“I am not angry at gay men. But I’m against what they’re actually doing,” so said Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales in an interview on the church-run Radio Veritas. (Thanks to Arbet and Queerty for the lead). This was part of an interview where Cardinal Rosales frowned upon the participation of gay men in the May Flower Festival, Santacruzan, which is a tradition conducted in honor of the Blessed Virgin.
Rosales lambasted small parishes saying that “We should keep sacred, what’s sacred,” and that it is not right to allow male cross-dressers to participate in the parade as it destroys the purity of the procession. Ah, purity.
Wherever can we find that these days? I wonder if Rosales will also berate the people in showbiz who organize Santacruzans which have those “sexy stars” as the reynas. Purity!
Rosales, however stressed that he is not discriminating against homosexuals and that he just wants to preserve the solemnity of the processions. If not allowing gay cross-dressers (who can play the part and sometimes better than females) to be part of these religious processions is not DISCRIMINATION, I wonder what is.
Some may debate that since this is a religious activity, the church has all the right to impose any rule they want. Sure they do, but what does that have to say about the religion?
However, the double standards when it comes to homosexuals still come into the picture. Take for example what happened last year to lesbian couple Leah Vader and Lynne Huskinson in the United States. They were active members of the church, but were eventually disallowed from taking communion by no less than their parish priest. The priest sent them a letter telling them that because of their union (they got married in Canada), and because of their public advocacy of same sex unions, they were no longer fit to take communion.
Now let’s move closer to home. Just last month, Monsignor Achilles Dakay, the spokesman of Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal released a statement regarding the Cebu Black Suede Canister Scandal. He blamed the victim’s homosexuality for the whole incident:
They seem to forget the whole thing. They are blaming the doctors for what they (did) but I think they should blame the guy for what they did,” Monsignor Achilles Dakay, spokesman for Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, said
That statement is clearly biased, discriminatory and uneducated. Dakay clearly did not know what the issue was about. The issue was not about sexuality nor was it about morals. It was about professionalism and ethics. If they continue to impose their moral standards on every single issue like that, then we have a problem. I’m just wondering though why they’re so vocal about homosexuality of the common people but they keep mum on issues of their fellow priests accused of sexually harassing young boys and girls. Would they also say the same thing, that we are forgetting what the real issue is?
I was born and raised a Roman Catholic and it was stuff like this that made me abandon the church, but not my faith. Over the years, I realized how unfair the church was and still is when it comes to their homosexual members. It is a known fact that many gay men are members of the Roman Catholic Church, and many of them are active in church-related activities too. You can see them in choirs, charismatic renewal movements, church beautification committees, etc. There isn’t any downright discrimination, because from a utilitarian point of view, these gay men are important to the church. The Vatican is still against homosexuality (some say the church is not against homosexuality, just homosexual acts), and homosexuals are doomed to go to hell if they don’t go straight.
If the church does not consider these biased statements and repulsive acts as discriminatory, I wonder what discrimination is.
So what is it that we, gay men, are actually doing that the church is against? Don’t ask me, ask Cardinal Rosales.
News Sources:
Link:
We hope you enjoyed reading It’s Not Just About Santacruzan To get the latest updates and similar blog entries, subscribe to our feeds!
13 Comments Received
May 6th, 2008 @9:49 am
I am so disappointed with the Catholic Church. I rarely go to mass because of the hypocrisy of the parish priests that I have encountered. He even had a mistress and church funds were misused. Then, these statements. The church should clean its own act first before making “being angry at what gays are doing” statements. They have a lot to clean up.
May 6th, 2008 @9:57 am
@noemi:
The church does indeed have a lot to clean up, and not just regarding things that are anti-homosexuals. This includes their seemingly endless meddling in governance. I hope they understand what separation of church and state means.
May 6th, 2008 @10:41 am
Hi AJ!
The Archbishop of Pangasinan just released his statement this morning. He was very emphatic in saying that having gay men participate in Santacruzans did not violate any kind of church doctrine. This was very refreshing to hear. He said that, in fact, the whole tradition of Santacruzan stemmed from our giving reverence to Santa Elena. Anyone who participated was clearly pretending to be the saint…woman or not. So long as the original intention of paying respect to the revered saint was kept intact, he didn’t see any reason of disallowing gay men to participate. He followed it with saying that some of his colleagues in the clergy should better focus their attention on other pressing matters.
