How come I never burn “at the stake” whenever I attend masses? Oh well, I’ve forgotten. I only go to the church to listen to the gospel, and not to hear the Church lambaste on us gays and lesbians. The priests may cast the first stone to us, that’s okay (and I think it’s how the society would deem it fit), but then had they forgotten the sins of the clergy over there in the United States?
The sexual abuse scandals involving the Roman Catholic priests in the US some couple of years ago rocked the whole Christendom. Even the late Pope John Paul II tried to calm dowm the growing disbelief and disappointment by Catholics worldwide and in the US over the incident, while at the same time gave the “sinful” priests their deserved reprimand.
For sometimes I still don’t understand why being gay is sinful in the eyes of the Church when the clergy themselves keep dark secrets within their closet. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against this whole institution. I still go to the church every Sunday, and try to faithfully abide by the canons of my faith. But the Church’s amorphous nature only complicates my already ambiguous search for answers behind the Church’s stand on the existence of gays and lesbians in this world.
If I’m not wrong with my information, homosexuality existed even before Christ was born in this world. In ancient Greece, to see homosexual relationship between two Greek men, mostly soldiers, was considered neither abnormal nor immoral. Nevertheless most societies abhor homosexuality as taboo.
But following the sexual revolution of the 1960s as an offshoot of the paradigm shift at that time that gave rise to other schools of thought and movements like women’s liberation, anti-racism and socialism, the world is slowly but surely realizing the emancipation of the gay movement. Look around, and in every sector of our society, the presence of gays and lesbians in the academe, in the workplace and in the bureaucracy, albeit experiencing discriminations nevertheless, are all but evidence of the society’s increasing tolerance of homosexuality.
And the Church? Well, we Filipinos still look up to this institution (the way our Muslim brethren and ethnic kinsfolk look up to their faith) with high regard. As the biggest Christian denomination in all of Asia and perhaps the Far East (applying the hegemonistic Western perspective), the Church plays a central role in our daily lives, sometimes to everyone’s detriment.
We all recognize the pivotal role the Church played in the ouster of former strongman Ferdinand Marcos and actor turned president Joseph Estrada. But when the Church already turns didactic in influencing government policies, especially the controversial debate on population control and contraception, and on Charter Change, we all but somehow question the legitimacy of their moves. Isn’t the Church supposed to be separated from all affairs of the State, as our Constitution so provides? Well, being a Third World country does somehow explain the Church’s increasing role in the society, especially in our case where a lameduck government prevails and a climate of volatility looms.
In contrast to most developed nations in Western Europe, supposedly the bastion of Catholic faith, church attendance has dwindled in the last two decades as more people grow more satisfied with the efficiency of their governments in providing for their needs. And they also have a more liberal society. Divorce, which is loathed by our bishops, is legal in France and Italy. Canada and Spain, which brought Catholicism to the Philippines, allowed same-sex marriage. And euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands. In some other Catholic nations, prostitution and gambling, which are considered taboo in the Philippines, are also legalized.
Ok, perhaps we are somehow losing our way from our original argument. Well, we are actually questioning the integrity of the Church in our lives. Why “solid” Catholics shrink in number worldwide can be attributed to the Church’s losing integrity. It detests the use of condoms and artificial contraceptives for population growth as they are “sinful” but they are unable to provide solid answers (and I mean a lot of answers, not one) to curb the growing population and stop poverty. It abhors homosexuality but it lost sight on the horrible acts of some of its priests.
One can never expect good things from the Church when the Church itself cannot expect good things from within themselves. The Church after all is never powerful, nor clean. And if they’re indeed powerful, how come they can’t burn me at stake in the Church? And perhaps I am never alone in that thinking. On one rainy Sunday evening, I was in the church in Tayuman with my mother, and I noticed two pairs of male “couples” attending Mass as well. They’re sweet to each other, I observed. At the very least, I thought, they have the balls to reveal their true identities. Unlike the Church whose priests need to hide their acts under their robes, and still continue to preach against homosexuality.
Now, between the Church and the homosexual community, who’s got the dirty linen?
