Skip to main content

Beyond shorelines

Today’s chatter on who will run in the 2016 elections demonstrates how our line of sight ends at the seashore. We rarely look beyond.

To what?

Come Wednesday, to take one example, Filipino Catholic youngsters are among those invited, from 29 other Asian countries, to next door South Korea.  Pope Francis launches from Daejon the Sixth Asian Youth Day ceremonies. 

Francis will beatify, at an August 18 mass, 124 Korean martyrs from the church’s first entry into this East-Asian nation in the 18th century. It will also demonstrate what CNN has aptly called “The Francis Effect.”

Start asking around—Catholics and atheists alike. Suddenly, it's easy to find people—gays to, divorced couples –eager to share how one man, in just over a year, has tapped into their pain and gave hope.

Focus on the numbers and you miss the story, cautions the Rev. John Unni, of Boston. There are plenty of ex-Catholics, as in Latin America.   “But how many are now deciding whether to come to the party."

Since his election as 265th successor to Peter, in March 2013, Francis has flayed bishops who spend money “like they're auditioning for MTV Cribs”. He chastised priests who forget they're servants, not princes.

He also assailed the Italian mafia, on its own home ground, ex-communicating them. Instead, he visited families of those assassinated to offer comfort.


Francis formed   a group of cardinals—including Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston—to reform the curia, the Vatican bureaucracy that has a reputation for more shady deals than Tammany Hall. He, refused to live in the Apostolic Palace  choosing Spartan lodgings at a Vatican hostel.

Just before taking off   for Korea, he lined up for lunch with Vatican blue collar workers at the cafeteria. “He showed up, got his tray, silverware, stood in line and we served him, “recalls cafeteria chef Franco Piani. He then ate with the workers from the Vatican’s pharmacy, chatting about their families, soccer, the economy.

The whole time, people were snapping the inevitable selfies with their cameras, cellphones and iPads.  He wasn’t bothered a bit.  After giving the group his blessing, he left in his assistant’s car to his Domus Sancta Martha residence.  “We were all caught off guard,” Piani said. “But it was one of the best things that could happen...”

Francis made the cover of Time, the New Yorker, Rolling Stone and The Advocate, a gay and lesbian magazine. He said it's immoral when the media reports every move of the market but ignores the death of a homeless person.

Be open and merciful; he urged bishops, Forget the robes and support young people in making  a mess in the streets;  to secure justice for the poorest. Be a field hospital for this sin-sick world.

Pew Research Center poll  says more than 71% say he's a change for the better. “Those kinds of numbers haven't been seen since the prime of Pope John Paul II."

What she likes most about Francis, though, is the way he's changed the church's tone from Thou Shalt Not to Thou Shall. Maureen Sterk Duns noted.   This is not a slam on Benedict or John Paul II,” she adds.  Those Popes just spoke a different language, wrote for a different crowd.

An accordion player, Duns can't help describing the difference between Francis and previous popes in musical terms. "He's got his own sense of the beats of the church. He's more merengue than Mozart.”

Francis was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1969 and led the society's Argentine branch from 1973 to 1979. He says he joined the Jesuits for three reasons: their missionary spirit, their community and their discipline.

Because of the Pope's popularity, inquiries to join the Society of Jesus   doubled in the last year, to five or six each week, says the Rev. Chuck Frederico, vocations director for the Jesuit provinces on the US East Coast. "I can barely keep up. Many of these men who want to join the Jesuits say they heard about the society through Francis.  Some .haven't even been to church in years."

As archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio turned over the palace into a hospital run by a religious order for the poor. He took the bus to work from his rented two room apartment. He also recruited priests to go into the city's most dangerous slums, called "villas."

In these places, the clerical collar does not offer much protection. Priests have been kidnapped, tortured and murdered. Still, Bergoglio often showed up unannounced to drink tea with parishioners and support local priests.

And in 2009, when one of his priests received a death threat for having spoken out against drugs in the villa, Bergoglio walked the streets, providing himself as a target and a dare for anyone wanting to retaliate. "They were never bothered again>”


Call that   the "Francis effect," live and in the flesh, says CNN. And after Korea, we will see that here in the Philippines, come January 2015.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Empanada festival: A celebration of good taste and good life

By Dominic B. dela Cruz & Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporters BATAC CITY—If there is one thing Batac is truly proud of, it would be its famous empanada-making business that has nurtured its people over the years. Embracing a century-old culture and culinary tradition, Batac’s empanada claims to be the best and tastiest in the country with its distinctive Ilokano taste courtesy of its local ingredients: fresh grated papaya, mongo, chopped longganisa, and egg. The crispy orange wrapper and is made of rice flour that is deep-fried. The celebration of this city’s famous traditional fast food attracting locals and tourists elsewhere comes with the City Charter Day of Batac every 23 rd  of June. Every year, the City Government of Batac led by Mayor Jeffrey Jubal Nalupta commemorate the city’s charter day celebration to further promote its famous One-Town, One Product, the Batac empanada. Empanada City The Batac empanada festival has already become an annua

PIDS expert says income tax cuts justified; warns gov’t of revenue loss

Proposals to amend the personal income tax schedule appear to be well-justified. However, these proposals should include measures that will allow government to recover the revenue loss from lower income taxes. Dr. Rosario Manasan, senior research fellow of state think-tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), said at a seminar sponsored by the Philippine Senate, that government should look for new revenue measures to compensate for the projected revenue loss that will arise as a result of the implementation of any of the various proposals to restructure the personal income tax. Currently, there are several income tax reform proposals pending in both houses of Congress. All of them, according to Dr. Manasan, have the same objective of addressing the phenomenon of bracket creep, which results from “non-indexation to inflation of personal income tax brackets”. Simply put, bracket creep occurs when employees’ income increases over time as a result of inflation. Th

PGIN honors Ilocano heroes of past, present through Heroes Walk

SPO1 Allan Lampitoc Franco of Banna, Ilocos Norte and PO2 Jovalyn D. Lozano of Adams, Ilocos Norte receive a resolution of commendation, a certificate of college scholarship grant to their family members and a P20,000 cash incentive each from the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte represented by Governor Imee R. Marcos and Vice Governor Angelo M. Barba in recognition of their bravery and heroic acts in the Mamasapano clash in Maguindanao on January 25. Mr. Franco and Mr. Lozano were recognized on March 10 in time for the unveiling of the second batch of Ilocano heroes at the Heroes Walk located along the Sirib Mile in Laoag City.  (Lei Adriano) By Jennifer T. Pambid PGIN-CMO In honor of the heroes who brought freedom, fame and glory to the province as well as to the country in the past century, the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte (PGIN) through the Education Department and Sirib Youth Office launched the second batch of Ilocano Heroes Walk on March 10, 2015.