PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

The line has been drawn.

The inevitable that is bound to happen finally happened and was officially announced last August 1st.

A splinter group of CFC members who have been airing their gripes, founded or unfounded, finally declared their independence from the parent community. Our own community. The community which all of us nurtured to what it is today.

Shall we cry? Shall we mourn why this has to happen to our beloved community?

No I will not cry or mourn, because I have expected this ever since this great divide came up more than three months ago and as every scene of actions and reactions unfolds before me. No I wouldn’t cry or shed any tears that these people whom we regard so highly would cause this break away. Most have already bared their souls to us.

The battle for our hearts and minds has started. Not a few may have already decided which side they will go with, some would say they are still discerning and most will just follow the path where their leaders and friends will tread.

The time has come for us to make a definite stand and to speak if necessary. If you do speak out, it must be sincere and devoid of any sentiments. It is best to keep focused on the lessons and the messages we might learn from this conflict of our leaders. Keep away any thoughts for and against personalities as this will only tend to cause more divisiveness, more confusions. The time has come to analyze the cause and the effects. The discernment process has begun.

What could have caused this conflict among our leaders? Let’s now look on the issues but I will not touch on the personal attacks and allegations during the cyberwar of sensibilities which are mere distractions.

The allegations about GK veering from the spiritual to the social are just an opening salvo in the great conflict. The GK3 paper raised issues that brought awareness to some of the dangers that could affect our very life and mission. They may be valid and founded, but I firmly believe they could have been resolved within the boardroom. Policies and guidelines could have been issued to assuage any fears. They could be serious. They could be urgent. But these are not serious enough or too urgent that these issues alone could be the cause of the crisis that will divide our community.

Is it the personalities involved, the two main protagonists? No, both have resigned bringing with them another one who took it to himself the responsibility for not being able to resolve the conflict between the two.

So what is it then that could have caused the division? Based on the subsequent events that transpired since January or earlier, even before the resignations ever took place, it is evident that the dirty hands of politics are already at play.

There are two groups espousing different causes. GK and Pro-Life. Work with the poor or culture of life. There was talk of relegating or at worse discarding GK777 and transferring scarce resources (human and financial) to shift the focus to Pro-Life. This was admitted during the first so-called Restoration Prayer Meeting held at the Christ the King Parish Hall last July 13. On the surface there is nothing wrong, both causes deserve our attention. It is true that in both the third world and in the first world the culture of life must be advocated. But I don’t think this issue would be too serious or too urgent to cause the great divide.

Is it our own CFC life and CFC culture? Are there changes in the way we conduct our household meetings? Are our household heads now devoid of any wisdom and anointing? Are our teachings deviating from what we have been accustomed to? No. Everything is still the same CFC as I have known it to be. The same CFC that has helped me nurtures my family to what it is today. The same CFC that taught me how to relate with brothers and sisters.

So, what are they really griping for? I can only feel that there is something more serious other than these two differing causes. It is none other than power. The right for our obedience, our active obedience. The power to sway our obedience according to their whims and caprices.

The real question is, aren’t each one entitled to choose one’s own calling? Aren’t each one entitled to finish the work they have already started, that of caring for the needs of our poor brothers and sisters? We just can not suddenly withdraw or surrender in the midst of hardships the mission we have embarked on. We have to show to the world that we possess the faith to finish the work lest it is not us that will be gravely affected, but that glimmer of hope we helped built in the hearts of the poor.

I now ask everyone that in our discernment process, whose pride is it do we need to satisfy?
But one thing is certain; our definite stand must not allow our community, our mission, our vision, our work with the poor to be prejudiced.

St. Augustine made it very clear in his homage to the martyr and great worker for the poor, St. Lawrence, “nothing is truer, my brothers. The Christians’ great wealth is to be found in the needs of the poor, if we really understand how to make what we possess bear fruit. The poor are always with us. If we entrust our treasures to them, we will not lose them.”