“For to travel is always, in some sense, to learn. What we don’t know yet, is to be found Elsewhere.” – Hugh Kenner, The Elsewhere Community (1998).
By Rey Moreno
My name is Samuel “Rocky” Magtaka. My first name was not an accident. My parents were deeply religious Catholics, so were my grandparents and also my ancestors who were converted to Catholicism during the Spanish colonization of the Philippines which ended in 1898. Apparently, a priest told them that Samuel was an important figure in the bible. That was good enough for my parents. The nickname Rocky came after. It referred to my unbending literal interpretation of the words of God as told to us by several priests assigned to our parish church. I listened wholeheartedly to them through their readings of the gospels as well as their prepared sermons during the Sunday Mass. I saw the world through their words and lenses; framed my life accordingly in order to please God and be one of the few who would see heaven when my earthly life was over. My faith, therefore, was inherited and I had no reason this would change when I’d have children of my own. It was further enhanced when the school I attended to for my elementary and high school education was being run by the Dominican sisters. I would have entered the priesthood, but somehow the “calling” was not strong enough for me to commit. My university education didn’t lead me astray of my religious upbringing. There was no course on human evolution nor did I come across the name of Charles Darwin in spite of the fact that my university was known for its liberal and secular teachings. I came to discover his works later when I immigrated to Canada.
A new world opened up to me as soon as I developed the habit of browsing the book stores on my lunch breaks. I had settled well after three years in my adopted country, got married and started buying new and used books for my home library. Reading became an obsession. I knew there was a gap in my education, but it was wider than I thought. It’s time for me to catch up – like having my own period of enlightenment. I finally had a bible, still went regularly to mass every Sunday with the family, listened intently to the priest’s sermon, and received communion for the benefit of my soul. While I continued to live according to my inherited faith, my rock-solid, religious disposition was being chipped slowly by books that had different perspectives about religion. They could be taken to be anti-religious, but with the most modern, secular world we lived in, they could be refreshing as well.
So that’s the challenge we face today. Our beliefs are being tested to their core. Once, the priests had the true, infallible interpretation and absolute moral authority where God stood in all ethical issues. That authority has been receding due to their failings as human – as usual, the culprit is sex. It didn’t help matter when the hierarchy of the Catholic Church secretly protected the recalcitrant priests of their dreadful sins. No need now to cry over spilled milk. The damage had been done and we just have to move on. Also, science and technology have evolved so much that made God unreliable. Who could still believe that God created the world in seven days? Who could still believe that human beings are the centre of the universe when the earth is just so miniscule in the cosmic vastness? Who could still believe that God interferes in human affairs when time after time He is indifferent to our miseries and tragedies in the face of natural disasters and pandemics?
This is why I struggle now with my faith. Adding to this confusion are moral issues so complex that I long for the bogeyman of long ago. So if you spare me a generous portion of your time, let me describe one of them now. What will be your position?
- Case One: Am I my sister’s keeper?
A case was brought to the Court of Appeal in Manchester, England to decide about the fate of conjoined twins. Gracie and Rosie Attard were born on August 8, 2000 and joined at the abdomen. When they were medically examined, the doctors determined that Gracie was the stronger sibling and had a 94% survival rate if they were separated. With or without the surgery, Rosie had the unfortunate fate of death. But Gracie’s health would deteriorate rapidly if they remained conjoined and she would die predictably in six months.
Their parents are deeply religious Roman Catholics from the Maltese island of Gozo in the Mediterranean. They opposed the separation because of their faith. They told the appeals court, “We cannot begin to accept or contemplate that one of our children should die to allow the other to survive. That is not God’s will.”
Archbishop Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, bolstered the parents’ position in his submission to the appeals court, by arguing that the surgery was “morally impermissible” because Rosie had “done nothing which could justify killing her.” He further wrote: “Respect for the natural authority of parents requires that the courts override the right of parents only when there is clear evidence that they are acting contrary to what is strictly owing to their children. In this case, the parents have simply adopted the only position they felt was consistent with their consciences and with their love for both children.”
A spokesperson for the East London Mosque told Britain’s Sunday Telegraph: “The general view of Islam is that life and death are in the hands of the Almighty alone…On that basis, you could say that perhaps it is better to leave things as they are rather than take any decision to intervene.”
The appeals court decided in favour of surgery. The 20-hour operation took place on November 7, 2000. Rosie died and Gracie lived as expected. In 2014, Gracie was reported to be living a normal life at age 14 and was thinking of studying medicine.
5 February 2021