January 1977

This study researches the historical development of the self-understanding of the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht and the Iglesia Filipina Independiente. Throughout the 20th century, both churches have been in a developing relationship with each other, resulting in full communion in 1965. In the same time period, both churches developed an ecclesiological self-understanding in which an ecclesiology of the national church gradually gave way to an ecclesiology of the local church. By outlining this development for each of these two churches and comparing the developments, the study gives insight both into the individual development of the two churches involved and shows how these developments relate to each other. In this way, the study presents a new historical portrait of these churches and their self-understanding.

"For better or for worse, the history of Philippine Catholicism has always been closely bound up with the history of the Filipino people and the development of the nation. The essays gathered into this volume, however--some of them previously published and here revised, one published for the first time--deal primarily with the inner development of Catholicism in the Philippines. Nonetheless, they inevitably also speak of the development of the Filipino people." --from the Introduction

Simbahan introduces fifty sites chosen among the country's most culturally or esthetically significant churches. Their descriptions are among the tidbits culled from anthropology, linguistics, geography, popular devotions, a bit of history (art history) and local culture.