I am picking up a phrase from Randy David’s column “Is the Catholic Church in crisis?” (Opinion, 4/14/13): “the transformation of religious practice from one that is Church-oriented to one that is solitary and private.” One such “transformation” is going on. It’s a current trend, especially among the young, expressed in the statement “I am [...]
That’s today’s buzz. Both hope and speculation fuel the question. Hopes are high. “He’s strong on the ‘pastoral,’” says Fr. Edwin Manio, RCJ.
Sampaloc around UST (University of Santo Tomas) was the place to be right after Liberation. It was the first area to be liberated because of the concentration camp at UST where Americans caught in the war were held; the environs teemed with GIs, schools converted into hospitals, night spots for war-weary GIs and WACs, and army vehicles.
Yes, Virginia, hundreds of priests know who is “Church.” It’s city folk and rural folk; it’s you and me, priests included, and bishops, too. It’s people, Virginia, Vatican II’s “people of God,” not ecclesial statements many of which, of late, are hardly edifying, not the church building under continual “beautification.”
“If I’m obliged to bring religion into after-dinner toasts …. I shall drink to conscience first, and to the Pope afterwards.” That’s by Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman. It’s good that giants of the Church make such bold statements. They protect lesser mortals from being denounced when the latter think and say likewise. Despite [...]
When Vatican II solemnly opened on Oct. 11, 1962, at St. Peter’s Basilica, it rang as a harbinger of change and was hailed as “the most important religious event of the 20th century,” such that people talked in terms of “pre-Vatican” and “post-Vatican,” not as sweeping as BC-AD, but indicative of its magnitude and momentousness.
“Pray-Pay-Obey” is a catchphrase that has been used to describe the lot of the laity in relation to the institutional Church and to deplore hierarchic resistance to genuine “lay empowerment.”
First love never dies. It all started with the book launch of “Nick” on July 6, 2011. The Joaquin mystique threw me back to my four decades of reading and teaching literature. I wrote “Rekindling an old flame” (Inquirer, 7/15/11). But the spark sputtered.
The week of Aug. 18-25 carried us on a roller-coaster of momentary highs and protracted lows. Jesse Robredo’s body was lifted from the depths on Aug. 21, the death anniversary of Ninoy Aquino who seemed to hover over the historical moment.
Echoing articles abroad, Ceres Doyo (6/14/12; 6/21/12), Denis Murphy (6/11/12), Rina Jimenez-David (4/29/12), and Mary Racelis (7/3/12) have written in the Inquirer about how the Vatican was bearing down on nuns.
“I hav a nu hero.” “Cno?” “Si Fariñas.” That was the climax to a running text exchange between my friend and me during the last two days of the “Paglilitis” (impeachment trial). Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas stole the show and drew the only smile I saw on the lips of the masterly presiding officer, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.
Source unknown, a cryptic text message reached me on Easter Sunday. “We pray that GMA’s Strong Republic will be realized under Binay’s Strong Leadership. Time to unite. Patawarin ang nagsisisi! Binay sa 2016!” Hours later, another text message rang with the same line. Those Easter greetings may be making the rounds of the country now.
