Professional Documents
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CBCP Monitor Vol. 17 No. 1
CBCP Monitor Vol. 17 No. 1
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Vol. 17 No. 01
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OPENING the New Year on a theme of peace, Pope Benedict XVI called on the faithful to defend life in all its aspects, calling those who do so as true peacemakers.
Peace can only be attained by respecting human life in all its many aspects, beginning with its conception, through its development and up to its natural end, the pope said in a New Year message titled Blessed are the Peacemakers. Read January 1 during the celebration of the 46th World Day of Peace, the popes message dwelt on wide-ranging topics essential in the achievement of true and lasting peace in the world. In a section that considers the value of human life, he said peacemakers are those who love, defend and promote life in its fullness. Life in its fullness is the height of peace, he said. Anyone who loves peace cannot tolerate attacks and crimes against life. He said it is a pursuit of false peace when life is devalued, such as in support for the liberalization of abortion. The flight from responsibility, which
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Around 9 million Catholics join this years procession to honor the 406 year-old image of the Black Nazarene in Manila on Jan. 9, 2013. Devotees endure being stepped and hurt by fellow devotees during the countrys largest procession from Quirino Grandstand to the Quiapo Church just to touch the revered image, the carriage or the rope in hope for some kind of luck or miracle. Citing superstition in the devotion, Quiapo Church parish priest Msgr. Jose Clemente Ignacio said the parish is doing everything to address these concerns: There are things that still need to be purified in our expressions. Human as they are, our expressions need to achieve their perfection.
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Displaced residents take shelter in an evacuation center in Davao Oriental provincial covered court as Typhoon Pablo triggered floods and landslides in large parts of Visayas and Mindanao, Dec. 7, 2012.
RESIDENTS of Compostela Valley and other areas affected by the recent super storm Pablo were given a new way to start afresh for 2013 with a series of trainings on emotional first aid, especially for those severely traumatized by the disaster. Christmas, saddest time Dr. Leo Deux Fils Dela Cruz, a
clinical psychologist who headed the activities, explained the timing of the trainings, Christmas day usually becomes the saddest time of the year among survivors of disasters and calamities. From December 24, 2012 to January 1, 2013, some 601 locals from Moncayo, Compostela Valley, Baganga, Baculin,
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Diocesan youth leaders from the National Capital Region (NCR) pledge to take an active role in the upcoming May elections through intensified voters education and poll watching.
Association (MAPSA) and the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) for the schools and NCR youth region for parishes and dioceses. (Jandel Posion/CBCPNews)
Former PNoy supporter vows to vote for pro-life candidates come election
A BUSINESSWOMAN expressed her regret over voting for Benigno Aquino III in the 2010 elections and for trusting he would make morally upright decisions, thereby sealing her convictions to support only pro-life candidates this time around. I look for someone nowadays who has fear and love of God. We need them more than ever because their conscience can be guided. I voted for Noynoy and I am regretting it, said entrepreneur Anna Villahermosa. I thought that his non-prolife stance could be overcome. But its clear now he does not have the same moral compass as his mother. People should say thishe is not the same as Cory Aquino. The way the legislation of reproductive health was pursued, including the apparent meddling of Malacaang on the weeks leading up to the bills passage, made the so-called Daang matuwid Pnoys campaign messagea glaring inconsistency in his administration. When the bill was passed on second reading and eventually signed into law, Villahermosa was one of many who lamented the outcome.
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why it is imperative that children be constantly taught about the importance of being faithful in marriage, she explained. One thing that sets todays society apart from that of decades ago is the astounding number of people filing for annulments, and Luistro attributed this partly to the fact that there is now a greater awareness of the
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World News
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 17 No. 01
January 7 - 20, 2013
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Bishop Fellay: Jews, Masons, and Modernists are 'enemies of the Church'
NEW HAMBURG, Canada, Jan. 4, 2013Bishop Bernard Fellay, the head of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, mentioned Jews as enemies of the Church in a recent address reviewing the situation of the group as it considered full communion with Rome this past year. Who, during that time, was the most opposed that the Church would recognize the Society? The enemies of the Church. The Jews, the Masons, the Modernists, Bishop Fellay, superior general of the society, said during a talk Dec. 28 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Chapel in New Hamburg, Ontario. The comment was made in passing during the wide-ranging address, which lasted one hour and 40 minutes. The Society of St. Pius X was founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970 as a response to what he described as errors that had crept into the Church following the Second Vatican Council. Its relations with the Vatican became strained in 1988 when Archbishop Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without the permission of Pope John Paul II. Since Benedict XVI became the Pope, talks to reconcile the society with the The bishop said that 2012 saw trials extended to almost the whole Society, an experience he worried could mean some people have then lost the trust in the authority. Bishop Fellay said that the society has received mixed signals from Rome, and that talks eventually broke down with accusations of the Pius X Society being Protestants, and of Roman Catholics being Modernists. The groups position, according to Bishop Fellay, is that the portions of the Second Vatican Council opposed to what the Church has always taught must be rejected. He said that Pope Benedicts hermeneutic of continuity is untenable because the council documents are in places contrary or opposed to Tradition. But Bishop Fellay said that he remains hopeful for the situation in the longterm, even if reconciliation will not be possible in the near future. The situation is not desperate, no. Its not worse than before ... theres some hope. I dont think for right for now, but for us, we just continue. We must continue to pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary, pray the Rosary, Bishop Fellay concluded. (CNA)
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Church have intensified, with a particular increase in 2012. However, the discussions seem to have broken down over the summer. Speaking about this impasse, Bishop Fellay said that groups outside the Church, who were clearly during centuries, were enemies of the Church, expressed opposition to the reconciliation of the traditionalist society with the Catholic Church. His reference to groups seems to have been a reference his earlier mention of the Jews, the Masons, the Modernists.
Vatican Briefing
Pope names special envoy for jubilee year celeb in Lyon
The parish sacristan told reporters it was not the first time the church has been attacked. In previous years the churchs door was damaged, stained glass windows were broken and numerous books were burned. Parents and children of the parish set up a new Nativity scene to replace the one that was destroyed. (CNA)
Pope Benedict XVI has named Msgr. David P. Talley, 62, a priest of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, as auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese. The appointment was publicized in Washington, January 3, by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigan, apostolic nuncio to the United States. Bishop-elect Talley has been pastor of St. Brigid Church, in Johns Creek, Georgia, since 2011. The pope also appointed Msgr. Stephen Jensen, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Vancouver, as bishop of Prince George, Canada. The bishop-elect was born in North Vancouver, Canada in 1954 and ordained a priest in 1980. He was named prelate of honor in 1996 and since 2009 has been vicar general, dean of the Presbyteral Council and diocesan consultor for the archdiocese. (Zenit)
Pope appoints Boston priest as Vaticans abuse investigator
Pope Benedict XVI has named Boston priest Father Robert W. Oliver as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faiths promoter of justice, the chief prosecutor at the office responsible for promoting and safeguarding Catholic doctrine and morals. Fr. Oliver has served the Archdiocese of Boston as Assistant to the Moderator of the Curia for Canonical Affairs. He is a visiting professor of canon law at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. In his new position he will investigate serious violations of Church law, including desecration of the Blessed Sacrament, violations of the seal of confession and the sexual abuse of minors by clergy. (CNA/ EWTN News)
Humanae Vitae author moves toward sainthood
Pope Benedict XVI authorized an investigation on Dec. 20 which could result in proclaiming the late pontiff, Paul VI, a saint. The Pope formally allowed the move as the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints wrote a decree stating that Paul VI had heroic virtue, the first step necessary in the canonization process. The pontiff met with congregation head cardinal Angelo Amato on Dec. 20 to let him begin the review of the Humanae Vitae author. Paul VI also concluded the Second Vatican Council in 1965, the largest revision of the Churchs Liturgy and the first major revision since the Council of Trent, held 400 years earlier. (CNA/EWTN News)
as discriminatory and the equivalent of bigots. When the ways of nature and natures God conflict with civil law, society is in danger. It is to that danger that we direct your attention, they stated. Illinois recognition of non-marital unions has already had consequences for Catholics and others in the state. In 2010 the Illinois legislature passed a law recognizing same-sex and opposite-sex civil unions, which was sponsored by Rep. Harris. Although the legislation claimed to protect religious freedom, state officials used the law to end foster care and adoption placement service contracts with Catholic Charities throughout the state because the agencies would not place children with unmarried or homosexual couples. The Catholic agencies had helped serve children for decades. The state contracts totaled over $30 million annually and helped care for about 2,000 foster children. State officials said the agencies policy of placing children only with married couples was discriminatory. The Chicago bishops letter encouraged Illinois residents to visit the Illinois Catholic Conference website at www. ilcatholic.org to learn more about the effort to redefine marriage. (CNA)
In a statement released Jan. 3, by the Holy See Press Office, Pope Benedict XVI nominated Cardinal Paul Poupard, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Culture, as his special envoy at the concluding celebrations of the Jubilee Year dedicated to the Venerable Servant of God Pauline Jaricot. The celebrations will coincide with the 150th anniversary of her death and the 50th anniversary of the decree of her heroic virtues. The event will be held in Lyon on January 9, 2013. Cardinal Poupard will be accompanied by Msgr. Francois Duthel, postulator of the cause of beatification of Venerable Jaricot and Fr. Daniel Carnot, ex-superior general of the Society of African Missions. (Zenit)
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 17 No. 01
January 7 - 20, 2013
News Features
He said the desire for peace corresponds to a fundamental moral principle, namely, the duty and right to an integral social and communitarian development, which is part of Gods plan for mankind. Man is made for the peace which is Gods gift, the pope said. Although the attainment of peace depends above all on recognizing that we are, in God, one human family. Peace is not a dream or something utopian; it is possible. Our gaze needs to go deeper, beneath superficial appearances and phenomena, to discern a positive reality which exists in human hearts, since every man and woman has been created in the image of God and is called to grow and contribute to the building of a new world, he said. The pope furthers, the peacemaker, according to Jesus beatitude, is the one who seeks the good of the other, the fullness of good in body and soul, today and tomorrow. Defend life in its fullness Peacemakers are also defender of life in all its stages, as anyone who loves peace cannot allow crimes be committed against life, said the pontiff. He said no one can propose peace or bring about the integral development of people and environment without defending the life of those who are weakest, beginning with the unborn. Every offence against life, especially at its beginning, inevitably causes irreparable damage to development, peace and the environment, he said. The Holy Father also pointed out that recognizing the right of people to invoke the principle of conscientious objection in the face of laws or government measures that offend against human dignity, such as abortion and euthanasia, is another way of attaining peace. New model The pope also called for a new model of development in economy where people are given more importance over profit. The predominant model of recent decades called for seeking maximum profit and consumption, on the basis of an individualistic and selfish mindset, aimed at considering individuals solely in terms of their ability to meet the demands of competitiveness, he said. But the pope stated that true and lasting success is attained through the gift of ourselves, our intellectual abilities and our entrepreneurial skills, since a liveable or truly human economic development requires the principle of gratuitousness as an expression of fraternity and the logic of gift. Concretely, in economic activity, peacemakers are those who establish bonds of fairness and reciprocity with their colleagues, workers, clients and consumers. They engage in economic activity for the sake of the common good and they experience this commitment as something transcending their self-interest, for the benefit of present and future generations. Thus they work not only for themselves, but also to ensure for others a future and a dignified employment, he furthered. Citing the problem of food scarcity, Pope Benedict said it is also one concern that peacemakers must focus on. He said the issue of food security, which is again part of the international political agenda, has come about because of interrelated problems, including sudden shifts in the price of basic foodstuffs, irresponsible behaviour by some economic actors and insufficient control on the part of governments and the international community. To face this crisis, peacemakers are called to work together in a spirit of solidarity, from the local to the international level, with the aim of enabling farmers, especially in small rural holdings, to carry out their activity in a dignified and sustainable way from the social, environmental and economic points of view, he said. Promoting family, social justice and education Peacemakers are also called to promote the good of the family, to work for social justice and commit themselves to effective social education, said the pope. The Holy Father stressed the decisive role of the family in all aspects of societal life. He cited its natural vocation to promote life: it accompanies individuals as they mature and it encourages mutual growth and enrichment through caring and sharing. The pope said parents possess the right and the primary role of
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educating their children in the area of morality and religion, and such must be protected. It is in the family that peacemakers, tomorrows promoters of a culture of life and love, are born and nurtured, he said. The pontiff also cited the role of the religious communities in the mission of education for peace. He also mentioned cultural institutions, schools and universities as being called to contribute in the formation of new generation of leaders and the renewal of public institutions, both national and international. The pope likewise stated the need to promote a pedagogy for peace. Acts of peacemaking converge for the achievement of
the common good; they create interest in peace and cultivate peace. Thoughts, words and gestures of peace create a mentality and a culture of peace, and a respectful, honest and cordial atmosphere, he said. The pontiff said there is a need, then, to teach people to love one another, to cultivate peace and to live with good will rather than mere tolerance. A fundamental encouragement to this is to say no to revenge, to recognize injustices, to accept apologies without looking for them, and finally, to forgive, in such a way that mistakes and offences can be acknowledged in truth, so as to move forward together towards reconciliation, he said. (CBCPNews)
Silence and song: Youths make ecumenical New Year's pilgrimage to Rome
VATICAN City, Jan. 2, 2013Even with 45,000 peoplemostly young adults gathered in St. Peters Square, one could hear the sound of splashing water from the squares two decorative fountains. The hush was part of the ebb and flow of silence and song that marked the Taize ecumenical communitys pilgrimage to Rome Dec. 28-Jan. 2, bringing young adults together for quiet prayer, the singing of Taize chants and reflections on Scripture. The format used for evening prayer service hosted by Pope Benedict XVI Dec. 29 in St. Peters Square was repeated twice each day in seven Rome basilicas, where the young adults sat on thin mats or on their coats on the cold marble floor for midday and evening prayer. Along with silence, song occupies an important place in your communal prayers, the music-loving Pope Benedict told the young people. Song is a support for and an unequaled expression of prayer. The prayer services were not exuberant, chatty gatherings. For example, although more than 4,000 young people scrunched together on the floor of the Basilica of St. Mary Major Jan. 1, the chants, low lighting and hundreds of flickering candles left a stillness in the church that continued more than two hours after the formal service ended. Jennifer Pang, a 30-year-old Catholic pilgrim from Toronto, told Catholic News Service, The music plays a role. Its a good way to get you into a prayer mode. The candles, the icons, the music the whole environment makes it easier. On their knees, the young people gathered around a large cross, advancing slowly to take the place of their peers who adored the cross by placing their forehead on it. Although as 10 p.m. came and went, ushers at St. Mary Major would not let anyone else into the basilica, no one hurried those still praying inside. White-robed brothers Thousands of young people from all over Europe and beyond of the Taize commu- gather at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome for the Taize nity stayed kneeling pilgrimage, December 28- January 2, 2013. at the foot of the cross while a choir and mini-orchestra continued the accompanying Orthodox and Protplaying the Taize hymns in Latin, French, estant pastorsat the end of the Dec. 29 prayer service at the Vatican, Pope English, Spanish, Polish or Russian. Many young people say they Benedict emphasized the Taize comhave a hard time praying, but look munitys ecumenical character and its around the crosstheyve been promotion of Christian unity through here two hours, said Jesuit Father shared prayer. And Pope Benedict told the young Vlastimil Dufka, a campus minister and professor of liturgy and litur- people that the deepest meaning of their gical music at Trnava University lives would be found in believing in and in Slovakia. He played the oboe in following Christ. Sometimes evil and the suffering of one of the volunteer music groups that led the Taize pilgrimage prayer the innocent create doubts and trouble you, and saying yes to Christ becomes services in Rome. The communitys base in Taize, difficult, he said. But this doubt does not make you France, is home to about 100 monks about half Catholic and half Anglican or unbelievers, he told the young people, Protestant. Founded in 1940 by Brother most of whom were 16-35 years old. Roger, a Swiss Protestant, as a place of Christ comes to the aid of those seeking reconciliation and peace, the commu- deeper faith, he said, and Christ gives nity attracts thousands of young people his church to believers to support them in their journey and spread the faith to from all over the world each year. Addressing the pilgrimsas well as others. (CNS)
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EDITORIAL
Opinion
Just a matter of catechesis
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 17 No. 01
January 7 - 20, 2013
WHEREAS the year 2012 for the Catholic Church in the Philippines has been star-studded with choicest blessings the likes of a 2nd saint, a 7th cardinal, the Year of Faith and the New Evangelization, among many others, it has also been the year of so many onslaughts against the family and life capped with the passage of the Reproductive Health Law. The best and the worst of times, indeed. Or so it seemed. After that monumental RH defeat, a chorus of columnists and one or two international news agencies outrightly jumped into their conclusions that the Catholic church do not anymore enjoy its glory days and command of its faithful followers (as if it were the agenda of the Church, in the first place); but without citing the news lead of catholic media that there was in fact so much pressure and pork applied to the legislature by the Palace. The words of the chair of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life, Bishop Gabriel Reyes, capture it well: Its already like dictatorship because the executive already controls the Congress and the JudiciaryForcing a congressman to change his principle and conscience for pork barrel, government projects, political favorsits also as if you are bribing the congressman. Isnt that corruption? Of course, it was all about money and political power. It never was about values and principlesor faith, if you may. That is why the cursory analysis of the secular media that the Catholic Church has lost its grip on its followers is not really so plausible affront. The closest that it can get is the reality that the Church needs to sincerely admit and do a mea maxima culpa that it has been too complacent with its serious task of doing catechesis. Ironically, catechetical or integral formation has been the pastoral priority of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines and its succeeding recalls, but it never landed on good soil. A recent interview with a young professional who was mesmerized with the teachings of the pro-RH advocates revealed that she did not know or was not taught about the teachings of the Catholic Church about life and the family. That maybe said, too, with other teachings of the Church. Listening to some legislators justify their votes on the RH Bill was like looking at a barometer of how Christianityor mere religiosityhas taken root or otherwise in the hearts of Filipinos. Really, the number of baptized Catholics does not easily translate into the equation of catechized Catholics. And there is another rub. This has floated lately in an article of a columnist, known for being a Palace apologist, who accused the bishops for raising lately the issue on the alleged irregularities of the PCOS machines during the last elections as a conspiracy to cast doubts on the validity of the 2010 elections and, consequently, to spite President Aquino for pushing and signing into law the RH bill. This certainly is not in the least of intentions among the bishops. But Palace spin doctors will henceforth use this gambit whenever the Catholic Church becomes critical with this administration. But, of course, the bishops know better.
Oscar. V. Cruz, DD
Second is the consequent imperative of protecting the family from secular manipulative ventures in business and politics, especially from errant ideologies. It is not only disgraceful but also disgusting when families are destroyed because of greed for money and power. Third is the empirical truth that the family is the first recipient of the blessing or the curse of society. Whenever the matter of public welfare or common good is at stake, it is the familythat domestic communitythat is blessed by its reality or debased by its illusion. Fourth is that the Filipino family is resilient but not immune to anti-family forces. Contrary to its common perception, the phenomenon of globalization is not simply about business and industry. It is also about the invasion of the materialistic and hedonistic values primarily from First World Countries.
Living Mission
Candidly Speaking
the whole universe of existing things. We need to be able to capture this reality not only in the abstract and theoretical way, but down to the sensible and material, such that we can truly feel the presence of God and can actively cooperate in his providence. Of course, this ideal can only be reached through stages and through an effort that is abiding. At the moment, we need to overcome certain strong and deep-seated biases and erroneous thinking that stop us from pursuing this goal. Thus, we need to be patient, humble, simple, and at the same time, hard-working and persevering, since we need to submit ourselves to the discipline of studying, reflecting, developing the appropriate norms of piety that assures the vitality of our spirit more than our body. We need to develop a lifestyle that gives due attention to this aspect of our life. So far, we have been negligent in this area as we tend to indulge in the sensible and material aspects of our life as well as the merely human, as in getting entangled in the technical, social, economic, political dimensions, etc. In this present age which is marked by tremendous advances in technologies and knowledge of the sciences, its kind of anomalous to realize that insofar as our spiritual life is concerned, insofar as our relation with God is concerned, we are still in the primitive or at least kindergarten stage.
