Burned-again Panlilio

TALKS OF the Capitol purportedly invaded by a horde of Born-Again Christian sects came to the fore anew – with greater credence at that – in the wake of last week’s reported attempt of putative Provincial Administrator Atty. Vivian Dabu to scrap the long-held practice of first Friday Mass celebrations there.
It was reported that Dabu – putatively Born-Again – allegedly favored the holding of services by the Jesus is Lord (JIL) Fellowship in lieu of the first Friday Mass.
Shocked, devoutly Catholic oldtimers at the Capitol sought out media and their pastors to report the incident.
“In all my working life here at the Capitol, I have always looked forward to the first Friday Mass as a source of spiritual nourishment, as a celebration of joy and thanksgiving shared among our co-workers. So ironic that it had to take a Catholic priest to deprive us of this spiritual experience.” So said an employee who claimed to have been with the provincial government for some 30 years.
One retired Capitol employee remembered going to first Friday Masses at the time of Gov. Juanita L. Nepomuceno in the 1970s.
"It has been there in the past administrations. Even non-Catholics join us in the Masses out of courtesy and respect. And now they want it scrapped for their own interests?" So Sun-Star Pampanga quoted an aide at the sangguniang panlalawigan as saying. She was said to have “served most of the governors in the province and has seen and led the Friday Eucharistic celebrations at the Capitol lobby.”
The first Friday Masses were long held at the very lobby of the Capitol, the aide said, but they were transferred to the Benigno Aquino Hall soon after the assumption to the Office of the Governor of suspended priest Eddie T. Panlilio.
Now speaks the Most Rev. Paciano B. Aniceto, archbishop of San Fernando, and Panlilio’s superior in the priesthood: "It cannot be so. It has been institutionalized at the Capitol for a very long time. It is not that easy to take away a revered practice of worship and celebration."
The good Apu Ceto sensed some politicking in the move to scrap the first Friday Mass.
"I have personally received reliable reports that the governor is running for a higher post. Maybe that is why Christian groups and other sects are supporting him. But removing the first Friday Mass (at the Capitol) is not good. As a priest, he should know better. The Church allows Christian celebrations. But not to replace a Mass like the first Friday Mass at the Capitol. They could do their worship on another day. They should not remove the Masses there but must add to and complement it instead, to strengthen faith and attain unity," he said.
So does Panlilio “as a priest...know better”?
Last year, invoking the spirit of ecumenism, Panlilio had the image of the Virgin Mary removed from the Office of the Governor.
That looked to many as Panlilio’s giving in to the Born-Again sensitivity over “graven” images. And to further buttress his support among them, notably the JIL. (Remember that rabid fanatic named Joel, twisting Biblical passages to suit Panlilio with the omnipotence of God so that any criticism of him is a criticism of the Almighty Himself? No greater love Panlilio hath for this Joel than for Dabu, if we may sayeth thus.)
The removal of the Virgin to us as manifest hypocrisy, if not expediency on the part of Panlilio. So what business had Panlilio parading an image of the Virgin on board a kariton when he filed his candidacy for the governorship? Pure gimmickry? The image of the Virgin purely utilitarian in purpose? That, to the old Catholic folk, is sacrilegious!
And then only a few weeks back, Panlilio lashed at a senior priest, the Rev. Monsignor Jun Mercado, tagging him in an axis of evil of sorts, along with suspected jueteng lords and politicos, as having control of police affairs in Pampanga.
So what hath the Good Book to say on a brother who “sins”?
“...if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he shall neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican.”
As a priest, Panlilio should have known Matthew 18:15-17.
So, with his brother priest Mercado “trespassing” against him, Panlilio went and told the media and let Mercado unto him a “heathen man.”
So does Panlilio “as a priest...know better”?
The good Apu Ceto very well knows. After all, Panlilio out-petered the apostle in his denial – all of five times! – of the archbishop’s appeal for him not to run for governor. That’s two more over Peter’s denial of Christ three times.
Ah, the good Apu Ceto, keeping all things painful in his heart!
A caveat to Panlilio though: “Quousque tandem abutere Catilina patientia nostra?”
The Reverend Governor would most surely know what that forebode, if he is worth the seminary that nurtured him to priesthood. For the un-Latined among us, the phrase came from the Catiline discourses of the orator Marcus Tullus Cicero that asked how long would this Catiline abuse the public’s patience.
So if Panlilio – as he has been saying, among many things though – ever sought to return to the priesthood?
"Ah, that would depend on my evaluation and assessment. He may have to deal with the Canon Law on that. Kanyon yang mamakbung yan. (That’s an exploding cannon.)” So was Apu Ceto quoted as quipping.
A caveat there, indeed!