Pinoy Priest Unmasks 'Cassocked Hypocrites' in Latest Novel

By Xianne Arcangel
Gma News
July 3, 2013

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/315775/pinoyabroad/news/pinoy-priest-unmasks-cassocked-hypocrites-in-latest-novel

What can drive a revered man of cloth to turn away from his religious beliefs and become a reviled “cassocked hypocrite?”

Readers might just find the answer in the latest novel released by a Filipino author-- who also happens to be a priest.

Gilbert Luis Centina III's “Rubrics and Runes” tells the story of an idealistic priest, Jose Moran, whose convictions are tested when he discovers the double life being led by his “abominably corrupt religious superior.”

According to the book's description on Amazon.com, the novel unmasks “cassocked hypocrites” who abuse their power by dipping their hands into their parishes' pockets and engaging in other immoral activities.

Centina, who is described by literary critics as “a leading Christian voice in contemporary literature,” entered the Augtinian monastery in 1964. He was ordained as a priest by Jaime Cardinal Sin in 1975.

“Rubrics and Runes” is Centina's first novel to be published under his real name. His previous one, “Wages of Sin,” was released in 1988 using a pseudonym.

Nothing wrong...

Even though he has not yet read the book, the outspoken retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz said he does not see anything wrong with Centina's choice to write about the wrongdoings committed by his fellow men of cloth-- albeit as fiction.

“Okay rin na nae-expose yung mga ganyang hindi mabubuting gawain, para kaming mga pari mapaalalahanan na 'wag maging salbahe,” Cruz told GMA News Online.

Cruz, who is also a vocal critic of his fellow religious colleagues, admitted that some priests are also guilty of the misdeeds Centina mentioned in his novel.

“May mga kaso talagang ganyan. May mga pari at arsobispo talagang nagkakasala. May maliliit at malalaki silang kasalanan at hindi dapat itinatanggi 'yan,” he said.

The former President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), however, cautioned the public against condemning the entire Church just because of the sins committed by some men of cloth.

“Just because some priests sinned does not mean the entire Church is sinful. The sins are committed by men but the Church is an institution,” he said