Aid to the Church in Need: Ecuador: Interview - Catholic archbishop complains of "dirty campaign"

Ecuador: Interview - Catholic archbishop complains of "dirty campaign"

Posted by Information Report on 17/10/2008, 12:53 pm
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Interview: 13.10.2008

Ecuador: Catholic archbishop complains of "dirty campaign"

The chairman of the Catholic bishops' conference of Ecuador, Archbishop Antonio Arregui, recently gave an interview to the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) about the victory of the President in the recent referendum on a new constitution, despite opposition from the Church, about the courage of many Catholics in the face of pressure from the State, and about the Church's fight to defend life.

The interview was conducted by Michaela Koller of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN)

MICHAELA KOLLER: Archbishop, the president of your country, Rafael Correa, has recently won wide support in a referendum for a new constitution, although the Catholic Church, to which nine out of ten Ecuadorians belong, sharply criticised a number of the provisions in it. Why was this?

ARCHBISHOP ARREGUI: In recent years the political scene in Ecuador has been very volatile, with a number of government crises. Three of the current president's predecessors were thrown out of office in the process. In the elections two years ago Rafael Correa was successful, because he promised a complete renewal of the political system. He promised a transformation from a representative democracy to a direct democracy, with greater participation by the people. He embodied the hopes for a new beginning, and one of the instruments of this is the new constitution.

MICHAELA KOLLER: What did Ecuador's bishops object to in the draft constitution?

ARCHBISHOP ARREGUI: The draft carries the danger of a legalisation of abortion, because it does not state clearly that the right to life exists from the very beginning. In fact it contains no mention at all of the right to life. Instead it talks of "protecting and caring for" life. And at the same time it guarantees a right for the individual to determine when and how many children to have. Clearly this right is being placed above the right to life itself. Moreover, homosexual partnerships are placed on an equal footing with marriage.

In future the private education system is to be subject to strict state regulation. As a result, the existence of Church schools for the poorest sections of the population, whose running costs are borne partly by the state, is potentially endangered. President Correa has however assured us that such a danger does not exist.

MICHAELA KOLLER: It seems though, that the priests in some Catholic basic communities actually campaigned for the constitution ...

ARCHBISHOP ARREGUI:The bishops’ conference unanimously voiced the above criticisms. However, many Catholics were convinced that the political project underlying the constitution was of greater importance than the risks associated with the critical passages in it. Nonetheless, many committed Catholics, who resisted the pressure from the state and voted against it, showed great courage.

MICHAELA KOLLER: But you yourself apparently even received death threats over the telephone after you had publicly expressed your concerns.

ARCHBISHOP ARREGUI: This was part of a dirty campaign to intimidate me and to silence me before the referendum. It is of course frightening when the mighty hand of the state is raised against one, but the freedom of the Spirit draws strength from a different source. There were also other incidents. For years there had been no more desecrations of churches, but suddenly there were three such instances in succession in the space of two weeks in Guayaquil.

MICHAELA KOLLER: And you also see a positive side to the new constitution?

ARCHBISHOP ARREGUI: Yes there are indeed positive elements, such as the statement that the economy must place people at the centre. This corresponds to Christian social teaching. Sickness and social security benefits are now being extended to include all women who remain at home to care for their children. Also good is the enshrining in the constitution of the protection of the environment and the guarantee of rights for the indigenous population. It remains to be seen, however, how the politicians will implement these measures in practice.

MICHAELA KOLLER: How do you intend to proceed now, after the constitution has been implemented?

ARCHBISHOP ARREGUI: We are first of all going to wait and see how the government implements these provisions in practice. We have no desire for political power, but we will not tire of speaking about the value of human life from the very first moment of its existence.

MICHAELA KOLLER: Why is it that the Church, despite her acknowledged great commitment to the poor, must still listen to accusations that she is on the side of the rich?

ARCHBISHOP ARREGUI: This was an attempt not merely to politicise the stance of the bishops but indeed to denigrate it as unjust as well. The love and charity that we practise is of course directed towards those who need it most. Thus for example, the Church in my diocese of Guayaquil provides interest-free credit to 50,000 mountain dwellers families who have lost the roof over their heads as a result of soil erosion, so that they can at least build themselves some kind of basic wooden homes. Additionally, the Church maintains 15 schools and six medical clinics in the area. Only half of the population have any kind of regular work, while 10% earn absolutely no income at all. Over the past 10 years 2 million people have emigrated.

MICHAELA KOLLER: What are the other pastoral challenges for the Catholic Church in Ecuador?

ARCHBISHOP ARREGUI: Although we are a lively and growing Church, there is a shortage of lay people who can bear witness to their faith in public life. Most of the truly committed Catholic laity have no great influence, whereas the influential laity tend to be Catholic on paper only.

We must do more in the way of missioning among our own baptised Catholics. There are simply too many baptised Catholics who receive no religious education of any kind. Half of the baptised did not even make their first Holy Communion, and of the other half barely one in two actually goes regularly to Mass on Sundays.

Editor’s Notes:

Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 145 countries throughout the world.

The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 45 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information, please contact the Sydney office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org

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