NTF-ELCAC assails CBCP’s Good Friday ‘politicking’
THE National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) lamented the “politicking” of the head of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), during the Holy Week. Below is the statement released NTF-ELCAC Legal Cluster and Region 6 spokesperson, Prosecutor Flosemer Chris Gonzales, reminding CBCP head, Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David that the Holy Week should not be used by members of the Church to pontificate on political issues:
On Politicizing the Sacramentals:
There is a proper time and a proper place for all things.
The Semana Santa is a time for prayer, for reflection, for meditation, and for penance.
To politicize the Semana Santa is tantamount to an act of disrespecting the very essence of the Holy Week.
Tainting the Sacramentals with political colors and/or ideological leanings promotes a culture of divisiveness and sends out a negative message to the laity who do not share the political preferences and ideological leanings being promoted by some of our priests and church leaders.
The Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ speaks of our salvation.
It should not be equated to suffering and pain only.
The cross is a symbol of salvation. The cross has no political color.
It is apolitical. It is nonpartisan. It does not espouse any ideology. It is not a propaganda tool.
The cross is not intended to be used as props in political gimmickry or propaganda stunts by any group with a political or ideological agenda.
Spare the cross from your politics.
This Holy Week, we enjoin the faithful to pray for peace; we ask you to pray for our country, to pray for enlightenment, for prudence, for the gift of discernment, and the wisdom to know the difference between a terrorist and a genuine human rights advocate.
On this season of penance and prayer, we pray for unity and for solidarity.
Let this be a time of reflection and of awakening.
This is not a time for politics. There is a proper time and a proper place for everything.
Some lines should not be crossed. This is one of those lines.
On the Good Friday Homily of the CBCP President, Jesus was a victim of political intrigue but never did he engage the Pharisees and his other detractors in the arena of politics.
He did not radicalize his Apostles. He did not teach conflict, discord, violence, extortion, deceptive recruitment, and radical communist ideology to the 12.
Christ would not have supported Joma Sison, the CPP-NPA-NDF, and their front organizations.
Christ is love. He is the Prince of Peace. He is not a politician. He is not a radical communist ideologue.
Christ would have denounced the atrocities and the killings and the extortions committed by the CPP-NPA-NDF and with the support of their front organizations.
Christ, the Good Shepherd, would not have allowed Himself to be used in politics, by politicians, in the conduct of political propaganda and gimmickry.
There is a world of difference between Liberation theology, building the Church of the Poor, the preferential option for the Poor and using the Church as a medium for radicalization, a venue for political and ideological recruitment to serve the interests of a political party and or an organization with communist terrorist affiliations.
The times when the Church allowed itself to be used in politics resulted in tragic consequences:
The Inquisition, the colonization of African tribes, the colonization of the Philippines and other Asian countries, the conquest of several South American Indian tribes, to mention a few.
Christ was a victim of politics but He was, is, and will be Beyond and Above politics.
We expect the same from our priests whom we consider as the alter Christus.
Otherwise stated, do not politicize the pulpit. Your political preferences are not necessarily binding on the laity. Respect that line.
