The Greek word for sin is hamartia, from the verb hamartenein, which means to miss the mark. The picture it evokes is of an archer missing the target with his arrow. In Greek mythology, hamartia was the flawed decision that led to a hero’s downfall.
I am not one to judge if Msgr. Roberto Alesna is missing his priestly target as the “whispering walls” would have us believe. But I have known for a long time now that the Filipino Catholic Church is missing its target, a lot of it because lay Catholics believe their priests are sacred persons and maka-gaba if crossed.
Cebu Catholics are known to spoil their priests. Hence, not surprisingly, people who condemned retired Judge Gabby Ingles outnumber those who appreciated him when he publicly questioned the fairness of Archbishop Jose Palma’s decision to give a choice assignment to retired Msgr. Alesna.
I commend Judge Ingles for his brave attempt at fraternal correction, the forgotten practice of gently and lovingly pointing out a fault or sin to a fellow Christian for the purpose of helping her/him amend her/his ways. I sincerely hope the good judge has started a trend. It’s time the morally responsible among the faithful fraternally correct religious leaders who are missing their priestly mark. Catholics do the Church a great disservice when they allow dread of “gaba” to paralyze them into letting priests go on with their errant ways.
The Filipino Catholic Church misses its target when it promotes the Christian religion in essentially the same way Spanish friars scared our ancestors into submitting to their colonial masters. That basically explains why until now we have a submissive laity that allows priests to live their vocation (exercise their profession?) unopposed or unquestioned in their ways.
In the Old Testament, we read of God punishing his people for sins of injustice and lack of compassion for the poor. In the New Testament, Jesus helps whole persons, teaching them and curing their maladies. He relates to people not to souls.
Thy kingdom come in the Our Father tells us the Church’s mission is to bring God’s kingdom of justice, love, and peace to earth. Instead, however, the Filipino Catholic Church sees its mission as saving souls from the fires of hell and not saving Filipinos from the cruelty and injustice Philippine society is replete with.
Spanish friars used religion to make our ancestors accept as God’s will their being cruelly treated as a colonized people. Today’s clergy, with all due respect to the exceptions, continue to do nothing more than ask people to accept their corrupt and unjust treatment by fellow Filipinos, to avoid sins and approach the sacraments to save their souls.
The Filipino Catholic Church needs to undergo a metanoia (Greek for conversion). It needs to shed its medieval core, de-colonize itself so to speak, so it doesn’t miss its target of establishing God’s kingdom of justice, love and peace in this country. Otherwise, hamartia could lead to its downfall, not as people of God but as the clergy-dominated closed institution it has degenerated into.