DOES RIZAL'S RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION MATTER?

Rizal Roman Catholic

In the earlier part of this year, some communications in the KOR-World@ GoogleGroups.com, in relation to Dr. Rizal’s martyrdom, brought up issues about his spirituality using some words like ‘heretic’. There is a new opinion piece by Fr. Jose S. Arcilla, SJ, in his Business World column “Vestiges” which, though not centered on Rizal, might help illuminate the matter of Rizal’s spiritual persuasion. Judging by the broad yet insightful definition by Fr. Arcilla that a Roman Catholic is “one who loves to the point of dying for the beloved” 1/, one might say that Dr. Jose Rizal was a Roman Catholic.

Dr. Rizal loved his Inang Bayan so much 2/ that he devoted a great deal of his energy and time writing and communicating to right the many wrongs in the Philippines. He described his life-mission as working for more liberty, more justice, more peace and more sacred rights of man in the Philippines. 3/ His noble cause was to give more light that the people might be able to discern their own way, or education, education, education 4/ and if it were necessary, he would: (a) shed his blood [pour my blood, shed it in good time] and (b) die for the country [o, how beautiful it is to fall to give you flight, to die to give you life] which are both ideas sublimely expressed in the last poem. 5/

When hurriedly condemned to death by a military court of the Spanish colonial regime, he calmly (with normal blood pressure) stood before the firing squad, intoning in his soul (we might imagine) the unparalleled verses of his Ultimo Adios. Jose Rizal’s life, so lived and offered, embodies “love to the point of dying for the beloved”, following the examples of Jesus who in the last supper with His disciples declared: “this is my body; it shall be given up for you” and of the early Christian martyrs, who for love of Jesus, courageously faced death by being fed to lions, crucified sometimes head down, burned at the stake and through many more atrocities.

In that sense, we can refer to Rizal’s religious affiliation invoking Fr. Arcilla’s definition.

Questions

But it appears there is a need to go farther and ask some questions concerning this matter of raising as issue Dr. Rizal’s specific religious affiliation, in relation to: (1) the current spirit of ecumenism; (2) the KOR tenets of non-sectarianism and non-partisanship; and (3) the KOR Code of Ethics.

Ecumenism

From 1618 to 1648 Europe was plunged into one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, known as The Thirty Years’ War, which initially was largely fought as a religious conflict between the Protestants and the Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire and later got complicated into a more general ‘balance of power’ and ‘royal succession’ conflict involving most of the European powers. 6/ All because Catholics and Protestants each insisted their side was correct and had God’s blessings while the other was wrong and under the sway of the devil. We might say mutual intolerance and reciprocal demonization brought that war on.

The East–West Schism, sometimes known as the Great Schism, happened six centuries earlier, in 1054. It formally divided the State church of the Roman Empire into Eastern (Greek) and Western (Latin) branches, which later became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, respectively. There were anathemas or mutual excommunications as well as splits along doctrinal, theological, linguistic, political, and geographical lines, with each side accusing the other of having fallen into heresy and of having initiated the division. 7/

The protestant reformation happened in the sphere of the Western or Latin Church. And the divisions arising within Christianity over the centuries have given rise to a variety of denominations. But within the last century up to the present, ecumenism has grown as a movement for achieving Christian unity and for overcoming these divisions. The Catholic Church is fully committed to the Ecumenical movement. The decree on Ecumenism issued by the Second Vatican Council in 1964 is the charter for the Catholic Church’s approach to Ecumenism. Since then, much progress has been made through dialogue between Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox Churches and there has been a growth in mutual understanding and respect. 8/

This ecumenical progress was reflected by Pope Benedict XVI in a 2008 address in New York: “Let us give thanks to Almighty God for the progress that has been made through the work of his Spirit, as we acknowledge with gratitude the personal sacrifices made by so many present and by those who have gone before us. By following in their footsteps, and by placing our trust in God alone, I am confident that – to borrow the words of Father Paul Wattson – we will achieve the "oneness of hope, oneness of faith, and oneness of love" that alone will convince the world that Jesus Christ is the one sent by the Father for the salvation of all.”9/

The question, then, is: Why bring up historically divisive and conflict-ridden adjectives (e.g. heretic) in referring to the spiritual affiliation of a hero when the churches are in the process of continuing dialogue for mutual understanding, cooperation and healing of historic rifts?

Non-Sectarian, Non-Partisan Principles

The KOR Manual states that: “The Order of the Knights of Rizal is a civic and patriotic organization recognized by law as an instrumentality by which the teachings of our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal may be propagated among the Filipino people, and others who may believe in his teachings to the end that they may emulate and follow his examples. Aside from its being a civic and patriotic organization it is also cultural, non-sectarian, non-partisan and non-racial.” (The Knights Of Rizal: An Organization)

For the purpose of this article, let’s keep our focus on the non-sectarian and non-partisan tenets.

Nonsectarian, in its most literal sense, refers to a lack of sectarianism; 10/ also, not having a sectarian character: not affiliated with or restricted to a particular religious group. 11/ Sectarianism, according to one definition, is bigotry, discrimination or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion, class, regional or factions of a political movement. Non-sectarians espouse that free association and tolerance of different beliefs are the cornerstone to successful peaceful human interaction. They espouse political and religious pluralism. 12/

Non-Partisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation. The Merrian-Webster dictionary's definition of "nonpartisan" is: "Not partisan; free from party affiliation, bias, or designation." 13/ A partisan is an adherent or supporter of a person, group, party, or cause, especially a person who shows a biased, emotional allegiance; of, pertaining to, or characteristic of partisans; partial to a specific party, person, etc.14/

The question is: Would the ideals of being free from bigotry, discrimination or hatred and being supportive of free associations, tolerance of beliefs and pluralism (non-sectarianism) and the principles of not being biased, not partial, not bound by emotional allegiance, and not slanted by affiliations (non- partisanship) both be upheld by the raising of unnecessary issues in a manner that is tantamount to name-calling?