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We need to bring our understanding of epiphany to another level to refer to the fact that the Son of God who became man is not only supposed to manifest himself to all people, but also to all things and events. In other words, we are supposed to recognize the presence of our divine redeemer, the one who saves and perfects us in our humanity and in our dignity as children of God, not only in other people, but also in things and events. This is where we are most negligent. While we are still way far from the ideal of recognizing Christ in every person, we can say that it is even worse when we talk about recognizing Christ in everything. The epiphany of Christ has to go on. His manifestation to us through people and things has to continue. This time, we need to step up our attitude and skills to capture this reality. Thats why we need to pray, to study well the doctrine of our faith which while formulated by us, men, and therefore can contain some limitations and impurities, is in substance the living and eternal word of God that never fails to bring Christ to us anytime, anywhere. We need to develop the appropriate skills of recollection, meditation and contemplation, and extricate ourselves from the web of a purely sense-based approach to knowing things, let alone, to knowing and loving God. God is the very foundation of our life and of
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 17 No. 01
January 7 - 20, 2013
Opinion
Lessons learned during RH Bill deliberations
ful position in the government for those who are 3rd termer and cannot run for re-election anymore; the pressure of the pork barrel being dangled right at their very nose and could be pulled away once they did not toe the line; the session being watched and observed with the personal presence of cabinet members DILG Secretary Mar Roxas, Budget Secretary Butch Abad, Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda and Comunications guy Ricky Carandang. It was a very long session ending at past 2 a.m. the following day with the result: Yes 113, No 104, a difference of only 9 votes; 50 lawmakers were absent. Before the voting on 3rd reading was made, more pressures came; Malacaang certified RH Bill as urgent; the rest is history. December 17 was a Day of Betrayal, RH Bill was passed by both the Lower House and the Senate. The story does not end here. Christmas had come and gone. The tri-media reported that the President will sign RH Bill into law before the year ends. Then Lo and Behold! On the Feast of the Holy Innocents (December 28), when the Church commemorates the massacre of children under King Herod, news spread about the secret signing of RH Bill into law on December 21, days before Christmas. Wow, what is the mystery in the secret signing? It reminds me of the secret signing of Martial Law and its announcement several days after it was signed! History repeating itself? As of press time, Attys. James and Lovely-Ann Imbong filed a taxpayers class suit docketed as Case No. 204819 vs. The Executive Secretary, The Secretary of DOH, DBM, Department of Education, and DILG questioning the constitutionality of RH Law, with a prayer for temporary restraining order. May our Lord Almighty save the Philippines and the Filipinos! With all these lessons learned, let us reject all pro-RH candidates this coming May 2013 elections. It is our constitutional right to vote candidates who value life and reject those who promote the culture of death. *** We thank the Lord for the gift of life and family. At age 95, my mother Gloria AngelesSantiago can still hurdle the long flight from Los Angeles, California to Manila. Except for my brother Roy, my other siblings Vicky, Bobby, Nito and wife Nisa, and my nephew Glenn Rosales, all flew to the Philippines for a Christmas family reunion. *** Happy Birthday to Monsignor Alex V. Amandy, Vicar General of Kalookan Diocese; also to Jun Hio and Gigi de Lara of Hello Father 911 Saturday Edition, and Marlon Lacquio of Kalookan Chancery. Praying for a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2013 to you and your family!
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Fr. Francis Ongkingco
Duc in Altum
TAGBILARAN, Bohol. December 12, 2012, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a very momentous event in Philippine history unfolded. At a very short notice, all lay faithful and believers of family and life went to St. Peters Church at Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City for the Concelebrated Mass led by Most Rev. Gabriel Gabby Reyes, Bishop of Antipolo and Chairman of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Family and Life, together with several archbishops, bishops and priests. It was really a very touching scene to observe the anti-RH lawmakers, in the midst of the sea of priests, seminarians and lay faithful all wearing red, walked from St. Peters Church to Batasan. Even senior citizens and persons with disabilities joined them. It was really courageous on their part to stand firm in their fight for the non-passage of RH Bill, despite the pressures from the powers that be. We really admire and appreciate their show of unity and solidarity in rejecting the culture of death that RH Bill brings to the Filipinos. Like what happened during the Prayer Vigil against RH Bill last August 04, 2012, Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas (Laiko) again mobilized its members by issuing circular to all its members composed of 51 Councils of the Laity from different Archdioceses and Dioceses and 50 national organizations in support of the call of Bishop Gabby for their presence in the Eucharistic Celebration and prayer vigil at Batasan on the scheduled voting on second reading of the infamous RH Bill. The pro-RH lawmakers in the House of Representatives attempted to vote viva voce voting by shouting altogether either aye or nay. By voting viva voce, the people will not know who voted in favor or against RH Bill, indeed a very cunning and scheming strategy. They wanted to vote yes to RH Bill but they do not want their vote recorded, hoping that the people will not know how they voted why? Are they afraid that when they voted for RH Bill, the pro-lifers will definitely not vote them come May elections? It is a matter of having their cake and eat it too, tsk tsk tsk. Thanks to the motion of Hon. Toby Tiangco, our Congressman from the Lone District of Navotas City, that nominal voting was adopted. By nominal voting, each and every members of the House had to state his yes or no vote, giving reasons for his vote. The reasons given by the anti-RH lawmakers for their No vote were very surprising; they are scientific, supported by documents and statistics, practical, and down-to-earth. The Yes vote of the lawmakers appeared to be given under pressure, which majority of politicians succumbed to the pressure of the promise power-
The how of it
NOW that we have RA 10354, Filipinos should not forget HOW it became that from being RH Bill 4244. We may think we know what its all aboutwhat RH is, who voted for or against it, when and where it happenedbut unless we look deeply into the how of things we will continue to walk blindfolded into the hell hole that the Aquino administration tells us is the gateway to paradise. Palace intervention in the RH issue eerily seems like a replay of the Corona case when 188 congressmen were herded (into a Japanese restaurant) to approve the impeachment complaint. It is not clear whether the lawmakers were DUIDeciding Under the Influence (of saki and sashimi this time)but it was reported that even without reading the complaint, the congressmen signed it, otherwise theyd reportedly be deprived of their bowl of adobong baboy, a.k.a. pork barrel which on record goes as Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF). It seemed adobong baboy was again used as bait in the case of the RH Bill. The President hosted a whirlwind lunch for the congressmen just two days after the August 4 anti-RH rally on EDSA, where contraception was equated with corruption and the anti-RH camp repeated its claim of having
140 congressmen on its side. The Aug. 6 blitzkrieg lunch by the Palace resulted in the post-lunch viva voce vote ending the period of interpellations in Congress, a day ahead of schedule. (Huh? Isnt Congress supposed to be independent of the Palace?) Then again, during the voting on RH bills second and third readings, Noynoy henchmen were in the Batasan lounge, advising anti-RH party members to go home if they were just going to vote NO. We heard that from some congressmen themselves as we covered the proceedings then. Whats alarming is that the Executive Branch is doing its meddling so brazenly; what do they take the Filipinos for? These episodes were reported by media but the protests against Palace intervention were feeble and mostly drowned out by the mediasupported barrage of clichs, arguments and downright lies that have served as pro-RH camps staples since Day One: RH is the solution to poverty; the Church is indifferent to the needs of the poor; 11 mothers die daily; RH is for informed choice; the Church is in the dark ages; HIV-AIDS cases rise in RP; ad infinitum. When the 104 anti-RH votes on the second reading dwindled down to 79 on the third, it seemed most people saw it as the end of the fight between pro-RH and anti-RH,
By the Roadside
ONE of the most distinctive memories of my childhood was getting to know Mano Enzo in my mothers hometown. He was, as they say, a regular neighbor no one would give a second look at. I would often see him walking on the street where I used to play with friends. I dont recall if he had a family, a work or a profession. All I remember was that he had an eye defect that my elder siblings told me was strabismus (which they explained more colorfully in the vernacular) that made him look like he was staring at you and also looking into the road in front of him. So one day when I caught him watching us kids play but walking on rather carelessly, I decided to test my personal theories on the true condition of his eyes. It happened that I saw a dog manure in his direction. So I warned him, Mano Enzo, kulaw hin maupay, may tae! (Mano Enzo, watch out, theres manure coming your way!) Mano Enzo, a kind but sometimes stubborn man, thinking that I was making fun of his eye defect as many kids did, dismissed my warning with, May di man la nimo nga bata ka! (You are just making up things, kid!) But when he actually stepped on the dog manure, he stopped and looked down and I knew he was looking at me. Then he said, Totoo man ngay-an ni botoy (Gosh, this boy is telling the truth)! Faith is having the right focus. It was not Mano Enzos fault that he had an eye defect that made it difficult for him to focus on the road or on anything at all. But it is often our fault when, while, on the one hand we say we are certified Catholics, our eyes, on the other hand, are fixed mostly on other things, such as trying to put down perceived enemies, making so much money no one will ignore us anymore, being so popular even celebrities are in awe, having all the pleasure we forget to look for real happiness, being so powerful we think we can play God or defy his will. Indeed, we think our eyes have covered all the bases, the RH Law, the pending Divorce Bill etc. But do we have the right focus? Are we not afflicted with spiritual strabismus? The right focus of the eyes of faith is Jesus Christ and his Paschal Mystery. Take it from the Holy Father: During this time we will need to keep our gaze fixed upon Jesus Christ, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (Heb
Right focus
12:2): in him, all the anguish and all the longing of the human heart finds fulfillment. The joy of love, the answer to the drama of suffering and pain, the power of forgiveness in the face of an offence received and the victory of life over the emptiness of death: all this finds fulfillment in the mystery of his Incarnation, in his becoming man, in his sharing our human weakness so as to transform it by the power of his resurrection. In him who died and rose again for our salvation, the examples of faith that have marked these two thousand years of our salvation are brought into fullness of light [italics mine] (Porta Fidei, n. 13). Of course, having the wrong focus among believers is not new. David once thought that he had the right focus when he expressed his desire to build a house for God, as told to us by the second book of Samuel. But through the prophet Nathan God corrected him. We realize as we watch the event from our time and place that something was not right with Davids vision. He was focused on what he wanted. Through Nathan he was told to focus on Gods plan which was not only grander but also better in achieving the greatest good for all because it included the coming of the Savior: Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever (2 Sam 7:16). Davids nobility lay in his humility to accept Gods correction even if that meant turning back on his own ideas and plans. In this he set an example for you and me. We must constantly change our focus in life in order to adjust it to Gods plan and not the other way around. My professor in Christology once put it succinctly: What is wrong with us is that we often pray for God to be converted to our plans rather than we to his. I once witnessed on TV a lady senator blaming God for the death of her son. If he is really a God of love, she said before the cameras, how could he have allowed this? She reminds me of another woman who asked: Where was God when my son died? The answer came: Right where he is when his own Son died too. There is no greater mystery than God seeing his own Son die on the cross. Yet we know now how that death has brought us Gods
life. In a word, God always sees better than we do. Wisdom lies in surrendering to his way of seeing. Another example was Zechariah. He once entertained doubts regarding his sterile wife conceiving a son even as the Lords angel announced it. His tongue was silenced until he, learning his lesson, insisted on Gods plan to name his son Yohanan or John instead of the popular Zechariah insisted on by family, friends and relatives. The key factor in his transformation is expressed in the gospel of Luke: the action of the Spirit. Zechariah, the father of John, filled with the Holy Spirit, uttered this prophecy (Lk 1:67). His change of focus becomes clear in the last part of the prophecy: All this is the work of the kindness of our God; he, the Dayspring, shall visit us in his mercy to shine
on those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace (Lk 1:79). It is as if Zechariah saw the Light of the World about to free us sinners from the shadow of death and lead us to shalom or the peace of salvation accomplished by the Paschal Mystery, namely, [the Incarnation, Suffering,] the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ the Savior. Sometimes when I think of Mano Enzo, I thank him for teaching me that having the wrong focus in life can lead to dire consequences. To us Christians, however, Zechariah teaches that seeing from Gods eyes by fixing ours on the Dayspringwho is Jesus Christnot only defines faith. It also never goes wrong, especially in the Year of Faith and beyond.
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FOR Catholics, the passing of the severely divisive RH Bill in both Houses of Congress last month means only one thing more real Catholics should run for public office. Lets encourage the Catholic lay faithful with formed consciences to get into politics, Fr. Melvin Castro, executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life, said in an interview after Congress voted to pass the RH Bill on third reading. Evangelizing the political system He explained the need for Catholics to evangelize the political system because, according to him, those in power only have vested interests in mind. Castro also noted how a good number of Lower House Representatives who voted for the RH Bill, talked a lot about being a devout Catholic, while going head to head with what the Church advocates. He said this would not have been the case if real Catholics who understood and hold on to Church doctrine were elected. Environment, divorce, etc. If they are in power, they can
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Local News
FILIPINO overseas workers are worth everyones admiration and appreciation not only for the remittances they send back home but for their outstanding contributions in building countries around the world. This was how International Labor Organization Director General Guy Ryder looks at some ten million Filipinos spread across the globe, from seafarers to land-based workers. In an exclusive interview at the sidelines of his separate meetings with government representatives, employers and trade union leaders at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel recently, Ryder said he looks at the Philippines as one of the most important countries to his Organization because of its history of tripartism, sound labor market policies and the strong presence of ten million Filipinos in various economies. Filipinos around the world, and Ive said it to Filipino government representatives, employers and workers I met today, I think that the Philippines can be proud of the contributions its citizens make in building countries around the world, Ryder further said.
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January 7 - 20, 2013
bring their faith into the public forum. They wont be ashamed of it, but will advance the Gospel values, Castro added. Castro, who celebrated an impromptu mass outside the north gate of Congress last December 12 together with some 200 anti-RH supporters, explained how consistency is key in politics, something Catholics could contribute to the political process. He said voters could count on the consistent stand of true-blue Catholic politicians on key issues like protection of the environment, divorce, gambling, etc. (Nirvaana Ella Delacruz)
I have been talking to fellow pro-lifers and we cant feel gloomy and defeated. We have to realize that this is the start of the battle. Its only begun for us here, the Cebu-based businesswoman pointed out. The call for the election of pro-life candidates into public office intensified especially after the RH bill became Republic Act (RA) 10354, prompting some to scoff at the notion of candidates stand on culture-of-life issues as narrow-minded. Villahermosa mused that she believes integrity and authentic life-affirming values are the most vital in evaluating people aiming for a post in public office. Whats narrow-minded is to vote for Catholic candidates who are sarado Katoliko in a different waythose who are scrupulous the left hand doesnt look what the right hand is doing. However, if the candidate says he is pro-life, I better take notice because being pro-life entails respect for the most basic of values to practice, she continued. And if your candidate is sensitive to this, well and good because he is expected to practice public service with integrity. Anti-RH conviction top factor come voting time Other life advocates who look
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forward to casting their ballots on May 13 have made the RH issue a defining factor. Aaron Ching, for one, has stricken out pro-RH politicians from his list. The RH law is not a narrow issue. It has wide implications that will affect Philippine society as a whole. It affects religious liberties, sanctity of life especially of the unborn, government spending, and moral stability of the nation, the young engineer explained. Ching said the most vital consideration for him in voting for a candidate is that he/she should be a true pro-lifer. Since without the right to be born no other human rights will be relevant, he said, this factor is the very first on my list. We need a statesman who would respect life from conception to natural death, said sales executive Francis Bautista. Since we live in a capitalistic society, we must vote for people who would promote economic liberalization. Lets face it, competition breeds innovation, he said, adding that this would also lead to the creation of more jobs for Filipinos. Corruption was likewise a concern for Bautista and factored it in his decision-making not just for this years elections, but beyond 2013. Eventually, we need to vote
for someone who would make a way to eradicate political dynasties which breed corruption in our very society, he said. Seeks Gods heart before personal ambition I would definitely consider how our congressmen/senators voted for the RH bill. Those who dont value life, commitment or responsibility are crossed out [Senator] Miriam [DefensorSantiago], [Congressman] Edcel [Lagman], [Congresswoman Janette] Garin, [Senator Pia] Cayetano, [Risa] Hontiveros, etc., wedding photographer Dominic Barrios specified. Those who profess that they are Catholics but do not submit to the church are also marked, he said, adding he doesnt believe that those who voted against the bill get a free pass to be automatically voted. They are being considered, though, Barrios said, with their track records likewise being a crucial factor. Asked for other traits he looks for in his analysis of each contender for public positions, the photographer said, Im looking for a God-fearing candidate a Catholic, as much as possible, who is practicing his/her faith. I believe that the best man who can lead the country is someone who seeks Gods heart first rather than his ambitions. (CBCP for Life)
procedure [to pursue the annulment]. Coupled with this empowerment with information on annulment procedures is the massive bombardment of society by media with misleading messages about love and marriage. No such thing as perfect marriage There is no perfect marriage as there is no perfect love in this world, said the mother of two and grandmother of two. Marriage and love have to be worked on and developed in time, using whatever problems and difficulties the couple may meet, to learn virtues and thus strengthen their love. Luistro, who is a past president of Alliance for the Family Foundation Inc. (ALFI), talked of exclusivity, commitment and going into it fully prepared for whatever challenges will come the couples way. Couples must know before marriage that it is a life-long commitment of mutual, exclusive, total, irrevocable and sincere self-giving and sacrifice. It is entered into with open eyes, by a lot of thinking, a lot of maturity, a lot of preparation knowing the other person extremely well and not just based on mere passion or convenience. Marital union between a man and a woman is
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New Bataan, Licud, Andap and Davao city participated in a series of emotional first aid (EFA) trainings, that not only debriefed or processed their personal experience of Pablo, but enabled them to do the same to other victims. Most of the attendees lost homes during the heavy rains and winds of Pablo, while several also lost loved ones and family members. Dr. Dela Cruz, who is also a Couples for Christ (CFC) leader from Antipolo City, coordinated with the local CFC and its Family Ministries, Handmaids of the Lord, Servants of the Lord, Singles for Christ and Youth for Christ for the trainings, many of which were held in parishes.
