New Year's Resolutions All Catholics Should Fulfill

It's a few days into the new year, and we're still getting used to writing 2014 instead of 2013. But let me suggest some new year's resolution for us Catholics, that we may grow 'in wisdom and stature' just like the child Jesus. May we light this new year with the light of Christ, to illumine the path in these days of darkness.  "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in Heaven." (Mt. 5:16)

1.  I will go to the Holy Mass and participate more devoutly. This means I will ask everyone in my family to wear their Sunday Best for Sunday Mass. This means I will pay more attention to the homily, and let the priest know if his homily was good. This means I will discipline my younger children bear the rigors of silence, listening, and prayer - and not give them my iPad to play whenever they get bored. This means I will be more conscious of the real presence of the Lord in Holy Communion, and lining up for it in a prayer-like attitude.

Someone did not get the memo on proper attire for Mass. 

2.  I will go to confession more often. This means I take time out to reflect on the wrong I have done and the good I have failed to do more often. 

3. I will take time to nourish my soul with spiritual reading, like the Bible for starters. The Lives of the Saints, too. The Imitation of Christ. There are lots of spiritual books written by brilliant Catholic writers out there, and I will prefer them over wishy-washy self-help books from protestants and new agers. 

Rome Sweet Home, written by former protestants Scott and Kimberly Hahn,  is a must read for all Catholics,

4. I will use my common sense and not believe everything I see or hear on the internet, like that time when the Pope supposedly called for a Third Vatican Council, or that time when he allegedly abolished sin. It's one thing to have stupid articles in the internet, it's another to get swayed by them and believe in them. 

Yeah, right. 

5. I will expand my knowledge about the Catholic faith by attending seminars, fora, formation talks, retreats, and recollections that are being offered to us.

A seminar on the mass media and sex education offered by Pro-Life Philippines

6. I will sanctify my Facebook by posting articles, comments, statuses, videos, and pictures that lead my fellow Catholics closer to God, and bring them to a deeper understanding of our faith. 

7. I will defend sanctity of life in all its stages, marriage between one man and one woman, and the family as the foundation of our society. I will educate myself about the latest trends on the culture of death that threatens to destroy these three things we value, and will actively participate in their defense, whether through prayer, online posts and tweets, taking to the streets, or some other acceptable form of protest. 

8. I will take time to study at least basic apologetics and on how to answer Catholic FAQs, like "do Catholics worship images?' or "Do Catholics worship Mary?" and the like. 

9. I will do a better job teaching the faith to my children. They will learn the love of God from my own personal relationship with Jesus, and the love of neighbor through the love I have for my spouse. 

Don Bosco teaching young boys catechism, as well as their craft for their work. 

10. I will go against the grain and run counter to the TV and selfie culture that we have as a society, and will teach my children to enjoy their childhood the old-fashioned way - through play, interaction, and fun learning experiences. 

Uh-oh. 

Happy New Year! God bless us this 2014! 

Babies are not blessings? Oh Please!

This is yet another reply to the article written by Ana Santos in Rappler - Babies Are Not Blessings. A good friend who is a renowned Catholic apologist has already written his reply to the article here, but let me add my musings about it as well.

My mother, like all mothers, risked her life in delivering me as a baby, but unlike most mothers, she had to battle hypertension during delivery as well. The doctor predicted this would happen, and months before I was born he 'suggested' to my mother that they 'terminate' the pregnancy so she wouldn't have to go through such a life-risking procedure of delivering me. When I was about to be born, her blood pressure shot up to 180/120, but by God's Grace I was delivered into this world just fine.

To this day, she beams with pride and joy whenever she tells her friends that story when she was able to deliver me and risk her life doing so.

 I agree that no woman has to die when she gives birth to her child. What I am against is this negative view about children and babies.

How can babies not be blessings?

We Catholics believe that every child is a blessing, no matter the circumstance that led to his existence. We believe that life is a GIFT from God, regardless whether we value it or not. We believe that a human person has inherent dignity, from the moment of his conception until his last breath, and that this dignity and this life should be upheld, respected, and protected, even by our very lives. These are the basic tenets of the pro-life mindset; this is why we as pro-lifers do not buy that very dangerous term: "each child should be wanted."

