Religion: Catholic

It did not come as a surprise to hear some leaders of the Catholic Church speak out against prospective candidates for the 2010 elections who support the Reproductive Health Bill. It also did not come as a surprise that some Catholic educational institutions sought exemption from Magna Carta for Women and maintained that academic and religious freedom gave them the right to kick out female students and employees who were unwed mothers.

Both news reports made me cringe since I still consider myself a Catholic and write that down when I need to fill up forms. I am just so embarrassed to be associated with an institution claiming to promote the teachings of Jesus Christ which has leaders casting the first stone and being, well, un-Christian.

The weekend's news about sex scandals in the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Simala, Sibonga involving monks and the alleged attempts to cover it up made me wonder about the leadership of the Philippine Catholic Church even more. After all, didn't we hear some of them say that it is preferable for women not to work because a woman's place is in the home and to take care of children? By analogy, the leaders of the Catholic Church should ensure that its household is in order before pointing out the faults of others.

Like members of Congress who love to hold inquiries in aid of legislation at the slightest whiff of a sex scandal (the "Bruneiyukis" in the past, "Careless Whisper" more recently), some leaders of the Catholic Church love to react to issues involving sex (probably except when it involves its own priests or leaders when it clams up), even speaking out against songs with double meanings ("Banana" and "Nagmamahal Ako ng Bakla") and asking that radio stations stop playing these songs.

It is disappointing in light of more urgent issues facing us today. Not once have I heard leaders of the Catholic Church speak out collectively against environmental degradation. I do not see the Catholic Church using its much-vaunted influence to get important legislation to conserve Philippine forests. Isn't stewardship of God's creations part of the Bible? With its choice to speak out loudly only on issues about what kind of contraceptives all Filipinos should have access to (and not just Filipino Catholics), it is almost as if the most important part of being Catholic is the state of our loins.

In Cebu, for example, there is no group working on the clean-up of the Guadalupe River. I live near it and remember my friends and I being prohibited from even just going near its banks. Since we were disobedient, we went anyway and saw a murky river filled with garbage. This was in the 1980's and I don't think it has gotten better lately. Until I saw a clear river in the mountains of Boljoon in grade school, I thought all rivers looked like that.

Just the same, I welcome all these developments and hope that it will generate intelligent debate about what it means to be Catholic. I met someone who was originally a Catholic but became a member of Jehovah's Witness because he felt that he had a spiritual need that being a Catholic did not fill. "Following Christ is a way of life," he told me.

"But Catholics teach that, too," I answered. He just smiled.

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