An appeal for objectivity and kind consideration in the case of Msgr. Cris Garcia

The belated suspension by the Holy See, after more than two and a half decades of inaction, of Msgr. Cristobal Garcia from his priestly functions is deeply regrettable, unfair and disappointing and finds scant basis in temporal and canon law as well as in the basic law called common sense.

The alleged two incidents of sexual molestations of altar boys happened some 28 years ago in the United States. While it should have given rise to: a) criminal, b) civil, and c) administrative actions, nothing criminal unfolded. The civil aspect appeared settled a long time ago. As for the administrative, the purportedly erring priest got expelled from his original Order of the Dominicans over 27 years ago as reported. That’s why he got incardinated to the Archdiocese of Cebu in 1985, becoming one of its most popular priests, getting  conferred the status of “Monsignor” as in Most Reverend through the years and founding the Society of the Angels of Peace.

In the laws of men, the matter of prescription of offenses and extinction of liabilities are universal legal principles. Art. 89 of our Revised Penal Code considers an offense extinguished by prescription and extinction, among others. Under Art. 90 and 91, capital offenses prescribe in 20 years and are extinguished in 25 years. Offenses punishable by afflictive penalties and down the lower levels follow a downgraded scale.

In Canon Law, it is even more instantaneous. After all, who can beat God? Thus,   forgiveness of the sin and the sinner comes upon repentance, as spelled out by the Cebu Archdiocese spokesman. If such is the case, how come the Holy See as administrator and enforcer of Canon Law and the Church, dug up what has otherwise been buried for over two and a half decades?

The basic law of ordinary human conduct, dubbed as “common sense” would not allow such long inaction. We lawyers refer to it as  “laches”, as in sleeping and not exercising what should normally been done. Inaction, however, pales to the inconsistencies. By its own acts and/or omission, the Holy See or the Catholic Church which it represents led us to believe otherwise. Rather than timely preventing the erring priest from continuing with his priestly function pending an accompanying  timely and speedy investigation of allegedly unpriestly acts, it allowed him to move on and become a very successful evangelist and touched lives as he touched mine and the BLD flock of Cebu which is the core of BLD flocks in Central Visayas and Northern Mindanao, as well as the lives of faithful believers and countless Sto. Niño devotees all over! Now, after 28 years and amidst  all these positive developments is the announcement of a preventive suspension of his priestly function, while  grave digging denominated as investigation is on going.

If I feel hurt and betrayed as a Catholic who knows the good things Msgr. Cris has done, I can just imagine the pain suffered by the good priest, his beloved mother, and siblings. How I wish a parallelism could be made with Christ’s case! Perhaps we can start with the Scriptural “though shall not cast the first stone”. A lot of questions come to mind, of sins and sinners and who hides it well. Let this not be a contest of what is worse, from sins of lust, to avarice, to greed and what have we. We are all sinners and its comical for us to  quarrel with each other  on who is saintly. As we can observe, even the Canon law managers would be undeserving of beatification if, by their administrative laches and estoppel, they let the “sword of Damocles” cruelly dangle for 28 long years over the head of Msgr. Cris. The effect is sadistic and dastardly.

One thing that stands clear from this mess is our humanity. The erring priest is simply human of which we could take multi dimensional and objective perceptions! If we label him a rich businessman and philanthropist, he would be on top of a pedestal like one who prefers the same sex yet adored and highly respected for his goodness. If we label him a womanizer politician with his gift of eloquence and dedicated public service, he could have followed the path of a past president. Please make no mistake:  Msgr. Cris committed no crime, cheated no one, touched lives, and lit the darkened paths of weary souls that they may live once more. He deserve our objectivity, kind consideration, sympathy and prayers. Not condemnation.