“March of the Downtrodden” by Ooberfuse

Exposure to Contemporary Catholic music

Way back in 2010, the British electro-pop music group Ooberfuse released “Heart’s Cry”, the anthem to former Pope Benedict XVI’s papal visit to the United Kingdom. Though I forgot how or where I found this song, it is one of my most favorite songs ever, religious and overall.

Ooberfuse’s “Heart’s Cry” made me realize Catholic contemporary music can be cool and fun after all, just like the music of Don Moen, Hillsong, Plus One, Reliant K, and many other Christian artists that dominate (the predominantly Evangelical Protestant) Contemporary Christian music (CCM) genre.

It is not my first exposure to Contemporary Catholic music. Way back in 1999, 2001, and 2003, I listened to Filipino (and Catholic) artist Jamie Rivera’s “Jubilee Song”, “Lord, Heal Our Land”, and “Only Selfless Love”, the anthem to the Fourth World Meeting of the Families in Manila in 2003.

In 2001 or 2002, I read an article in a Catholic magazine that NSYNC and Britney Spears were among the performers for an album dedicated to John Paul II, who still lived that time.

Ooberfuse

In 2003, my mother bought my sister a religious music album. Although the album is a Catholic effort, the album is ecumenical, containing a Buddhist chant and a Muslim prayer for peace, among others.

Also in 2003, during the Holy Week, I saw a Catholic high school band performing on TV. I forget the name of the band and the TV special.

If I am not wrong, the Catholic Church happen to sing songs by Evangelical Protestants, including “Amazing Grace” composed by an anti-Catholic English minister. Non-Catholics like the Australian Guy Sebastian and the first American Idol Kelly Clarkson even performed for Benedict at his papal visits to Australia and America, respectively. In an article I read years ago, it is said that Hillsong received significant royalties from the Catholic Church.

A reminder of the frailties of Catholic clergymen

Ooberfuse released “March of the Downtrodden” in 2014. The song deals with Catholic clergy abuse and its accompanying music video features the stories of the plight of victims of clerical abuse.

I had listened to 11 songs by Ooberfuse prior to their “March of the Downtrodden” and it was only last year that I learned about this controversial song. I admit I was shocked that they, a Catholic band, would release such a song.

Ooberfuse have released singles to support Catholic vocation and raise awareness about persecution against Christians and the refugee crisis, among others. They also released anthems to the 2013 World Youth Day in Brazil and Pope Francis’ papal visit to the Philippines in 2015. I did not expect them to sing about a controversial subject.

In 2014, “March of the Downtrodden” got Ooberfuse disinvited from playing at the Catholic Underground, London’s biggest youth gathering. According to organizers, the song’s music video, which features quotes from abuse victims’ testimonies alongside images of distressed children, St Peter’s Basilica, and priests, painted a negative image of the Catholic Church’s handling of the clerical sex abuse scandal.

Organizers said that the “negative” stance taken by the “March of the Downtrodden” video would damage Catholic Underground’s “positive” mission. While they said criticism of the Church was essential, they added, “this is not the correct platform and means by which to do it”.

Saddened by the withdrawal of their invitation, Ooberfuse responded in a statement, “Many victims have been forbidden to tell their stories because of legal compromise agreements i.e. other regular channels of communication have been foreclosed. Given the silencing strategies of clergy abusers and their protectors, we are not aware there are many other means by which to address this topic.”

Ooberfuse explained that the point of “March of the Downtrodden” music video was to tell the story of clerical sexual abuse from the point of view of the victims.

I do not know if Ooberfuse is the first Catholic music group to address such a controversial subject. However, they were just one of the three bands I am aware to sing about it. The other two happened to be rock bands: Limp Bizkit and a Brazilian group whose name I forgot.

Not a good time for the Catholic Church

Anyone who has read and understood the Catholic Church’s earthly history will acknowledge the Church as a part human institution run by imperfect and fallible men and women, all of them prone to sin, heresy, and apostasy later at some point in their life and service to God. Therefore, the Church should not be stranger to bad press and bad publicity.

But how the church leaders handle the situation and deal with erring members, particularly sexually degenerate priests, is another matter.

