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Monday, April 11, 2005
Pinoys leaving Catholic Church: official
MANILA -- A Church official has said more and more Catholic Filipinos are leaving and transferring to other religions due to their failure to evangelize the Philippines, the only Roman Catholic country in Asia.
"We have to be humble in admitting the fact that, we, the Catholic Church, have not always been effective in our mission in the Philippines," said Imus Bishop Luis Tagle, member of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
Tagle said one factor why some Catholic Filipinos are leaving is because of their "disappointment".
"We are not always faithful and that drives some people away," he said.
The Catholic Church in the Philippines had been haunted in the past years by the involvement of some priests and bishops in sexual misconducts.
Two bishops, Crisostomo Yalung and Teodoro Bacani, were stripped of their administrative and ministerial functions after they got involved in sexual misconduct. At least 200 members of the clergy have reportedly been involved in sexual misconduct over the past 20 years.
Another reason, Tagle said, is that some groups or sects are using other tactics to lure Catholic devotees to transfer to them by inculcating a "shopping mall mentality."
"People are (now) going to a shopping mall of different faith and saying let me try this, let me try that, let me try that. I've been unhappy for so long I want a change so let me try this one," he said.
However, Tagle said other religious groups who take them in will also face a similar dilemma.
"Those sects... (that are now) getting people who are non-committed Catholic... sad to say they might not be committed members also if the motivation is just to shop around," he said.
With all these happening in the Catholic Church, Tagle said the successor of Pope John Paul II faces more challenges while trying to maintain a united church because of globalization.
"Every pope caters to a new set of challenges as the world and church change so every new pope have to restudy the world, a new world that is coming to life and would draw from the resources of faith how to respond to them," he said.
He said "we are trying to find a new balance but I think we cannot anymore run away from that phenomenon and the Church would have to find a way of embracing that plurality to maintain a communion." (Marie Neri)
(April 11, 2005 issue)
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