My thoughts on the ongoing church synod

I have refrained from commenting on the ongoing Synod at the Vatican this week for the simple reason that we should not talk about the fears of others until the Synod is over. The Synod ends this Sunday. But apparently many in the media from both sides of the spectrum have expressed their views… that the Vatican through this Synod is changing doctrine regarding gays and divorce. Indeed, there have been so many press releases from orthodox clergy expressing their concerns that this Synod could signal a change in the doctrine of the Catholic Church with regards those issues.

So last Wednesday evening, this was one of the topics that Fr. Jerry Quijada shared with us during our recollection at the Opus Dei in Springdale. When the Vatican says that gays and divorcees are welcome to the Catholic Church, it is not something new. They have always been welcomed to the Catholic Church despite their station in life. In fact I have many gay friends who are very devout Catholics.

What the Catholic Church abhors and considers sinful is the act of gays having sex with other gays or divorcees getting married to other divorcees. Fr. Quijada also gave us a story of how the Catholic Church at one time dealt with the issue of suicide deaths. In the past, anyone committing suicide could not be given church rites -- no mass, no blessing from a priest because those who committed suicide in those days were condemned to hell. But then who can tell what was in the state of mind of the person when he committed suicide?

So now the church allows those who commit suicide to be given church rites because the church doesn't condemn those who committed suicide but rather they have a chance to be given God's unfathomable Divine Mercy. Since the installation of St. Peter as the first pope as written in Matthew 16: 19-28, Catholic doctrine was never changed. Even in the dark days when there were two popes, one at the Vatican and the other in Avignon, France, none of them changed Catholic doctrine. Even those popes in the Middle Ages who were believed to have sired children…they may have done nefarious deeds, but never changed our doctrine.

So what we need to do is pray for our church leaders who are now in the Synod… that they too will follow the straight and narrow path (hmmm, this sounds like Pres. Aquino's Daang Matuwid) to salvation… after all God is never changing because he is the Alpha and the Omega… the God who is, who was, and who is to come. So put your trust in the Lord and on his promise to his church…that the gates of Gehenna would never prevail against her.

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I read in the Facebook page of our good friend and fellow Freeman columnist Mike Lopez that last Oct.14th, Pres. Benigno Aquino III gave credit to Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel "Mar" Roxas for the success of the Information Technology and Business Process Management industry during their IT-BPM Summit saying that the "Turning Point" came when Roxas was Secretary of Trade and Industry. Of course he obviously omitted that Sec. Roxas then was under then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

I know for a fact that under PGMA, she had her heart set to bring the Philippines to catch the IT-BPO wave as India was enjoying this singular privilege at that time. In fact PGMA placed the IT-BPO under the National Computer Center under the Department of Science and Technology and made sure that all the agencies of the government would work for the advancement of the IT-BPO Industry.

In fact, the U.P. Ayala Land TechnoHub, a joint effort by the University of the Philippines and Ayala Land, was developed in the Year 2009. If I recall, Sec. Mar Roxas was my first guest on my Talkshow "Straight from the Sky" wherein I flew to Manila to his office in DTI as he just took over as Secretary of DTI under PGMA. Knowing that Pres. Arroyo was a hands-on president, she steered the course of the Philippines and effectively introduced the IT-BPO industry and turned the Cebu AsiaTown IT Park into what it is today. There was nothing there in the Year 2003… now it is filled with buildings no more than 10 years old.

Proof that PGMA was a hands-on president: when my good friend Ace Durano was Secretary of Tourism under the Arroyo Administration, when he assumed his office, my mentor Sir Max Soliven asked me for a meeting with Ace and in that meeting, he asked Ace Durano what his plans and programs for Tourism were. Ace who was then a neophyte was frank enough to admit at that time, "I have no plans and programs as everything will be the plans and programs of Pres. Arroyo." So under PGMA, it was pretty much the same for Sec. Mar Roxas. So credit should be to PGMA!