How America Gave Us RH and the Church

This picture has nothing to do with anything.
It's just a good picture.

I hear the harsh words of the Catholic Church toward President Aquino and Secretary  Roxas about their backing of the RH Bill. It rings as a mocking echo of the anger the Church felt toward Philippine national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal in 1886.  The Church at that time went so far as to encourage a change in the governor general of the Philippines to put in place a man who would do their deed, execute the troublesome Dr. Rizal  to snuff the emerging rebellion.
  

The events of the time are a little confused as history has been tweaked by the players in ways that we can't fully know. We can understand how such things happen by considering Senator Enrile's book, which some argue is a remaking of history. His book may become truths for readers 100 years from now.

One of the confusions about Dr. Rizal is whether or not he recanted his allegiance to the Masons to return to the Catholic Church just prior to his death. A letter exists that suggests he did, but its authenticity is debated. Even if the letter were real, one would have to guess as to why Dr. Rizal sought to make things right with the Catholic faith.  Perhaps so that he would die as one with his disadvantaged brothers, the masses of poor Filipions abused by the Church and the Spanish. He appeared to have no regrets about dying for his people. 

Rizal

"Consummatum est" he said just prior to being shot. "It is finished."

Dr. Rizal left behind left two secret messages, one in an oil lamp pointing to a second message in his shoe. But by the time his remains were dug up, the second message had disintegrated. It is worth knowing that the powers who executed Dr. Rizal were so vengeful that they did not place his body in a coffin. They buried him in the dirt in an unmarked grave.

Aguinaldo

So some things we cannot know.

Another confusion is exactly what the relationship was between Dr. Rizal and the United States. Did the U.S. play him or use him to influence the political situation? One of those masterful behind-the-scenes global power plays the U.S. is so good at?

The Philippines to the U.S. was an arm of the battle to throw the Spanish out of the Americas. The U.S. engaged the Spanish in the Philippines with the backing of certain Manila power brokers. America did not simply march in with conquest in mind.

Dewey

Concurrently, Emilio Aquinaldo organized the formation of an independent Philippines and sought support from the U.S. for his new state. It would appear the U.S. reneged on a promise by U.S. Admiral Dewey to President Aguinaldo to back the Philippine State because the Americans did not think the Aguinaldo government was strong enough to stand on its own. Americans feared that if they left, the Philippines would be in play again for conquest by any number of other interested states.

The U.S. waged a brutal war against Aguinaldo's forces during the Philippine American War. Many American politicians were outright racist at the time. You can get a good sense of American engagement from an essay I wrote a couple of years ago, found above in the right tab called "Fire when ready Gridley". The U.S. may even have orchestrated the start of the war to keep the Philippines under American auspices.

We can speculate about many things.

Perhaps Aguinaldo would have succeeded with his new state had the United States been more gracious.  Or if Filipinos had not been so argumentative and divided among themselves. We know Aguinaldo was determined to rid the Philippines of the Catholic presence as well as the Spanish masters. It is reported that the first three friars hunted down by Aguinaldo's forces were barbecued on a spit and hacked to pieces. Aguinaldo gained the allegiance of Father Aglipay, who, excommunicated by Rome, established the Aglipayan Church. The Aglipayan Church became the "church of the people" and membership exploded. The Catholic Church was on a path to oblivion.

As history would have it, American Catholics asserted themselves during negotiations on the Treaty of Paris that "sold" the Philippines from Spain to the United States. Protections for for the Catholic Church were written into the Treaty and the Church immediately turned pro-American. 

A fine record of these events is recorded by Macario A. Capili ("Macapili") in his article entitled "The day the Catholic Church almost died".

The U.S. introduced its Bill of Rights into the governing Constitution of the Philippines, including the provision for separation of church and state. The Constitution put the interests of the Philippines, as a secular State, over the interests of the Catholic Church.

So today, we have the Church, still strong, still involved, still responsible for values and acts of a nation locked in corruption and poverty. But Church leaders can only argue and preach and complain; they cannot declare laws. The Church is outside looking in.

One can easily imagine the Philippines today if the Church still had an official role in the affairs of state.

• We would not be having this discussion.

• RH would not be in the lexicon of Philippine political language.

• JoeAm would either not be living here, or he would be in jail.

• The Freethinkers web site would not exist.

• A Muslim underclass would be ruthlessly ground into the Mindanao mud.

• Many voices would be silenced.

So America both saved the Church and forced it out of government.

Archbishop Jose Palma
CBCP President

That is why today the bishops are on the outside, looking in. And why RH finally passed.

Church leaders still talk as if they are entitled to special privilege and authority. They act as if it is wholly proper to declare the President of the Philippines  a "threat to democracy". Or to angrily threaten that Mar Roxas will not become President of the Philippines because he backed the RH Bill.

The Church pushed her hostile, demanding doctrine to near demise in Rizal's era and she can achieve the same ends this century. An organization that condemns education, refuses to learn, and aims hostility toward good people, makes her own bed.

I wonder what history books the bishops are studying.

They appear incapable of change, humility or compassion. The political Church is once again on a path of dogmatic instruction of others and self-imposed irrelevance. The shame is that most of the Church is not political, but the entire Church will pay the price for those priests who are.