Now that is one learned member of the clergy!
May 6th, 2008 @2:31 pm
******* should be shot.
May 6th, 2008 @6:19 pm
Wow! Thank you for this information. At least there’s someone out there who knows that casting the first stone is for those who have not sinned.
May 6th, 2008 @7:20 pm
Hypocrites: that’s what they are.
May 7th, 2008 @12:22 am
arrrghh.. this makes me so angry.
gusto ako mang-upak ng tao.
May 7th, 2008 @10:46 am
Wag naman. Maghunos-dili ka. Hayaan mo na silang mabulok sa kung saan man.
May 7th, 2008 @10:46 am
Exactly! Sigh.
May 7th, 2008 @10:50 am
The issue here I think is the participants should be “real ladies” and not flamboyant gays since the roles that are being portrayed are those of women roles. Just my thought.
May 7th, 2008 @1:04 pm
Thanks for posting this, AJ. I’ll be checking your blog from now on for updates on the bakla rights movement in the Philippines. I’m active in the gay rights movement too but focus my work mainly in the US, where I’ve been living for the past 10 years (I spent the first 10 in the Philippines, but obviously, I was too young to do anything back then).
Your post raises one central question in my mind:
What right do we, the gays, have to influence the church’s stance on homosexuality? As much as we hate for the Church (or any religious body) to be homophobic, they do have the right to preach whatever they want if freedom of speech is to be upheld. Undoubtedly, the Vatican’s position has made it difficult for many baklas devoted to the Catholic Church to feel accepted (same with gay Jews who practice orthodox Judaism). The challenge is in changing this stance without infringing on the Church’s right to freedom of thought and belief. The only way to do this, I think, is to challenge the Bible’s interpretation of homosexuality. Many gays out there truly believe that the Bible promotes the love of everyone (”love” here includes respect for humans as sexual beings and thus also respect for their sexual desires, whether for the opposite sex or not). This is the reason they stick to the Catholic Church even if they are ridiculed and shunned.
The good thing, though, is that the Church is likely to stick to its stance that homosexuality is not a choice, since it’s backed by scientific evidence (one that’s supported by the medical establishment that includes the American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, American Medical Association, among countless others. See:
http://www.apa.org/topics/orientation.html#choice
Now the question is: HOW do we convince the Church not to consider homosexual acts sinful? The answer will probably be a combination of science, philosophy, and anthropology.
-Gian
May 7th, 2008 @8:54 pm
While we do not have any right nor power to influence the Church and it’s stance on homosexuality, we have the right to express our opinions regarding the statements and issues that the church is involving themselves in. The church’s power and influence here in the Philippines is so great that they can also influence governance, which should not be the case.
No matter how much we challenge the Bible’s interpretation, the church will not budge. It would be very difficult for us to convince the church to consider homosexuality not a sin. I don’t want to sound too pessimistic but I think doing so is an effort in futility.
The church also has to realize that even if they have all that power and influence, not all people actually have faith in them. At the end of the day, what is important is one’s faith to the higher being (if they have one), not to a man-made religious institution.
May 7th, 2008 @11:15 pm
You know, I really do not know what is wrong with our priests. They always condemn gay people. Actually, Church tradition is being ressurected because of the interest of gay people. I have an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary and I always pray to her that she may protect us from discrimination. I totally disagree with the Bishop of Caloocan that gay people have no right to participate in any procession. When I heard that, I was shocked. OK, fine. If there are no gay people that will participate in these religious celebrations, what would the ceremonies look like? Por ejemplo, the Grand Marian Procession held every first Sunday of December in Intramuros Manila, most of the people that you see adorning their beloved images, arranging the floral arragements of their carrozas and organizing the events are GAY.They are doing this because of their devotion. We camareros spend a lot of money with these images because of our love and devotion. How about the pompous LA NAVAL DE MANILA festivities in Quezon City every October? You will also see a lot of gays there. I think the clergy does not understand this.
I do not want to attack the clergy, but I heard so many rumors about priests not practicing their vow of celibacy. What is the CBCP’s say about this? diba?
As a conclusion, kung walang bading sa simbahan, matabang ang dating ng mga seremonya.
Leave A Reply