4.2.

2 Views of Corpus Christi Parishioners on RCC’s involvement in politics and social

issues

Selected members of Corpus Christi Parish Church were asked of their

opinions on the involvement of MVC in the local election in particular and on the
involvement of the RCC clerics in political and social issues, in general.

4.2.2.1 Views of Selected Corpus Christi Parishioners on the election involvement of

Monsignor Vera Cruz,

In the case of Monsignor Vera Cruz’s political involvement, the reactions of Roman

Catholic parishioners are of much importance. He is under of criticism of the people for they

accused him of using his social status as a church leaders to carry out his political aspirations

(Umel and Rostauro i, 2015). (who are Umel & Rostauro? Are these nescasre?radio

commentator? Dapat dili in-ani pag butang sa ilang name as if writer or researcher cla.

( I GOT. THIS FROM THE DEFENSE VERSION & edited the quotes for

clarity )

In an interview with selected parishioners from CCC where MVC was the parish

priest before he decided to run for vice-mayor, there were two opposing themes

which emerged.

 Opposed to the MCV’s political involvement.

There were parishioners who had a negative sentiment on the involvement of their

parish priest, MVC, to run as mayor in the city of Iligan. These are reflected in the

excerpts of the interview results:

No, I didn’t like because for me it’s not his duty as a priest to
participate in politics or to criticize politicians. I disagree on priests
getting involved in election because they are church leaders.
 Ivy,CCC parishioner

(It (politics) doesn’t concern them (priests), thus I do not favor their
Political participation)
Ryan, CCC parishioner

 Agreed to the political involvement of MVC

On the other side, there were also parishioners who agreed to the political
involvement of MVC in particular and other priests in general. These are their reasons:

Yes, I agree because for me, they (priests) are part of the
citizenry and thus can be involved in politics and government.
Nash, CCC parishioner

In history, church leaders were also political leaders, so it is okay with me

Marty, NCC parishioner

4.2.2.2 Views of Selected Corpus Christi Parishioners on RCC and clerics involvement

in politics and social issues

The researchers also conducted a survey to selected CCC parishioners to find out their

opinions on the political involvement of the church and clerics in general. Results are shown in

Table 4.
 Table 4.CCC parishioners’ views on statements pertaining to clerics’
political involvement in the church

Statement Agree Undecided Disagree

I will vote for candidates endorsed by the RCC leaders 20 % 30 % 50 %

I will give funds for a political candidate sponsored by the 3.3 % 33.3 % 63.3 %
RCC leader

I will participate on campaign rallies of the political 3.3 % 33.3 % 63.3 %

candidate endorsed by our church leaders

I will attend mass if our priest talks about politics or 26.7 % 26.7 % 46.7 %
election

I will attend mass if our priest campaigns against a 10.0 % 23.3 % 66.7 %
particular political candidate

I will attend mass presided by our church leader who run 20.0 % 33.3 % 46.7 %
for public office

Majority of the respondents disagreed on statements pertaining to “attending mass if our

priest campaigns against a particular political candidate”, “will participate on campaign rallies
of the political candidate endorsed by our church leaders”, “will give funds for a political
candidate sponsored by the RCC leaders”. Their disagreement is a clear indication that they do
not like the church and its clerics to be in any way be involved in politics or in election. Thus,
they will not spend their time, money, and effort to support the clerics’ political move.

Half of them disagreed on the statement. “voting for the candidates endorsed y RCC
leaders”.

Almost half of them disagreed on attending mass if priests talk about politics or election
and on attending mass officiated by church leader who run for public office. A parishioner said
that it is different when a priest talks about politics during non-election period than when its done
in times of election.

A considerable range of 23%-33% are yet undecided whether to agree or disagree on

political involvement of RCC lead. These respondents said that they cannot give an opinion on
this issue because it is the first time that a priest in Iligan City run for a public position and won
the seat. This uncertainty may be reflective of their idea on the separation of church duties from
that of political duties of priest who at the same time are also concerned citizens.

