Canon 285 par 3 of the Code of Canon Law states: “Clerics are forbidden to assume public office whenever it means sharing in the exercise of civil power”. Columban missionary Fr Shay Cullen asks us not to judge too hastily those who have felt the struggle for justice has warranted their going into politics.
In Paraguay
Retired Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo laid aside his miter and took up the sash of the presidency of Paraguay last April 20. He is the first bishop of modern times to be elected to high office and he ended the dictatorial 61 year rule of the Colorado party of the former dictator and tyrant Alfredo Stroessner who drove three of Bishop Lugo¹s brothers into exile in fear of their lives.
After thirty years in the diocese of San Pedro he retired, asked the Vatican to laicize him, he was refused, once a bishop always a bishop they said. His 30 year ministry was dedicated to turning the social teachings of the church from soaring inspiring principles of justice and social equality into social reality in the slums and shanties of Asuncion and forest and fields of the impoverished nation so long dominated by a ruling elite of European ancestry.
He organized Christian communities to become as self-reliant as possible by helping each other, sharing food and labor and working for land rights and for social justice. The ultra conservative political regime blocked their every effort and poor plunged the nation into greater poverty and hopelessness and the people were more oppressed than ever. Bishop Lugo had done all he could as a bishop, unable to change the unjust system he decided to serve the poor as a political leader.
He has many opponents. His only army was powerless peasants and workers and his faith in a just God.
Before we rush to judgment and condemn Bishop Lugo, now President, we need to recall that Christianity itself began with the short life and execution of a Jewish spiritual teacher condemned as a political rabble rouser and given, the death penalty. He was seen as a political threat to the ruling elite of his day. He was none less than the Son of the living God, Jesus of Nazareth.
In the Philippines
When the Filipino Catholic priest Ed Panlilio was elected governor of vice ridden Pampanga province a year ago there was shock and consternation within the ruling elite who were trounced at the polls by the popular and overwhelming vote of the people.
Such was the overwhelming desire of the people for a clean vice-free provincial government that they turned to the priest that they trusted and loved. Father Ed, greatly admired as diocesan social action director despite the support of the church and the people, he could not hold back the tide of vice: pornography, illegal gambling trafficking of women and children, drugs and crime and child abuse in his province of Pampanga an hour out of Manila the capital.
He too, like Bishop Lugo, reluctantly laid aside his sacramental priestly duties and was elected governor with a huge popular vote defeating the ruling family. There was political consternation and turmoil but the people made democracy work, a rare event in the Philippines where most elections are bought. He set about cleaning up the graft and corruption immediately collected hundreds of millions of pesos from provincial quarrying that previously enriched mayors and provincial officials that helped them stay in power indefinitely. Instead he is rebuilding the rundown public hospitals and providing help for the poor and the downtrodden to stand up and get a new start.
Likewise his efforts to curb the illegal gambling controlled by a powerful political family are spearheading an election recall to get him out of office. The worst nightmare of the rich politicians is to have an honest governor who will never accept a bribe. When given a huge bribe at the presidential palace, he returned it and went public to the shock and shame of the highest in the land.
Now the infuriated provincial mayors and board members that get no kickbacks for the quarry fees oppose his good deeds and have cut off his expense account. Instead of a car he rides public transportation to the office. I am not saying more priests or bishops ought to run for public office but those who have, deserve every support to do good and serve the people. God works in strange ways and this could be one of them.
