On Damaso and Jailtime

Early last year (I'm not too clear on the time-frame), thespian and tour guide Carlos Celdran walked inside a Roman Catholic cathedral dressed in 19^th century garb and held up a placard with the words “Damaso” written on it. This was done while a concelebration event (not a mass, as Celdran clarified later) was being held with several priests, bishops, and laity were present.

Damaso, of course, is a central character in Jose Rizal's novel “Noli Me Tangere.” He is a Spanish friar heavily biased against what he considers his “lessers” and so morally corrupt that to be called a “Damaso” is to insult your integrity and your character. http://bethge.freepage.de/padredamaso.htm

One of the recent events that call into question the bishop's integrity is the way they accepted luxury vehicles from former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The funds were gotten from off of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and the funds were supposed to go to the poorest of the poo and the sickest of the sick. The bishops knew where the funds came from and whom they were getting it from. It represented a kind of bribe to keep them from voicing out against a government that has no right to rule, given that the last elections were rigged so heavily in the then incumbent's favor. The bishops offered to return the vehicles once the scandal was unveiled but the rot had set in. http://zamoracartoons.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/bishops-cars.html

Things came to a head once the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines pulled out all the stops in their war against the Reproductive Health bill. The Reproductive Health bill had been languishing in the House of Representatives for over a decade. Congressmen would sponsor it then bail out once the bishops threaten to endorse their opponents. The Catholic clergy had been putting all of their power into blocking its passage, saying it is against God's will to take pills or don condoms to prevent pregnancy. They even contend that some birth control methods have abortifacients. The message is somehow diluted/corroded coming from the same bishops who virtually took crumbs from the mouth of the poor dying from hunger in order to travel in air-conditioned luxury. Granted that they later apologized for doing it, but it's like Lance Armstrong admitting to taking Performance Enhancing Drugs. They've already lived the life and taken to the podium to bask in the glory. Victory is just a moment and it can never be relived. Just like apologies cannot resurrect people who died from hunger or sickness.

Carlos Celdran went inside a Catholic Church where these bishops are to give them a mental slap about who they've allowed themselves to be. I know that they are fallible human beings, but idols with feet of clay should not stand in a pulpit and expect nobody to bash them. I do not know what his impetus is, it may be to highlight our need for the Reproductive Health bill, or to hold up a mirror for the bishops to see the truth about themselves, but it did do something : the Reproductive Health bill is now a Law.

It also did something else. It put Carlos Celdran into jail. Or he was sentenced to spend two months behind prison bars. I think Celdran intends to appeal (I would) the verdict.

Now, would it be justice served if he was incarcerated? I don't think so. I would think that the bishops should be thankful to Celdran for trying to humiliate them. As one priest puts it: God uses humiliation to bring down the proud. Let me bludgeon you if you did not get it the first time: You would not be humiliated if you were not proud (Pride is one of the Cardinal Sins, pun unintentional, but too amusing to leave out). But this is not to say that the venue he chose for his protest is proper. I myself as a Catholic would be offended had I witnessed this. The hullaballoo he created could only be excused if he was missing some nuts in his mind's bolts. Only escaped mental hospital patients scream inside a church (by the way, I don't know if he screamed, but this is like a scream to me, no matter how quiet he may have been. I'm also not saying Celdran is crazy. Remember, he's a thespian, an Artiste, if you will. These genus of the homo sapiens tend to act, well, theatrically).

If he had done it outside the church, or even inside a convention hall where the Queen of England, the Philippine President, all the laity, the Pope, the Cardinals, Bishops, Monsignors, Priests, and even the cadaver of St. Theresa of Calcutta were present, that would be fine by me. Even a Grade Two Catholic school pupil would know to genuflect in order to cross the aisle inside a church, you know you can't really do what you did no matter how rebellious a laity you feel.

Now, would it merit a two-month jail time? I don't think so. I agree about the conviction that he offended religious beliefs or feelings or whatever law it is that he broke, but I also think that standing up for what you believe in should be celebrated, not incarcerated. Only those beliefs that become a menace to society or harmful to individuals should merit time behind bars.