Among all the issues surrounding the RH Bill, this particular one probably annoys me and irritates me the most. A couple of months ago, I heard in the news that in a Catholic Church in Baguio, a priest who was celebrating the mass asked his parishioners to leave the Church immediately if they are supporters of the RH Bill. This angered me in so many levels because even though you are a priest, a vicar of the Lord God, I don not think you have the right to tell people, Catholics most especially, to leave the house of God just because they do not have the same beliefs as you do and the Catholic Church.
While searching for blog entries regarding the RH Bill, I stumbled upon one blogger who wrote about this untimely incident. He wrote:
“A priest at the Baguio Cathedral drew flak from some Catholics after he ordered people supporting the reproductive health bill to leave the church and stop hearing Mass.
His remarks drew outrage from some parishioners, who walked out in consternation.
The priest, whose identity was withheld, used his sermon to mock supporters of the bill such as former Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel.
“Kung meron nakikimisa dito pero pro-RH bill… Please, go out. It’s useless,” the priest said.
“What is this mass for if you are pro-RH bill? What is going to Church for if you’re pro-RH bill?” he asked.
The prelate also criticized Hontiveros-Baraquel. “Ang ganda-gandang babae niya…pero ang pangit-pangit ng stand niya.”
ABS-CBN News tried to get the side of the priest, but he left for a“vacation” in Laoag.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines also declined to give a statement, saying the body prefers to air its stand in dialogues.”
I find this stint of this particular priest ridiculous for he has no right in any way to do such thing. Yes he is a leader of the Catholic Church, but no leader, whatever your religion is, should not act this way towards those people who look up to him. He is the leader of the Catholic Church, no matter how the Church’s stand is against his parishioners; he should make sense of everything and not do a sermon like this inside the Church. I hate to say this, but as a priest, he is an embarrassment to the Catholic Church. He is God’s representative here on earth to speak His word, he has no right to chastise Catholics this way because God himself is the only one who can do this. Also, how do you expect Catholics to follow the word of God and attend mass every Sunday when if you do so, you will be disciplined in a way you do not deserve to be. We are living in a free country, we have the right and freedom to think for ourselves and have our own beliefs. No leader of any kind, may he be a priest in a Catholic Church, can tell us to think otherwise just because we do not have the same beliefs as he does.
Source: http://www.pinoytumblr.com/post/4748709181/priest-tells-rh-bill-supporters-to-leave-mass
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