Commentary
Caveat on politicized clergy
By Minong Ordoñez
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:39:00 05/24/2008
Filed Under: Politics, Churches (organisations), Religion & Belief
There’s a caveat on clerical activism in politics, relevant to priests and bishops when they become media creatures who generate sensationalized headlines that are impertinent to the original concept of sacerdotal role. A highly politicized priest or bishop can devalue the parishioner’s idea of his holy office (and persona too), a sacred vocation nourished by the strong but quiet virtue of holiness and temperance. Not by speechifying on Ayala Avenue. Not by crime-busting for the underground lottery “jueteng.” Certainly not by jogging on Roxas Boulevard.
To the reverend fathers and monsignors, a media-hyped recall and profiling of your role in political controversies can have negative effects on the sacramental nature of priesthood. The caveat: Our politics lacks holiness as all dirty politics come. You will create enemies, and they will play the dirty game under the full glare of the loquacious and gleeful media. You simply can’t play this game. You don’t have the stomach for this kind of emotional abuse. And even if you try, you’ll descend to the bottom pit of a nasty political brawl. And there out of the window goes the reverential and holy image of priesthood that is so critical for an ideal minister-parishioner relationship. Think of flock backlash.
Poor Ricardo Cardinal Vidal has already been pilloried and tagged as “The Diocese of Malacañang.” Heavens forbid! What if your detractors peddle a rumor that you fathered a child with the mother superior of the “colegio” [school] across from the “convento” [convent]? Or that you bet all Sunday collections at the “tupada” [cockfight] derby? Or that you sold a roomful of a church’s antique possessions so you can buy a new Honda Civic? Black propagandists don’t know the meaning of sacrilege.
It is apparent that Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales has been very silent on the controversies that Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz and Bishop Teodoro Bacani and Fr. Robert Reyes keep mouthing in front of the media. Archbishop Rosales knows how to use his office in a way that befits his sacred calling. His proactive role in mediating with San Miguel Corp. to grant lands to Sumilao farmers is simply admirable, an eloquent statement of the Church’s dedication to works of charity. So is his well-branded, well-packaged and widely distributed Pondong Pinoy [Filipino Fund] drive for the poor. Through Archbishop Rosales, San Miguel people have learned to practice Christian charity (known in the corporate world as social consciousness), a virtue that enables Christians to gain the grace for the holiness in their daily lives.
Vatican authorities know for a fact that our present Pope Benedict XVI does not look with favor on clerics actively engaged in political controversies. History is full of lessons on the travails of mixing religion with politics. The Church has had enough of the Borgias, Medicis, Richelieus, Henry VIIIs and Beckets.
The late Pope John Paul II and the present Benedict XVI, both brilliant theologians attuned to the moral issues of our contemporary civilization, know the limits of radicalism. They realized how the much-touted Liberation Theology, developed in South America, came close to flirting with Marxism for the sake of the poor. John Paul and Benedict are no strangers to social turmoil and godless ideologies. They grew up and studied for priesthood when Europe was enthralled with Nietzsche and the Marxist trendy intellectuality.
I’m the first to admit that a return of moral values is critical to our society now neck-deep in a morass of systemic government corruption and pandemic injustice to the poor. The priest, by applying his priestly discipline and sacramental ministry, has a pivotal role in our recovery of moral values.
A priest is incredibly distinct from all other beings. He and only he has God-like power. A power so awesome when he performs a miracle of the transubstantiation on the altar of the Eucharist and absolves sins in the confessional. His launch pad for truth and morality is not at the corner of Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas but on the altar of the Eucharist and confessional of reconciliation. The sacraments are his ultimate tools in promoting individual holiness, which is the core virtue of upright citizens and government officials.
When priests and bishops succeed in making one Filipino practice holiness in his daily life, that one Filipino will not tell a lie, or bribe a cop, or filch a centavo from the petty cash fund in the “municipio” [municipal hall]. Multiply that a thousand times. Now we’re talking.
In honoring the memory of Saint Charles Borromeo, Pope John Paul II said, “The Church today does not need any new reformers. The Church needs new saints.”
In the best-selling book, “The Ratzinger Report,” Pope Benedict XVI said, “What the Church needs of man in every age is holiness, not management.”
To the many reverend fathers and monsignors who stick to their knitting, “mano po sa inyong lahat.”
Minyong Ordoñez is retired chair of the Paris-based Publicis Communications Group. He is a freelance journalist and member of the Manila Overseas Press Club. Email: encarbordonez@yahoo.com.ph
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