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Processing the experience Since the seminars, three newly-trained groups have since debriefed direct victims of Pablo in Moncayo, New Bataan and Davao City. After giving EFA to other victims, these groups also underwent a process called Debriefing the Debriefers to help them, in a sense, process their own experience of processing others. These were done at the St. Ignatius de Loyola Parish in Moncayo last December 27; at a CFC members home in New Bataan last December 31; and in a coffee shop in Davao City last January 1. Emotional first aid coordinators Several CFC members have stepped up to become EFA coordinators, who can be contacted
by the public for debriefing sessions or trainings, especially in the light of the great number devastated by the loss of loved ones, property and livelihood. Emotional first aid consists of asking a victim a series of questions that are meant to draw out powerful personal insights and learnings, forging the stage for recovery and growth after the trauma. The death toll for Pablo may reach 1,500, according to several estimates. Over-all, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council estimates Pablo damage to reach at least P36 billionmore than the combined devastation of tropical storms Pedring and Sendong. (Nirva'ana Ella Delacruz) richment through caring and sharing. The Christian family in particular serves as a seedbed for personal maturation according to the standards of divine love, he said. The family is one of the indispensable social subjects for the achievement of a culture of peace. He also pointed out the rights of parents and their primary role in educating their children in the areas of morality and religion. It is in the family that peacemakers, tomorrows promoters of a culture of life and love, are born and nurtured, he said. The pope also touched on other issues essential in the attainment of peace, like integral human development, religious freedom, peoples right to work and food security for all.
part of Gods plan, she explained. Anita Alisaca, marking her 23rd wedding anniversary this year, also attributed spousal discontent and eventual separation to a lack of pre-wedding discernment and, in some cases, venturing into sexual intimacy when such rightly belongs in the area of conjugal relations. It is my opinion that extremely difficult situations arise only if the period of discernment is short-circuited by sex before matrimony, she said, explaining that by discernment she referred to if one is meant for the married state or not, and if that or this person is the right one, or if this or that time is the right time. The mother of four pointed out that contraception and the push to make it so easily available even to the youth and unmarried persons should be an issue of concern since this adversely affects the decision-making of young people and the stability of relationships heading for marriage. Contraception [and its availability] would make sex before marriage so easy and convenient without the accompanying discernment process, Alisaca lamented. Even unmarried and level-headed young people are apparently aware of the indispens-
able part that preparation plays in the success of marital unions. Aaron Ching, an engineer who is engaged to be married, is aware that tying the knot has been jokingly referred to as life imprisonment but easily brushes it off. I just shake my head and say that it is a prison for people who didnt prepare well for their married life and for those people who are afraid of responsibilities, he said. If you love someone then being with that person and sharing your whole self with that someone is the most liberating thing. Ching said he made the decision to get married fully aware of the hardships that lay ahead as hardships are part of life, no matter the civil status. Married people have to face problems unique to their marital status as well as those who are single. Based on this, I can say that I am fully aware of the difficulties that I will be facing, he said. Divorce should never be an option House Bill 1799, casually referred to as the divorce bill and introduced by Gabriela Representatives Luzviminda Ilagan and Emerenciana de Jesus, seeks to amend the Family Code to include a provision on divorce as a solution to marriages
experiencing such difficulties. Divorce should never be an option. There is no difficult situation that cannot be addressed in an adequate way, said Luistro, adding that in cases in which the spouses living together becomes impossible, there is a final recourse Legal Separation. It may be the only recourse to ensure the legal rights and care of the children. Alisaca quietly stated that there is no situation that warrants a permission to be granted a divorce if married sacramentally. Theres [declaration of nullity] if the marriage is void from the beginning and there are criteria to satisfy, if such is the case, she emphasized. When news of the resurfacing of the divorce bill in Congress was publicized barely a week after word of the RH bills signing got out, family and life advocates were quick to voice out their protests, citing the irreparable damage on society that would result from such assaults on the family. Divorce damages the most enduring human institutionhonored and encouraged in all cultures and by every religious faith, Luistro said. If divorce is allowed, it becomes a valid option every time a marriage is threatened. Divorce divides. Divorce destroys the family. (CBCP for Life)
degrades human persons, and even more so the killing of a defenseless and innocent being, will never be able to produce happiness or peace, he said. Indeed how could one claim to bring about peace, the integral development of peoples or even the protection of the environment without defending the life of those who are weakest, beginning with the unborn, the pope further said. He noted that every offence against life, especially at its beginning, inevitably causes irreparable damage to development, peace and the environment. The pontiff also lamented that some laws are being crafted covertly including false rights and freedoms using euphemisms to promote a supposed right to abortion and
euthanasia, [which] pose a threat to the fundamental right to life. Sanctity of marriage The threat on the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman in the growing clamor from various countries to legalize same sex unions did not lose on the Holy Father, either. He said the attempts by many to legalize same sex unions may destroy the very essence of marriage itself, obscuring its specific nature and its indispensable role in society. These principles are not truths of faith, nor are they simply a corollary of the right to religious freedom. They are inscribed in human nature itself, accessible to reason and thus common to all humanity, the pope said. The Holy Father said
it is essential to promote these principles to all regardless of religious affiliation, the more these are denied and misunderstood, since this constitute an offence against the truth of the human person, with serious harm to justice and peace. Another path to building peace, he said, is for legal systems to acknowledge the right of people to invoke the principle of conscientious objection in the face of laws or government measures that offend against human dignity, such as abortion and euthanasia. Role of family The pope also singled out the role of the family in promoting life, saying it has a natural vocation to promote life as it accompanies individuals as they mature and it encourages mutual growth and en-
traditional procession. But officials of the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene immediately shrugged off the incident saying the crowd remained under control. Ignacio added that the organizers are well prepared with the security details as shown by the presence of security marshals in the immediate perimeter of the grandstand. The priest said one has to understand that devotees have difCARP / A1
ferent ways of expressing their devotion to the Black Nazarene image. Among them, he noted, were from simple praying, kissing the image, serving the church, and attending the Mass during the January 9 Feast Day. He said the more quiet faithful can be found in the Quiapo Church, where hourly Masses were held on the same day. Many devotees believe that
the image, which was sculptured in Mexico and said to have darkened in a fire, is miraculous so they strive to kiss or wipe their handkerchiefs and towels on the image. As to the crowd estimate, he said the police would be the more competent authority but believes that it could be more than the eight million last year, including those who joined the procession and attending Masses in the church. (CBCPNews)
December 17. We are deeply concerned about the situation. By the end of the third day, December 19, a total of 28 hunger strikers were reported to have collapsed and were rushed to the hospital. The number increased to 33 at the start of fourth day, said Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo. The bishop also appealed to President Aquino to listen to the farmers request before the number of hunger strikers will increase. What the farmers are fighting for are the land reform and land distribution under the CARPvery important social justice issue for which they are willing to sacrifice every-
thing, and we support the farmers struggle towards it, Pabillo added. Pabillo, who is NASSAs national director, also urged the faithful to pray for the farmers and for Aquino to take responsibility for the CARP completion. Meanwhile, in support of the hunger strikers, other farmer members of Task Force Mapalad (TFM) staged a die-in in front of the building on December 18. We ask the President to save the lives of hunger strikers by ousting Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary De los Reyes immediately and by taking charge of the completion of CARP, TFM-Negros president
Alberto Jayme said. Jayme added that the hunger strikers remain steadfast in their demand and are seeking audience with President Aquino to ask him to remove all the impediments to the commitments he had made in his meeting with the same group of farmers in Malacaang on June 14. We are waiting for the President Aquino to respond to our appeal that De los Reyes be replaced f or being a weak and inefficient leader at DAR, Jayme furthered. Moreover, 76 provincial presidents of the Department of Agrarian Reform Employees Association (DAREA) signed a statement of support of the fasting
farmers. DAREA has been calling for the resignation of De los Reyes, whom they accused of masterminding the abolition of DAR and the termination of thousands of the departments employees nationwide. De los Reyes has also been accused of failing to execute Aquinos order to speed up the land acquisition and distribution (LAD) component of CARP, issue notices of coverage (NOCs) over private agricultural lands (PALs) 25 hectares and bigger and hasten the release of Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) for landless farmers. (SocialActionNews)
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January 7 - 20, 2013
Diocesan News
MALOLOS CityThe Diocese of Malolos Jubilee preparatory Committee is gearing up for a second diocesan synod on February 2013. The upcoming diocesan synod is one of the activities of the diocese as it marks its 50th jubilee year. The Diocese of Malolos celebrates Jubilee Year on March 2012-2013 with the theme Malolos: Biyaya at Pananampalataya; 50 Years of Transforming Grace and Unwavering Faith. Fr. Manny Cruz, Theologian of the Synod, and Fr. Winnie Naboya, Judicial Vicar of the Diocese in a preparatory meeting have presented to the body headed by Bishop Jose Oliveros the progress of the preparations being done for the Synod. The lineamenta and the survey from the different parishes and sectors of the diocese are almost done and already in the final stage of evaluation and interpretation. Part of the said lineamenta are nine (9) pastoral priorities of the Diocese namely; 1) Integral Faith Formation; 2) Empowerment of the Laity towards Social Transformation; 3) Active Presence and Participation of the Poor in the Church; 4) The Family as the Focal Point of Evan-
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The monastery chapel of the Benedictine Nuns of the Eucharistic King in Vigan.
fore she had entered the order, but it was only in 2009 that the technology was considerably improved. DOE explained that the project addresses the problem of increasing/fluctuating price of fuel for cooking, particularly liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), denudation of forests for fuel
wood, and the governments call to utilize renewable energy resource. The Benedictines of the Eucharistic King (BEK) was founded by a German nun Mo. Edeltraud Danner OSB in 1931, which was eventually split into BNEK and BSEK in 1986. (Mark Vertido/ Nirva'ana Ella Delacruz)
www.osb-ek.webs.com
Disaster Aid Internationals (DAI) humanitarian and disaster response expert Ed Cox teaches and leads locals in setting up tents in a cleared area of the Ban-ao Elementary School compound in Barangay Ban-ao, Baganga, Davao Oriental.
out in the open have to literally hugged the earth to counter the pull of Pablos strong winds. We have no recourse but to cling to the earth, just grasping the grass, so that we will not be carried by the strong winds, he said. He, along with Lilita Cabrera (52), Armando Escamillian (53), Renato Dacuycuy (55), Nenen Go (63) and other older residents said, Pablo was the first typhoon to leave so much destruction and deaths behind in a hundred years in Ban-ao. I remembered my grandfather told of a story of a very strong typhoon to hit the barangay in 1912. It was much stronger than Pablo, Escamillian said. While all of Baganga and other municipalities of Davao Oriental facing the mighty Pacific Ocean were flattened to the ground by Pablos strong winds, Barangay Ban-ao was the hardest-hit with 17 people dead and more than 90 percent of its 520 families rendered homeless. Left with nothingno food, no water, no houses, etc.Ban-aowons were saved by Barangay Councilor Ignacio Cabrera, who gave the residents one hour to loot his store for food items and whatever they can get. Led by Ching, the residents started organizing themselves and salvaged still useful housing materials to repair what they can
of their destroyed dwellings to shelter them from the constant rains and winds due to the Amihan (North wind) and the searing heat of the sun. Exactly five days after Pablos wrath was unleashed in Ban-ao, the first semblance of Ban-aos reconstruction, rehabilitation and recovery operations arrived in the form of the Cagayan de Oro City-based Balay Mindanaw Group of NGOs (BMG) and the UK-based Disaster Aid International (DAI). Less than three weeks in the area, BMG leaders decided to adopt Ban-ao and pour whatever resources the group can gather into its effort to bring back the village from the clutches of death. We are bringing not just tents and water here but the complete package. Our strategy, helping re-build resilient communities through barangay-based and barangayfocused disaster response work in Davao Oriental, said Charlito Kaloy Manlupig, BMG head. Manlupig said that the first key intervention is helping the survivors set up a tent community as temporary emergency shelter while they reconstruct or repair their damaged houses. This community will be the focus of our delivery of relief, rehabilitation, psychosocial and other assistance, he said. He explained the reason why BMG adopted Ban-ao. The main idea is to focus our resources on one barangay at a time instead of spreading them all to the 42 barangays of the three hardest-hit municipalities at the same time. After all, barangay-based and barangay-focused development, disaster response and peacebuilding work is one of our key strengths. Instead of treating the survivors as mere recipients of aid, they are considered as the key stakeholders in the difficult task of community re-building. The intervention will try to cover the whole range of community needs, from organizing to provision of basic needs of food, water, medicines, etc. As of Dec. 30, 2012, BMG and DAI had set-up hundred of tents here, with DAIs expert disaster response leader Ed Cox leading the residents in pitching the tents. (Bong D. Fabe)
Briefing
Aspiring seminarians gather for annual admission days
DAVAO City More than a hundred seminarians from different archdioceses and dioceses in Mindanao gathered last December 15-18 at the St. Francis Xavier Regional Major Seminary to attend their annual Admission Days. The gathering aimed to assist aspirants and returning seminarians who want to proceed and to study theology in the regional seminary. During the event, seminarians had undergone interviews from priest-formators of the regional seminary which are composed of two panels with three priests per panel. Admission results will be sent to the respective rector or vocation director and the bishop of the diocese, middle of January 2013. Accepted seminarians will start their PreTheology course in academic year 2013-2014. (Sem. Ritzchild John Cariaga/CBCPNews)
Govt urged to mobilize resources in Pablo-devastated areas
Bong D. Fabe
CAGAYAN DE ORO CityA peace and development nongovernment organization which was among the first to conduct relief operations in Davao Oriental after its devastation by Typhoon Pablo is urgently urging the national government to mobilize its resources to help in the reconstruction, rehabilitation and recovery of the province. The massive devastation requires immediate well-coordinated response from government (particularly the National Government) and all sectors. While there has been tremendous outpouring of goodwill and generosity, much is still desired more than two weeks after the disaster, Charlito Manlupig, BMFI founder and chairman of the Board, said in an open letter. (Bong D. Fabe)
Bacolod creates new chaplaincy
BACOLOD City A new chaplaincy has been created by the Diocese of Bacolod to serve more efficiently the Catholic population of Grandville Subdivision in Bacolod City. Bishop Vicente Navarra has issued a decree creating the Chaplaincy of Our Lady of Perpetual Help covering the areas of Terra Nova 1 and 2, La Salle Ville, Grandville 1, 2, and 3, Forest Hills and Arceo located in Grandville Subdivision, Brgy. Mansilingan, Bacolod City. The decree was issued upon the petition of the faithful and the Presbyteral Council, the Parish Priests of the Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Mansilingan, and St. Jude Thaddeus in Alijis. As a new chaplaincy, the Our Lady of Perpetual Help is given all the rights according to the Code of Canon Law, Diocesan Statutes and approved customs, and that the seat of the chaplaincy shall keep habitually the Blessed Sacrament in its Church under the usual conditions, possess the baptismal font, administer all the sacraments, and keep all the canonical books. (ADSUM)
Iba youth day highlights community involvement
IBA, ZambalesThe Diocese of Iba marked the 25th anniversary of the creation of the Commission on Youth Apostolate with a Diocesan Youth Day focusing on community involvement and personal growth. Held from November 30 to December 1, the gathering was attended by around 400 young people from the diocese together with campus ministers, youth organizations and young people from the Indigenous People (IP) community. The participants were housed with foster families. Themed Rejoice in the Lord always (Philippians 4:4), the DYD included activities like group sharing, plenary sessions, praise fest, sky lantern parade, and presentations. (Jandel Posion)
1st Catholic Social Media Summit held in Iloilo
ILOILO City The Jaro Archdiocesan Youth Commission (JAYA) has organized the 1st Catholic Social Media Summit in the Western Visayas region on December 1 and 2 in Iloilo Grand Hotel, Iloilo City. Titled Generation F: Opening the Door of Faith through Social Media the summit focused on how Filipinos, particularly the youth, utilize media for social transformation. Fr. Rafael Luis Clavel, Director of the Jaro Archdiocesan Youth Commission, said the summit aimed to help delegates become aware of the realities on the use of social media; know and understand the use of social media in a Catholic way; utilize new media in the propagation of faith and mission; and to understand the RA 10175 (Cybercrime Law) and its impact on the lives of the youth. Among the speakers was San Fernando Auxiliary Bishop Pablo David, who gave the keynote speech on Godiquette versus Netiquette. (Fr. Mickey Cardenas/Joy Badayos)
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Organizers of Catholic Vote Philippines, an alliance of lay Catholic groups that have vowed to oust pro-reproductive health (RH) bill politicians in the 2013 elections, lock arms after a press conference at the Makati Sports Club on12 December 2012.
Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle belts out a song during a concert at the Meralco Theatre performed by the countrys top artists to raise funds for the restoration of the Manila Cathedral.
only to showcase the best of Filipino talents but also to benefit the various ministries and projects of Manila archdiocese. The musical event also coin-
cided with the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and the first year anniversary of Tagles installation as Archbishop of Manila. (CBCPNews)
A bas relief of San Pedro Calungsod sculpted by Willy Layug, a Pampanga ecclesiastical artist.
THERE is a Catholic Vote in the Philippines. At least there will be, from the May 2013 elections and onwards. Catholic lay organizations have banded together to ensure a formidable voter base in the May 2013 congressional elections and subsequent local and national elections. The group calling itself Catholic Vote Philippines launched the movement at the Makati Sports Club on December 12. The movement would basically undertake voter education programs for their respective members and other parishioners. Among the signatories are the Couples for Christ, Knights of Columbus, Catholic Womens Leagueall are long-time Catholic Church-based institutions with officers and members nationwide. Organizers said the movement was prompted by the governments apparent resolve to pass anti-family laws in Congress, foremost of which is the RH bill. The movement said it would strongly fight against all proposed laws that have to do with population control, divorce and same sex marriage. The movement is also the groups response to statements made by proponents of the RH
bill that there is no such thing as a Catholic vote, and therefore legislators need not be afraid. There will be a Catholic vote in 2013, said Dr. Ricardo Boncan, one of the groups spokespersons. We will deliver it through our memberships and from among our fellow parishioners. Among the organizations that are part of Catholic Vote Philippines are Knights of Columbus, Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas, Dominican Network, Institute of Preaching Lay Missionaries, Federation of National Youth Organizations, Youth Pinoy, National Youth Ministry, St. Thomas More Association, Couples For Christ, Educhild Philippines, Families Against RH Bill, Filipinos for Life, Doctors for Life, Alliance for the Family Inc., Pro-Life Philippines, Jericho Community, and Defensores Fidei Foundation. In a manifesto read by Catholic Vote Philippines other spokesperson Anna Cosio, the group said it would conduct voter education programs and spell out criteria for electing national and local officials. These include high Christian moral standards, sound judgment, integrity, honor, dignity and independence. (CBCP for Life)
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 17 No. 1
January 7 - 20, 2013
Pastoral Concerns
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1. EACH NEW YEAR brings the expectation of a better world. In light of this, I ask God, the Father of humanity, to grant us concord and peace, so that the aspirations of all for a happy and prosperous life may be achieved. Fifty years after the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, which helped to strengthen the Churchs mission in the world, it is heartening to realize that Christians, as the People of God in fellowship with him and sojourning among mankind, are committed within history to sharing humanitys joys and hopes, grief and anguish, [1] as they proclaim the salvation of Christ and promote peace for all. In effect, our times, marked by globalization with its positive and negative aspects, as well as the continuation of violent conflicts and threats of war, demand a new, shared commitment in pursuit of the common good and the development of all men, and of the whole man. It is alarming to see hotbeds of tension and conflict caused by growing instances of inequality between rich and poor, by the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mindset which also finds expression in an unregulated financial capitalism. In addition to the varied forms of terrorism and international crime, peace is also endangered by those forms of fundamentalism and fanaticism which distort the true nature of religion, which is called to foster fellowship and reconciliation among people. All the same, the many different efforts at peacemaking which abound in our world testify to mankinds innate vocation to peace. In every person the desire for peace is an essential aspiration which coincides in a certain way with the desire for a full, happy and successful human life. In other words, the desire for peace corresponds to a fundamental moral principle, namely, the duty and right to an integral social and communitarian development, which is part of Gods plan for mankind. Man is made for the peace which is Gods gift. All of this led me to draw
inspiration for this Message from the words of Jesus Christ: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God (Mt 5:9). Gospel beatitude 2. The beatitudes which Jesus proclaimed (cf. Mt 5:3-12 and Lk 6:20-23) are promises. In the biblical tradition, the beatitude is a literary genre which always involves some good news, a gospel, which culminates in a promise. Therefore, the beatitudes are not only moral exhortations whose observance foresees in due timeordinarily in the next lifea reward or a situation of future happiness. Rather, the blessedness of which the beatitudes speak consists in the fulfilment of a promise made to all those who allow themselves to be guided by the requirements of truth, justice and love. In the eyes of the world, those who trust in God and his promises often appear nave or far from reality. Yet Jesus tells them that not only in the next life, but already in this life, they will discover that they are children of God, and that God has always been, and ever will be, completely on their side. They will understand that they are not alone, because he is on the side of those committed to truth, justice and love. Jesus, the revelation of the Fathers love, does not hesitate to offer himself in self-sacrifice. Once we accept Jesus Christ, God and man, we have the joyful experience of an immense gift: the sharing of Gods own life, the life of grace, the pledge of a fully blessed existence. Jesus Christ, in particular, grants us true peace, which is born of the trusting encounter of man with God. Jesus beatitude tells us that peace is both a messianic gift and the fruit of human effort. In effect, peace presupposes a humanism open to transcendence. It is the fruit of the reciprocal gift, of a mutual enrichment, thanks to the gift which has its source in God and enables us to live with others and for others. The ethics of peace is an ethics of fellowship and sharing. It is indispensable, then, that the various cultures
in our day overcome forms of anthropology and ethics based on technical and practical suppositions which are merely subjectivistic and pragmatic, in virtue of which relationships of coexistence are inspired by criteria of power or profit, means become ends and vice versa, and culture and education are centred on instruments, t e c h n i q u e a n d e ff i c i e n c y alone. The precondition for peace is the dismantling of the dictatorship of relativism and of the supposition of a completely autonomous morality which precludes acknowledgment of the ineluctable natural moral law inscribed by God upon the conscience of every man and woman. Peace is the building up of coexistence in rational and moral terms, based on a foundation whose measure is not created by man, but rather by God. As Psalm 29 puts it: May the Lord give strength to his people; may the Lord bless his people with peace (v. 11). Peace: Gods gift and the fruit of human effort 3. Peace concerns the human person as a whole, and it involves complete commitment. It is peace with God through a life lived according to his will. It is interior peace with oneself, and exterior peace with our neighbours and all creation. Above all, as Blessed John XXIII wrote in his Encyclical Pacem in Terris, whose fiftieth anniversary will fall in a few months, it entails the building up of a coexistence based on truth, freedom, love and justice.[2] The denial of what makes up the true nature of human beings in its essential dimensions, its intrinsic capacity to know the true and the good and, ultimately, to know God himself, jeopardizes peacemaking. Without the truth about man inscribed by the Creator in the human heart, freedom and love become debased, and justice loses the ground of its exercise. To b e c o m e a u t h e n t i c peacemakers, it is fundamental to keep in mind our transcendent dimension and to enter into constant dialogue with God, the
Father of mercy, whereby we implore the redemption achieved for us by his only-begotten Son. In this way mankind can overcome that progressive dimming and rejection of peace which is sin in all its forms: selfishness and violence, greed and the will to power and dominion, intolerance, hatred and unjust structures. The attainment of peace depends above all on recognizing that we are, in God, one human family. This family is structured, as the Encyclical Pacem in Terris taught, by interpersonal relations and institutions supported and animated by a communitarian we, which entails an internal and external moral order in which, in accordance with truth and justice, reciprocal rights and mutual duties are sincerely recognized. Peace is an order enlivened and integrated by love, in such a way that we feel the needs of others as our own, share our goods with others and work throughout the world for greater communion in spiritual values. It is an order achieved in freedom, that is, in a way consistent with the dignity of persons who, by their very nature as rational beings, take responsibility for their own actions.[3] Peace is not a dream or something utopian; it is possible. Our gaze needs to go deeper, beneath superficial appearances and phenomena, to discern a positive reality which exists in human hearts, since every man and woman has been created in the image of God and is called to grow and contribute to the building of a new world. God himself, through the incarnation of his Son and his work of redemption, has entered into history and has brought about a new creation and a new covenant between God and man (cf. Jer 31:31-34), thus enabling us to have a new heart and a new spirit (cf. Ez 36:26). For this very reason the Church is convinced of the urgency of a new proclamation of Jesus Christ, the first and fundamental factor of the integral development of peoples and also of peace.
