Prophetic, hurtful, all-embracing and a man of contradictions.This was how a protégé of the late Manila archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin described the influential prelate during his stint as the prince of the Church in Manila.
"I can't understand him. He was prophetic. He was hurtful but also an all embracing pastor," Balanga bishop Socrates Villages, a long-time protégé of Sin, said in his homily at a Mass held at the Manila Cathedral to mark Sin's 3rd death anniversary.
Excerpts of the homily were posted on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Web site (www.cbcpnews.com) shortly before midnight Saturday.
Villegas, a trusted aide of Sin, said the late Manila archbishop made many actions contrary to what many people are usually expected to do.
"We remember Cardinal Sin as a man of contradictions. He was a man of paradoxes," he said.
Such paradoxes, he said, may take in situations like when the dishonest are getting popular and the honest are being threatened.
"Why are the economists say we are making progress and yet many are hungry? Why is it that the good suffer and those evil seemed to be blessed and seemed to be enjoying life?" he asked.
Villegas also said the paradox created by God are salvation but the paradox created by human sin needs salvation.
He said Sin braved the mighty and the powerful in an attempt to defeat those usual paradoxes, all for the benefit of the poor and the country.
"May the paradox created by Cardinal Sin be faced not just with faith but with courage. May the memory of Cardinal Sin give us courage to correct the wrong paradoxes around us," he said.
Concelebrants of the Mass included Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles, Bishops Francisco San Diego of Pasig, Leopoldo Jaucian of Abra and priests of the Manila archdiocese.
Former President Corazon Aquino was also present during the liturgical celebration attended by hundreds of Catholic faithful.
Sin played an important part in ousting Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and Joseph Estrada in 2001. He retired in 2003 after nearly 30 years heading the Roman Catholic Church of Manila.
He also crossed swords with Fidel Ramos over the issue of population management, where Sin vehemently opposed the government's policy to allow artificial means of birth control.
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