As I watched Christ’s faithful gather symbolically in the Upper Room on Holy Thursday, around Calvary’s cross on Good Friday, and at the empty tomb on Easter Sunday, a wave of joy flowed over me. Swept up like a chip of wood on the surface of a boiling wave by…
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To put me off a teaching career, Mom would say: “Those who can’t, teach.” The adage took on new meaning when Sister Gloria taught us sex education in high school. I salute her for grace under fire. We greeted with mocking incredulity her lessons on the mysteries of reproduction. By then…
Leave a CommentIn the second week of Lent, as Catholics moved into their preparation for Easter, the Church asked us to reflect on the Lord’s parable of the rich man and Lazarus. We recall the story of the rich man dressed in the finest clothes, dining sumptuously every day, and the poor…
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 CommentWhat a difference a short meeting makes. The much-awaited encounter with President Noy happened on Dec. 23, 2010. Originally planned to be a “big” assembly of at least 300 participants, the meeting was an idea that came out of an earlier meeting between the President and six representatives of the…
Leave a CommentMy oldest nephew, on whom we pin great hopes, spent 16 years in that famous school in Loyola Heights, the one that instructs its students not just in reading skills but in Catholic teaching. He recently asked about the topic for my next article. I said: “The 20th anniversary of…
Leave a CommentI took a much-needed respite from my daily routine and work last November. After two years of planning and saving up, I made a trip to New Zealand with a cousin and friend to visit a younger cousin who lives in Auckland. We went around the north side of New…
Leave a CommentHistorian Alfred W. McCoy made headlines in the Philippines when, shortly before the snap election of 1986, he showed that the medals for valor as a guerrilla leader claimed by President Ferdinand Marcos were fake. Since then he has by his archival research turned over more rocks to reveal the creepy…
Leave a CommentIt is said that those who forget history are condemned to repeat it. With this in mind, Matthew Connelly, professor of history at Columbia University, has written “Fatal Misconception: The Struggle to Control World Population.” In great detail and with abundant documentation he traces the story of mainly well-meaning people…
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Laperal demolition: where gov’t failed
The violent demolition inside the Laperal compound in Guadalupe, Makati was not a simple clash between informal settlers (often characterized as law breakers) and the local government, supposedly the implementers of law. Many sympathized with the residents left homeless–first by a fire, then by the local government’s demolition crew. On the…