Clash of religious sects

Five years after ecumenism, the movement or effort aimed at promoting unity and cooperation among different Christian denominations, was coined during the 1910 World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh, Scotland, the rivalry between the Catholics and the Protestants was not on spiritual; it extended to physical structures.

In his letter dated Dec. 15, 1915, Raimundo Peruga, S.J. wrote about an ‘enemy… more fearsome… of Catholicism in Davao in general, and of children in particular, is an association of wealthy Americans who have set out to spread Protestantism in this Davao Mission.’ Without specifically mentioning the name, he was indirectly relating to two Protestant landmarks that were then accused of achieving ‘their diabolical end.’
The padre was referring to ‘a heretical hospital and a chapel of the same ilk, built in this district of Davao.’ In context, he was referring to the Davao Mission Hospital (now Brokenshire Memorial Hospital) and the new Congregational Church whose cornerstone laying in 1911 was graced by Davao district governor Henry Gilheuser. The chapel measured 24 feet by 36 feet with a Sunday school nearby that was 24 feet by 30 feet in size.

Fr. Peruga admitted the hospital was unique but accused that both Catholic and non-Catholic patients were forced to attend the services held inside them: the Protestants to confirm their false beliefs and festive doctrines, and the Catholics, to place themselves at risk of imminent spiritual destruction. He argued that while the priest of San Pedro Church almost always encountered 1,001 obstacles before being allowed inside the hospital to visit the poor sick, the Protestant pastor, who provided the spiritual needs of his flock in a Protestant facility, entered it at all hours with absolute freedom ‘to preach his errors and violate the conscience of the poor sick Catholics.’

To counter this supposed threat to Catholicism, Fr. Peruga recommended the absolute priority given to Catholic schools and care for them with the greatest care. To save the poor from the fires of hell, the children should be given the refuge of salvation that the Catholic school offers.

‘It is painful, and very painful,’ he wrote, ‘that Christians and infidels outside this center must be left without any help today; but since it is possible to assist them for now, reason dictates that we first attend to the Catholic school in this center, which should illuminate everything outside.’

Amidst challenges and the continuing issues that come with old age, Fr. Peruga understood that the job to handle the Davao Mission, with 80,000 souls, both pagans and Christians, rested on the two brothers and three priests based in Davao who, despite their good will, one being very old and the other suffering from rheumatism, neither can accomplish much in their role.

So was he getting the worse of his deteriorating health and age. In the end, he was forced to limit his pastoral engagements and left behind hardship missions to younger legs.

‘In my haste, I left several neighborhoods unbaptized, even though it had been nearly a year since a missionary had been to those shores, and God knows when we’ll be able to return. Perhaps I never will, because my weak and sore legs are no longer up to such jogging and walking. Therefore, Your Reverence, pray the owner of such a needy vineyard to send many brave missionaries to cultivate it; for the harvest is abundant and is already ready to be put into the granaries of the Holy Church. It’s a great pity to see what we see around here. How much good could be done in these many corners if they could be visited frequently by zealous missionaries! Hell, which now leaps with pleasure, having its own free field, how it would roar and bellow with rage if there were plenty of ministers to wage war against it! And the worst thing is that meanwhile, to our great shame, the Protestant pastors are making a killing, causing great harm to souls… May God, my beloved Father, forgive my insipidities and other faults of mine, and in Christian revenge, deign to commend to your Most Holy and Great Mercy your lowest servant in Christ.’