“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"

"If I Let You Go" by Westlife (1999)

Westlife: lasting memories

I may have heard the song "Fool Again" by Westlife way back in 2000, during the summer afternoons, everytime I boiled hot water for next morning's milk. I thought the title of the song was "Born Again".

Late that year, everyone at (high) school was singing "My Love", another song of theirs. I didn't care much about popular music then. I was heavy into trading cards and toys: I collected Dragon Ball Z, Digimon, and Pokemon cards from my classmates, and also bought a set of tiny Digimon toys from my history teacher.

After the Yuletide break, a classmate brought his Christmas purchase, the first album of the record-breaking Irish vocal group. I would buy that cassette months later, after I bought a bootlegged copy of British group A1's third album "Learn To Fly".

At the school's Valentine's Day program, some bloke from the sophomores performed a solo rendition of "If I Let You Go". I don't know what hit me or took hold of me, but the song instantly became my last song syndrom (LSS). It would eventually land in my top 100 favorite songs.

Image from mahkarani.blogspot.com

Westlife's 2nd UK chart-topper off the first album was my ultimate LSS in the first quarter of 2001. In what was one of my favorite summers, their rendition of the Billy Joel classic "Uptown Girl" took over as LSS.

14 years has passed, but "If I Let You Go" remains my most favorite Westlife song, my most favorite pop song. It was the catalyst for my great interest in music, one that fueled my attraction to Britney Spears, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, AKB48, and Nogizaka46.

Like every other song that I like, "If I Let You Go" brings back certain memories. While writing this post, I suddenly remember my former crush (a sophomore) and another schoolmate (a classmate's boyfriend) who always played the song (on his guitar) at my request. May God bless them wherever they are now.

And how could I forget when four other classmates and I sang the song ala-Westlife during the convocation program, when my class hosted the event? Days later we would sing "Flying Without Wings" at another school program.

Too bad I can never turn back time to relive those memories. At least, I can enjoy those moments in my memory, with the song playing in the background.

"All The Small Things" by Blink-182 (2000)

Blink-182: legacy

A UK music poll once adjudged "All The Small Things" by Blink-182 as one of the best music videos of all times. Westlife's "Flying Without Wings" and the Backstreet Boys' "Everybody" also made it to the top ten. Back then, the songs were noteworthy, the videos were fantastic, and the artists were great. Not anymore.

The first time I heard Blink-182's pop punk magnum opus was way back in 2001, when part of the song was incorporated into the teaser of a local TV station's Sunday sitcom, Bitoy's World, top-billed by the talented Michael V and shown on GMA 7 every Sunday evening. Too bad it didn't make it to year 2002.

Bitoy's World. All roles performed by Michael V (Image from Retro Pilipinas blogspot)

But I remember the song. In 2003, my brother got hold of an FM station that played rock, R&B, and hip-hop tunes, and "All The Small Things" was included in rotation on the station's Sunday afternoon rock music program. It was also on this FM station that I first heard Evanescence, t.A.T.u., Matchbox Twenty, and Daniel Bedingfield. It was also on this station where I heard Linkin Park's "Somewhere I Belong", Christina Aguilera's "Fighter" and "The Voice Within", and Michelle Branch's "Breathe".

"All The Small Things" was etched in my consciousness. Maybe because the three-piece band parodied the popular music videos of that time: "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys, "Because of You" by 98 Degrees, "Sometimes" by Britney Spears, and "Genie in a Bottle" by Aguilera (who was a teen pop gal then).

Or maybe because the song was catchy and timeless. Well, timeless because no pop punk, metal and rock bands make it to today's music scene, and what we have now is an overdose of music that appeals to oversexed, club-hopping, and drunk teenagers and adults. Good Lord, if the devil can take them now and bring back to life Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Whitney Houston, and Amy Winehouse.

In the summer of 2005, I would fall for another Blink-182 hit, "Stay Together For The Kids". I stumbled upon the song on a local music video station, and next year, I would watch a live performance of the song, wherein the band got a pianist to perform with them.

Weeks ago, I read about one of the members being ousted from the band. So bad, so sad.

