THE CHURCH, despite providing avenues for income generation, must focus on evangelization and not on livelihood, a Filipino archbishop stressed.
In his catechism titled “On Our Being Church Workers,” Ozamis Archbishop Jesus Dosado emphasized that no church-related institution must become a source of livelihood.
“We, who serve in the Church, the ordained ones and the laity, should not make the Church as only a source of livelihood,” Dosado wrote in his catechism posted in www.cbcpworld.com. “Our parishes have the duty and privilege to make sure that as public witness to the way of Christ is to shape the lives of the people we serve.”
Dosado specifically addressed the statement to the servants of the Church–school teachers and administrators and the volunteers in apostolate, which include the media personnel in Catholic radio stations.
He cited that in the dynamics of the work within the structure of the Church such as the schools, apostolate, and the parishes, Church people must vivify the identity of bearing witness to the purpose of Christian workers.
Citing “Dei Verbum,” an apostolic exhortation, the prelate clarified that all Church work emanates from the Christian message (catechism), which originates from God himself.
“At the end of the day we should be able to say what Our Lord taught: we are just worthless servants, we are only doing what has been tasked to us.” Robin G. Padilla
