The Pope who failed our children. The rush to sainthood and another nail in the coffin of the credibility of the Roman Catholic Church.

Pope Francis inherits John Paul’s notorious failure on sex-abuse front

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Category: World

21 Apr 2014

 

Written by AP

VATICAN CITY—Pope John Paul II is rightly credited with having helped bring down communism, of inspiring a new generation of Catholics with a globe-trotting papacy and of explaining church teaching on a range of hot-button issues as Christianity entered its third millennium. But the sexual-abuse scandal that festered under his watch remains a stain on his legacy.

John Paul and his top advisers failed to grasp the severity of the abuse problem until very late in his 26-year papacy, even though US bishops had been petitioning the Holy See since the late-1980s for a faster way to defrock pedophile priests.

The experience of John Paul in Poland under communist and Nazi rule, where innocent priests were often discredited by trumped-up accusations, is believed to have influenced his general defensiveness of the clergy. The exodus of clergy after the turbulent 1960s similarly made him want to hold onto the priests he still had.

Pope Francis has inherited John Paul’s most notorious failure on the sex-abuse front—the Legion of Christ order that John Paul and his top advisers held up as a model. Francis, who will canonize John Paul on Sunday, must decide whether to sign off on the Vatican’s three-year reform project, imposed after the Legion admitted that its late founder sexually abused his seminarians and fathered three children.

Yet the Legion’s 2009 admission about the Rev. Marcial Maciel’s double life was by no means news to the Vatican.

Documents from the archives of the Vatican’s then-Sacred Congregation for Religious show how a succession of papacies—including that of John XXIII, also to be canonized on Sunday—simply turned a blind eye to credible reports that Maciel was a con artist, drug addict, pedophile and religious fraud.

By 1948, seven years after Maciel founded the order, the Holy See had documents from Vatican-appointed envoys and bishops in Mexico and Spain questioning the legitimacy of Maciel’s ordination (by his uncle, after Maciel was expelled by a series of seminaries), noting the questionable legal foundation of his order and flagging his “totalitarian” behavior and spiritual violations of his young seminarians.

The documents show the Holy See was well aware of Maciel’s drug abuse, sexual abuse and financial improprieties as early as 1956, when it ordered an initial investigation and suspended him for two years to kick a morphine habit.

Yet for decades, thanks to Maciel’s ability to keep his own priests quiet, his foresight to place trusted Legion priests in key Vatican offices and his careful cultivation of Vatican cardinals, Mexican bishops and wealthy, powerful lay Catholics, Rome looked the other way. Vatican officials were impressed instead by the orthodoxy of his priests and Maciel’s ability to attract new vocations and donations.

John Paul, who in 1994 praised Maciel as an “efficacious guide to youth,” wasn’t alone in being duped. His top advisers were some of Maciel’s fiercest supporters, convinced that the accusations against him were the typical “calumnies” hurled at the greatest of saints. They were swayed instead by numerous testimonies from bishops and others of his greatness — documentation which also features in the Vatican archives.

Two years after the Vatican sentenced Maciel to a lifetime of penance and prayer for sexually abusing his seminarians, John Paul’s No. 2, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, in 2008 was still praising the spirit of Maciel and his “humility” in stepping aside after the Vatican finally confronted him with the accusations.

John Paul’s prefect of the Congregation for Religious, Cardinal Franc Rode, told Legion priests that same year he had absolved Maciel and praised the good “fruits” that Maciel’s Legion had given the church.

“The fruit is good. The fruit is extraordinarily good. It is excellent,” Rode said, according to his November 2008 speech made public online by Mexico’s El Zocalo newspaper. “Can we say the tree is bad then? Purely from a logical standpoint, I would say no. I absolve Father Maciel. I do not judge him.”

Maciel’s fraud, one of the greatest scandals of the 20th-century Catholic Church, raises uncomfortable questions for today’s Vatican about how so many people could have been duped for so long. It also brings into question how the church’s own structure, values and priorities enabled a cult-like order to grow from within and how far accountability for all the harm done should go.

Finally, it begs the question of whether the order has really been purged of the abuses that allowed generations of priests to subject themselves to blind obedience to a false prophet.

In his 2013 book I Lived With a Saint, John Paul’s longtime Polish aide, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, said his pope knew “nothing, absolutely nothing” about Maciel’s misdeeds.

