EDITORIAL - Politicians take fight to the Church

After years of picking the wrong fights, often involving issues too political for its own ministerial credibility, the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines has finally been handed a fight it cannot refuse or turn away from. Marriage, one of its own seven sacraments, is now under fire. There is a move in Congress to make it so easy to dissolve marriage.

For years, the Catholic Church in the Philippines, or at least some of its most influential leaders and personalities, has loved to involve itself in the political affairs of this country. Well, the shoe is now on the other foot, or so it seems. Politicians are now involving themselves in Church matters. They are trying to shake things up, in a way that can seriously undermine the integrity of one of its most widely accepted and practiced sacraments.

A bill now pending in Congress seeks the dissolution of marriage, for no other reason than the flimsiest and most ridiculous — unhappiness. People, Catholic or not, see the bill as nothing more than the product of one of its most influential authors’ own personal frustrations, someone who wants to impose his chosen way out on the rest of the population. Unfortunately for the people, the making of laws is out of their hands.

The Church has often been in the forefront of whipping up public sentiment over issues best left to the political leaders to address. And that is why many of its attempts to whip up public indignation to a level where it can tip the political balance enough to make a difference have often miserably failed. The people after all are quick to spot futility when they see one.

Besides, the Filipino people are intelligent enough to see many of the fights the Church is quick to engage in are not really its fights. They show up at the rallies and marches more as a means to show solidarity with the Church than from any realistic expectation of seeing meaningful change happen. But this time things are different. The politicians have taken the fight to the Church. One of its dearly-held sacraments is under attack.

Suddenly, as they say, the ball is now in the Church’s court. To be sure, the Church cannot fight this challenge alone. It needs to summon what influence it truly has over the so-called 80 percent of the population who are said to be Catholics and send them to the frontlines to repel this attack. The battle can be won if enough Catholics can credibly threaten withdrawal of support from their congressmen. Otherwise, the consequences on the influence of the Church can be devastating.