A minority are agreeable on clerics’ political involvement. It’s important to note that
they agreed to some extent statements like, “I will attend mass if our priest talks about politics or
election .” (26.7 %); “I will attend mass presided by our church leader who run for public
office”, (20%); “I will vote for candidates endorsed by the RCC leaders” (20 %). These
statements they associate with their own parish priest, MVC, who is aware of the political
problems and social issues in the city.

Additional survey findings are presented here with regard to how the respondents
reacted to a certain statement on priest’s role in social problems.

(PLEASE TAKE NOTE, I OMITTED THE FIRST TWO STATEMENTs)

Statement Agree Undecided Disagree

Priests should pay attention to social 50.0 % 26.7 % 23.3 %

problems as part of their duties

Half of the respondents agree to the statement that, ”Priests should pay attention to social

problems as part of their duties”. The remaining 50% are torn between being undecided (27%)

and disagreed (23%). This implies that the respondents are more on the expectation that their

priests should involve themselves on social problems as part of their duties as a priest rather than

on involving themselves in politics as earlier presented.

That parishioners expect the priests to pay attention to social problems reinforce what MVC

stressed as one of the factors which led him to run for public office was because of social

problems in the city such as poverty, injustice, and oppression.

 The results show thathalthe reweenspondents are divided when it comes to their

views about the involvement of the clerics in politics and social issues. In the first two

statements, percentages indicates that majority are disagreeable about priests being

politically active and priests who run for political position, because according to them,

“priests should not involve themselves in politics”. There is a distinction between being a

priest and a politician. The survey for the parishioners’ reactions clearly suggests that

majority do not favor the kind of actions their church leaders are initiating especially

during elections. To relate these results to their perception, we could assume that those

who are disagreeable defines being a cleric and a politician in two different areas. They

responded that priests have already offered their lives to God so why involve themselves

in politics, as what disagreeable parishioners reasoned.

THESE ARE REDUNDANT IDEAS TO WHAT YOU PRESENTED IN TABLE

4. I OMITTED THE TWO STATEMENTS BECAUSE THE FINDINGS ARE

CONTRADICTORY TO TABLE 4.

(Combined Analysis on themes on opposed & approved from interview; agreed & disagreed
from survey: DRI NA IBUTANG TANANG EXPLANATIONS SA FINDINGS ON THE
PARISHIONERS’ INTERVIEW & SURVEY USING DURKHEIM’S SACRED & PROFANE
& LIBERATION THEOLOGY. CITE RELATED STUDIES ALSO IF YOUR FINDINGS ARE
SIMILAR TO THEM)

Durkheim’s concepts of the sacred and the profane are aptly used in analyzing the

contrasting views of the CCC parishioners with regard to how they view that priests

should and should not do in terms of political involvement., discusses the things in which

the society looks on and separate the so-called sacred aspect from the profane. The
discourse on political issues is considered profane for the profane things as explained by

Durkheim are those that are part of our mundane activities and worldly affairs including

the politics. Whereas, the sacred domain which the church and the clerics are associated

with, are holy, consecrated and to be revered.

In the Philippines, many Filipinos viewed politics as dirty. Politicians are

generally looked upon as employing deceptive tactics, using gold and guns to win in an

election, and engaged in corrupt practices. So what on heaven’s sake should a holy man,

a priest in this case, do in politics? The duties of church leaders are valued by

parishioners as sacred and they marked an imaginary boundary from the unholy

politically-related activities. . For the members, the priest’s role is solely bound within

the confine of the church. Anything outside the pillars of church are part of those they

consider as profane. Thus in Durkheimian terminology, the sacred should not dip its

finger into the profane. This may be the mindset of the respondents when they disagreed

and opposed to their priest running for a public office in the city, in particular, and to

RCC clerics, in general.

These are aspects of which we value for they are of high reverence. One of the

parishioners said that it is not good for priests to talk about politics because it is not part

of their duties as preacher of the word of God. With this assistance, we can assess why

parishioners disagree to the political involvement of Monsignor Vera Cruz. Meanwhile,

for those who agree, they admitted that they supported Monsignor Vera Cruz. His

candidacy is to help the people of Iligan City.