Jesus is indeed our peace, our justice and our reconciliation (cf. Eph 2:14; 2 Cor 5:18). The peacemaker, according to Jesus beatitude, is the one who seeks the good of the other, the fullness of good in body and soul, today and tomorrow. From this teaching one can infer that each person and every community, whether religious, civil, educational or cultural, is called to work for peace. Peace is principally the attainment of the common good in society at its different levels, primary and intermediary, national, international and global. Precisely for this reason it can be said that the paths which lead to the attainment of the common good are also the paths that must be followed in the pursuit of peace. Peacemakers are those who love, defend and promote life in its fullness 4. The path to the attainment of the common good and to peace is above all that of respect for human life in all its many aspects, beginning with its conception, through its development and up to its natural end. True peacemakers, then, are those who love, defend and promote human life in all its dimensions, personal, communitarian and transcendent. Life in its fullness is the height of peace. Anyone who loves peace cannot tolerate attacks and crimes against life. Those who insufficiently value human life and, in consequence, support among other things the liberalization of abortion, perhaps do not realize that in this way they are proposing the pursuit of a false peace. The flight from responsibility, which degrades human persons, and even more so the killing of a defenceless and innocent being, will never be able to produce happiness or peace. Indeed how could one claim to bring about peace, the integral development of peoples or even the protection of the environment without defending the life of those who are weakest, beginning with the unborn. Every offence against life, especially at its beginning, inevitably causes irreparable
damage to development, peace and the environment. Neither is it just to introduce surreptitiously into legislation false rights or freedoms which, on the basis of a reductive and relativistic view of human beings and the clever use of ambiguous expressions aimed at promoting a supposed right to abortion and euthanasia, pose a threat to the fundamental right to life. There is also a need to acknowledge and promote the natural structure of marriage as the union of a man and a woman in the face of attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different types of union; such attempts actually harm and help to destabilize marriage, obscuring its specific nature and its indispensable role in society. These principles are not truths of faith, nor are they simply a corollary of the right to religious freedom. They are inscribed in human nature itself, accessible to reason and thus common to all humanity. The Churchs efforts to promote them are not therefore confessional in character, but addressed to all people, whatever their religious affiliation. Efforts of this kind are all the more necessary the more these principles are denied or misunderstood, since this constitutes an offence against the truth of the human person, with serious harm to justice and peace. C o n s e q u e n t l y, a n o t h e r important way of helping to build peace is for legal systems and the administration of justice to recognize the right to invoke the principle of conscientious objection in the face of laws or government measures that offend against human dignity, such as abortion and euthanasia. One of the fundamental human rights, also with reference to international peace, is the right of individuals and communities to religious freedom. At this stage in history, it is becoming increasingly important to promote this right not only from the negative point of view, as freedom fromfor example, obligations or limitations involving the freedom to choose ones religionbut also from
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Updates
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 17 No. 1
January 7 - 20, 2013
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the Christian faithful are to take care to avoid whatever is not in harmony with that teaching (c.752). b) Infallible Authentic Magisterium: The authentic Magisterium enjoys the note of infallibility in its entirety, and also when in specific formulations the teaching office puts its authority in the highest degree and declares a doctrine with the intention of defining it as belonging to the faith. However, the Code is quick to point out: No doctrine is understood to be infallibly defined unless it is clearly established as such (c.749, 3). 2) According to the form or manner of exercising it, there can be two types: a) Extraordinarywhen it is carried out through a solemn form or manner. Examples are the so-called ex cathedra teachings of the Roman Pontiff and that of the Council. b) Ordinarywhen the habitual form or means are used. This in turn can be (1) universal when it is addressed to the whole Church; or (2) particularwhen it is addressed to a specific segment of the Church (e.g., a diocese or an episcopal conference). 3) According to the content, the magisterium can refer to (1) faithalso called dogmas of the faith, which define the truths of the faith; (2) moralswhich in turn can be customs that must be followed; exhortations regarding Christian life; or moral judgments on temporal questions. Active Subjects of the Magisterium 1) The active subjects of infallible authentic magisterium are: 1 The Roman Pontiff when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful, whose task is to confirm his fellow believers in the faith, he proclaims with a definitive act that a doctrine of faith or morals is to be held as such (c.749, 1). 2 The College of Bishopsalso possess infallible teaching authority when the bishops exercise their teaching office gathered together in an ecumenical council when, as teachers and judges of faith and morals, they declare that for the universal Church a doctrine of faith or morals must be definitively held (c.749, 2). They also exercise it scattered throughout the world but united in a bond of communion among themselves and with the successor of Peter, when together with that same Roman Pontiff in their capacity as authentic teachers of faith and morals, they agree on an opinion to be held as definitive. 2) The active subjects of authentic magisterium are firstly the Roman Pontiff and the College of Bishops, for the Universal
Church (c.752); and secondly the individual bishops, Episcopal Conferences and Particular Councils, for the faithful entrusted to them. In the latter case, the Code of Canon Law provides: Although they do not enjoy infallible teaching authority, the bishops in communion with the head and members of the college, whether as individuals or gathered in conferences of bishops or in particular councils, are authentic teachers and instructors of the faith for the faithful entrusted to their care; the faithful must adhere to the authentic teaching of their own bishops with a sense of religious respect (c.753). Although c.753 lumps them together, we have to clarify that the three are not on equal footing as far as the exercise of authentic magisterium is concerned. The diocesan bishops (and their equivalents) exercise a primary and direct authentic magisterium over their respective proper flocks, while the Episcopal Conferences and Particular Councils only exercise a secondary and indirect rolei.e., only to the extent that the individual bishops or the Pope empowers them. The Magisterium of the CBCP The competence of Episcopal Conferences as regards the authentic magisterium was neatly delimited by the Motu Proprio Apostolos suos (21.V.1998), and more practically regulated in a Letter (13.V.1999) prepared by the Congregation for Bishops in collaboration with the Secretariat of State, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Congregation for the Oriental Churches and the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts and sent to the Presidents of the Episcopal Conferences. After stating a general principle that the joint exercise of the episcopal ministry [by the Episcopal Conference] also involves the teaching office (n.21), the Motu Proprio lays down the following norms limiting this exercise. 1) A stricter norm for episcopal collegiality. The document lays down the following: In order that the doctrinal declarations of the Conference of Bishops referred to in No.22 of the present Letter may constitute authentic magisterium and be published in the name of the Conference itself, they must be unanimously approved by the Bishops who are members, or receive the recognitio of the Apostolic See if approved in plenary assembly by at least two thirds of the Bishops belonging to the Conference and having a deliberative vote (Art.1). In effect, this norm guarantees that a certain doctrine is really an expression of the communio of the episcopal college in a given territory. Otherwise, such lack of
unanimity needs to be offset by an explicit recognitio by the Holy See. 2) Exclusion of Inferior Bodies from usurping the teaching office of Bishops. The document continues, laying down the following two norms: Art. 2. No body of the Episcopal Conference, outside of the plenary assembly, has the power to carry out acts of authentic magisterium. The Episcopal Conference cannot grant such power to its Commissions or other bodies set up by it. Art. 3. For statements of a different kind, different from those mentioned in article 2, the Doctrinal Commission of the Conference of Bishops must be authorized explicitly by the Permanent Council of the Conference. These norms effectively limit the tendencyunfortunately not uncommon especially in more developed countriesfor standing commissions and other such bodies to usurp the teaching office of the bishops. Summary We can summarize all the aforementioned, relating them to the original issues raised, as follows: Doctrinal declarations can only be issued in the name of the CBCP when such have been approved unanimously by the bishop members of the CBCP. Such statements would then constitute authentic magisterium of the bishops, to which the Catholic faithful are obliged to adhere with a sense of religious respect. However, if such unanimity is lacking, a majority alone of the bishops of the CBCPmuch less a few onlycannot issue a declaration as authentic teaching of the Conference, unless such statement obtains the recognitio of the Apostolic See, which on the other hand will not give it if the majority of bishops requesting it is not substantial. In this case, all the Catholic faithful in the Philippines (the territory of the Conference) are obliged to adhere to such teaching with a sense of religious respect. With more reason, a statement by a bishop aloneeven as Chairman of an Episcopal Commission should never be presented by the mass media as authentic magisterium of the CBCP. With even more reason, a statement of an official of an Episcopal Commission should never be taken as authentic magisterium of the CBCP. All these are very clear to the bishops and officials of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines. What is lamentable is the way the mass media quite often takes them out of context, confusing the Catholic faithful in the process.
In less severe situations lesser precautions may be taken, such as discouraging handshakes during the sign of peace, or a prudent and discreet use of disinfectant such as that described by our reader. If the use of a hand sanitizer is deemed necessary, then it would be better for the extraordinary ministers to use it in the sacristy before beginning their services. In the case of the priest, unless he has some cold symptoms himself, it is probably enough for him to use the sanitizer immediately before beginning Mass. It is unlikely for him to become contagious during the celebration itself, and this gesture is likely to make people more, rather than less, wary at the moment of receiving Communion. For example, in my own experience, many long-term care centers for the elderly require visitors to sanitize only on entering the premises even though they might be spending some time in contact with the residents. In spite of this, however, such means could be used immediately before communion if the situation warranted it. If the diocese has not issued particular norms, then the parish priest could ask for medical opinion with respect to taking reasonable precautions. The faithful should also be aware that suffering from severe cold or flu is a sufficient justification for not attending Mass. In more acute cases refraining from attending a crowded Mass could even be considered an obligation of charity, by not placing others at risk. Finally, we must remember that, while prudence is necessary, most people who catch colds and flu dont do so at Mass but rather at home, at work and at school where they spend most of their time and in close contact with others.
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the positive point of view, in its various expressions, as freedom for for example, bearing witness to ones religion, making its teachings known, engaging in activities in the educational, benevolent and charitable fields which permit the practice of religious precepts, and existing and acting as social bodies structured in accordance with the proper doctrinal principles and institutional ends of each. Sadly, even in countries of long-standing Christian tradition, instances of religious intolerance are becoming more numerous, especially in relation to Christianity and those who simply wear identifying signs of their religion. Peacemakers must also bear in mind that, in growing sectors of public opinion, the ideologies of radical liberalism and technocracy are spreading the conviction that
economic growth should be pursued even to the detriment of the states social responsibilities and civil societys networks of solidarity, together with social rights and duties. It should be remembered that these rights and duties are fundamental for the full realization of other rights and duties, starting with those which are civil and political. One of the social rights and duties most under threat today is the right to work. The reason for this is that labour and the rightful recognition of workers juridical status are increasingly undervalued, since economic development is thought to depend principally on completely free markets. Labour is thus regarded as a variable dependent on economic and financial mechanisms. In this regard, I would reaffirm that human dignity and economic, social and political factors, demand that we continue to
prioritize the goal of access to steady employment for everyone.[4] If this ambitious goal is to be realized, one prior condition is a fresh outlook on work, based on ethical principles and spiritual values that reinforce the notion of work as a fundamental good for the individual, for the family and for society. Corresponding to this good are a duty and a right that demand courageous new policies of universal employment. Building the good of peace through a new model of development and economics 5. In many quarters it is now recognized that a new model of development is needed, as well as a new approach to the economy. Both integral, sustainable development in solidarity and the common good require a correct scale of goods and values
which can be structured with God as the ultimate point of reference. It is not enough to have many different means and choices at ones disposal, however good these may be. Both the wide variety of goods fostering development and the presence of a wide range of choices must be employed against the horizon of a good life, an upright conduct that acknowledges the primacy of the spiritual and the call to work for the common good. Otherwise they lose their real value, and end up becoming new idols. In order to emerge from the present financial and economic crisiswhich has engendered ever greater inequalities we need people, groups and institutions which will promote life by fostering human creativity, in order to draw from the crisis itself an opportunity for discernment and for a new economic
model. The predominant model of recent decades called for seeking maximum profit and consumption, on the basis of an individualistic and selfish mindset, aimed at considering individuals solely in terms of their ability to meet the demands of competitiveness. Yet, from another standpoint, true and lasting success is attained through the gift of ourselves, our intellectual abilities and our entrepreneurial skills, since a liveable or truly human economic development requires the principle of gratuitousness as an expression of fraternity and the logic of gift. [5] Concretely, in economic activity, peacemakers are those who establish bonds of fairness and reciprocity with their colleagues, workers, clients and consumers. They engage in economic activity for the sake of the common good
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January 7 - 20, 2013
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take care. Their time in the Los Baos concentration camp was obviously miserable. The real suffering was hunger, he writes in a letter, we were getting two ounces of rice in the morning and two ounces in the afternoon. That was all. The visions he had were all of breakfast, lunch and dinner. But his accounts of life in Los Baos are full of optimism and humor and not a little apocrypha as Fr. Bernas s h a r e d last night. Looking back and this encourages the enemy to try again next year. This season for instance we have already won 6 out of 8. We beat the University of the Philippines on both sides of the same question, but lost a real stinko decision to the Philippine Military Academy and a very close decision to our own Law School. 3. Dramatics. We tried Who ride on white horses again this year and as a play it was good, but we lost money. . . . Next year well also run a series on radio and also on television. 4. Glee Club. This takes time, but we are the only male club in the country and so we are relatively famous. . . . We have our own concert each year and sing in most of the girls colleges. And we travel. 5. Teaching. Only 3 religion classes a week. I have been more or less fired from the classroom to specialize in odds and ends. Finally: On most days I get up at four and run from 4 them in the hospital, heard their last confessions, anointed them, and then said Mass for them, when they had gone home to God. We do not see much about his retreats in his curriculum vitae nor in the write-ups about him, but so many remember him as retreat master in their student days and he remembers them: And the retreats! I receive such touching letters! I am humiliated by these letters, because the one who makes the impact on their lives is never the priest it is Christ Our Lord. Whenever I hear confessions, I know that the one who is confessing is reaching out to God. The priest is only the bridge. . . . But it is consoling to know that you can be a bridge between a soul and God . . . . . Every day I pray to be worthy of the good people whom God sends to me. He was ahead of his time in understanding the role and power of mass media and so from 1960 on his main apostolate was in media: print, radio, television. He became Director of the National Office of Mass Media, coordinating the theater group arriving in Toledo, Cebu after a storm had ripped the dock and the only way to cross, theater props and all, was on a single wooden plank. Ignoring the dire warnings of the stevedores and with a prayer to the saints, especially St. Jude, Fr. Jim led them in the crossing to the shore on that single plank, women and children first, and finally all their equipment. To the wonder of the stevedores who said, Grabe si Pader Kano, walay kahadlok, murag superman! It is to this same reckless faith, together with his foresight in building the Federation of Catholic Broadcasters of the Philippines, that we owe much of the dominant communications role of the Church in the snap elections and in the success of the EDSA revolution. Earlier throughout martial law Fr. Jim helped keep the fire burning through his writings in The Communicator, beautiful and powerful articles against martial law examples of elegant and effective communication which I gave to our Jesuit scholastics to emulate when I was Rector of
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these new Reuter babies. There were finally the dramatic 18 hours of Radyo Bandido and June Keithley in the secret location right in the middle of the city and the exhilaration of the victory of EDSA 1. In all this, Fr. Jim describes his role as accidental. He had mobilized his team for an election, not a revolution. But, he says, when the crisis came, The system worked. I said that in all of this work and activity, in the end Fr. Jims one desire was to bring people to God and God to people. Less talked about is how he has brought his friends and many others to where God has chosen most to be found, among the poor. He wrote plays about the poor and abused children of Manila. He writes in the preface to one of his plays: STOP (Stop trafficking of Pilipinas) asked me to write a play on child prostitution in Manila. I read all that has been written on it. I went to the places where they lived and work. I talked to the children... I got physically sick and then I wrote: JENINA. Together with Sr. Eva Maamo,
FATHER James B. Reuter was born on May 21, 1916 in Elizabeth, New Jersey to German-Irish parents, James Reuter and Marguerite Hangarter. He was the eldest of six children, two boys and four girls, one of whom died as a baby. He went to the Jesuit high school, St. Peters Prep, where he attended on a scholarship and graduated valedictorian. He was on the school magazine, was into dramatics and excelled in the schools debating team which went undefeated for three years. He also played football and basketball. All this talent and background he would
bring to his mission in the Philippines. He was profoundly inspired by the young Jesuits at St. Peters, in particular, Ernest J. Hartnett, who seemed to do everything at St. Peters and who became Fr. Jims model. He entered the Jesuit novitiate in Wernersville, Pennsylvania on September 7, 1934, did his two-year Juniorate there as well and then came to the Philippines in 1938 to do philosophy, first at Novaliches and then in Baguio. With him were Fr. Horacio de la Costa, Fr. Edgar Martin, and Fr. Jim McCann, novice master to myself and a generation of Jesuits. In Baguio he became assistant basketball coach at St. Louis University and two of the players eventually joined the Jesuits, Fr. Jose Blanco and Bro. Luis Batin. In late May 1941 he came to the Ateneo de Manila to do his regency and here the war caught him. His group continued their studies of theology through the war, including their period of internment in Los Baos. After they were liberated in early 1945, he returned to finish theology at Woodstock College in the U.S. and was ordained priest on March 24, 1946. After tertianship and special studies in radio and television broadcasting at Fordham University, he returned in 1948 to the Philippines, where he would spend the rest of his life. I first met Fr. Jim at Sacred Heart Novitiate, where I entered as a novice after high school in 1956. He was making his retreat and I watched him doing laps in the 25-meter pool of the novitiate. What I cannot forget was when he started swimming slow laps underwater going to one end and coming back without surfacing, then he would surface, take a deep breath and repeat, over and over again. I thought: Amazing! Later in early 1958, I was with the first group of novices to spend a month in Culion leprosarium and Bro. Batin told us how Fr. Jim would swim from one island to another. They sent a boat to follow him to make sure he was safe. Fr. Jim, Sr. Sarah says, did not know that those were shark-infested waters. But I am afraid the sharks were more Fr. Jims flair for the dramatic, as neither then nor in my other visits to Culion, did I see or hear any mention of sharks. That was when he was in the prime of life, but 30 years later when I was Provincial and lived with him in Xavier House, he still had the same amazing energy. I would see him most mornings walking to St. Pauls Herran in his white sotana to say mass. When we had Province meetings in Angono retreat house, he would walk from there to Meralco theater for play rehearsals. He jogged regularly around Sta. Ana racetrack at 3 or 4 a.m. and one time he came home with a big gash on his forehead and blood all over his track suit. He had run into a tricycle in the dark. Im ok, he said, so we asked, Yes, but how is the tricycle? Underlying this energy and drive was always faith, a faith that was at once very deep and simple in its unwavering assurance that God will always be there and will
on that year of hunger and deprivation, he later wrote of feeling sorry for brother Jesuits not appreciating breakfast, dinner or supper because they were never hungry. And then I realized: the blessing is not having a lot to eat . . . The blessing is hunger! When you are hungry, everything tastes beautiful! Under-neath the humor and lighthear-tedness we see his faith and courage coming from the Lord: When they bring you to trial and deliver you up, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say; ... for it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit (Mark 13: 11) For the Ateneo de Naga and the Ateneo de Manila, 1948-60 were the golden Reuter years. The sparse Jesuit curriculum vitae simply says that he was a Moderator of drama, athletics and debate in college and taught rhetoric, Latin and English and religion. But he brought all the energy and talent from his own schooldays to the Ateneos. A letter he wrote to his mother on January 4, 1959, gives a flavor of those years: Dere everloving mudder, Happy New Year! 1956-19571958-1959. Im catching up on my back mail. . . . My jobs this year are all odds and ends: 1. Moderator of varsity athletics. The national game is basketball and the biggest league in the country is the NCAA. Weve done well in this so farIve been in for two years and we won the championships both times. Among the legends are how Fr. Jim would lead his players every morning in a run several times around the campus and end in the Blue Eagle gym running up and down the bleacherstill all the players would drop, except Fr. Jim. They were not the most
to 5 . . . because this is the best time for exercise, which I dearly need, so as not to get irritable. But as we see from the many tributes from his former players, debaters, actors and actresses and stagehands, glee club, this flurry of energy and activities was simply his use of his inexhaustible energy and many gifts to bring God to people and people to God. In the end, it was about all these young men and women in
media activities of the Catholic Church in the Philippines. He tells the story of the Federation of Catholic Broadcasters of the Philippines: Our Catholic radio stations grew, in a strange way totally unlike the commercial networks . . . Many bishops in the Philippines have dioceses that stretch into mountainous areas, which the priests can only reach once or twice a year. With an AM radio
Fr. Reuter was interred at the Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches, Quezon City after the funeral Mass at the Ateneos Church of the Gesu, January 5, 2013.
