Anyone who knows me knows that I am a devout Catholic. Today, Good Friday, is one of the holiest days of the year for Catholics when we remember the death and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In Chicago, a large group of people do a walk from the Daley Center to Holy Name Cathedral, acting out the passion of Jesus. In other parts of the world, similar performances take place.

What happens in the Philippines today is outrageous, even to me. In San Pedro Cutud, a farming village, devotees actually get nailed to a cross—hands and feet. Ruben Enaje, a 49-year-old painter was nailed to a cross for what is now the 24^th time. He considers it his way of thanking God for saving him after a fall from a building. Mary Jane Mamangon, a 34-year-old woman, submitted herself to the same treatment for her 14^th time.

In addition to the nailing of actual living people onto crosses, many people whip themselves. They bloody and cut their own backs with pieces of wood dangling from ropes as a way of atonement for their sins.

This is just absurd. I atone for my sins during Lent by going to confession and through fasting and abstinence. Nowhere in my faith does it say that I should beat myself in order to atone. If that was the case, I would be dead by now.

The Church leaders actually reject such practices. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said that that Catholics should repent and self-renew but not flagellate or crucify one’s self.

I doubt if such spectacles actually bring one closer to God or just cause a scene. I would like to think it’s the former, though judging from the mass of crowds such performances draw, I fear it may be the latter.