Seeing Beyond the Controversy

Much ink has already been spilled on the issue of clerical “sexual” misappropriations. For a good number of times, this has been the dish of the broadsheets, and the broadsheets sold like hot potatoes. When the issue on Apo Bacani came up, it took the front page and was even the banner for a few days straight. The bishop “unwillingly” enjoyed a good share of airtime, too, on TV. And so he, who, I suppose, would be better known to the masa as the spiritual director of Velarde of the El Shaddai group, became a household name in an instant. The press, and mass media as a whole, has the power to do just that. It seizes people, noble or not, and uses them to spice up its otherwise dull papers, before it lets them go. Once they are let alone, breath would seem the only thing they have left. What’s a name without credibility? Good for them if they have no integrity to worry about. It’s really ironic to see how the press may disserve the truth. Noble people are killed before they are tried.

The wake of such clerical hitch usually sees the resurgence of the question whether priests should be allowed to marry, even as reasons for keeping to tradition, stretching from spiritual to practical, have time and again been presented. Abrogating the law on celibacy has often been put forward as the solution to the sexual misconducts of priests. Whose proposition? Mostly lay and a few clergymen. Like flaming liberals, these lay people who choose to see a non-celibate Catholic clergy forget that their priests chose to be celibate, in the first place. When they entered the priesthood, they knew full well the kind of life they were to live – a celibate life. And presumably they recognized its nobility and meaning, so they set their will to it. It’s the priests themselves who understand better than anybody else the whole import of celibacy to priestly ministry. I find it amusing, then, that the lay people should suggest “what would be good” to priests relative to their ministry. They are saying like, “I scratch your arm because it’s itchy.” Probably, they mean well. But I think they would be of better help if they just pray for their priests and create a nurturing atmosphere in which to do their ministry.

A study in the 1990's on American priests who have been 10 to 30 years in the ministry revealed that if they were to have a second shot at being a priest, they would choose to be celibate. If for some priests celibacy leads to a life of loneliness, the priests in the study attested that celibacy does not preclude warm friendships and intimate relationships. In fact, some of them even spoke of the freedom that celibacy gives them to have more such relationships than married couples. These relationships are the “I-Thou” kind, which enable them to be more effective, helping, enabling and loving. The priests I have come in contact with share the same sentiments. How, then, could the lay suggest, with a certain insistence, that the Catholic Church lift the celibacy law to solve the so-called clerical misappropriations? Of late, even an Aglipayan bishop figured in such sexual hitch, and he was very much married!

As a young cleric, I think there’s no better way to un-invite myself to such issue than choosing “to have a life.” I have to enjoy being a deacon, and being a priest later on, embracing the celibate life. I am convinced that being God’s minister is a significant way to spend my life, that what I do is important to the Church and to society. This conviction is sustained by a relationship with Jesus, by an active spiritual life involving prayer, scripture and liturgy. Looking at the days ahead, I will try to be authentic and form close relationships with my family and build a strong supporting network of priests. I will try to draw life from the people I serve, so that I will be able to serve them better. Listening first, I will allow my ministry to be characterized by service, compassion and empowerment. I will maintain a sense of balance and give myself a moment of repose. This is the life I see.(Rev. Tom, 2004)