By AMADO P. MACASAET
MALAYA
MALAYA
‘The biggest mistake of the Catholic leadership is its continued, though failing attempts, to exercise authoritarian control over the individual’s right to independent thought and inquiry.’
As early as the Elizabethan Age in England (1485-1625) the authoritarian right of the Roman Catholic Church over its flock was challenged by scholars raising the question of corruption.
They even challenged the doctrines.
Not much later, Martin Luther of Germany; and John Calvin of Switzerland became “the most notable proponents of the new religious thought.”
The Lutheran Church was born. Many people started calling themselves Calvinists.
John Knox expanded the protestant movement in Scotland. In the book Adventures in Literature, it was written “there were now protestants and Catholics, many of them believing it impossible to live in peace alongside people who did not share their own particular faith.”
The book emphasized that this led to ruinous wars in Europe where the protestant movement (against the Roman Catholic religion) started.
In the Days of the Holy Roman Empire, the invaders were called Barbarians. The expansion of the empire was distinctly described as holy conquests.
All of these easily translate into the fact that the Roman Catholic religion was exercising thought control over its brethren even after its practices and doctrines were challenged by protestants who had grown in number and acceptability.
It is certain that the leaders of the Catholic Church will make good its threat that it will campaign against its lawmakers who voted for the passage of the RH bill. In fact, they will hack away at President Aquino at every turn.
They will fail like they failed in preventing the approval by Congress of the family health proposal.
It is wrong for cardinals, bishops, priests and so-called devout Catholics to think that they can influence the results of the elections by campaigning against lawmakers who supported the bill.
The simple fact is there is no Catholic vote in the Philippines. The population is predominantly Catholic. They do not vote on the basis of their religious beliefs.
In this country only the followers or members of the Iglesia Ni Cristo vote on the orders of their high priest. That makes the INC the swing vote particularly in a presidential election.
They vote as one. Catholics vote on what politicians give or promise them. If that were not so, how did the likes of Pia Cayetano and her brother Alan Peter, get elected senators?
The Cayetanos call themselves Christians. They proclaim to the world they are not Catholics.
The late US President Jack Kennedy won not because the faithful of his church voted for him almost as one. Catholics in the United States are fewer thsn members of other religions.
Catholics in the Philippines are deeply divided in political persuasion. They have never voted on the say-so of Church leaders. In fairness, the leaders of the Catholic Church never directly try to influence its faithful who to elect.
They will try for the first time. Nobody will listen to them. The approval by the Congress of the RH bill is a loud signal that the leaders have been defied; in fact denied.
If only for that reason, they should not threaten to boycott the lawmakers who approved the bill and give all-out support to those who opposed it. They are a very small group.
The Catholic hierarchy has never been able to read correctly the events that clearly show a steadily rising dissension against the Church. If that were not so, how did Mike Velarde of the El Shaddai community who is neither good-looking possessed with a background as of having the strongest faith in his god, amass many millions of followers who are Catholics?
The Catholic hierarchy is so scared of Velarde’s numbers it claims that El Shaddai is Catholic. They try to prove this false claim by celebrating weekly masses in Velarde’s massive religious rallies.
Velarde is seldom present in the celebration of Catholic masses. His followers swelled to millions because poverty forced people to believe in what he says is a promise of salvation and wealth.
Little does the Catholic Church realize that poor people drop small bills in boxes scattered all over the rally site. The money is not for El Shaddai. The money goes to the pockets of Velarde and to his projects.
Members of the community write letters to God. And God sends a reply. They hang on whatever Velarde promises them, most of the time deliverance from poverty.
El Shaddai grew almost geometrically and has spread to Filipinos in other countries because the Catholic Church failed in strengthening their faith.
How can the leaders of my Church claim that they can pressure Catholic voters to exact revenge against the lawmakers who passed the family planning bill?
The biggest mistake of the Catholic leadership is its continued, though failing attempts, to exercise authoritarian control over the individual’s right to independent thought and inquiry.
Given these facts recorded as history, how does the Catholic hierarchy in the Philippines get the courage to proclaim that it will punish the supporters of the RH bill by making sure they do not win in the elections?
The authoritarianism of the Catholic Church has been successfully challenged. It will continue to be challenged as the number of hungry people become bigger by the day precisely because the Church promotes it.
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email: amadomacasaet@yahoo.com
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