‘Pray-Pay-Obey’

“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.”

Its presence is so widespread, especially in our country where the Church since Spanish times has done too good a job to make it stick. It has not been “taught” but is imbedded deep in our culture, by design, or suggestion, and certainly by practice. Therein lies its tenacity.

Abroad, the lay resistance to this laity’s lot has been more aggressive and persistent, but among the majority in our country, to “pray-pay-obey” seems to be the most natural thing to accept and to do. Is that good or bad?

Although its three elements are interconnected, with one leading to the other, let’s take them one by one:

PRAY. Prayer, as anyone knows, is a sine qua non. And as anyone knows, too, there are as many ways to pray as there are persons. To pray is perhaps one of the best legacies of Catholic Spain. How Filipinos pray! Constantly, to ask for health and wealth, for jobs to love, etc.; to thank, worship, atone with a chain of devotions and icons; quietly in private places or flamboyantly in Quiapo and Peñafrancia. The point is, we pray.

It’s something to be proud of until we say things like “Magdasal na lang tayo” or “Bahala na ang Diyos sa mga corrupt na ’yan,” forgetting that reform, civil or ecclesiastical, cannot happen unless people act as well. Alas, we often abuse prayer and providence too much.

PAY. This rests on the faithful’s duty to support the Church in some way and to some degree. It started in a humble way as contributions to the Church, each to his/her capabilities.

How did this humble beginning balloon to an avalanche of huge donations, from Constantine’s mind-boggling donation to handsome amounts to this day, received and rewarded, whether substitute for the dishonest dollar or excess of honest wealth? What epic tale lies behind the continuing, unbelievable megawealth of the institutional Church, such that fund-raising and soliciting has become part of its unparalleled expertise, equaled, the apologists say, by its equally great charities?

As a rule, faithful disciples would rather not see or talk of the alleged anomalies of the Vatican Bank staring at us on TV or of the monetary lapses whispered about in parishes. Lately, a money scandal has brushed so close against us in our diocese, but with the deafening silence you’d think nothing happened. There are cases enough in the papers (Pagcor, PCSO, SUVs, payola) to make us think twice about turning money over to the ascending, institutional line from parish to bishopric to Vatican.

All this has sullied the once pure and proper duty to financially assist the Church. But we will never tighten the purse strings, even before jarring (because true?) statements that “the cause and obstacle No. 1 of the poor impact of our evangelization efforts is that ‘our Church is too rich.’”(World Mission 6/07)

Filipino Catholics will continue to “pay”: Sunday collections, second collections, “love offerings,” tickets, tithes, etc. Anytime, all the time and rightly so, we will give to the missions and missionaries, poor parishes, religious orders and congregations that must raise funds to support themselves and their projects.

OBEY. “Simple faithful, simple faith, simple priests” is a rather simplistic application of Christ’s “unless you become as little children…” That, and great respect, nay, deference, for the priesthood cited in our parish bulletin (9/4/11) as “an unfortunate type of respect for the priesthood or religious life” have fueled obedience for centuries. That mindset has seeped into the marrow of both the faithful and many a priest enjoining the faithful to obey, and the priest to expect it. “Sabi ng pare” and “sabi ng obispo” work like hypnotic cues for obedience. Deep down, are priests and prelate happy with such obeisance?

Without question, most Filipinos obey whatever falls from the lips of priest or prelate. He can’t be wrong. And even if he is, support and protect him. Rally behind the “‘ivory’ priest” (Inquirer, 9/28/12) and behind cries like “contraception is corruption” (8/16/12).

But this “no-questions” pattern of blind obedience is becoming more contentious, with the question of authority coming under severe, well, questioning. But who cares to admit or see that Church authority is in crisis? Anyway, almost everybody obeys, and that’s good enough. But watch an emerging minority, especially the young, who are effortlessly or deliberately “detaching.” That’s not encouraging.

By the way, by no means are we talking of priests or groups of priests shaking off the inertia of a lumbering Church “200 years out of date” and in need of a “radical transformation,” a “tired” Church, as expressed in a prescient reading by the late, great Cardinal Carlo Martini. We refer rather to an outdated “character” of the institutional Church still perpetuating the remains of a tribute mentality. By all means, Pray-Pay-Obey, but CHOOSE.

Asuncion David Maramba is a retired professor, book editor and occasional journalist. Comments to [email protected], fax 8284454.