THE DOMINICANS of the St. Mary Magdalene House (Caleruega) in Nasugbu, Batangas, have expressed support for their superior, Fr. Winston Cabading, O.P., who is facing a complaint for allegedly “offending religious feelings.”
“We, the Dominicans of the St. Mary Magdalene House, Nasugbu, Batangas, express our oneness with our Bishops, and all, who in communion, and united with them, preach the Truth,” the Dominicans said in a post on the Caleruega Philippines Facebook page on May 23.
“We unite likewise our voice to that of our brother, Fr. Winston Cabading, and all the Catholic Faithful, who in charity are obedient to the Church, calling the flock to heed the voice of their shepherds to be guided by them to the safe path,” they added.
In the same post, the Dominicans included Bible verses that state the mission of priests as preachers of Truth and another that reminds the faithful to heed the words of the Church’s shepherds.
“The Church and Her Shepherds have spoken, we heed them, as Christ has admonished His followers: ‘He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects Him who sent me,’” the Dominicans said.
Cabading, a former UST secretary general, was arrested on May 13, 2023 for allegedly violating Article 133 of the Revised Penal Code, which states that “anyone who, in a place devoted to religious worship or during the celebration of any religious ceremony shall perform acts notoriously offensive to the feelings of the faithful.” He posted bail of P18,000 on May 15.
Cabading will be arraigned in court on June 1, for the complaint filed against him by Harriet Demetriou, a former Commission on Elections chairwoman and devotee of the Our Lady, Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace, whom Cabading allegedly “consistently mocked.”
In her 12-page complaint, Demetriou called Cabading a “rabid critic” of the Mediatrix of All Grace, whose supposed apparition at the Carmelite Monastery of Lipa in 1948 had been twice declared by the Vatican as lacking in supernatural origin.
Demetriou cited a Facebook video that quoted Cabading’s statements against the Lipa apparition and image.
On Wednesday, Catholic lay groups condemned Cabading’s arrest and detention, saying the incident was instigated by “a complainant who rejected and refused to obey the decrees and guidance of the Catholic Church on extraordinary phenomena.”
The unnamed Catholic lay groups called on Catholics to “abide by Church decrees and follow the guidance of the Clergy in matters of faith.”
