Bishop Bacani urges watching less telenovelas, more prayer

Novaliches Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani Jr.

MANILA, Philippines — As violence and corruption beset the country, a Catholic bishop is calling on the faithful to watch less telenovelas, pray the rosary more often and leave behind the culture that breeds selfishness.

At a recent Mass during the visit of the international pilgrim image of Our Lady of Fatima, Novaliches Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani Jr. said sparing 15 minutes allotted to watching telenovelas to say the rosary was not hard to do at all.

“Since we can do it, let’s shorten our telenovela time a bit… let’s use 15 minutes to pray the rosary in our homes… so that you will have peace,” CBCP News, the official news service of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines quoted the retired bishop as saying in his homily.

He said the rosary was the Virgin Mary’s gift to the Church to bring peace to one’s country, home and to oneself.

Bacani addressed some 2,000 people who gathered last week at the San Fernando de Dilao Parish in Paco, Manila to venerate the 66-year-old image of Our Lady of Fatima, which will be visiting 41 dioceses all over the Philippines until December 18.

In his homily, Bacani also observed that the “I, me and myself” mindset was also becoming evident in the excessive “selfie” snapshots posted on various social networking sites especially by the young people.

He was referring to photographs taken by one’s self with the use of a smartphone or digital camera.

“We are selfish, this is what we need to do away with—I, me and myself — those who keep on taking ‘selfie’ photos,” said Bacani.

“I joked some people, telling them, ‘You’re all about picture-taking, but never about picture-giving. This is the world today, it’s all about taking,” he said, also taking a swipe at those in power— not for taking “selfie” photos, but for taking from the pork barrel funds.

He said the “selfie” phenomenon showed an “unnatural self-centeredness” in the society, which also revealed a culture that needed God more than ever.

“What God wants to say is leave your selfishness. This is what you need to leave and live in God instead because in God [there] is true peace,” added the prelate, noting that praying the rosary and turning away from selfish ways were part of the message the Virgin Mary gave to the three children in Fatima, Portugal in 1917.

With too much corruption and violence happening in the country and in other parts of the world, Bacani said it was important that the faithful recognize peace as something God-given. It can only be achieved through prayer and penance, he said.

“The original meaning of penance is to return to God,” said the bishop, dismissing the notion  that penance must be done through extreme physical mortification like self-inflicted pain. “Prayer and penance is a formula to lasting peace,” he added.