Written as part of a collection commemorating the tenth anniversary of the EDSA event, this lengthy article reviews the interaction of the church with the Philippine state during that period, against the background both of the church’s own self-understanding and of the Philippine Constitution of 1987. It notes the efforts…
Leave a CommentAuthor: John J. Carroll, SJ
John J. Carroll, SJ probes into the Filipino blood lust that clamored for Echegaray’s execution and gives a cultural, social and Christian reflection on the death penalty. First published in the Intersect Volume 14, Nos. 4 and 5 April-May 1999 A witness to a hanging in the Philippines, in…
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Don’t expect Pope Francis to soften the Church’s teaching on abortion anytime soon. In a talk last Sept. 20 to gynecologists, he insisted: “Every unborn child, condemned unjustly to being aborted, has the face of the Lord, who before being born, and then when he was just born, experienced the rejection…
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Lampedusa? Where/what is that? If you are wondering, you are not the only one as the local press has been resoundingly silent about the very first trip of Pope Francis away from the confines of Rome. It was not to his own Buenos Aires or some other great city, not…
Leave a CommentI write as one of the 9.2 percent of adult Catholics in the Philippines who, according to the recent Social Weather Stations survey, have sometimes thought of leaving the Catholic Church. These instances occurred mostly in the “bad old days” before Cardinal Jaime Sin gave a new face to the…
Leave a CommentHas Cardinal Luis Tagle been reading Inquirer columnist Randy David? Seems so, from an interview with Juan Pablo Salud published in Philippine Graphic (Jan. 27). In the interview, the cardinal speaks of President Aquino as possibly the first “modern president” of the Philippines. He goes on to describe “modernity” in…
Leave a CommentWill the Prince of Peace come to the Philippines this Christmas? My fear is that He may pass by, but only for a moment, as the nasty fighting over the reproductive health bill—or the aftermath of a divisive vote in the House—embitters the nation. The debate has deteriorated into a…
Leave a CommentYes, I am still an American citizen, waiting these many years for permanent-resident status as a step toward Philippine citizenship. I follow American political developments, although not as closely as those of my adopted country. Yes, I have a ballot for the upcoming US presidential election, and I shall send…
Leave a CommentPresident Aquino may be chuckling behind his hand at the way in which his remark about “responsible parenthood” put a cat in the chicken coop. Amid the excited cackling that followed the President’s remark, it took Prof. Bernardo Villegas of Opus Dei to remind listeners on Radio Veritas that responsible…
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‘Miracle’ at Edsa?
I am uncomfortable with throwing around the word “miracle” too easily. In many cases I prefer to speak of Divine Providence, working in history and bringing together a series of contingent—might have been different—events and human decisions to bring about a definite outcome. Let us look at the Edsa 1986…