a commitment and friendship that would be, for very many, a lifelong one. In a sort of farewell, entitled The Pre-Departure Area (Philippine Star, May 31, 2008), written four years ago when he was 92, he says: My ancient, medieval original Ateneo Glee Club has been singing with me since 1952 56 years! And, so help me, they are singing better now than they did 50 years ago. . (His Glee Club is here singing for Fr. Jim and for
station, the bishop could reach his people everyday. So we have grown to 48 Catholic radio stations and four small tv channels. We are where the people are, but where money is not. In this apostolate of media he reached thousands, millions more, and developed new deep friendships in the Lord. Ihavesaidthatatthefoundations of Fr. Jims inexhaustible energy and optimism was a deep and simple faith, simple in the sense of the beatitude: Blessed are the
Sr. Sarah Manapol, SpC, Fr. Reuters trusted assistant and friend, sings his favorite Marian song during the funeral Mass.
talented team, but, in those years before professional conditioning, they simply outstamina-ed the other teams. He goes on: 2. Debating. We started this about three years ago and it is on the rise. . . . We mix our weak speakers with the strong ones, so that we win often, but not always,
us.) And those who have acted with me in their youth remember their adventures on stage as one of the happiest periods in their lives. The athletes that I have coached in basketball, when they were students, call me when they are sick. I have visited so many of
pure of heart, for they shall see God. The pure of heart are those who can be single-minded for God, who put their hand to the plow and never look back. For Fr. Jim this could lead sometimes to what would seem to be reckless faith. As in the story told by James Bernas in the Philippine Star article other day of their
four mobile units by shortwave radio and computers. As the elections approached, Reuters team trained intensively with the new equipment so that they could relay swift, honest reports on the results. During the elections, Reuters studios at Xavier House coordinated the flow of news to and from member stations, the colleges and the mobile units that were placed strategically around Manila and operated by teams of Reuter babies. The whole of Xavier House became part of the Reuter operation. My Provincials conference room became the computer and data processing center manned by a new generation of computer-savvy Reuter babies. We had put up a very high antenna above the Provincial House. Fortunately we had a guard who was clueless about the whole thing, so when a military car stopped and asked him, he said: Oh, that has been there for 20 years! I keep vivid memories of the night, described by James Bernas, when I was awakened around 3 or 4 a.m. to tell me that we would be raided. I went immediately to my office and searched for any papers that may incriminate people or groups, tore them to pieces and tried to throw them into the Pasig only to have them drift in the wind into our lawn. So I had to go down, pick them up one by one and throw them again. The other vivid memory is of the young people telling us, We have sent off all the computer memory disks to a safe place. But we will not dismantle the equipment. It will be too difficult to put them together again. We will stay with them and be arrested if necessary. Fr. Jims reckless faith and courage had rubbed off deeply on
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Features
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 17 No. 1
January 7 - 20, 2013
On 12 December 2012, bishops, priests, seminarians and religious led over five thousand lay faithful in procession to the House of Representative while praying the rosary for wisdom and enlightenment of legislators who were to vote on the controversial Reproductive Health Bill.
EDSA I movements which did not effect systemic change because the Faith Communities were not involved, the present situation demands a well planned conscientization undertakings with the faith communities actively and interactively involved: Catholics of basic ecclesial and transparochial communities, Protestants of diverse churches and denominations, Islamic mosques, madrasahs and groups, Chinese buddhists, Indigenous peoples federations.
From these communities who are the taproot of true democracy will hopefully emerge the future leaders, young and not so young of the country, who do not belong to the oligarchy and the dynasty-conscious. These are the peoples that deserve the active support of and collaboration by the Armed Forces and business groups. They are also the tax-payers and the consumers of social goods. From this community of believers come the OFWs whose dollar remittances keep our economy afloat.
The three major issues, RH Bill, FA and land degradations, and their related issues and problems are really serious and urgent concerns. But more serious and urgent is the System and its web of influences that create the issues and problems. This is the concern of every Filipino who must act now before it is too late. The facebooks, twitters, emails, media editorials, and informal sessions are bursting with rumors that somehow action in this direction has begun!
Peacemakers / B2
and they experience this commitment as something transcending their selfinterest, for the benefit of present and future generations. Thus they work not only for themselves, but also to ensure for others a future and a dignified employment. In the economic sector, states in particular need to articulate policies of industrial and agricultural development concerned with social progress and the growth everywhere of constitutional and democratic states. The creation of ethical structures for currency, financial and commercial markets is also fundamental and indispensable; these must be stabilized and better coordinated and controlled so as not to prove harmful to the very poor. With greater resolve than has hitherto been the case, the concern of peacemakers must also focus upon the food crisis, which is graver than the financial crisis. The issue of food security is once more central to the international political agenda, as a result of interrelated crises, including sudden shifts in the price of basic foodstuffs, irresponsible behaviour by some economic actors and insufficient control on the part of governments and the international community. To face this crisis, peacemakers are called to work together in a spirit of solidarity, from the local to the international level, with the aim of enabling farmers, especially in small rural holdings, to carry out their activity in a dignified and sustainable way from the social, environmental and economic points of view. Education for a culture of peace: the role of the family and institutions
6. I wish to reaffirm forcefully that the various peacemakers are called to cultivate a passion for the common good of the family and for social justice, and a commitment to effective social education. Nooneshouldignoreorunderestimate the decisive role of the family, which is the basic cell of society from the demographic, ethical, pedagogical, economic and political standpoints. The family has a natural vocation to promote life: it accompanies individuals as they mature and it encourages mutual growth and enrichment through caring and sharing. The Christian family in particular serves as a seedbed for personal maturation according to the standards of divine love. The family is one of the indispensable social subjects for the achievement of a culture of peace. The rights of parents and their primary role in the education of their children in the area of morality and religion must be safeguarded. It is in the family that peacemakers, tomorrows promoters of a culture of life and love, are born and nurtured.[6] Religious communities are involved in a special way in this immense task of education for peace. The Church believes that she shares in this great responsibility as part of the new evangelization, which is centred on conversion to the truth and love of Christ and, consequently, the spiritual and moral rebirth of individuals and societies. Encountering Jesus Christ shapes peacemakers, committing them to fellowship and to overcoming injustice. Cultural institutions, schools and
universities have a special mission of peace. They are called to make a notable contribution not only to the formation of new generations of leaders, but also to the renewal of public institutions, both national and international. They can also contribute to a scientific reflection which will ground economic and financial activities on a solid anthropological and ethical basis. Todays world, especially the world of politics, needs to be sustained by fresh thinking and a new cultural synthesis so as to overcome purely technical approaches and to harmonize the various political currents with a view to the common good. The latter, seen as an ensemble of positive interpersonal and institutional relationships at the service of the integral growth of individuals and groups, is at the basis of all true education for peace. A pedagogy for peacemakers 7. In the end, we see clearly the need to propose and promote a pedagogy of peace. This calls for a rich interior life, clear and valid moral points of reference, and appropriate attitudes and lifestyles. Acts of peacemaking converge for the achievement of the common good; they create interest in peace and cultivate peace. Thoughts, words and gestures of peace create a mentality and a culture of peace, and a respectful, honest and cordial atmosphere. There is a need, then, to teach people to love one another, to cultivate peace and to live with good will rather than mere tolerance. A fundamental encouragement to this is to say no to revenge, to recognize
injustices, to accept apologies without looking for them, and finally, to forgive,[7] in such a way that mistakes and offences can be acknowledged in truth, so as to move forward together towards reconciliation. This requires the growth of a pedagogy of pardon. Evil is in fact overcome by good, and justice is to be sought in imitating God the Father who loves all his children (cf. Mt 5:21-48). This is a slow process, for it presupposes a spiritual evolution, an education in lofty values, a new vision of human history. There is a need to renounce that false peace promised by the idols of this world along with the dangers which accompany it, that false peace which dulls consciences, which leads to self-absorption, to a withered existence lived in indifference. The pedagogy of peace, on the other hand, implies activity, compassion, solidarity, courage and perseverance. Jesus embodied all these attitudes in his own life, even to the complete gift of himself, even to losing his life (cf. Mt 10:39; Lk 17:33; Jn 12:25). He promises his disciples that sooner or later they will make the extraordinary discovery to which I originally alluded, namely that God is in the world, the God of Jesus, fully on the side of man. Here I would recall the prayer asking God to make us instruments of his peace, to be able to bring his love wherever there is hatred, his mercy wherever there is hurt, and true faith wherever there is doubt. For our part, let us join Blessed John XXIII in asking God to enlighten all leaders so that, besides caring for the proper material
welfare of their peoples, they may secure for them the precious gift of peace, break down the walls which divide them, strengthen the bonds of mutual love, grow in understanding, and pardon those who have done them wrong; in this way, by his power and inspiration all the peoples of the earth will experience fraternity, and the peace for which they long will ever flourish and reign among them.[8] With this prayer I express my hope that all will be true peacemakers, so that the city of man may grow in fraternal harmony, prosperity and peace. From the Vatican, 8 December 2012 BENEDICTUS PP XVI
[1] Cf. SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, 1. [2] Cf. Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris (11 April 1963): AAS 55 (1963), 265-266. [3] Cf. ibid.: AAS 55 (1963), 266. [4] BENEDICT XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate (29 June 2009), 32: AAS 101 (2009), 666-667. [5] Cf. ibid, 34 and 36: AAS 101 (2009), 668-670 and 671-672. [6] Cf. JOHN PAUL II, Message for the 1994 World Day of Peace (8 December 1993): AAS86 (1994), 156-162. [7] BENEDICT XVI, Address at the Meeting with Members of the Government, Institutions of the Republic, the Diplomatic Corps, Religious Leaders and Representatives of the World of Culture, BaabdaLebanon (15 September 2012): LOsservatore Romano, 16 September 2012, p. 7. [8] Cf. Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris (11 April 1963): AAS 55 (1963), 304.
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 17 No. 1
January 7 - 20, 2013
Statements
WE thank the God of history for leading us to 2013. It may not be known by many that the beginning of a new civil year is also the celebration of the World Day of Peace. The New Year is an appropriate time to reawaken our desire for a better future, for new beginnings, and for a world that could afford us the achievement of our dreams. But all this could be fulfilled only in peace and through peace. For us Christians, peace is primarily Gods gift. God created everything in love and willed that diverse creatures live in harmony with one another. When sin disrupted the concord enjoyed by human beings with God, with each other and with creation, God relentlessly pursued His design for universal peace, culminating in the birth of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. He is our peace, he who broke down the dividing wall of enmity through his flesh (Eph. 2:14). Through the Holy Spirit, we are constantly recreated in Christs peace. We thank God for opening for us the door to peace. But we have the responsibility to enter that door. Gods is the gift, ours is the mission of building peace. I share the dream of all Filipinos for peace and harmony in all aspects of our lives. We know, however, that peace can only be promoted by peacemakers, by people whose minds, consciences, attitudes and styles of life are devoid of self-interest. Peacemakers seek the common good. Peacemakers spread honesty, respect and friendship. I repeat the invitation of Pope Benedict XVI, to say no to revenge, to recognize injustices, to accept apologies without looking for them, and finally to forgive. Let us all pray for the peace that only God can give. And let us live as true peacemakers. Then 2013 will be a peaceful year. + LUIS ANTONIO G. CARDINAL TAGLE Archbishop of Manila
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We must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29)
IN view of the recent occurrences leading to the passage of the RH bill on third reading both in Congress and the Senate, I am issuing this Statement in my capacity as Bishop of Bacolod and therefore this Statement is mainly for and in behalf of the Diocese of Bacolod. Consequently my Statement does not necessarily reflect the official statement of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), nor of any particular group of Bishops in the Conference and I am ready to abide with the official stand of the CBCP. I believe I have to speak out for and in behalf of the Catholic faithful, as well as of all the people of good will, in the diocese, who are expecting some guidance and support for their faith and conduct in life, considering the very fast development vis--vis the results of how the House of Representatives and the Senate dealt with the controversial Reproductive Health Bill (RH Bill). As I said, the developments came so fast, and as expected, so it seems, the voting both in the House of Representatives and in the Senate turned out in favor of the RH Bill, and therefore the official stand of the Catholic Church that rejects the Bill is likewise turned down. The fast tracking of its passage as it appears, is largely due to the drive to put to rest, once and for all, the issue that has divided the nation. But will the eventual passage into LAW of the RH bill really silence the authentic voice of truth? Will this Reproductive Health Policy bridge the divide? I say, NO! The DIVISION will NEVER pass away, for it has become clear as daylight that: FROM NOW ON THE HOUSEHOLD SHALL BE DIVIDED. Fathers will be against theirs sons, and sons against their fathers; mothers will be against their daughters and daughters against their mothers (c.f. Lk. 12:49-53). TRUTH distinguishes. TRUTH will create a divide between those who stand beneath its light and those blinded by the darkness of deceit and falsity! As Bishop of my flock, I am dismayed by the unscrupulous results of the said voting, and therefore I condemn it as a blatant insult against the Omnipotent God and a grave insult to the sanctity of human life, especially of the unborn. I believe there are further steps to be observed antecedent to the final approval of the Bill. But, whatever these steps are, they can still be subject to human manipulation in order to achieve the evil schemes of those who are pushing for its approval. At this point, may I remind the faithful of Bacolod of the many initiatives we have made to express our strongest protest against the RH Bill, because of the spiritual, moral, and socio physicomedical ill-effects it can create among our people. We have held a Negros Island-wide protest-caravan; we never tire of calling for and organizing prayer rallies; we have held symposia and conferences and have invited credible speakers to talk in these fora sponsored by the diocese, our schools and even civic groups. I can say, we have never been wanting until now, and I exhort all of you to persevere in this venture. I am referring to the prayers we have offered in public and in private coupled with our acts of penance so that our people will be preserved from the malignant effects of the culture of DEATH (Divorce, Euthanasia, Abortion, Total Population Control and Homosexual Union) to which RH bill will only open the floodgates that will bring untold disasters rendering the Filipino Nation vulnerable to DEATHs stranglehold. And yet, as shown by the recent voting in Congress, majority of our Representatives and Senators and with the full support of the Office of the President, it looks as if, ours is a losing battle. But shall we stop our struggle, because of sheer discouragement, and allow the moral evil to spread and to create havoc in the church, in our society and nation starting from our families? NO! As a diocese, let us continue with our prayers coupled with our acts of penance, as we go on with our campaign and inform our people in season and out of season (II Timothy 4:2), as we offer our prayers and earnest endeavors, asking the Lord and Giver of Life to save our country, to save our unborn from the clutches of the Culture of Death. Let us join the ranks of our courageous Congressmen/women and Senators who have become staunch witnesses and evangelizers for God and for human life, as they stood-up for the side of Truth and of their Faith in their consistent vote of NO to the RH Bill. Let us also direct our prayers coupled with our acts of penance in behalf of our legislators who voted YES. May the Spirit of Awe and Reverence for the Presence of God haunt their Consciences and make them realize the grave moral and social consequences of their YES vote. Like Mary, our heavenly Mother, let us continue searching for Jesus, her Son, incarnate among us despite the ills and corruption of human society, by injecting in it our ever vibrant faith and lively hope, that even in the midst of the evil and ignominious torture and death of the cross, her Son still reigns triumphant as Lord of heaven and earth! Again, with my prayers and pastoral blessing this Christmas and New Year! +MOST REV. VICENTE M. NAVARRA, DD Bishop of Bacolod
As politics allows free men and women to participate in the divine governance of the universe, governments must enact laws whose reason and justice emanate from God. As Pope Benedict XVI reminds us, it is the specific task of politics to subordinate power to the criterion of law, thereby regulating the meaningful use of power. It is not the law of the strongest that must prevail, but rather the strength of the law
This makes it vital for every society to remove everything that could cast suspicion on the law and its ordinances, because it is only in this way that arbitrary conduct on the part of the state can be eliminated and freedom can be experienced as something genuinely shared by allThe law will come under suspicion, and people will revolt against the law, whenever it is perceived, no longer as the expression of a justice that is at the service of
Statement for the International Human Rights Day and 64th year of UDHR
This pastoral commitment develops in a twofold direction: in the proclamation of the Christian foundations of human rights and the denunciation of the violations of these rights [Compendium of the Social Teachings of the Church 159]
THE Church is one with the nation and the world in marking the 64th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR). The theme of this years Human Rights Day is on fighting impunity towards a human rights-based governance. Human Rights-based governance means applying national and international human rights standards and norms into governance: decision-making, policy formulation, legislation, development, and fiscal planning. It recognizes peoples entitlement of rights, and the duty of state and non-state actors to respect, protect and fulfil these rights, which is based on the inherent dignity that belongs to each human person, its ultimate source being in God. Impunity means exemption from punishment or consequences. It is a failure to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice, and sends a wrong message that it is possible for violators to escape from the established laws. It allows the continuation
Human Rights / B7
www.arkibongbayan.org
Statement on the Fire in Parroquia de San Pedro Apostol Vinzons, Camarines Norte
IN the early hours of the morning of 26th December, 2012, fire broke out in the Parroquia de San Pedro Apostol in Vinzons, Camarines Norte that gutted down the Parish Church and the Old Parish Convent. This incident brought great sadness into our hearts because we lost the 400 year-old Church which served as a silent witness to the faith of so many generations. We may have lost this beautiful and antique edifice but the words of St. Paul in verse 16 of his Second Letter to the Corinthians remind us For we are the temple of the Living God. As God has said, I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they will be my people. We may have lost a place of worship but the presence of God remains with us for He is EMMANUELGod with us. As members of the local Church of the Diocese of Daet, I invite everyone to imitate and draw inspiration during these trying times from the Acts of the Apostles when the Early Christian Community joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the Mother of Jesus and with His brethren (Acts 1:14). Let us pray for one another especially for the Parish Community of San Pedro Apostol and look at this event as a testing of faith that produces perseverance (James 1:3). As we enter the threshold of the Diocesan Celebration of the Year of Faith, we humbly kneel and pray before the Lord in the same way that St. Peter and the rest of the Apostles implored Jesus to increase our Faith (Luke 17:5) due to the fact that faith helps us understand and accept the will of God in all the circumstances of our individual and community life. May the Good Lord help us in all our needs. +GILBERT A. GARCERA, DD Bishop of Daet December 27, 2012
www.sanfabianparish.blogspot.com
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Ref lections
The Baptism of the Lord, Year C, Lk 3:15-16, 21-22; January 13, 2013
brought to mankind, and wanted to be united to all who sought God. He saw the results of sin in the world and wanted to be united to all who would fight sin. He knew that the Kingdom of God was beginning and sought union with all were willing to make a commitment to the Kingdom. And John pointed to Jesus and said, Look, there is the Lamb of God. There is the one who will take the horrors of the world upon Himself, and die for Gods people. When Jesus was baptized He accepted the Mission that was the whole reason why He became a man. He began His public ministry which would end in the destruction of sin and hate with obedience to the Father and love for His people. Jesus embraced His Mission, defeated the devil, established the Kingdom of God, and then called on each of us to continue His ministry, more than that, to complete His ministry. This reminds me of the famous story about the completion of Giacomo Puccinis opera, Turandot. Puccini was one of the greatest composers of opera of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. La Boehme, Tosca and Madame Butterfly are just a few of his most famous works. His final work was the opera, Turandot. He knew he was dying when he started writing Turandot and almost completed it, but he passed away before he finished the final act. Puccini had many students and associated who gathered around his deathbed. They made up their minds that they would complete Turandot as an expression of their esteem for the great composer. It didnt happen all at once, it took a number of years, but finally they finished the task. The opera debuted at one of the most famous theaters in the world, La Scala in Milan. It was conducted by the former pupil of Puccini, Arturo Toscanini. The music was beautiful and the audience was spellbound. Then in the middle of the Third Act, after the great aria, Nessun Dormo, Toscanini laid down his baton, turned to the people and announced, It is at this point that the Master died. You could have heard a pin drop. Then Toscanini looked at the audience and said, But his disciples continued his work in his Spirit. Toscanini turned back to the stage and completed the opera to the thunderous applause of all at La Scala. We are called to continue the
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 17 No. 1
January 7 - 20, 2013
said, I formed you and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon those who live in darkness. (See todays First Reading.) In his life, Jesus actualized such a liberating and sanctifying immersion by associating with sinners and even seeking their company something that shocked the holy people of his time. His association with public sinners was bound to tarnish his reputation as his opponents pointed out on several occasions. Jesus did not mind that criticism and continued like before, foras he saidit is sick people who need a doctor. (See Mt 9:12.) But his immersing himself in the crowd of sinful mankind cost him much moreit cost him his very life, for he was put to death to atone for the sins of all! Jesus vicarious self-offering was so powerful in its effect because of who he was Gods beloved Son, on whom the Fathers favor rested! Such a solemn proclamation of Jesus divine identity soon after his baptism balanced, so to speak, his hiding himself amongthecrowdofsinnersattheJordanRiver. It also completed the prophetic nature of what happened on that dayGods very Son comingtosaveallmankindbysharingfullyits predicament of misery, in order to transform it from within, through the superabundant holiness that only God is.