Ana Santos writes:

If babies are truly the blessings that we believe they are, each and every pregnancy should be wanted and properly planned for.

Planned Parenthood, the biggest abortion provider in the US, has this to say in their website. 

Who We Are

Our mission is to ensure that every child is a wanted child and to protect reproductive health by providing comprehensive, medically-accurate sex education and quality health care, while advocating for the reproductive rights of women, men and families. 

This is the not-so-amusing thing about some Pro-RH peeps: they deny to highest heavens that RH is about abortion, but they use the same language that pro-abortion people use! Could it be...?

It is true that pregnancy, and in the larger scheme of things, being a parent, ideally should be planned. All babies, however, regardless whether they were planned or not, regardless whether they are wanted by their parents or not, should be treated as blessings. They are like God's promise to this world that, whatever happened prior to his birth, with all the good and the bad things happening in this world, life goes on! 

 Reality Check: Everything Costs Money, Not Just Babies

One way for Ms. Santos to drive home her point was to use the reality of finances. She writes, quoting Dr. Emma Llanto of UP-PGH:

Llanto’s list includes cost of vaccination and visits to the pediatrician (P30,000 in the first year) and modest cost of living at P25,000 – P30,000 per month. 

“And then they start going to school,” says Llanto who takes her cue from the members of the audience and pegs the cost of an exclusive private school at around P100,000 per year.

Of course, having a baby costs money. Having a pet costs money. Many of our hobbies cost money. Many of our passions in life will, at one point, cost money. We are not talking about mouths to feed here, Ms. Santos. We are talking about the future generation. That mouth to feed today will be two hands and a brain tomorrow, once empowered by education. 

Ironically, last week I have had the privilege of interviewing Mr. Manjoe Mendoza, father to 9 children. These days, a man like him would be derided and ridiculed for having a large family. When I sat down to interview him, however, his views on his big family astounded me. Here is a short excerpt of that interview: 

Me: What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a big family?

Manjoe:  It's true that many hands make light work. Presently, we don't have a helper at home. The kids including the small ones pitch in doing the dishes and cleaning the dining area even during school days. No one is exempted unless it is exam week.

There is nothing compared to the dynamics of interacting with real flesh and blood. (You may have hundreds of friends in Facebook but once you shut down your computer, you are left by your lonesome.) The moral and emotional support / encouragement that they give to each other are priceless! 

 Boys' clothes and shoes get handed down and get maximum mileage. The girls, since they are more or less the same size, share wardrobe.

 If there is a difficult subject in school, chances are, there is a subject matter expert the younger ones can consult. The older kids volunteer to tutor the younger ones. With so many hands available, school projects are a breeze! 

 There is little chance that kids will grow up spoiled. They are experts at division. When given a tray of chocolates, the young ones automatically divide it by nine. There is a heightened sense of fairness and justice instilled in them that we cannot claim to have taught them. Only the college kids have their own laptops, the rest share one desktop PC and learn patience by queuing.

They learn to put others first. I never noticed it but Lenette (his wife) pointed out that frequently, there is one last piece of drumstick or hotdog or lumpiang shanghai left on the serving plate. They do not dump food on their plates.
There are also disadvantages, the first one you might have guessed right. Education is expensive. We have given up a lot of things in order to cope with the cost of education. These include children's parties, vacations and weekends for recreation. Our children know why we have to make sacrifices. They appreciate the value of money. We only go to the mall if there is a specific purchase to make; we don't window-shop because it breeds a consumerist mentality. Tough situations call for making sacrifices -- these are golden opportunities to teach temperance and moderation, being a wise consumer and not falling prey to advertising hype. And no, the kids do not feel deprived. 

We have deferred moving to a bigger house in a nicer neighborhood. We live in a 3 bedroom bungalow, that means there is no choice but to get along with other people. Boys stay in one room, girls share a bedroom and bathroom. Even managing with just two toilets at home is not viewed as an inconvenience but a chance for them to: practice time-management; be considerate of other people, not to always put one's self ahead. We've never bought a new car since 1997; we drive second-hand cars. It's more practical and it teaches the value of detachment. We don't acquire things as an end in themselves nor do we measure people by their possessions. 

