INTRODUCTION
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPENETRABLE and least scrutinized institutions in the Philippines.
We put our boundless trust in the holy men who lead the Church.
We repose our steely faith in God, in our bishops and priests, they who say mass, baptize us, marry us, give us communion, listen to our confessions, and bless us.
We regard them with awe.
They are God’s men on earth.
Our past shaped us to be this way.
We grew up in towns where at the center stood the imposing Catholic Church, side by side with the school run by priests and nuns.
Life seemed to revolve around these enduring institutions.
Education and religion fused; going to school seamlessly blended with attending mass, evening novenas, and joining the Sodality of Our Lady and Columbus Squires.
Then, in those placid times, it was not our place to question the order of things.
We learned catechism, prayed our rosaries, and looked up to the men in cassocks.
Why, they could do no wrong.
God and truth were on their side.
They were special, a notch above us, ordinary humans.
But the times, they have changed.
Critical thinking has shaken dogma.
With the modern world has come hard-earned wisdom, built from years of experience and learning.
Like us, the Church lived through turbulent times in the ‘70s and early ‘80s—martial law, detention of opposition leaders and activists, torture and disappearances, a communist insurgency, and the assassination of Benigno Aquino Jr.
Some bishops and priests embraced liberation theology and led grassroots communities in their struggle for social justice; thus began the phenomenon of the BCC or basic Christian communities.
The Church did not only tend to spiritual needs, it looked after the welfare of the poor and marginalized.
We saw our priests up close, no longer detached in their pulpits and confession boxes.
Then, in 1986, the Church played a crucial role in ousting the authoritarian ruler, Ferdinand Marcos, and restoring democracy in the country.
Its help was called again in 2001 to depose President Joseph Estrada in the midst of his impeachment trial where he was accused of corruption and betraying public trust.
Twice, the Church was victorious.
Elsewhere in the world, democracy movements marched and kicked out dictators.
The clamor for openness reverberated, not only in government but in other institutions, including the Church.