www.gardenofpraise.com
fulfillment of all other duties connected with that feast, he showed that he appreciated and was actively involved in keeping the religious traditions and observances of his people, just as he was at home with the Scriptures. He had been taught to value those traditions, and felt that they were part of his life. One often wonders whether our children and our youth could not be more like Jesus as he progressed in knowledge and maturity with the passing of the years. Jesus had grown in his appreciation of the precious traditions of his people. He knew
Sto. Nio / B7
ENCOUNTERS
SOULFOOD
Nothing just happens
I HEARD this message from T.D. Jakes, and I loved it so much, Id like to share it with you. Let me start with a beautiful Bible story. One day, a married couple named Elimelech and Naomi were living in Bethlehem. And they were blessed with two sons. But when famine struck the land, they had to migrate. Just like Filipinos today, Naomi and Elimelech went abroad to look for a better life. But in that land, tragedy happened. First, Naomis husband Elimelech died. Her two sons married Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah. And just in case youre asking, no, Orpah didnt have an ancient TV show And then tragedy struck again because Naomis two sons also died. So Naomi was left with her two daughter-in-laws, Ruth and Orpah. In ancient times, a widow doesnt inherit a single cent from her dead husband. So Naomi, Ruth, and Orpah became dirt poor. What can be worse than three widows living together in poverty? That was when Naomi decided to go back to Bethlehem and become a Balikbayan. But a very poor, destitute, impoverished Balikbayan. And she told Ruth and Orpah to leave her and go back to their familiesbecause they had no hope with her. The three of them cried togetherand after much tears, Orpah decided to walk away. But Ruth decided to stay with Naomi. And she said, Wherever you go, I shall go; Where you die, I shall die; your people will be my people; And your God will be my God too. She commits herself to care for her mother-in-law. And so both of them went back to Bethlehem. In Bethlehem, Ruth looks for food. Out of the many lands there, she chooses to glean from the land of a certain Boaz, a relative of Naomis husband. (Gleaning was a charitable practice in ancient Israel where landowners didnt harvest everything from their land, but left some leftovers, so that the poor people can gather these leftovers for themselves.) And this is where the miracle happens And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech. Then Boaz asked his foreman, Who is that young woman over there? Who does she belong to? (Ruth 2:3, 5) It says that Ruth just happened to be gleaning on the land of Boaz. Like it was a stroke of luck. A happy coincidence. A random chance. An unplanned accident. But did this really just happen? If you read until the end of the story, it says that the Boaz marries Ruth! And Ruth the Beggar becomes Ruth the Owner. Heres the truth: Nothing Just Happens. Because God had something to do with it. This was Divine Orchestration. The Heavenly Conductor arranged, maneuvered, and engineered various circumstances to position Ruth to harvest in this specific plot of land, which was her place of destiny. I believe God is doing the exact same thing in your life. Say it after me, Nothing just happens. When you feel discouraged by your current situation, when you feel that things arent going your way, when you find yourself caught in a quagmire of opposition, and people reject you, declare that Nothing Just Happens! God determines your steps The Bible says, We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. (Proverbs 16:9). She was begging in the land of Boaz. This was her place of poverty. But God saw the future and knew that this place of poverty was actually her place of destiny. Ruth the Beggar became Ruth the Owner! Ruth, the mendicant, became Ruth, the millionaire. Right now, you may be in a place of poverty. I declare it now to be your place of prosperity. You may be in a place of anguish. I declare it now to be your place of abundance. You may be in a place of defeat. I now declare it as your place of destiny. Your physical surroundings may be ordinary to your eyes, but behind the curtains of the physical realm, God is doing something extraordinary in your favor. Declare that God is bringing you to your place of destiny because Nothing Just Happens. Think of the most painful experience in your life and shout, Nothing just happens! Think of the people that have abandoned you and shout, Nothing just happens! Think of the anguish that you went through and shout, Nothing just happens! When the winds are strong, the clouds are dark, the waves are high, shout, Nothing just happens! When theres no food on your table, no money in your pocket, no friends on your side, shout, nothing just happens! When your prayers arent answered, when your dreams arent happening, and when your miracles arent flowingNothing just happens!
Gods providence
IN His permanent legacy to us, as recorded in the Holy Bible, God has assured us of His love and care for us (see Mt. 6:25-34). Naturally that does not mean we have no part to play or do. As human intelligent beings we are expected to do the duties that are expected of us, duties towards God, ourselves and our neighbor. Such is the reason we were given the intelligence and other faculties of soul and body, because naturally we are to do our part in the duties of our world and our building a better society. Precisely thats what the above text refers to. Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they are? Can any of you, for all his worrying, add one single cubit to his span of life? And why worry about clothing? Think of the flowers growing in the fields; they never have to work or spin; yet I assure you that not even Solomon in all his regalia was robed like one of these. Now if that is how God clothes the grass in the field which is there today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will he not much more look after you, you men of little faith? So do not worry; do not say, What are we to eat? What are we to drink? How are we to be clothed? It is the pagans who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all. Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on his righteousness, and all these other things will be given you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Mt. 6:26-34). Yes, my friend, rest assured, God cares for you and loves you. He doesnt want you to become a nervous wreck because of too much useless worrying. His point is that we trust in Gods Almighty hand and constant loving care.
Photo: flikcr.com/san_juan
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 17 No. 1
January 7 - 20, 2013
Social Concerns
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saints like Francis and Clare and recently Mother Teresa. During the Synod of Bishops last October 9, 2012 Archbishop Soc Villegas made an intervention: the Gospel can be preached to empty stomachs but only if the stomach of the preacher is as empty as his parishioners. The Synod highlighted the need of the baptized to be re-evangelized and for us in Asia to focus on the concerns of the countless poor. We can become catalysers in building the Church of the Poor in the Philippines which after 20 years by and large has not been taken seriously the building of the Basic Ecclesial Communities which is very important in empowering the people. We recognize that we have a lot of historical baggage as a colonized nation and have been being under a theology of power but we too have models that can inspire us to strive more. The pain experienced by the poor daily can be an inspiration on the urgency of the Good News. Our nationalism should fire us up so that the majority who are poor and to which most of us came from would finally be liberated. The inequality started when the colonial masters grabbed the lands and natural resources of the Third World 500 years ago. With their loot they industrialized and created bombs to continually control the world in connivance with the local elite. They perpetuate the unjust structures through political dynasty, slowness of genuine land reform, neocolonial policies like oil deregulation, contractualization, plunder of our forests and minerals etc. There are vast human resources in our Catholic population majority of which still trust us until now. This trust is eroding fast with the onslaught from the Western media. We have to let go of the theology insisting on simply sacramentalizing the people and focusing on dole outs, and instead push for the new model of Church that prepares for the new earth. With a systematic and comprehensive pastoral program we can unleash that transforming power of the people to work for justice which is a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel (Synod of Bishop 1971). Through intelligent planning and patience but much more through discernment on the Spirits will, we follow him who knows everything and who gives us the necessary wisdom to implement his plans. With the gift of metanoia it becomes easy for us to consider our employees or household helps as partners in evangelization. We assume the lifestyle of the poor witnessing to simple living so that we can provide family wage for our employees and give back to the poor what belongs to them. The heavenly Father can provide for all our needs. In our simple celebrations we can become witnesses of Jesus who told us to invite the poor. We can just imagine the impact of such witnessing when all would open their doors to poor too. Imagine the joy it will spread. May we announce the fulfillment of Marys Magnificat: He has done great things for mefilled the hungry with good things!
Demolition crews destroy houses of urban poor in San Juan City during a series of demolitions in 2012 being implemented by various municipalities in Metro Manila.
has sunk deep in their psyche fruit of their ancestors experience of oppression from the lowlanders and the colonizers. For lack of a better term I would call this traumatic fear. When I knew there was demolition in my neighborhood, I was angry but, I must confess, that I was afraid too despite the fact that I am a Franciscan priest for 35 years now and immersed daily in the Word of God and the Eucharist. My mind would tell me I should not be afraid but my hands and feet were cold. I realized that I too carry in myself the traumatic fear of the Agtas and the squatters. I went back to my own history. My father who was a fearful man would always refer to the rich and powerful in our town as darakula (Bicol word for big people) and that we are saraday (small people). The saraday should stay on the sidelines. This traumatic fear linked me back to the Filipino people which were subjected to fear for five hundred years.. Paolo Freire would call it in his Pedagogy of the Oppressed the culture of silence. I really thought that I was already freed from that culture of silence. I now understand that I was covering up my fears with holy rationalizations: the Church is only for spiritual matters, the poor are lazy etc. Accepting my own fears was an important step to gradually free myself from the traumatic fear through the anapanasati or awareness of breathing from the Buddhists in Thailand. In Gethsemane Jesus had to face his own fear until he was totally free. As a Church leader I am aware of that fearful and submissive attitude to Church and government leaders. This is
not obedience. On the other side of the coin Paolo Freire would also point out that having been a victim of oppression, I could internalize the oppressor image and become an oppressor like the detested frayle imposing ecclesiastical power on submissive people. This is what I have to be aware of too. The liberating power of poverty When God liberated Francis through the lepers, he showed to the Church the power of poverty. The same Agtas and squatters paralyzed by fear led me to discover the liberating power of poverty. There is nothing to lose so why be afraid of confronting the shadows in the Church and in society. Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle listened intently to the grievances of the Agtas, the farmers and fisher folks who marched from Aurora to Manila to stop the unjust APECO law of the Angaras. He thanked them for their story and encouraged them to tell the whole country about their situation. He would help them with what he can do, he said, but reiterated that the Church has no power many times she is also disregarded. But as a parting powerful word he said that if nobody listens, the One who is above is listening. It was my daily contact with the poor that was drawing out from my heart that emotion that is also very much in God mercythe Lord is kind and merciful. Francis expressed it: and I had mercy on them. My rationalized insensitivity surrendered to mercy through that experience with that woman carrying a child who came to me at 4:00 oclock one afternoon: Father, may I borrow P50 pesos. My children and myself have not
eaten lunch yet. My husband who went to work has not come back yet. That incident touched me or in the world of Paquiao scored a knock-out on my ego. This was to me the poor Mary and Jesus. Instead of judgment I began to relate with mercy to my neighbors who live under the bridge, to the scavengers, the contractualized workers, the unemployed who keep on asking me for work and most recently those sleeping in the streets now because their houses were illegally demolished. Am I the Good News of Jesus who proclaimed we are brothers and sisters belonging to only one Father/Mother? This is the question that continues to set me free. The gift of prayer The Lord fortified me with his gift of prayer. I held on daily to the breviary and to the Eucharist. My one hour contemplative prayer morning and evening was a time for recharging my heart which gets unsettled with the many contradictions in myself, in the Church and in society. The mantra that I used was: Lord Jesus, Son of the Living God, transfigure me. I am part of your Body. Many times the Spirit brought in consoling realization that God who owns everything is indeed in charge. He would provide for what is needed through unexpected offers of help. I was surprised too when, towards the end of my stay, 26 youth (estambay who stayed late at night in the street) joined a recollection in OLAS and now they do bible sharing weekly. With poverty we have everything. Recapture our zeal to be radical God gave us the charism of countless
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Sto. Nio / B6
Baptism / B6
of the violation by letting the violators go free to further harm more victims. The culture of impunity encourages others to violate the rights of others since public officials are either unable or unwilling to bring people to justice. Impunity has no place in rights-based governance and should be challenged, fought and stopped. In order to promote a culture of human rights and mutual respect, it is important to work towards a true rights-based governance, where eliminating impunity is a necessary element. Sadly, we see incidences of impunity close to us: extrajudicial killings by the military, such as the recent massacre of indigenous Blaan family in Tampakan; and lack of justice to victims of violence and killings, such as the slow and ineffective investigation of the case of the killing of Fr. Pops Tentorio and other environmental and human rights advocates and journalists vocal against mining and other exploitative activities. We are also far from the goal of rights-based governance: on-going are the violation of the right to adequate standard of living of farmers, Indigenous Peoples and urban poor claiming rights to land, relocation and opportunity for livelihood; intensification of workers struggle for job security due to the normalization of contractual work system; continuation of extractive activities by mining companies in spite of violation of environmental standards and ecological degradation; lack of equal opportunity and access to information in participation in policy formulation, election, and current policies that affect the basic sectors, due to lack of relevant policies and legal guarantees. Apart from the lack of efficiency and unclear accountability of various
government agencies responsible for these issues, the culture of non-action and impunity on the violators such as influential landowners and corporations, state actors and agencies, only perpetuates the situation further from good governance. As our country is a state party to more than 20 international human rights instruments, it is the obligation of the Philippine government to apply these to the national and local legislations and ensure their implementation. We therefore call upon our government to exercise leadership and political will to ensure: 1) the effective implementation of the existing laws, such as the asset reform laws for agrarian reform (CARP) and for Indigenous Peoples (IPRA), to give back the rights due to farmers, IPs and other basic sectors; 2) the prompt enactment of legal guarantees on good governance such as the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and the Alternative Minerals Management Bill (AMMB), which various groups have been calling for a long time; and 3) that perpetrators of human rights violations are put to justice with due compensation to the victims. As good governance is a shared responsibility, we also appeal to each citizen to be concerned for each other in this journey towards true human rightsbased governance, by promoting others rights and challenging violations. We are all made in the image of God and each person, with her/his unique worth is loved by God. Let us respect the inherent right and dignity of each other in the spirit of Gods love! + BRODERICK S. PABILLO, DD National Director 7 December 2012
must respect? (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Values In A Time Of Upheaval, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 2006) These involve such things as the right to life, the right of married couples to found a family according to their religious beliefs and moral convictions, and to be the primary educators of their children. Here as elsewhere, the truth must be the basis of the law, rather than the result of legislation. Amidst the many voices trying to influence the outcome of your deliberations, I call upon you in the words our Lord first said to Abraham, Do not be afraid! Listen to what God is saying; obey God rather than men (cf Ac 5:29). For unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain (Ps 127), and the Lord himself has assured us, I am with you always, until the end of the age (Mt 28:20). Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us! St. Thomas More, pray for us! San Pedro Calungsod, pray for us! +JOSE S. PALMA, DD Archbishop of Cebu President, Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines 12 December 2012
them thoroughly, and lived them out with the enthusiasm that characterizes this age. This is what our children and pre-adolescents would need to have and which many lack . . . Most of our youths are bright. Some are exceptionally bright. They are very familiar with the names and characteristics of movie and TV personalities, sports champions, war heroes.... Yet, when it comes to religious knowledge, many hardly know more than what they learned when they were in kinder and grade school.... When it comes to our religious traditions, many show coldness and boredom. When it comes to making some commitment in their parish or religious association, they become over-cautious and unreliable.... The feast of the Sto. Nio should offer them an opportunity to reflect on why things are so. Many parents and educators, likewise, should ask themselves at what point they went wrong and how the situation can be remedied in order to see our youth progress steadily in wisdom and grace, before God and men (Lk 2:52), as Jesus did. The observance of the Year of Faith, with the invitation to discover (or re-discover) the beauty of our faith and its content, can be a wonderful opportunity to bring this about.
His Mission. When we make time to be kind to those whom our society hates, the downtrodden, the socially unacceptable, the butt of jokes at school, at work, in the community, we are continuing His Mission. When we respond to the Grace to do something for someone else, we are continuing His Mission. When we realize with our lives that we are not the center of the universe, but that Jesus is the Center, and our center, we are continuing His Mission. You are my Beloved Son. With you I am well pleased. This was the voice of the Father over the Son after Jesus was baptized by John. The Father was pleased that Jesus embraced His Mission. He is pleased when we continue Christs Mission. What a gift we have been given in Jesus Christ. Some people think that life is meaningless, without purpose. But we Christians know why we were created and how we can live meaningful lives. We can make a difference in the world by uniting ourselves to the One who changed the world with His Life. We can continue the Mission of Jesus Christ.
