Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Turn. Love. Repeat.

Home
Catholic
Priests Spewing Racism Right at My Face

Priests Spewing Racism Right at My Face

Last updated on: October 13, 2020 at 8:02 pm by Fr. Stephanos Pedrano, O.S.B.

Priests Spewing Racism Right at My Face 2020-10-13T20:02:24-08:00 Fr. Stephanos Pedrano, O.S.B.

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Fr. Stephanos Pedrano, O.S.B.

Fr. Stephanos Pedrano, O.S.B. Benedictine Monk and Priest of Prince of Peace Abbey.

Racism from Catholic priests? Yes! Catholic priests perpetrated the three most “right-into-my-personal-face” experiences of racism in my life.

This was the second part of a double post I did here in June. Memories of these incidents came up because of my own reactions to the bad news of the Louisiana priest who hired prostitutes so he could film himself having sex at the altar of his parish church. One wonders at the psychopathological, stupid, evil things priests can perpetrate to show post-graduate studies, human maturity, and Christian virtue don’t seem to sink into them or to stay with them if they ever sank in at all.

Born in 1958 in the Philippines of Filipino parents, I came to the USA with them when I was less than a year old, and years later I became a citizen of the USA. I entered my Benedictine monastery in California in 1981.

Around 1985, after learning that a Filipino Benedictine monk and priest had become the president of the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy in Rome, I mentioned it to a white priest here in California.

He smiled and chuckled.

I told him it was no joke.

Still smiling, he said, “No.”

I spoke again to tell him it was true.

His face turned angry, and raising his voice he told me, “How did a FILIPINO get that?”

In Rome, 1988 to 1991, I was a student at the international Benedictine theology school of Sant’ Anselmo.

I was a member there of the chant “schola,” the small choir that leads the chant during the Mass and the Divine Offices. On some occasion outside the liturgy, someone complimented me on my voice.

A white European priest heard it, turned and told me my voice does not match my skin color and racial features.

Still in Rome. A group of Europeans and I were speaking about the so-called “Indians,” the aboriginal indigenous peoples of the Americas. I mentioned that the native peoples died quickly in great numbers because they had no resistance to the diseases the Europeans brought. At that, a white priest (from Spain that had colonized the Americas and the Philippines) shouted me down with, “NO— YOU people gave US the diseases!”

Turn. Love. Repeat.

Previous Post

October 10, 2020

The "Wedding Garment" Is Not About New Clothes to Wear, but New Ways of Being

Next Post

October 16, 2020 God Is Into Your Hair

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which book directly follows Joshua?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Judges Leviticus Numbers Ruth