It is a sound principle, underscoring the existence of, and the imperative of close cooperation between, two perfect societies in our nation. The State has a structure of its own; and the Church has a hierarchy of its own. Both are there to serve our welfare; they should facilitate and speed up our genuine progress and development as a people.

The theory behind the separation is sound. In practice, as we have seen, there are inevitable issues that crop up. This is because both Church and State, although they operate in different spheres, serve the same people, in the lives of whom those spheres cannot be separated. Most of us accept, for example, that it is improper to completely separate the spiritual, religious and moral principles from the economic, political and social questions of our day. Indeed, the raging political issue right now centers on corruption: It is a deeply moral issue, and at the same time it is a political issue with significant social and economic implications.

It is in this light that there is widespread demand for the Church to intervene. It has to speak on the morality of the corruption issues that are hotly debated today. But even after the Bishops have spoken, there has been dissatisfaction in various quarters: We hear complaints that the Bishops did not go far enough; that they stopped short of making accusations against specific political leaders; and that they did not ask for the resignation of anyone.

These complaints, however, miss a few fundamental points. The Bishops are not the Church. They form the hierarchy of the Church. Although they are the official representatives of the Church, still there are also many people – the ordinary faithful, the millions of lay men and women – who belong to the Church as much as the Bishops and priests do. These ordinary people must be made to step up the plate, too. They have to do their thing. They can express their outrage. They can engage in "communal action." They can take various initiatives to help secure our environment from the ravages of corrupt practices at all levels, in all spheres. They can promote good governance and responsible citizenship, which provide the most effective antidotes against corruption. Even without officially representing the Church, you and I – with many others who try to bring our faith into our life, our work and all our relationships – can and should take up our duties as responsible citizens.

In other words, we cannot lay the entire burden upon our Bishops. They can go only so far. Moreover, they have already done their part: They have given us moral guidance; they have encouraged us to engage in communal action. Do they have to remind us once again that based on Vatican II the laity must take the lead role in cleaning up and ordering temporal realities, particularly in the economic, political and social spheres? This is the part that falls to us. Instead of looking elsewhere, we have to look at ourselves. Are we actively and effectively engaged, in solidarity with our fellow citizens of all persuasions, in the task of building a society based on truth, justice, love of God and country?

At our level, because of the unity of life we live, there is no separation between our duties as faithful of the Church and as citizen of the State. In us these two perfect societies meet. By taking our faith seriously into all the ordinary duties of every day life, we become also great citizens of our Republic!