Faithful Catholic Christians have been left reeling by recent events:

• Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington resigns amid sexual abuse allegations
• Pennsylvania report on clerical sex abuse which involves over 300 priests
• Honduras cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga allegedly protecting gay seminarians

Six years ago, I downloaded some e-books that tackle the topic of church sexual abuse, which the Boston Globe brought to national and international attention with its front page report on January 6, 2002. The epicenter of the abuse – and media attention and public condemnation – was the Archdiocese of Boston, formerly headed by Cardinal Bernard Francis Law who resigned on 2002 due to his mishandling of the sex abuse scandal in his archdiocese.

Jason Bach cartoon on Catholic Church sexual abuse

What “interesting” stuff did I learn from reading those e-books on clerical sexual abuse, of which former priests from the Archdiocese such as John Geoghan, Paul Shanley, Robert Meffan, and James D. Foley were the most infamous and notorious of the offenders?

There are many factors that contribute to the child sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church.

• There exists a seminary underground in which homosexual promiscuity is rampant.
• There are Catholic priests like the defrocked Shanley who have adopted diabolical practices in their priestly ministry.
• There are priests that openly undermine Church theological and moral teachings.
• These sexually deviant priests become more open and bolder about their heretical beliefs relating to God and sex.
• They abuse their priestly ministry to flaunt their sexual immorality, preach heresy, and promote lifestyles contrary to the Gospel and Church teaching.
• A cabal of satanic, gay, and child-abusing priests is said to secretly operate in the Church and, worse, in the Vatican.
• In short, pedophilia and Satanism is secretly practiced by evil men in the churches and seminaries.
• Church leaders are complicit in the operation of satanic pedophile priests.
• Satanists infiltrate the Church with one goal in mind: world domination.
• Other than a satanic conspiracy in the Catholic Church, there is also a liberal, feminist conspiracy to eradicate the male, celibate priesthood.
• Ideological discrimination exists against orthodox candidates.
• Potential seminarians who are faithful and loyal to the magisterial teaching of the Pope and bishops are being persecuted.
• Vocations directors and leaders of certain religious orders turn away applicants who oppose women priesthood, defend Church’s teachings about homosexuality, artificial birth control, etc., and exhibit a strong piety toward religious devotions, such as the Rosary and Eucharistic Adoration.
• In some seminaries, the vocations directors are liberal nuns.
• Being the vocations directors, the liberal nuns reject candidates who oppose the ordination of women as priests.
• Psychiatrists and psychologists who perform evaluations on candidates or seminarians may not be Catholics or if they are, they have fallen away from Church teaching on sex and morality and embraced heresy.
• These psychiatrists deem orthodox candidates to be “sexually immature” or having an “unhealthy sexuality” or “sexual hang-ups”.
• Heterosexual men who oppose the gay lifestyle, not inclined to homosexuality, denounce masturbation and pornography as grossly immoral, and reject homosexuality in society and workplace are rejected for seminary.

A cartoon on Catholic Church sexual abuse

• Liberalism also helps bring Freemasonry and occultism into the Catholic Church.
• Liberals bring in corruption, immorality, heresy, and, worse, Satanism into the Catholic Church.
• Despite Church teaching against Freemasonry, liberal priests and prelates seek reconciliation with Freemasons.
• Freemasons, like satanic pedophile priests, have occupied high positions of power in the Catholic hierarchy.
• This would not be possible without the patronage of corrupt and liberal priests, many of them closet Freemasons and Satanists; the inaction and incompetence of good yet indecisive and powerless priests; and the ignorance and nonchalance of the Catholic laity.

What do you expect the Catholic Church to be if it lets liberal, sexually deviant, satanic pedophile priests to minister to the most vulnerable? What kind of leadership do you expect from liberal prelates who help introduce Freemasonry and occultism into the confines of a 2000-year-old institution?

The Irish connection

No longer a faithful daughter of the Church, the increasingly liberal Ireland voted to approve same-sex marriage in 2015. At this moment, the Irish government plans to legalize abortion by means of a popular vote.

Does it occur to you that many of the priests who were accused of sexual abuse have Irish-sounding names and/or surnames? That these sexually deviant priests come from Irish or Irish American background?

