I don’t know if any of you have read this yet, but if you have the time to do so now, please read the article “RH Bill, Ateneo, and La Salle: Of Lemons and Cowards”. I’m sure many of you will find this to be a rather interesting read, for a variety of reasons.
(Here’s another link, in case the one above isn’t working.)
This was published on the 9th of September, 2012. If I recall, that was just soon after the latest round of debates on the RH Bill finished, just before Senator Sotto’s turno en contra.
Your lemony statements are a bit tart, there, sir.
Now, I’m thinking, maybe this is the lampoon issue of the newspaper, yes? I don’t know if anybody from the Varsi will actually write something this scathing. During my days in UST, I doubt there was anybody in the staff of the official newspaper who thought this way about the usage of prophylactics and sex education, and I don’t see any reason for that to change in ten years.
Which only leads me to one assumption: this article hardly is the editorial opinion of the staff of the Varsitarian as it is the opinion of the school. Which is fine; I don’t have anything against an individual or entity expressing their opinions because that’s part of our legal and moral rights.
But to go as far as to call other institutions as cowards just because they give their individual members the freedom to express what they believe in is absurd. Last I checked, we were in the 21st century. I didn’t know we were back during the days of the inquisition wherein people who go against the doctrine of the Catholic church do so under threat of excommunication.
Where’s the forgiveness, understanding, and love in that? It’s like the church – or at least, in this instance, the Royal Catholic and Pontifical university of Santo Tomas – isn’t practicing what the church’s founder preached.
The local church’s attitude strikes me funny, since even the upper echelons of the Vatican are showing signs of leaning towards the relativistic acceptance of “necessary contraception” as the lesser evil. This, of course, remains to be a thorny issue for Catholic conservatives, but it’s refreshing to see signs of change in an institution as resistant to it as this.
And perhaps the change is sorely needed. Even one of the papal candidates during the time of Pope John Paul II’s death went so far as to say that the modern church was 200 years out of date. Of course, a lot of people in the Philippines are going to say that these are attempts to attack the church. But to that I say so what? Back during the beginnings of the church, they were persecuted (to their deaths, even) and they emerged to be one of the most powerful influential organizations the world has known. It’s anybody’s guess why the modern, conservative church is under attack today, but this presents to the institution a huge opportunity for growth and development.
Sadly, cells like the University of Santo Tomas are keeping the church from fully grasping the opportunity for change. If this is a lampoon article of the Vuisitarian, then great; I could hardly detect the sarcasm. But if this is real, then this represents what could perhaps be one of the biggest stumbling blocks the roman catholic church has to go through in modern times. The kind that leads to spiritual hate, dividing the church even more than it already is.
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