“Hypocrisy is not so much the result of not living what I preach but much more of not confessing my inability to fully live up to my own words.”
--Henri J. M. Nouwen
It is clear in the above-cited quote from a widely read (by Protestants and Catholics alike) Dutch priest and spiritual writer that hypocrisy is not in our mistakes and failings. If it were, we would all, without exception, be hypocrites as we are weak humans who at different times fail “to fully live up to our own words.”
Priests, lawyers, doctors, all take their respective profession’s oath. But how many actually live up to their oath to the fullest? Public officials swear by the Bible to fulfill the constitutional mandate of their office. How many fulfill their mandate without fail during their term? Brides and grooms solemnly swear to love each other “for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health until death.” How many are able to live up to this commitment a hundred percent?
The fact is we all fail at some time and under varying circumstances to walk the talk, our talk. To err is human as Congressman John Bertiz so correctly stated. But errors do not make us hypocrites. We become hypocrites when we do not admit our mistakes just like what Congressman John Bertiz failed to do, not until he found himself painted to a corner.
By the same token, the Marcoses (Juan Ponce Enrile included) would fit squarely into that definition. But so would media that broadcast their lies and treat them as celebrities when helping to promote their political ambitions even as common decency requires that liars should instead be shame-painted into an obscure corner. And so would Catholic bishops who are so loudly silent about the blatant lies of the Marcoses.
One form of denial is a double standard. Many bishops were actually short of moral courage to oppose a “real” dictator. They were too scared to even promulgate an oratio imperata against Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Yet now some of them have the temerity (I can’t call it moral courage) to hurl hell-fire on a “potential” or, as they say, “looming” dictator.
They were also against Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV when he staged a coup against president GMA who coddled them and provided luxury vehicles for some of them. Now they bless Trillanes for assailing a president who calls them out as hypocrites.
Yet, this mostly Catholic country’s high rate of criminality and corruption can be arguably blamed on the bishops’ failure to instill genuine spirituality, instead of shallow (hypocritical and money-oriented?) religiosity, among the country’s many Catholics.
We humans all without exception fail at some point to live up to our words. Some of us admit our failings. Others do not. These are the hypocrites.