I was quietly mortified to hear the arguments of a young Quezon City councilor who guested in a TV newscast recently, defending his council's decision to approve birth control measures, now euphemized as a reproductive health city ordinance.

He said that the council was subjected to harsh pressures from Catholic Church officials. To make things worse, the lady anchor acted more like an over-the-top supporter for population control than an impartial interviewer. That's foul!
There really has to be a more effective way to remind media practitioners to distinguish

between straight news and what is already editorializing. Mixing these two kinds of information can easily mislead the unwary and disturb many others.

In this regard, I encourage media audiences to give instant feedback whenever they feel their right to know the truth objectively is violated or at least dangerously weakened.

We also have the right to know from the media their clearly articulated perspective, so we would know where they are coming from when commenting on issues. For the benefit of their audience, they have to draw the line from the start.

To the official's credit, he appeared sober and guarded in his comments. But in his efforts to appear fair and balanced, he failed to realize a fundamental infirmity in his position.

There was no mention at all about morality. Or perhaps a better assessment is that morality is understood simply as anything that the majority of the people seem to approve. That's just it, period!

In this frame of mind which, I'm afraid, is getting more widespread, morality is not anymore about the act's object, the person's intention and the circumstances. It's just a matter of numbers, of convenience and practicality, of which side has more financial and political backing.

There also appears that glib but fallacious assumption, quite popular even among our leaders and officials, that in a democratic society, anything can be legalized as long as it has the people's support. Morality is now democratized, floating on an ocean of opinions.

I didn't have the chance nor do I have the intention now to check the religious background of the councilors and the anchorwoman, but I know that if they were Catholics, we have a deeper problem, replicating the ugly phenomenon prevailing in many so-called developed countries.

In these places, there is a kind of surge of self-styled Catholics, who detach themselves from Church authority and magisterium and who claim their conscience alone is their sole guide. It's a primitive heresy that continues to deceive many of us.

Put bluntly, they make themselves their own God, deriving their strength from among their own selves. If they were educated in so-called Catholic schools, then we have a much bigger problem.

The Church usually does not interfere in the government's policies, decisions and activities. It does so only when delicate matters of faith and morals are attacked or at least undermined.

Perhaps to the discredit of a few Church officials is their inability and awkwardness to defend the Church position on faith and morals in a rational and forceful way. This has to be corrected.

They have to avoid high-handedness or the militants' style of imposing the "truth" on others.

But I believe that even if they may not always win the popularity contest, they will never run out of good reasons and arguments to clarify and refute errant views. They have to be more creative in defending truth with charity.

Just the same, the picture this issue is presenting should remind Church officials of the enormity of the challenge to wage a sustained campaign of catechism and other forms of doctrinal-spiritual formation.

In fact, this should not just be a campaign, but an ongoing affair, much like our breathing and heartbeat, using both personal and collective means. The growing wall of ignorance and confusion is turning into a hostile force that is gathering vicious force.

Charity should always be lived in defending the truths of faith and morals. Evil in all its forms can only be drowned by an abundance of truth and of the good!

(E-mail: juan_mercado@boholchronicle.com)