Does it occur to you that the epicenter of the clerical sex abuse scandal is in the Archdiocese of Boston, a bastion of Irish American Catholics? That the Catholic Church in Ireland has its great share of corruption and immorality committed by both priests and nuns?

Who will save the Catholic Church?

Father Malachi Martin, in an August 1996 banned interview for the American Family Association, reported that reported that 1 to 2% of priests in the Roman Catholic Church are practicing Satanists who are involved with some form of ritualized sexual abuse. He drew this statistic from a 1996 secret church study that he received from a Vatican source.

Let it be known that sexually deviant priests do not constitute the majority of priests and consecrated persons in the Church. They are just a tiny minority but a destructive minority that brings a disastrous impact upon all Catholics.

This evil minority should be dealt with not by words and ideals and not just through prayers and fasting… but with an ax and a gun.

There will always be corrupt priests and nuns and good but incompetent church leaders. There will always be people like Ooberfuse who calls for justice, accountability, and courageous and strong leadership.

Lay Catholics have no need for corrupt and sexually immoral church leaders. They need leaders who can achieve a balance of authority and service and are more assertive on contentious issues.

It is time that Catholics, after reading and reflecting on John 2: 14-22, Titus 1: 7-8, and Ephesians 4: 11-13, take concrete action. It is up to the laity to cleanse the Church and purge satanic pedophile, sexually deviant, and corrupt priests and nuns from the seminaries, convents, and parishes.

Onward to a renewed and holier Church and priesthood!

Image from the Church Militant's "The Vortex"

“This Song Saved My Life” by Simple Plan (2011)

Memories of Simple Plan

The first time I heard Simple Plan was way back in the 1st Q of 2003. Courtesy of my brother who had a diverse taste in music, I was exposed to many subgenres of rock, from pop punk to hard rock, from Audioslave to Marilyn Manson.

Though I had listened to “Addicted” and “Perfect” in 2003 and “Don’t Wanna Think About You” and “Welcome To My Life” in 2004, I only came to appreciate Simple Plan’s musicianship and songwriting prowess when I watched the music videos to “I’m Just A Kid” in January 2005 and “Untitled (How Could This Happen To Me)” in May 2005. If it was not for my classmate in biology who lent me a VCD, I would not have seen “I’m Just A Kid” and if I had not taken a vacation to my country’s capital, I would not have seen “Untitled”.

Get Your Heart On! (Image from de.lamusica.wikia.com)  

A long time would pass before I would love another song from the band. I had listened to “Jet Lag” featuring Natasha Bedingfield in the last quarter of 2013 and “This Song Saved My Life” just this month.

“This Song Saved My Life” is now my most favorite song from the group. A visit to Wikipedia tells me their album Get Your Heart On!, which was released in 2001 and where this song is track #11, tanked commercially, despite good reviews.

It breaks my heart to know that decent music acts such as Simple Plan can no longer sell records, especially in this age of social media. Damn these millennials for their poor taste in music.

Reflections on the music video’s theme

I can somehow connect the lyrics of the song to the storyline and theme of the music video. A lot of things – or memories – flooded into my mind as I watched the video over and over again.

Way back in 2005, I wrote an article on child labor for a media organization who partnered with a children’s rights advocacy group. A year later, I attended a lecture on workplace exploitation given by a worker’s rights activist, who revealed that most abuses against workers took place in the garments and construction sector.

A day in the life of a modern-day slave in a sweatshop

A colleague at work once shared to me that she was almost trafficked as a child. She got lost at a bus station. She happened to meet a stranger who claimed to know her parents. She could have gone with her, if not for a neighbor who spotted them. The stranger fled, leaving the child behind.

Should I also mention that in my country, there is a town that is a famous hub for child pornography? Search Cordova, Cebu, Philippines to know more.

After much reflection, I realized that not only child laborers, oppressed workers and other modern-day slaves are victims but also their employers, the human traffickers, and the modern-day slave traders and slaveholders.

In every political system… in every economic system, as long as greed, hatred and violence reign in the hearts of men, there will always be abuse and exploitation. There will always be victims. There will always be oppressors – they who do not know they are victims themselves too.

A call to action

I call on everyone to stand up against all forms of abuse and exploitation against all peoples.

I exhort everyone to argue within reason and treat people with respect, even if they differ in many ways.

