Page 3Monitor
CBCP
Vol. 11 No. 2
Page 5
In China,
Obedience Isn’t a
January
22, 2007
Virtue Anymore
Bishop Seeks Result of
Erap’s Plunder Case
A Catholic bishop has viewed this
year’s anniversary of the People Power
II in a different light.
Manila
Auxiliary
bishop
Broderick Pabillo said Edsa II should
serve as a challenge to the slow-paced
justice system in the country.
He cited the case of deposed president Joseph Estrada whose plunder
Bishop Seeks / P4
Page 11
The Family is Where
Human Values Begin
Page 12
Tech-Savvy Priest Turns
Parish Into E-Community
cbcpmonitor@cbcpworld.net
www.cbcponline.net/cbcpmonitor
Protagonist of Truth, Promoter of Peace
January 22, 2007
Vol. 11 No. 2
1
Message of Benedict XVI for
the 15th World Day of the Sick
Php 16.00
Prelate Exhorts Faithful
Not to Vote Jueteng
Protectors
ANTI-GAMBLING advocate and
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz urged the faithful on Friday
not to vote politicians who are jueteng
protectors.
Cruz, head of the of the People’s
Crusade Against Gambling, said his
Prelate Urge / P4
Contraception Upped Adultery, Premarital Sex and Homosexual Activity
Photo credit: Dennis Dayao
By Roy Lagarde
“AUTHENTIC progress, which promotes the dignity of the human person from contraception until natural death, is a fundamental
concern which the Catholic church shares with all of humanity,” thus opened the press conference led by Abp. Angel Lagdameo at the
International Conference on Bioethics and the Family, January 9-10, 2007.
CONTRACEPTION has stimulated
sharp increase in adultery, pre-marital sex and homosexual activity said
the CBCP 2007 International Conference on Bioethics and Family held in
Manila, January 9-10, 2007.
“With contraception,” says the
conference statement, “the abominable crime of abortion has been
condoned and even considered right
while the loss of respect and care for
human life at its beginning has led to
the loss of respect and care at its
natural end as in the evils of euthanasia and abandonment of the elderly and the handicapped.”
The Conference also noted the
global phenomenon of an alarming
decline in population.
Experts said the normal population rate is 2.1, which means that
couples should have at least two
Caceres Holds 1st National Mission Congress for Seminarians
THE Archdiocese of Caceres hosted
the First National Mission Congress
for seminarians and priest-formators
of the Philippines last January 17-21,
2007 in celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the Philippines.
The Congress was spearheaded
by the Commissions on Mission and
Seminaries of the Catholic Bishops’
Conference of the Philippines.
Around to give the keynote talk was
Secretary General of the Pontifical
Society of St. Peter the Apostle, Fr.
Jan Dumon, who came all the way
from Rome. Around 350 participants,
including bishops, priests and seminarians, participated in the 4-day
congress.
The event, dubbed as the National Congress on Saint Peter the
Apostle had the theme, “Integrating
Mission in Seminary Formation.”
The congress’ main objective
was to provide a forum for seminarians and seminary formators, as well
Fr. Peter Malone, MSC, with the members of the Catholic Initiative for Enlightened Movie Appreciation (CINEMA).
Known Film Critic Lauds CINEMA
FATHER Peter Malone, MSC, an
internationally known film critic
was in town recently to conduct a
seminar on Film and Faith at the
Communications Foundations in
Asia (CFA) which were attended
by priests, religious, educators,
and lay, working with media evangelization. Among the 110 participants in the seminar were the executive secretary of the CBCP
Office on Women, Dr. Zenaida
Rotea, and movie reviewers of
Catholic Initiative for Enlightened
Movie Appreciation (CINEMA).
Malone, a consultant to the
Pontifical Council of Social Communications and former president
of the International Organization
for the Cinema (OCIC), and SIGNIS,
was instrumental in the formation
of movie reviewers and assessors
which comprise the present group
Known Film / P16
as to reflect together on the importance of mission in seminary formation, and, to discover possible ways
of integrating mission in the aspects of seminary life. The congress was held in the context of the
75th anniversary of Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) and its contribution to the seminaries in the Philippines.
Resource persons included
members of the hierarchy. Among
them were Most Rev. Benjamin J.
Almoneda, bishop of Daet; Most
Rev. Edwin A. de la Pena, MSP,
prelate bishop of Marawi and Chairman of the Episcopal Commission
on Mission; Most Rev. Jose R.
Rojas, auxiliary bishop of Caceres,
who spoke on Formation and Mission in the Experience of the Local
Church; and Most Rev. Mylo
Hubert C. Vergara, bishop of San
Jose, Nueva Ecija, and chairman of
the Episcopal Commission on Semi-
‘Fast Wednesday’
Campaign to be
Launched Feb.21
Faithful Urged to
Consider Integrity,
Capacity of Poll Bets
HEEDING the call of the Roman Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines that Character change should
precede Charter change, a non-government organization is launching a
period of prayer starting Ash Wednesday on February 21.
Dubbed as “Fast Wednesday”,
Kubol Pagasa said the campaign would
also serve as a moment of fasting and
discernment that will continue every
Wednesday for the whole year.
“One day a week prayer and fasting can be a source of both strength
and enlightenment as the Church and
other groups conduct various ‘voters’ education programs which should
not neglect the dangers of Charter
change attempts, political dynasties,
cheating, patronage and personality
politics,” it said in a statement.
The group lamented the stubborn persistence of the old problems
of corruption, abuse of power, violence, poverty and the entrenched
culture and system of traditional poli-
CATHOLIC voters should make their
political judgments based on the integrity and capacity of the candidates.
Lingayen-Dagupan
Archbishop Oscar Cruz said the people
should make sure a candidate has
integrity and enough capacity and
the welfare of the people at heart.
Integrity and capacity, he said,
can be seen in a person’s married life.
“Integrity can be measured if a
person is faithful to his or her partner,” he said. “Capacity is when
they’re able to raise their children
well.”
The head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines
(CBCP), meanwhile, urged the voters to be vigilant and to be wary of
politicians who only rely on rigging
the electoral process.
“People should be watchful and
vigilant. There should be more discernment,” said Jaro Archbishop
Angel Lagdameo, CBCP president.
Fast Wednesday / P4
Faithful Urged / P4
Caceres Holds / P4
children to keep the balance of the
population in the world.
To date, the number of replacement in the country is at 2.3, apparently higher than .2 percent from the
ideal rate.
European countries’ fertility rate
has been under replacement rate for
many years and is reportedly suffering severe population loss.
Declining fertility is an issue that
affects many other nations besides
Europe resulting particularly in the
dropping number of labor force to
support a growing elderly population.
“We are not saying that couples
should just keep on having babies as
many as they can,” said Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, Catholic
Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
Contraception / P4
PPCRV Issues
Guidelines on
Choosing
Candidates
WITH the national elections
barely four months away, it’s
a good time to remind voters of
their responsibilities.
The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting
(PPCRV), an organization initiated by lay faithful for responsible electoral process,
has joined efforts to ensure
clean, honest and peaceful
May 14 elections.
The group has issued
guidelines for voters dubbed
as the “10 Commandments”
that will be used in its education campaign.
PPCRV chair Henrietta de
Villa said the guidelines will be
used by the clergy, lay leaders
and volunteers to facilitate the
information program for electoral education.
“The kind of government
we get is the fruit of the votes
we cast,” she said.
The commandments, in
order, are as follows:
1. Thou shalt vote according
to the dictate of your conscience.
2. Thou shalt respect the decision of others in choosing
their candidates.
3. Thou shalt seek to know the
moral integrity, capabilities,
and other personal qualities
of the candidates you will
vote for.
PPCRV / P4
CBCP Monitor
World News
2
Vol. 11 No. 2
January 22, 2007
Latin American Bishops Conferences to Meet in Brazil
3.2 Million Visited Pope in 2006
VATICAN CITY, January 9,
2007—More than 3.2 million
faithful and pilgrims attended
public meetings in 2006 with
Benedict XVI in the Vatican or
the papal summer residence.
The Prefecture of the Pontifical Household reported this
figure, which does not include
those who attended meetings
with the Pope during his apostolic visits within and outside of Italy.
The number of faithful
and pilgrims includes participants in the Wednesday general audiences, special audiences, liturgical celebrations
and the recitation of the Angelus.
Last year, 45 general audiences were held, attended
by a total of 1,031,500 visitors.
Special audiences gathered 357,120 visitors.
Crowds were the largest
in April with 196,000 individuals attending celebrations.
In addition, 1,295,000
people took part in the recitation of the Angelus.
In 2005, when Benedict
XVI began his pontificate,
some 2.85 million people attended public meetings with
the Pope. (Zenit)
Benedict XVI Reacts in
Wake of Bolivian Violence
VATICAN CITY, January 12,
2007—In the Holy See Press
Office at midday today, Fr.
David Gutierrez, director of the
press office of the Latin American Episcopal Council
(CELAM), briefed journalists
on the forthcoming Fifth General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America and the
Caribbean. The meeting will
be held in Aparecida, Brazil
from May 13 to 31.
Fr. Gutierrez affirmed that
the conference—which will
have as its theme “Disciples
and missionaries in Jesus
Christ, that in Him our peoples
may have life (‘I am the way
and the truth and the life’)”—
will be inaugurated by
Benedict XVI on May 13. The
Pope will preside at a Mass,
Chaldean Catholic Bishop
Fears Splintering Iraq
Archbishop Louis Sako
VATICAN
CITY, January
14,
2 0 0 7 —
Benedict
XVI
appealed for
“frank and
respectful
dialogue” in Bolivia following
the outbreak of violence in the
city of Cochabamba.
The Holy Father made his
appeal in a telegram sent in his
name by Cardinal Tarcisio
Bertone, Vatican secretary of
state, to Cardinal Julio
Terrazas, archbishop of Santa
Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.
Coca
growers
in
Cochabamba have taken to the
streets to call for the resignation of their provincial governor, Manfred Reyes, after he
proposed a referendum that
would give his state greater
autonomy from the leftist gov-
ernment of President Evo
Morales.
These protests turned
violent Thursday when the
governor organized a counter
demonstration, and the two
groups clashed. The conflict
left two dead and hundreds
wounded.
In the telegram, Benedict
XVI expressed his sadness
over the incidents “as well as
his special closeness to the
pastors and all those making
efforts to maintain the
citizenry’s harmony and
peaceful coexistence, by engaging in frank and respectful
dialogue to resolve eventual
discrepancies.”
The Holy Father prayed
that the Lord will “give all a
heart full of fraternity and simplicity so that violence is transformed into cooperation and
the common good is truly promoted.” (Zenit)
KIRKUK, Chaldea, January
16, 2007—Iraq is rushing headlong toward a break-up of the
country, the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Kirkuk has
told the AsiaNews service. The
prospect of national divisions
causes new concerns for the
Christian minority, he adds.
Internet sites and papers
are already publishing the new
political maps with the
Kurdish north, the Shia south,
and the Sunni center, Archbishop Louis Sako told
AsiaNews. The execution of
Saddam Hussein and the influence of Iran have aggravated tensions between Shia
and Sunnis, he reported, while
in the north Kurdish interests
lean toward independence.
Pope to Meet
Communist
Leader
The Holy
See and Vietnam do not
maintain diplomatic relations. Both
Prime Minister
the Pope and
Nguyen Tan Dung
Secretary of
State Cardinal Tarcisio
Bertone have publicly expressed the desire that the
Holy See establish relations
with those countries that do
not yet have an ambassador
to the Vatican.
The Catholic community
of Vietnam is, after the Philippines, the second most numerous of Southeast Asia,
with some 6 million faithful,
7% of the population. (Zenit)
ROME, January 18, 2007—
Members of various Vatican
dicasteries are gathered to begin discussing the situation of
the Church in China, AsiaNews
reported.
