Partisan campaign pitches in Masses indelicate

This is a reaction to the news item titled “Bacolod faithful urged to dump pro-RH bets” (Inquirer, 2/23/13).

I find the partisan campaign mounted by the Catholic Church against pro-RH senatorial candidates bordering on the indelicate. After the exchange of caustic words in long-winded congressional debates, the loss of statesmanship, some plagiarism, the realignment of maintenance and other operating expenses, and finally the Reproductive Health bill’s enactment into law, the inability of the Church to accept the conclusion, despite its intense lobby, slips into a discomforting drift. Actually, it appears as a throwback to the days of Padre Damaso as Carlos Celdran had pointed out.

Long after the RH bill had been enacted into Republic Act 10354, the faithful were still made to endure the repeated incantation of the Church’s position on the RH bill, as well as the damnation of its supporters in the guise of homilies. Can we now expect campaign pitches for candidates integrated into the Mass?

It is time the Catholic hierarchy gave the RH issue a rest, don’t you think? Eighty million practicing Catholics in the country (politicians just practice and never get it right) look to the Church as a sanctuary from the everyday problems of everyday life. Canonical colors painted on secular concerns like population management and now partisan politics, certainly deviate from the salvation aspect of religion. Whatever happened to Jesus’ memo of “give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s”?

Is the Catholic Church’s project against the RH Law driven by its insistent claim to infallibility? I hope not, but it sure looks that way. Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation reflects his acceptance of his own drawbacks in overcoming the challenges besetting the Church. It definitely throws the infallibility concept out of the window.

In its partisan campaign, will the Catholic vote pit itself against the Iglesia ni Cristo vote? Will the Catholic Church also flaunt a solid vote?

I hope the Catholic Church sticks to its chosen path of evangelization and saving souls. God knows it has a lot of grounds to cover other than politics.

—BENIGNO T. CALANTUAN III,

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