Pilipinas Forum 17: The Church and Galileo

Another long exchange (12 pages) among members of pilipinasforum yahoogroups made 10 years ago. A friend asked me why I post here PF exchanges when some of the topics or the commentators were not obviously on free market or rule of law or personal responsibility and related topics. I replied that PF is my brainchild, I formed it along with a friend from UP, Monching Romano. It was in PF where I learned hard and long debates, and from those debates I slowly discovered the merits and beauty of free market.

I should post more PF exchanges in the coming weeks and months. Cheers.
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The Church, Faith and Galileo

Posted in inq7.net, July 25-29, 2001

As I am still wrestling at the arguments over birth control and the long-term survival of this country (I am for population control.), the Church should also ponder and make a firm stand in regard to these stories reported recently:

1. The rape of nuns by priests, mostly in Africa - some of the nuns got pregnant, and higher priests encouraged abortions. One rapist-priest even got an assignment in England.

2. The Church in Mexico is against aborting the baby of a 12-year old child. This girl, who was reported to have a mental age of 8, was raped by her own father. Sad.

-Lardy Caparas

I think priests should be allowed to get married or to have girlfriends and yes, even boyfriends (ang daming homosexual, and why should the Church condemn it?) Bakit ba nila kailangan mag-rape? But maybe the problem is deeper than just not allowing priests to have a sex life--it may have its roots in gender issues. Enforced celibacy--talk about asking people to be abnormal. Tuloy, tingnan mo nangyayari--priests rape nuns, boys, etc.

Abortion is another issue that has to be examined closely. The Church will have to take a more flexible stand. The Church may also want to examine its stand against female priests. Maybe it ought to examine its reasons for denying women a greater role in the Church.

-Vicky Suarez

We should not equate priests who have done evil with the Roman Catholic Church. That logic is seriously flawed. It is similar to saying that since some of our countrymen are corrupt, then Filipinos in general must be corrupt.

The Church itself is a supernatural institution which will last until the end of time, as Jesus Himself guaranteed when he installed Peter as the rock on which the Church was built. Its members are not only the hierarchy, meaning the pope, bishops and priests, but also all the lay people who have been baptised. When we criticise the Church, we really criticise all the members of this institution.

What the Church reminds us is that man has a soul that is immortal. We have intelligence, free will, creativity, emotions, etc. which are manifestations of this spiritual soul. We do not inherit them from our parents like our physical traits, they are unique and unrepeatable gifts from God. These are infused in each one of us from conception and whether these are developed and nurtured to the full depends heavily on the environment in which the child grows – which explains the important role of parents, teachers and community in life-long education.

The Church teaches us that our life in this world is a pilgrimage to our ultimate destiny, which is Heaven. She teaches us to love one another as we love our neighbors, to live honest lives, to be generous, to work hard, etc. Aren't these the things we need to ensure full development? The poverty and wars that we see around us are in fact caused by greed and selfishness by people. If we only truly lived the Christian virtues individually and collectively, our society would be much different. The so-called Christian societies that scandalise us are only really caricatures of the true community that Christianity preaches.

Love itself involves trade-offs. Priests and other religious give up the material comforts of lay people to live their vocation of total dedication to God. The sacrifices that they make are not negative but really a positive affirmation of their love for God. Similarly, a married person has to fight against the temptation of having extra-marital relations with other people. Do we call the extraordinary acts of fidelity by spouses to each other as repression? Love is an act of the will. And our will has the freedom of doing both good or evil - to be faithful or not. To be faithful to one's spouse or to the priestly vocation is to really love. Otherwise, one would only really love oneself, which is selfishness.

-Ronald Villanueva

Filipino Religiosity 2: Iloilo Holy Week Procession

I took the succeeding pictures last Good Friday, April 22, 2011, in one barangay of Lapaz district, Iloilo City. My in-laws live in Lapaz.

They have 2 groups of procession. The first is the group of the Independent Catholic or Aglipay. Their number is not so big but they have many carriages of the different statues of Jesus. The lower picture here for instance is a big carriage portraying the Last Super.

The flower decorations of the carriages and statues are beautiful and very colorful. Devotees really spend time and money to produce a beautiful procession. It should reflect their religious faith.

I took these pictures as they were still assembling for the procession that would start at 6pm. Those carriages have big and bright bulbs to lighten Jesus’ statues when the procession would drag by evening.

A group of devotees in black wardrobe and carrying various symbols of Jesus. Note the old man in maroon wardrobe, with thick moustache and long hair. He would look like Jesus and would be carrying a huge wooden cross.

They would be following the carriage of Jesus carrying the huge cross.

The black wardrobe men with green headscarves.

A group of mostly senior women who recite certain prayers and novena as they walk.

This is the head of the Roman Catholic procession. Young boys in white dress, walking in praying position.

They would be followed by some senior men in dark suits with colorful addendum to their attire. Turned out that the man in the middle was one of our wedding sponsors  I did not immediately recognize him, he approached me after I took the picture, and I bowed before my Ninong.

The Roman Catholic really pack with tens of thousands of devotees and participants. The procession has not started yet, but the crowd was so thick, it was difficult to pass through. I think many have been standing there since 4pm or earlier and waiting for the procession to start.

Another huge carriage of the Last Super. This was put in a small truck.

I think the Catholics in Iloilo are among the serious devotees to the religion. I say this because this huge number of participants represent only a fraction of Lapaz, which in itself is just one of the many districts in Iloilo City, and this city is just one of the many cities and municipalities in Iloilo province.

I don’t know, I may be wrong because I did not see the other processions in other cities and provinces. But the huge turn-out in the annual procession during Good Friday shows how strong the Catholic religion is in many parts of the country.

(See my earlier photo-essay, Filipino religiosity part 1)

Filipino Religiosity 1: Baclaran and Quiapo Churches

It’s Holy Week this week. Filipino religiosity, especially among the Catholics, is at its peak. The Philippines, being the only former Spanish colony in Asia, is also the only predominantly Christian and Catholic country in Asia.

This is Baclaran church, one of the big and famous churches in Metro Manila and in the country. I took this photo last Saturday late morning, so there was no mass, and there were few visitors to the church. But on regular mass hours, the church is overflowing with thousands of believers.

Many people go to the church to ask for some divine assistance and intervention to many personal and household issues and problems, especially related to livelihood and health, like one family member is on a 50-50 medical crisis situation.

A touch on the statue of Jesus on the cross gives some extra strength and hope to people that they can tackle their problems, with the help and support of Jesus.

Here are some of the merchandise being sold outside the church. Various designs, sizes and colors of the rosary; various sizes of the baby or young Jesus, statue of some saints, food and drinks, and so on.

Quiapo church, definitely a very popular church among millions of devotees around the country. The Black Nazarene is the most famous statue there, attracting hundreds of thousands during its annual parade.

When people become desperate and almost hopeless, many do not run to the government and the politicians or other rich people. They look inward and seek positive intervention by their God. Their faith is either tested or strengthened.

Some ideologues question the habit of people who turn to their God for assistance, instead of facing whatever problems squarely on their own and do practical solutions that are available and feasible. Believers counter that they are not becoming complacent when they turn to their God. They find solutions on their own, but there are certain factors that are better left to luck or divine intervention and turning to their God is a wise move both for their intellectual and spiritual improvement.

Filipino religiosity is relatively unique compared to most Asians who are mostly Muslim or Buddhist. Nonetheless, regardless of the religious belief that people hold, it’s the teachings of doing good to other people, of not causing harm to others, that help societies survive and modernize.