MCC and SPT Carry on the Work of Rizal: Reflections for the 20th anniversary of MCC in the Philippines (September 7, 1991 – September 7, 2011)

Sunday, September 4th, 2011, MCC Manila celebrated the 20th anniversary of MCC in the Philippines. It was a well attended, lengthy service with a six-piece band of Gospel musicians and multimedia presentations throughout led by Pastor Egay and his assistant, Val.

It may have been the first time in history that an MCC service was held in a five-star hotel and capped off by a tasty banquet in the dining room of a five-star hotel, the Grand Opera Hotel of Chinatown, Manila.

My message, too heavy for oral presentation in a Gospel service, was distributed in pamphlet form. I delivered only the final prayer.

I present my anniversary reflections here...


Little did I know when I came to Manila in 1991 and opened the doors of MCC Manila with the encouragement of Edgar Mendoza – little did I realize I was carrying on the work of Jose Rizal.

The revolution was over, but as I learned more and more about our national hero, his work and his advocacies, the more I realized the work of Rizal must go on, and MCC must be part of it.

Padre Damaso and sex-negative theology and oppression of the Filipino people did not die on that somber December morning in 1896, and neither did the work of Rizal come to an end.

MCC and Sex-Positive Theology have a big role in carrying on the work of Rizal, even now 150 years after his birth.

In many ways, the Philippines is a perfect place to learn and apply the benefits of Sex-Positive Theology.

First of all, the country is a society deeply influenced by Spanish culture. It is a great place to put into practice the ideas we have developed over two decades in the Philippines, and MCC has developed over four decades since 1968.

It is a country which has long rolled over and accepted the heavy residue of foreign oppression. Long after the political control was gone after Rizal inspired the gaining of political freedom, the moral slavery has lingered.

The stifling oppression of “religious dominance,” sometimes called friarocracy or friararchy, “control by the religious attitudes of the friars,” has held its tenacious grip on the lives all Filipinos, of all religions and beliefs. Today every Catholic, every Protestant, every Muslim, every believer or non-believer is subjugated, even by law, as well as by culture, under the mandates of friararchy (theocracy) passed down and passed on by the hierarchy of today. Examples are the prohibition of divorce (in the only country in the world) and the iron fist over the RH Bill (not to mention the unmentionable – same-sex marriage).

What are some glimpses of light, especially in the yearning of LGBT people for justice?

After MCC opened its doors as the first openly “gay and lesbian” organization in the country, one by one, after ProGay, organizations sprang up to serve the needs of the community (of perhaps ten million persons with same-sex attraction). Friendly organizations began to align themselves with our pro-justice stance. Even some members of congress, such as Congresswoman Etta Gonzales, now Human Rights commissioner, began to espouse LGBT causes in Congress. In her case it was her heroic efforts to get the Anti-Discrimination Bill passed that was prominent in her long-time efforts (although defeated by the powers of prejudice).

A very significant bright light in the freedom landscape is LadLad Party List political party with its avowed LGBT agenda and advocacy. Initiated by well-known columnist, author, and professor, Danton Remoto, this party has made a reality of the unbelievable suggestion in the early ‘90’s that there be a “gay and lesbian” party-list party. It has now happened, despite the prejudice of the Comelec (against LGBT “morality,” another example of government and society being influenced by religious attitudes). It moves forward under the leadership of Bemz Benedicto with celebrity host and promoter Boy Abunda as political advisor.

A sample of the fight is given in this paragraph from a speech by Bemz at an event in the Congress. “And now, we are fighting for equal rights right here, in the halls of Congress. We are asking our congress members to finally pass the Anti-Discrimination Bill that makes sure no lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender Filipino will be oppressed again in his or her own country. For this is our country, too, and we are all the children of God. In His – or Her – infinite wisdom God made us all different. For only in our differences can we see our similarity, which lies in the human soul that is found within us all.”

With Ladlad fully in the leadership of the political arena for the battle to end oppression, what is needed is continued education, savvy and strategy in the country-wide, world-wide war against the moral slavery of sex-negative theology. For this purpose we have initiated a series of free cyber seminars, one-on-one learning experiences by email to provide mastery in the theory and practice of Sex-Positive Theology.

Logically the situation requires a faith-based program. The problem is caused by a negative and untrue theology of the nature and will of God. There is much good in Spanish culture and the religion brought by the Spaniards. But there is much that is not good theology in the sex-negative theology (with its false picture of God) which was also brought by the Spanish missionaries along with the redeeming value of their religion.