It is time we make pornography, child trafficking and modern-day slavery history.

An undercover agent comes to the rescue. 

“Flying Without Wings” by Westlife and BoA (2002)

A song wasted

It has been more than 15 years since I first heard the duet version of Westlife’s “Flying Without Wings” featuring BoA. My mother bought me a cassette tape of the Irish pop vocal group’s 4th album (and 1st greatest hits compilation) titled Unbreakable: The Greatest Hits Volume 1, which was released in 2002.

Westlife feat. Boa, "Flying Without Wings" (Image from https://991.com)

“Flying Without Wings” duet version did not get airplays from radio stations I used to listen to. The album’s carrier single “Unbreakable” even received moderate airplays, though it managed to land #1 at a local radio station’s weekly countdown, staying for a week. It hurts to admit it but "Unbreakable" was forgettable.

In comparison, Westlife’s duet with Mariah Carey titled “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” was more popular than any track off Unbreakable. British vocal group Blue’s “Best in Me” and “One Love” and A1’s “One Last Song” and “Learn to Fly” were more successful in terms of airplays.

Knowing BoA… and Kpop

I had no idea who this BoA person was until six years later when I chanced upon BoA’s music videos on Channel V. A quick visit to Wikipedia told me she is a Korean singer who enjoyed commercial and critical success in both Korea and Japan, which in my knowledge is the world’s 2nd largest music market. I was impressed that she released Japanese singles and albums.

BoA, Listen To My Heart (Image from http://www.jpophelp.com)

During that time, Kpop was getting popular and receiving more airplays. However, in my observation, BoA was nowhere to be mentioned or sung by teenagers who were becoming Kpop fanatics. Her songs were nowhere to be played by radio stations and by Myx and MTV.
It seemed that new Kpop fans were not interested in knowing BoA.

One proof is a young workmate who is into Kpop and Korean drama. She knows Westlife – of course, almost everyone knows Westlife even if they are not a listener – but nothing about BoA. It was until I told her about Westlife’s duet with BoA that she learned about her.

It is a shame for Kpop fans to not know BoA, the Korean singer with the most successful crossover into Japan. Some of the new Kpop fans even had the gall to call her obsolete. Little or never do they know that she opened the door for other Korean artists in Japan.

Even before the rise of modern Kpop artists, BoA was already popular in Japan. That was even before social media likes, shares, and views became the metrics for success in the music industry.

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“Hero” by Skillet (2009)

Independence Day in the time of Duterte

As of this writing, my country is celebrating its 120th Independence Day. The people who would take the time to celebrate are the president, his officials, and his band of supporters, commonly called dutertetards.

Dutertetards are the kind of people who would follow the president rather than God, their conscience, and their guardian angels. They will forgo their dignity, humanity, spirituality, and patriotism to emulate his attitude and way of thinking.

Dutertetards will follow the president blindly. They will be glad to do his bidding without doubt and without question. They will do everything to please their master.

Dutertetards call for Vice President Leni Robredo's resignation at a rally in Luneta Park in 2017. (Image from http://news.abs-cbn.com)

Like for example, if the president kisses the ass of the Chinese government, the dutertetards – each and every one of them, male and female, young and old – will do the same. They would even do it more enthusiastically than the president does.

Devoid of objectivity and lacking a sense of history and critical thinking, the dutertetards make my country look like a province or colony of China. They make light of the (gravely serious) matter of the Chinese government violating my country’s territory and stealing its natural resources.

The dutertetards are like the Germans who welcomed the rise of Nazism and the fundamentalists who supported the Islamic State (ISIS). There is no “hero” among them.

“Hero” and the events in June

"Hero" by Skillet (Image from https://genius.com)

“Hero” by the Christian rock band Skillet (first single from their 2009 album Awake) reminds me of or makes me reflect on many things, not just the lack of patriotism and objectivity among dutertetards. As I listen to this religious rock track, I realize I can connect the (message and theme of the) song to certain events in the month of June, first of which is the Independence Day of my country.

