THE Cebu Archdiocese came up the other day with a “Salamat, Padre” celebration, a rather delayed reaction to the killings of some Catholic priests but whose occurrence has not been observed lately. It was still a timely reminder of the recent spate of killings that hit Cebu Province and Cebu City.
The celebration was also held a day after the feast of St. John Vianney, the patron saint of priests, who died last Aug. 4, 1859. Vianney was known for his priestly asceticism, for counseling those in need and for founding an orphanage for girls. He would make himself available for confession for up to 16 hours a day.
“As if wala na’y value ang kinabuhi, nga bisag ang tawo nga gidudahan lang sa usa ka krimen, patyon lang og dali-dali...Why do we take justice in our own hands?” Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma said. The complaint resonates as a “culture of impunity” is now being felt in Cebu considering that a good number of the killings have been unsolved.
But there is something more that the Catholic Church can do than just issuing comments. There may not even be much of a need to zero in on the government for promoting the culture of impunity or of the police for failing to stem the tide of the killings. The church can just spread aggressively and well among the faithful the teachings of Christ and guide them in their practice.
Which is, after all, what religion should be partly about: a guide for social conduct. It is not only about belief in God but in also how that belief could help the faithful deal with society and the world. That the faithful would go wayward can be proof of the failure of church leaders to have Christ’s teachings take root among them.
We are a predominantly Catholic country, which would mean that those who no longer see value in human life and promote the culture of impunity are mostly Catholics themselves. Or that majority of the perpetrators and victims of these killings are Catholics themselves. Which is a sad reality.