We Catholics admit humbly and contritely that ours is a Church of sinners—composed of sinners, and led by sinners, too. Indeed, our Church is full of hypocrites, liars, cheats, adulterers and many other kinds of sinners. Even our priest and our Pope Francis, are sinners. Simply put, we Catholics wholly admit the ascription of our being sinners.
One thing is sure though: Our Church does not condone our transgressions; neither does she count them. Her teachings are always perfect because they come from the teachings of Jesus Christ.
The Church teaches us to live up to these teachings, but we always fail. Thus we are openly accused as hypocrites. But even our saints were far from perfect in their actions. Remember St. Peter, our first pope? He denied Christ three times.
In sum, we the faithful continue to sin, but our Church remains perfect in her teachings and preaching.
Like our merciful God, our Church extends her loving arms to guide those who are lost among us, to reach out to those who are spiritually weak, and to embrace unto her bosom those who are in repentance and in dire need of mercy.
Yes, our Church welcomes into her fold everyone, including those who are flawed. Following the precept of the Good Shepherd, she even seeks out her prodigal and wayward sons and daughters, wanting to bring them back to fellowship.
In other words, our Church always opens her door of mercy and reconciles us with God by teaching us to live a Christ-like life. But it is difficult to follow her teachings and thus we often fail, which is why it’s quite easy for us to be accused of hypocrisy.
Defending the Church against those who falsely accuse her of hypocrisy is not easy. Our Church does not even need to be defended because she is perfect in her teachings, as perfect as her founder Jesus Christ.
Undeniably, the moral standard set by Christ is so high, the reason we, human beings as we are, often fail to adhere to it. We keep on sinning, yet God in His merciful love keeps on forgiving us.
Despite our failures, we continue to profess our Catholic faith.
How terribly sad that some who belong to the Church think that only the virtuous and the pure should be members of the Church and, as such, there should be no room for sinners who would only diminish her perfection.
To repeat, our Church is full of sinners. But she has always a room for the holier-than-thou believer with messianic complex. For our Church always welcomes those whose moral standards are very high and those who have none at all.
—REGINALD B. TAMAYO