Saturday, August 18, 2012

Corruption in the Church

Some Filipinos experience the reality of poverty in the midst of their life. They don’t have the opportunity to land a good job or no job at all. This economic reason affects their financial status. Indeed money as we learn is not is the sole measure of man’s happiness. For Aristotle, it is the well-being of the person, ranging from economic, financial, to intellectual and spiritual too. And so this people develop the mentality of blaming the government as the cause of all miseries that poverty brings to humanity. 

But it would be unfair to blame all the consequences brought by poverty due to corruption to the government alone. Its leaders and workers are not the sole cause of every the mess. It is a fallacy to think that way. It is true that the government is the lead institution to serve the people. But it has its own limitation. They are only human beings prone to commit mistakes, being lured with the false promises and pleasure the world is offering, and lack of spiritual and moral guidance from the known spiritual gurus of religions.

In the history of our country, the vanguard of morality is the Catholic Church. The role it plays is always crucial in the development of our country. See the EDSA 1 and EDSA 2. Thanks to them and their effort of bringing hope, and with courage, leading change in the society. They provide moral guidelines for the electorates when local and national elections come to choose upright candidates.

Just like the strategy of Pinoy in abolishing the use of siren or wang-wang, can the leaders of the Church also do that among their ranks and files? Can the religious leaders imitate the principle of leadership by example? Can they walk the talk? In the church, corruption is not new anymore. There are some types of corruption that are obvious - in terms of money, moral values, business transactions, etc.