Is the Church to be faulted?

Is the Church to be faulted?

I received many emailed reactions to my published PDI May 14 letter-to-the-editor "Why save the Filipino culture.". Some were appreciative of my observations that our culture is the culprit of our societal ills. Others were not charitable though in their views to the extent that they sorely verbalized their hatred to the Catholic Church and her priests as the inauspicious sources of our problems in society.

This to my mind is an unfair criticism. Even when the Catholic Church and her ministers have an opposing view as regards Reproductive Health Bill, this should not be a reason to despise the church and her clerics. The church can’t be blamed when it protects its flock from the pounding hand of the devil. The church can’t be faulted when it assesses critically national policies when chiefly they run counter to the Gospel values. The church can’t be accused of meddling in the affairs of the government when she finds it leading the faithful into the dark pit of sinfulness.

It is a witty remark for a congressman who said that he is allergy to an uncalled for homily. Many, for sure, share his feelings especially when listening to priests who give moralizing admonition which they themselves do not follow. There is even some who do not prepare their homilies that people with insomnia would simply doze off. Priests have limitations too. After all they are humans like us who have their own share of transgressions. But, more importantly, the Church is a human church.

Be that as it may, the Church is not faltering to her mission to evangelize. Evangelization is designed for all- those within the society or within the Church itself and even those outside her flock. It spreads the Gospel values to her own who distrust her teachings and ethos. That is why, the Church keeps on reminding Catholic politicians and her pastors of her teachings and the saving truth of the Gospels. Without this vital role of the Church, everything goes and everything becomes vicious. And if this is infuriating and irritating to some that they develop allergies listening to homilies as reminders to the extent of hating the Church and her priests, it is understandable. They simply cannot yet take pride in their faith and therefore cannot yet appreciate fully the significance of the teachings of the Church.