FORMER UST vice rector Fr. Virgilio Ojoy, O.P. urged the Varsitarian staff to sift through the information overload and counter lies with the truth, during the thanksgiving Mass for the 92nd anniversary of the publication at the St. Dominic de Guzman Chapel on Thursday.
“As students whose motto is Veritas... it is our duty to sift through the information available,” said Ojoy, a former Varsitarian associate editor, in his homily.
In connection with the Gospel reading about a man suffering from leprosy, Ojoy said the country was experiencing “political leprosy.”
“When we are covered with lies and fake news that make us believe is well with us, truth suffers from leprosy. When human rights are violated and people are killed without a fair trial, and we are mesmerized by political propaganda in terms of romantic words and gestures to victims of calamities, there exists in the midst of us spiritual leprosy,” Ojoy said.
“[W]e are afflicted with leprosy in our judgement and vision… when we howl in protest over an OFW brutally murdered in the Middle East, and we remain silent over the thousand killed in our streets,” he added.
The Varsitarian, the Philippines’ oldest Catholic newspaper and one of the oldest student publications, was founded on Jan. 16, 1928 by a group of students led by Jose Villa Panganiban, the lexicographer and future director of the National Language Institute.
Throughout the years, the Varsitarian has produced journalistic and literary titans such as Arsenio Lacson, Felix Bautista, Jose Burgos, Jullie Yap-Daza, Neal Cruz, Jake Macasaet, Francisco Tatad, Antonio Lopez, Alice Colet-Villadolid, Ophelia Alcantara-Dimalanta, Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo, Norma Miraflor, Eric Gamalinda, Vim Nadera, and Eugenia Duran-Apostol. It has produced four National Artists: Cirilo Bautista, Bienvenido Lumbera, J. Elizalde Navarro and F. Sionil José. Joenner Paulo L. Enriquez with reports from Ma. Alena O. Castillo
(Editor’s Note: The following is the homily delivered by former vice rector Fr. Virgilio Ojoy, O.P. during the Thanksgiving Mass for the 92nd anniversary of the Varsitarian at the St. Dominic de Guzman Chapel last Thursday.)
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My dear brothers and sisters, these are interesting times for a journalist. We are now experiencing a volcanic eruption in Taal whose full potential for destruction has not materialized yet. But we have already witnessed the devastation in the damaged roads, ash-covered crops and roofs weighed down by the heavt ash fall. People are leaving their homes to seek shelter in God-knows where. Fortunately, we are also experiencing another eruption – an eruption of goodness, a flood of help flowing to the evacuation centers, a storm of material assistance that bring havoc to the destruction wrought by the angry volcano. Amidst the fear, the terror, and the anguish comes an overflowing of charity that calms the spirit, and soothes the weary heart. The Filipino people shall stand up against nature’s wrath.
It is the same story we heard in today’s Gospel. A man’s spirit can be crushed by the sting of leprosy, his self-esteem can be damaged by the rejection of society that confined him to a life outside the city walls – away from friends, relatives and loved ones. His body can be pained by the rotting of his flesh and the weakening of his senses. But he heard the assurance of God through Jesus who said: “I will do it. Be healed.”
Dear friends, more than bodily leprosy that we have somehow conquered, there is a spiritual leprosy that may plague our country. You may also call it political leprosy which can render us isolated from the rest of the international community. When we are covered by lies and fake news that make us believe everything is well with us, truth suffers from leprosy. When human rights are violated and people are killed without a fair trial, and we are mesmerized by political propaganda in terms of romantic words and gestures to victims and families of calamities, there exists in the midst of us a spiritual leprosy. When we howl in protest over an OFW brutally murdered in the Middle East, and we remain silent over the thousands killed in our streets, we are afflicted with leprosy in our judgment and vision.
Our God always has an overriding desire to heal us, to allow us to develop into a people that values human dignity that is rooted in our being created in His image. Our God wants us to grow in respect of the rights of each one of us. Our God has taught us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
As journalists being trained in a Catholic University, it is our duty to sift through the information available, to be able to determine the motives and truths not said behind the statements made public by our authorities. As students whose motto is ‘Veritas,’ we need to acquire the skills to peel the truth of the lies and fake news that cover it. We must always remember a very important hermeneutic principle that in everything that is said, so much more are not said, and they are more important for us to know.
Indeed, my fellow Staffers of the Varsitarian. These are interesting times. There is a dangerous volcanic eruption but we can help trigger an eruption of truth and goodness in our own country for all the world to see and appreciate. Of course, we have to be warned, there is danger in it too.