"Lucky" by Britney Spears (2000)

Catching up on the year 2000

The year 2000 was a year lost due to my lack of concern or awareness for a few things: Comic books, movies, and music. Thanks to the Internet (particularly Wikipedia and YouTube), money, and my almost photographic memory, I am slowly catching up on the year that I wasted.

Comic books I have. I have bought some Marvel titles of the 2000s from people who sold them at rock bottom prices. Movies, I have watched loads after my mother bought our family's very first VCD player.

Music, I have cassettes and MP3 files. These possessions make me feel better about my lack of both high school and college romance and experience hanging out with young people.

Late love for Britney Spears, pop princess

So let's talk about songs. One of the songs that defined my summer of 2002 was the song "Lucky" by Britney Spears off her record-breaking second album Oops!... I Did It Again, released in 2000.

"Lucky" single cover

One song leads to another, if you ask me. Listening to the album's title track (and thinking it to be a James Bond song) and a trip to my grandmother's place (before she passed away) lead me to "Lucky" in the time when pop music still reigned my consciousness.

In my life, 2002 was a Britney Spears year. I even recalled watching one of her concerts on the day before school started. I later bought two bootlegged cassettes and a CD, all blaring Britney Spears. "I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman" from her third album Britney (2002) was the hit that time but in my mind, it was "Lucky", "Stronger" and the title track of the second album, which is my most favorite Britney Spears album. In my mind, things was the year 2000, a year lost.

Screen capture from the music video

From Britney Spears, I then caught up on Westlife, Backstreet Boys, and NSYNC. I later bought their respective 2000 albums (Coast to Coast, Black and Blue, and No Strings Attached), either original or bootlegged. I got my hand on a few music magazines from that year too. I would also gather clippings of 2000's music scene and years later, expand my knowledge with the help of the Internet. I took myself back to 2000.

In my book, 2000 was one of the best years in music. Too bad I wasted it. I was late for the experience. But better late than never.

"Dirrty" by Christina Aguilera featuring Redman (2002)

Christina Aguilera: from sweet to dirrty

The year was 2002. I learned about Christina Aguilera after listening to one of her hits, titled "Come On Over (All I Want is You)". Weeks later, I bought a bootlegged cassette tape of her first album in what was the worst month of my year. Months later, I read about her controversial single and video "Dirrty" and how it spiked sex tourism in Thailand. Next year,my classmate bought me her Stripped album and invited me to his place to watch the controversial video.

"Dirrty" single cover

Man, talk about Christina Aguilera. Talk about memories. After watching her video "The Voice Within", I considered her to be one of the two whitest women in music (the other one was Michelle Branch).

I admit I did not get the best of Miss Aguilera because that time, I was so infatuated with Britney Spears. I missed Aguilera's transformation from teen pop star to sex symbol (due to the image she exhibited during the Stripped period). But it was a drastic or quick change of image, if you ask me.

Aguilera popularizing the "slut drop" dance move

Miss Spears expressed full adulthood and maturity after two albums, reason why I somewhat welcomed her persona after the release of her third album Britney. Well, I looked up to her first two albums to find support for Britney and later albums.

Xtina Aguilera's change of image a shock

About Miss Aguilera, I found just one album, few resources to find support for her drastic change in image. (I am not talking about her Spanish and Christmas albums that Aguilera released before Stripped). It was quick. She had not given her fans - fans of her bubblegum pop persona - enough content to enjoy the best of her. At least, she isn't fake, like Iggy Azalea, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, and Arianna Grande. But I feared she had alienated her pop fans. Here, I recalled the pop rock band The Moffats.

The looks of Christina Aguilera

The change from something teen and innocent to something sexy and racy was necessary to jump-start her career. It was to give music fans something to talk about, and not just about Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne, and Vanessa Carlton.

2002 was one of the best years in music, just three years to go before the music would die, and thugs and whores would take over music.

Anytime, I would pick Christina Aguilera over today's artists. She is way more talented than Iggy, Miley, Katy, Arianna, Taylor Swift, Nikki Minaj, and Beyonce combined.