Photo courtesy of Sky Ortigas

I have been invited to countless children's parties, mostly by my friends who are still beaming with their new status as parents. They tell me all about the joys as well as the struggles of parenthood. I have seen their metamorphosis too. We spent so many nights drinking and partying back in the day Now they are proud parents to their little bundle of joy, and I have seen such a profound transformation in them. Perhaps they realize that their children are both blessings and opportunities for them to improve their lives. 

I dare Ms. Santos to say it to their faces - that their babies are not blessings. 

I am not perfect. I made so many mistakes in my life, and lived through so many embarrassing, shameful, and painful moments. But I choose to believe that I, like everyone else, was born to be a blessing to my family and the rest of the world.

One of the many movies that made me cry was Mr. Holland's Opus, starring Richard Dreyfus. Mr. Holland wanted to become a famous composer of music, but wound up as a music teacher in the local school instead. In this scene, after he was laid off by the principal due to economic reasons, he was given one final goodbye by his students and former students, spanning more than 30 years of his career. Watch this very touching scene. 

The governor of their place, who was then Mr. Holland's student, gave a very inspiring speech: 

Gertrude Lang: Mr. Holland had a profound influence on my life and on a lot of lives I know. But I have a feeling that he considers a great part of his own life misspent. Rumor had it he was always working on this symphony of his. And this was going to make him famous, rich, probably both. But Mr. Holland isn't rich and he isn't famous, at least not outside of our little town. So it might be easy for him to think himself a failure. 

But he would be wrong, because I think that he's achieved a success far beyond riches and fame. Look around you. There is not a life in this room that you have not touched, and each of us is a better person because of you. We are your symphony Mr. Holland. We are the melodies and the notes of your opus. We are the music of your life.

We enrich this world and the lives of those whom we love by our existence. The gifts you have received, give as gifts! And so, as Sr. Pilar Verzosa, the founder of Pro-Life Philippines would often say: I AM GLAD YOU WERE BORN! 

Bakit Iba ang Aura ng mga Seminarista?

Nag-post ako ng luma kong picture sa Facebook, as it is customary dahil nakiki-throwback Thursday ako. Ito yung napili ko kahapon:

A friend of mine commented: Bakit kapag seminarista, iba ang aura? 

Napaisip ako. 

Naaalala ko na madalas kaming lumabas noon as a batch, dahil sa mga requirements sa school. And we wore what was the fashion statement back then. Hindi kami dugyot tignan. But somehow, everywhere we went, people always thought that there was "something" about us. Something different. 

We went to this school deep in Laguna where they were shooting the hit show Tabing Ilog in order to observe some of their classes. We didn't tell anyone that we were seminarians. As soon as we got out of the van, they all said, uy nandiyan na ang mga artista bisita. We went to each class and observed their teachers and students. The principal met us in her office after the activity for a little chit-chat. Five minutes into our conversation, she said:: "Ang bait n'yo naman, bakit 'di na lang kayo mag-pari?" 

Kaya ayun, sinabi na lang namin na seminarista kami. 

Sa dinami-rami ng pinuntahan namin, halos pare-pareho ang sinasabi nila: Parang may kakaiba sa inyo. 

Parang may kakaiba sa inyo.

Kahit anong pilit naming itago, hindi namin maitago. Sabi nga sa Matthew 5:14-16:

 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."

So, what really sets the seminarian apart, and why do people see something different in them? Bakit nga ba iba ang aura ng seminarista? Based on my experience as a seminarian for 7 years, ito ang masasabi ko: 

1. Daily Mass and reception of Holy Communion, Frequent Confession - We received the sacraments frequently; Holy Communion daily, confession at least once a month. Nakatulong din na may pari lagi na available para sa kumpisal. Si Fr. George Schwartz, SDB na aming confessor ay isang tanyag na siyentipiko sa Germany. Naaalala ko, noong buhay pa siya, kahit gaano siya ka-busy sa kanyang laboratory, puntahan mo lang siya at sabihin mong mangungumpisal ka, ititigil niya ang lahat ng ginagawa niya at ibabalik niya ang puso mo sa puso ng Diyos. 

Here's a funny video about confession. 

