Priest wants people to find hope within the Church, not cults

A priest has blamed poverty for a growth in sects and cults that use the Christian faith and symbols.

Father Tomas Avila Jr.

Father Tomas Avila, Jr., diocesan chancellor of Tagum diocese in southern Philippines, says it is a “big challenge” for the Church to keep Catholic Filipinos conforming to Church teaching especially during times of economic poverty.

“Charismatic cult leaders and depressed living conditions” are among the factors attracting people to these cults, the priest said.

His comments came after 10 members of a Christian cult, the Universal Sovereign Church of Blessed Name Jesus Joseph (USCBNJJ), were killed in a traffic accident in his diocese earlier this month. They were buried on Oct. 13.

Father Avila said there is mounting concern within the Church over the various cults´ references to Christian teaching and their subjective interpretation of the Bible that contradict Catholic Church teaching.

He acknowledged that people who decide to join cults may have “pressing needs during crucial times of their lives and that the (Catholic) Church has somehow failed them.”

He said preventing the faithful from “going astray” is part of the impetus for the Philippine Church´s renewed emphasis on “new evangelization and fervent prayer.”

The Bereans: Apologetics Research Ministry, a Philippines based anti-cult organization, lists 10 domestic Christian cults in the Philippines, but other sources say there are many more.

The USCBNJJ, which the anti-cult organization did not list, calls itself “the one true Church” and was founded in 1975, according to Dolores Francisca Lealde, a founding member.

Based in Davao City, it claims 10,000 members around the country, mostly in poor communities in central and northern Mindanao, the southern Philippines.

The organization´s spiritual adviser, known as Sister Perla Tolosa, is said to be a medium through whom Mary, “the God-Mother” reveals God´s messages to the world.

A lay ministry official of the group, known as Sister Milagros Mausisa, said 12 members from Esperanza town, Agusan del Sur province, north of Davao, were on their way to a Marian pilgrimage when their jeep collided with an oncoming vegetable truck along a highway in Nabunturan, Compostela Valley province.

Two of the 10 people in the jeep killed were USCBNJJ “bishops.” The truck driver was also killed, police reported.

“We were deeply saddened by it,” Lealde told UCA News, adding that the members died as part of “God´s will.”