(Excerpts from a homily delivered on the ninth day of the novena prayer)
I was on a “pilgrimage of compassion and mercy” from April 20 to May 10. It brought me to Eastern Europe, particularly to the shrines of Divine Mercy in Krakow and Our Lady of Czestochowa in Jasna Gora, Poland.
I was totally incommunicado throughout this time. My mobile phone’s connection was malfunctioning but, strangely, a few text messages managed to come through on May 2.
My nephew, Ohnat Magat, texted: “Mons, patay na po si Msgr. Chito.”
Fr. Catalino Arevalo, SJ, made a request: “Msgr. Manny, I hope you can write a brief tribute honoring Chito and his concern for priests and priesthood, and get it published in CBCP Monitor at least.”
I was not at Chito’s bedside when he breathed his last. But I visited him, bade him goodbye and gave him the anointing of the sick just before my pilgrimage.
As I stepped out, he raised his hand in a blessing and offered a wry smile. I left in haste, distraught. All I could utter was Mary’s fiat: May your will be done, O Lord, for my dear friend and big brother, Msgr. Chito Bernardo.
Father Arevalo’s request set my belly on fire. It kept me asking through the remaining days of my pilgrimage: What really are Chito’s concerns for the priests of the Philippines? What is his legacy to the Philippine Church?
Msgr. Chito, Msgr. Ernie Joaquin, Msgr. Toto Suplido and I had been friends since 1960, the year we entered San José Seminary. Together we have traveled through the different eras of the Church—from a pre-Vatican II that was hierarchical and institutionalized, to a post-Vatican II that has “opened its windows” to the wind of change and renewal.
At the same time, we witnessed the changing political landscape of Philippine society. We were involved in the rising “quarter storm” of the ’60s and got ordained in the “angry ’70s.”
In the ’60s, our intellectual, pastoral, human and spiritual formation was very much in transition, requiring us to undergo paradigm shifts and moral conversion.
The process was hardly easy. We had to struggle to define for ourselves the kind of priesthood relevant to our time, with no model or icons of a Vatican II priest in sight.
‘A pearl of great price’
Truly, the priesthood is like a “pearl of great price.” We seek it and, having found it, give up everything to acquire it, not as a right and privilege, but as a mystery that inspires, a vocation to be loved and lived.
Msgr. Chito’s love story with his own priesthood was tested at the outset, if we are to consider the circumstances preceding his priestly ordination on Jan. 13, 1973. His Eminence Rufino Cardinal Santos decided to defer Msgr. Chito’s ordination until he underwent a six-month pre-Diaconal program under his personal supervision.
Msgr. Chito discerned that he was ready to be ordained, and, not getting the Cardinal’s assent, opted to join Bishop Felix Perez instead and be part of the diocese of Cavite.
His choice was a big leap of faith. A “Manila boy” wont to the lifestyle and comfort of the big city would now be compelled to immerse himself in the mountains and rural setting of Tagaytay.
Moreover, Bishop Perez assigned him to be the rector/formator of the newly established Tahanan ng Mabuting Pastol, a task he was not academically prepared for.
But Bishop Perez knew better. He sensed that Msgr. Chito had a deep love for his priesthood.
On hindsight, I see this positive attitude and high regard for his priesthood as Msgr. Chito’s fundamental legacy to the seminarians and priests he had served for 10 years at the Tahanan.
He upheld the truth, that amid our foibles and contradictions as priests, the priesthood must continue to be a “pearl of great price.”
Midlife transition
Msgr. Chito underwent his first heart bypass surgery in 1983 at the Mercy Hospital in San Diego, California. I was at his bedside after the surgery.
By then, Msgr. Chito was in his 40s, going through a midlife transition. He felt he had given the best of the first half of his life to the diocese of Cavite, and now wanted to explore new possibilities for his ministry.
There were two signs that came Msgr. Chito’s way. The first was the invitation of then Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin to make him head of the newly inaugurated Bahay Pari. His Eminence needed somebody who could truly provide the pastoral care for priests in the Archdiocese of Manila.
The second was His Eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal’s decision to tap Msgr. Chito to the post of executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Commission on the Clergy.
Msgr. Chito felt the affirmation of the cardinals and the challenges they gave him. He accepted the twin assignments.
The pastoral ministry to priests gave Msgr. Chito the chance to give recollections and retreats to clerics and religious all over the country.
The most spectacular undertaking was the holding of the four National Clergy Retreats. Worth noting was that the last of these assemblies brought together almost 5,000 priests for a five-day spiritual renewal.
What kept Msgr. Chito committed to the renewal of countless priests and religious?
Working with him, I saw a key idea that integrated his thoughts: Priests are but “earthen vessels, afflicted but not contained, struck down but not destroyed” because of “God’s surpassing power.”
Msgr. Chito’s immersion in the lives of priests and religious and his exposure to their brokenness and baseness as persons fortified his own personal life of faith and commitment to prayer.
He would always remind us that even if we are configured with Jesus Christ as priests, as human persons we could still be vulnerable and suffer a brokenness that needs mending and healing.
