How Do We Deal With Pundits?

Ever since we began the construction of our parish church, lots of pundits unleashed their opinions and observations on the kind and value of church we are building. "Too grand!" "Very ambitious!" "Very Expensive!" "Too long to build." "Hard to maintain." There was even one who told me that in building this church, we are going to hell! But there are much much many who are very positive about it. "Very beautiful!" "The best should be offered to God!" "It is bound to be a very important landmark in the city." I am proud of this church!" "Finally, we have a church that is conducive for worship and prayer!" "State of the art design!" "It would become a shrine." Truly, the construction of our church had drawn lots of reactions ranging from the most positive to the most negative.

It is obvious that comments of people come from their respective life orientation and experiences. Technically, a certain "paradigm". From this fact alone, we owe it to them to be understood. While it is true that if we listen to each and every comment, we would not be able to create and build our church. There will always be people who will be dissatisfied even as there will be people who will be very satisfied. So, where do we draw the line? To whom will we listen to? What will be our guidelines or criteria?

From the very beginning, it was clear to the Construction Committee and the architect that we will build a church that is; 1. In accordance with the liturgical requirements of the Catholic Church, 2. It will imbibe and express the charism of our patron, St. Alphonsus, 3. It will be durable and could withstand the test of time and natural threats, 4. It will be very functional and worshipper-oriented, 5. Done in the most economical way possible. If we build too simple a church, we might end up renovating it immediately which would make us spend more. The beauty and genius of the old churches that we have today is that they are still functional and good. It was mainly because they were made from the best material and from the best intention. They saw the church as a permanent, long lasting, and functional place. This is our hope and intention in the church that we have now. Specifically, it followed all liturgical requirements. All the time, we conferred with the liturgical minister of the archdiocese before we make decisions as to designs, placements, materials, and forms of the parts of the church and its internal fixtures. Durability and functionality entails more work and material support. It is worth it!

We welcome pundits. The challenge they pose in the decisions we make helps us to be more discerning, careful, and prudent. It will be impossible to accommodate and agree on all of what they would say, but it would be good to have listened and reflected on them before making decisions. Any criticism no matter how simple as long as it contains some truth and good things would certainly make our decisions better and stable. However, our prayer is that, once the criticisms had been listened to and considered and a decision had been made, we will all support it and do everything to work and live with it. Ultimately, it is us who must try to be perfect and worthy of God's love irregardless of the structures we build. We must take advantage of these structures to lead us to the heavenly Kingdom of God.

Pundits are therefore welcome. We are happy that they are concerned. But hopefully, after all is said and done, they will join the community in the more important and urgent task of building the real Church, the People of God!