The meeting will begin
Friday, and include discussions on the illicit ordination of
bishops, the unity of the official and underground Church
and the Patriotic Association,
reported today the news
agency of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.
The Chinese government
allows religious practice in the
country only with recognized
personnel and in places registered with the Religious Affairs Office and under the con-
VATICAN CITY, January 18,
2007—The Holy See confirmed that Benedict XVI will
receive Prime Minister
Nguyen Tan Dung of Vietnam
in a Jan. 25 audience.
Jesuit Father Federico
Lombardi, director of the
Vatican press office, confirmed the news verbally to
journalists, which was announced shortly before by a
communiqué from Hanoi’s
Foreign Ministry.
concelebrated with representatives of all Latin American
bishops, and will pronounce
an address during the opening session.
A group of experts is currently selecting the themes
from proposals being put forward by the various episcopal
conferences. They will prepare a summary and, at the
end of February, publish a preparatory document for the
conference.
The presidents of the 22
episcopal conferences of
CELAM will attend the
Aparecida meeting, as will
groups representing the prelates in each episcopal conference, for a total of 176, also
including bishops from
Canada, U.S.A., Spain and
For Christians, Archbishop Sako said, the prospect of a splintering in the
national government would
raise new questions about
religious freedom in each of
the sections. Some Church
leaders have suggested that
members of the Christian minority should move into one
location, on the Nineveh plain,
the archbishop said, have
called. There, the proponents
of the move suggest, the Christians could find safety in numbers, and their community
would “serve as a useful and
undefended buffer zone between Arabs and Kurds.”
Archbishop Sako argued,
however, that it would be more
prudent for Christians to seek
constitutional protection in a
unified country, so that the
central government would
“guarantee religious freedom
and equal rights for believers
of all faiths throughout the
land, including Christians who
can be found everywhere.”
(AsiaNews)
Vatican Officials to Discuss
Church in China
and Hindus.
The violence began last
Friday when some 10,000
Muslims gathered to protest
against the execution of
Saddam Hussein and US foreign policy. Ruling Congress
Party politicians like Jaffar
Sharief and Dharam Singh
were present.
When police tried to stop
some hooligans it used tear
gas and truncheons to disperse the demonstrators who
reacted throwing rocks at cars
and store windows of Hinduowned businesses. Eventually, some 50 people needed
medical help.
Two days later, the
titude of nearly 5,000 meters
and there were fears this might
affect the health of the delegates, particularly the more
elderly. Benedict XVI had then
asked for the meeting to be
celebrated at a Marian shrine,
and Aparecida was chosen, a
site that can hold 35,000 faithful and is visited annually by
eight million pilgrims. (VIS)
Venezuela’s Chavez Rips
Prelate for Criticism
CARACAS, Venezuela, January 19, 2007—Venezuela’s
President Hugo Chavez has
renewed his feud with the
country’s Catholic bishops,
the
German-language
Kath.net news service reports.
Responding angrily to
criticism by Archbishop
Roberto Luckert of Coro, the
vice-president of the Venezuelan bishops’ conference,
Chavez burst out: “Archbishop Luckert will be waiting in hell for me; he isn’t
going to go to heaven.”
Archbishop Luckert had
drawn the wrath of the mercurial Chavez by criticizing the
president’s style of leadership. The archbishop was
reacting to public statements
in which Chavez had said that
he was leading Venezuela on
an “irreversible march to socialism,” and added that Jesus
Christ was “one of the great
socialists of history.”
President Chavez, who
has quarreled frequently with
President Hugo Chavez
the Venezuelan hierarchy, insisted that he had no desire
to prolong the disagreements,
in spite of his angry words.
“The state respects the
Church,” he said, “and the
Church should also respect
the state.”
“I don’t want to go back
to the times of confrontation
with the bishops,” Chavez
added, “but that is not my
decision; the decision is up
to the bishops of Venezuela.”
(CWNews)
Bicycling UK Seminarians
Raise Funds for Cuba
trol of the Patriotic Association.
Various members of the
Secretariat of State and the
Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples will take part,
as well as Cardinal Joseph Zen,
of Hong Kong, and other Asian
cardinals and bishops.
AsiaNews sources say
that the meeting is not so much
about the longtime impasse
on diplomatic relations, but
the situation caused by the
three illicit episcopal ordinations which took place during
2006.
AsiaNews also reported
that a permanent commission
will be created to deal with the
issue. (Zenit)
LONDON, January 21, 2007—
Seminarians from the United
Kingdom decided to help the
Church in Cuba with a bicycle
ride fundraiser.
Some 270 kilometers (167
miles) later, they had raised
€23,500 ($30,465).
Six seminarians and the
vice rector from St. Mary’s
College, near Birmingham,
England, wanted to help the
77 seminarians studying at
the seminary of Sts. Charles
and Ambrose in Havana,
Cuba.
The Cuban seminarians
rely entirely on donations for
everything from food to their
teachers’ salaries.
The Havana seminary re-
ceives an annual grant from
Aid to the Church in Need.
The charity reports that it has
made Cuba a priority for aid in
Latin America, especially as
tension mounts with President
Fidel Castro’s failing health.
The charity’s director of
the Cuban project, Xavier
Legorreta, visited the English
seminary in December to pick
up the check for the seminarians’ Cuban counterparts.
“I was very astonished
by the seminarians’ success,” he said. “It came as
big, big surprise. It just shows
how really important things
can be achieved by such
simple and very practical initiatives.” (Zenit)
Rashtriya
Swayamsevak
Sangh or RSS (National Volunteers’ Union, A Hindu nationalist paramilitary group)
met in Bangalore to celebrate
the one hundred years since
the birth of one its founding
leaders,
Madhawa
Sadashivarao Golwalkar.
Members of the two communities eventually came into
contact and started throwing
insults at each other. Soon
words were followed by sectarian violence.
When the police intervened they shot into the crowd
and killed a 12-year-old boy.
They also arrested about 150
people and now have the city
under control. However, the
danger of new clashes still
looms over the city.
Bangalore is India’s IT
capital. Some 1,500 IT companies and call centres are located in the city and its immediate region and serve almost
the entire Western world.
(AsiaNews)
Boy Dies in Hindu-Muslim Clash
BANGALORE, India, January
22, 2007—Police are patrolling the streets of Bangalore,
in the southern Indian state of
Karnataka, after sectarian violence broke out a few days
ago in which a boy was killed.
Security forces remain in high
alert to prevent any further
clash between local Muslims
Portugal.
Also
present will be 24
priests, 23 male and
female religious, and
17 lay people, as well
as six ecumenical
representatives.
The novelty of
this conference with
respect to the previous four held in
1955, 1968, 1979 and
1992, said Fr. Gutierrez; is that
on the closing day, when the
final document is published, a
“great continental mission”
will begin.
Fr. Gutierrez also explained
that the original intention had
been to hold the meeting in
the Ecuadorian capital, Quito,
but the idea was abandoned
because the city lies at an al-
Vol. 11 No. 2
January 22, 2007
ROMA, January 19, 2007—Beginning today, a “sub secreto” meeting
is taking place in the Vatican on the
subject of the Church in China. Participants include key members of the
secretariat of state and of the congregation for the evangelization of
peoples, but also personalities from
outside the curia: the bishop of Hong
Kong, cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun;
cardinal Paul Shan Kuo-shi, of Taiwan; the bishop of Macao, José Lai
Hung-seng; and professor Anthony
Lam, from the Holy Spirit Study Centre in Hong Kong.
At the center of attention is a
question evoked by Benedict XVI in
the Angelus of December 26, 2006.
After recalling the protomartyr Saint
Stephen and all those who today
“are persecuted and suffering in various ways for their witness and service to the Gospel,” Benedict XVI
continued:
“I think of those Catholics who
maintain their fidelity to the See of
Peter without ceding to compromises, sometimes at the price of grave
sufferings. The whole Church admires their example and prays that
they have the strength to persevere,
knowing that their tribulations are
the font of victory, even if at that
moment they can seem a failure.”
The news from China in recent
weeks confirms this rift between the
Christians who bow to the commands
of the communist authorities, and
those who resist them; between the
official Church created by the regime
in opposition to Rome, and the one
that is united with the pope and not
officially recognized by the state.
News Feature
In China,
Obedience Isn’t a
Virtue Anymore
by Sandro Magister
Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Zen Ze-Kiun
A GROWING number of bishops, priests, and faithful of the official Church are refusing to submit to the
communist authorities. The pope and cardinal Zen are encouraging them: “Enough with the compromises.”
And a book breaks the silence on the Catholic martyrs during the Mao years
But the same news shows the
divisions and developments even
within the official Church. Eight out
of ten official bishops have sought
and received approval from Rome.
And now they find themselves in an
uncomfortable situation of twofold
obedience: to the universal Church,
and to the anti-Roman politics of the
communist authorities.
Cardinal Zen, a leading exponent of the Vatican’s new politics
with China, comments:
“This compromise cannot last
forever. To be in communion with
the Holy Father and at the same time
remain in a Church that calls itself
independent is a contradiction. The
Holy See generously tolerates this.
But the time has come to abandon
this contradiction.”
This is what some bishops of
the official Church are already doing,
tending to withdraw increasingly
from the submission to the regime.
***
The illicit episcopal ordination
carried out on November 30, in the
city of Xuzhou in the Jiangsu province in west-central China, is the
latest episode showing this situation in motion.
Any episcopal ordination not
approved by the pope is illicit. This
is punished with the automatic excommunication of those who carry it
out by their own free will, without
coercion. In former decades, the
Chinese communist regime had many
dozens of bishops ordained illegitimately. Before last November 30, the
last two ordinations of this kind were
carried out on April 28 and May 3,
2006, followed by harsh protest from
Malaybalay: Where the Poor and the Affluent Are Benefactors
By Fr. Virgilio Delfin
changed the image of BENEFACTORS from
those who have
lands and properties, who are
considered rich,
who are holding high positions in government or in the
Kadingilan Chapter Members during their orientation day
private sector;
I FIRST reported to my mission as to every family who has the desire
Deacon of our diocese in Malaybalay, to support the Seminary Formation
Bukidnon on March 29, 2000 after re- Program of the diocese without putceiving the gift of diaconal ordination ting his or her material affluence as a
through the laying on of hands of the requirement. We agreed that a famlate Jaime Cardinal Sin at the Manila ily who desires to support the SemiCathedral on March 17, 2000. I was nary Formation Program of the dioimmediately assigned to the Chan- cese of Malaybalay has to commit
cery. One of the areas that my bishop to the following: a) help pray for
asked me to look into was the finan- the perseverance of a seminarian
cial need of our seminary, the heart of every school year who will also pray
our diocese. I started reflecting on for his/her family; b) attend formahow this area of our diocesan opera- tion programs such as recollections
tions be sustained considering the ne- in order to deepen their faith; c) give
cessity of forming young men to be- material support from their farm harcome priests not only for our diocese vests or from their businesses or
but for local and foreign missions vis- work; d) help solicit additional funds
à-vis‘ our lack of funds to sustain such to further answer the needs of the
seminary formation program.
need.
With the support of Fr. Felix
I started seeking help from
people outside our diocese espe- Abadies, then Rector of the Pope
cially in Manila. One of the benefac- John XXIII College Seminary and Fr.
tors challenged me to tap our parish- Bernard Saburao, then Director of the
ioners because they must know their Pope John XXIII Pre-College Semiresponsibility in terms of forming nary, we started the necessary prepamen to become priests. At first I was rations for the establishment of pahesitant because I saw how poor our rochial chapters of the association
people are, but after a prayerful con- based on the above guidelines. The
sideration, I made some research. In following chapters were organized
the course of my reflection and re- with the support of their parish
search, I came across the descrip- priests. San Isidro Cathedral Chaption in the Second Plenary Council ter in Malaybalay was established
of the Philippines’ vision for the Phil- in July 15, 2000, Our Lady of the Holy
ippine Church as “church of the Rosary Chapter in Damulog was orpoor” which states, “a church where ganized in September 16, 2000; San
no one is so poor as to have nothing Isidro Labrador Chapter in
to give, and no one is so rich as to Kadingilan on October 7, 2000; San
have nothing to receive.” (PCP II- Andres Chapter in Maramag on November 12, 2001; Immaculate ConXCVII).
