Twilight of the Hierarch
Apr 16, 2005
On August 31 this year, another chapter in the history of the local Catholic Church will close, when Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin gives up the red hat that has been the symbol of his 29-year reign in the Archdiocese of Manila. On that day, he turns 75, the retirement age under Church rules.
(Newsbreak, 2004) Sin will go into the books as the most politically influential prelate the country ever had. His episcopate survived four presidents, including the reign of a dictator and a Protestant chief executive. He was the moving force in the ouster of two presidents and the installation of two female heads of state.
Sin is also the longest resident of Villa San Miguel, the Malacañang of the Philippine Catholic Church, where some crucial political decisions in the past had been made.
If it so wishes, the Vatican may extend Sin’s rule for several more years, but the Cardinal is not in the pink of health as he undergoes dialysis almost every day, according to Fr. James Reuter, a long-time Church media officer.
Rome "does not have to accept" Sin’s retirement, but Sin has indicated his desire to step down, says Reuter.
The creation of five dioceses in Metropolitan Manila, which was completed recently, was one of Sin’s last major attempts "to put his house in order" before he retires, he adds.
As early as last year, the Vatican started scouting for Sin’s successor. A choice has already been made, Newsbreak learned, but the identity of the Cardinal’s successor remains under wraps.
‘Provinciano’ Kingmaker
If only for his significant role in Philippine politics, Sin has secured his niche in history. His transformation from a jovial but shy and unassuming provinciano to a kingmaker is a classic study for sociologists and political analysts.
His colleagues in the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) say that Sin was the right choice at the right time. A virtual unknown from the diocese of Jaro, Iloilo, Sin bested more fancied bishops who were tipped to succeed the late Cardinal Rufino Santos as head of the See of Manila, recalls former Lingayen Archbishop Oscar Cruz, a former CBCP president.
It was an appointment more shocking than surprising. "We did not even know him," Cruz tells Newsbreak. Cruz was rector of San Carlos Seminary when Sin came on board in 1974.
From the start, Sin’s provincial background was very evident, Cruz says. "He was not sophisticated, but he was also not superficial. He exuded an informality that was very endearing."
Long-time Church observers say, however, that Sin’s appointment was really not surprising. While in Jaro, he impressed Vatican officials with his managerial abilities and suave political skills.
In his book, The Happy Life of Sin, the Cardinal’s latest biography, author Fr. Sid Marinay relates that Sin deftly handled a financial crisis in Jaro with the impending death of Archbishop Jose Maria Cuenco. Then a bishop, Sin was instructed by the Papal Nuncio to avert a possible scandal. He passed it with flying colors.
Political analyst Alex Magno says that part of Sin’s appeal to the Vatican at that time was his being "one of the boys," in contrast to the activist stance assumed by Bishops Antonio Fortich (recently deceased) and Francisco Claver at the start of martial law.
Criticized for his political meddling every now and then, "Sin is still doctrinally conservative, part of the mainstream," Magno says.
CBCP colleagues agree Sin is an activist only in the political sense but a traditionalist on Church issues. "He is very obedient to the Pope and to Rome," notes one bishop.
Sin’s obedience to the Pope is not lost on his former secretary, Bishop Socrates Villegas. In Marinay’s book, Villegas is quoted as saying that "one of the most important things I have learned from [Sin] is his obedience to the Holy See."
A Product of His Time
Sin has served as the face of the local Catholic Church for almost three decades. For close friend and long-time associate Jose Concepcion Jr., "he will be best remembered as the leader that helped transform Philippine Catholicism and as one of the heroes of EDSA."
Magno says Sin "is a product of his time," and was "reluctantly" thrust into the political limelight. He says the Cardinal, before his tussle with Marcos, was just "a clone of Cardinal Santos."
"Without Marcos, he is really apolitical. He just responded to the issues of the day. What else can he do?" Magno asks.
In Nick Joaquin’s Book of Sin, Sin’s older brother, Dr. Ramon Sin, describes the newly installed archbishop’s initial relationship with the Marcos regime as "a nice honeymoon."
"The classic policy of the Church is to cooperate with any government that respects the freedom of the Church to worship and preach. And this was the policy enunciated by Msgr. Sin at his installation," Joaquin wrote.
The honeymoon abruptly ended when the military raided the Sacred Heart Seminary in Novaliches late August 1974 on suspicion that the Jesuits there were hiding Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison.
Sin issued a scathing pastoral letter condemning the raid, in what could have been the "first open protest against martial law," Joaquin wrote. "That gave the people the courage to complain and the hope to gain justice."
But one Church insider says Sin only came out with the pastoral statement after Rome itself protested the raid. "It was Church property they raided and do you expect Rome to just sit down?"