“For him, he was still the founder of a great religious order and that’s it. No one had told him anything, not even about the rumors going around,” wrote Dziwisz, the leading force behind John Paul’s remarkably fast canonization.

He blamed the Vatican’s “extremely bureaucratic structure” for preventing such information from reaching John Paul and denied that his pope was slow to react to the abuse scandal.

Juan Vaca begs to differ.

Vaca was the Legion’s superior in the US from 1971-1976 when he left the order and joined the diocese of Rockville Center, New York. In 1979 a year after John Paul was elected, Vaca’s bishop sent the Congregation for Religious a bombshell set of documents in which Vaca and another ex-Legion priest detailed the sexual abuse they and some 19 other priests and seminarians had endured at Maciel’s hands.

He later was one of a half-dozen former Legionaries who brought a canonical case against Maciel at the Vatican in 1998. It took eight years—and the death of John Paul— for Pope Benedict XVI to sanction Maciel.

“I feel once more outraged, furious with feelings of deception and rebellion at the circus process to make ‘saint’ a pope who did nothing to preserve the Catholic Church and society from the horrendous crisis inflicted upon them by the Catholic clergy sexual abuse,” Vaca told the Associated Press in an e-mail.

Vaca questioned why Francis was “following the same dubious decision—initiated by Benedict XVI—to make a saint with such an urgency a personality who was involved either in a voluntary complicity or in responsible ignorance in reference to Maciel.” AP

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In Photo: In this November 30, 2004 file photo, Pope John Paul II gives his blessing to late father Marcial Maciel, founder of Christ’s Legionaries at the Vatican. The sexual-abuse scandal that festered under Pope John Paul II’s watch remains a stain on his legacy. (AP)

Sexual Abuse of Children by Clergy and the Accountability of the Roman Catholic Church

In a hard-hitting report applauded by victims as a landmark in the Roman Catholic Church’s clerical sexual-abuse scandal, a United Nations committee on Wednesday called on the Vatican to remove all child abusers from its ranks, report them to law enforcement and open the church’s archives so that bishops and other officials who concealed crimes could be held accountable.

The report, issued by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, is likely to put pressure on Pope Francis to make concrete changes in the way the church handles abuse cases and put some muscle into the commission on abuse that he announced in December (2013), whose members and mission have not yet been specified.

The Vatican responded on Wednesday that it had already made many of the changes called for in the report, and that the report’s conclusions were out of date.

The report, however, was sharply critical of the church’s current practices, not just those of the past. “The committee is gravely concerned that the Holy See has not acknowledged the extent of the crimes committed, has not taken the necessary measures to address cases of child sexual abuse and to protect children, and has adopted policies and practices which have led to the continuation of the abuse by and the impunity of the perpetrators,” the report concluded.

The criticism came from a panel that examined the Vatican’s compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international agreement signed by 140 sovereign entities, including the Vatican. The panel held a hearing on the issue last month (January 2014), the first time the Vatican faced public examination by an international body of its record on sexual abuse, and heard testimony from Bishop Charles J. Scicluna, the Vatican’s chief prosecutor of sexual abuse cases until 2012, who told the panel that “the Holy See gets it.” (The New York Times, February 5, 2014)

Two months thereafter . . .

Pope Francis has asked for forgiveness for the "evil" damage to children caused by sexual abusers in the clergy. He said the abuse was a "moral damage carried out by men of the Church", and that "sanctions" would be imposed. The statement, made in a meeting with a child rights group, is being described as his strongest [on] the issue so far. (BBC News Europe, April 11, 2014)

But here's the rub . . .

In December 2013, the Vatican refused a request from the UN's Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) for data on abuse, on the grounds that it only released such information if requested to do so by another country as part of legal proceedings.

Also in December 2013, Pope Francis announced that a Vatican committee would be set up to fight sexual abuse of children in the Church.

The Holy See is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, a legally binding instrument which commits it to protecting and nurturing the most vulnerable in society.

It ratified the convention in 1990 but after an implementation report in 1994 it did not submit any progress reports until 2012, following revelations of child sex abuse in Europe and beyond.

Hence . . .

