The Greater Tragedy

(Reposting from the original post at Pro-Life Philippines - yes it's the same article because I wrote that too.)

Stories and rumors from the rubble and devastation in Bohol:

If this was true, then not only has the President categorically rejected the Church, but as a president he showed poor understanding of the concept of Separation of Church and State.

What is the Separation of Church and State all about? We doubt it is how the president – and how so many among us – understand it. It was never meant to mean that the Church should not meddle in state matters, and vice versa. It was meant so that there should be not one single religion will be in effect  the official religion of the nation.

But then, he’s the president, and he has show that he is the boss, not us – a claim which resounded to the four corners of this country during his inauguration. And the boss has been very inimical against the Church for three years now. Imagine, he has all that money in his PDAF, and all the money to persuade congress into approving the RH bill and to sign and implement it, despite it being billed as one of the most expensive laws to execute (pegged at 13 billion pesos).

President Aquino refuses to use government money to help in the reconstruction of the churches, even though at the end of the day that money is our money, which came from taxes.  Needless to say that part of that money too, came from tourism, and the churches were not only tourist hot spots but heritage structures as well. The greater tragedy, however, isn’t his refusal to use our money for the churches in Bohol and Cebu. These churches will be rebuilt,by hook or by crook, with or without the help of the government.

The greater tragedy here is that we have a president who thinks that he can leave his Catholic identity behind when it comes to state matters, a trait also shown by many of congressmen. This president, a proud Atenean, willfully turned away from his Catholic roots as he signed the RH bill into law. Ateneo, a supposedly Catholic university, has unwittingly shown support for the president when it failed to take concrete and substantial action against its more than 200 professors who publicly signed a document supporting RH. The Atenean president, in turn, shows his gratitude to the Church that gave him his education by refusing to help Her in this time of rebuilding.

photo courtesy of gmanetwork.com

The greater tragedy here is that so many people think like the president. They are the ones who say they are Catholic, but supported and promoted the RH bill, like Risa Hontiveros, a graduate of St. Scholastica’s College. They are the ones who push the LGBT agenda, like Boy Abunda, who went to Ateneo for some time. He is ostentatious when it comes to his scapular, but is in a relationship with another man. They are the ones wanting to decriminalize abortion, like journalist Patricia Evangelista, a graduate of St. Theresa’s College. The physical structures can be rebuilt, but it is Catholics who separate their faith from their lives that really destroy the Church from the inside.

More than rebuilding our churches, we should also rebuild the Church. Starting from ourselves. Let’s rebuild our faith, renewing it through our commitment and passion to know, love, and serve Christ. Had we done this a long time ago, the RH law will not have seen the light of day, because our Catholic politicians will be armed by their spiritual fortitude to do what is moral and just.

Had we done this a long time ago, there would be no PDAF or DAP issue. The money would have gone to where it should have been allotted to, and not in the bogus NGOs of our politicians. All that money would have created more infrastructure, made more schools and educated more children, and saved more men and women’s lives in better-funded hospitals.

In short: had we taught our children to be holy Catholics who lived their faith, we would have taught them to be upright citizens too. And upright citizenry is the foundation of progress.

It’s time to rebuild my friends. One block at a time, one act of faith at a time. We will get there.