When Secretary Angelo Reyes took his life away

If it were not for what happened to former Defense/DILG/DOE Secretary Angelo Reyes, I would not remember that the Catholic Church condemns acts of suicide to the point that it refuses to give final blessings to the deceased. Which is why its recent move to actually allow a Catholic burial for the controversial AFP chief spurred both positive and negative reactions among the opinionated masses it stirred.

The Philippine Star writes: "Tagbilaran Bishop Leonardo Medroso, CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Canon chairman, said that despite Reyes taking his own life, which is a a mortal sin, the ex-military official was not in the right frame of mind during that time."

I agree. But not entirely.

The decision of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), and of the entire Catholic Church itself, is a welcome change. It just shows how the Modern Church is slowly making progress towards the adoption of a universal acceptance of what is right and what is wrong. It is clearly doing away from ancient and narcissistic beliefs that it's the be-all and end-all of goodness and evil.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a Catholic and I fear God. It's just my God-given skill of questioning, comparing and analyzing history does not lay in some state of passive obedience and nonchalance. And history, even science  -  the Church's "frenemy", has always showed us our tendency to misinterpret ideas (remember when Galileo was excommunicated for stating that the earth moves around the sun, thus falsifying then long-standing Church beliefs?).

A couple of days after the news of Reyes's suicide broke, I found myself in a state of dismay over having read and recognized that there would have been an opportunity to save the man's life if only his family members had known that he's suffering from depression. The article I read states that General Reyes, a few days before he shot himself, had requested that his family stay close to him and keep him company as he might inflict harm on himself if he were left alone.

Realization that such statement screams of depression symptoms (my dad is currently being treated for major depression), I immediately sought confirmation from my father's psychiatrist, Dr. Reynaldo Lesaca Jr. of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI).  -  I was reading the newspaper article while waiting for Dr. Lesaca**

My hunch was affirmed. But this new found ability to become a mini-expert on my dad's illnesses (don't even get me started on this... I took Speech Communications in college!) does not take away the fact that I am still disappointed over what happened to Reyes.

Why am I disappointed? Well for starters, and I'm sure I will not take flak for saying and believing this, his act of taking his life away neither solves the problems of the Armed Forces of the Philippines nor saves his family from further humiliation. Needless to say, he could have done better. There could have been other ways.

It has also become a well-established fact, through the centuries, that devout Catholics will always have their say. It thus, came as no great surprise, when a well-respected mentor pointed out that "Psychology 101 does not trump the Fifth Commandment" the moment I informed her and her friends/colleagues about the CBCP's stand and of Dr. Lesaca's opinion on what happened to Reyes.

Because, as one can see from my previous blogs, I'm not the type who'd just shut up after supposedly being the object of a "shame on you" comment from someone on my mentor's Facebook and being attacked by others because of my otherwise factual posts, I googled my way into determining what could have been CBCP's basis. And I was not failed or disappointed. A 1917 Canonical Law revised in 1983 states:

"Christian burial is to be refused to suicides (this prohibition is as old as the fourth century; 573) except in cases that the act was committed when they were of unsound mind or unless they showed signs of repentance before death occurred."

One of the comments posted on my mentor's Facebook wall talks about how lucid Reyes sounded when he requested to not be left alone therefore he still did not merit a Catholic burial. My response that depression patients have actual moments of lucidity, unfortunately, did not draw favorable reactions. And understandably so.

My understanding though of critics of Reyes's death and the Church's decision to give him a Catholic burial though does not come without reservations on my part if we were also to remove the critically ill mental patients from the equation.

When Secretary Angelo Reyes took his life away, if he were, truly, of an unsound mind, we could argue that he did not commit a mortal sin; that he was not free from that capability to come to a sound judgement of his own.

When Secretary Angelo Reyes took his life away, we could flip the coin and realize that his actions that led to his heartbreaking decision would always haunt us whose frames of mind sometimes allow the negative, all the evil in this world, to win.

Ultimately, we are truly not the ones to dictate if he had the right to a Catholic burial as in the end, it would not matter if he had one or if he were refused one. The Judge up there would always have the final say. As what Episcopal priest Robert Watson said of people who committed or attempted to commit suicide "We need to let them know that they will not be cut off from the love of God."

In the meantime, rest in peace, sir. You will be missed.