CBCPMonitor
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B8
Entertainment
Moral Assessment
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 17 No. 1
Technical Assessment
SI Grace (Angel Locsin) ay isang dalagang ina na gagawin ang lahat para sa ikakagaling ng nag-iisang anak na si Botchok (Miguel Vergara) na may malubhang karamdaman sa dugo. Isang paraan lamang ang maari pang magsalba sa buhay ng batabone marrow transplant, isang proseso na mangangailangan ng tugmang donor na kadalasay ama o kapatid lamang. Hindi ito magiging madali dahil simulat sapul ay wala nang ugnayan si Grace sa ama ng kanyang anak, si Edward (Dingdong Dantes). Ngunit dahil ito na lamang ang paraan, hahanapin niya si Edward, ibabalita niya ang tungkol sa kanilang anak at sa kalagayan nito at ang tulong na kailangan niya sa ama tungo sa ikagagaling ng bata. Ngunit si Edward ay kasal na kay Jacq (Angelica Panganiban), masaya silang nagsasama bagamat wala silang anak. Papayag si Jacq na tulungan ang bata; susubukan mag-anak ni Grace at ni Edward sa pamamagitan ng makabagong teknolohiya (in vitro fertilization) ngunit hindi ito magiging matagumpay. Isa na lamang ang natitirang paraansi Grace at Edward ay kailangang magtalik muli upang magkaroon ng anak. Paano ito mangyayari kung kasal si Edward at si Grace ay may kasintahan din na si Tristan (Zanjoe Marudo)? Hanggang saan ang kaya nilang ibigay at subukan sa ikagagaling ng isang bata at sa ngalan ng pagmamahal? Mahusay ang pagkakatagni ng One More Try sa kabuuan. Kuha nito ang atensiyon ng mga manonood sa kakaiba at sanga-sangang kuwento na naka-sentro sa matinding problema ng mga magulang na nagnanais sagipin mula sa matinding karamdaman ang anak. Hindi man masasabing orihinal ang kwento at halaw lamang sa isang pelikulang Tsino na In Love We Trust ang One More Try, nagsubok pa rin itong maghatid ng kuwentong aakma sa panlasa ng mga Pilipino. Sa kabila ng ilang katanungan tulad ng, Paano magiging solusyon ang pagkakaroon ng kapatid sa ikagagaling ng bata kung ang isang sanggol ay hindi naman maaring isaalang-alang sa medical operation hanggang ito ay wala pang dalawangtaong gulang? Paano rin naging sobrasobra ang yaman nila Jacq kung sila ay mga empleyado lamang, walang sariling negosyo at nanggaling sa hirap? kapani-paniwala pa rin naman ang kuwento sa kabuuan. Nailabas ng mga tauhan ang kani-kanilang husay sa mapaghamong iskrip at malulutong na dayalogo. Maaring naging pawang teleserye ang dating ng One More Try ngunit nag-iwan pa rin ito ng tatak sa mga manonood hindi lamang dahil sa natatanging kahusayang ipinamalas ditto, kundi pati na ang dipangkaraniwang tema nito. Matindi ang problemang moral na ibinato ng One More Try sa mga tauhan nito at maging sa mga manonood. MAGKAKABARKADA sila Lizzie, Danielle, Margaux at Claudia, pawang mga socialitessosi o sosyal at mestisahing mga dalaga. Dahil mga may kaya ang kani-kaniyang pamilya, magagara ang kanilang mga tirahan, mamahalin ang mga kotse, kaya nilang maging mga fashionista, palagi silang mapera at mababangosa madaling salita, wala silang mga problema. Pero teka, meron din pala, mga problemang lumulutang sa kani-kanilang mga pangaraw-araw na buhay: ano ang kanilang oorderin sa restaurant para hindi sila
Title: One more try Cast: Angel Locsin, Angelica Panganiban, Dingdong Dantes, Zanjoe Marudo, Miguel Vergara, Gina Pareno, Agot Isidro Director: Ruel S. Bayani Producer: Star Cinema Running Time: 110 minutes; Genre: Drama Location: Manila and Baguio, Philippines TECHNICAL ASSESSMENT: MORAL ASSESSMENT: CINEMA Rating: For viewers 18 years old and above
Magiging katanggap-tanggap ba na ang isang ina ay makikipagtalik sa asawa ng iba para iligtas ang buhay ng anak? Kapag ang lahat ng paraan ay nasubukan na at tanging iyon na lamang ang solusyon, sapat bang dahilan ang nakatayang buhay ng isang bata para isuko ng isang babae ang kanyang dignidad? Hanggang saan din magbibigay, magpaparaya at magtitiis ang mga taong masasaktan alang-alang sa pagliligtas ng isang buhay? Ito nga ba ay sukatan ng pagmamahal o sukatan ng paninindigan o sukatan ng pananampalataya? Nakababahalang tila pinaboran ng pelikula ang pagko-kompromiso ni Grace sa kanyang moral para lamang iligtas ang kanyang anak. Hindi bale nang magkasala kung para sa kapakanan ito ng naghihingalong anak samantalang binigyan din naman siya mga pagpipilian? Hindi ninanais ng CINEMA na husgahan ang naging paninindigan ni Grace, ngunit malinaw ang nakasaad sa pagpapahalagang moral: anumang maling gawain ay hindi maitatama ng layunin. Maaring maging maunawain ang simbahan sa kalagayan ni Grace, ngunit hindi nito maaring kunsintihan ang anumang gawaing mali. Hindi rin tamang palabasin na ang mga tauhan sa pelikula ay wala nang pagpipilian. Laging mayroong pagpipilian sa pagitan ng tama at mali. Ganyan kung lumapit ang tukso pinapaniwala kang wala ka nang pagpipilian. Higit na nakababahala na pawang pinag-isipan at pinagplanuhan ni Grace na akitin si Edward para lamang maisagawa ang kanyang layunin. Bagamat ipinakita rin sa pelikula na may kaparusahan ang bawat kasalanan, nakalalamang ang mga imaheng ginagawang romantiko at kaakit-akit ang pakikiapid, pagbabaluktot ng katwiran at pagsusuko ng moralidad. Para sa ano? Sa ngalan ng habag sa isang paslit na may sakit? (Noong manood ang CINEMA ng One More Try, nakaka-bawas-tensiyon na marinig naming kinukutya ng ilang manonood si sa mga socialites na ito ay hindi man lamang naantig ang aming isipan o damdamin para makiramay sa kanila. Naisip din namin, Ano ang pakay nila at ginusto nilang ilaban ito sa Manila Film Festival? Ang istorya, walang katoryatorya. Ang mga papel, walang hamong inihahain sa mga gaganap, kayat ang pag-arte nila ay hindi maituring na arte. Para lamang silang wala lang, mga sarili lang nilang sosing barkadahan na nasumpungang magpakodak ng mga kababawan nila. Sasang-ayon na kami na may maganda rin sigurong hangarin ang Sosy P ro b l e m s ; marahil gusto nitong mangaral tungkol sa kawalangkatuturan ng mga sosyal na hilig ng tao, o imulat ang mga mata ng mga manonood sa kahalagahan ng pagkakaroon ng matayog na mithiin, ngunit nabigo ito. Nananaig sa kabuuan ng pelikula ang kabanidosahan ng mga pangunahing tauhan, ang kababawang nasasalamin sa mga maburirit nilang usapan at pataasan ng ihi. Dahil salat sa lalim ang characterization, nagmistulang isang fashion show lamang halos ang kalakhan ng pelikula, kayat hindi tumiim ang mensahe. Kung may transformation o pagbabago man sa katauhan ng mga sosing dalaga sa bandang dulo, ito ay matabang at walang pinaggalingan, pagkat hindi ito na-develop nang kapani-paniwala sa istorya kundi idiniin lamang sa isang talumpati. Walang mawawala sa inyo kung hindi man ninyo mapanood ito; ikain nyo na lang ang pambili ng tiket.
Grace sa mga intimate scenes nila ni Edward: Iyan lang naman ang gusto mo, gagamitin mo pang dahilang ang anak mo, mahiya ka!) To t o o n g mapanganib sa mga murang isipan na maaaring padala sa taliwas na katuwiran ni Grace na bingi sa katuwiran at bukas sa kunsintihan. Naroon ang ina ni Grace (Gina Pareno) na buong bangis na pumipigil sa balak niyang hiramin si Edward kahit isang gabi lang, at naroon din naman ang
doktora ni Grace (Carmina Villaroel) na nagsusulsol sa kanya, Its only sex, kung gustong iligtas ang anak, go for it! Malalim na isipin ang hinihingi ng tema ng pelikulang ito. Ang One More Try ay isang happily-ever-after movie; sa tunay na buhay, hindi nagwawakas sa isang masayang party lamang ang ganoong mga masalimuot at sangasangang relasyon. Marami pa silang sasapiting pagsubok at pasakit, sapagkat ang isang anak ay laman ng dalawang magulang, at kung ang bawat magulang may sariling asawa, gugulo ang buhay pagkat hindi madaling bunutin ang ugat ng panibugho sa puso. Hindi rin madaling kitlin ang tawag ng laman at pakikiapid lalo nat iisiping alang alang sa mga bata Papaano na kung ang ikalawang anak ni Grace at Edward ay magkoroon din ng karamdamang tulad ng sa panganay? Is pa bang anak ulit ang solusyon? Paano na kung si Jacq at si Tristan, gawa ng pagkasawi o panibugho ay magkaroon din ng relasyon? May karapatan pa ba silang pigilan nila
Grace at Edward? At kung magbunga din ang relasyon nila, hindi ba magiging kaawa-awa ang mga bata, ang mga bata na ginagawa nilang dahilan upang pagtakpan ang kani-kanilang kahinaan? Napapanahong pagnilayan ang tema ng One More Try ngayot nakataya ang kinabukasan ng pamilya at ng kabataang Pilipino gawa ng pinaiiral na contraceptive mentality ng pamunuang Aquino. Ang tinig ng Simbahan para sa mga kabataan: masdan ninyo ang ibinubunga ng pre-marital sex, ng pagtatalik sa labas ng pag-aasawa. Pahalagahan ang inyong katawan at damdamin; sa pamamagitan ng inyong katawan, dumadaloy ang buhay, kinakasangkapan kayo ng Panginoon upang lumalang ng mga bagong kaluluwang magpapatuloy ng lahi. Sa tindi ng tensiyong moral ng pelikula at sa tema at mga eksena nitong sekswal, minamarapat ng CINEMA na ang One More Try ay para lamang sa manonood na nasa hustong gulang na 18 pataas.
MAC en COLET
Ni Bladimer Usi
TITLE: Sosy problems LEAD CAST: Heart Evangelista, Rhian Ramos, Solenn Heussaff, Bianca King, Benjamin Alves, Mikael Daez, Aljur Abrenica DIRECTOR: Andoy Ranay PRODUCER: GMA Films GENRE: Comedy RUNNING TIME: 110 minutes LOCATION: Manila, Philippines TECHNICAL ASSESSMENT: MORAL ASSESSMENT: CINEMA rating: R 14
tumaba; ano ang mga pinakahuling modang isosoot para hindi sila maunahan ng ibang sosi; sinong lalaki ang pinakadapat na siluin; at iba pa. Ngunit darating sa bawat isa sa kanila ang pagkakataong makapagbabago ng takbo ng kanilang sosyal na buhay; paano nila ito sasagupain? Habang pinapanood namin ang Sosy Problems, sulpot nang sulpot sa isip namin ang mga katanungang sumusunod: Ano ba ang gustong tumbukin ng pelikulang ito? Bakit kaya pinagpagurang gawin ito, kung pinagpaguran man? Nagtataka lang kami dahil sa hinabahaba ng pakikinig at panonood namin sa mga problema na bumabagabag
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A Special Issue on the Elevation of His Eminence Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle to the Sacred College of Cardinals
Dominus Est
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 17 No. 01
(Though written in time for the installation of Cardinal Tagle as new archbishop of the Archdiocese of Manila in December 2011, we are reprinting this to give our readers another perspective on the life and ministry of the countrys new CardinalEds)
LET me begin by quoting some lines from the graduate studies and thesis mentor/director of Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle at the Catholic University of America (Washington, D.C.).
When Fr. Joseph A. Komonchakregarded in theological circles as perhaps the top ecclesiologist (specialist on the theological understanding of the Church) in the English-speaking Roman Catholic theologians communityheard of Archbishop Tagles appointment by the Holy Father to head the Archdiocese of Manila, he quickly sent the following lines to the Commonweal magazine blog on the internet: I simply want to share my joy at the appointment of Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle to be Archbishop of Manila. Chito, as he is everywhere known, was my student at Catholic University and completed his dissertation under my direction. He was one of the best students I had in over forty years of teaching, but as intelligent and diligent as he was, he was perhaps better known and loved by his professors and by his fellow students for the simplicity and holiness of his life. He could have become the best theologian in the Philippines, or even in all of Asia, if he had been given the opportunity, but in his country the demands for the kind of teaching and preaching that he can offer are so many, that a man of his talents will never have much time for reading and writing. And then he was made a bishop, something he never sought, and had to be persuaded was a call from the Church that he really should not refuse. When that happened, I thought to myself, Well, perhaps, some day he may be moved to Manila. He became more widely known because of the catechesis on the Eucharist that he offered at the Eucharistic Congress [in Quebec] in 2009. . . . And he has been making use of YouTube to spread the Word. ...God bless
him. The Church in the Philippines is very fortunate! The way Fr. Komonchak speaks of Archbishop Chito here gives us as good a thumbnail portrait of his person as we can readily nd: the quality and potential of his mind as scholar and theologian, his dedication to the craft assigned to him, how his teachers and peers regarded him. Fr Komonchak speaks of Fr. Tagles simplicity and holiness of life and the hope and expectation of those who knew him that he would eventually be given the responsibility in the Church in our country which Pope Benedict has now placed on his shoulders. There are two gifts which mark Archbishop Tagles heart and spirit which have not been (at least not explicitly) touched on by Fr. Komonchak, but which are singularly present in him. The rst, learned surely at home, fostered perhaps by some Ignatian inuence in his formation, the generosity with which he so readily gives of his time, of his energiesso readily gives of himself. We must mention this, I believe, because we must ask people to have concern for his health and well-beingwhich he does not seem to pay due attention to. (Give him time for needed rest!) And the second gift? The gift of lightheartedness and humor, which has brought him so close to his people and the multitude of his friends, and which keeps the light of joy shining wherever he is. Our new Archbishop brings with him to his shepherding of the Lords ock in Manila, his growing-up years in the heart of an authentically and devoutly Catholic Filipino family in Imus. He is perhaps the rst Manila Archbishop who comes to its See with both parents still living and still quite strong: Mr. Manuel Tagle and Mila Gokim Tagle, both professionals, and a younger brother who lives in Maryland (USA). Regarding his studies, from St. Andrews excellent CICM-run parish school in Paraaque, through eight years at the Jesuit Ateneo de Manila University (San Jose Seminary and Loyola School of Theology), completed by his topquality work for the doctorate in Systematic Theology at the
Catholic University of America (Washington DC) are detailed elsewhere in this booklet. (His academic record, uniformly marked by superior achievement, needs no spelling-out at this point.) Sometime after his recent appointment to Manila by Pope Benedict XVI, Bishop Tagle remarked to some friends, giving reasons for the trepidation with which he accepted his new post in the Church: The only task for which I was duly prepared for, is the teaching of theology. Meaning, we suppose, that all the rest he has had to be and do as Bishop, he had to learn caminando, through real life practice. But as to the teachingand practicing!of theology, perhaps it is not without signicance that at the present time, the supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church is perhaps the most thoroughly and profoundly developed intellectual to hold the See of Rome since Pope Innocent III in the 12th century, and arguably the best 20th century theologian of the Catholic Church of the past fty years, a claim made by some scholars of unquestioned competence one of them a much-honored professor of history and culture at Princeton University, a JewishAmerican savant. Too, the present Archbishop of Canterbury, head Bishop of the Anglican Church, Rowan Williams, is also a truly outstanding theologian and preacher. Should we not ask, is the Holy Spirit not somehow involved in these choices? We are living at a time of change, unparalleled in breadth, radicality and rapidity; we are living in a world involved in massive cultural mutations and developments, an ongoing situation which the Christian Faith-and-Life (and all religious faith-and-life, for that matter!) is challenged to encounter, engage with, and (tasks of tasks for the Church) truly proclaim the Gospel to! This labor the Church is called on to undertake with an understanding and creativity that would make near impossible demands even on the Holy Spirit! (as a church historian recently remarked, not entirely humorously). This (once again)
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A Special Issue on the Elevation of His Eminence Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle to the Sacred College of Cardinals
Dominus Est
Nomination as Archbishop of Manila, 13 October 2011 Installation as Archbishop of Manila, 12 December 2011 Elevation to Cardinal, 24 November 2012 Appointment as Cardinal-priest of San Felice da Cantalice a Centocelle, 24 November 2012 MINISTRY Associate Pastor, St. Augustine Parish, Mendez, Cavite, 1982 1984 Spiritual Director, Tahanan ng Mabuting Pastol, Tagaytay City, 1982 1983 Acting Rector, Tahanan ng Mabuting Pastol, Tagaytay City, 1983 1984 Rector, Tahanan ng Mabuting Pastol, Tagaytay City, 1984 1985; 1992-2011 Member, Board of Consultors and Presbyteral Council of the Diocese of Imus, 1993 2000 Episcopal Vicar for Religious, 1993 2000 Member, Diocesan Commission on the Clergy, 1993 1995 Parish Priest, Our Lady of the Pillar Cathedral, Imus, Cavite, 1998 2001 Rector, Our Lady of the Pillar Seminary, Imus, Cavite, 2002 - 2011 OTHER MINISTRIES Instructor of Theology, San Carlos Seminary (Manila), Loyola School of Theology (Quezon City), Divine Word Seminary (Tagaytay),
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Vol. 17 No. 01
January 7 - 20, 2013
PERSONAL Birthday - 21 June 1957 Birthplace - Manila Father - Manuel Topacio Tagle, Sr. Mother - Milagros Gokim Tagle Brother - Manuel Gokim Tagle, Jr. EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND Grade School, St. Andrews School, Paraaque City, 1969 High School, St. Andrews School, Paraaque City, 1973 College, A.B. Philosophy, Ateneo de Manila University and San Jose Seminary, 1973 Graduate Studies: M.A. Theology, Candidate, Loyola School of Theology and San Jose Seminary, 1982 Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.), The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., 1987 Doctorate in Sacred Theology (S.T.D.), The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., 1991 ORDINATION Diaconal Ordination, 18 July 1981, San Jose Seminary Presbyteral Ordination, 27 February 1982, Imus Cathedral Nomination as Bishop of Imus, 22 October 2001 Episcopal Ordination, 12 December 2001, Imus Cathedral
1982 1985 Instructor of Theology: Loyola School of Theology (Quezon City), Divine Word Seminary (Tagaytay), 1992 2011 Instructor of Theology: Maryhill School of Theology (Quezon City), 1992 1995 Facilitator, CBCP National Ongoing Formation of Priests, 1994 2001 Consultant, Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Commission on Doctrine of the Faith, Commission on Seminaries, 1995 2001 M e m b e r, E d i t o r i a l Board, Storia del Concilia Vaticano II, Instituto per le scienze religiose, Bologna, Italy, 1995 2001 Presenter and Member of the Drafting Committee, VI and VII Plenary Assemblies of the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences (FABC), 1995, 2000 Member, International Theological Commission, Vatican City, 1997 2002 Expert, Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for Asia, Vatican City, 1998 Member, Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, Vatican City, 2000 Member, Office of Theological Concerns, FABC, 2003-present Chairperson, Episcopal Commission on the Doctrine of the Faith, CBCP , 2003-present Delegate of the Philip-
pines, VIII Plenary Assembly of the FABC, Daejeon, South Korea, 2004 Elected Delegate of the Philippines, XI General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Vatican, 2005 Board of Director, Pondo ng Pinoy Community Foundation and Chair of the Programs Committee, 2005-2011 Elected Member of the Council of the Synod of Bishops, Vatican, 20052008 Presentor, Asian Mission Congress, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 19-22 October, 2006 Elected Bishop Chair of the Office of Theological Concerns, FABC, 2007 Elected Delegate of the Philippines to the XII General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Vatican, October 2008 Elected Member of the Council of the Synod of Bishops, Vatican, 2008-present Head of Drafting Committee, X Plenary Assembly of FABC, Manila, August 2009. Appointed Apostolic Visitator of Seminaries i n Pa p u a N e w G u i n e a a n d S o l o m o n I s l a n d s, 2010 Chairman, Pondo ng Pinoy Community Foundation, 2012 (Sources: www.cbcponline.net; www.rcam.org; www.catholic-hierarchy.org)
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massive transitionin meanings and values, in lifestyle and behavioris now moving in our own country with increasing force and in swiftly widening extentespecially among the young people in our cities. We need a leadership (for sure, rst of all) in the Catholic Church which can grasp the change and changes taking place (again, especially among the young) and discern the shape and moves of the new evangelization which must be undertaken in our time (again, especially for the young). Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI have been increasingly calling attention to the urgency of this new evangelizationespecially for the West, true, but alsowith some differences, in other regions of the world. Pope Benedict has created a new dicastery (cabinet rank council) precisely to study, understand and spell out what this new endeavor calls for. Surely, in Pope Benedicts choice of Archbishop Tagleregarded as one of the foremost theologians in the hierarchy in Asia [cf. Fr Komonchaks remarks, above]this concern for the Church vis--vis the emerging new world in our land and in Asia, played a not-insignicant role. A new generation of bishops in the Philippines and in Asia has, increasingly, to see this new imperativeunder the guidance of the Spiritas its foremost challenge. What this the new evangelization will demand the Church and the local churches in Asia to labor at, in the decades ahead, these bishopsthey themselves, in communion with Rome and their own church-communities must patiently and wisely discern and work out in their own contextssurely not an easy task, one which the Churches in our part of the world will nd as an unaccustomed assignment, something quite new and difcult! But this is not the time and place for going into all this. No, now we celebrate the
truly hope-lled and joy-lled moment which this years esta of Our Lady of Guadalupe (12 December) is, for all of us. Archbishop Tagle thanks the One Good Shepherd for the ten years completed, as Bishop of Imus. We will remember that he was ordained Bishop on 12 December 2001. Ten years have swiftly gone by, ten years of so much blessing for the Imus Catholic community, of such fruitful learning and growing together, of so much building up and outreaching and compassion, of so much care and concern for the poor, of so much mutual sharing of life and love. For the ten great years, Deo gratias! Now the new Archbishop, the clergy and laity of Manila, begin a new chapter in their common life as Body of Christ and People of God in this part of our country. Invoking the supplication of Mary Mother of the Lord, they earnestly beg the light and power, the strength and courage (courage, yes!) that only the Spirit of Jesus can give them, today and through the years ahead. Manila, like it or not, is (even if unofcially) looked to as primatial in the Church in our country; it is expected to lead us all in many ways. Thus we all pray that, with Archbishop Tagle now in their midst, with the Lord graciously showing the way ahead, the Catholic community of Manila may help lead all Filipino Christians to ever fuller and more committed, ever more operative lives of faith, hope and love in our troubled time; that it may help build up everywhere in our land that civilization of justice and loveforeshadowing of the Kingdom of Godwhich the Gospel of Jesus calls for, making us more and more truly a renewed Church and nation at once more human and more divine. (Lifted from the Souvenir Program on the occasion of the installation of the new archbishop of Manila on December 12, 2011; taken from www.rcam.org)
