Iloilo mason protests

Title

Language

English

Source

The Cabletow XXXVIII (1) July 1962

Year

1962

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

Bro. Alfredo Samson of Iloilo City takes exception to the tenor of a ra dio speech of the parish priest of La Paz, Jloilo, on June 4 wherein the good Father branded all non-Catholics as heretics, unfit to be sponsors of children at baptism because “they cannot teach the child anything use ful in life”. We do not have the priestly speech in full but it is ap parent from portions quoted by Bro. Samson that the cleric has taken up what we thought was already a dis carded line of his church. “Is this the way you size up your countrymen at this time and age?” asked Bro. Samson in a personal let ter of protest to the priest for the unkind generalization. “What if some people do not embrace Catho licism, became Protestants, Muslims, Buddhists, or join the fraternal or ganization of Freemasons? . . . Per haps these people are better than yon think because they arc taught to be tolerant, morally upright, to love God and be reads to help any one in distress", Bro. Samson added. Ap pealing to the clergyman to preach lather "the real Christian truth as taught and preached by Jesus Christ", Bro. Samson stressed the need for a “spit itual revival to strengthen our moral character". Certainlv in these days of lowered ethical stand aids, this is more needed by the peo ple than offensive diatribes against non-Catholics. We arc with Bro. Samson in his vigorous objection to the prelate's re vival of the practice of villifving “non-conformists" and "dissenters", especially Masons who arc as earnest as any good Catholic in their endeav or to serve their fcllowmen and God. One of the virtues Masons culti vate is Tolerance because it is essen tial to peace and unity. With it, we shall be able to close tanks and solve together individual as well as nation al problems. This is not possible when uncharitable and uncalled for statements are hurled by churchmen against non-Catholics whenever the mood comes to them, inviting retali ation and widening cleavages. In passing, it is noteworthy that such attacks never come from the laity. This is indicative that our Catholic laymen need no lesson in Tolerance. Should a priest be less decorous? Undoubtedly the good priest wants to win non-Catholics to his fold. Need he be reminded of the elemen tary fact that offense does not at tract nor abuse produce conversions? American Catholicism seems to be of different brand from what we have here. If memory serves us right, a priest in America was recently cen sured severely by his superior for preaching that outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation. The Iloilo divine apparently has not kept up with the times, lie is vetoing Pop? John Will’s friendly approach to all Christian churches to ellect a re-union. I.ate last year at the meet ing of World Council of Churches at Delhi, the most distinguished Pro testant Anglican and Orthdox church leaders were joined by official Roman Catholic observers. Let us hope that “Churchianitv” which has displaced Christianity for centuries is poised for an exit despite obstructions by bigoted Rip Van Winkles in the secerdotal ranks. 19

pages

19

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