Sen. Santiago's speech confusing Catholics

A good friend of mine, Dr. Rene Bullecer of the Human Life International, e-mailed me the keynote speech of Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago last Sept. 15, 2012 at the UP College of Social Work and Development. Her speech was entitled, “8 Reasons why Catholics ‘Like Me’ Support the RH Bill”, which was sponsored by the group that calls themselves Catholics for Reproductive Health. Since it’s a very long speech, I will tackle only a few issues to show that what this feisty Senator is trying to do is to confuse us Catholics.

No doubt Sen. Miriam prides herself as a theologian, which is why her first reason was that the Catholic Church does not consider Anti-RH as infallible and she goes to extreme length in finding (like defining dogma vs doctrines) ways to debunk our Catholic teaching. After her lengthy discourse, she said, “And in the 1996 book Christ Among Us, Anthony Wilhelm said that on the question of contraception “The large majority of theologians agree that no question of infallibility is involved.”

I checked out the biodata of this author and it doesn’t even say that he is a Catholic, one even suggests that he is a free thinker... so in a sense, he is like Sen. Miriam, a free thinker who is no longer true to her Catholic faith. If Sen. Miriam thinks that theologians are so great in their teaching, perhaps she ought to read this coming Sunday’s gospel in Mark 9:30-37 which deals with the greatest in the kingdom.

Allow me to reprint that part in verse 36-37. “Taking a child he placed him in their midst, and putting his arms around him he said, to them, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.” Look into Matt. 19:14, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” No ma’am, our Lord didn’t say that the kingdom of heaven belonged to the theologians, but to those who have a childlike faith!

Sen. Miriam’s reason three was that “RH observes the “Preferential Option for the Poor,” under Liberation Theology. In her speech, Sen. Miriam quotes Gustavo Gutierrez, the Peruvian priest who wrote the book “The Theology of Liberation,” who advocated giving “preference to the poorest and most needy sectors.” It just makes me wonder why Sen. Miriam used Liberation Theology, which has already been condemned by the leaders of the Catholic Church?

No less than the late great and now Blessed Pope John Paul II during the 1979 Puebla Conference criticized Liberation Theology saying, “This conception of Christ, as a political figure, a revolutionary, as the subversive of Nazareth, does not tally with the Church’s catechisms.” But in that speech, Pope John Paul II spoke about the increasing wealth of the rich at the expense of the poverty of the poor, affirming the principle that private property must lead to a more just and equitable distribution of goods.

Pope Benedict XVI when he was still Cardinal Ratzinger and head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith made at least ten observations on Liberation Theology, accusing the latter of politically interpreting the Bible in supporting temporal messianism or Marxism.

I had an aunt who was a nun in Cebu with the ICM Sisters and we had a huge debate on the issue of Liberation Theology, while I could not convince her (and she could not convince me either), however when Pope John Paul II scolded the Bishops who were now cabinet ministers in the Sandinista government, that incident ended that debate. She died some years ago.  

Up to the 1990s, Cardinal Ratzinger condemned Liberation Theologians and tried to stop dissident priests from spreading this falsehood. Prof. Leonardo Boff when he was still a priest was suspended and he eventually left the Priesthood, while Sri Lankan Tissa Balasuriya was excommunicated. Liberation theologians cry out, “Jesus Christ was a communist” is no longer acceptable teaching in the Catholic Church and this is what Sen. Miriam was preaching before those dissident Catholics? 

Like I said, Sen. Miriam’s speech was very long, so let me end with her reason seven, that the Anti-RH is Cruelty to the Poor. She says that the opposition by the Catholic Church of the RH bill thus “inflicts upon the poor people underserved and unnecessary suffering. Does Sen. Miriam know that the Catholic Church runs the majority of charitable institutions in this country? Perhaps no one has told her this truth!

Sen. Miriam says, “The poor are just condemned to a vicious cycle of poverty, from generation to generation.” I fully concur with this observation. But please Ma’am, don’t blame the Catholic Church for our nation’s poverty. It is our politicians who from generation to generation have filled themselves from the fat of the Pork Barrel and allow me to refer to “The Correspondents” show last April 24,2007 where Sen. Miriam came up with that famous “Sarap Maging Senador” speech! I dare you guys to Google it!

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