Vatican Official Urges Careful Discernment Of Partnerships In Church Charities

The head of the Vatican council responsible for orienting and coordinating Church charitable efforts has warned Philippine bishops about donors who have “questionable” motives, Church leaders say.

Cardinal Paul Cordes, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum (one heart), spoke to the bishops about Pope Benedict XVI´s encyclical Deus Caritas Est (God is Love) on Jan. 22.

His two-hour address during a closed-door pre-plenary seminar of the Catholic Bishops´ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in Manila was part of a series of talks on the encyclical that the German prelate gave during his weeklong visit to the country.

In Deus Caritas Est, dated Dec. 25, 2005, Pope Benedict identifies concrete signs of love and charity.

Philippine bishops will hold their 98th plenary assembly at the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center in downtown Manila Jan. 24-25. Cardinal Cordes addressed them at the center.

After Cardinal Cordes´ session, Bishop Martin Jumoad of Isabela prelature told UCA News the Vatican official cautioned 84 bishops at the seminar about agencies who donate to charity “not from love of God” but with underlying motives.

“He said these ´Trojan gifts,´ while they may look good, come with questionable motives,” said the bishop, whose diocese covers the southern island-province of Basilan. However, he said, the cardinal did not name any of these donors.

In an interview last year, Bishop Gabriel Reyes of Antipolo told UCA News the Vatican had issued a warning to leaders of the Couples for Christ lay Catholic movement. It advised them, at the height of a conflict among the leadership, to stop receiving donations to their Gawad Kalinga (give care) housing project from pharmaceutical companies that manufacture birth-control pills and devices.

Bishop Jumoad said that while Cardinal Cordes “emphasized the role of subsidiarity in charitable works, he told us the bishop is to be source and sign of charity in his diocese.” He told the bishops their primarily role is “to show God´s love and charity to the people they serve.”

Retired Jesuit Bishop Francisco Claver, in a separate interview, said the cardinal also stressed that the Church today cannot live without charitable intuitions, because these help concretize the Church´s teaching on what love is.

The day before he addressed the CBCP, Cardinal Cordes addressed the 74th alumni homecoming of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Central Seminary, also in Manila. The Jan. 20-21 gathering focused on the theme Thomasian Clergy: Radiating the Light of God´s Kindness.

Cardinal Cordes reminded 200 bishops, priests and seminarians at the homecoming that the Church´s charitable works must be founded on Christ´s love. He told Church social-service workers that God´s love should enable them to express love to all people in selfless ways.

Faith-based charity came long before Marxist ideology, he remarked, highlighting the link between faith and service to the poor. “This love of God and love of neighbor form Jesus´ ´single command´ and is the basis of all Church charity,” the cardinal said.

He explained that Deus Caritas Est contrasts self-giving love, or agape, with self-seeking romantic love between man and woman, called eros. The pope laments that the present concept of love seems limited to the latter, Cardinal Cordes added.

“We needed the encyclical to remind us that whatever help we give to the poor must show God´s love for them. The world of faith and the world of aid support each other,” he said.

After the session, the Cor Unum president told UCA News the pope sees a need to guard against the secularization of Church charities, which donors can sometimes influence. “The Gospel must be preached,” he insisted.

Cardinal Cordes, 74, was ordained a priest in 1961 and a bishop in 1976, and was appointed vice president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity in 1980. In 1995 he was appointed president of Cor Unum. Pope Benedict elevated him to cardinal in 2007. He was credited among organizers of the international gathering of youths in 1981 that led to the first World Youth Day, in 1995.

On Jan. 23, UST conferred on him an honorary doctorate in sacred theology.

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