MANILA (LiCAS News): “Many evils persist not because they are hidden, but because they are tolerated,” said Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos, the Philippines, adding that “indifference allows injustice to endure.”
Bishop Alminaza, president of Caritas Philippines, was speaking at the “Hayuma: Mending the Broken” convergence at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila on January 15.
The bishop said that poverty, environmental destruction, and economic exclusion persist not because they are unavoidable, but because they have become socially acceptable.
He said that repeated exposure to suffering risks numbing both the public conscience and faith communities. “The greatest threat is not outrage but indifference,” he said, describing a society that “grows used to suffering.”
The three-day gathering, held from January 14 to 16, brought together Church leaders, climate advocates, labour groups, people’s organisations, and sectoral representatives to address interconnected social crises through dialogue grounded in Catholic social teaching and the lived realities of Filipinos.
Many evils persist not because they are hidden, but because they are tolerated,
Bishop Alminaza
In his address, Bishop Alminaza linked environmental degradation to systemic decisions that heighten vulnerability, particularly among poor and marginalised communities. He noted that economic exclusion persists not because it is unavoidable, but because it has become socially acceptable.
“If we only respond after disaster, we silently accept that disaster is inevitable,” he said, stressing that integral ecology requires addressing the conditions that repeatedly expose communities to harm.
The bishop also challenged economic narratives that equate growth with justice, noting that inequality and insecurity persist even during periods of expansion.
“Growth alone is not proof of justice,” he said, pointing to labour arrangements that leave many workers poor despite long hours of work.
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Alluding to scripture, he added that “wages withheld from workers cry out to God.”
We are called not only to mend what has been torn, but to confront why it keeps tearing
Bishop Alminaza
Turning inward, Bishop Alminaza warned that faith communities themselves risk complicity when they avoid economic, ecological, or governance issues.
“Silence in the face of injustice is not neutrality. It allows harm to continue,” the bishop said.
He emphasised that the Church’s role is not to replace political institutions, but to serve as a moral guide.
“The Church is not called to replace political institutions, but she is called to be a conscience,” he said.
Bishop Alminaza encouraged participants to move beyond charity towards collective transformation, saying, “Love that remains at the level of individual compassion is not enough.”
The bishop added, “We are called not only to mend what has been torn, but to confront why it keeps tearing,” calling on the Church and civil society to refuse “tolerated evils” and to walk with affected communities in the struggle for justice.
