PRESIDENT Duterte, in his latest attack on the Filipino clergy, recently said that almost 90 percent of Catholic priests are homosexuals, as if that is important. Of course, there is no survey whose results say that, so the President’s claim should not be given credence. What this latest statement only shows is that his obsession with Catholic priests has not lessened.
The statement was made days after the President’s “kill the bishops” joke during the Presidential Award for Child-friendly Municipalities and Cities held in Malacañang last Dec. 5. The joke: “Pero itong mga obispo ninyo, patayin ninyo, walang silbi ‘yang mga gagong ‘yan. All they do is criticize.” I could just imagine how much his audience lapped this up.
But as we Cebuanos would say, “iya sad na.” I would not dwell on how deep-rooted his anger is with the Filipino clergy. He must have been raised differently from us. As for me, I grew up respecting priests and even in awe of some of them, especially when they are wearing the priestly garb.
One scene that sticks in my mind as a child was when I was admitted at the old Chong Hua Hospital, the private medical facility closest to our place in Sitio Kawayan in Barangay Sambag 2. I was usually brought there when my bouts with asthma became so intense I had to be admitted so my doctor could better help control my breathing.
I usually stayed in the ward where a priest, a Caucasian, from the Redemptorist parish would visit every morning. He was jolly and would announce his presence by his loud greetings. Aside from his usual pep talk, he would give candies to us young patients in the ward.
It was when I was in high school in the ‘70s when I started visiting the Camotes group of islands during summer vacations. In Tudela town, the parish priest then was Joseph “Padre Jose” Weirtz, also a Caucasian. He was already old at that time but he was still active in his parish work even if he had already done many things for the town, getting more projects than the town officials could procure.
The list was long. He was instrumental in the construction by the National Food Authority of a rice bodega in Tudela (his thinking was that having stocks of rice in the island would ensure that supply would not be cut off during emergencies like weather disturbances or when sea travel would be dangerous).
He initiated the construction of a small medical facility with a few beds to ensure that parishioners would be given immediate medical attention instead of being left unattended while waiting to be brought to the Cebu mainland. The Immaculate Conception Institute was his brainchild to give the islanders quality high school education.
When he visited Malacañang, an audience with then president Marcos resulted in funds being given to Tudela for the repair of the wharf. The town was lit for four hours every night using a generator procured by the priest from his contacts from the mainland.
Padre Jose would have wanted to be buried permanently in Tudela and thus had a mausoleum built for himself in the town’s public cemetery but his relatives eventually decided to bring his remains home. He is still remembered.
It is easy to disparage priests and forget the good that many of them have done for our communities.