From this premise, I formulated ception Chapter in Kibawe on Febthe guidelines for the creation of the ruary 14, 2002; St. Michael the ArchSeminary Benefactors Association angel Chapter in Linabo on March 5,
of the Diocese of Malaybalay. We 2005; San Isidro Labrador Chapter
in Musuan on March 13, 2005; Our
Lady of Mt. Carmel Chapter in Busco
on March 13, 2005; Our Lady of
Lourdes Chapter in Camp Philips on
September 13, 2005; Immaculate Conception Chapter in Manolo Fortich
on November 20, 2005; Sto. Nino
Chapter in Dangcagan on January 7,
2006; and St. Vincent Ferrer Chapter
in Kalilangan on January 21, 2006.
Indeed, the poor and the affluent are so inspired by the Holy Spirit.
They receive ongoing formation
through their regular meetings, mass
sponsorships, recollections and annual gatherings. They get to meet
their prayer partner-seminarians during their yearly get-together.
Six years into its operations, the
Seminary Benefactors Association
of the Diocese of Malaybalay, certainly plays a very significant role in
our Seminary Formation Program
both in prayer and in material support. For school year 2005-2006
alone, out of the total seminary formation expenses of P 2,424,000, the
SBA contributed a total of P 658,000.
It is heartwarming to hear that members who are vendors, farmers and
farm workers, employees in both
government and private sectors pray
for their prayer partner-seminarians,
and set aside a part of their budget
mostly for food just to support our
Seminary Formation Program. Some
give rice while others give vegetables or any harvest from their
farms. Many members share their
encounter with God through this
association and the message of St.
Luke is truly experienced by the
people which states, “give and gifts
will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down,
and overflowing, will be poured into
your lap.” (Luke 6:38).
The association was officially registered with Securities and Exchange
Commission on December 8, 2005.
Our mission is to organize all the
parishes in our diocese into SBA
chapters. After all, the task of forming men to become clerics is for the
Malaybalay / P10
the Holy See. After this, in June, a
Vatican delegation went to Beijing to
ask that this be stopped. They received assurances, which were later
confounded by the facts.
But the communist authorities
took greater pains than usual to organize the ceremony held on November 30. For the concelebration of
the illegitimate ordination, the authorities wanted to place beside the
pro-government bishop of Xuzhou,
94-year-old Qian Yurong, other bishops also from the official Church, but
reconciled with Rome. But to get
them there, they had to compel them
by force. They placed two bishops in
isolation and “treated” them for several days before the ceremony. Two
others they literally kidnapped, but
without getting what they wanted.
One of the two, Peter Feng Xinmao,
3
bishop of Hengshui, attended the
rite but did not participate. The second, Li Liangui, bishop of Cangzhou,
was able to get away without being
recaptured before the end of the ceremony, which was shunned by much
of the faithful.
As a comment on the illicit ordination, the Holy See released a note of
protest on December 2, emphasizing
the state of coercion in which both the
consecrating bishops and the newly
ordained bishop, 34-year-old John
Wang Reniei, had to operate.
The day after Christmas,
Benedict XVI pointed out as an example the Christians who accept
“tribulations” instead of “giving way
to compromises.”
But a few hours later, the communist authorities struck again. On
December 27, nine priests from Hebei
who belong to the unofficial Church
were arrested. Hebei is the region in
China with the highest concentration of Catholics, at around a million
and a half. And it is also where Catholics are persecuted the most, precisely because so many of the bishops, priests, and faithful refuse to
register with the Chinese Patriotic
Catholic Association, the organism
through which the communist party
exercises control over the official
Church.
In Hebei, six bishops have vanished without a trace over the past
ten years. These include the bishop
of the diocese of Baoding, James Su
Zhimin, who was arrested in 1996.
Practically all of the bishops now
over fifty years old—even among
In China / P10
Holy See to Host Meet on Women Issues
VATICAN CITY, January 13,
2007—On February 27, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Holy
See permanent observer to the
United Nations in New York, together with the Path to Peace Foundation and the Vincentian Center
for Church and Society of St. John’s
University in New York, will host
an event within the framework of a
meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women,
entitled “The Human Dignity of
Women in Contemporary Society:
Addressing Violence against
Women.”
According to a communique
made public today, the event “will
identify the key contemporary social economic and legal issues that
violence has upon women; discuss
these issues through the prism of
the dignity of the human person;
describe current best practices and
the applied ethics approach to the
issue of violence and its prevention; and provide a forum for the
exchange of experience across nations and enhanced communication
among panelists and participants.”
The meeting, which will be
moderated by Marilyn Martone,
associate professor of theology at
St. John’s University, will consider
such questions as: Domestic Violence: Service and Policy Issues;
Sexual Exploitation of Women and
Girls: Trafficking, Prostitution and
Weapons of War; and GenderBased Violence: International Human Rights and Family Reunification Policy. (VIS)
© Denz Dayao / CBCP Media
CBCP Monitor
Crisis in Governance Tops
Bishops’ Seminar
MEMBERS of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) will convene a
three-day seminar, preparatory
to their 94th plenary assembly
January 23, 2007.
The bishops plenary assembly, to be held on January 26 to
28 at the Pope Pius XII Catholic
Center in Paco, Manila, will follow the seminar.
The bishops’ seminar has
adopted the theme: “Collabora-
tion of Priests, Religious and Lay
in Addressing Crises in Governance”.
CBCP Secretary general
Msgr Juanito Figura said the
theme draws inspiration from this
month’s culminating activities of
Year of Social Concerns 2006 and
the CBCP-National Secretariat
for Social Action- Justice and
Peace’s (NASSA) 40th year anniversary.
Crisis / P12
News
4
World Day of the Sick on February 10
MANILA
Archbishop
Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales
will lead the faithful in celebrating the 15th World Day of the
Sick.
Rosales will preside at the
Healing Mass for the Sick on
February 10, Feast of Our Lady
of Lourdes at the Holy Spirit
Parish in Tayuman, Manila on
February 10 at 9 a.m.
The theme for this year’s
celebration is “The Spiritual
and Pastoral Care of the Patients with Incurable Illness.”
The archdiocese invites
the faithful, especially those
who have loved ones who are
sick, to come and join the Mass
to be able to receive the bless-
ing and anointing of Holy Oil.
Anointing of the sick is
healing in a special sense as it
reminds of Jesus Christ’s compassionate healing of those suffering, according to the “Catechism for Filipino Catholics.”
On May 13 1992, His Holiness Pope John Paul II instituted “World Day of the Sick”
to be celebrated on the month
of February every year.
The Archdiocesan Mass
for the Sick is in coordination
with the Ministry of Health Care
of the Archdiocese of Manila
headed by Fr. Prudencio T.
Solomon, Jr. and the Philippine
Association Sovereign Military
Order of Malta. (CBCP News)
CICM Congregation Marks 100th Anniversary
THE Congregation of the Missionaries of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
(CICM), is celebrating 100 years of
missionary work in the Philippines.
The centennial celebration will last a whole year from
November 28, 2006 to November 28, 2007 with a huge
gathering in Pasay City of
all the missionaries in
country and from abroad.
The celebration will
carry the theme: “100
years of CICM Missionary Presence in the
Philippines: Remembrance
and Revitalization.”
The yearlong celebration aims
to increase the people’s awareness
of CICM past and present engage-
ments as well as to express gratitude
to people and communities for the
opportunity to do its mission.
The centennial is also
a time to revitalize missionary
spirituality
among CICM confreres
and mission partners; to
intensify and renew mission and vocation animation and to shape a
dynamic future direction of CICM in the
Philippines.
Other celebrations,
involving
CICM communities nationwide will include meetings in
schools, rallies to celebrate, to remember and revitalize missionary
endeavor. (CBCP News)
CBCP Media Office Launches Radio Program
THE Catholic Bishops’ Conference
of the Philippines (CBCP) Media Office has launched a new radio program entitled “Ang Tinig ng Pastol”
(The Voice of the Shepherd).
The one-hour live program focuses on relevant issues that affect
Church and society.
“Ang Tinig ng Pastol” is aired
live every Sunday, 10 to 11am at
Radyo Veritas 846 and hosted by
CBCP spokesman Msgr Pedro
Quitorio and Sr Pinky Barrientos,
FSP.
The program is radio magazine
that features phone-ins, interviews
with bishops and priests and discussions on various social issues.
But why “Tinig ng Pastol”?
CBCP Monitor
Barrientos said the clergy is our
shepherd and their voice echoes the
teachings of the Good Shepherd,
Jesus himself.
“The relevant topics that they
will discuss through the program will
help the listeners understand issues
that confront our Church and society today,” she said.
She stressed that the new radio
program will serve as a venue for the
prelates to talk on various social concerns that directly affect the faithful.
“And we can also amplify the
pastoral concerns that the CBCP is
doing, which most of the time are not
given media mileage or simply misinterpreted by the mainstream media,”
said Barrientos. (Roy Lagarde)
More Devotees Flock to the Black Nazarene
THOUSANDS of Filipino devotees,
young and old, converged in Quiapo
yesterday to commemorate the Feast
of the Black Nazarene.
As early as Jan.8, devotees already gathered in Luneta where a
replica of the statue was brought for
an overnight vigil and also to highlight the 400th anniversary of the
Filipino’s devotion to the Black
Nazarene.
Many of the devotees wore tshirts printed with an image of Christ
as others forced their way in to grab
a piece of the rope used to pull the
carroza or threw towels at marshals,
asking them to wipe them on the statue.
Msgr. Josefino Ramirez, Quiapo
parish priest, said the rope and hands
in the logo of the Black Nazarene
indicates the spirit of caring, unity
and cooperation of devotees in the
procession.
Manila Archbishop Gaudencio
Cardinal Rosales has declared May
31, 2006, to June 1, 2007, as a Jubilee
Year for the Fourth Centenary of the
Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno.
He said the Archdiocese of Manila has petitioned Pope Benedict XVI
for the “canonical celebration” of the
400-year-old image. (CBCP News)
Fast Wednesday / from p1
Faithful Urged / from p1
tics eroding the people’s morale and
hope for change.
“Our efforts at both genuine character and societal change should be
relentless and go on beyond the 2007
elections,” it said.
At press time, Kubol Pagasa members are still planning where to hold the
every Wednesday activity and are
inviting all those concerned for our
country to join. (CBCP News)
He called on the faithful to motivate public discussion that would
examine into the qualifications and
platforms of the candidates and would
help voters in making decisions.
“There should be discernment,
discussions in the BECs (Basic
Ecclesial Communities) on the candidates that the people want for the
good of the country,” said Lagdameo.
(Roy Lagarde)
Vol. 11 No. 2
January 22, 2007
Bishop Urges Participation of Lay Faithful in Politics, Society
CATHOLIC lay faithful, more than any
other people, must be at the forefront
in the battle against political and social
problems in the country, a senior prelate said.
Novaliches Bishop-Emeritus
Teodoro Bacani said a field in which
lay people are called to play a major role
is the campaign against corruption in
the government.
He said the faithful have great
relevance in the pastoral activity of the
Church and its mission to carry Christian values to the fields of politics and
social action.
“Bishops should help the country fight corruption by educating
people in moral values but I urge the
people to join and lead the fight against
this scourge,” said Bacani.
The church cannot be directly
involved in political battle but the
prelate underscored that fighting
social sins is also the role of ordinary
people.
“Let us not wait for bishops to
expose government anomalies because that is the duty of everyone. If
you discovered something anomalous
in some government projects, you
should expose it,” urged the bishop.
