Sorry, but they’ll keep the SUVs

The bishops have spoken, but the public apology needs decoding.

“I’m sorry” doesn’t refer to receiving or soliciting donations of sports utility vehicles (SUV) from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office( PCSO).

Not at all.

If you read closely, the regret just acknowledges the “pain and sadness” felt by confused Catholics, who have been following the media controversy over the strange uses of the state-owned lottery fund uncovered by auditors.

There was no mea culpa or admission of wrongdoing.

The apology is for the “effect” of the scandal, and not the actions at the core of the controversy, actions whose legality and propriety the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) qualified has still to be proven.

Read it again: “We assure you that the bishops concerned are ready to accept responsibility for their action and to face the consequences if it would be proven unlawful, anomalous and unconstitutional.”

Some lawyer must have guided the phrasing of the unprecedented pastoral letter “A Time of Pain, a Time of Grace” read by Tandag Bishop Nereo Odchimar, CPCP president.

It accepts no direct blame even as it expresses regret for having “failed to consider the pitfalls to which these grants could possibly lead them.”

The council pleads for mercy but make not mistake, the bishops will keep the cars. There was no offer to return them, was there?

The statement said the bishops, who were invited to the Senate the next day, are ready to face the music “if”…

Let the senators (or PCSO auditors) cast the stone that says any law of man was broken when seven bishops (as of last count) deigned to receive or ask as a birthday gift a brand-new SUV from the agency used by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as her goody bag for favors and mystery missions of State.

They’re probably right. A gift from one powerful institution to another isn’t a violation of Church and State per se.

Give to Ceasar what is Ceasar’s. Leave to God what belongs to God.

When Jesus resolved the Pharisees’ trick question about whether to pay tax to the Roman emperor by handing over a coin with this piece of wisdom, he spoke of a supernatural justice larger than the political realities of the day. He submitted to human authority but never yielded his spirit.

So forgive the simple-minded and poor among us: What about the car?

When does a 4×4 Pajero, a symbol for millionaires and government fat cats in the modern Filipino vernacular, transform into gifts of “good faith” if church leaders cling to them?

It’s not the vehicle per se, but the attitude of entitlement that is worrisome.

Add to this the lack of clear guidelines as to when donations intended for charity belong to a clergy member as an individual or to his flock.

State-donated Mistubishi Monteros will remain in the limbo between faith in an indestructible church and hope that men of the cloth have not lost their way.

We thank the bishops for the humility of apologizing to the people, for acknowledging how “our Mother Church has been deeply wounded” by the recent controversies.

Seven bishops are still a minority in a council of over 60 around the country.

To watch the stain of scandal creep up the cassocks of venerable leaders of the church does indeed risk stunting a nation’s soul.

With the CBCP’s promise to “reexamine” its working relations with the government in the light of “the highest ethical standards,” we wait for its lessons in propriety, prudence and navigating the pitfalls of political leverage.