MANILA, Philippines—Where are the Church’s foot soldiers?
While Catholic bishops have been vocal about their opposition to the reproductive health (RH) bill, an anti-RH advocate Tuesday noted that not enough Catholic priests were speaking out on the matter.
Lawyer Romulo Macalintal urged priests to speak out more often against the bill and maximize the use of the pulpit to defeat the proposed family planning measure.
“I’m appealing to our priests to discuss this matter in their homilies every day. The problem is many of our priests seem to be reluctant to talk about the RH bill or they do not know how to explain it,” he said.
The campaign for and against the RH bill is heating up as Congress prepares to vote on the matter. The RH bill calls for public support for family planning, including the use of condoms and other modern contraceptives which the Catholic Church is against.
Macalintal, an active layman in his parish, said priests could also invite lay leaders familiar with the topic.
Public don’t know enough
“If the priesthood does not support this, then our lawmakers won’t feel how strongly we are against this,” he said.
Macalintal said he attends Mass almost every day but has seldom heard priests actively preach against the RH bill.
“I think it was only in a Mass on TV that I heard the priest urge those listening to join the anti-RH rally,” Macalintal said.
“I’ve been a lecturer and commentator for more than 30 years and this is really a problem. I think our fight against the RH bill will be stronger if our priests give their total support through their homilies,” he added.
Macalintal said the survey results showing popular support for the RH bill was due to the public not knowing enough about the issue.
Quiapo church rector Msgr. Jose Clemente Ignacio said some priests do speak out against the RH bill but he agreed that priests should talk about it more often.
“Without sounding defensive, I know that there are priests who preach (against the RH bill) but what Attorney Macalintal is saying is, hopefully, priests would speak more because the pulpit is our only way of communicating,” Ignacio said.
He said the media “appears to be pro-RH” and arguments against the bill were seldom heard.
“Hopefully, the priests can explain and use the pulpit. What’s difficult is that priests will be accused of interfering in politics because this is a political issue,” Ignacio said.
The Church wants couples to use only the rhythm or calendar method of family planning which calls for abstaining from sex during a woman’s fertile days of the month.
Government planners say it is not a very reliable method of preventing pregnancy. President Benigno Aquino III has come out in favor of more modern contraceptive methods.
A joint statement of some 200 professors also hit the Church for opposing the use of condoms to stop the spread of HIV-AIDS and the use of modern contraceptives to help promote women’s reproductive rights.