Gonzales: People must ‘return to God’

By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Diocese of Bacolod Social Action Center (SAC) head, Rev. Fr. Chris Gonzales, yesterday criticized the passage of House Bill 7303, the bill seeking to legalize divorce.

According to Gonzales, it is “sad” a lot of congressmen are ready to push the proposed bill and appealed for people to “return to God.”

“Not only returning to God, but following the will of God,” Gonzales said.

With the observance of Holy Week beginning on Sunday, March 25, Gonzales used an example from the Gospel of Matthew, noting, while at the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed in anguish and said, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

“The question is, is divorce really God’s will?” he asked. “Is it according to the plan of God?”

Gonzales pointed out, God is against divorce and only allowed it on one occasion, during the time of Moses when people were “stubborn.”

“From the creation of this world, divorce was never in the plan of the Lord,” the SAC head explained. “What God has bound together, no human being must separate.”

The priest also noted the number of church-held weddings have steadily been in decline.

When asked about recent comment by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, who said even the state of Israel has adopted its own divorce laws, Gonzales replied. “If your neighbor is a thief, would you also become thief?”

“Because everyone is doing it doesn’t mean we also have to do it,” he added.

Earlier this week, the House of Representatives approved the bill on its final reading with a vote of 134 in favor, 57 against, and two abstentions.

However, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, Jr. said President Rodrigo Duterte is against the proposed law and, according to Senator Vicente Sotto III, passage of the bill in the Senate is “dim.”/DGB, WDJ