I WROTE about the complaint of some Our Lady of Mount Carmel parishioners in Lutopan, Toledo City against their parish priest, Fr. Rolando Manayon, whom they accused of being arrogant and not approachable and of having “dictatorial tendency.” They also condemned the collection of high rates for wedding, baptism and burial masses.
In their position paper addressed to Archbishop Jose Palma and the Board of Consultors, they asked that Manayon be investigated and transferred to another parish. The Board of Consultors is composed of episcopal vicars and bishops.
The petitioners said they sought an audience with Palma four times to personally air their concerns against Fr. Manayon. But they got frustrated because their appeal “fell on deaf ears.” Here’s a portion of an addendum to their letter:
“The pastoral council of our parish had to stop certain parishioners from going to the media, if only to protect the local church from embarrassment. Instead, we held a dialogue and explained to them that the proper way is to seek help from the proper church authority. It is just unfortunate that our small voices were simply ignored by the above-mentioned church authorities...
“We have visited the Archbishop Palace four times but obviously our presence and our voices were insignificantly regarded. Opening statement pa lang gani sa among pakigkita sa halangdong Bishop Palma, buot na dayong sirad-an ang among hunahuna ug mga baba sa among intentions when he said that, “don’t you worry because there is going to be a general reshuffling by 2019.”
“In other words, he told us to bear with our priest until 2019, even if he himself admitted “nga sa musika pa, ‘yabag’ si Fr. Manayon.
“Seemingly, we were being listened to during our meeting kay kunohay naay gamayng notebook gidala in our presence ug pasulat-sulat and we were promised results after his conference with his Board of Consultors. But again, to our utter disappointment, not even a simple text message or call reached us.”
Well, this is the usual case. The church hierarchy has the tendency to side with its priests even if some of them have committed questionable acts. Take for example the case of the former Team Ministry assigned in Minglanilla parish. They were not immediately re-assigned or suspended from performing their “priestly functions.”
Kun ang pari ug mga parokyano way maayong relasyon, makaguba na sa pagtuo sa Ginoo. Aw og dili aksiyonan inyong reklamo, ayaw mo panimba sa inyong parokya. O balhin mo sa “Iglesia ni Duterte.”