1 Aug 2009
Catholic bishops enjoyed Cory’s presidency
In my obit for the dead former president, I was less than enthused about her legacy. People get carried away with Cory being a “symbol of democracy”, and failing to see that her administration was basically impotent and subservient to the power-grubbing Catholic Church. Even the church admits that they played her like a marionette:
As prayers and Masses were offered elsewhere, people remembered Aquino in different ways.
In Naga City, a former president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) recalled the “easy” church-state relations that marked her administration.
Archbishop Leonardo Z. Legaspi, who oversees the six-diocese ecclesiastical province in the Bicol region, was CBCP president when Aquino assumed the presidency in 1986 until the end of her term. He was also the celebrant of the Requiem Mass at the funeral for Aquino’s slain husband, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.
The prelate said that since the former President was accessible to the CBCP, there was “less debate” on issues that involved the government and the Catholic Church.
He said it was the time when the Church was able to review its relations with the State with the convening of the Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP), attended by representatives from religious orders, the clergy, bishops and the laity.(source)
Yep, the church will indeed miss her as a symbol of secular power bowing to ecclesiastical authority. Like they did in the middle ages.
Mike A beat me to the punch by quoting Bishop John Shelby Spong’s opinion of Cory. Even the good reverend saw that Cory was the epitome of a docile and obedient woman, with no real authority over men (much less the Patriarchal Church).