As a nation, he said, people must
stand together in fighting for change
in the daily lives of many people and
against bad governance.
The prelate stressed that without
PBS Joins Poll Education Drive
ANOTHER Christian group has come
out with a guideline for the faithful on
responsible voting in view of the forthcoming mid-term elections.
The Philippine Bible Society
(PBS), an inter-faith group devoted to
the study and propagation of the Scripture, packaged certain passages from
the Bible as voters’ guide.
The guide is non-partisan, but
unequivocally moral and full with wisdom.
It reminds the faithful of the characteristics of worthy candidates for seats
in the Senate, the House of Representa-
a concerted and united war against the
demons of corruption, the country will
not achieve the aimed transformation
of the lives of many people.
“We
just
need
brave
whistleblowers,” he said.
He cited the extortion issue
against former Justice Secretary
Hernando Perez saying had no one
requested the Ombudsman to prosecute it, “we will never know it.”
Fortunately, he stressed, we have
fearless journalists and other people
who are so concerned for our nation.
“We bishops should be at the
background and the people should
really be at the forefront in these fight,”
he said. (Roy Lagarde)
tives and local government posts.
It will be made available to the
public via national campaign, mail
shots, e-mails and handouts.
Entitled “Sino Ang Dapat Iboto
sa Halalan 2007?,” the guide outlined
the following characters of a good
leader:
1. God-fearing (2 Samuel 23: 3-4);
2. Displays genuine concern and love
for our nation Deuteronomy 17:15);
3. Has leadership abilities (Genesis
41:37-41);
4. Manages his own family well (1 Timothy 3:4);
5. Has integrity (Deuteronomy 16:18-19);
6. Industrious Romans (12:11);
7. Righteous (Song of Songs 89:14);
8. Generous (Proverbs 29:4);
9. True to his words (Proverbs 25:14); and
10. Impartial (Proverbs 31:8-9).
“We are going to use the power of
the voters to put the kind of leaders
who will provide good governance,”
said Nora Lucero, PBS secretary general. “But they are free to make their
own decision. This is a democratic
country.”
“The PBS campaign is not political. We only want to help Filipino
voters in making their choices,” she
added. (CBCP News)
est strides in the economy.
But Lagdameo said the real culprit on poverty is the fact that economic progress and government programs are not reaching the
grassroots.
“People are not enjoying the
fruits of progress. There’s still no
food on the table and many people
still can’t find jobs,” he stressed.
Instead of trying to force population control measures down the
throat of many couples, the government, the prelate said, should encourage policies promoting natural
family planning and the education of
women and men rather than coercive
measures of population control that
violate moral norms.
The Church stands for responsible parenthood and freedom of the
couples to choose the size of the
family.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel who
participated in the conference, voiced
support for the Church saying it was
wrong to blame population—which
seemed to be widespread in the Philippines—as the cause of poverty.
“It’s important that we turn ourselves into the government’s policies to insure people are being served
well and to stop graft and corruption,” he said.
Contraception / from p1
But Lagdameo said the government should also not dictate couples
of cutting back the number of children they want to raise.
The bishops agree that although
the burgeoning population is something that needs attention, the government should not force population control measures on the Filipino people.
The Church also rejected
government’s campaign to control
the population growth through the
use of contraception like condoms,
IUD and pills.
Some government officials are
in the firm belief that rapid population growth would negate the mod-
Caceres Holds / from p1
PPCRV / from p1
naries; who gave the talk on Mission Formation in the Revised Philippine Program of Formation.
Other speakers included Fr.
James H. Kroeger, MM, professor
of theology at Loyola School of
Theology and Mother of Life
Catechetical Institute, at the same
time president of the Philippine
Association
of
Catholic
Missiologist, and Mission Consultant of the Federation of Asian
Bishop’s Conferences as well as
executive secretary of the Asian
Missionary Societies of Apostolic
Life; Fr. Andrew G. Recepcion, professor at the Holy Rosary Major
Seminary in Naga City and Diocesan Mission Director of the Archdiocese of Caceres; Msgr. Gilbert
A. Garcera, H.P., national director of
the Pontifical Mission Societies and
executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Mission, who
spoke on The Pontifical Society of
St. Peter the Apostle and Seminary
Formation; Msgr. Jose Antonio S.
Galvez, parish priest of the Immaculate Conception of Malolos, and
PMS Diocesan Mission Director;
Fr. William J. LaRouse, MM, professor at St. Francis Xavier Regional
Seminary of Davao and president of
the International Association of
Catholic Missiologist and executive secretary of the Philippine
Catholic Mission Council; who
spoke on Rethinking Mission Formation in the Philippine Seminaries. (Pinky Barrientos, FSP)
Bishop Seeks / from p1
Prelate Exhorts / from p1
case remain unsolved six years after
his ouster on allegations of massive
corruption.
“It’s been six years already and
the people are still waiting for the
result of the case if he really committed a crime or not,” said Pabillo.
The prelate insists the case must
be resolved the soonest.
Estrada was ousted in January
20, 2001 through the popular second
revolt and catapulted Ms Arroyo to
power.
Estrada was impeached on allegations that he received kickbacks
from “jueteng,” an illegal numbers
game, and from the tobacco excise tax.
His criminal cases including
perjury and illegal use of alias remain
pending before the Sandiganbayan
anti-graft court. (Miami Ebilane)
group is set to visit different areas in
Luzon and Visayas to know candidates who are anti-jueteng or antigambling.
He said they are going to let
candidates sign a covenant stating
their full commitment against what
he called a “social cancer” and will be
supported by his crusade.
“We are going to support them
in the sense that if they are antigambling, there is a presumption of
honesty and integrity of life,” said
Cruz.
Although being anti-gambling
is not just the qualification that’s
needed, he said, “it’s also a sign of
integrity.” “Integrity is one that we
need so much in the political community,” he said.
Cruz, however, clarified they are
4. Thou shalt strive to understand
the issues, platform, and programs
of candidates and parties seeking
your vote.
5. Thou shalt not sell your vote.
6. Thou shalt not vote for candidates using guns, goons and
gold.
7. Thou shalt not vote for candidates
with records of graft and corruption.
8. Thou shalt not vote for candidates
just because of debt of gratitude,
popularity, or camaraderie.
9. Thou shalt not vote for candidates
living an immoral life.
10. Thou shalt put the welfare of the
country above all else in choosing the candidates you will vote
for. (CBCP News)
not going to identify who the projueteng candidates are.
“We are just going to let the
people know the candidates who are
anti-gambling that needs support,”
he said.
“We will not name those who
are pro-jueteng or pro-gambling because it’s not fair also to them and we
might commit mistake.”
Cruz also expressed concern on
the possibility of money from jueteng
be again used this elections.
“Jueteng money bribes some
election officials, pays for campaign
expenses and buys votes,” he said.
“It takes away votes from honest
and upright candidates and credit
votes in favor of corrupt and corrupting pretenders for public office.”
(CBCP News)
CBCP Monitor
Feature
January 22, 2007
Value and Life
7 QUESTIONS for
Abp. FERNANDO R. CAPALLA
Most Rev. Fernando Capalla,
D.D., archbishop of Davao and
who preceded Abp. Angel
Lagdameo as president of the
Catholic Bishops’ Conference
of the Philippines, talks to
CBCP Monitor about Davao
archdiocese’s social concern
programs, priestly vocations
and clergy formation, family
life program as well as his
perception of the mainstream
or secular media.
How is the Church’s social
concern agenda being
implemented in your diocese?
Well, one is that we have a
housing project for the poor
that is being funded by a group.
Then also, at the squatter areas, we try to help people whose
houses are demolished without proper relocation. The
housing law says that you cannot demolish unless there is
already a place for relocation.
Another also, which is something personal for me, is about
those personalities who were
accused of rebellion—there are
8 of them, aside from the socalled ‘Batasan 5’. I wrote to
President Arroyo that they
should be given due process.
Another one, which is also
close to my heart, is that we are
helping the coconut planters in
our diocese claim or regain the
Coco Levy Fund. After four
years of helping them, we are
now at the last stages of the
process, forging unity between
coconut farmers, the coco levy,
and the land owners.
Do you think the
Church’s involvement in politics is
part of the social
concern agenda?
our BECs, or from the lower
class families. This in itself is
already a problem among our
candidates—seminarians or
sisters—because seemingly
one stumbling block in their
vocation is equally their desire
to help financially their families. So that, sometimes when
they are ordained priests, they
are tempted to mishandle or mismanage the funds in order to
help their families. Second, in
most of our seminaries, though
80-90% of the young formators
have academic degrees earned
from abroad, they lack in terms
of real pastoral experience. But
having a degree does not readily
qualify you to become a
formator or as an excellent role
model to young seminarians.
Third, materialistic values have
become so strong that they
seem to have eroded the spirituality even of our seminarians
and priests.
Do you have programs in
your archdiocese that ensure the continuing formation of the clergy?
7
It depends. For
the Church, the arena
of politics in general
could be a highest
form of service to the
people, particularly in
forming Christian moral conscience. But the Church should
not engage in partisan politics.
We should not participate in
political activities. It is not our
role. It is not allowed in the
Canon Law.
QUESTIONS
Moving on to the subject of
priestly vocations. What is
the situation in your archdiocese?
Oh, yes. Our seminaries are
full. Though admittedly the
number of our priests may not
be really that enough vis-à-vis
the number of people or population we are serving, we have
enough seminarians to care for.
The problem actually is not the
number of vocations but the
quality of the formation program that is being given to them.
How would you assess the
quality of vocations in your
area?
You see, 95% of vocations
in Mindanao are coming from
Yes, we have our
monthly presbyterial
meeting, followed by
the monthly recollection. We also have our
annual retreat. Aside
from that, we have also
our fraternity meeting
every three months.
How about the family life program in
your archdiocese?
It’s very active. We have
two volunteer doctors in our
staff, and they regularly meet
at the bishop’s house every
month. They are updated about
the bills related to family life
pending in Congress. One of
the urgent problems in our place
regarding family life is that I
have noticed that a lot of our
priests are asking me for faculties to absolve abortion. It is
reported that abortion is rampant, being done in broad daylight, especially in Bangkerohan
district (Davao City).
What is your perception of
the mainstream or secular
media?
About the secular media, I
have my thumbs down. But I am
for having a very good media
office or media program. For
me, however, what is more important is the education of
people on social communications than having an expert on
media in the office.
IN the matter of values, the best
gauge is to examine what one holds
as dear. But it goes without saying
that there will be set of values for
every agreed interest. This could
easily include the value tied to an
effort, an object or a person. The
value holder could be a group or the
individual person. When professional concerns are considered, the
teacher will naturally hold on to a
different set of values from that of a
businessman.
However, there are values that
are highest in the scale, and they are
common to all, what ever the interest
may be involved. Values that are
directly linked to life will always be
great values.
The closer the interest to the
Divine plan, the easier can a person
appreciate its value or worth of self.
Evangelization, for example, as the
proclamation of the Kingdom of God
is so important “that, by comparison, everything else become ‘the
rest’, which is ‘given in addition’.
Only the kingdom therefore is absolute and it makes everything else
relative”. (Evagelii Nuntiandi, 8).
Since the kingdom of God admits
that in it (in the kingdom) God has no
rival, no equal, and no competitor
and that the love that reigns in it has
freed humans, in and through Christ,
from everything that has enslaved
them, including liberation from sin
and the Evil one, it (the kingdom of
God) cannot, therefore, be subject to
anything higher than itself. Simply
put, there is nothing higher than the
Transcendent. But the measure of
worth, indisputable to anyone, is in
relation only to God.