"It seems to date your procedures are not very transparent." Further, "The view of committee is that the best way to prevent abuses is to reveal old ones - openness instead of sweeping offences under the carpet," Kirsten Sandberg, chairwoman of the 18-strong CRC, told the Vatican delegation.

On prosecution of offenders, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi said priests were "not functionaries of the Vatican but citizens of their countries and fall under the jurisdiction of their own countries".

A member of the CRC asked about the Church's practice of moving priests suspected of abuse.

"It is a no-go simply to move people from one diocese to another," said Bishop Charles Scicluna, the Vatican's former chief prosecutor of clerical sexual abuse.

He insisted it was "not the policy of the Holy See to encourage cover-ups" but added: "The Holy See gets it that there are things that need to be done differently." (BBC News Europe, January 16, 2014)

To wit . . .

1. Pope Francis said sanctions would be imposed on sexual abusers in the clergy;
2. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi said priests fall under the jurisdiction of their own countries; and
3. Bishop Charles Scicluna said it is a no-go to simply move people (offenders) from one diocese to another and that things need to be done differently.

Recently known history of sexual abuse of children by the Roman Catholic clergy . . .

The sexual abuse of children was rarely discussed in public before the 1970s, and it was not until the 1980s that the first cases of molestation by priests came to light, in the US and Canada.

In the 1990s, revelations began of widespread abuse in Ireland.

In the new century, more cases of abuse were revealed in more than a dozen countries.


US priest John Geoghan was jailed for his crimes, and later killed in prison by another inmate

Two major reports into Irish allegations of paedophilia in 2009 revealed the shocking extent of abuse, cover-ups and hierarchical failings involving thousands of victims, and stretching back decades.

In one, four Dublin archbishops were found to have in effect turned a blind eye to cases of abuse from 1975 to 2004.

A fresh scandal erupted in March 2010 when it emerged the head of the Irish Catholic Church, Cardinal Sean Brady, was present at meetings in 1975 where children signed vows of silence over complaints against a paedophile priest, Fr Brendan Smyth. This prompted Pope Benedict XVI to apologise to Irish victims.

Father Marcial Maciel enjoyed the support of Pope John Paul II for many yearsIn Mexico, the founder of the Legion of Christ order, Marcial Maciel, long admired by Pope John Paul II, was disciplined by the Vatican in 2006 over the abuse of boys and young men over a period of 30 years. The Legion insisted his was an isolated case, but seven more priests of the order have been investigated.Cardinal Bernard resigned in 2002 over the mishandling of sex abuse cases

In the US, the Boston Archdiocese has been worst hit, with the activities of two of its priests, Paul Shanley and John Geoghan, causing public outrage. Cardinal Bernard Law resigned over the scandal in 2002.

The bishop of the Belgian city of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, resigned in 2010 after admitting that he had sexually abused a boy for years.

What about the Philippines?

For starters, the Roman Catholic hierarchy in the Philippine and the Vatican should quit pussyfooting on the likes of Monsignor Cristobal Garcia and Bishop Cirilo Almario--see excerpts below. The results of the Church's internal investigations should be disclosed to the local authorities and prosecuted to the fullest extent. If the Ombudsman has finally evolved to have sufficient courage and conviction to file a long-overdue plunder case against one of the Philippines' Untouchables, Juan Ponce Enrile, then it's high-time these cowards and perverts in Church (who are enjoying cushy retirements beyond the reach of authorities) are convicted and punished as well.

Excerpts on Bishop Cirilo Almario taken from the book entitled, "Altar of Secrets" by Aries Rufo:

"Based on interviews with three sources, the case involved the carnal corruption of several young seminarians. Almario, who was already in his 60s, and several priests were reportedly involved. It was not clear whether it had been going on for some time before it was discovered. But one seminarian was willing to reveal the homosexual activities that went on within the gated seminary. Another source said there were other seminarians who were also sexually abused.

Legaspi said he submitted his report to Rome and it was the Holy See that decided on Almario's case. Asked if Almario was denied due process and that the sanction was too punitive, Legaspi replied, "I do not think he was denied due process. I can assure you that. He was given the chance to explain his side."

As the standard practice for bishops involved in sexual misdemeanors, Rome asked Almario to resign. On January 20, 1996, Almario tendered his resignation.

