The faith, not the structure

“Church or no church, dawn Masses go on,” goes the headline of a story in yesterday’s issue of the Inquirer about the first day of the nine-day “Simbang Gabi” or dawn Mass, one of the most beloved and enduring traditions of the Filipino Christmas celebration.

“With or without a roof, we can still worship because the Church is not just a building. The Church is the people,” said Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, also the newly-installed president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

Villegas’ reassurance was deemed necessary because in Bohol, Cebu and in the areas hit by Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” so many churches were inundated and reduced to rubble, leaving the faithful with no physical structures to worship in. And those churches which managed to withstand nature’s wrath are still filled these days with families dislocated by the floods and tremor. And of course, even as these parishes try to cope with the needs of the evacuees, they must also squeeze in time and space for spiritual and religious needs.

So the CBCP head’s reassurance that a dawn Mass is still valid and just as valuable—maybe even more so—even amid crumbled walls and roofless structures comes as heartwarming proof that Church authorities haven’t lost their humanity and flexibility. Especially in areas where, amid much tragedy and loss, people need to feel the gift of faith and community all the more.

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I find this all the more refreshing, but also puzzling, given new regulations (well, not so new I’m told) about the holding of Catholic weddings in venues other than authorized parish churches.

We—and I speak of our wide-ranging clan—are still basking in the warmth and memories of the wedding of my nephew Jami and his girlfriend Janet. They have been together for exactly 10 years, so Janet has been practically a part of the family for years, and their long-awaited union has come as a welcome gilding to this special holiday season.

But it nearly didn’t come to pass. Janet belongs to an Evangelical church and it was precisely to honor her and her family’s faith, as well as Jami’s, that an ecumenical service was agreed upon. In search of a “neutral” place to hold the ceremonies without offending either side, the conference center of the Asian Institute of Management, where Jami’s mother, Coratec Jimenez studied and worked in as executive director of the policy center, was selected.

The AIM chapel falls under the parish of St. John Bosco in Makati, and when the idea of an ecumenical blessing was put to parish authorities, they balked. “Rules,” they said, deem that to celebrate the sacrament of matrimony, the rites had to be held inside a church. And not just any church, but a parish church. This new-fangled rule, I heard, was in reaction to the growing trend of holding weddings in gardens, beaches, mountainsides, even underwater with the principals garbed in diving gear.

I understand the desire of church authorities to preserve the needed solemnity and spirituality of a wedding ceremony, no matter the fun-loving or adventurous natures of the bride and groom. But there are circumstances that, through no fault of the couple, necessitate flexibility on the part of authorities.

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I mean, we may be a majority Catholic population, but shouldn’t that very majority call for a little more leniency and understanding on our part?

With a Catholic wedding ceremony ruled out, both families agreed to have the minister, Pastor Clemente Guillermo, conduct the rites himself. He would bless the couple and sign the wedding contract as officiant.

But it was the desire of the couple, as well, to have a Mass celebrated, most especially because the principal officiator would be my brother (and the groom’s uncle), Fr. Boboy Jimenez, SVD, who has played an important role in counseling Jami and Janet through the rocky terrain not just of an inter-faith relationship, but through the normal ups-and-downs of any “boy-girl relationship.” (Yes, Jami, the hairs on my arms rose when I typed out these words, given how uhmmm, “mature” the two of you are.)

Once again, the authorities at Don Bosco balked. Father Boboy, they said, couldn’t even say Mass at AIM because it wasn’t a “proper” venue. (What does Archbishop Soc say to that?)

It took the determination of Coratec, who is also general manager of the Metro Manila Development Authority, to send a letter to the Arzobispado de Manila, specifically Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, and to personally appeal for a little bit of understanding and leeway. Fortunately, and thankfully, the archdiocese relented and the way was cleared for Father Boboy to say a “thanksgiving Mass” right after the wedding ceremony.

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In a bit of overkill, we kidded Coratec, Jami and Janet ended up with a concelebrated Mass with three priests, including the pastor and former pastor of their home parish in Alabang. Fr. Bobby Ebisa, SVD, had flown in from Cebu also to concelebrate, but thought the wedding was at 4 p.m. and showed up just as the reception was ending (bad timing, Father Bobby!).

It was a rather long ceremony, as I warned our relatives, what with Pastor Clem’s meaningful ceremony and the Mass following. But it was a wonderful example of a shared expression of faith and fidelity, generosity and accommodation, and a way of finding a happy compromise amid the realities of a multicultural and interfaith world. I mean, these things happen, and shouldn’t the Church allow a little more elbow room to keep everybody happy?

So I am glad that Archbishop Soc has said it’s fine to have “Simbang Gabi” Masses said even out in the open, where it’s the faith and the faithful that matter, not the structure.