“Ito ay isang malinaw na insulto sa ating Civil Code at sa katuruan ng Simbahang Katolika! Kawawa naman ang mga taong ito! Wala nang kinikilalang Diyos! Wala na rin silang paggalang sa kanilang sarili! Dapat na matigil ang kahibangang ito! Ang mga nagpakasal at nagkasal ay mayroong mga problema sa pag-iisip."
Translated from Tagalog Filipino to English:
"This is a blatant insult to our Civil Code and to the teachings of the Catholic Church! These people are pathetic! They do not recognize God! They do not even have respect for themselves! This foolhardiness should stop already! Those who got married and those that married them have mental problems."
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That, up there, my dear brothers and sisters, is a statement by Most Rev. Carlito Cenzon of the Roman Catholic institution, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), which isn't even worth spelling out to begin with. Well, just for the sake of those who don't know.
It was obviously provoked by the recent big attention-drawing event in Baguio City, where a local liberal Christian denomination, the Metropolitan Community Church, held a mass same-sex marriage ceremony.
The good bishop felt the need to say something in response to how what they were doing was a so-called insult to the teachings of the Catholic Church.
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Well, Carlito Cenzon, if you felt the need to respond to that, I now feel the need to respond to you!
Bottom line is this: That marriage ceremony that happened in Baguio of recent had abso-freaking-lutely nothing to do with you! It wasn't like they got married in a Roman Catholic church. They got married under the spiritual guidance of their own ministers. And, newsflash to you! That made it none of your business.
Why would you say you got insulted in the first place? It's not like the whole nation is required to conform to your religious standards. Do you feel THAT powerful just because you're all ordained bishops and because Roman Catholics kiss your hands and give you the best food there is to serve? And just because you get so lofty a regard by the nation's majority, do you think that gives you the power to stick your nose in other people's affairs?
Also, who the heck are you to say that those people didn't recognize God? For your information, your church doesn't have a monopoly on God. No one does! And you bishops aren't privy to the fullness of God's will either. I have Lea Salonga to thank for those words.
Furthermore... No self-respect, you say? Mental problems, you say? Wow! What an insinuation! You not only think you're up there and all-powerful, you even think you're intelligent. Nice self-regard, Carlito. Very nice, indeed, especially coming from a person who belongs to an institution that killed thousands and thousands of people during the Inquisition--the same institution that imprisoned Galileo for educating us all about the sun being the center of the solar system--the same institution who killed Joan of Arc and later declared her a saint to vindicate itself. And yet, you're also an institution that teaches of compassion, respect, kindness, and God's unconditional love for the world. The likes of you used in the same sentence as "Catholic Church" makes the perfect oxymoron.
Catholic is supposed to mean all-embracing. Where have your positive principles gone? You've been mostly about hate and discrimination and intolerance lately. Your church has a beautiful name. Too bad it has been stained and decimated irreversibly by the people who run it - the likes of you!
All you now know is church-church-dogma-dogma-hate-hate-discriminate-discriminate-shun-shun-shun, so don't pretend like you're qualified to influence state affairs and the affairs of people whose leagues you're obviously inferior to! You have the right to comment on things, but, hey, SO DO I! I respect you for being a human being and I'm not saying these things to demean you. I'm saying these things to give you a slapping wake-up call and make you realize how low and insipid you're presenting yourself to be and that you don't bear the right to dictate anyone's lives and condemn people's loving ways as foolhardy Godlessness.
By all means, go ahead and preach in your sphere of influence. Until you turn your face blue and fall down, you can tell your faithful followers that it's wrong to get married to the same sex and tell them they'd go to hell if they do it. You probably do that all the time already. However, do it in your own church and in places where you're certain only your followers are nodding. Don't pretend to be a monarch and impose on the rest of the country as if you're some sort of credible authority whose words the Philippines should abide by. This isn't the 17th century anymore.
Know your place in society, Carlito. Go back to your headquarters and stay there living the life of "priestly poverty!" Play mahjong with your clergy buddies or something.
You are the pathetic one here, Carlos Cenzon! This also goes to Teodoro Bacani and every single one of you who think the same way.
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P.S. I'm speaking generally in this entry, but I do recognize the fact that there are members of the Roman Catholic Church and its clergy who are good, right-thinking, and intelligent people. Also, I didn't cite the institution's past mistakes to demean all its members. I just mentioned them to provide a reality check to the hierarchy and remind them that the institution isn't (has never been and won't ever be) as perfect as they perceive it to be.
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