Code of Ethics

According to the KOR Manual, the Code Of Ethics Of The Knights Of Rizal is as follows:

“A Rizalist – Loves his country and people; Promotes international understanding among peoples and nations; Venerates the memory of the nation’s heroes by making their ideals his own; Values honor as he values his life; Strives to do justice to all his fellowmen; Finds meaning and purpose in life; Upholds freedom at all costs;
Maintains a tolerant and understanding attitude towards his fellowmen; Believes in the value of education essential to the formation of the character of man; Promotes social justice and general welfare; Is industrious, self-reliant, persevering and conscious of the plight of the less fortunate; Is truthful and honest in thoughts, words and deeds.”

The question is: Would raising an insignificant and besmirching issue be consistent with this Code in terms of valuing honor, doing justice, maintaining tolerance, understanding, truth-telling and honesty?

The bottom line: What was the point of all that? Was it to put Rizal down? Why?

Spirit of Submission

These questions are respectfully submitted in the spirit of Saint Paul’s urging of Jewish Christians in Hebrews 10:24 (NABRE): “We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works”.

Rizal’s View on His Religious Affiliation

We end this piece with a quote from Dr. Rizal himself on the issue of his religious affiliation. It is taken from his correspondence with Fr. Pablo Pastells. In October 1892, Father Pastells had blamed Rizal's Protestant influence for Noli Me Tangere, and his Freemasonic influence for El Filibusterismo. His reply, dated October 11, 1892, while only a small excerpt of their in-depth correspondence, 15/ encapsulates Rizal's view, which is ecumenism a long way ahead of Vatican II:

“Rizal a Protestant! Only out of respect for Your Reverence can I suppress the guffaw that rises inside me. Your Reverence should have heard my discussions with a Protestant pastor in the long Summer evenings in the lonely depths of the Black Forest (Germany). There, speaking freely, calmly, with deliberation, we discussed our respective beliefs in the morality of peoples and the influences on them of their respective creeds. A great respect for the good faith of the adversary, and for ideas which were necessarily poles apart due to the diversity of race, education and age, led us almost always to the conclusion that religions, no matter what they were, should not make men enemies of one another, but friends, and good friends at that.

“From these discussions, which took place almost every day for more than three months, I think I got nothing more, if my judgment does not fail me, than a profound respect for any idea conceived with sincerity and practiced with conviction. Almost every month the Catholic parish priest of a little town on the banks of the Rhine came to visit [the Protestant pastor], and this priest, an intimate friend of the Protestant, gave me an example of Christian brotherhood. They considered themselves two servants of the same God, and instead of spending their time quarrelling with each other, each one did his duty, leaving it to their Master to judge afterwards who had best interpreted His Will.”
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1/ See Vestiges, “Who is a Roman Catholic?” Business World Online, posted March 04, 2012, http: //www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Opinion&title =Who-is-a-Roman-Catholic? &id= 47 762)
2/ cf “…the thought of my whole life has always been love of my country and her moral and material development …” (Letter to the Governor and Captain General of the Philippine Islands, Hongkong, 21 Mar 1892, Epistolario Rizalino, III No. 577, p. 306); also, “My dreams when a lad, when scarcely adolescent: my dreams when a young man, now with vigor inflamed: were to behold you one day: Jewel of eastern waters: griefless the dusky eyes: lifted the upright brow: unclouded, unfurrowed, unblemished and unashamed”. (4th Stanza, Ultimo Adios, Nick Joaquin translation)
3/ cf “A man ought to die for duty and his principles. I hold fast to every idea which I have advanced as to the condition and future of our country, and shall willingly die for it, and even more willingly procure for you justice and peace.” 1892 letter to Rizal’s ‘Beloved Parents, Brothers and Sisters” (To be opened after my death) entrusted to Dr. Marquez in Hongkong 4 years before his martyrdom
4/ cf "Our whole aspiration," Rizal declared, "is to educate our nation; education, and more education!" in a letter to Mariano Ponce; also, “So education beyond measure, Gives the Country tranquility secure.” - a couple of lines from Rizal’s poem “Education Gives Luster to Motherland” as translated to English shown in the site http://www.joserizal.ph/pm16.html
5/ cf “vierte la sangre mía, derrámala en buen hora” [pour my blood, shed it in good time]; “ah que es hermoso caer por darte vuelo, morir por darte vida” [o, how beautiful it is to fall to give you flight, to die to give you life]; compare also: “...I wish to show those who deny us patriotism that we know how to die for duty and principles. What matters death, if one dies for what one loves, for native land and beings held dear?” . . . “Always have I loved our unhappy land, and I am sure that I shall continue loving it till my latest moment, in case men prove unjust to me. My career, my life, my happiness, all have I sacrificed for love of it. Whatever my fate, I shall die blessing it and longing for the dawn of its redemption.” 1892 letter ‘To the Filipinos’ entrusted to Dr. Marquez in Hongkong, 4 years before his martyrdom, with the post-script “Make these letters public after my death.”
6/ See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Years%27War
7/ See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East%E2%80%93West_Schism
8/ See http://www.waterfordlismore.com/2008/04/unity-among-christians/
9/ Address at the Ecumenical Prayer Service, St. Joseph's Parish, New York, Friday, 18 April 2008
10/ See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonsectarian
11/ See http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonsectarian
12/ See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sectarianism
13/ See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonpartisan
14/ See http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/partisan
15/ See http://www.schillerinstitute.org/educ/hist/rizal.html