Basis of Human Values
What if the question is about
humans? What scale of values
should be offered to him? No less
our Lord Jesus Christ presented the
question rooted in fundamental human values, when He asked, “What,
then, will anyone gain by winning
the whole world and forfeiting his
life? Or what can anyone offer in
exchange for his life?” (Matthew
16.26). For humans, then, the highest value is life. It is in their human
life where men and women resemble
God. “Let us make humans in our
image, in the likeness of ourselves…”
God said. (Genesis 1:26). In the old
Covenant Yahweh demanded an
accounting of life when he said, “Of
man as regards his fellow men, I shall
demand account for human life. He
who sheds the blood of man by man
shall his blood be shed, for in the
image of God was man created”.
(Genesis 9:5-6).
Again the reminder is directed
to us when the late Pope John Paul II,
in the Document Evangelium Vitae,
said, “Human life is sacred because
from its beginning it involved the
‘creative action of God’, and it remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole
end. God alone is the Lord of life from
its beginning until its end; no one
can, in any circumstance, claim for
himself the right to destroy directly
an innocent human being”. (EV, 53)
The value attached to life is a
value given to the entire life of the
human being. The critical defense of
the yet unborn life and compassionate care of the elderly does not at all
mean that our commitment to guard
and assure the more human existence of the poor, the sick, the ignorant, the marginalized by the growing culture of uncaring wealth and
consumerism, those victimized by
power and vice—has waned and
become only secondary concerns to
the first.
It is obvious that in our reckoning any valuation that could be linked
with life, or is posited next to life or
equated with life must be of great
value. The closer to life, the greater
5
The Family is
Where Human
Values Begin
by Gaudencio Cardinal B. Rosales
© Bloomimage/Corbis
Vol. 11 No. 2
the value. Equated with life, the
greatest value.
Family: Where Values are
Nurtured
Value-worth is linked necessarily with life. The family then which is
the cradle of human life necessarily
becomes the nurturing ground for
correct values. Life is first shared
and is continuously sustained in the
family. But it is also in the family that
relationships are born; and when a
person, young or matured, becomes
aware of relationship, correlation and
dependency, then she learns what a
person or thing, is worth (to him/
her).
Does he or she create the values?
Kinship plays a great role in the
development of values. It is no small
wonder that the young are endeared
to persons who loved and cared for
and smiled at them in childhood.
Much appreciation and worth were
stored up form the experience of
every person’s childhood within the
family. For this reason the family is
rightly called “a kind of school of
deeper humanity. … if it is to achieve
the full flowering of its life and mission, it needs the kindly communion
of minds and the joint deliberation of
spouses, as well as the painstaking
cooperation of parents in the education of their children”. (GS, 52). The
family is a domestic school for human enrichment for it is here where
under the tutelage of parents and
elders the individual person is encouraged, helped and accompanied
to freely and responsibly practice
whatever is good.
A Potential for Good in every
person
There is then in every person
the potential for good. When this
potential, with the encouragement
and guidance of parent and elders, is
developed and becomes a habitual
and firm disposition for good, disposing the intellect and the will which
guides one’s conduct according to
reason and faith, it is called virtue.
(CCC, 1833, 1834). In the task of
training the person to goodness, it is
next to impossible to replace the role
of parents who, beyond affection,
looks at the young as flesh of their
flesh, blood from their blood. Of
parents and family this is what
Vatican II states, “As it is the parents
who have given life to their children,
on them lies the gravest obligation of
educating their family. They must
therefore be recognized as being
primarily and principally responsible
for their education. The role of parents in education is of such great
importance that it is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute”. (GE, 3).
In the education to virtue and
value the best paternal teaching tool
is good example. When there is an
abundance of good example in the
home, hardly is there a need for prolonged and wordy reminders. On the
power of good example Our Lord
Jesus Christ has this to say, “In the
same way your light must shine in
people’s sight, so that, seeing your
good works, they may give praise to
your Father in Heaven”. (Matthew
4:16). Examples in the home linger
longer than the echoes of repeated
counsels. It was the Chinese sage
who once said, “From the loving
example of a family, a whole nation
may become loving and compassionate; from the ambition and lust of one
man, the whole country may be
thrown into rebellion. Such is the
nature of good example”.
(Confucius). How true the saying is
that example speaks louder than
words. (The saying of Francis of
Assisi).
Freedom enhanced by Mastery of Self
Training a strong will, further
reinforced by discipline, comes in
next in the list of tools parents may
use to instil values among the young.
Repeated acts lead to virtue; but
values are defended by restraint and
discipline. Here is where the experience of parents comes in as inspiration to the children. Or as the Book
of Proverbs reminds, “… the precept
is a lamp, the teaching is a light;
correction and discipline are the way
of life”. (Proverbs 6:23). Elders remind the young of the need for mastery over self, because there is no
such thing as absolute freedom before a choice between good and bad,
between God and what is evil. “The
more one does good, the freer one
becomes. There is no true freedom
The Family / P10
CBCP Monitor
Opinion
6
Vol. 11 No. 2
January 22, 2007
Editorial
The Family Barometer
THERE was a time when political pundits would single
out efficiency as the most important qualification of a
candidate, downplaying other attributes, or liabilities if
you may, as secondary if not outright negligible. They
would banner Clinton whose merry-making with Monica
did not distract a bit the job of governance—initially, at
least.
At first blush this looks valid, because why bother
about mistresses here and there when one can propel
the country into becoming a tiger economy and build
skyways and hundreds of hectares of reclamation
areas? But in a situation where the issues are massive
corruption, cheating and name-it-you-have-it, then the
efficiency issue is simply beside the point. Like the
bishops have been crooning of late, it is really a matter
of character. Yes, Virginia, it’s all about morality.
Traditional or not, but a good barometer is the
family. A bishop places it succinctly “make sure that a
political candidate has integrity and enough capacity.
Integrity can be measured if a person is faithful to his/her
partner; capacity is when they are able to raise their
children well.”
Isn’t it stupid to vote for a candidate whose family
is in shambles? Or whose family members are in both
houses of Congress?
The Reel and The Real
“PINOYS enjoying boom, they just don’t know it.”
Thus reads the headline in a broadsheet (PDI 21
January 2007). It conveys the substance of a speech of
the national leadership about the triumphant Philippine
economic gains leading the nation to a “first world”
country.
It would not be fair to say that the national
leadership is deliberately lying in its own perception and
affirmation of its illustrious economic achievement. But
it is an objectively strange way of looking at the real
economic standing of the state of the nation—especially
as far as the millions of poor starving and sick Filipinos
are concerned.
And this is precisely the big problem with the
national leadership. It sees what does not exist. It
confirms what is not present. It perceives what is not
real.
How sad but true. Someone is lying basically saying
the opposite of what the person really knows. But to be
convinced of something as a glowing truth when it is in
fact a miserable falsehood, this is a big problem.
This is exactly the big danger poised by the national
leadership—it sees abundance when there is poverty. It
claims development in the face of misery. There must
be something definitely wrong in this ominous contradiction.
It is no wonder that to the miserable poor and
depressed millions of Filipinos, the country is in effect
going nowhere. What the national leadership has is all
wrong. But everything is just right for its avid allies and
blind followers who have been having all the goodies and
the fun. The rest of the people let them take care of
themselves if they could.
Again, when someone sees something big when
there is actually nothing or claims great achievements
when such is really non-existent, this is something to
worry about—a lot!
Oscar V. Cruz, DD
Vie
ws and P
oints
iews
Points
IT was with great pride and sheer pleasure that the present Administration
announced that the Philippines and
China are henceforth trading partners.
In a moment of glory, one is much impressed and elated. It is like a huge giant conceding to be an equal of a tiny
dwarf. What an amazing grace!
After such fleeting glorious feeling, doubt begins to gradually creep
in. How could such a magnanimous
concession come about? Where would
such a super generosity be an actuality? It’s too good to be true, too neat
to be real.
Then a disturbing question starts
to form. China is such a vast land having massive production at minimal cost
and a pursuant enormous export. Prac-
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Protagonist
tically all big malls and markets in the
country carry predictable Chinese products selling at strangely low prices.
Thereafter comes the upsetting conviction that there must be something
fundamentally wrong with the much celebrated trade agreement—even but considering the three following national
open secrets of this country:
First: the Philippines is basically a
consumer society. From clothing to food,
from house decors to holy images—not
to mention Christmas lights and tinsels—all these are imported. And most
of them are “made in China”. There are
even imported “bagoong” and toothpicks. The recent scandal of “hot” pork
smuggled from China has been one long
big bad news in the country.
Candles in the
Windstorm
BEING from, and residing in, Eastern
Samar is both a boon and a bane. My
province is probably one of the few islands in the archipelago that still have
some lush forests, a relatively fresher air,
a number of not-too-polluted rivers and
seas. Our soil is fertile though largely not
as productive as it should be, owing
partly to our farmers’ outdated methods
of farming, a perennial state of bad roads
and a long history of inefficient governance. But, to add more misery to our
woes, we can’t seem to shake the early
nineties’ phenomenon—brownouts.
We Eastern Samareños are used to,
but do not relish, the brownouts. They
seem as predictable as the rising of the
sun. No matter what protest or complaint
we make, they come, and they come because our source of power is just too far
from us. In the distance just a single tree
or branch falling could trigger power outage.
February’s Feast of the Presentation
reminds me of how the electric brownouts we loath in my province are nothing
compared to the brown-outs or even
blackouts inside our souls because of
sin. Which is why traditionally we bring
candles to the church whenever we celebrate the feast because we want to remind ourselves of what Simeon says of
Jesus in Luke’s gospel: “My eyes have
seen the salvation which you have pre-
Trading Partners
Second: the Philippines has cheap
services vis-à-vis high cost of production. The peso is becoming dearer but
continues to buy lesser. Its productive
economy is singularly very much smaller
and costlier. Filipinos themselves purchase local products only in the absence
of very cheap Chinese duly imported or
simply smuggled items.
Third: the Philippines primarily depend on people as its export. The OFWs
remittances are what keep the country
economically afloat. OFWs keep their
Filipino families fed, clothed and
housed. Records show that there are
some 2,800 Filipinos and Filipinas who
become OFWs every day of the year.
What has the Administration to
trade with China?
Rev. Euly B. Belizar, SThD
pared in the sight of every people, a light
to reveal you to the nations and the glory
of your people Israel (Lk 2:30-32).” The
candles remind us of the Light who is
Jesus Christ, our Savior from all sin and
from death, the two horns of darkness,
the archetypal blackouts of our lives, but
which he has overcome.
But what was the Presentation all
about? In the book of Exodus it is provided that every “first-born male child”
of Israelites and their animals are to be
“consecrated to the Lord” (Ex 13:2). That
is to say, the first-born male animals have
to be sacrificed and the first-born male
child of Israelites has to be presented to
the temple and ‘redeemed’ or bought back
from the Lord. To buy back a first-born
son of a poor couple it was enough to
offer a pair of turtledoves or two young
pigeons (Lk 2:24). Being poor, Mary and
Joseph had to make do with those precisely.
Now why the presentation of the
first-born male? Basically it was to recall
God’s saving act for Israel in Egypt when
he made their release from slavery possible by the deaths of the Egyptian firstborn males in both humans and animals.
But God spared the Israelites’ first-born
males in humans and in animals because
the angel of death ‘passed over’ them.
Why? Because the blood of male lambs
splashed on doors of Israelites’ houses
By the R
oadside
Roadside
according to the Lord’s instructions indicated they were of God and to be
spared. That is why every first-born male
in humans and in animals within Israel
had to be consecrated to the Lord and
bought back from him. Moses’ words
offer a rather raw explanation: “If your
son should ask you later on, ‘What does
this mean?’ you shall tell him, ‘With a
strong hand the Lord brought us out of
Egypt, that place of slavery. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the
Lord killed every first born in the land of
Egypt, every first-born of man and of
beast. That is why I sacrifice to the Lord
everything of the male sex that opens the
womb, and why I redeem every first-born
of my sons’” (Ex 13:14-16).
