A priest reaching out to other priests!

My Sunday columns are really homilies from a layman's standpoint about the Holy Gospel reading on Sundays. I'm printing this response from last Sunday's column, from a priest who gave out his thoughts on how priests ought to behave in these times, but wishes to remain anonymous.

Today's Pharisees, the gospel recently tells us of this ugly situation, not only in the times of our Lord, but also and especially in our present times. Our Lord told his disciples: "The scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. You must therefore do what they tell you and listen to what they say; but do not be guided by what they do, since they do not practice what they preach." (Mt 23,1-2) That's quite painful.

While those words can refer to anyone of us, I feel that they especially refer to some of our priests, and even bishops who are, to put it mildly, misbehaving. No, we are not referring anymore to the sex scandals that exploded sometime ago, causing great damage to the Church. We are now referring to their interference in political affairs. Not that they cannot speak of politics. Indeed, they can and they should, if only to evangelize or Christianize it, infuse it with the Christian spirit of justice, freedom, etc. But they should distinguish between what is evangelizing politics and what is engaging in partisan politics. Right now, we simply have a lot of examples of clerics getting into partisan politics, doing some stupid antics and cheap gimmicks that scandalize the faithful flock. My understanding of my faith is that priests should stick to what is strictly spiritual and moral, always guarding the supernatural character of our Christian life that transcends these differences, while unavoidably being immersed in them due to our human condition.

This ideal is possible, because of our spiritual nature. We may be in this material world, but we also have the spiritual capacity to go beyond the natural and material laws. I feel that this point is hardly understood by many of our men of the cloth. Sad to say, we don't see much of that cloth anymore. Imagine, some priests and bishops joining political rallies, let alone, protest rallies that they try to disguise as prayer rallies-what hypocrites-or issuing politically partisan statements that make sweeping condemnations for example against the government, Jueteng and other forms of gambling, local issues like the Sugbuak (divide Cebu plan), even globalization.

Part of their problem is that old superiority complex, a form of pride and vanity, built and reinforced through the centuries that as clerics they are superior and more privileged than the other members of the Church. It is time to remind the clergy of what our Lord said: "He who exalts himself shall be humbled, and He who humbles himself shall be exalted."

In a Vatican document called "Directory on the Ministry and Life of Priests," we have the following relevant indication that would be well for the clergy today to memorize. It's in point no. 33: "The priest, as servant of the universal Church, cannot tie himself to any historical contingency, and therefore must be above any political party. He cannot take an active role in political parties or labor unions, unless, according to the judgment of the ecclesiastical authority, the rights of the Church and the defense of common good require it. In fact, even if these are good things in themselves, they are nevertheless foreign to the clerical state since they can constitute a grave danger of division in the ecclesial communion.

"Like Jesus, the priest 'ought to refrain from actively engaging himself in politics, as it often happens, in order to be a central point of spiritual fraternity.' All the faithful, therefore, must always be able to approach the priest without feeling inhibited for any reason." The priest will remember that 'it does not fall on the shoulders of the Pastors of the Church to intervene directly in political activities and in social organizations. This task, in fact, forms part of the lay faithful's vocation, in which they work by their own initiative together with their fellow citizens.' Nevertheless, he will not be absent 'in the effort to form in them an upright conscience.'

"The reduction of his mission to temporal tasks, of a purely social or political nature, is foreign to his ministry, and does not constitute a triumph but rather a grave loss to the Church's evangelical fruitfulness." Having said that, I still believe that on the whole we have many very good and holy priests who work quietly in the parishes and in the confessionals. But we're really bothered by some rotten eggs in the clergy. I think much worse than our present political crisis is this potential crisis when clerics get entangled with politics, thereby effectively harming and even "destroying" the Church from within. Without the Church, where else can we go? "