2. Daily Rosary, and Liturgy of the Hours - Mapadpad man kami sa ibang lugar, tinuruan kami na dalhin lagi ang rosaryo at breviary para makapagdasal kami kung saan man kami abutin ng oras ng dasal. 

3. Innocence - This is not to say that we were all pure and chaste, but inside the seminary there was a constant effort to maintain chastity. The time this picture was taken, I have never been kissed yet, never had a romantic relationship yet, and have not been influenced by pornography yet. I speak only for myself. Ewan ko lang dun sa iba d'yan. Hehe! 

4. They made men out of us - We were trained and treated like soldiers because we were to be God's army in the coming spiritual warfare. I cannot begin to tell you how seriously deprived of good food we were back in the minor seminary in high school. I will give you a clue: (Cue music!) yung sachet ng ketchup ng McDo, kinakain namin patago. Ang ulam kadalasan dati, kropek at itlog na maalat, o isang pirasong hotdog (hinahati ko ng pahaba para isipin ko dalawa yung ulam ko). There was very little extra food, but the little we had, we shared with everyone. 

Everyday, trabaho kami 2 hours a day except Sunday, at madalas mabigat yung trabaho, katulad ng pagtibag ng building at yung mga bato sinasako at nililipat sa ibang lugar. Tapos magtataka yung ibang tao, bakit ang papayat ninyo???

Hindi uso ang mataba sa amin dati; ang pumasok sa seminaryo nang mataba, katulad ko, pumapayat din. 

 Bawal kami makinig ng music o magtago ng cassette player. Bawal mag-tago ng chichirya o extrang pagkain (this is where we got creative - kapag gutom ka talaga, hahanap at hahanap ka ng pagtataguan.). Madalang kami umuwi, at isang beses sa isang buwan lang kami pwedeng dalawin. Wala pa kaming cellphone or internet noon kaya ang paraan lang para makausap ang mga mahal mo sa buhay ay sa telepono o sulat. Gising ng maaga, aral, trabaho, laro, dasal, aral, kain, tulog. Ganyan ang schedule ko sa loob ng pitong taong nandun ako.

Marami pang ibang bagay na nagpatibay ng aming loob na sa susunod ko na ikukwento. 

Of course, being a seminarian has its perks. Nakalibot ako sa maraming lugar sa buong Pilipinas dahil sa mga camping days namin sa seminary. Libre kami sa karamihan ng seminars na inatendan namin. Once every quarter, we were brought to watch a theater play or listen to the orchestra sa Cultural Center of the Philippines, para daw cultured kami. Lahat libre. Still, the life of the seminarian is not an easy one. If someone would ask me, babalik ka pa ba? I will say, no, masaya na ako dito.

I wish I could tell you all the things about seminary life para malaman ninyo bakit iba ang aura ng mga seminarista. I hope I was able to give you a brief glimpse of what goes on inside those walls. At para sa mga seminarista na nakakabasa nito, stay committed to prayer and discernment. Always obey your superiors. Shine, so that they may see your good works and glorify God in heaven. Para naman sa mga gustong pumasok ng seminaryo, I encourage you to think and pray about it.

I invite everyone to pray for your seminarians. They will be our future pastors. It is not enough that they have a different aura from us. What matters is that they answer God's calling for them, and in these confusing times, it is sometimes difficult to hear God's voice. Let us never forget to pray for all of them, including our priests. 

The Top 5 Most Absurd and Persistent Comments in Social Media

Through the years I have read a lot of articles, blogs, Tweets, and comments from Facebook to other sites. I found out the hard way an undeniable and glaring truth: the use of social media does not guarantee intelligence nor common sense. In fact, I think that the internet should be called Idiot Box 2.0. I have gathered some of the most uninformed and uneducated comments and status updates out there, and take note that these comments are pretty common comments made by a lot of people, not just some bloke who happened to think too far outside the box. These absurd comments have a way of spreading around, and people tend to pick them up without even thinking them over, hence you see a lot of people using the same comment. What’s worse is that those making these comments actually think they said something brilliant. Without further ado, here they are, ranked according to absurdity and persistence, and some explanation on how to respond to these comments.  