With all the sexual scandals besetting the Church, Legaspi said Rome acted decisively on Almario's case. "If it involves minors, Rome is very strict." The seminarians at the Minor Seminary were all in their teens. Also ordered removed were the seminary rector and other priests teaching there. Acting on strict orders, Legaspi only prepared a single report and was instructed, under pain of sin, not to share his findings with other bishops. To do so would be in grave violation of the confidentiality imposed on the case. "If it means destroying the computer or laptop that you used in preparing the report, you have to do it," one Church lawyer explained.

The secrecy and the confidentiality somehow worked. Long-time priests in Malolos we talked to said they were not aware of the scandal. Current Malolos Bishop Jose Oliveros, who was ordained as bishop in 2000, also said he was not aware of the incident. It was as if it never happened.

*     *     *

On November 8, 2012, on my third try, I chanced upon Almario alone, praying the rosary at the chapel inside the convent. Informed by the nurse that he had a visitor, the bishop cut short his prayers and said he had received the two earlier interview requests. "I have nothing more to say. That was a long time ago," he said and dismissed us.

He resumed praying the rosary before the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I interrupted him, saying that I knew what had happened at his beloved seminary. I also told him that we were going to publish the story and that it was important that I get his side. "I'm done as a bishop. I have amnesia," he said in a tone that sought understanding.

When I pressed on, he said: "If you are going to besmirch me, I hope you won't. I am about to die and [am] just waiting for the Lord to take me," he said, avoiding my gaze and looking directly at the statue of Our Lady. "I hope you won't come up with the story." Then, showing me ten beads on his rosary, he said, "I'm offering these ten Hail Marys for you."

*     *     *

What happened to the victim or victims of sexual abuse?

Legaspi could not say for sure what had happened. "My orders were just to prepare and submit the report." But one thing is sure: there was no complaint filed in the courts.

Links to various related articles:

Pope Francis asks forgiveness for child abuse by clergy

The Vatican's child abuse reponse

Pope hits out at criticism of Church over sexual abuse

UN panel confronts Vatican on child sex abuse by clergy

U.N. Panel Questions Vatican on Handling of Clergy Sexual Abuse
U.N. Panel Criticizes the Vatican Over Sexual Abuse

Unbelievable Threshold of Incompetence

I just watched a brief segment of the Quick Response Team of GMA News on TV regarding the partial (incomplete) reconstruction of a bridge somewhere in Calumpit, Bulacan. In short, it appears the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the implementing government agency responsible for ensuring the completion of the bridge in a timely manner, is dilly-dallying on the matter and cannot even provide an estimate on when the bridge will be completed.

The reason: the DPWH discovered sometime in the middle of the construction of the bridge that there were obstructions in the river that prevented certain construction equipment from boring the river bed and establishing the foundation and supporting structures of the bridge. As a result, they are stuck.

But here's the clincher: the DPWH personnel being interviewed insists it is not their fault they did not know beforehand that there were such obstructions in the river. As an engineer myself, methinks (and common sense dictates) determining what is on and under the path of the foundation and supporting structures of the bridge is a standard due diligence review item that should have been established and fully-known way before the construction of the bridge commenced. Hence, the DPWH personnel's refusal to take responsibility for his team's and the agency's gross negligence and incompetence represents how low, thick-skinned and disgusting our government has evolved--and how my hard-earned taxes are being squandered. That DPWH personnel and the whole DPWH team responsible for the said bridge should be fired immediately and made an example to all the wasteful and incompetent employees in government.

Prayers

Serenity Prayer
Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.


Morning Prayer of St Francis
St Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)

Lord, help me to live this day, quietly, easily;
to lean on your great strength, trustfully, restfully;
to wait for the unfolding of your will, patiently, serenely;
to meet others, peacefully, joyfully;
to face tomorrow, confidently, courageously.

The Prayer of Jabez
1 Chronicles 4:10

Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request.

Prayer to the Holy Face of Jesus for a Peaceful Death

By Rev. Fr. Mario Jose C. Ladra

"Straight from the Heart, A Prayer Companion"

St. Paul's Publication, 2007

Dear Jesus,

Thank you for the gift of life and for the blessings to be among those who know you are the Son of God.

Thank you for the gift of sight that allows me to see the wondrous things you made and for my soul to help me see beyond my sight.

Thank you for all things and especially my heart in which you placed magnetic seeds of grace that draw me forever to your love.

