Church Position in Philippines

It is with much interest that I read the article (June 1), “Catholic Church Seeks Moral Middle Ground in Turbulent Philippines.” This article accurately illustrates the position of the Catholic Church, not only in the Philippines, but in Central America and in the rest of the world as well.

One spokesman for the U.S. bishops put it more accurately when he said, “The consistency of the . . . bishops and the desire of ideologues to label positions as either conservative or liberal lead to attacks from both right and left.”

I’ve followed the Catholic Church’s pursuit of peace and justice in the world, and it’s sad to see political ideologues distorting the views of the Catholic Church to their own political ends.

Witness the Philippines: Cardinal Sin resigns from Marcos’ panel investigating the death of opposition leader Benigno Aquino, and Marcos warns him against “fomenting revolution.” Yet because of his middle-ground position, he is a “fascist” as far as those of the left are concerned. In short, he refuses to make the politics of men into the politics of God. As the cardinal himself said, “The moment the church advocates a system of government, the church can become a widow in the next generation.”

Witness again Central America: in El Salvador, two nuns, a layperson, and their archbishop are killed as “subversives” when they speak out for human rights. In Nicaragua. the archbishop who helped bring down the dictator Anastasio Somoza is now persecuted by the very government he helped bring to power. Why? Because he speaks out for human rights that are being abused and refuses to identify with any human ideology other than his faith in Christ.

To stand up for human rights and for your faith either brands you as a communist or a fascist, depending on which country you’re from. And so the devil quotes Scripture to his own advantage when he says “You are either for me or against me!”

So I applaud the Philippine church for promoting Christ apart from free enterprise or revolution. When true faith is brought into the political arena, aside from human egoism, you may be criticized by both the right and the left, but the faith they see in you will change the political system for the better, regardless of which one it may be.

JOHN E. MOFFITT

Camarillo