B.A.N.

“[BLINK!] Me in T.V!!!?” I couldn’t believe what I just heard.

“Ye…. [sshhhz] esss… Father, [zzzzt, phzzt, more STATIC]
it’s only a short interview…,” the person said.

“Sorry, [shzzzt, phffffzt, bzzzts] I couldn’t hear well, what’s the interview about?”

“…it’s your stand on banning … [sprzzzt, zzzzhts…] fifty shades … [BEEP…BEEP…BEEP]” and the line got cut.

The interview was set and the crew was on their way to school. I wasn’t even given enough time to put on my (hmmph!) make-up!

When they arrived, the group and I got more acquainted. They had come a long way and had to brave the chaotic traffic, but were filled with eagerness to get on with the interview.

They had a script prepared. The head of the crew started to ask some preliminary questions, just to see what other parts of the interview could be further polished before the actual shoot.
In that casual introduction, I saw how their faces spelled bewilderment, as I shot down every one of their questions.

“So Father, do you have Facebook…?” The lady popped the first question.

“Yes, but it’s been deactivated for over three years now. The last time I activated it was to unfriend some 200 ‘friends’ and I’m now left with about ten special people. But the account remains deactivated.”

“Huh…?” Her reaction revealed she was totally caught unprepared by that reply.

“How about Twitter…?” The other crewmember asked.

“Yes, but not a public one….”

Another puzzled face.

“…a Blog?”

“Nope…I had closed it down some ten years ago ‘coz I didn’t really have time to update it.”

[SILENCE]

“…Instagram?”

“Neither…,” I said.

No further questions followed.

“We had worked on the script the previous day,” the lady explained.

“It seems you’ve just been dragged into the issue…,” the cameraman concluded.

“What issue?” I asked.

“An article of yours in the Internet was quoted by some people. They claimed that you were clamoring for banning the showing of 50 Shades of Grey in the country. Are you familiar with the story,

Father?”

“Not really, except for some brief book reviews stating the poor plot and literary style of the novel.”

Realizing there was no way to proceed with the original script, the lady conferred with their boss. They decided that we still had to go on with the interview, but only to clear my name against the false claim made by some in cyberspace.

* * *

After that brief interview, I couldn’t help but reflect on this first encounter with local media. I regretted not having my own script for the occasion, and grasped that media seeks to get their script across no matter what. Even such an insignificant matter as clearing my name had to come out as something controversially juicy and spicy!

Admittedly, I was nervous about what I was going to say. But looking back, I also could have said something more positive than simply ‘defending’ myself for being dragged into a very trivial issue that media wanted to come out as big. So what could I have said?

I believe there’s more to the Church and Christians than banning this or that movie, song, book, and magazine, etc. It is time that we learn, as Pope Francis teaches, to shine forth the ‘joy and attractiveness of the Gospel.’ And this cannot be done if we confine ourselves within a censorship cubicle, spending our existence meticulously flagging or labeling moral issues.

Human decisions and actions are not good or bad because the Church clerically attaches moral tags identifying their goodness or badness. Rather, human actions are ‘good’ or ‘bad’ because in choosing to do them we become either good or bad. Thus, when we steal we become robbers, when we lie we are liars, and when we kill we are murderers.

The so-called ‘moral labels’ are only given by our Church, who as a Mother wishes the best for us by further identifying not only what is good or bad, but also the full circle of good or evil consequences that such choices and acts have for the person. Moreover, She offers us constant and effective means (i.e. prayer, sacraments, formation in virtues, guidelines for our earthly engagements, etc.) so we may obtain our true and fulfilling end: union with God in Heaven.

I don’t think that the Church today can afford to spend time and resources to sticking Post-Its reminding people about good and evil. No! The Church has to be, and is now opening blazing horizons for its faithful, making known the Joy of the Gospel, and in a few months preparing all the Filipino faithful for the providential arrival of the Pope next year!

If there’s anything in the word BAN that would serve us to embrace this new wave of graces that are about to hit us? How about: Bergoglio Arrives Now!