Flawless de Mayo

BLASPHEMOUS DISGRACE – an extreme, supremely extreme, double redundancy there for effect – was the collective howl heaped upon that woman in skimpy shorts who mounted the cross at the makeshift Calvary in Barangay Pampang, Angeles City last Good Friday.

Ah, to what (im)moral depths has this generation descended, we – their elders – wailed.

“This is an instance of that which is called secularism, the rejection of God in the life of man, the utter disrespect for God. What is adored is modernism, absolutely displacing the Gospel values of pureness of heart, prudence and respect for the spiritual.” So lamented Fr. Anton Pascual, president of Catholic church-run Radio Veritas.

“Our problem is… that which Pope Benedict XVI defined as the problem of relativism in the world today. The absence of standards, of moral standards, as though everything depended on the subjective interpretation of the individual.” So furthered the good padre.

Indeed, to what depths of secularism have we descended where our folk religion rites are concerned.

In the Mary Month of May is the Flores de Mayo – a tradition dating back to 1865 with young girls doing daily floral offering to the Virgin for the whole month.

The other Maytime festivity is the Santacruzan – a dramatization of the search of the Empress Helena of the Cross with her son Constantine. It usually serves as the culmination of the Flores de Mayo with a grand edition – Santacruzan caragulan, in Kapampangan ­– on the last day of May. 

Like other religious rites, both festivities – Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iniguez implores the Catholics faithful – must be taken as “an opportunity to deepen their faith and reflect on the meaning of the cross in their life.”

Sadly, so sadly, Bishop Iniguez laments, the religious significance has steadily diminished over the years and has become “commercialized.”

The Santacruzan has so turned into “beauty pageants and occasions for people to see movie and television personalities clad in pompous regalia,” that there is a need for the Church “to do everything it could to catechize and inform the faithful of the event’s significance.”

As the Santacruzan, so is the Flores de Mayo – in effect “deVirginized,”  secularized to a competition of fashion and a contest of beauty. Morally degenerating into Flawless de Mayo, in the context of glutathione and Dra. Vicky Belo.   

Indeed, no spirituality but sheer sexuality can only obtain from a procession of beauty queens and comely lasses showing the most skin and the least faith,    

And as if this were not enough a desecration of the Christian essence of the Flores de Mayo and the Santacruzan – the gay community has taken over the whole package, in all their gay apparel in the roles of the characters – from the Banderada to Reynas Sabah, Justicia, Mora, Sentenciada, etcetera to the Emperatriz and Reyna Elena.

“Hindi angkop na sila ay sumagala dahil hindi angkop na pagpapakita ng debosyon na ang lalaki ay nagwawaring babae. Kahit ano pa, ika nga sa Tagalog, mabababoy yan. Ang pagiging mukhang babae ng mga bading ay hindi mapo-focus sa mahal na birhen (It is not proper that they join the parade because it is not a proper show of devotion for men to appear as women. In any case, as they say in Tagalog, it will be profane. Having gays appear as women will shift the focus from the beloved virgin).” So Bishop Ted Bacani, of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’ Episcopal Commission on the Doctrine of the Faith, said in an interview over Radio Veritas.

“Gawin natin na maayos na tayo ay makakapagbibigay talaga ng puri sa Diyos at sa ating mahal na birhen (Let's just do this properly to give praise to God and our beloved virgin),” the good bishop added.

The gay community has long issued a stand on their right to join the Flores de Mayo and the Santacruzan.

A few years back, Danton Remoto, chairman of the gay group Ladlad, said it was not the intention of the gay participants of Santacruzan to insult the Catholic Church: “Ang mga baklang sumasali sa ganyan, wala silang intensiyon na mang-insulto o manlibak sa Simbahan (Those gays who joined the Santacruzan have no  intention to insult the Church).”

Still, as Bishop Iniguez says: “Gayunman, kung malaking palabas lamang ang pagsali ng third sex sa sagala, ito’y hindi nararapat dahil ang Santacruzan ay hindi fashion show kung hindi isang sagradong pagdiriwang ng Simbahang Katoliko (However, if gays joining the parade is all for show, this is not appropriate because the Santacruzan is not a fashion show, but a sacred celebration of the Catholic Church).”

Neither homophobe nor homophile I am, but a line’s got to be drawn between the unrestrained expression of rights and the disparagement of faith.

Keep the tradition sacred.