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CATHOLIC bishops have traditionally been looked upon as the source
of our people’s moral strength, their ascendancy and influence
overtly peaking at the time of the Marcos dictatorship. But this may
all largely be a case of smoke and mirrors, a myth sparked by the
emergence of Cardinal Sin as an outspoken critic of government, and
whose call to protect rebel soldiers and renegade civilian officials
of the Marcos government was akin to the thundering roar of a
biblical patriarch to destroy all graven images that displeased the
Almighty Father.
In the end, while it may be true that religion
played a primordial force in molding the politics, policy, identity,
and culture of this nation throughout the centuries; while religion
has shaped this nation’s character, formed our view of the world,
and influenced the ways we respond to events beyond our borders, it
is also equally true that our Catholic shepherds have generally had
no participation in initiating call to action, and in leading the
way, for social change. Jaime Cardinal Sin is an anomaly; his brave
legacy is sadly carried on by just a few who dare challenge the
status quo of politics and patronage. Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales
presents the larger and truer face of the Church throughout
history—hesitant to challenge and resistant to change;
deliberately expansive on general concepts of moral regeneration but
vague on the details thereof and those who are to be held
accountable and how; and subtly subservient to, and largely co-opted
by, political institutions and personalities from whom she benefits.
In other words, the Catholic Church as a whole has not, and we
cannot expect it to, to respond to the challenges of the times.
Cardinal Rosales’ latest pastoral letter, by
its silence on the matter, exempts the bishops from blame for
massive government corruption even as they continue to justify
receipts of revenue from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office
and the Philippine Amusements Gaming Corporation. In essence,
Catholicism in this country relegates itself to folk religiosity for
its colorful pageantry and somber rituals, and ingrains a false
sense of virtue among Filipinos that their values are paramount and
exemplary even as our people further sink into a quagmire of
poverty.
The aging anti-intellectual Church patriarchs
are nothing but fundamentalists, deeply pessimistic about prospects
for social reform because they have been themselves corrupted by the
national order, seeing that people power revolutions have not been
beneaficial in the development of Philippine society. They remain
propagators of an apocalyptic vision of the world’s end with their
dark prophecies and their healing missions, which bring no
enlightenment to the existing social order. They relegate themselves
to ancient prophets that foretell great and terrible events to end
human history. With such anachronistic visions, the bishops are not
particularly hospitable to the idea of gradual progress toward a
secular utopia driven by cooperation of intelligent people from all
religious traditions. Our church is failing our people. It remains a
propagator of medieval philosophy, selling papal indulgences for the
absolution of personal sins and spreading falsities such as papal
infallibility.
With a church paralyzed by its own irrelevance,
it is thus incumbent upon the more liberal and secular amongst our
people to demythologize our religion: “to separate the kernel of
moral inspiration from the shell of legend that has, presumably,
accreted around it.” Any relevance of Jesus Christ in our lives
must be to view Him as a sublime moral teacher whose example we seek
to follow through a lifetime of service—often directed primarily
at the poor. Certainly, God’s kingdom is achievable here and now;
it is possible to establish a just social order in this country, if
everyone works together to build it. Regardless of original sin,
people in this nation are capable of observing high ethical
standards, thus fulfilling Christian moral law.
Our church fathers claim that only Christ’s
crucifixion and resurrection can redeem man. But it is by our
personal sacrifices in becoming real Christians that we can find
ourselves worthy of Christ’s human sacrifice. Human salvation is
available to everyone, not just to our church fathers, who claim
purity in their professed religious worship. That salvation is still
possible if only these pretentious bishops would, once and for all,
denounce the massive corruption, electoral fraud, political
patronage taking place in their midst, and the social structures
that further entrench and enhance all these evils, and their own
participation in, or tolerance of, the continuing moral decadence.
Only then can the Catholic Church face up to its divine appointment
in constantly reinforcing the message of Christian responsibility
that opens itself to social action and cooperation for the
improvement of human welfare. Because only by embracing the true
essence of Christ can we be redeemed and united with God. But we
must be spiritually and morally prepared “to stop this evil enemy
in its tracks” that now enthralls the bishops in its hands.
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