Magno says that to his credit, Sin took up the challenge when the people turned to the Church for refuge against the dictatorship. He became the mouthpiece against the dictatorship. A lesser bishop, he says, would have succumbed to the pressure.
Perhaps the worldwide change that the Church was experiencing at that time also contributed to Sin’s political involvement, Magno adds. Vatican II, which instituted major changes in the Roman Catholic Church and its preferential option for the poor, helped shape Sin’s firebrand politics.
Legacy to the Church
For the institutional Church, Sin will be leaving behind a legacy his successor will find hard to match. That he was once considered a candidate for the papacy speaks volumes of his international prominence even without EDSA 1.
David Yallop, in his book In God’s Name, wrote that Sin garnered a number of votes from the Sacred College Cardinals in the 1978 conclave that elected Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla as Pope John Paul II.
His close friendship with the Holy Father is widely acknowledged and no local bishop can lay a similar claim.
Reuter says Sin is perhaps the only prelate who can disobey direct orders by the Vatican and still emerge unscathed. Twice, Sin disobeyed Vatican officials and only his ties with the Pope apparently saved his neck.
Reuter recalled that shortly after the 1986 snap elections, Rome warned Sin and Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, then CBCP president, against issuing a pastoral statement condemning the irregularities in the elections and calling Marcos’s victory a fluke. Sin and Vidal were both summoned to Rome to explain their defiance of the Holy See’s order.
The second incident was when Sin called on the people to troop to EDSA and surround Camp Aguinaldo against the advice of the Nuncio, Reuter says.
When he finally went to Rome to explain his side, Sin was received with a congratulatory hug by the Pope instead of the expected reprimand, Reuter says.
His close ties with the Vatican was also instrumental in having the Pope visit the Philippines twice; a third one, scheduled January this year, was botched only by the Pontiff’s failing health. Sin’s intense lobbying also produced the first Filipino saint, San Lorenzo Ruiz.
Last Emperor of Manila
Sin raised the Philippines’ stature as the missionary country in Asia when he laid the groundwork for the thawing of ties between Rome and Beijing by visiting China twice. He was the first Catholic official to visit China after the communists severed its ties with Rome.
With his retirement, Sin earns the distinction as Metropolitan Manila’s "last emperor." His replacement will have to contend with a downsized territorial jurisdiction—Manila, Pasay, Makati, Mandaluyong, and San Juan—with the secession of Novaliches, Parañaque, Pasig, Cubao, and Kalookan as separate dioceses. This means the five areas are no longer under the administrative control of the Archdiocese of Manila.
For many, the separation was meant to clip the influence of the Cardinal, but Church insiders say the division was actually part of Sin’s prophetic vision.
Contrary to general belief, it was Sin who pushed for the division to address the increasing needs and growing numbers of the faithful in Manila, according to Manila Auxiliary Bishop Teodoro Buhain.
With a flock of more than eight million, Buhain says attending to the needs of the faithful in Manila has become next to impossible. He says the division was a plan conceptualized by Sin as early as 20 years ago.
For Archbishop Cruz, Sin’s legacy to the archdiocese was the establishment of seminaries and parishes, which tripled in number under his stewardship. For this alone, he is amazed at Sin’s administrative skills and foresight.
Joaquin, in his book, says Sin’s fondest project is the Bahay Pari in Guadalupe where retiring Manila priests can seek shelter until their death. Sin also credits himself for reviving the Cardinal Santos Hospital after years of closure.
On a pastoral level, it was in Sin’s watch that the Second Plenary Council of Manila was convened to redirect the apostolate of the archdiocese and make it in tune with the times and the challenges of the new millennium.
‘Shaped by Events’
This early, Church observers and insiders say the next archbishop will pale in comparison with Sin and inevitably work under the retiring Cardinal’s shadow.
Having steered the Catholic Church during martial law and into the new millennium, Sin ensconced himself in Church history as one of the most colorful prelates in modern times.
"He is a hard act to follow," concedes Archbishop Cruz, one of the few expected to succeed Sin. He says the cardinal exerts influence and charisma on all sectors of society that will be difficult to duplicate.
Magno says Sin’s episcopacy was caught in a cusp of change that his predecessor or successor would not have the privilege of enjoying to help define their episcopacy. His legacy, at most, was "shaped by the events."
For Concepcion, who also chairs the national Movement for Free Elections, Sin brought inspiration and made the Church a force for social development and change, which his successor would be challenged to continue and pursue.
"Whoever will replace the Cardinal will be hard-pressed to deal with the many challenges of the Philippines, particularly in inspiring the laity to transcend who they are and make our society more equitable."
Buhain says the new archbishop "will have to do other things" if he is to make his own imprint in the local Church. "He does not have to imitate Sin. Cardinal Sin did not try to imitate Cardinal Santos."
Twilight of the Hierarch