RIGHT TO WORSHIP, RIGHT TO SANCTUARY

By Daniel Franklin E. Pilario, CM

I joined the Mass in Quiapo today in solidarity with the CBCP's call to prayer and action. We were deeply engrossed with the liturgy in front of us. I did not know that something sacrilegious happened at the back seats.

As the video shows,

these policemen entered the Quaipo church – they were originally outside when I came in – during the offertory rite, pulled the bag of a Massgoer with his paraphernalia and forcefully confiscated it.

“Ang idea namin, ‘pag may grupo, whether mag-rally o hindi sila, sisitahin bakit kayo naggrupo-grupo. ‘Pag may ilalabas na placard, automatic huli sila,” General Debold Sinas told the press the previous day.

His command sounded universal – to be applied in all places at all times. His policemen implemented it even inside the church sanctuary at the time of worship.

These men are unaware of a long history that a consecrated church is a “protected space”. The Anti-Terror Act has blinded them to do anything they want. Duterte has emboldened them to act like thugs and criminals in a world without rights, in a space without history, in a country without law except theirs.

History tells us that Greek and Roman temples already offered sanctuary to fugitives of the law. In medieval times, a person who killed someone could run to church to claim sanctuary. When he is inside its premises, he is protected. No one can come in to arrest him. Quasimodo saved the distressed Esmeralda from execution by escaping with her to the cathedral. After that stunt-like rope swing, he shouted “sanctuary!”

It is a medieval tradition that it is inappropriate to carry weapons inside the church, to arrest someone there or to exercise force. This is the background of all appeals to sanctuary by persons pursued by the law. Once they are in, the authorities can wait outside but they cannot enter. This is the tragedy of the great Thomas Becket who was killed in the sanctuary of the Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. This later led to Becket’s canonization and King Henry II’s downfall. Writings on the wall?

But this person at the Quiapo Basilica did not murder anyone. He was not even a fugitive of the law. He was there to worship. We do not even know what he was asking God for. If he carried a placard in protest of the anti-terror law, it was an expression of his belief in a God of justice not of terror.

The brutal police action only shows that we now have a government which could not protect our right to worship in the way that we prefer; it also violates the church’s right to sanctuary.

Now, tell me, who is violating the separation of Church and State?

Daniel Franklin E. Pilario, C.M.
St. Vincent School of Theology
Adamson University
danielfranklinpilario@yahoo.com
07.27.2020