It is during Independence Day that I recall the heroic deeds (and some petty misdeeds) of the heroes or historical figures, such as Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, Diego and Gabriela Silang, Juan Luna, Marcelo H. Del Pilar, Antonio Luna, Gregorio Del Pilar, Emilio Aguinaldo, Apolinario Mabini, Melchora Aquino, the Gomburza priests, Miguel Malvar, Macario Sakay, Lapu-Lapu, the residents of Balangiga, Jose Abad Santos, Josefa Llanes Escoda, the Moros of Mindanao and Sulu… the list goes on.

Philippine national heroes (Image from https://themindofthegarrett.wordpress.com/)

Despite their misdeeds and weaknesses, they loved their country and their people. Their love is far different from the love that the president and the dutertetards have.

The heroes and historical figures had genuine love for the country. The president and the dutertetards, on the other hand, act not out of love for the country but out of practicality and necessity.

The heroes and historical figures were not afraid to give up their life. They are not afraid to kill and be killed. The president and the dutertetards, on the other hand, are not ready to die but willing to change their beliefs and statements to suit their convenience.

The other “fathers”

Every 3rd Sunday of June is Fathers’ Day. “Hero” reminds me of the other “fathers” in our community: the priests, the ministers, the pastors… the men who committed themselves to the spreading of the Gospel.

On one Fathers’ Day a few years ago, a kiddie gag/comedy show on a local channel dedicated an episode to the priests, whom they called the other “fathers” not honored on Fathers’ Day.
Just recently, a priest was gunned down in a chapel while preparing to conduct a religious service. If I have counted right, he is the 2nd priest murdered in the country’s biggest island.

Christian clergymen in Morocco (Image from http://eurobishop.blogspot.com)

I also remember the ministers and pastors who endured political and social repression in many countries around the world. Some of them were imprisoned and their wives and families were forced to relocate abroad for safety.

Of course, the priests, ministers and pastors are no supermen too. Like the heroes and historical figures, they have their own weaknesses.

There are priests who abused minors or kept secret wives or bore children out of wedlock. There are ministers and pastors who embezzled church funds to support their opulent lifestyles. Weak men they are, they need a “hero”… the only One who can save them.

Solemnities of Biblical figures

Biblical figures of the New Testament are the other “fathers” too. They are heroes of faith. There are events dedicated to them in the month of June.

Every June 24 is the Nativity of John the Baptizer and every June 29 is the solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul. Read the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles and you will know that they are heroes who were not afraid to speak their mind… and were also ready to die.

By the way, in one June 29 a few years ago, a classmate went to my place to invite me to his family’s beach picnic. The last time I had of him, he was studying to become a pastor. I had no news about his personal life but I was told that he is estranged from his wife.

Call to action

Include “Hero” by Skillet in your playlist.

Don’t follow the examples of the dutertetards. Swim against the tide. Learn how to think critically and think for yourself.

Include the priests, ministers or pastors in your prayers… if you pray.

“Arigatou” by Funky Monkey Babys (2013)

Another song, another moment for nostalgia

It has been five years since I first heard “Arigatou” by the hip hop group Funky Monkey Babys. It was one of the first Japanese hip hop songs I had listened to. It was also one of the best songs I listened to in 2013.

2013 was one of the most trying years in my life and one of the best too, in terms of music and experiences. There are negative experiences, of course. They could have sidetracked me but I realized I could not control those circumstances. I moved forward with some sort of strength and happiness, which I always have.

I lost people and money that year. I never lose the songs, though. They are always fresh and alive in my memory.

I also do not lose my sense of gratitude and my spirit of thanksgiving.

Funky Monkey Babys gearing up for "Arigatou", their last single. Image from https://mghorn.com

I would not have survived 2013 without the help of a very few people who provided me the tools and leads to move forward after the loss of a job I held for almost five years. They helped me look at the bright side behind the negative events I went through and bolstered my character of strength and happiness. They are the people I keep in my heart up to now.

I feel sad that I was not able to sustain or make better the many relationships I made years before I was forced to resign from work in 2013. The people I met too that year… well, they were just extras in my cinema of life.

I wonder where I did go wrong in my relationships with people. But I believe I am good with the ones I could keep. I pray for all of them, though. I hope they do not have a bad memory of me. In some ways, they helped me make sense of 2013 and make me the person I am now.

Because of them, I strive to find joy in the little things and to live each day as if it is Thanksgiving Day. Forever grateful I will be.