The Irony that is CBCP: Bishop Villegas and Hypocrisy

If there is one thing that the Catholic Church has consistently done in history is that it has always been inconsistent - morally and otherwise. So it was not a surprise to me that Bishop Villegas has recently been reported chastising Filipinos about their penchant for requesting monetary help, really demands, from politicians, which in Bishop Villegas' mind, has contributed to the misuse of the so called "Priority Development Assistance Fund" or commonly known as "Pork Barrel." For the record, I actually agre on Bishop Villegas on that one.

For context though, let us be reminded that the Church itself has been no less immune from such beggary he so adamantly preaches about. During the tenure of President Gloria Arroyo, the Catholic Church in fact asked for "vehicles" from the government in the guise of using them for outreach activities. And yeah, the vehicles were not just vehicles, they were expensive "sport utility vehicles."

Bishop Villegas adds: “But before we rush to pass judgment on our legislators who avail of the pork barrel, it would be opportune for us citizens to search our souls and ask “What have I done to contribute to this?” 

Really? This history of the Catholic Church in the Philippines is a history of Church collusion with secular authorities - UP TO NOW. To the uninitiated, Spain ruled the Philippines for over 350 years, what everyone does not know is that Spain actually outsourced the management of most of the Philippine Islands to Catholic religious orders like the Jesuits, Augustinians and Franciscans among others. Everywhere in Christianized Philippines, the Catholic Church always occupied a prominent role in any town. Take for example the veritable fact that in every Filipino town or barrio, a church was always at the center. In Spanish times, the Church was actually the head mistress of the Islands. Nothing really could be done if the local Catholic priest was not amenable to the same.

If anything, the dispossession of lands of Filipinos was in fact due to the Catholic Church. Everytime the Catholic Church expanded itself, it would require the residents of a locality to relocate their houses around the church, leaving their ricefields to nature. Once the land has been vacated, the Church would expropriate them for itself. WHY DO YOU THINK THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE PHILIPPINES OWNS VAST TRACTS OF LANDS? It is said that two-thirds of the land in and around Manila is actually owned by the Catholic Church through its religious orders.

Again, Bishop Villegas continues: “We in Church can contribute to the corruption by grabbing a piece of the pie through our solicitation from government officials—from candles to basketball uniforms to bags of cement to government bulldozers. We tempt the public officials to get money from jueteng or the pork barrel in order to accommodate us. Walang hihingi.”

Bishop Villegas is again forgetting that the Church represents the very essence of corruption. And it's history will explain itself. I do not need to dwell on that. The point here is, the church is much a symbol of corruption as it is trying to paint itself as the "champion of the poor." Geez, if only it were slightly true.

Walang hihingi? But the church has always preyed on the Filipino mind and wallet. It was always colluded with despicably corrupt politician's while its churches were filled with shimmering flasks of gold cups, candelabras and fancy ornaments cloaked under the banner of religion!

One thing that really got my ears burning is when Bishop Villegas retorted that: “When we are less than transparent in our accounting, we hurt the truth. Ang sinungaling ay kapatid ng magnanakaw.”

Transparent? Has the church ever been transparent for example about its finances? Does it make it's expenditures known? Indeed, it has always at most kept silent about it's wealth. In fact, it has kept it's investments in various corporations secret to the point of suspiciousness. Check for example the Vatican Bank's dubious history in international finance and one will get the point.

Finally, the article ends with Bishop Villegas' words “Man does not live on bread alone, the good Lord taught us; but man does not need pork to go with bread.” Funny, because Catholic churches are not content with less than sparkling, sometimes gold plated, stone encrusted chalices to go along with their ornate priestly vestments. Yeah Bishop Villegas, "Man does indeed not live on bread alone," but tell that to the millions of Filipinos who wallow in abject poverty and grinding starvation!

What is so preposterous about Bishop Villegas' words is that they are so reflective of the church's moral ambiguity, preachy about morals and ethics but replete among its ranks with corruption - married priests, pedophile priests, refusal to admit women to the priesthood etc. etc. etc. Not to mention obscenely wealthy religious orders, pedophile protecting Bishops and the list continues.

Bishop Villegas, please, reform your church first and maybe, just maybe, you will gain a modicum of authority when speaking about the ills of the world.