A Reaction to the Homily

Last night, at the feast day mass of a saint, our parish priest hit a sour note during the homily.  He charged devotees who support the controversial bill as a grave scandal to the Church and to the saint himself.  He added that their mere support for it contradicts the unfailing obedience of the saint to the Church. I believe that such an accusation was uncalled for.  I doubt very much if he is a reader of souls and knows the intentions of the said devotees hearts. Based on the reader reactions on virtually ALL news articles on the Internet, one would observe that the very reason why most people would tend to support the bill is that they are affected by the number of hungry street urchins wandering on the streets.  They further observe that it is the urban poor who bear more children that they could support that would benefit from this measure.  The second most glaring observation is that they believe that the Holy Mother Church is doing virtually nothing to alleviate the sufferings of the urban poor. No matter how flawed their reasoning may be in the eyes of the parish priest, I for one would not think of these people as a scandal of the Church.  Tell me, is it a scandal to believe in all sincerity that this could be the only solution to the problem of poverty?  Or perhaps it is more a scandal that despite being raised as a Catholic, one is not convinced of its teachings?  If such is the case, who is to blame for the mess? A few blocks away from our house is Baranggay Sulokan.  A favorite ‘immersion site’ of religious congregations, it is a slum area where people live and breed like dogs and rabbits.  Based on a study conducted by missionaries a few years back, people living there never go the nearby religious institutions to attend Mass or attend Catechism. Except for ‘immersions’, which last of a few days, the people living there rarely get visited by the do–gooders of the Church.  If ever they get visited, they are treated as objects for a study in Missiology.  They DO NOT know anything about God, and Christianity to them is just fiesta time where they get free dole–outs and food boxes.  To them, life is revolves around begging and living like rats. Now then I ask you, and the parish priest, WHO IS THE SCANDAL TO THE CHURCH?