moral foundations for transformation

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A Call to

National Transformation

Archbishop’s House / Saint Francis de Sales Minor Seminary

Lipa City27 August 2014

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Moral Foundation

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Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam): the purpose of God for God’s creatures is their flourishing in the fullness of life blessings

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God’s glory is the human being fully alive.

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Human beings become fully alive when their lives are guided by the knowledge of God’s plan for their fulfillment.

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For the Abrahamic religions, the ethical goal of societal life is the promotion of the fullness of life blessings for God’s creatures.

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For human beings who accept the guidance of God for their lives, this fullness of life blessings •is partial and temporary in this present form of life•becomes complete and definitive in the afterlife

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Even the (many) secular humanists—atheists and agnostics—whose ethics is based on natural law or something similar to it accept human flourishing as the ethical goal of societal life.

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A society fosters the fullness of life of its members by promoting the common good.

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The common good is defined as the total set of conditions of societal life—economic, political, cultural, environmental, and so forth—that facilitates the fullness of life blessings for each and every individual and group within society.

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Elements of the common good•fullness of life blessings as its total or overarching goal

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specifically societal aspects of a blessed life (fullness of life blessings) (specific aspects of the common good)• basic welfare--spiritual and material• liberty• equality• participation• solidarity• integrity of creation

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Societal systems—mainly the economic, political, cultural—are tasked to promote the common good.

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When the societal systems of a given society—such as Philippine society—are damaging rather than promoting the common good, there emerges a moral obligation.

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This moral obligation is for the members of society to change these systems, so that the society can be transformed for the good.

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The main societal systems of the Philippines today are not promoting the common good.

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The economic system•is not sufficiently productive •its benefits mainly go to a small minority

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The political system• rewards corruption and violence•imposes disadvantage on the honest and peace-loving

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The cultural system•is damaged by decline in reverence for God, honesty, and concern for the common good•is increasingly hypocritical and obsessed with wealth, pleasure, power, and fame

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The result is what we see today—•massive and widespread poverty•unbridled and unpunished corruption•hypocritical abuse of power• increasing criminality• intensifying social conflict and violence

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Since the societal systems—economic, political, and cultural—of the Philippines are harming the common good, there is a clear moral call for systems change to bring about national transformation.

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We need systems change to transform our nation so that…

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•our economic system will produce enough to• increase our national wealth•enable all the people to enjoy lives of austere and simple comfort

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•our political system will•install meritocracy•reward honesty, competence, and diligence•reduce social conflict•put an end to extremist violence

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• our cultural system will promote the ordering of our people’s lives based on •reverence and obedience to God•solidarity in pursuing the common good

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In sum, morally speaking, the Philippines urgently needs systems change for national transformation.