I never had the chance to see Nelson Mandela in person. But I have experienced what is, I suppose, the next best thing. I have listened to Archbishop Desmond Tutu speak. Ten years ago, Tutu was invited to deliver the keynote address for a peace conference at the Kroc Institute…
Leave a CommentAuthor: Roberto E. N. Rivera, SJ
“What do I own and what owns me?” I kept repeating these words to myself as I walked around Quiapo one Saturday afternoon recently. I had arrived early for a Mass I was supposed to concelebrate at the Basilica of the Black Nazarene, with nearly an hour to spare. I…
Leave a CommentWorld Youth Day always evokes for me memories of a narrowly averted disaster. As a not-so-youthful seminarian teaching at the Ateneo de Manila High School back in 1995, I was tasked with shepherding my homeroom students during the overnight vigil and concluding Mass for the World Youth Day celebration in…
Leave a Comment“IF I were to call you a ‘cultured individual,’ would I be praising or insulting you?” This is one of the first questions I pose to college students in my Introduction to Sociology-Anthropology classes at the Ateneo de Manila University. Most students, of course, correctly identify this as a compliment…
Leave a CommentBishop Teodoro Bacani had almost 250 priests in stitches with the following anecdote. A religious sister stayed for a few weeks in an urban poor community. With each scene of abject poverty she encountered, she would inevitably say, “Kawawa naman!” (What a pity!) Stumbling upon a naked, soot-covered child, she…
Leave a CommentAs the nation heaps praise and admiration upon former government auditor turned whistle-blower Heidi Mendoza, I am reminded of two words: “common virtue.” This was the title of the last chapter of John Bradley Jr.’s 2000 bestseller, “Flags of Our Fathers.” The book is Bradley’s account of the lives of…
Leave a Comment
Our faith is an unfinished task
Prof. Randy David has written recently (Inquirer Opinion, 1/9/13) on the Black Nazarene devotion and the contradictions it reveals regarding the role of faith in Philippine society. As always, his is an insightful and incisive analysis. He pulls no punches in taking the Catholic Church to task for failing to…