INTERVIEW The signs of times as seen by the church

The Mount Carmel Cathedral is turning 50 a year from now. The celebration of this half a century milestone is being tied to the preparation for the new millennium. A year long of activities, from January through December of 1999, will mark the countdown for the grand renewal of faith on the eve of the 21st century.

This event kicks off this Sunday with a mass at the Cathedral with parishioners from all 12 parishes will join the start of a monthly celebration(beginning January) that would lead up to the grand Golden Jubilee Celebration on Dec. 14, 1999.

Saipan Tribune sought audience with the person who probably enjoys the vantage point in witnessing the ups and downs of the church over the past five decades. Bishop Thomas Camacho was 16 when the Mount Carmel Church was completed in 1949. In 1984, Pope John Paul II elevated its status to a Cathedral and he was ordained as its first bishop.

Today, he discusses the issues which confront the church in the past years brought about by economic progress and modern beliefs exposed by the media.

Faith

Definitely we have matured in our faith. Before, people were very simple in their faith. The church and parents were the two basic sources of faith. People prayed the rosary and the novena. Nowadays people have gone to Catholic colleges and have read Catholic books. They have strong faith in Jesus now than before.

The family in crisis

The small church — which is the family — is being bombarded by these new ideas. Divorce is prevalent. Twenty-five or 20 years ago — divorce was unthinkable. It left a big stigma on the couple who went through the process. But after constantly hearing about it, people got used to the idea. But this hurts. It hurts the children.

When the church approved the first annulment, about five years ago, it created an uproar. People were saying that the church had approved divorce, not knowing the definition of annulment. The first annulment was done on Guam involving members of this community. I heard people saying that they were on the verge of losing their faith.

Drug is also a problem because sometimes it leads to divorce.

Unfortunately, we saw a decrease on the number of marriages blessed by the church. The tendency now is to live together. Of course, we encourage them to have their union blessed. In fact, Fr. Isaac is already preparing for a group wedding right after Christmas.

We also have this marriage preparation every Tuesday. This is a pre-marital preparation conducted by a lawyer, physician, psychologist and a priest to couples who are scheduled to marry.

Fr. Rollie is handling couples for Christ and is already picking up. We also have the Cursillo and Christian Mother’s movement. For teen-agers, we have this Agape which is very powerful. These are the movements designed to help the families.

The media factor

I think our young people are being influenced by the media, specially, television. With these programs coming from the States, they take human life very lightly. Like abortion, it is just like having your appendix extricated. This is the message our young people hear and watch. Since we admire the Americans, they think that what’s good for them is good enough for us.

Yes, we are on television. People can actually see the mass and hear what’s being said even while a home. But this is primarily for the sick. This is not intended to fulfill their obligations to go to church during Sunday’s. This is not intended to substitute for the church.

Entry of other cultures

The number of Filipinos going to church here is phenomenal. Like this morning, the first dawn mass or “Simbang Gabi”, it was standing room only. All the aisles were taken and this is 4 o’clock in the morning.

Our 11 o’ clock mass every Sunday is packed, packed, packed. Actually the culture and religion of the Filipino people is almost identical with ours.

We are responding to the needs of the Filipinos here by having a mass in Tagalog. Other churches on the island also have Filipino masses.