Unknown to most, known only to
some selected people like Simeon and
Anna, Jesus, a first-born male, was himself the Messiah, the Lamb of God by
whose blood the sins of the world would
be forgiven, by whose blood we are continuously being freed from the darkness
of sin and death (Jn 1:29). In effect, his
coming, his presence is good news to us
who are among the “people walking in
the darkness” but now “have seen a great
light” (Is 9:1).
It’s an experience you and I have.
Darkness is what we see when there’s
trouble, problem, danger, wrongdoing or
Roadside / P12
CBCP Monitor
Opinion
Vol. 11 No. 2
January 22, 2007
Jose B. Lugay
Laik
o Lampstand
Laiko
NANDY Pacheco, better known as a
staunch advocate of the gun ban, was a
delegate to PCP-II when I first met him.
He, together with other lay leaders organized the Ang Kapatiran Party. The Party
Platform dimensions come straight from
PCP-II Acts and Decrees on social transformation and the renewal of the Church.
Nandy approached me while attending the Sangguniang Laiko’s National
Conference on Social Transformation
held at the PICC, May 17-18, 2003. His
invitation was a call for the organized laity to join in partisan politics, fielding
candidates having values of servant leaders. The invitation could not be accepted
right there and then since involvement
of the organized laity needed the expressed permission of the Church hierarchy.
To dwell on this issue and to resolve
it once and for all, the Council of the Laity in its 14th Biennial Convention of October 29–30, 2005, invited distinguished
canon lawyers of the Church to give their
inputs on the theme, “Lay Empowerment
According to Vatican II and the Code of
Canon Law.” Bishop Leonardo
Medroso, Bishop Nereo Odchimar, Rev.
Fr. Jaime B. Achacoso and Fr. Agustin
Opalalic had one common answer—the
Church can not get involved in partisan
politics. The Council of the Laity which
reports directly to the Episcopal Commission on Lay Apostolate, is classified as a
public association, hence, it can not get
involved in partisan politics. The case is
closed and the organized laity, in peace,
continued its work on the lay apostolate.
Recent political events however elevated the blood pressure of the dedicated
LAIKO
members—the
Administration’s attempts to push
through charter change, first through
peoples’ initiative which was debunked
by the Supreme Court; next, the Con-Ass
disregarding the vote of the Senators.
This obvious desire of incumbents in
Congress to prolong their stay even by
foul means incited the people to pursue
a people power movement. The CBCP’s
call for a prayer rally on Sunday, December 17, 2006, tempered the mood of the
faithful who settled down to listen to the
call of CBCP President, Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, for a character change instead of a charter change.
Now that the May election is coming, the voices of the people rise in crescendo. This desperation is expressed in
The Party’s Over
THE country recently hosted the 12th
ASEAN Leaders Summit in Cebu without
a major hitch. Security officers were
quoted saying they had almost 10,000
men and women from the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the
Philippines. It was learned the country
spent almost a billion pesos for the scheduled leaders’ summit last December (it was
cancelled allegedly due to the typhoon
tracked to hit Cebu and its environs although some said it was more of a security issue) and rescheduled this month.
Major landmark agreements were forged
with special emphasis on biofuel.
The occasion provided the appropriate venue for the regional group to discuss more issues with its dialogue partners, notably China, India, Japan and
Korea. It has been said Vietnam, after being
ravaged by bitter fighting for decades has
finally caught up with the Philippines and
now on its way to better days. Malaysia,
Thailand and Singapore have all passed
us by. Some even dare say we’ve become
the region’s basket case.
China is acknowledged for its remarkable economic performance, guzzling al-
Tidbits
the Readers’ Views and Opinions of a
daily newspaper. We quote a few:
“More and more Filipinos are sliding into the poverty line and starving
because, like a broken record … this
goes on – unabated graft and corruption, smuggling and tax evasion whose
annual total runs into hundreds of billions of losses to the government.” —
Elpidio Que, Vigan.
“A flawed political system, corruption, overpopulation have made the Filipinos poor. Add to this the greed for
money and power of politicians.” — Jim
Veneracion, Naga City.
A political scientist, Clarita Carlos of
U.P. says, “The people are physically
and emotionally tired of politicians …
hence the low turnout on CBCP’s rally
against Charter Change last December.”
In the din of all these, the LAIKO
board met with the ECLA bishops last
January 22—Bishop Gabriel Reyes of the
Diocese of Antipolo, Bishop Honesto
Pacana of the Diocese of Malaybalay,
Bishop Guillermo Afable of the Diocese
of Digos—to discuss once more the same
issue: Can Laiko get involved in partiLaiko / P8
Melo M. Acuna
Issues and Concerns
most all raw materials from all over the
world to feed its industries. Come to think
of it, it’s system is quite different from what
the Americans taught us at the turn of the
century, described as evil and godless by
some, yet achieved gains in trade and commerce. China has spent an enormous
amount of money for education, health and
other basic services. India, known for its
libertarian form of government, now has
over a billion citizens yet became an influential member of the international community. Sheer hard work and its adherence
to democratic principles made India what
it is today, capable to communicate with
the world in English.
Japan is known for its frugal lifestyle
and industry. After being “burned” to the
ground, no thanks to the twin atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki prior to
the close of World War II, it rose to become the region’s economic power. Korea, too, suffered from bitter conflict with
its northern neighbor yet developed its
industries to compete with the United
States and Europe. South Koreans are
also known to patronize their products
above imported and branded goods.
Bp. Leonardo Y. Medroso, JCD, DD
ONCE there was an aging king who, after long years of leadership, wished to
hand over his kingship to his son, the
only heir to his kingdom. The problem
was that his son was far from being prepared for the huge responsibility. He
was imprudent, rash, and decadent. He
had so much to learn to be a true leader
and a good servant. Yearning his son
to be a good king, the old king thought
of a way to teach his son the lesson he
needed. And so one day he asked his
son to spend some days in the forest.
The son, although mystified by his
father’s order, immediately consented
to the demand because he dreamed to
be a king right away.
After two days in the forest, the
impatient son went back home. The
king excitedly asked his son what he
had learned.
The lad answered, “I saw how
beautiful the trees are, how dark and
dangerous the forest is, how cool the
stream waters, how fresh the morning
dew, how freezing the night in the for-
The May Elections—Partisan
Politics for the Laity?
The Philippines? Well, ours is still a
“promised land” with a host of leaders
promising to bring the country and its
people to the land of prosperity. In a matter of weeks, we’ll get to hear all these
recycled promises as the campaign season gets into high gear.
Yes, the party’s over. We ought to
learn from the lessons of life and governance from our neighbors and dialogue
partners. As we begin returning to our
daily lives after the pomp and historical
discussions at the Queen City of the
South, we ought to begin anew. It’s never
too late for us to get our acts together. Let
our leaders lead, respecting the provisions
of law, providing good examples to the
citizens and in touch with the ordinary
folks on how best to serve them.
An old Jesuit inspirational goes this
way: “If we only have the humility and
the courage to walk with the poor, we will
learn from them on what they have to
teach us how to help them.”
We simply can’t expect our neighbors
or dialogue partners to care enough for
country and people. We have to believe
in ourselves and do everything right.
Learn From the
Forest
est.”
“In that case you have learned
nothing,” the king desperately said.
“Go back to the forest and let the forest teach you what you need to learn,”
the king commanded.
Puzzled and dismayed, the lad
went back to the woods. He could in
no wise understand what he had to
learn from the forest and how to learn
it. As he wondered and pondered, the
mystery and marvel of the forest enchanted him. And for six months he
stayed deep in the forest. After six long
lonely months he went back to his father.
The king was delighted to hear
what his son had to say. “What have
you learned?” he asked.
The son humbly explained, “I am
not sure of what I have really learned. I
just realized that everything in the forest bears a subtle shade of meaning to
each other. I saw the mystical nuances
of things as I enjoyed the music of the
gushing stream and the singing crick-
ets. As I discovered how vulnerable the
beasts could get when afraid, and how
they wail when wounded. As I saw how
splendid the sun is as its rays pierce
through the leaves and break through
the darkness and depth of the forest.
As I noticed how lovely the insects behave and how painful they sting. As I
observed how the birds find their resting place in the twilight and how cold
and dark the night can be. As I discovered when the leaves shall fall, and how
and why they fall. Until suddenly I felt
that I belong to the forest. I am one
with the forest. I found out that something greater than me connects everything in the forest and makes sense of
everything. I may not know how the
forest really works but I think the forest is one big paradise where everything is one—a rhapsody that does
make sense.”
Finally the king said, “My son, you
are now ready to be a true good king.”
I may not know how Borongan reTidbits / P8
7
Teresa R. Tunay, OCDS
…and tha
uth!
thatt ’s the tr
truth!
Signs of the
Times
FOR a change from New Year’s Resolutions that
never seem to resolve anything anyway, let’s begin 2007’s truth-telling in a lighthearted mood.
Travel not only broadens your horizons and
expands your waistline—it also brings you funny
moments at the most unexpected times and places,
especially when you count on signs to find your
way around. I for one find some signs so amusing
or downright hilarious that I collect them, either
jotting them down in a memo pad or photographing them whenever possible. Friends who know
of my unusual “collection” contribute to it, too;
so, enjoy what I have to show after 30 years of
periodic globetrotting. (A word of caution, though:
many of the signs here are Strictly For Adults
Only).
Let’s start in Paris, where a cozy hotel reminds
guests to: PLEASE LEAVE YOUR VALUES AT THE
FRONT DESK.
A rather apologetic sign at a hotel lobby in
Bucharest says with all good intentions: THE LIFT
IS BEING FIXED FOR THE NEXT DAY. DURING
THAT TIME WE REGRET THAT YOU WILL BE
UNBEARABLE.
Across from a Russian Orthodox monastery in
Moscow, a hotel welcomes tourists with this sign
in the lobby: YOU ARE WELCOME TO VISIT THE
CEMETERY WHERE FAMOUS RUSSIAN AND SOVIET COMPOSERS, ARTISTS, AND WRITERS ARE
BURIED DAILY EXCEPT THURSDAY.
Very politely, a hotel in Tokyo has this sign in
its rooms: GUESTS ARE REQUESTED NOT TO
SMOKE OR DO OTHER DISGUSTING
BEHAVIOURS IN BED.
Elsewhere in Japan, a hotel’s Instruction Sheet
for using the air conditioner says: COOLES AND
HEATES: IF YOU WANT CONDITION OF WARM
AIR IN YOUR ROOM, PLEASE CONTROL YOURSELF.
And speaking of self-control, see this reminder in the rooms of a Zurich hotel: BECAUSE
OF THE IMPROPRIETY OF ENTERTAINING
GUESTS OF THE OPPOSITE SEX IN THE BEDROOM, IT IS SUGGESTED THAT THE LOBBY BE
USED FOR THIS PURPOSE.
So as not to tire guests having to iron their
own clothing, a hotel in Yugoslavia tacks this warm
reminder on the rooms’ door: THE FLATTENING
OF UNDERWEAR WITH PLEASURE IS THE JOB
OF THE CHAMBERMAID.
With the same concern for guests, a hotel in
Japan posts this in the rooms: YOU ARE INVITED
TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE CHAMBERMAID.
In case a chambermaid is unavailable, and the
guests’ lack of care in ironing their clothes results
in fire, this hotel in Vienna shows foresight with
this sign: IN CASE OF FIRE, DO YOUR UTMOST
TO ALARM THE HOTEL PORTER.
Mindful of its guests’ safety, a notice in the
rooms of a Chiang-Mai hotel in Thailand cautions:
PLEASE DO NOT BRING SOLICITORS INTO
YOUR ROOM.
Solicitors invading the rooms may not be a
problem for a hotel catering to skiers in Austria,
but some of its rowdy guests might be, thus the
warning: NOT TO PERAMBULATE THE CORRIDORS IN THE HOURS OF REPOSE IN THE BOOTS
OF ASCENSION.