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 17 No. 01
January 7 - 20, 2013
A Special Issue on the Elevation of His Eminence Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle to the Sacred College of Cardinals
Dominus Est
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A Special Issue on the Elevation of His Eminence Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle to the Sacred College of Cardinals
Dominus Est
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 17 No. 01
Vol. 17 No. 1
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to the Church of Annunciation and then to the Church of St. Joseph, where the remains of the house of the Holy Family can still be seen. The day was capped by Holy Mass and renewal of marriage vows at the Church of Cana in Galilee before a well-deserved rest at the hotel. November 30, Friday- By 7:30 am, the pilgrims were in Golan Heights, for the trip to Banias (Cesaria Philippi). Banias is the present day name for Cesaria Philippi, one of the ten Gentile towns mentioned in the New Testament (Decapolis). It was in Banias where Peter responded to the question of Jesus- Who do people say that I am? It was also there that Jesus appointed Peter as head of the Church: Upon this rock I will build my church. (Matt.16) and where he delivered the Bread of Life discourse (John 6). From Banias, the tour took the eastern side of the Lake going to Tiberias. From there the group visited the Church at Tabgha, then the Church of Primacy of St. Peter and then Capharnaum. An interesting detour was dining in the restaurant by the lake, Ein Gev, a kibbutz, where we ate fried tilapia (also known
as St. Peters fish). Then it was on to Mt. Tabor for Mass at the Church of the Transfiguration (Mat.26:26). December 1, Saturday- The tour had a very early start for the boat ride at Lake Galilee, a 45-minute travel and reflection time, and then Mass at the Church of St. Peter at Tiberias. Our next stop was Haifa, the Bahai gardens and from there, it was on to Mt. Carmel to visit the Church of the Stella Maris. Under the altar, now dedicated to Mary, is the cave where Elijah waited for God. Our next stop was Cesaria Maritima, the Roman Amphitheater, to view the ruins of the Palace of Herod and the Temple erected by Pontius Pilate. Cesaria is important because after the conversion of Cornelius (from Joppa), the rest of Cesaria was Christianized. Cesaria is also the site of the three-year imprisonment of Paul prior to being transferred to Rome for trial. The group passed by Tel Aviv, the city established in 1909 and now the business center of the country. Then the group travelled to Jaffa, a place notable for three reasons -- in Biblical times, the place from which Jonah traveled
By Arnel Santos
A community so blessed! This was how IC member Joe Yamamoto described Couples for Christ during its first Mission Core Gathering (MCG) on January 6, 2013 at the Ateneo Grade School, Loyola Heights, Quezon City. Joe was moved to utter this remark after the Mass celebrated by Fr. Benedicto Lagarde, a member and co-founder of the Missionary of Jesus. I n h i s h o m i l y, F r. L a garde emphasized that the Feast of Epiphany is a grand feast of mission. For those engaged in mission, celebrate Epiphany! I am glad to be with you (CFC) because I know exactly that we are missionaries on the same path. Fr. Lagarde explained that once we have experienced
an encounter with Jesus, we are transformed, renewed, impelled and inspired to a new direction: a new Pathway to Mission. Like the magi, we must be overjoyed. However, like Herod, we will be troubled when we are not doing our part in mission. He further expounded that Jesus as a gift to humanity cannot be for a single race ( I s r a e l ) o r re l i g i o n ( J u d a ism).The Word who became flesh is for all, and Gentiles are co-heirs to the kingdom. God is not only for CFC. He thus posed a challenge: Go home today, greatly troubled indeed, if you are not doing your mission. At the start of the mass, Fr. Lagarde was led to give tremendous emphasis on CFC and its leadership. We pray specifically for CFC and the
COUPLES for Christ made a significant breakthrough in Ilocos Sur with the completion of the first Christian Life Program(CLP) held at the Arzobispado for the Vicariate of Vigan, and initiated by the Most Reverend Archbishop Ernesto Salgado of the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia. The CLP graduates were composed of Pastoral Council leaders coming from the nine (9) parishes in the Vicariate who were invited by the Archbishop himself through the endorsement of the parish priests in the area. Twenty couples finished the program last December 15, 2012 and will be initially pastored by mission volunteers from the West C Sector in Manila who were also part of the CLP Service Team. With these seed couples, CFC is expected to spread its work of family renewal beyond the Vicariate and on to the other towns of Ilocos Sur. The CLP was a result of a very productive courtesy call we made with the Archbishop on September 7, 2012. Our purpose was simply to update the archbishop of CFCs plans in the four towns where CFC is present. But the Lord has greater plans for CFC in the province. The Archbishop disclosed that while he was praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament early that day, he had an inspiration of expanding the work of CFC in Ilocos Sur! He asked for details on how to start a CLP. He then urged that we should immediately meet with the Ilocos Sur clergy and present the CFC in their next assembly scheduled in a couple of weeks. Excited at this major development, CFC Executive Director and Head of Philippine Missions, Melo Villaroman and wife Nini, led the team to Vigan on September 18, accompanied by Jun Simon, my wife, Liza, and myself. Archbishop Salgado, Auxillary Bishop William David Antonio and over 50 members of the Ilocos Sur clergy coming from 32 towns and 2 cities in the province warmly received us. The team explained to the clergy what CFC is, its vision and mission and how it can help in the evangelization of families in the province. The discussion also touched on how
Archbishop Salgado and some of the members of the service team and participants
CFC compares and can help in the Basic Ecclesial Community program that the parishes have been espousing for some time. After the talks, some of the priests already asked that we start conducting CLPs in their parishes! We are truly grateful to Archbishop Salgado for his encouragement and help in making this CLP in Vigan Vicariate a success, including hosting the service team in the Pastoral Center. The Archbishop did not just welcome the CLP participants, he even patiently translated the CLP Talk 1, Gods Love, outline in Ilocano and prepared a powerpoint presentation in the vernacular. He also sat in for most of the talks, and even gave up his afternoon naps. Save for the last 3 talks which he missed as he had urgent matters to attend to in Manila, he could have finished the CLP. Meanwhile, another CLP was completed in Santiago town last December 2012, at the invitation of its parish priest, Fr. Rex Pira, who had his own Pastoral Council members as attendees. The CLP graduated 17 couples and 3 Servants of the Lord. We have also set other CLPs in early 2013, in response to the requests of several parishes. Truly, Ilocos Sur is on fire! Dios ti angina, Apo Archbishop Salgado!
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Joe Yamamoto
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Vol. 17 No. 1
January 7 - 20, 2013
Saying I do! at a ceremony celebrated by Father Francis Mckee last Oct. 27,2012. From far left: Manuel/Mila Carbon, Willy/ Marissa Yumul, Richard/Divina Dayrit, Patrick/Mariquit Jadornio, Boyet/Gloria Baratang, John Ryan/Ghia Aquino, Alex/ Myriam Telan, Tony/Yan-yan Brewer.
in 2010, this Spirit-led initiative has evolved into an annual event with two other couples wed in 2011. This year we were blessed to have eight couple participants. Even Fr. Mckee was excited as he has never celebrated a wedding this big as a pastor.
God is really good because we are now receiving couples endorsed by the pastors to attend our CLP prior to their wedding. Eventually, the same couples join our community after experiencing the love and support of one another in CFC.
True to our vision of being one with the Catholic Church, our community worked together to bring these new couples into the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. In the end, there was great joy in our community knowing that we have brought couples to a life more intimate with God.
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MC Teaching Night
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The Spirituality Of Waiting
An Advent Reflection by Mgsr. Allen Aganon
By Raymond V. Bucu
IN this season of Advent, Holy Church teaches that the faithful beholds the coming of Jesus in three ways; first, that Jesus comes in memory, second, that Jesus comes in mystery, and third, that Jesus will come in majesty. This was the message of Msgr. Allen Aganon during the CFC Mission Core Group Teaching Night held last December 10, 2012, at the Christ the King Parish, Greenmeadows, Quezon City. Msgr. Aganon premised his teaching on the Gospel of Luke 21:25-28, 34-36, which described the unfolding events preceding the coming of the Son of Man in all His glory. He reflected that while everything in this earth shall pass away, only God will remain. While Scriptures description may seem fearsome, the prophetic allusion to the coming of the Son of Man brings only promises of salvation. The monsignor further reflected that this was especially relevant in the Advent season, when the nation was reeling from the effects of Typhoon Pablo, the most devastating storm this year, as well as the divisive effects of the congressional debate on the RH bill. Msgr. Aganon said that Jesus comes to the faithful in memory upon remembrance of the unique circumstances of His birth and the attendant fulfillment of the promises of Gods mercy to His people. The ensuing salvation of mankind promised by God in the proto-evangelium in Genesis narrates the eventual redemption of man from the consequences of the fall from grace by Adam and Eve and the struggle between the offspring of the woman and of the serpent, ending in the head of the serpent being crushed in defeat. This makes Gods love manifest even at the very beginning of salvation history. The remembrance of these events and the fulfillment of Gods promises of redemption allow us to constantly experience the coming of Christ in our lives, and to celebrate the faithfulness of God. God also comes to His people in mystery as the faithful experience the delights of Gods surprises, particularly in the manner of His arrival to each person. Msgr. Aganon elaborated that as mysteries go, real mysteries are not the things that we do not know, but rather things that we simply do not understand yet. The mystery is slowly revealed to His people who wait in faith and patience. The last way that God reveals Himself is when He comes in majesty. Msgr. Aganon reflected that as God is beheld in His glory, we would finally see the entire big picture instead of merely seeing bits and pieces and small parts. It is in the fullness of time that God will reveal the role of each person to one another, each incident, each random event finally revealing how each gave color and depth to the whole picture of each ones lives. In the context of Advent, Msgr. Aganon also urged the body to pause and to reflect on the spirituality of waiting. He explained that throughout salvation history, God has always encouraged His people to pause and to wait patiently for His responses to the challenging questions of the time. He added that Scriptures tell us how the Israelites waited forty years, wandering around the desert. This was Gods way of purifying His people prior to their entry to the Promised Land. Msgr. Aganon also narrated how the Lord gave such wonderful promises of greatness to Joseph the dreamer, who first had to be subjected to harrowing experiences - from being sold by his brothers to slavery, then being falsely accused and imprisoned despite his innocence. Eventually, Joseph was redeemed and went on to perform his great task of saving not only his own clan but also Egypt. The monsignor reflected that all these things had to happen first to the Israelites and to Joseph so that God can expand His peoples hearts and therefore be able to receive more of His grace that will enable them to fulfill their mission. The lesson lay in the process when they learned to be patient in awaiting the response of God to the pressing questions of their time. The first chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke offers to us examples of people who were blessed because they waited; Zechariah, the Virgin Mary, Simeon and Anna. Msgr. Aganon reflected that these people chose to wait because they were aware of Gods promises. Zechariah had waited long for God to bless him with a child while Mary had become the perfect disciple while waiting patiently for the Lords birth, pondering patiently upon His words, and later His passion, death and resurrection. Simeon and the prophetess Anna both had been waiting for the child that will be the cause of consolation to Israel and both were blessed by seeing with their own eyes the fulfillment of Gods promise of redemption. Msgr. Aganon opined that for us, waiting is like a dry desert between where we are and where we want to be. In this present age of digital technology, people expect things to come instantaneously and that people are entitled to instant gratification and immediate access. The downside is that this capability comes to a people who are full of fear. Msgr. Aganon said that where there is fear, the desire to escape is great and that fearful people have a hard time waiting. Advent is asking people to wait. For Gods people, waiting must become prayer in itself even when it may often appear that not much may be happening on the surface. The important thing is that in waiting, one must learn to contemplate the present, the moment and not to dwell on the past or the future. Msgr. Aganon concluded that as we wait for God, God is also waiting for our own response to His call. Msgr. Allen Aganon has served as missionary priest to various parts of the world and is now serving as the Spiritual Director of the Couples for Christ International Council.
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Operation Pablo, top: Dr. Joe Yamamoto working with Davao City-based health professional volunteers; left: Dr. Bernie Cueto doing minor surgery.
goods, foods, medicines, and Lifesaver emergency water filtration jerrycans. On December 15, 2012, a medical emergency response team was sent by CFC Ancop Health to Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental. Two GKare board members Dr. Bernie Cueto (surgeon) and Dr. Elmer Garcia (pulmonologist) joined Dr. Joe Yamamoto (cardiothoracic surgeon) with Dr. Kirstin Yap (cardiology fellow from UST hospital) in providing medical care, sponsored by CFC ANCOP. The CFC doctors from Manila were joined by CFC doctors Mike and Dana Calimbas of Davao City, together with SFC doctors, nurses and health professionals. A total of 400 patients were treated during the medical mission.
Melo Villaroman, Jr. IC Oversight Zenaida Gimenez Editor-in-Chief Alma Alvarez Associate Editor/ Layout Artist Marivie Dalman Managing Editor
seemed unfounded because indeed, nothing is impossible with the Lord. Everyone went home blessed and filled with
joy. Now Central Bs dream of having its own Cornerstone Program will finally become a reality.
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sage that our life as member of CFC can be likened to the Bible that we read everyday and which we try to witness in our daily lives. Three parish priests attended the CFC anniversary, one in joy and love with CFC Rev. Fr. Arnel Lagman of San Antonio de Padua Parish, Rev. Fr. Jong Benitez, formerly a member of Singles for Christ, of St. Peter Parish of Lamitan, and Msgr. Valeriano Cabalog from the host parish, Sto. Rosario Parish. Msgr. Cabalog presided at the thanksgiving Mass, together with Fr. Jong. Basilan experienced challenges in the peace and order situation in 2012, but we remained victorious in proclaiming Gods greatness. During the year, we completed six CLPs (4 CFC and 2 HOLD) and four Youth for Christ camps. The province also successfully participated in the ANCOP Global Walk 2012, enabling the province to sponsor two scholars who are now enrolled in college in Basilan. The anniversary was one avenue for the IC to interact with the local clergy with regard to the relationship of CFC with the local Church and the Bangsa Moro entity. The anniversary was also a celebration of thanksgiving to the Lord for giving the community the courage and wisdom to truly proclaim His greatness to others.
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of the Father that ensured for us our salvation. The community celebrated the many miracles they experienced and witnessed during 2012. Mannix Ocampo, International Council member, reinforced the communitys joy and awe at these miracles by his inspirational talk that focused on CFC as a missionary community. New Provincial Area Head Vic Lauro emphasized in his short mes-
By Siony Gonzales
CFC Zamboanga City glorified Jesus in a well-attended Christmas Festival with the theme: Vamos Todos a Belen last December 16, 2012, at the St. Joseph High School Gymnasium. CFC International Council member Mannix Ocampo was the guest of honor. The celebration began with the entrance of the eight sikad-sikad (pedicab) fully decorated with recycled and indigenous materials. A couple playing Mr and Mrs Santa were on board each sikad-sikad throwing candies and goodies to the appreciative audience who cheered the entrance of the grand parade. All the sikad-sikad were displayed inside the gym for the final judging of the winner of the best decoration. Rev. Fr. Joey Rapadas, Director of St. Joseph Seminary, celebrated the Mass, after which El Parada de Lechon marched in, just in time for the community lunch. In the afternoon, the celebration resumed with the presentation of Christmas Carols by chapter. The audience was further cheered by the drawing of lots for the distribution of gifts containing grocery items mainly for the poor members of the community especially those coming from far flung places. The raffle draw and distribution of prizes came last. The whole festivity concluded on a high note with the praise fest.
ous and, at times, even disastrous. Thus, Joe added, we need a pilot that will put direction in our vessel of service, and that pilot is God Himself. Joe also stated that passion can be defined as doing ordinary things in an extraordinary way, with love and that serving in the music ministry must not be limited to our love for music. We are not ordinary musicians, we are Gods musicians and everything we do is for the glory of God. Joe concluded that as music ministers, we must be a team, or T.E.A.M. which stands for, Totally Empowered and Ablaze Musicians, combining our talents and skills, training others, even duplicating ourselves if necessary, and remind-
ing ourselves always that the harvest is plenty but the workers are few. The participants later formed three teams; the Yellow, Blue and Red teams, and went through various team-building exercises such as cheer singing and making their team flags. The participants later created their own brand of music utilizing ordinary items such as softdrink bottles, water jugs and spoons, to the tune of assorted Glory songs. As midday approached, the participants had what was called the Jesus Lunch, which was done in absolute silence and with the participants making sure that no one will eat until everyone had been served. Later, the participants were led to compose an entirely new song, in an exercise facilitated by Tito Cayamanda. The highlight of the Music Camp was the next day when each group presented songs that they themselves composed. A few of the participants and even the service team shed tears as each groups musical composition was played and heard. Each song was finely crafted and arranged, mirroring the deep spiritual experience of each participant. It was a testament to the devotion that each one had, not only for music itself, but also and more importantly for their passion in service for the Lord. The camp ended with a Holy Mass and with a resounding praisefest offered by Gods musicians for His praise and glory.
Couples for Christ in New York, led by Jojo Reandelar, came up with the idea of hosting a Christmas party for certain New York Catholic priests who are supporting CFC in the boroughs of Bronx and Queens. On December 10, 2012, the party was held in Ascension Church in Elmhurst, New York. The church leaders present were: Rev. Fathers Ray Nacino, Alex Ramos, Kyrian Echekwn, John Francis, Anthony Chenen, Jose Cadusale, Jovi Carangay, Patrick Long a long, Joseph Hugo and A. Camora. Some CFC ANCOP leaders from the neighboring State of New Jersey, led by Roger and Josie Santos, also attended and joined in the celebration. It was an evening of prayers, laughter, dances, songs and Christmas presents. The emcee, Dr. Romeo Pastor, never ran out of funny anecdotes throughout the evening. The idea to give the church leaders a break from their church activities was hatched because of the close relationship between CFC and the Catholic church.
over 1700 other youth from all over the region to represent the CFC community in this empowering event: ACYC 2012 started off with a bang! The music, the enthusiasm, the planning, the speakers, the breakout sessions, the entire Harvest Village theme, the Prayer Wall, the unfaltering smiles on the face of every dedicated team member, the boundless energy to keep goingno matter whatwas immensely contagious. According to Ineke D-Souza, SFC Dubai, You wanted it to consume you. You wanted to let go. And let God! The 3-day Arabian Catholic Youth Conference was indeed another Jesusexperience! Maru Santos, SFC Sharjah, UAE, shared: There was a stellar moment in that weekend where I found myself standing in the midst of more than a thousand delegatesin awe of what God was presenting to meHis greatness! Gods presence seen and experienced through His anointed religious brought so much joy in my heart. And although I was surrounded with the wild, vibrant and Bishop Paul Hinder (left) of the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia youthful expression which is based in the UAE, and Bishop Camillo Ballin of the Bahrain-based of faith, theres this Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia inexplicable calmness happening inside witness that Gods blessings cannot be me. Could be my unspoken expectation limited, and because of this, we cannot and eager anticipation of what the Lord but give back to Him all the worship that He is due. will tell me through . The ACYC truly manifested Gods Vergel Suaybaguio, SFC Al Ain, UAE, had this to say: With almost 1700 youth greatness. Indeed He is at work in of Arabia gathered for three days, the the lives of many young people in the weekend gave me so much joy and Middle East.