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Friday, January 24, 2003
Wenceslao: World Meeting of Families
By Bong Wenceslao
It is definitely one of the biggest events in the country this year. I am referring to the Fourth World Meeting of Families that was formally opened in Manila the other day. Consider the number: nine cardinals, 193 bishops, 320 priests, 6,000 delegates. And had there not been a problem with the Pope’s health, the icing would have been his presence.
The World Meeting of Families is being held amidst changes that are shaking the foundation of the Catholic Church. Indeed, the Church’s teachings are being challenged by what Alfonso Cardinal Trujillo, papal representative to the Philippines, refers to as “neo-paganism,” which is characterized by consumerism, materialism, secularism, etc.
Actually, “neo-paganism” is one mindset tugging at the coattails of capitalist globalization. As globalization breaks down economic barriers, it also destroys age-old beliefs and native culture, replacing these with what Cardinal Trujillo obviously abhors. This is very observable in a Philippines that is being sucked into the globalist setup.
Indeed, the challenge posed by globalization to traditional Catholic teachings and practices in the country has become more pronounced in the tug-of-war between the pro-life and the pro-choice groups. Also, new ways of seeing the world brought about by the speedy advance in technology (remember cloning?) are filtering into the country.
And all these have cropped up at a time when the Catholic Church itself is being rocked by the exposure of long-hidden sins and crimes of priests and other Church leaders. It has weakened further the efforts, as Cardinal Trujillo said, to transfer the “truth synthesized in the symbol of the faith or taught in the Church” into the context of life.
No, I am not asking the Church to be more aggressive in ramming through its teachings. Rather, I am hoping that delegates of the Fourth World Meeting of Families would review the old teachings vis-à-vis the changed setting. For if the Church wants to remain relevant, it has to change its views that are already out of touch with reality.
P.S. My proposal to use moveable iron railings to control the Sinulog crowd got a lengthy response from Vic Ramos, project manager of Metso Automation Scada Solutions Inc. in Houston, Texas. Here are some excerpts: “I agree with your comments on discontinuing the use of human bodies as tools for crowd control and traffic management. This has to stop outright.
Per your writing, you recommended that if it is cost prohibitive to start using expensive iron railings, then at least organizers can start with a few and use them on “choke point” areas only. I see this as just a bandage fix to the main problem because people will just move to another location where there are no iron railings…
I remember when I was still in the business of selling raw materials (pallets and container skids) to lumber shops in the city. These shops sell skids and pallets to shipping companies and forwarders. I can see the city renting reconfigured skids and pallets and using these as temporary barrier and wooding railings during the (Sinulog) festivities.
How do you do it? Well, these shops already have stockpiles of skids available. You can just ask them to mount a removable triangle stand on the side of a skid using a 2 x 2 x 2. This should be strong enough to withstand the crowd for a day or two. Of course, you use this in conjunction with resources available to police the streets and making sure that the wooden railings are observed, respected, and limits followed.
The pallets can be rented and delivered at strategic locations for ease in installation, and city workers or organizers can line them up at the intended areas needing borders and fences to control the crowd. After the festivities the pallets can then be picked up by the suppliers and put back to their inventory…
Also, let me know when you and I can go into business of renting permanent iron railings to city events and Sinulog festivities. We can steal ideas from configurable iron railings used here in the US of A. They are stockable and uses very little space to store…Gives me a reason to my wife to go home during Sinulog celebrations. My last Sinulog was when it started back in the early 80’s. It’s been a while.”
Finally, Aaron Enriquez of Katipunan St., Labangon, Cebu City and an unidentified texter considered as stupid the argument of NBI 7 agents that the strafing incident that wounded five Plantation Bay employees was an “honest mistake of fact.”
(For your Text Reax contributions, my cell phone no. is 09166496783. Please give your complete name and address. My e-mail address is cowens21 @lycos.com)
(January 24, 2003 issue)
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