I know you hold me in the palm of your hand and shield me with your Holy Face. Yet, as the years go by, Lord, I fear the yoke of sickness and pain, and worry how my life will end.

And so, I humbly come to ask you, Lord, that when my time comes to leave here below,

• Do not call me by a sudden death nor by an accident that tears the body apart
• Not by an illness that leaves the mind confused or the senses impaired
• Not by a malady that wears out the soul or at the mercy of evil forces
• Not with a heart filled with hate or a body racked with pain
• Not abandoned, lonely, without love or care
• Not by my own hands in a moment of despair

Jesus, let death come as a gentle friend, to sit and linger with me until you call my name.

Then let me enter your heavenly home to receive your final gift of grace and look upon the divine countenance of your Holy Face. Amen.


Angele Dei (Angel of God)
Prayer to One's Guardian Angel
Reginald of Canterbury

Angel of God, my Guardian dear,
To whom God's love commits me here;
Ever this day, be at my side
To light and guard
To rule and guide.

4th Annual Kawasaki Road Tour

Our route from the Kawasaki plant in Alabang to The Oriental Hotel in Legaspi City, Albay

It was another successful "roadgasmic" tour (March 7 to 9, 2014) sponsored annually by Kawasaki for the benefit of its Leisure Bike customers (i.e., those who purchased Kawasaki motorcyles with displacements of 250 cc and above). Past destinations included: Lucban, Quezon (2010); Bolinao, Pangasinan (2011): Anilao, Batangas (2012); and Tacloban, Leyte for the 1st National Meet of Kawasaki Leisure Bike Owners, also in 2012. The 2013 annual road tour to Tacloban, Leyte was canceled due to the devastation brought about by Typhoon Yolanda.

This year (2014), we were nearly 120 riders with about 90 riders coming from Luzon and the rest from the Visayas and Mindanao--the highest number of riders (including, for the very first time, three female riders) in a roadgasmic tour to date. Those of us from Metro Manila converged at the Kawasaki plant in Alabang and commenced our trip at the crack of dawn (Friday, March 7). Most of us arrived at our hotel in Legaspi City by nightfall with travel times ranging from 12 to 15 hours, covering a distance of almost 500 kilometers. I rode with fellow Vulcan owners with Manoy leading the pack at a leisurely pace. We were one of the last to arrive but that's OK. We were probably one of the least stressed as well. I had my fill of riding for the day along with a pair of real sore buttocks.

The following morning (Saturday, March 8), we cruised around Mayon Volcano, stopping at the planetarium (see the "A" marker below) about one-third up the peak of Mayon. I have a sneaking suspicion this would be a great site for paragliding and hang gliding with a little incremental investment on a take-off platform by the government and the cooperation of some landowners for several landing sites.

The road around Mayon Volcano

Most of us spent the afternoon resting, still exhausted from the ride of the previous day. A few (like myself) took a dip in the swimming pool on the second floor while enjoying the breathtaking view of Mayon. This was followed by a hearty dinner and an evening of entertainment, graced by the Governor of Albay, Joey Salceda.

Our view from the swimming pool of The Oriental Hotel, Legaspi City

The last day (Sunday, March 9) was the return trip. Given our leisurely pace, our group decided to leave at the crack of dawn, ahead of most of the riders. We wanted to be in the vicinity of Metro Manila before dark. We were at the Calamba exit of SLEX before 5 p.m. I decided to have dinner and to take a dip in one of the hot springs resorts of Pansol--a reinvigorating break that enabled me to enjoy the last leg of my ride home.

Many thanks again to the brilliant marketing team of Kawasaki Leisure Bikes, headed by Inoue San, Teench and Arnel. Their vision of the Philippine Islands as a world-class touring venue for Kawasaki Leisure Bikes will provide much adventure and enjoyment to many boys and girls in the country today and in the years to come!

The True Tales of Pedring Rabino, Part 1

When I was a young boy and I shared the room with my baby sister, Monique, I recall that one of our maids (Leone, who hailed from Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro) was assigned to sleep with us at night. At times, Monique and I had too much energy to fall asleep and we would press Leone to recount the local horror stories of her childhood. Anything that had to do with aswang, manananggal, kapre, tiyanak, duwende etc. would be just fine and, for a brief period in our youth, these would be our bedtime stories.

