Thank God, I was circumcised

This is not a subject for a column. But it is only now that there was scientific basis that circumcision could help prevent millions from contacting the HIV virus and AIDS. Frankly, I have been puzzled by the low morbidity HIV rate among Filipinos despite my awareness of the foibles of most males. And, what befuddled me was that even when an AIDS patient is discovered as the case of a Brazilian prosti, there was no follow-up report on how many she must have infected.

Frankly, AIDS was not known when we underwent our circumcision in Cebu City. The reason was simple. We found ourselves called "no-Christians" by our playmates there. I mean by we - my younger brother, Dodge, cousin Florencio Jr., our Chinese playmate, Onga, and Ben Carza.

We were not yet in our teens, but we could not tolerate being ostracized by our Cebuano playmates. Thus, we finally asked my uncle, Dr. George Espina, to circumcise us.

Now, I never realized that what had started off as just another cultural tradition now turns out to be rooted in a scientific reality. I still have to hear of the findings about HIV among the Jews. I am sure that the Spanish Christians must have been the ones who gave rise to circumcisions among Filipino Christians to the point that the belief then was that one cannot enter heaven unless circumcised.

Sometimes, folklore may sound silly. As circumcisions had among the "educated." For a time, it had fallen into disrepute after the post-war years. Now, the latest findings may have boosted circumcisions among Filipinos.

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Anybody who has read Fray Botod, the satire by Graciano Lopez Jaena about the malpractices of the Spanish friars, may find similarities in the politicking practices of two priests of Zamboanguita in Oriental Negros. The two, Frs. Lyndon Zerna and Jay Enriquez, parish priest and assistant. The petition against them signed by 4,000 parishioners had been submitted to Dumaguete Bishop John Du.

The practices denounced by even members of the Parish Pastoral Council included the selection of children to be baptized, and the dead they were going to bless, and their homilies during wedding rites.

While I was inclined originally to consider the lack of information and catechesis about the sacraments as the cause of the misunderstanding about the sacraments of baptism, the blessing of the dead and of marriage rites, there was the accusation that they refused to celebrate mass in barangays that did not support defeated mayoralty candidate Constantino Recto.

Now, that is something the two priests must explain. But, I wish to recount the tale of Fray Botod when he was asked by the sacristan to say the Requiem Mass with the body of a dead Christian in state.

The fray demands for P150, "second class funeral, with old silver cape."

Informed that his Filipino coadjutor, Fr. Marcelino, charges only fifty pesos for three priests and a first class funeral, Fr. Fray Botod answers - you and the coadjutor go to blazes; you're absurd; Fr. Marcelino is good for nothing."

Later, he tells the sacristan, "Bring the one hundred and fifty pesos; if you don't, the corpse will rot in your house."

So, what's new?

In the United States, the LA Diocese admitted recently that it had to sell some of its properties to help settle sexual misconducts against parishioners against priests over the years.

Perhaps, this time, a more militant and discriminating laity will emerge from the current situation in Zamboanguita. About time, if true, that they exercise their rights as faithful to call for discipline of their priests.

In the Bacolod Diocese there have been scandals involving priests who absconded with hundreds of thousands of pesos. Including, in one instance, bringing along one of the female devotees as "wife".

These cases have been swept under the rug. Not only by local parishioners, but including those abroad. Once, one of these pastors reportedly ended up almost charged for failure to pay his San Francisco hotel bills. Fortunately, another Filipino rushed to his rescue and averted a major embarrassment.

It's about time the bishops wield their disciplinary powers over some of their priests. Many of these have become embarrassments for the local Church.

That is why the Vatican, through Pope Benedict XVI, has asked the domestic prelates to shepherd more meticulously their subordinates in the face of the series of costly litigations that had to be settled by Church officials. That doesn't mean that bishops should launch a program. But it is a fact that the more scandalous among them should be disciplined and held in leash before their shenanigans break up the local churches.*

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