Sightseeing is made more enjoyable when
you’re also “sign-seeing”. Look at this one posted
in Germany’s Black Forest: IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN ON OUR BLACK FOREST CAMPING
SITE THAT PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT SEX, FOR INSTANCE, MEN AND WOMEN, LIVE TOGETHER
IN ONE TENT UNLESS THEY ARE MARRIED
WITH EACH OTHER FOR THIS PURPOSE.
A zoo in Budapest advises enthusiastic tourists with this sign: PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE
ANIMALS. IF YOU HAVE ANY SUITABLE FOOD,
GIVE IT TO THE GUARD ON DUTY.
This one in a Third World cemetery is well
meaning, but still manages to tickle the imagination: PERSONS ARE PROHIBITED FROM PICKING FLOWERS FROM ANY BUT THEIR OWN
GRAVES.
A sign at a Bangkok temple wags its finger at
insensitive tourists: IT IS FORBIDDEN TO ENTER A WOMAN EVEN A FOREIGNER IF DRESSED
AS A MAN.
Bars and restaurants offer their share of funny
The Truth / P12
Commissions
8
Permanent Committee for the
Cultural Heritage of the Church
(PCCHH)
By Fr. Ted Torralba
Beginnings
THE Permanent Committee for the
Cultural Heritage of the Church was
created by the Catholic Bishops’
Conference of the Philippines
(CBCP) on 8 July 1996 during its 73rd
Plenary Assembly, in Tagaytay City,
Cavite, as a separate entity from the
Episcopal Commission on Culture.
The CBCP had discerned rightly
that due to the emerging concerns
in this particular pastoral field and
in view of the many issues surrounding the conservation interventions applied to many heritage
churches in the country, a distinct
pastoral arm in the Conference
would be given the task to focus its
efforts of monitoring the preservation and advocating the promotion
of the cultural heritage of the Catholic Church in the Philippines.
Mandate
The mandate of the Permanent
Committee for the Cultural Heritage
of the Church is derived from the
common will of the CBCP. This mandate is enshrined in the CBCP Statutes that articulate the finality of the
Permanent Committee, which are: (1)
to promote the cultural heritage of
the Church in the Philippines as an
invaluable aid to evangelization and
catechesis; (2) to foment research
on and understanding of the ecclesiastical cultural heritage; (3) to
serve as a consultative body on the
scientific conservation of cultural
ecclesiastical goods; (4) to initiate
and sustain collaboration between
the Permanent Committee and similar Government and/or civic agencies involved in the care, conservation and appreciation of the cultural
heritage of the Church; (5) to act as
official liaison with the pontifical
Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church, in the Apostolic
See; and, (6) to undertake projects
in different Dioceses or Prelatures
upon invitation or authorization of
and collaboration with the local Ordinaries concerned.
Clearly, therefore, the Permanent Committee, contrary to not a
few expectations, does not possess an entitlement to bring into
contestation heritage issues and
concerns. On these matters, the
Permanent Committee works by
moral suasion fortified, as it were,
by heritage laws that find their
fundamentation in Church
Magisterium, as well as those laws
enacted that imbibed international
and national standards of heritage
conservation.
Senior Staff
At the beginning when it was
created, the CBCP elected as the Permanent Committee’s first chairman
the Most Rev. Leopoldo S.
Tumulak, then Bishop of Tagbilaran
(1993-2005; apostolic administrator
of Tagbilaran, 2005-2006; now the
Bishop of the Philippine Military
Ordinariate) whose Diocesan Commission for the Cultural Heritage of
the Church was making significant
stride in heritage conservation and
awareness among Philippine dio-
ceses. In May 2000, he became consultor to the Holy See’s Pontifical
Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church.
Bishop Tumulak then secured
the collaboration of Fr. Milan Ted
D. Torralba, Tagbilaran diocesan
chancellor (1999-2005), to serve as
the Permanent Committee’s executive secretary. Fr. Torralba, a canon
lawyer, was also the Tagbilaran
church cultural heritage commission chairman from 1995-2005, and
chair of the Bohol Arts and Cultural Heritage Council, of the Province of Bohol, from 2002-2005. At
one time, from 1997 to 2004, he was
executive council member and vicehead of the National Committee on
Monuments and Sites, of the National Commission for Culture and
the Arts (NCCA), Manila.
Bishop Tumulak served the
Permanent Committee in his capacity as its chairman for five terms
(1996-2005) as allowed by the
CBCP Statutes. On 1 December
2005, he was succeeded by the
Most Rev. Julito B. Cortes, Auxiliary Bishop of Cebu. Bishop Cortes
is assisted in this episcopal work
by Bishop Tumulak, vice-chair, and
Bishop Leonardo Y. Medroso,
Bishop of Tagbilaran, Bishop
Christian Vicente F. Noel, Bishop
of Talibon, and Archbishop
Romulo G. Valles, Archbishop of
Zamboanga, as members of this
Permanent Committee.
Aside from the diverse activities initiated by the Permanent
Committee and by its members and
the secretariat, this Permanent
Committee organizes once every
two years the Biennial National
Convention of Church Cultural
Heritage Workers, an important
ecclesial gathering of all those who
are working in this specific field.
The convention is meant to be an
occasion for heritage workers to
strengthen ecclesial bonds by the
exchange of insights and experiences through mutual discernment
and respectful discourse. It is also
the moment for an informal cultural heritage education as is characteristic of conferences, seminars,
and conventions. The idea of visiting the sub-regions and particular Churches is to encourage in a
more direct and intimate way fledgling diocesan commissions for
church heritage in their work of caring for the patrimonial goods of
their particular Church.
The venues of the biennial national conventions have been designed such that the major sub-regions of the country and particular
ecclesiastical circumscriptions are
alternately visited in a span of time.
The first biennial was fittingly held
in the Diocese of Tagbilaran, Bohol
(Central Visayas), on 2-5 February
1999. There followed the other biennial conventions in the Diocese
of Butuan, Agusan del Norte
(Northeastern Mindanao) in 17-20
September 2001; in the Archdiocese of San Fernando, Pampanga
(Central Luzon) in 29 September-1
October 2003; and, in the Archdiocese of Jaro, Iloilo (Western
Visayas) in 18-21 April 2005. This
year, the 5th Biennial National Convention of Church Cultural Heritage
Workers will be celebrated on 2326 April in the Archdiocese of
Ozamiz, Misamis Occidental
(Northwestern Mindanao).
The Permanent Committee
also conducts another gathering,
but of a more focused scale. The
Regional Ordinary Fora on the
Church Cultural Heritage gathers
periodically the diocesan Bishop’s
direct collaborators in cultural heritage conservation and awareness
at the level of the particular
Churches. Venues have also been
considered so that the Permanent
Committee senior staff can directly
meet with the chairpersons, directors, and point persons of the arch/
diocesan commissions for the cultural heritage of the Church.
In these fora, reports from each
diocesan commission are presented to serve as subjects for the
forum proper. It is during these instances when more detailed issues
and concerned are evoked and
problematized. These offer for the
delegates present the context in
which ecclesiastical cultural heritage is fleshed out in its many features and typology. As of the
present, there had been two Regional Ordinary Fora already conducted. The first was held in July
values are at stake, the prohibition
against the clergy (and associations?) involvement in partisan
politics may yield to the necessity
of upholding the rights of the
Church, the common good and the
cause of human dignity and peace.”
With these pronouncements
from our canon lawyers, will the May
election considering the political situation today, merit the support of everyone, i.e., the lay faithful, the
People of God, in the same way that
Pope John Paul II exhorted the people
of Poland to vote against the Communist Party?
I suppose Nandy Pacheco is on
the right track but will he ever win
without the endorsement of our Bishops? Another alternative is to follow Archbishop Cruz’s call not to
vote for politicians who are engaged
in jueteng, that is, to black list undesirable and corrupt candidates
and campaign against them.
ally works but I was able to learn
that it is one big wonderful rhapsody where everything makes
sense. And I thank God that He
has given me many wonderful
years so I could be with the people
and be one with the people—and
so to be able to listen to them, to
live with them, and to love them
and be loved by them. Borongan
taught me a lot for over nineteen
years. The connections and nuances of so many things. The
subtle shadows of meaning in the
smiles and sorrows of real people
and in their silent joys and simple
hopes. In their pains and
struggles. In their faith and in their
love. Having learned so much from
Borongan, I asked myself: Have I
become a better servant-leader?
That I cannot tell. What I can
only tell is that, like the king, God
always wants us to learn more and
beyond—because there is always
Secretariat
Aside from Fr. Torralba, the Permanent Committee has a national
coordinator in the person of Prof.
Regalado Trota Jose, multi-awarded
author, researcher, anthropologist,
and professional heritage worker.
Prof. Jose also teaches cultural heritage subjects at the Graduate
School of the University of Santo
Tomas (UST), and is consultant of
the U.S.T. Center for the Conservation of Cultural Properties and Environment in the Tropics (CCCPET).
Fr. Roy M. Rosales, Diocese
of Pasig chancellor and chair of the
Pasig Diocesan Commission for the
Cultural Heritage of the Church,
serves as the Permanent
Committee’s oeconomus, while Fr.
Gaspar R. Sigaya, O.P., President
of the Society of Ecclesiastical Archivists of the Philippines (SEAP),
is the archivist.
Highlighted Activities
Laiko / from p7
san politics? Anticipating the organized laity’s question on involvement during this May election,
Bishop Reyes brought the feedback
from these 3 eminent canon lawyers
on the laity’s participation in partisan politics—Fr. Luis Navarro, professor of Canon Law, Universidad di
Santa Croce in Rome; Rev. Fr. Jaime
Achacoso, Secretary of Canon Law
Society of the Philippines and Rev.
Fr. Javier Gonzales, O.P., Dean of
Faculty of Canon Law, U.S.T. Seminary.
Their answers are basically the
same: “These associations, public
or private, have to follow the same
rule—The Church should not be
involved in partisan politics or
should not be directly involved in
politics; but she has the right to
preach morality in politics or, as
‘Gaudium et Spes 76,’ states, she
also has the right to pass moral
judgments, even on matters touch-
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 11 No. 2
January 22, 2007
2002 in Manila (Luzon region),
Cebu City (Visayas), and
Malaybalay City (Mindanao), while
the second fora was conducted in
October 2005 in Legazpi City
(Luzon region), Cebu City
(Visayas), and Surigao City
(Mindanao).
Agreements and Mutual Accords
In 2000, the Permanent Committee initiated and endorsed the
Memorandum of Agreement entered into, by, and between the
CBCP and the NCCA to govern the
relationship between the two parties regarding the care of some 26
identified churches throughout the
country that were declared by the
National Museum as National Cultural Treasures pursuant to Presidential Decree 374, as amended.
Recently, since 2003, the Permanent Committee has been instrumental in the drafting and processing of the International Bilateral
Agreement that is to be entered
into, by, and between the Holy See
and the Republic of the Philippines
on the care of the cultural heritage
of the Catholic Church in the Philippines. Once the two Parties sign
the Agreement and the accord
comes into force, a joint committee
constituted of the National Government cultural agencies and the
CBCP, together with the Apostolic
Nunciature, will be formed to articulate in a National Agreement
the provisions of the Holy See-Philippines Bilateral Agreement.
These binding instruments are
meant to eloquently enunciate the
concerns of the local Church in the
Philippines, and that of all the
church cultural heritage workers, on
the proper estimation and valuation
of the Church’s and the Nation’s
common patrimony as witnesses of
our religious experiences, as moments of the transitus Dei, and also
as privileged means of the renewed
evangelization.
Final Word
The care of the cultural heritage
of the Church is not a priority of the
last instance. Although it is an emergent pastoral interest, it is a prime
and essential component of the
apostolate of the Church. The Venerable Servant of God, Pope John
Paul II, on 25th of March 1993, in his
motu proprio apostolic letter Inde a
Pontificatus Nostri, succinctly declares it so: “Indeed, by its very nature, faith tends to express itself in
artistic forms and historical testimony having an intrinsic evangelizing power and cultural value, to
which the Church is called to pay
the greatest attention.”
