A reflection
We are once again observing the Holy Week, but this is the first time we are doing so under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte. I am stressing that considering the events of the past several months. Duterte, if I am not wrong, was born a Catholic but he has surprisingly assaulted the Catholic Church to an extent even the non-Catholic Fidel V. Ramos couldn’t.
The Catholic Church is the biggest observer of Lent. In the country, the Holy Week rituals we are following are traditions set by the church-our population being predominantly Catholic-and the observance is being led by the Catholic clergy. Thus, no matter how much the President may hate bishops and priests, they will take center stage for the duration of the week. Malacañang is trying to be politically correct. “Lent is the Christian retelling of the human themes of sacrifice, love, and hope. Catholic Filipinos, along with Evangelical and Protestant churches, solemnly commemorate the Lord’s Passion and Resurrection with families, loved ones and local communities. May it be a time of spiritual renewal to strengthen genuine love and deep compassion for fellow Filipinos; and lead us to renew our unjust social structures--so that many who have been deprived of their dreams can lead rewarding and productive lives. A quiet and renewing week for all,” said presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella.
In previous administrations, the call for spiritual renewal was directed at Filipino Catholics. But in these trying times, I say it would be good to direct it at our government officials foremost.
The Catholic Church is not the clergy. That is why I always find it unfortunate that the failings of bishops and priests are considered the failings of the church itself. The President has time and again condemned these failings but in doing so put the entire church on the spot. That is what I could sense when he talked about the Catholic Church disappearing in three decades.
We are, they say, a government of laws and not of men. That I would like to say, as a layman, of the Catholic Church also. The Catholic Church is not about bishops and priests but about the teachings of Christ and how we apply these in our daily living. That is one of the reasons I embraced Catholicism again after flirting with Marxism in my younger years. And it is the same reason we are raising our children as practicing Catholics.
Marxists may not believe in the God that we Catholics believe in but they are guided by progressive and humanist principles that devout Catholics sometimes fail to follow. That is the basis of Pope Francis talking about communists stealing Christian teachings. When I left the movement, I thought my family and I needed some progressive and humanist guidance, too. I thought Christ’s teachings would partly provide that.
Sadly, many of Christ’s teachings are either lost in practice or are being directly assaulted under the present dispensation. Government officials and avid defenders of the Duterte administration are Catholics, but how many of them embrace and practice, for example, Christ’s teachings about respect for human life and dignity?