During my recent visit to Mansalay early this month (February 2014), I came across an entertaining story by the late Fortunato Tolentino, recounted by his own son, who happens to be our farm manager, Ka Porek. Although it is not a horror story, it is in the same tradition as the local folklore of Leone that we enjoyed as kids. This is the first of the many "True Tales of Pedring Rabino". Although Pedring has passed-away, he is quite a legend in Mansalay in light of his anting-anting or agimat, which gave him special powers. I intend to seek and memorialize Pedring's exploits during my visits to Mansalay in the years to come.

The Stranded Six-Wheeler

There was a carpenter by the name of Fortunato Tolentino. He was born and raised in San Isidro, Batangas, where he learned his craft from his father. After the war, when Fortunato was a young man, he decided to explore the opportunities in the neighboring Island of Mindoro. Fortunato initially settled with his wife in, then, the remote town of Naujan and later moved to Roxas, Oriental Mindoro. At that time, Mindoro was filled with virgin forests with settlers few and far between. It was a haven for loggers, who exploited the timber resources with abandon.

Fortunato would usually have to work far from home to support his family. In these instances, he would return home from work once a week at most, usually hitching a ride on one of the six-wheelers hauling timber through the dirt roads of the province.

In one of these trips home from work, the six-wheeler, which was fully loaded with several massive logs, stalled just as it was approaching the peak of a steep hill. According to the driver, if only the truck stopped at the top of the hill, which had level ground, he would probably be able to repair the engine and complete his trip for the day . . . and get Fortunato home to his family.

Just as the driver and Fortunato were lamenting their situation, Pedring Rabino, an acquaintance of Fortunato, approaches them on foot from behind the truck. Pedring soon finds out their predicament and offers to help, much to their disbelief. Nevertheless, Pedring proceeded to take a spool of thread from his pocket, tied one end of the string to the front bumper of the truck and walked towards the top of the hill--while unfurling the thread from the spool.

Upon reaching the top of the hill, Pedring calls out to the driver to steer the truck as he rolls the string onto its spool. And as sure as the light of day, the truck and its trailer with massive logs slowly roll-up to the level ground at the peak of the hill.

Just barely over the shock of what Pedring had done, the driver repaired the engine in relatively short order while Fortunato invited Pedring to come along for the ride to save him the trouble of walking to his destination. Besides, Fortunato had several bottles of coconut wine waiting for him at the stall of Aling Inta at the end of the trip, which he was keen on sharing with Pedring, who had not only accomplished an astonishing feat but also would have brought Fortunato home to his family sooner than later. However, Pedring politely declined as he had another matter to attend to.

And so, the driver started the engine and the six-wheeler continued its journey towards Fortunato's home. After several more hours on the bumpy and dusty provincial road, they finally arrive at the stall of Aling Inta just as the sun was about to set. Much to the surprise of Fortunato, there was Pedring comfortably seated and getting started on his third bottle of coconut wine.

Paragliding in Tandem at Carmona

Just a couple of weeks ago . . . The film clip rolls a few minutes after take-off (when we had gained altitude) up to the point when I assumed the standing position about a minute before landing.

I learned to paraglide with a paramotor (that's an engine with a propeller strapped at my back coupled with a paraglider) about 15 years ago near Torrey Pines, San Diego. I was visiting my eldest sister at Stanford (or maybe attending her MBA graduation) with Mom and my other sisters at that time and I took-off for a few days with the objective of learning the basics and getting airborne on a paramotor. My instructor obliged and my objectives were met within my limited 3-day schedule.

I imported my paramotor and paraglider from Dudek Paragliders, Poland and managed to take this for a spin a few times. However, I was unable to sit properly on the harness each time I was airborne, which resulted in an uncomfortable ride. I concluded that the harness was too small for me (or I was just getting too fat for the harness) or I needed some more training, which was not yet readily available in the Philippines. Further, as my health and athleticism deteriorated in the course of my work, I realized that I could not grow old with this sport. So, I sold the paramotor and kept the wing with the intent of picking-up the sport after I retired from employment--that is, only paragliding without the paramotor.

I have been kiting diligently over the past several weeks under the instructions of Buko, when his schedule permits. I am looking forward to my first solo paragliding flight soon!