May I share with you the comment I posted in the blog Pray Tell under the post "Truth Telling"
“Enculturation” – I have heard this word spoken so many times since the early 80s. If, as a Filipino I reflect on this and see our history of 300 years of Spanish evangelization, I would say that the Spanish Missionaries have done a great job in spreading Catholicism in this country. For that I am grateful. The Catholic religion has been planted deep in our national collective consciousness in so much so that we are the only country in the world where Catholic principles are expressed in almost every facet of life and even in our constitution, despite of separation of church and state. I am glad that the Spanish missionaries did not have the “enculturation” concepts as espoused by today’s’ gurus of enculturation otherwise they would have ended up “dialoguing” with the Filipino natives rather than converting them to Catholicism. I am tired of this enculturation thing. I have loved my faith not because I think I am a Filipino or some members of other nationalities, I think I am a Christian and a Catholic because I believe in Christ, in his message, and I adhere to the teachings of the Roman Pontiff. I am tired of this enculturation thing. Scholars will enjoy these discourses but we ordinary Catholics are tired of this. It has produced so much artificiality and almost fabricated practices to appear enculturated. Why do we allow ourselves to be the specimens of experimentation of this so called “enculturation”. It has been injurious to our Catholic Identity and has lessened our power to witness to this dying world which Christ died for in order to save.
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