Church Frowns On Flagellation & Crucifixion

[ramonmercado]

Church frowns on flagellation, crucifixion


By EDU PUNAY
The Philippine Star

The Catholic Church rejects flagellation, crucifixion and other traditional practices of Filipino Catholics during Holy Week.

"We are doubtful that these activities outside the parishes are real expressions of Christian faith," Monsignor Pedro Quitorio, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines spokesman, told reporters Monday.

"We believe these are expressions of superstitious beliefs and usually done out of need for money and for tourism purposes."

Quitorio said the Church only allows Holy Week activities that are consistent with the teachings on the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

"Under authentic Christian faith, only Christ was crucified, and only He was able to save us from sins," he said.

Quitorio said flagellation used to be a Christian practice during the Lenten Season.

"But it is no longer allowed as they have diversified their celebrations to more fruitful activities like helping needy people," he said.

Quitorio said the Church would not ask the Department of Tourism to stop promoting the traditional Catholic practices in the provinces.

"You cannot really judge them," he said.

"For me, the problem is with the Church because it is responsible for developing their worldview so I think people who are literally crucified don’t have strong foundation."

It is enough to remember the life and death of Christ during Holy Week through fasting and abstinence, prayer and reflection, and almsgiving, Quitorio said.

The Church has preferences on what practices should be done during the Lenten Season, according to Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, CBCP Commission on Canon Law chairman.

"I think that kind of practice is too much because Jesus Christ already did it for us," he said.

"But while some might view it as an exaggeration, the Church lets God be the judge on that."

Cruz said the faithful must try to avoid committing the same sins all over again, although it is hard to do so.

"That happens because of human weakness," he said.

"I think we are basically weak people. I said even up to now the commandments of God are still being defied. So there is some human weakness in every one of us.

"But the thing is we just don’t tire fighting evil vices because it will accompany us. Earth is not yet heaven."

Holy Tuesday marks Christ’s loyalty to God and His dedication to the mission given to Him, CBCP officials said.

It was on Holy Tuesday that the incident between Christ and the Pharisees is believed to have taken place.

On this day, the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus into committing blasphemy.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=72315

 

[OneWingedBird]

didn't they ban the practise of crucifying foreigners a few years ago, after some jap guy who went for it and had it filmed turned out to be an s&m porn star?

 

[morningstar667]

Does this frowning mean I can't spank the Vicar this easter? :cry:

 

[ramonmercado]

Does this frowning mean I can't spank the Vicar this easter? :cry:

You can spank the Sexton.

 

[Peripart]

...but you're not allowed to shake hands with the Rector.

 

[Kondoru]

Oh? I thought the antics in the Phillipines were one of the joys of easter.

Along with nasty chocolate and car boot sales

 

[Mythopoeika]

Does this frowning mean I can't spank the Vicar this easter? :cry:

You can spank the Sexton.

What about bashing the bishop? Is that OK?

 

[OldTimeRadio]

What about bashing the bishop? Is that OK?

Yeah, unless it's the bishop of Rome. Punching the Pope is still frowned on.

 

[ramonmercado]

Flagellation ritual exposes Filipinos to rabies
13:22 19 April 2007
NewScientist.com news service

More than a hundred men in the Philippines may have contracted rabies after taking part in a self-flagellation ritual to mark Good Friday, doctors and local authorities said on Thursday.

A health alert was issued after a man who took part in the traditional ceremony – where participants slash their backs with knifes before flaying themselves with bamboo whips – died from the virus on 11 April.

Mario Morales, the mayor of Mabalacat in Pampanga province north of Manila, told local media that Eduardo Sese may have contaminated up to 100 people who shared knives to cut themselves. He was bitten by an infected dog in February 2007.

The government doctor in Pampanga, Maria Clara Aquino, said vaccines had been given to 103 people who could have been exposed.

Atoning for sins
Self-flagellation is an annual tradition in Pampanga and other parts of the Philippines in which men whip themselves into a frenzy on Good Friday to atone for their sins.

Rabies is a viral disease that infects domestic and wild animals. It is transmitted to humans through close contact with saliva from infected animals, from example through bites, scratches or licks on broken skin.

Treatment does exist in the form of antibodies to the disease followed by a vaccine to stimulate more antibody production, but it must be administered within hours of infection. Once symptoms of the disease develop, rabies is fatal in both animals and humans. Death can occur within seven days of infection.

A World Health Organization study in 2004 estimated that up to 55,000 people, mostly in rural areas of Africa and Asia, die each year from rabies.

www.newscientist.com/article/dn11663-fl ... abies.html

 

[elvissa]

Wonder what the church makes of the "La Negrita Pilgrimage" in Costa Rica? Some pilgrims walk, whereas other crawl on their knees, sometimes carrying enormous crosses. I saw some footage (or kneeage) on tv and some of the kneeling pilgrims roll up their trouser legs to get real traction between bare flesh and sharp stones, leading to delightful amounts of blood.

 

[maximus otter]

Nailed to a cross, Filipino prays for Ukraine war to end​

Eight Filipinos were nailed to crosses to reenact Jesus Christ’s suffering in a bloody Good Friday tradition, including a carpenter, who was crucified for the 34th time.

The real-life crucifixions in the farming village of San Pedro Cutud in Pampanga province north of Manila resumed after a three-year pause due to the coronavirus pandemic. About a dozen villagers registered but only eight people showed up, including 62-year-old carpenter and sign painter Ruben Enaje, who screamed as he was nailed to a wooden cross with a large crowd watching in the scorching summer heat.

In a news conference shortly after his crucifixion, Enaje said he prayed for the eradication of the COVID-19 virus and the end of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

https://apnews.com/article/philippines-good-friday-crucifixions-a832aa48f71827a83c35c47135c90f68

maximus otter