Julio Labayen
Bishop Julio Labayen is a Filipino cleric.
Communist sympathizer
Bishop Labayen said Infanta´s model of Church of the poor had been misunderstood by the military and some bishops in the mid-1970s and 1980s during martial law under the late president Ferdinand Marcos.
He said the military had suspected the Church of Infanta as "promoting the dictatorship of the proletariat" because it preferred to be with the poor in the peripheral areas. The bishop said they were accused of "consorting with the (communist) New People´s Army" who were based there.
"We passed through real critical situations, trials and crises. I myself was accused of being a subversive, a communist," Bishop Labayen said, adding that there was "a sort of eyebrow-raising" among some bishops.
He felt some bishops doubted whether he was still "towing the line of the Catholic Church and her mission."
"To me this was a real crises of faith because all my life I have always made as my pastoral guideline to think and feel with the living Church," Bishop Labayen said.
He headed the Philippine Church´s social action apostolate 1966-1982 and the Federation of Asian Bishops´ Conferences´ Office of Human Development 1972-78.
He recalled that some of his own people walked out from Infanta´s 1983 pastoral conference that had the theme "Listening to the voices from below."
"I felt slapped in the face. Momentarily, I was so angry I wanted to declare martial law in the prelature," the bishop said.[1]
References
- ↑ [http://www.ucanews.com/story-archive/?post_name=/2001/08/09/bishop-labayen-75-reflects-on-journey-with-people-recalls-crisis-of-faith&post_id=18961. UCA News, BISHOP LABAYEN, 75, REFLECTS ON JOURNEY WITH PEOPLE, RECALLS CRISIS OF FAITH Philippines August 09 2001]