5. The Church is medieval, backward, and archaic

This comment is used to make the Church look like some collection of old farts and hillbillies who know nothing about science. Fact is that many priests and members of the clergy have degrees in various fields in academics, including the sciences. Even prominent scholars like Thomas Woods say that the backbone of our modern civilized society is the Catholic Church, who was responsible for the spreading and preserving of knowledge after the Roman era (through the monks who collected and reproduced books and taught and tutored so many people during these times.) The Catholic Church was also responsible for the scientific method and the university system. Nicholas Copernicus was a priest. George Lemaitre was a Belgian priest who came up with the Big Bang theory. In fact, many of our famous scientists were Catholic: Galileo Galilei, René Descartes, Louis Pasteur, Blaise Pascal, André-Marie Ampère, Gregor Mendel, Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, Pierre de Fermat, Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, Marin Mersenne, Alessandro Volta, Augustin-Louis Cauchy, Pierre Duhem, Jean-Baptiste Dumas, Roger Boscovich, Pierre Gassendi, and Georgius Agricola, to name a few.

It is also worth noting that many of our modern laws originate from the Ten Commandments. For a good reference on how to debunk the argument and other comments related to this, watch in YouTube “The Catholic Church, Builder of Civilization.”

(Related arguments: The Crusades, The Inquisition)

The Catholic Church is against science, you said? Copernicus is not impressed. 

(Related arguments: The Crusades, The Inquisition)      

4. Pedophile Priests

This is a common retort of those who don’t have anything intelligent or relevant to contribute to the conversation. It is also used by the supposed smart ones to buttress their argument, especially after using #5 – The Church is medieval, backward, and archaic. Of course, the fact that there are priests who abused children and minors is not to be denied, but anyone using some common sense here can sense that the media has blown this out of proportion. Penn State professor Philip Jenkins (who is not a Catholic) has written the most objective book on the subject, and he summarizes his arguments in this excellent article. In light of his work, we should remember some basic facts and principles:

·                   ·         All religious groups have pedophile scandals, and the Catholics (while the largest religious                  group) are at the bottom of the list statistically.

·                 ·         Child abuse is prevalent in all areas of society: schools, youth organizations, sports, etc.

·         Statistically, of all the professions, Christian clergy are least likely to offend. Doctors, Farmers and Teachers are the professions most likely to abuse children–not clergy.

·         Among clergy offenders Catholic priests are least likely to offend.

• Catholic cases of pedophilia make more headlines because of anti Catholic prejudice and because the Catholic Church is bigger and more lucrative to sue.
• The number of Catholic priests guilty of pedophilia is very small.
• What we now call ‘cover up’ was often done in a different cultural context, when the problem was not fully understood and when all establishment organizations hushed scandals. They did so for what seemed good reasons at the time: protection of the victims and their families, opportunity for rehabilitation of the offender, the avoidance of scandal to others. It is unfair to judge events thirty years ago by today’s standards.

Again, while we do not deny the existence of priests who have committed atrocious sexual crimes against minors, we have to put things into context in order to come up with the truth. Professor Jenkin’s book is for sale here.              

3. Jesus taught us to love, not to hate

Used by those who advocate homosexual acts and same-sex marriage. Same-sex union proponents often make the excuse (a heretical excuse if I may add) that nowhere in the Bible does Jesus say that homosexual acts are wrong. Ironically, the ones who make these comments are the ones who have either rejected Christianity or the ones who are totally ignorant of it. The Judeo-Christian tradition has always maintained that homosexual acts are intrinsically wrong. This is the same tradition that was handed to Jesus, and the tradition that Jesus lived in. Sure, Jesus taught love, but Jesus also taught to “sin no more.”

There would always be people and groups who will twist the scriptures and the teachings of the Catholic Church in order to validate homosexual relationships. In my opinion, however, we need to be extra understanding to our brethren with Same Sex Attraction; not to the point of tolerating the sin, of course, but to understand that they must have encountered something very wrong in their childhood, something very painful, for them to have SSA.

Here are the teachings on Homosexuality and the homosexual act based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

Father, forgive them for they think they're cool by doing this. 

In a nutshell: No, we as Catholics can never approve of homosexual acts and same-sex marriage because it is by itself wrong, and goes against natural law. However, we need to free people with SSA from unjust discrimination, and treat them with the utmost respect. The person with SSA is thereby called to a life of chastity, just like every Catholic. That’s the clear and unmistakable stand of the Church. There should be no hate, nor judgment, nor bigotry involved; just a genuine desire for our brethren with SSA to lead meaningful and holy lives.

