We support strict moral standards in schools

For tonight’s special Holy Week presentation, we give you our reflections for the Holy Week with Fr. Ramon “Monching” Ofredo, resident priest of St. Joseph the Patriarch Parish, Mabolo who celebrates the holy masswith our group, the Sons of David,every other Monday at the Cebu Country Club. He is also the priest in charge of all the Lay Catholic Charismatic Communities. But above all, Fr. Monching is deeply committed in using the electronic media to evangelize our faith through a power point presentation.

 I first knew Fr. Monching when he was the parish priest in Bantayan Island… a long time ago. Hence he can also answer our queries about Bataan’s special dispensation for its people to be able to eat pork on Good Friday. This is one of the reasons why many Cebuanos flock to Bantayan Island during the Holy Week in order to avail of this privilege, although they do not realize that they must do acts of sacrifice in lieu of that privilege.

 For our Holy Week discussion, we will discuss about the need for “Redemptive” suffering and sacrifice. Our God is a loving God and surely he doesn’t want us to suffer. But then we always think as humans do, not as God does, too many of us do not understand the theology behind the sufferings of Christ. So watch this very spiritual discussion on this topic on SkyCable’s channel 15 at 8:00 p.m. and the 9:00 p.m. replay over MyTV channel 28.

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 What should have been a simple issue of students being sanctioned by the St. Theresa’s College (STC) for disobeying its rules or in this case the student’s handbook has become sensational news that even the national newspapers and television networks have taken cognizance of. It was fortunate for me that I don’t have a weekend column; hence we could have the luxury of time to find out more about this issue and ask our friends who have kids studying there. It seems that many STC graduates agree with the school.

 There are many issues that need to be answered. First did the students themselves post their own photos on Facebook? From the news report that I have been reading, this was not so clearly established. Anyway if the girls didn’t post those photographs, then their act could be mitigated. But then, there is the matter of their demeanor in and out of school. Yes, you are a Theresian in or out of school and you should act like one!

 During my high school days when we were growing up, STC played a part in my search for the “birds and the bees”. While we lived close to STC, I confess I must have burned a lot of rubber in the tires of my jeep going around the STC block because of the numerous crushes we all experienced with Theresians. I could write a book just on those “old flames” that we had in STC. But alas, those days of female conservatism have gone.

 Please don’t get me wrong… we’re not trying to be prude here. But rather, I was even glad that finally, STC have gotten stricter with their students because if you ask me, back in the 80’s I’ve heard worse stories about STC girls, which I won’t mention here. I too had my troubles with STC when in the mid-80’s a few ICM nuns (including an aunt of mine who has since passed away) embraced the now discredited “Liberation Theology” selling that doctrine that “Jesus Christ was a communist!”

It was then that my mentor, the late Manong Max Soliven and I had parallel columns calling STC as “Subversive Training Center” while we called the Redemptorist Church “Redemp-terrorist church.” Thankfully, Pope John Paul II’s scolding the bishops in Nicaragua who became part of the Sandinista government; suddenly the ICM Nuns (in fairness to many nuns in STC, they never embraced this doctrine) dropped their stand on “Liberation Theology”.

 Soon things turned back to normal and I even enrolled by second daughter Katrina at the STC prep school in 1990 and graduated there. So the controversy that erupted last week was undoubtedly a cause of concern for many parents. First and perhaps the most important thing we must ask is, “Do parents want their children to study in a school that adheres to a very strict moral or code of conduct that the Catholic Church teaches?” If the answer to that query is yes, then we must defend STC for doing the right thing.

 In this highly-material and sexually pervasive world, I find it comforting that we still have a school that adheres to the moral standards we cherished a long time ago. If parents don’t really care for their children and allow them to do what they like, then the STC is not the school for them.

 Then there is the issue of Regional Trial Court Judge Wilfredo Navarro’s issuing a TRO to direct the school to cease and desist from enforcing the penalties on the two graduating students. Let’s see how this legal issue turns out. STC has certain rights for students to follow and whether these rights will be upheld or thrown out by a court will soon find out.

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