Prophetic leadership
The Feast of Christ the King which we are celebrating today inspires us once again to commit ourselves as prophetic leaders in our own spheres of moral influence, and not as maintenance leaders of the status quo.
What is the difference between prophetic leadership and maintenance leadership? As sociological analysis tells us, a prophetic leader is ahead of his times. He morally and spiritually discerns what needs to be done for the common and greater good of his fellowmen, according to God’s designs. He commits himself as a courageous social advocate of love, justice and peace, even at the risk of his own life. Today, this would inevitably mean major changes in our current system of governance, business and industry — for the sake of the common good, most especially the poor and marginalized who are victims of massive social injustice.
Through a process of spiritual discernment, the prophetic leader follows no less than God’s will, and this is the very source of his inner strength and motivation. In human history, the most inspiring example of such prophetic leadership was Christ himself. He was the prophetic leader par excellence. He discerned his divine Father’s will, and with such heroic courage, this was what he taught, lived for, and died for.
On the other hand, maintenance leadership precisely resists, opposes, and persecutes prophetic leadership. The maintenance leader is inordinately attached to the status quo, which is the source of his power and position in society. Such power can be political, social, monetary, religious, or a combination of these.
In Christ’s lifetime, such maintenance leadership was in the hands of those Pharisees and Saducees, who held on to their political, monetary, and religious powers — and used these to resist, persecute, crucify, and kill Jesus.
In our world today, these two forms of leadership are so evident and alive. One striking example are those Buddhist monks who had taken to the streets of
In our own country today, let me single out our priest-on-leave, Fr. Ed Panlilio, Governor of Pampanga, as a discerning and fearless prophetic leader for the cause of truth, moral integrity, and justice. He blew the whistle by publicly revealing that he was handed a bag with no less than P500,000 in cash after a meeting of Congressmen and Governors in Malacañang. This triggered off a series of similar revelations from other public officials. In his statement to reporters, Gov. Panlilio said that he received the money in good faith. “I did not think it was bribe money, otherwise I would not have received it…. I received it in good faith. I considered the money to have come from public funds, as it was given by Malacañang. It will be used for public purposes.” (Phil. STAR,
Whatever is the whole truth concerning such cash gifts, the point I want to make is that due to his prophetic leadership as Governor of Pampanga, Among Ed is now resisted, opposed, and persecuted by political groups, starting from local officials in Pampanga, led by the Vice-Governor, in “marginalizing him by not respecting his authority as governor.” (Phil. Daily Inquirer,
Call it political naivete or moral charism, Gov. Panlilio has risked his very life by what he did and continues to do as governor of Pampanga. And if you tell him this, I am certain he would say that it is worth the risk.
On both the local and national levels, we need more and more Ed Panlilios. According to Harvey Keh, director for Youth Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship of the Ateneo de Manila University School of Government, his plea to support Among Ed through the website has been responded to by more than 1,700 people. Yes, there is hope for our country. Amen.
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