christ as well.”
Gaudium et Spes,
1965

43. “Whatever you
do to the least of
your brothers,
you do unto me.”
Matthew 25,45