Fernando: The priests

“Priests, what have you done?

That you suffer the wrath of men.

People, have you gone mad?

That on the altar, you spilled their blood.”


THE Church buried Father Richmond Nilo in Nueva Ecija on Friday last week. Fellow priests carried his coffin followed by thousands of faithful as they walked towards the cemetery where he can rest in peace. Perhaps.

But resting may not be the case for fellow priests throughout the country.

Father Nilo was shot in Nuestra Señora de la Nieve Chapel in Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija, while preparing to celebrate mass and he was the third priest killed and fourth to be shot since December last year.

On December 04, 2017, Fr. Marcelito “Tito” Paez, was shot dead by motorcycle-riding men while he was driving his vehicle in Jaen town, Nueva Ecija province. On April 29, 2018, Fr. Mark Anthony Ventura, was gunned down after saying Mass in Gattaran town, Cagayan province. Father Richmond Nilo was the third, and a fourth priest, who had served as chaplain for the Philippine police, survived an assassination attempt outside of the capital Manila earlier this month.

The killings were cold and brutal. Father Paez was driving in town when they shot him. Father Ventura was talking with choir members when they killed him, and Father Nilo was at the altar when he was shot four times.

These priests were executed before the public. The criminals could have killed them in the silence of their sleep as a sign of respect considering their distinct role as representatives of God but no, they were killed without the slightest hint of remorse. “They are killing our flock. They are killing us, the shepherds,” the letter, signed by Archbishop Socrates Villegas and other senior church leaders, read.

There was a time when the altar and habit protect priests from criminals.

One reason is the strong religiosity of the people in the country. To disrespect a priest is usually seen as a grave sin and a Filipino would not have the idea of killing one of them because it is like persecuting the One they represent.

Priests would commit sin before but many people have always forgiven, ignored or forgot those errors. They would accept their frailties. The worst thing people could do was to hate or condemn them but the idea of killing them was unlikely and the act was seen as unforgivable.

Priests are expected to lead the congregation in their spiritual life and part of this is announcing the good news and denouncing the bad. The matters of state and politics are not outside the realm of priesthood ministry. How can priests remain silent if the government and other individuals contradict the teaching of the Church? Priests are expected to speak to fight these abuses because this is the core of spirituality.

People and politicians know this. That is why when the Church through the priests criticize them, they may defend themselves of these accusations.

They may make gestures of retaliation but they would not dare to cross the line. This is an acknowledgment that the Church or priests are part of something divine.

But that was before. The change has really come when the new president swore in. We should be alarmed,” Fr. Jerome Secillano, a spokesman of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said in an interview with Al Jazeera on Wednesday.

The priests condemned the government’s manner of campaign against illegal drugs. They condemned the perceived extra-judicial killings, the summary executions, and the deaths of innocents.

Like many other politicians who are being accused and criticized, Duterte defended his campaign pointing out his good intention and the criminalities committed by drug-users. He retaliated by attacking the so-called declining moral ascendancy of the bishops and priests.

The problem is he did not stop and people noticed Duterte did not have the same respect to the Church like any other president they’ve seen before. People took their side and their view of the Church has changed.

January 2017 when Duterte said that the Church is a full of shit. “I challenge you now. I challenge the Catholic Church. You are full of shit. You all smell bad, corruption and all.”

“The [critical] priests should take shabu to understand. I recommend one or two of the bishops take it also,” Duterte said, using the local term for crystal meth, the country’s most-used illegal drug.”

“I’m telling them: ‘Why stop it? When you expose the frailties of your faithful, you are free to shout in the pulpit’,” he said. “But you exempt yourselves. What is this? You expose me, I expose you,” he said, and enjoined them to support his administration’s anti-drug efforts instead of being “hypocrites” and enjoying nice clothes, vehicles, homes, even a city such as the Vatican, while many Filipinos languish in poverty.”

In July last year, when he was criticized again by the Church among many sectors, he lambasted the Church telling that many priests womanize.

“P***** i** kayong mga obispo kayo, mga y*** ka, kala mo sino kayo. Pareho lang trabaho natin. Karami ninyong babae,” he said.

(. . . you bishops . . . who do you think you are? We have the same vice. You have lots of women. “Have you read the ‘Altar Secrets’? There’s a book, ‘Altar Secrets.’ Ayaw ko nang magsalita. It’s online. Basahin mo, bukas hindi ka na Katoliko, maniwala ka.”

Mr. Duterte criticized the Church like a sworn enemy. Filipinos have witnessed that the Church and priests can be treated like any other. They can be cursed, disrespected, and attacked. It was through treatment of the president that people viewed priests and the Church as ordinary. The Church can be condemned and the priests can be killed.

The killing of priests could be the result of the endless tirade against them by no less than the president. These series of assaults could have influenced the mindset of the criminals. It could have served as rationalization of the plan to harm the priests. It could have motivated criminals to hurt the priests. People commit acts of crime because they perceive and choose (habitually or after some deliberation) a particular kind of act of crime as an action alternative in response to a specific motivation (a temptation or a provocation) (Wikström, 2014).

Bishop Villegas urged Duterte “to stop the verbal persecution” against the Catholic Church, “because such attacks can unwittingly embolden more crimes against priests”.

Three priests dying in six months is not a coincidence. Something has changed because one very influential person initiated this change. The people masterminding these murders many be different persons but one person links them all, the president. If the faithful do not do something to protect their shepherd, more shepherds will be lost and more sheep will be scattered.

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