"Suntne angeli?"
Decades ago, when the Roman
Catholic Church still used Latin in its official communications, the American
Jesuits sent to Rome for approval their plans for their theological college
in Woodstock, Maryland. Rome answered, "Suntne angeli?"
Rome's question -- Are they
angels? -- was a cryptic reference to the error committed by these bright
Jesuits: the plans for the building made no provision for toilet facilities.
"Suntne angeli?'' is our
immediate reaction to the Catholic bishops' pastoral letter on AIDS --
"In the Compassion of Jesus" -- which was read in the churches yesterday.
Though the pastoral letter asserts that "our ministry of compassion for
the afflicted must overcome fears and prejudices" and "our first attitude
must be to serve and minister," the bishops offer no real program of action.
The bishops only reiterate
their traditional admonitions of sexual continence. Perhaps this is because
they are convinced that "the most common means of transmission [of AIDS]
is through promiscuous sexual behavior." They do not go so far as to say
that "the wages of sin is death"; they do urge us, however, to "put to
death...the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion,
evil desire and the greed that is idolatry."
The bishops declare: "When
one lives by faith, as all followers of Christ must, one is convinced that
chastity and the refusal to engage in extra-marital sexual activity are
the best protection against HIV-AIDS."
They urge us to be like
angels, that is, to faithfully put into practice "our moral beliefs regarding
love and human sexuality...in order to prevent the spread of the disease
and to provide the foundations for effective and compassionate pastoral
care for those afflicted." To those who are not married, the bishops say,
"...we will not cease enjoining fidelity to the same moral beliefs."
While no one will disagree
with these ideals, these statements do not address the problems of the
many couples where one partner is faithful and monogamous while the other
is not. Beyond urging the promiscuous partner to mend his ways, the bishops
offer no comfort to the monogamous partner, who must share the risks brought
about the spouse's promiscuity.
We doubt that this kind
of preaching change the behavior of promiscuous spouses, that is, change
them into angels. We also wonder about their faithful and monogamous partners?
Is sexual abstinence the only measure they can take to protect themselves
against AIDS? Suntne angeli?
We also wonder whether this
program-that-is-not-a-program is consistent with the compassion of Jesus,
who, the bishops tell us, "has shown us the way, through the manner in
which he dealt with lepers, the ostracized and `untouchables' of his time."
Our major misgiving about
the bishops' pastoral letter is that it has little basis in reality. We
know of no place on earth where an anti-AIDS program consisting mainly
of preaching the values of premarital virginity, marital fidelity and sexual
continence has effectively arrested the spread of AIDS.
Though we will support the
bishops in preaching these values, we are also realistic enough to recognize
that human beings are not angels.
Nonetheless, we expect most
of the faithful to give "Amen" to the bishops' pastoral letter and to commit
themselves to angelic behavior. This affirmative answer to the question
of "Suntne angeli?" will take place at one level of our split-level Christianity.
But at the other level,
the level that is painfully aware of our humanity, the faithful will invoke
their traditional excuse of human frailty for their non-angelic behavior:
"Sapagkat kami ay tao lamang" [Because we are only human].