Common ground

MY father Demetrio was a staunch Roman Catholic. No, he was not even staunch but fanatic--the accurate word. He quarreled with anyone he knew to be non-Catholic.

He was like a radical fanatic Muslim who call non-Muslims as “infidels.” And they often say, “To kill an infidel is not murder but a pathway to heaven.

When I was a kid, I remember that my father was very strict on sundays. We must wake up early for the Sunday mass. I was often lazy to do so because I was usually exhausted after playing the whole day Saturday. My father usually forced me to rise with a whip. This was our routine until I became a teenager.

I was forced to study the Bible because I became rebellious against my father’s policy. Then I developed the guts to talk back to him by saying, “I want to keep the Sabbath holy by staying at home. I don’t like to go to church.”

He got so angry that he attempted to maul me. But at that time I was already big enough to fend for myself or to fight back. But I chose to run.

My father became a commentator in the parish and a lay minister. But secretly the monsignor suspected him of dipping his hands into the collection pouch. When he got word of this, he never went back to the parish.

Then he learned of many anomalous activities done by priests. He lost faith in the Catholic Church and became a Baptist. He then began convincing me to join his new-found faith.

I told him that I was looking for the True Religion. Baptist is mot a true religion amd meither is Roman Catholicism. He got so angry with me he gave me the cold and silent treatment for a month.

I think the corrupt people invented religion because they love money instead of God, I said.

“You’re so antagonistic,” he said. “Well I learned the truth from the Bible. And there is no substitute for the truth,” I said. --Chito E. Germino of Paknaan, Mandaue City