IF YOU are active in social media, you may have already seen the video or read about the shocking incident involving a Catholic priest from Cebu, who humiliated a 17-year old mother during the solemn sacrament of baptism of her baby in front of the public to witness. Fortunately, the baby’s Lola was able to videotape the whole incident and published the video on Facebook.
As ABS-CBN news reported, the video that the baby’s grandmother, Jieve Daitol Frias, uploaded on Facebook, showed just how Fr. Romeo Obach of the Sacred Heart Chaplaincy in Eversely Child Sanitarium in Cebu lambasted the teen mom. Speaking in the vernacular Cebuano, the priest “asked the young mother whether she was ashamed that she had a baby with a man who was not her husband.”
The priest then reportedly went on to say that while the baby had not sinned, her mother did, after she slept with a man who was not her husband. The video also showed Obach warning the mother that the consequences of her actions may be passed on to her child, as her child was born due to “sin.”
The young mother was reportedly left by her boyfriend for another girl, and even attempted to take her own life because of what happened. She later sought psychiatric help.
As the video went viral, comments in support of the teen mom kept coming. ABS-CBN News further reported that most feedback expressed that the priest did not have the right to insult the young woman.
Many social media users even reposted and retweeted news that Pope Francis baptized the child of an unmarried couple during a ceremony at the Sistine Chapel in Rome. This solemn ceremony was part of the traditional Baptism Of The Lord mass with 31 others, commemorating the day St. John baptized Jesus.
Media reports documented how the Pope has previously spoken out to encourage priests to baptize the children of unmarried women in order to pass on the Christian faith, calling those who refuse ‘hypocrites’.
Quoting the Vatican Network, Pope Francis reportedly said: ‘You parents have the baby boy or girl to be baptized, but in a few years it will be they who will have a baby to be baptized, or a grandchild… And so goes the chain of faith.
‘What does this mean? I would just tell you this: you are the ones that transmit the faith, the transmitters, you have a duty to pass on the faith to these children. It ‘s the most beautiful legacy that you leave to them: the faith.’
Many believers and non-believers alike say Obach should learn from the example of Pope Francis on how to embrace people back to the Catholic faith, instead of exemplifying a “holier than thou” arrogant demeanor that has driven away many followers from the flock.
After the backlash of his action, Fr. Romeo Obach has now been barred from celebrating Mass and other religious activities pending an internal investigation.
ABS-CBN News reported that Obach also wrote a letter which stated: “I am now making a heartfelt apology to the mother of the child and her immediate family. I deeply regret that I have done this. I only realized how cruel my ways to educate and impart lessons for the event. I am deeply sorry and I humbly ask for your forgiveness.”
This incident also reminds us of a story in the bible where “Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:13-17)
Pope Francis has again reminded us that instead of pontificating, rejecting, and alienating people, we can follow Jesus’ inclusive and compassionate example of sharing and spreading the Good News of God’s love and salvation.
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
