Fr. Jerome Secillano of CBCP on Duterte’s tirades against Catholic Church: Pagkakataon ito para tignan ang sarili namin and to better ourselves

Unlike the other Catholic Priests who quickly engaged President Rodrigo Duterte in a word war after the latterly released tirades against the Catholic Church, one priest has better thoughts on how they would handle the anger of the President on the most prominent religion in the Philippines.

Father Jerome Secillano of the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) public affairs committee believes that engaging the President in a word war would only “worsen the matter” and only “add fuel into the fire.”

“”Isipin mo, halimbawa, may patutsada ang Pangulo tapos sasagot naman kami sa Simbahan, hindi matatapos ‘yan. Kaya kinakailangan dito prudence,” Secillano said.

Fr. Secillano, who was interviewed by ANC believes that the attacks of Duterte against the Catholic Church would be a big chance for the priests to have a self-reflection and think if they really need to improve themselves.

He said that if Catholic Church turned into a defensive mode against the President, that would be a bad move for them.

“Every tirade against us is an opportunity for us to look into ourselves. Binabanatan kami, tingnan din namin ang sarili namin, hindi ‘yung nade-defend kaagad kami, di ba?” he said

“Malaking pagkakataon ‘yan. Ano ba talaga’ng kulang sa amin?” Secillano said.

The priest seems to understand why President Duterte attacks against the Catholic, saying that the tirades of the most powerful official in the Philippines are an indication that they need to improve themselves and make better things.

“We priests need to better ourselves. This is what I discovered about myself, and perhaps I can do better things than this. I can be better than this,” he said.

Father Secillano is also optimistic that the Catholic Church and the government would be reconciled easily.

According to him, an official to Malacanang is already communicating with the CBCP to talk about several matters to prevent another misunderstanding and word war.

“Let’s work together for the common good, we have the same goal to make every Filipino better, have a better life, maybe we have differences in our strategies, but perhaps maganda dito ay gawin nalang natin kung anong makakabuti,” Father Secillano said.

In terms of protecting the other priest, Father Secillano believes that buying bulletproof vest and helmet for them would not be afforded by the Catholic Church.

He saw that the only possible option is the cooperate with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and ask for some security.

Arming priests are also unbecoming and appropriate, Secillano believes.

President Rodrigo Duterte since the election period in 2016 is already slamming the Catholic Church for being critical against him.

He even distributed a book wrote against the Catholic Church called the “Altar of Secrets” which contains the darkest secrets of some priests in the Philippines.

Duterte even said that one of the priests who got killed had an affair with several married women.

Because of this, some critics of the government believes that Duterte has a role in the killings of three Catholic priests.

However, Duterte denied the accusations of his critics.

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