Comments on: Black Nazareno Cloned, Goes To Mindanao

By: DJB

DJB — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:22:53 +0000

Jeg,
The Russians and North Koreans setup personality cults…just like the Black Nazareno cults…except they tend to concentrate on LIVING gods, hehe.

By: Jeg

Jeg — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 11:48:45 +0000

I think that serious Catholics ought to be perturbed at the abetting of superstition and idolatry that is going on here.

Can’t argue with that. The hierarchy knows what’s going on here, but most of them tolerate it.

In the long run, I want to see festivals like this fade into cultural kitsch…I think that will happen all of a sudden, within less than a single generation.

Ah, the eternal optimist. Not going to happen. Unless we get a totalitarian state, that is. The Soviets were pretty successful, as well as the North Koreans, etc.

By: GabbyD

GabbyD — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 06:22:59 +0000

Why is the chapel in malacañang unconstitutional?

By: DJB

DJB — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 06:09:49 +0000

Jeg,
I’m not interested in a legal, judicial solution, but a moral and intellectual one. I think that serious Catholics ought to be perturbed at the abetting of superstition and idolatry that is going on here. And either we are for a secular, open society, or we shall wallow in it forever.

There is also an unconstitutional chapel in Malacanang (unconstitutional both from the 1987 point of view and the Church itself!)

In the long run, I want to see festivals like this fade into cultural kitsch. They are simply not to be taken seriously and ought to be disdained, discredited and eventually, ignored.

I think that will happen all of a sudden, within less than a single generation.

By: Ishmael Ahab

Ishmael Ahab — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 04:05:11 +0000

I think na kaya maraming pumupunta sa kapistahan ng black nazarene dahil din sa kadahilanang kaya maraming pumunta sa Wowowee Anniversary kung saan maraming tao ang namatay sa stampede. Sa hirap ng buhay ngayon ay maraming umaasa sa instant solution tulad ng instant pera at instant na pagpapagaling ng sakit.

At dahil diyan ay I believe that some of the devotees went overboard by believing that the image had some magical powers. Mismo sa imahen nanggaling at hindi sa Diyos. Kaya sa palagay ko ay naging idolaters na sila ng itim na nazareno.

Dapat tigil na ito ng simbahan at ipaliwanag sa mga tao ang distinction ng veneration sa worship.

By: Jeg

Jeg — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 02:39:21 +0000

On the Air Force giving transport to a religious relic unconstitutional, why dont we go all the way and challenge the constitutionality of the Office of the Chaplain in the Armed Forces? And all those churches in Fort Bonifacio and similar establishments?

(Air force defense would probably be, ‘We were heading there anyway. What’s the big deal?’ ;) )

By: Vin

Vin — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:51:40 +0000

The moment I heard the news this strange phrase suddenly reverberated in my ears with no reason at all: Cagayan de Oro Feast of the Black Nazarene Bombing.

By: DJB

DJB — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:30:51 +0000

But here is a question about “manners.”

Do we owe this burned wooden object in the likeness of a man veneration and respect just because “1 to 3 million people” have just shown it frenzied devotion that disturbed even Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales (not a Recollect!)?

By: DJB

DJB — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:27:34 +0000

amadeo,
I accept the difference between worship and veneration which you point out, though perhaps many if not most in that crowd might have a hard time with the distinction. What I have a hard time accepting is the knowledge that the Augustinian Recollects have been milking this cow for 400 years and have abetted the confusion between those two categories.

Now they have doubled their opportunities for a kind of modern simony that pays off in publicity about a “venerated tradition.”

By: Amadeo

Amadeo — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 12:20:52 +0000

Shucks! And the wife had thought that she kissed the “real deal”, braving through sweaty throngs of devotees lovingly pushing each other to get closer to the image. So it was only a fake idol! A duplicate!

Now I do not have the mind to tell her so. Who has the heart to tell somebody that the kerchief wiped on the image is not going to rub off with mystical quality or reverence as intended? That indeed, it just collected dust from dried piece of wood shaped and colored like a dark-colored man dressed like the Jews of old.

But, Dean, remember the official line is that “worship” belongs only to God, and that saints and graven images are simply “venerated”.