An unwinnable war

For quite some time, I have written pieces that have been critical of members of the clergy, so I guess now would be as good a time as any to say why. As a Christian and a Catholic, I have never confused my faith with those who call the shots in its name.

Thus, while I believe in the Church position on population and reproductive health issues that have pitted it against government, I feel members of the clergy are doing a very bad job out of defending and strengthening that position.

Instead of trying to do a good job according to its clearly defined role in people’s lives, the clergy is instead trying to do the job of government according to its own perspective. No better recipe can be had to ensure disaster.

Look what happened. Because the clergy made the mistake of taking the battle to the turf of government, where the chips are naturally stacked in its favor, the Church was forced to suffer the ignominy of having to call for a ceasefire.

If the Church wants to wage war, it should wage it in its own turf. That is where its real strength lies. It is a strength that is in fact growing, if only the clergy bothered to look at the consistently packed churches on Sundays and holy days.

The millions of Catholics that continue to fill churches are a ready and available market for members of the clergy to sell the idea of the Church concerning population and reproductive health issues.

Unfortunately, members of the clergy want to do things easy. They probably find it easier to convince people that the Church idea is good by making the government idea look bad. But as any businessman or advertising executive knows, negative marketing only works for so long.

Eventually, people will make determinations for themselves, will demand what you have. And when they do, they will find that, despite the rabid Church-initiated negative publicity, it is the government policy that is there for them. The Church position was all hot air all along.

If it wants to wrench the war back to a position where it can be won, the Church, and most especially the members of the clergy, must go back to basics. They must realize that their real strength still remains with the millions of Catholics within the church walls.

The war is not about convincing government to adapt the Church position. That is almost like asking the impossible. The real war is about convincing the millions who call themselves Roman Catholics to hold the line in God’s name.

But since when have they last touched base with these millions. The last time I looked, members of the clergy were instead trying very hard to isolate and pollute this one huge, ripe and ready field just waiting to be sown with the good seeds.

Instead of endearing themselves to the flock by being responsible and dedicated shepherds, many members of the clergy have only succeeded in driving a wedge between them and the Church followers.

They have been deluded into complacency. Just because Catholics still fill the churches, still patronize their schools, still reserve a spot for them in every program, still make sure they are seated at the best table in fiestas, they believe their hold is still solid.

Catholics are not blind followers. They are able to see the waste and folly of too much politicking, the hypocrisy of flogging illegal gambling yet take donations from the same, the sex and fund abuses, and then the turning of the other cheek and the coverup afterward.

It is no wonder then, that while they still fill the churches because their faith is strong and unassailable, hardly anybody follows the marching orders when the clergy barks them. Having severed the guiding hand, the faithful cannot but make their own choices themselves.