When I was attending a Jesuit high school in San Juan, I ran into
some questions that no one seemed to want to (or be able to) answer. I
recall these questions to belong to two general categories:
a) Marian doctrines such as the Immaculate Conception and
b)
Soteriology questions, particularly the reconciliation between God's
justice and God's mercy, and the biblical evidence, if any, for
purgatory.
Now, I know what the typical reaction of you, the reader, would be.
What in tarnation are you doing during HIGH SCHOOL thinking about such things?
Well,
I'm the kind of person who believes, but wants to know WHY I believe.
That way I can justify it to those who ask my reasons. That way I can justify it to myself.
I have in fact been accused of being too cerebral. If my belief is based on intellect then it is not faith, I have been told.
Au
contraire! A faith that is anchored on nothing will simply end up
getting lost. A faith that is anchored on error will only lead one to
more error.
Hence, faith must be anchored on Truth, and
I believe that Truth to be the Gospel as taught by our Lord Jesus
Christ through the Apostles.
The fact of the matter is
this: I want to turn the tables on the devil-may-care attitude of
today's Catholics and tell them that it is not I who am too cerebral, it
is the majority that are not cerebral enough.
Ask an everyday Catholic a question such as, "why do you believe that Mary is conceived without original sin?"
You can almost hear the the gears in the heads trying to turn. Note that I said, "trying."
Heck,
the typical Philippine Catholic probably couldn't look up a Bible verse
if his life depended on it. Some might even go, "what's a verse?"
This,
more than anything else, is the reason that our Philippine Church is in
chaos. It does not help that some priests and religious who are
supposed to be the ones promoting truth are the ones promoting dissent
and rebellion through their own ignorance and pride.
The
typical Filipino Catholic, being left on their own due to poor
instruction and catechesis, is left to try to find the answers on their
own. Unfortunately inane "teachers" like the priests and religious who
are too busy doing other things than actually teaching sound doctrine to
their charges.
Left to their own devices, the youths are corrupted by ideas contrary to Christianity. They daydream about freedom without responsibility, they reject apostolic authority and thus are lost when it comes to navigating the complexities of the Scriptures. Easy prey for the pretended reformers. Easy prey for dissenters and rebels and wolves in sheep's clothing.
Worst of all, when corrected by their elders and bishops, they even cry that they are bullied and compare themselves to Christ being persecuted by Pharisees. They consider any attempt at correction as arrogance on the part of the corrector. They think themselves "humble" and "searching for truth" when the painful part is that the Truth is already there in the form of the Gospel and the Church.
Back to me.I was graced that despite my inadequate religious instruction (in a Jesuit school, no less), I was able to find the truth after being introduced to the writings of the Fathers of the Church, of Scott Hahn, Karl Keating, Tim Staples, William G. Most and in college, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine. I was saved from the inanity of Philippine Catholic pedagogal idiocy. It was from their writings that I learned the answers to my earlier questions, and sealed my current Catholic identity. Heck, after reading Most, Hahn, Keating and Staples, I couldn't be protestant even if I wanted to.
Let's get serious about our faith and the instruction of our youths. We need to take a long hard look at the religious instruction of our Catholic institutions.
If ever I am in charge of the religious formation of youngsters, the authors I mentioned will be required reading. No more of this complex philosophical gobbydegook. Let's get to the basics. The Life of Christ, Church history. Apologetics. Doctrinal development, Bible studies. The catechism.
Let's get back to the roots of it all. And let's take our faith seriously this time.