The liberation theory, on the other hand, is useful in analyzing the findings on

CCC parishioners who supported MVC’s candidacy and the RCC involvement in politics
and social problems. Liberation theory discusses the political movement of the Roman

Catholic Church leaders in Latin American which generated support from the laity and

hierarchy. These collective movements where reinforced by the people’s struggle to

achieve the so-called common good. The parishioners of Iligan City who approved of

MVC candidacy and supported him believed that Monsignor is the right leader who

advocates what is good for the people in the city. Such finding is further reinforced with

the parishioners’ expectation that priests should be involved in social problems. They

considered it as part of the obligation of the church leaders to engage in discourse social

on issues pertaining to abortion, death penalty, morality, among others. The image of

religious officials such as priests and nuns being active in charity works, attending to the

indigents, the sick, the weak is an expectation of the laypersons.

It cannot be ignored that a considerable number of the respondents had not come

up with their views or are still undecided on the topics asked of them by the researchers.

This does not imply however, that they are altogether apolitical. Certain explanations are

offered here. One factor is the fact that for the first time in Iligan City, there is a priest

who dares to run for public office. Thus they cannot ascertain yet if its favorable to have

a cleric occupying a public office for they had no previous experience on this yet. The

separation of church and state may be another factor of not articulating their opinion.

That is while they know that the church should be non-partisan but the seemingly chaotic

political scene in the city may had led them to secretly wish for a “messiah” from the

church to bring salvation. Thirdly, these parishioners may be avoiding the topic of the

city election for the re-elected mayor is still in prison whose running-mate is their

previous parish priest. Lastly, these neutral Catholic parishioners may still be
 conservative which implies that they have opinions on these matter but they simply chose

to keep it to themselves and not divulge this to other people.

For those who are undecided, the fact that it is there first-time experience to have

an election participated by one of their church leaders, they are still uncertain. This

uncertainty displays that the separation of church duties from that of political duties could

either be clear or getting blurred depending on how these parishioners perceived this type

of event.

While in the third statement; paying attention to social problems manifests their

roles, majority of the respondents agreed that the church should pay attention to social

problem as part of their duty but political matters are an exemption. nd etc. agreeable

parishioners stated that in the case of monsignor Vera Cruz, priests are also part of the

government. They approved of it as long as the law does not prohibit them from

participating in politics.

Lastly, the variation in the views among the CCC parishioners are similar to the finding

of a related study by Dionision (2014) In that study, Dionisio reported that her study on political

inerference of the church hierarchy in the national and local issues, it yield different opinions

and reactions from both the ecclesiastical body and the church members.

4.7 Forms of Politically-related actions of church leaders observed by parishioners

Politically-related actions refers to the actions or initiatives made by church
leaders that had been observed by the parishioners during the election campaign
period.
 Statements were provided to identify what are those politically-related actions of church

leaders they have observed during the campaign period for the upcoming elections. Survey

respondents identified what are those actions they are aware and have observed among their

church leaders.

As the survey results, there were church leaders who are publicly endorsing political

candidates, church leaders who discourages people to vote for a particular political candidate,

and church leaders who raised funds for specific political candidates. Parishioners have also

identified that aside of their church leader who run for public office, they had also observed

church leaders who encourages them to exercise their right to vote and those who talk about

political and election issues in their pulpits.

These actions initiated by Church leaders clearly manifests their presence when it comes to

political discourse. Parishioners are aware of their activities and being aware means being able to

know that their church leaders are concerned about political matters.

Critically, these initiatives of church leaders may display them as active political actors

and reflects how they could influence political events. Because of their interventions, politically-

related matters may channel directly to the people for they communicate frequently with their

members. As church leaders, these actions could be crucial especially that the Roman Catholic

parishioners is still a divided flock when it comes to their opinions.

AYAW NA NI IAPIL KAY REDUNDANT JAPON ANG IDEAS SA SURVEY FINDINGS