Soul Highway

Reflections of a 'defector'

My husband calls me a would-be defector. I'm talking about religion here. Easter came and went. Not to say that I'm fiercely religious in the first place, but Sunday turned out to be just another day. This is quite the contrary to what I'm used to. Where I come from, which is predominantly Catholic, a pall of gloom descends on the country, consistent with the somberness of Lent.

In the Philippines though, we take things a notch further. Dozens sign up to be nailed on the cross. I have witnessed two crucifixions which turned out to be nothing more than a curious spectacle. The crucifixion is often preceded by fasting and self-flagellation as a form of penitence. When I was young, I saw people walk on their knees to church and whip their backs with strips of bamboo. Not a pretty sight. I used to detest being forced to wake up at 4 a.m. to join in the Way of the Cross, a procession that takes a minimum of four hours of walking around town. I am not a big believer in rituals and so the process was pure torture for the most part.

Yes, that's a real nail. Yes, we are weird that way.

The husband says I will eventually jump ship and defect to Adventism. He says I complain too much about the Catholic church. However, having been baptized into this religion without my consent, complented by about 18 years of praying the rosary and going to confession, some things are simply hard to shake off. However, I don't feel the compulsion of shopping around for a new religion.

By the way, Pope Benedict XVI will be visiting the US on April 15-20, the highlights of which include a meeting with President Bush at the White House, a mass at the National baseball stadium (some 46,000 tickets have been distributed), a speech before the United Nations General Assembly in New York and a visit to Ground Zero. I read somewhere that the Vatican has already shipped the famous Pope mobile. It will be interesting to see how traffic turns out on the days the Pope will be cruising around the city.

Posted by fleur at March 26, 2008 09:02 PM