(Related arguments: Catholics are homophobic haters and bigots who do not support equality)       

2. You Catholics Worship Images!

This is one of the more common ones, and anti-Catholics do not seem to understand their scripture, or even basic human nature. If I were to look at the portrait of my mother, and say “Mum, I love you”, did I mean that I love the portrait, or my mother?

The website Catholic Answers explains the issue very thoroughly:

"Because Catholics have statues in their churches, goes the accusation, they are violating God’s commandment: "You shall not make for yourself a graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow down to them or serve them" (Ex. 20:4–5); "Alas, this people have sinned a great sin; they have made for themselves gods of gold" (Ex. 32:31). 

The Ark of the Covenant. Found by Indiana Jones. Kept at Hangar 51.

It is right to warn people against the sin of idolatry when they are committing it. But calling Catholics idolaters because they have images of Christ and the saints is based on misunderstanding or ignorance of what the Bible says about the purpose and uses (both good and bad) of statues. 

Yet if people were to "search the scriptures" (cf. John 5:39), they would find the opposite is true. God forbade the worship of statues, but he did not forbid the religious use of statues. Instead, he actually commanded their use in religious contexts! 

 God Said To Make Them

People who oppose religious statuary forget about the many passages where the Lord commands the making of statues. For example: "And you shall make two cherubim of gold [i.e., two gold statues of angels]; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end; of one piece of the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be" (Ex. 25:18–20). 

David gave Solomon the plan "for the altar of incense made of refined gold, and its weight; also his plan for the golden chariot of the cherubim that spread their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord. All this he made clear by the writing of the hand of the Lord concerning it all, all the work to be done according to the plan" (1 Chr. 28:18–19). David’s plan for the temple, which the biblical author tells us was "by the writing of the hand of the Lord concerning it all," included statues of angels. 

Similarly Ezekiel 41:17–18 describes graven (carved) images in the idealized temple he was shown in a vision, for he writes, "On the walls round about in the inner room and [on] the nave were carved likenesses of cherubim."  

The Religious Uses of Images

Moses apparently did not get the memo about
not making images. Hmm. 

During a plague of serpents sent to punish the Israelites during the exodus, God told Moses to "make [a statue of] a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live" (Num. 21:8–9). One had to look at the bronze statue of the serpent to be healed, which shows that statues could be used ritually, not merely as religious decorations. 

1. The Catholic Church opposes RH so that there are more babies, ergo more collection during baptism and more future mass-goers

This is so absurd that I hesitate to even answer this argument whenever I encounter it. It’s an argument based on ignorance, malice, arrogance, lack of common sense, and hasty judgment. Of course any parish or church would need funds in order to survive. That is the basic reality of this world: you have to pay the bills, pay your workers, repair damaged buildings, and purchase all the necessary things like food. The argument is malicious because it implies that the clergy are making their services as fund-raisers. While it is true that some abuse their authority, again we have to understand that there are temporal matters to consider.

A related argument I see often is: Why doesn’t the Pope sell the Vatican and give the money to the poor? Sarah Silverman made the same argument in a video 4 years ago. Okay, let’s say we do sell the Vatican, collect around 500 billion, and feed the poor of the world. How long can that money last, you think? Not very long, we all know. Meanwhile, we have not addressed the real issues that cause poverty, and the same people we have helped this year with the 500 billion will still be poor the next year – and the Church, the biggest charitable organization in the world, reaching out to more people than any government can, is out of funds.

The same can be said of the RH law. Give them condoms and pills, but not address the real problems exacerbating and causing their poverty, then you have just wasted billions of taxpayers’ money on contraceptives.

So, is your friend still keen on selling the Vatican? If he says yes, then I have good news for him: Judas thought along the same lines.

I fondly remember my English teacher back in 4^th year high school who said, “Intelligence is like underwear. If you don’t have it, it shows.” We should be committed to the truth always. Practice humility at all times, especially during heated discussions. If you see more common and absurd comments, please type them at the comment box below, and let us all discover the truth (and laugh uncontrollably) together.