Ruminations
On March 25 this year, I celebrated my 45th anniversary as a priest. One of the highlights of the celebration was the forum conducted a day before the event.
Father Arevalo accompanied the 60 priests and over a hundred lay people in revisiting the theology of the priesthood according to the Second Vatican Council and Pope Francis.
The second part was the sharing of Msgr. Chito Bernardo, Msgr. Ernie Joaquin and Msgr. Toto Suplido. They gave their reflections on how Vatican II had impacted on their lives and its challenges to the Filipino clergy today.
A week before the forum, I visited Msgr. Chito in his retirement house in Tagaytay to make sure he would come. It was a visit worth its while.
I had never seen Msgr. Chito so unabashed and free to share his raw feelings on the work he had done for the Church and the clergy of the Philippines.
We were wrestling on some basic questions: After 50 years of the Second Vatican Council’s agenda for the renewal of the Church, have there been significant changes in the life and mission of the Philippine Church?
Have the priests been truly evangelized such that our laity and the ecclesial communities, the marginalized and the poor among our people have become a priority to the evangelization task of the Church?
What do we consider as the legacy of our priesthood after all these years of service?
Msgr. Chito’s unencumbered ruminations made me feel ill-at-ease, disturbed and depressed. Without mincing words, he strongly argued that no Vatican Council or Pastoral Assembly, no Synod or Diocesan Conference would work until and unless the priests are directly renewed and evangelized.
The clergy hold the key to unlock the door of renewal in the avowed mission of the Church in our society. An unrenewed clergy would spell an unrenewed local Church.
Msgr. Chito realized that there have been many efforts to renew the Church, especially though the Basic Ecclesial Communities, Charismatic Renewal Movements, Couples for Christ, etc., but, at the end of the day, no significant renewal has occurred in the local churches and parishes because the priests are not on board.
The clergy have remained unrenewed in the process of the New Evangelization. It is a simple case of a “new wine in old wineskin.”
The unrenewed clergy cannot effectively deliver the demands of a renewed and renewing Church.
Msgr. Chito pursued the question: Why are priests failing in renewal? He answered his own question.
He opined that the root of the problem was because we have unrenewed bishops to manage the dioceses in the country.
More pointedly, the bishops’ failure to be a source of unity and brotherhood among their priests is a stumbling block to the pursuit of the Church’s mission.
Main obstacle
It was at this juncture that Msgr. Chito sounded discouraged. He liked to believe that the years he had spent in the pastoral care of priests would have produced good wine. But, deep in his heart, he felt that every time he would be invited to give retreats and recollections to priests, it was like starting all over again.
The core mindsets and attitudes, the same lifestyles and subcultures remain untouched before and after renewal. History just repeats itself.
Msgr. Chito had stopped spiritualizing the predicament of an unrenewed clergy.
In September 2010, he came across a book by George B. Wilson, SJ, titled “Clericalism, the Death of the Priesthood.” The essential insight in the book helped Msgr. Chito acquire a framework to identify, analyze and overcome the forces of clericalism in the Philippine Church.
In our discussions, Msgr. Chito was convinced that the main obstacle to the renewal of bishops and priests lay in what he liked to call the cultures and subcultures of clericalism. To renew the Church in its totality necessitates the breakdown of a clericalistic culture and lifestyle, and to build the Church as a pilgrim people in the context of today, like “new wine in a new wineskin.”
Galilee Center
“I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep.” (John 10:14-15)
Msgr. Chito’s monumental, visible legacy to the Philippine Church and to the Filipino/Asian clergy is undeniably the Galilee Center for the ongoing formation and renewal of the priests. The facilities in this compound in Tagaytay, Cavite, would spell out Msgr. Chito’s lasting achievements.
To begin with, the center— built by the partnership of His Eminence, Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, and Msgr. Chito himself—is the center of formation for all priests in the Philippines (open to Asian priests, as well). It offers psychospiritual and human-formation courses for priests.
It also provides basic interventions for priests in difficult situations.
Msgr. Chito’s wish was that it would truly and effectively accompany priests in the Philippines in all the aspects and processes of their journey in the ministry.
Partnership
To accompany them entails that the priest-formators enter the concrete struggles of the priests. The formators of the center must not be mere professional experts in the various fields of pastoral care but must also be shepherds who are able to accompany their coshepherds in the journey of faith.
A final parting word. One of Msgr. Chito’s unfinished legacies or his legacy-in-progress is my partnership or collaboration with him in the pastoral care for priests. He would prod and almost force me to retire already and team up with him in giving renewal programs for priests in the country.
The partnership meant he would handle the spiritual and human formation, while I take care of the theological and pastoral dimensions of the priestly ministry.
He dreamt that we would provide his holistic formation to priests, something born of our shared journey since 1960 and inspired by a friendship (including Msgr. Ernie and Msgr. Toto) that has celebrated unity in diversity.
Too bad, this dream has not been realized.
But I assure our dear Msgr. Chito that his spirit will live on in the work that we, his friends, will do and are doing, in opus ministerii.
