This holiday season, there’s been a lot of news about “hoverboards”—from store sales to emergency room visits. Now there’s a story from the Philippines about a man many are calling the “hoverboard priest.” HPR’s Bill Dorman explains in today’s Asia Minute.
The story begins during a Christmas Eve mass in a church in Laguna—southeast of Manila. A statement from the Diocese of San Pablo in the Philippines picks up the thread. Quote: “as a way of greeting his parishioners, the priest sang a Christmas song, while going around the nave standing on a hoverboard.”
If you’re not familiar with church geography, the nave is the main central aisle. It’s probably not a shock that someone whipped out a smart phone and recorded all of this - and then the video went viral.
The Diocese was not amused—saying “that was wrong.” Father Albert San Jose has apologized for scooting around the church on wheels, although he’s gotten a lot of support online and on social media. But just because something goes viral doesn’t necessarily mean it’s opposed by the Catholic Church in the Philippines.
You may remember some years ago when a group of prisoners on the island of Cebu put together an elaborate dance routine to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Now, inmates from that same institution are working on a religious number, called “Christ in Us, Our Hope of Glory.”
The news website Rappler.com reports they’re preparing a dance video that will air next month—with the church’s blessing-- during the 51st International Eucharistic Congress in Cebu.
