Lack Of Spiritual Guidance

Christ is the mediator between God and His Church.  And the Church is the mediator between Christ and the rest of the world.  Bishops and priests are to lead all people to Jesus Christ, which is the basic thing to do.  They are the spiritual leaders.  

The reason behind Archbishop Hon's failure to bring peace and unity is simply because he never addressed the REAL problem, which was "spiritual" rather than physical.  He thought that by changing the physical environment (changing priests around, establishing ad hoc committees, etc.) would resolve the issues and bring peace and unity. Recent events only shows that there was no resolution, no healing, and still no unity.  Instead, it has gotten worse that this time members of the NCW wrote letters to Rome.  

Listen carefully to the interview between Patti Arroyo, David Sablan, and Father Mike Crisostomo here.

According to that interview, Father Mike stated, "I was telling Archbishop Hon that they're (the protesters) already offering us solutions, the strategy and method of what needs to be done.  All we have to do is listen more carefully to what they're saying and if we just implement those, things will be a little bit more calm." 

Father Mike admitted in the radio talk show that the protesters offered them the solutions and he told Archbishop Hon to listen to them. Recent events already showed that implementing those things which the protesters asked for did not bring peace and unity.  Why?  Because the protesters simply asked for more things that needed to be done. 

The first picket sign that the Sunday protesters carried was "Defrock Apuron". And according to Father Mike, the first thing that Archbishop Hon did was write a letter to Archbishop Apuron asking for his resignation.  When he received no response, he had the Presbyterial Council voted to remove him. Then he went to Rome to convince Pope Francis to remove Archbishop Apuron. Archbishop Hon was a spiritual leader; yet, he failed to lead the Catholic faithful to the right path.  There was no spiritual guidance from him or the priests who followed him such as Father Mike and Father Jeff. The correct and proper way to peace and unity is to educate and teach the faith to Catholics (especially the protesters) that the way to Christ is NOT to condemn anyone.

Archbishop Apuron already left the island and went to Rome, where he is now facing a canonical trial.  His authority was already removed. These spiritual leaders failed to teach the moral lesson that Christ taught all His followers: Do not condemn and you will not be condemned (Luke 6:37). Rather than following Christ, these spiritual leaders have fallen because they also condemned Archbishop Apuron without the due process of a trial.  By their example and actions, these shepherds have only taught that it is okay to condemn another person even without a trial.   And this example and action is against the Catholic faith.  

As I said, the real problem was never addressed.  The real problem is a spiritual one rather than a physical one.