Ride on no more!

(Photo taken from: http://www.gmanews.tv/images/topstories/1217f.jpg )

As expected, the Prayer Rally that was spearheaded by the CBCP yesterday was attended by the opposition stalwarts including Former President Cory Aquino. The good thing is that the Church-based organizers of the prayer rally insisted on a rule not to allow politicians on the stage, not to allow politicians to speak and not to display banners and streamers that have political connotations. This is something new. I hope that all “Prayer Rallies” will be done in that way so as not to taint purely prayerful purpose. It is high time that a line be drawn between a prayer rally and a political rally. The Church has accommodated politicians for the sake of common cause and clamors in the past. But recent developments have shown that politicians of both sides of the political sphere try to court the Church’s nod on issues that pertain to leadership and governance in the Philippines. The CBCP’s reluctance to heed the oppositions’ call for President GMA’s resignation drew a hush among those who expect the Church to lead another EDSA. On the other hand, there are bishops who deviate from the official stand of the CBCP on such issues and chose to assert their “independence” as individual prelates. It is good that there are only about five of them. I have said in a previous article that such defiant and deviant stance of some bishops send wrong signals and cause confusion among the faithful. The CBCP is on the right track with the latest Prayer Rally it organized, but it must also dissuade its members from defying its official stance and pronouncements.

Let us pray for consistency.