Surely the picture is wrong: the white bearded policeman in the sky watching over a cloud to catch every boy enjoying playing with himself, every older boy and girl making love in a secluded place, every man who loves a man and every woman who loves a woman – in order to zap them into the fires of hell.

And that same policeman has crept into the bedrooms of married men and women, forbidding them to use condoms or common sense in planning their family, and elsewhere forcing the continued “marriage” in a situation of incompatibility.

LGBT people have borne the heaviest weight of rejection, denunciation, deprival by society and excommunication by church.

Scandalously (from the point of view of justice and from the Constitution of the Republic) the power of the hierarchy’s sex-negative theology is so strong that all these prohibitions of the hierarchy have become ingrained in law and culture – so that not only church but society conspires to deprive LGBTq people of their rights to love and to freedom of conscience.

Thus it is clear that a faith-based “answer” must be added to the political “answer” begun by Rizal and carried on by Ladlad and others. A society warped by a false faith-based attitude must find answers in a true faith-based solution.

For twenty years MCC has been bringing that answer to LGBTq people of the Philippines who have been able to hear it. The answer simply is God’s unconditional love. But even that love is warped by the hierarchy. God’s love and God’s true nature and description must be spelled out in the full length story of Sex-Positive Theology. That full answer is spelled out in the full-length story of Sex-positive Theology available free by emailing me at saintaelred@gmail.com

A light on the hierarchy-darkened scene is the known presence of the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), now serving God’s people in three locations in the country, along with the Christian United Church (CUC), and the Center for the Study of Spirituality and Sexuality (CSSS).

For twenty years MCC has dared to contradict sex-negative theology in all its oppressive expressions. Its known presence has made known throughout the land that there is an alternative to NO masturbation, NO condoms, NO premarital love-making, NO same-sex love.

On the contrary MCC has proclaimed the gospel with the truths of Sex-Positive Theology. Yes, MCC is a faith-based community of believers. Their Gospel is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Their truths are the truths of the God who became human and dwells in us. They have long summarized Sex-Positive Theology in four simple spiritual truths for LGBT people.

1. God loves LGBT people unconditionally. God smiles upon their love and blesses their love – for God is Love, and those who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

2. The Bible does not in any word, verse, or story condemn same-sex love. The few verses quoted to claim this are totally wrongly interpreted and proven wrong by countless scholars. (I do a full-length seminar just in proof of the falsity of these claims, and a whole module of the Sex-Positive Seminar is devoted to this.)

3. The Bible offers examples of beautiful same-sex love. The stories of the love of Ruth and Naomi and David and Jonathan and Jesus and the beloved disciple are an inspiration to LGBTq people.

4. LGBTq people can be Christian, and countless thousands are fulfilling their vocation to “come, follow me,” and live the fulfilled life that comes from realizing God’s unconditional love and responding by living a loving life in friendship with God and with others. Thousands are fulfilling this call to “life in Christ” in MCC around the world and in the Philippines.

In conclusion, there is light in the darkness of sex-negative theology imposed on our culture. MCC first turned on that light 1n 1991, two decades ago. The light of MCC and Sex-Positive Theology now, more than ever, must be a defining light, a guiding light with an ever increasing wisdom in the knowledge and application of Sex-Positive Theology.

Religion has long been used against LGBTq people in direct contradiction to the all-loving, unconditionally loving God known in the true theology of God. But that does not call for rejection of God or the truth of God. It only calls for the rejection of the false things about God. I think Jose Rizal is an example of practicing that. He never heard of the term Sex-Positive Theology, but while he attended Mass regularly, he never stopped his work against oppression, regardless of where it came from.

MCC, with praise and worship pleasing to God, and sound Sex-Positive Theology pleasing to God must liberate more and more of God’s beloved LGBTq children and set them free to worship God, be friends with all, and love the one they love. MCC must bring a happy fulfilled life to more and more of God’s children who have been experiencing oppression.

And surely bringing the people out of oppression is a continuation of Rizal’s work and God’s will.

(RRM, September 4, 2011)

My prayer for the people of MCC and the future people of MCC is in unison with St. Paul: “We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and your love for all God’s people. When the true message, the Good News, first came to you, you heard of the hope it offers. So your faith and love are based on what you hope for, which is kept safe for you in heaven. The Gospel is bringing blessings and spreading through the whole world, just as it has among you ever since the day you first heard of the grace of God and came to know it as it really is.” (Colossians 1:3-6)