Thanks to faithful Catholics

The heated debate that was initially focused on the Reproductive Health bill has now become a conflagration of religious intolerance. “Your beliefs are medieval; your priests are predators; your pope is a lax leader; celibacy leads to sex abuse; you are bigots.” Such messages have become all too familiar, being inscribed or echoed again and again in the media, in online forums, and in other public venues.

Yet, despite all that, faithful Catholics — priests, religious, and laypeople alike — are enduring such persecution like martyrs trusting themselves to Divine Providence. Most noteworthy among them, I believe, are the bishops who often get the most flak, the pro-life leaders who dare themselves be maligned publicly, and the many ordinary Catholics who — in the course of defending their Holy Mother the Church — risk losing friendship with those who strongly support the RH bill.

As a Catholic, I would like to thank these faithful ones for strengthening my faith and love for the Church. They prove that the sign of contradiction continues, and the words of Jesus Christ rings ever louder: “If you find that the world hates you, know it has hated me before you.” And, yeah, those words about the gates of hell not prevailing against the Church also resound well.

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I submitted this to the Inquirer. Let’s see if they publish it. Should I keep my hopes up?