diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

PABLO PASTELLS, S. J.: RIZAL'SFRIEND AND CORRESPONDENTRaul J. Bonoan, S. J.For about ten months in 1892-93, Jose Rizal and the JesuitPablo Pastells conducted a protracted and lengthy correspondence. Rizalwrote from Dapitan where he had been sent as a political exile, while Pastells,the Superior of the Jesuits in the Philippines, was stationed in Intramuros.Rizal began with a first letter in September 1892 in response to a messagewhich Fr. Pastel's had asked Fr. Obach, Jesuit parish priest of Dapitan, to. convey to Rizal, counselling the patriot not to be obstinate in his views.Together with this fatherly advice came the gift of some volumes by apopular Spanish Catholic apoligist, the priest Don Felix Sarchl y Salvany.There were altogether four long exchanges, plus a brief closing missive fromRizal, most probably in June 1893.1 The Rizal-Pastells correspondence wasa philosophico-theological discussion, or better perhaps debate, focusing onthe following principal topics: the role of private judgment or conscience, theproblem of God, and revelation.The purpose of Pastel's was clearly to bring back Rizal to the Church andthe practice of the Catholic faith. Rizal, on the other hand, took the occasionto examine his religious views much colored by rationalist ideas, in a sinceredesire to find out if there be anything which could be salvaged from what hisfavorite professor, Fr. Francisco de Paula Sanchez, referred to as theshipwreck of his faith, el naufragio de la fe.2 The animated exchange, whichtook place between Dapitan and Manila, represented the clash between twocurrents of thought in the larger theater of late 19th century Europe: the multifacetedmovement of rationalism and the post-Vatican I Catholic scholastictheology. The Rizal-Pastells correspondence must be understood in thehistorical context of this wider conflict.Elsewhere I have treated the impact of rationalist and liberalist ideas onRizal's thought and literary output? The purpose of this essay is to give asynopsis of Pastells' life and point out the characteristics of his theology andpolitical views, situating them in their historical context.217