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SANTIAGO -- ON SEPTEMBER 18, Chile celebrated its independence day*, and according to the civic tradition, the president presided over an ecumenical "Te Deum" service at the Metropolitan Cathedral, where the nation's highest authorities attend services. 

This year's "thanksgiving for the homeland" service was marked by the absence of the leaders of the four opposition blocks of the Coalition of Parties for Democracy, the alliance that ruled Chile for 20 years following the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship. 

This snub is not a small matter.  In a country whose official religion was Catholicism until 1925, anything with roots in the Catholic Church also reaches into politics.  An offense against "the Church" is an offense against the country itself. 

A week on, heads of the political opposition leaders still have not explained their absence, although the thinking is it was a form of protest against the mounting social problems the administration of rightist president Sebastián Piñera is facing.  There is a palpable nervous energy in the streets, especially surrounding the massive mobilization for education reform that has paralyzed many of the country's universities and high schools.  These old-style opposition strongmen leveraged on the murmuring that abstaining from the Te Deum would inevitably produce to show just how far they were from the government's position. 

Obviously, the absence of the key leaders was well covered by the press.  Columnists gave their heady analysis of the implications of the vague affront.  Government spokesman Andrés Chadwick (the president's cousin) said that "if (the opposition leaders) were engaged in other activities, that's fine, but party presidents ought to be present in a celebration whose aim is unity, and especially when it is put together by all religions to give thanks to God for this country of ours." 

In its constitution, Chile defines itself as having no official religion, but religion remains part of the culture.  Every public act is accompanied by a "blessing", usually performed by a Catholic priest.  And the state finances many projects with ties to the Catholic Church.  Chile protects freedom of worship, but, in the end, Catholicism retains an powerful social status and a special cultural resonance that grants it benefits that other religions do not enjoy.

In the Te Deum, the archbishop of Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, made a powerful call to unity for the country.  He spoke of the education crisis and of social conflicts.  At the conclusion of the mass, every public figure's statement, from the president on down, underscored the importance of those words. 

Except, of course, for the leaders of the opposition, who were nowhere to be found. 

*In fact, Chile's declaration of independence occurred on 12 February, 1818, but independence is now celebrated on the date of the creation of the first Government Board in 1810.