EDITORIAL – Where do you go now for hope?

There is a saying, actually a message of hope, that when God closes the door, he also opens a window. Many Catholics have been disheartened by the increasing number of priests who do wrong, but their faith is kept alive by the hope that lessons can be learned from their mistakes.

Apparently, however, many Church elders are only good in words but their lack of sincerity shows in their deeds. Catholics need not go far to search for proof. The case of Benedicto Ejares, a priest accused of molesting young girls during confession, is a case in point.

After prosecutors in Cebu City, acting more like shrinks trying to fathom human behavior than agents of the law tasked to dispense justice, cleared Ejares of all charges, Cardinal Ricardo Vidal called for a press conference to express puzzlement over why "some people" cannot accept closure of the case.

The bewilderment of the cardinal only proves the extent to which the Roman Catholic Church has become detached from its faithful. The "some people" he refers to are his own flock, in case he has forgotten, and they do not want a closure on the case because they know justice has not been done.

And why has justice not been done? The cardinal himself provided the answers. Asked where Ejares is, he said in Manila and "that's it." Asked if the Church is doing something on its own about the case, the cardinal said "in due time." This is precisely the kind of attitude that erodes the trust of people in their shepherds.

People are not crying for the head of Ejares. They have not even heard about him until the young girls came forward to report the abuse they suffered in his hands. All that the people are asking is for the Church to show that it is capable of putting into action the words that its priests keep drilling into the minds of people at every opportunity.

With so much evil in the world, the people need to be reassured that they can still find refuge in their Church. But how can people be reassured if they see that young girls partaking of the sacrament of penance not only get abused instead, but that the perpetrator, rather than be punished, is the one getting protected?

The Philippines is a predominantly Catholic country but has not become violent because many of its people are no longer able to distinguish good from evil. And how can they when their shepherds are no longer able to draw the line. Their policy now seems to be that it is better to lose the girls and their parents than punish one of their own.