FORMER UST rector Fr. Rolando de la Rosa, O.P. has hit the lack of a “massive public indignation” on the brutal murder of priests in the country despite the Philippines being a predominantly Catholic nation.
In his column published in the Sunday edition of the Manila Bulletin on June 24, de la Rosa deplored the increasing apathy toward priests due to “moral indiscretions” of a few clergymen and the “constant barrage of obscenity” on the clergy by President Rodrigo Duterte.
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“In our country, few Catholics openly come out to support priests when the latter become victims of false accusations, intrigues, or hate crimes. In fact, there is an increasing antipathy towards priests, probably due to the media’s tendency to print or broadcast the moral indiscretions of a few members of the clergy, and the constant barrage of obscenity hurled at priests by the president himself,” the former Commission on Higher Education chairman said.
A staunch critic of the Catholic Church, President Duterte said on June 22 that God was “stupid” for allowing Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, which caused their banishment from the Garden of Eden. The remark earned condemnation from religious leaders and lawmakers.
De la Rosa, a former Varsitarian Witness (Religion) editor, said priests would be left without support in life-threatening situations if Filipino Catholics failed to stand up for them.
“It takes more than ordinary strength and courage to serve as a priest today. Many priests go about their work burdened by the hardly bearable circumstances that have befallen their vocation today. So, if 80 million Catholics will not stand up for their priests (whose number is diminishing every year), from whom shall priests seek solace and support when faced with life-threatening or difficult situations?” he added.
Clergymen are easily the target of hate crimes as they speak out on issues and threaten the status quo as well as the “vested interests of the rich and powerful,” the three-time UST rector said.
“Such apathy and indifference are manifest when self-proclaimed enemies of the Catholic Church unfairly criticize, curse, and savagely attempt to destroy her. Worst, many of them–big shot politicians and their compliant mercenaries and unthinking trolls—are themselves Catholics,” he said.
The recent months have seen the killings of Fr. Richmond Nilo and Fr. Mark Ventura, both by unidentified gunmen, while in the line of their duty as priests.
Nilo, the parish priest of St. Vincent Ferrer Parish in Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija, was shot on June 10 before celebrating Mass at the Nuestra Señora de la Nieve Chapel in Brgy. Mayamot in Zaragoza.
Ventura, who finished his philosophical studies in UST in 2006, was killed last April 29 by armed men riding a motorcycle, just after celebrating Mass in Gattaran, Cagayan.
Retired priest Fr. Marcelito Paez, also a Thomasian priest and a known land reform activist, was killed by motorcycle-riding suspects last December 2017 in Santo Domingo, Nueva Ecija. Eugene Dominic V. Aboy, O.P.
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