Sun.Star Cebu

Bishop Palma ignores complaint

- BOBBY NALZARO bobby@sunstar.co.ph

The church hierarchy has the tendency to side with its priests even if some of them have committed questionab­le acts

Iwrote about the complaint of some Our Lady of Mount Carmel parishione­rs in Lutopan, Toledo City against their parish priest, Fr. Rolando Manayon, whom they accused of being arrogant and not approachab­le and of having “dictatoria­l tendency.” They also condemned the collection of high rates for wedding, baptism and burial masses.

In their position paper addressed to Archbishop Jose Palma and the Board of Consultors, they asked that Manayon be investigat­ed and transferre­d to another parish. The Board of Consultors is composed of episcopal vicars and bishops.

The petitioner­s said they sought an audience with Palma four times to personally air their concerns against Fr. Manayon. But they got frustrated because their appeal “fell on deaf ears.” Here’s a portion of an addendum to their letter:

“The pastoral council of our parish had to stop certain parishione­rs from going to the media, if only to protect the local church from embarrassm­ent. Instead, we held a dialogue and explained to them that the proper way is to seek help from the proper church authority. It is just unfortunat­e that our small voices were simply ignored by the above-mentioned church authoritie­s...

“We have visited the Archbishop Palace four times but obviously our presence and our voices

were insignific­antly regarded. Opening statement pa lang gani sa among pakigkita sa halangdong

Bishop Palma, buot na dayong sirad-an ang among

hunahuna ug mga baba sa among intentions when he said that, “don’t you worry because there is going to be a general reshufflin­g by 2019.”

“In other words, he told us to bear with our priest until 2019, even if he himself admitted “nga

sa musika pa, ‘yabag’ si Fr. Manayon. “Seemingly, we were being listened to during our meeting kay kunohay naay gamayng notebook

gidala in our presence ug pasulat-sulat and we were promised results after his conference with his Board of Consultors. But again, to our utter disappoint­ment, not even a simple text message or call reached us.”

Well, this is the usual case. The church hierarchy has the tendency to side with its priests even if some of them have committed questionab­le acts. Take for example the case of the former Team Ministry assigned in Minglanill­a parish. They were not immediatel­y re-assigned or suspended from performing their “priestly functions.”

Kun ang pari ug mga parokyano way maayong relasyon, makaguba na sa pagtuo sa Ginoo. Aw og dili aksiyonan inyong reklamo, ayaw mo panimba sa inyong parokya. O balhin mo sa “Iglesia ni Duterte.”

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