Clash of doctrines

Catholicism, for half a century, was without any challenge in southern Mindanao from other Christian sects. It prospered and penetrated remote settlements from the year Spanish conqueror Jose Oyanguren subjugated the Moro ruler of Davao River to the time when the Americans assumed the governance of the district. That would change, though, when Protestantism was implanted and the first mission chapel was built a short distance away from San Pedro Church.

In a letter sent by Fr. Raimundo Peruga, SJ, to Fr. Saturnino Urios, dated August 10, 1913, he cited two incidents where the two religious sects clashed.

The first incident was about a Filipino pastor who was preaching in the public market during Sundays. Fr. Juan Rebull, one of the Jesuits assigned in the parish, reported the public evangelization to the governor, who instantly banned it. But the American pastor, thinking the prohibition was only for Filipinos, continued to conduct the Sunday preaching but the authority ordered him to withdraw from the scene ‘due to error and lies.’

The American pastor, however, argued that such practice was already done in the last decade, without anyone saying anything against it. Still, he was admonished that the market is owned by the government, which disposes of its things as it sees fit. After this, several Sun-days passed without the ‘heretical preaching’ being repeated in the public square.

Fr. Peruga noted in his letter: ‘Your Excellency can say that the street and the square do not belong to the government, but to the public; and that, even if preaching on government property is illegal, it will not be in the streets and squares.’

This was consistent with the prevailing statute that religious preaching was illegal in the street and in the square, as state properties, because all religious worship must be hidden, and not public, at least without a license from the authority. Even if the pastors preached in the street due to a license issued by the authorities, the Catholic priest was still determined to register a protest and, in case of not being attended to, to elevate the matter to higher authority.

The second celebrated case, which also took place in 1913, was the instance of the son of former Surigao governor Prudencio Garcia, who received the Holy Unction and Viaticum four times, and died at the Davao Mission Hospital, a Protestant facility.

Despite clear evidence of the deceased having died in the embrace of Catholicism, the heretics wanted to seize and make the corpse their own, against which Fr. Juan Rebull, the local Jesuit superior, protested before the municipal judge. Given the religious and political twists involved in the case, a trial was held, lasting over two hours, each side making a multitude of arguments.

Fr. Peruga wrote that the Catholic side was represented and attended by two priests and two Brothers, with the local superior carrying almost all the weight. On the Protestant side, the American shepherd and several of his subalterns, including the deceased’s eldest son, who was 16 years old, showed up. The hearing had several overtones, some favorable or contrary to both parties. As the case drew to a close, the judge seemed to be arguing against the priests but suddenly changed and ruled in favor of the Catholics. In the end, the burial was Catholic.

The clash of doctrines and variance in biblical enunciations were only two of the causes that, early on, created a divide between the Catholics and the Protestants. Along the way, the Jesuits also had to face the undercurrents that Freemasonry, which is restricted to Catholics.

The first papal condemnation of the fraternity came from Pope Clement XII in 1738 and reiterated by numerous popes over the past three centuries. The pope noted the secrecy of Masonic lodges and the ‘host of grievous punishment’ received when violating the oath of secrecy. It did not delve into the many specific objections to Masonic practices but concluded that ‘all prudent and upright men have passed the same judgment on them as being depraved and perverted.’ (26)