Pay, pray, obey

Few people do contrition better than a humbled bishop. You can feel the pain in that “sorry” from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), read the other day by its outgoing president, Bishop Nereo Odchimar of Tandag, Surigao del Sur.

The apology, embodied in a pastoral statement dwelling on “a time of pain, a time of grace” for the Church, might mean fewer jokes revolving around the bishops and the PCSO (Pa-Car Sa Obispo).

Will the bishops be forgiven and the mess forgotten? Filipinos are forgiving to a fault. But how will the scandal affect the Church’s moral suasion over its flock?

And how soon will it be forgotten? Filipinos also have a notoriously short memory, but not if reminders of the scandal, or the factors that led to it, keep surfacing.

It would be naïve to think that with the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) scandal unlikely to subside in the coming days, the CBCP has internalized that admonition about ending up with fleas if you lie down with dogs.

Politics is a mangy fleabag in this country, but this will not stop the bishops from wanting a say in policy-making, even after the PCSO-SUV storm has blown over. They have been king- and queen-makers in this country for too long, and that kind of power can be more addicting than shabu.

The damage inflicted by the PCSO mess on the Catholic Church in this country cannot be quantified exactly, but the bishops can get some hints from church attendance and contributions from ordinary people.

In other countries, sex scandals involving Catholic priests, and subsequent cover-ups by bishops, for which dioceses have gone bankrupt paying millions of dollars in settlement to the victims, have led to a dramatic drop in church attendance.

The sex scandals added to other issues of the past that alienated the faithful from the Roman Catholic Church as its teachings were seen to belong to the Medieval Age. These include Church teachings on the role of women and their ordination, the purpose of sex, marriage and divorce, homosexuality, and yes, birth control.

Among Catholic laity, there have long been grumblings about the Church imposition on its flock that boils down to “pay, pray and obey.”

Church attendance started falling a long time ago in Western Europe as secularization swept societies built on Christian values. In several countries, the Vatican’s loss has been the Christian churches’ gain, so at least people still have room for Christ’s teachings in their lives.

But in some countries including the US, statistics reportedly show a growing number of people officially declaring themselves to be practicing no religion.

The Church can be a powerful force for good, doing charity work, and using moral ascendancy to take a strong stand for human rights, for example. But perhaps the world has become a more complicated place for a 2,000-year-old institution, so that even in human rights advocacy, it is getting flak. Reproductive health, for example, is a woman’s right that the Vatican refuses to acknowledge.

The Vatican preaches one true faith, but it doesn’t have a monopoly on religion. There are many Christian churches that unhappy Catholics can join. For the completely disillusioned, other religions beckon.

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It didn’t help the CBCP’s cause that the initial reaction of most of the seven bishops at the heart of the controversy was more like that of the typical Pinoy politician: defiant indignation, and diversion of the key issues. They accepted (and in one case solicited) public funds from a state gaming firm. The bishops initially failed, or refused, to see that the PCSO “donations” were perceived by critics as their favorite Philippine president’s way of buying their support for her political survival.

To be fair, the bishops probably didn’t see the PCSO donations as a bribe, because their support for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was always genuine. After Fidel Ramos the Protestant and Joseph Estrada the man who loved wine, women and gambling, the CBCP was ecstatic to have a devoutly Catholic president who started her day with prayer at the Malacañang chapel, who was always photographed attending Mass, and who, best of all, virtually shared power with the Church.

The CBCP didn’t need SUVs to support GMA. Today, in light of the anomalies being linked to her, this support is not flattering for the CBCP. It didn’t help that earlier this year, a bishop huffed that they missed GMA.

The one in the hottest seat is the top “MitsuBishop,” Juan de Dios Pueblos of Butuan, who last month called for P-Noy’s resignation. De Dios Pueblos wrote GMA a letter asking for “a brand-new car, possibly a 4x4… as your birthday gift to me” for his 66th birthday on March 8, 2009.

Could the constantly embattled GMA afford to say no? De Dios Pueblos bought a Mitsubishi Montero for P1.7 million. Some of the other “SUV-shops” did not actually buy sport utility vehicles but more practical vans and an Asian utility vehicle.

Again, the bishops’ initial surprise over the SUV criticism is understandable. People seem to think princes of the Catholic Church take a vow of poverty and live by it. In fact this Church is one of the richest organizations in the world, owning (mostly tax-free) vast tracts of prime real estate and engaging in various businesses in several countries. Their leaders live, work and play in residences fit for kings.

A Montero is no Porsche (even a second-hand one). But thinking that a bishop will settle for a Sarao jeepney for his personal use is like believing that the scion of one of the country’s old rich clans will switch from his BMW X5 to a Chery so he can serve as a model of simple living among public servants.

The SUV-shops’ problem is of course far worse than P-Noy’s over the Porsche because they used public money. Worse, they used gaming money. And the worst part, as perceived by their critics, is that the bishops accepted the money in exchange for their “constant support” for GMA, as stated in De Dios Pueblos’ damning letter.

What were the bishops thinking? Nothing evil, as far as the recipients were concerned. For their disappointed flock, that lack of discernment is at the root of this crisis of confidence in the “deeply wounded” Catholic Church.