I personally feel there is an overdose on the emphasis of BEC

**Warning : This is my very frank, personal thoughts. Things will get nasty so if you are easily offended, you are not to read this.**

When I was baptised on Easter Vigil, I didn’t get home till about 1 am. The next morning around 9 am, I got a phone call asking me to join the BEC (of the church in my ‘territory’). That phone call cheesed me off enough for me to make a complaint to the priest that I am being harassed to get my husband baptised and to attend BEC meetings.

I was very disappointed because the person who phoned me refused to hear my reasoning that I was unable to join BEC meetings as I was breastfeeding a 49 days old baby and it won’t be convenient. You know what she told me? She told me that I didn’t go to the church in my BEC but instead went to a Cathedral. (the Cathedral is nearer to my home than the church, btw) The reason was because I used to live in Sungai Ara which was under the cathedral. And the mother of all insult came when she told me that if I need funeral rites or sacrament of the sick, the priest will not come to my house or allow funeral mass in the cathedral. That was my first experience of this hospitality call BEC.

Then, someone from my RCIA asked me if I wish to join their BEC fellowship. So, I said, “Yeah, ok.” But guess what the BEC leader of that area said? She said I cannot come because I don’t belong to their BEC. Damn, I felt like a fool for saying yes and be turned down due to such a silly reason.

I was utterly pissed with this territorial thing call BEC and shun it. Recently, during the handball competition, so many asked me which BEC zone I belong to. I told them I belong to the twilight zone. One of them went on and on about how nice I am to serve the church eventhough I DON’T belong to any BEC. I gave them a smile but in my heart, I was telling her to F off. Who are you to praise me for what I am doing? I only do it for God’s kingdom, not the church nor the BEC. It is scary how these people start to see a person for the BEC they belong.

My personal opinion is BEC is created when people lived in villages and they travelled by foot or on donkeys. Back then, there were no Facebook or phone. So, it is important to shepherd the folks into little villages. Now, we are global.

I personally feel that each human, regardless of our faiths and races, should have that semangat kejiranan (neighbourliness). I would fly to my neighbour regardless. That’s the spirit each of us have. Not to stop and check if the person is in my BEC.

Of course, many of the folks serving in the BEC are exemplary folks with the most generous heart. They dedicated their time to help those in need in their areas. They cook for them, bring them to the hospital, visit their sick and etc. Yes, these are the real spirit of BEC. But when things are drawn and segregated into that imaginary borderline of this area, that area, this zone, that zone, I personally feel it is rather suffocating.

It puzzled me how some are still confined to this territorial thing when we should open up and be all embracing. Is it too hard to drive an extra three miles to help someone? Must we confine ourselves to this silly territorial competitive thing call BEC?

Does the church even notice that by having BEC, they have inadvertently zone parishioners into their financial background? It is a fact that some areas are richer than others. So, the rich BEC normally outshine others in their pomp and pageantry at masses. Thank God we don’t have many masses where the BEC ‘compete’ to out do each other. Yes, I have seen it before and I felt like I was watching a kids’ presentation for nine days.

Then, the other serious thing that BEC has to watch out for is of course how the people appointed to lead the BEC act. Are they harassing people rather than welcoming them?

So, yeah, I am glad I finally got the guts to say it out that BEC is boring. Can’t take this? So sue me. Bwahahaha.