Tidbits / from p7
ing the political order whenever
basic personal rights or the salvation of souls make such judgments
necessary.”
Bishop G. Afable, chose the elucidation of the same guideline by Fr.
Javier Gonzalez which states,
“While the lay faithful—as individuals, not as members of associations—are urged to engage in political activity, and can, with full freedom, participate in partisan politics,
pastors can teach moral principles
and issue moral guidelines regarding political activity but cannot engage in partisan politics. The same
prohibition applies to all associations of Christ’s faithful in the
Church, whether public or private,
clerical or lay, especially the “public” ones since they act in the name
of the Church. This is the general
rule. It is not, however, an absolute
rule. When the judgment of competent authority, moral and gospel
something more to learn. God can
lead us even to where we don’t
expect to be if only to teach us
what it means to love and how to
love better. For over nineteen
years, Borongan has been teaching me a lot … until now. “Until
now” … because starting today I
will learn from Tagbilaran. I took
the purifying pain of letting go
and leaving the place and people
who taught me a lot about life and
love that is Borongan.
Now I am here with you, hoping to learn how to love better
and how to walk better with God
and closer to God … with all of
you, my dear people of
Tagbilaran.
(This piece was one of the
talks delivered by Bishop
Leonardo Medroso at his installation as the new bishop of the
Diocese of Tagbilaran, December
14, 2006)
CBCP Monitor
Diocese
Vol. 11 No. 2
January 22, 2007
PALAWAN... known the world over
as the Philippines last ecological frontier. It is where one is brought to vast
tracts of rain forests and marine wilderness. It is 1,489,655 hectares and
has a total of 1,780 islands and islets.
It is subdivided into twenty three
municipalities, twelve of which are
in the mainland and the rest are island municipalities, four hundred
twenty barangays and one city. It
is the largest province in the country
with fifty-two dialects. Tagalog is
used by the majority. Cuyonin,
Agutaynen, Cagayanen, Tagbanua,
Bataks, Ken-uys and Palawan are
some of the native tongues.
The people of Palawan share a
rich heritage of history. It takes its
roots from earliest known people as
proven by the discovery of fossils at
Tabon Cave. This discovery has
earned Palawan the title the “Cradle
of Philippine Civilization”. The
Church of Palawan continues to
grow, sustain and nourish by the
spirit of God. As one looks back, one
cannot deny that the people of
Palawan is blessed by the creative
hands of God and guided by the
same Spirit. The Christian faith having taken root centuries ago, it’s full
blossoming fortified by the sacrifices and blood of the early missionaries who were martyred in defending the native from Moro invaders.
Despite this bloody struggle, “the
Christian majority population of this
province has been living in peaceful
co-existence with their Muslim brothers of today”.
The particular Church has its
own beginning. Interplaying the
historical events are the people who
played important roles to achieve
the ends of the mission.
The Early Beginnings of Evangelization Work in Palawan
In 1622, Msgr. Pedro de Arce,
the Augustinian Bishop of Cebu
committed to the Augustinian Recollects the difficult task of evangelizing the group of islands called
Calamianes, Cuyo and Palawan. The
first evangelizers commissioned to
evangelize were Fr. Francisco de San
Nicolas, Fr. Diego de Sta. Ana, Fr.
Juan de Sto. Tomas and the lay
brother Francisco de la Madre de
Dios.
In Cuyo (Batong Cuyo), where
the valiant missionaries first landed,
they saw the first fruit of their missionary labor: a thousand of the natives were baptized and the Catholic
Church in the region was constructed. “De Palawan al cielo”
from Palawan to Heaven—was the
motto of the early evangelizers.
The Strategy of the Recollect
Missions in the Evangelization
The missionaries started their
mission by searching for scattered
native settlement, followed by the
Personnel:
Bishop …………….........……... 1
Priests:(at present)
Diocesan ….................…… 43
Religious ……...................… 7
AFP Chaplains ….................. 3
Sisters …….................…… 44
Seminaries:
High School ……….......………. 1
Pre-College .....…….………….. 1
College ….......…………………. 1
Diocesan Division:
Districts
Parishes ...…………………… 25
with resident Pastor ….......… 25
I have loved you first.” Love alone
is the fulfillment of God’s command.
Even the loftiest gifts of faith, preaching prophesies and self-sacrifice
amount to nothing without love (1
Cor 13). As Bishop Arigo faces his
ministry, he fervently prays that all
his endeavors in the service of community of Disciples in Palawan be
animated and permeated by love.
True to his motto, he came to Palawan
to fulfill the greatest commandment
of love. His pasturing will imbue and
perfect his sheep in love.
The Apostolic Vicariate of
Puerto Princesa
Sr. Eufemia A. Pama, MSLT
First Pastoral Assembly of the
Apostolic Vicariate of Palawan
1996 – 1997
establishment of towns, building of
the Church, building of the mission
school and building of the priest’s
residence. Only after these phases
would they administer the sacraments.
Due to courage, zeal and dedication of the Recollect missionaries
the natives readily embraced the
teachings of the Christian Religion.
The natives by this time were living
under the yoke of the Muslims who
continually persecuted them. The
missionaries become their protectors from the tyrannical rule of the
Muslims in the South.
The Recollect Superior was
compelled to order the abandonment
of the Region in 1659. Due to continued attacks of the Muslims, the missionaries were forced to live in the
mountains.
In 1670, the Recollects returned
to Palawan and decided to construct
forts in Cuyo, Agutaya and Culion.
Other forts were also constructed in
Linapacan, Taytay, Dumaran and
Cagayancillo. These forts were built
to protect the population from the
Moro attacks.
In 1871, the politico-military
government of Puerto Princesa was
founded, officially sealing, as it were,
Spanish hegemony in the Palawan
area. After the request of Gov. De
Izquierdo for priests to minister to
the spiritual needs of the settlers and
natives, then Recollect Provincial,
Fr. Mariano Del Pilar, assured the
general of the deployment of one or
two priests for the ministry. On February 19, 1872, more than six years
after Jaro was erected a diocese and
under whose jurisdiction belonged
Palawan, the first Bishop of Jaro,
Msgr. Mariano Cuartero y Medina
issued the title and faculties of Mili-
Important Facts
Population …………...…… 596,018
Catholics ………....……… 417,834
Area ……………… 909,827 has
9
entrusted to Diocesan ….... 22
entrusted to Religious …...... 4
Quasi-Parish ……..………………. 5
with resident Pastor …............. 5
Mission Territory …....................... 2
Entrusted to Religious ...........… 2
Educational Centers:
Colleges:
Directed by Religious …........ 3
Enrollment …………….. 2,616
High Schools:
Diocesan ……….......……… 1
Enrollment ………......…… 216
Directed by Religious ........... 3
Enrollment ……...……… 1,599
Elementary Schools: ................ 4
Directed by religious …....…. 2
Enrollment ……………….. 502
Kindergarten & Nurseries:
Diocesan …………...………. 5
Enrollment ……………….. 393
Directed by religious …....…. 3
Enrollment …………...……. 59
tary Chaplain of the colony of Puerto
Princesa to Fr. Ezequiel Moreno.
Fr. Ezequiel Moreno (who lately
has been canonized a saint) with his
assistant Fr. Antonio Muro arrived
in Palawan soil on March 4, 1872 and
celebrated their first mass on Sunday, March 10, 1872 in a makeshift
altar upon which was placed an image of Our Lady of Montserrat. It
was on the 8th of December that the
Church was inaugurated and Our
Lady of the Immaculate Conception
was proclaimed Patroness of the
Colony. The church remains to this
day a living proof of St. Ezequiel’s
fervent devotion to the Blessed
Mother.
The venerable Fr. Moreno
worked untiringly for the pagan
Tagbanuas who willingly embraced
the Catholic faith. In his ministry he
has contracted the famous Palawan
fever, Malaria. On August 19, 1906,
“fundador y primer misionero de
Puerto Princesa, muerto en olor de
santidad”, in Monteagudo. Now a
Saint, he left Palaweños with a miraculous “Balon-Pari” whose divine
intercession made many healed and
blessed by drinking or washing from
the miraculous well. Fr. Antonio
Muro, his assistant succeeded him.
Fr. Agustin Perez arrived in Puerto
Princesa on the 6th of July to help Fr.
Muro continue the mission with the
Tagbanuas.
In 1896, the Katipuneros rose
up in arms against the Spanish government, which claimed the lives of
fourteen Religious of the Order, so
then the Superior decided to pull out
their missionaries. It was in the year
1899, when Fr. Domingo de Pablo,
the last missionary, left Palawan.
Since the time he left, “Christians did
not see any priest for almost fourteen years”. Yet in 1901, there were
missionaries who were sent back by
the Superiors of the Recollects for
the reinstallation of the work. Pastoral work was limited to baptisms,
confessions, weddings and religious
instructions due to lack of missionaries. Despite tremendous hardships, the Church moved onward
with the guidance of the Spirit.
Palawan as Apostolic Prefecture
The advent years of missionary
labors paved the way for Pope Pius
X to establish Palawan as an Apostolic Prefecture. The erection of the
Prefecture was widely known and
appropriately celebrated on April 10,
1910. The bull of erection entitled
“Novas Erigere Diocese”, specifically mentioned the Apostolic Prefecture of Palawan aside from other
elevated Dioceses. This Apostolic
Prefecture, the first in the Philippines,
was entrusted to the Recollect Fathers.
Fr. Fernando Hernandez was
named Prefect Apostolic of Palawan
but he soon declined after he was
informed due to old age and chronic
heart ailment which was readily accepted by competent authority. Fr.
Victoriano Roman de San Jose was
named to take his place. It was the
feast of St. Augustine, the Patron
Saint of Cuyo, when Fr. Roman took
possession of the Prefecture. In
August 28, 1911, Cuyo was “destined” to be the Prefect’s Residence
at the same time the seat of the Prefecture until 1926. The main concern
of the Prefect were “visitas”, construction of churches, establishment
of schools, intensification of lay associations, administration of the sacraments and other devotional practices.
In 1938, Fr. Roman turned over
the administration of the mission to
a new leader, Fr. Leandro Nieto, as
Prefect Apostolic. It was during the
term of Fr Nieto when war broke out.
In 1937, being then Vicar Delegate, Fr. Nieto founded the
Seminario de San Jose. The establishment of the seminary in Palawan
was a concrete step towards
progress of evangelization work. The
Seminary formally opened during the
solemn mass
of the Holy
Spirit on November 14,
1937,
celebrated by Fr.
Leandro Nieto
and assisted
by Fr. Federico
T e r r a d i l l o s His Excellency
and Fr. Paulino MOST REV. PEDRO D.
ARIGO, D.D.
Lerena.
Palawan as Apostolic Vicariate of Palawan
It was on July 3, 1955 when the
Holy See elevated the Prefecture into
an Apostolic Vicariate through the
bull of erection entitled “Ad Christi
Regnum” issued by Pope Pius XII,
Msgr. Gregorio Espiga y Infante,
OAR took possession of the Apostolic Vicariate on September 18, 1955.
The followings have been the
Vicars Apostolic since its elevation
to the status of Apostolic Vicariate:
1) Most Rev. Gregorio Espiga Y
Infante, OAR (1953-1987); 2) Most
Rev. Francisco C. San Diego, DD
(1987-1995); 3) Most Rev. Pedro D.
Arigo, DD, (1996 to the present).
Inscribed in his coat of arms of
the present Apostolic Vicar are the
words “Suprema Lex Dilectio” Love
is the Supreme Law. This reflects his
simplicity, uprightness and integrity. It is an invitation to “love me as
The First Pastoral Assembly of
the Apostolic Vicariate of Palawan
was held at Seminario de San Jose on
1-15 August 1997 headed by the
Apostolic Vicar, Most Rev. Pedro D.
Arigo, with 200 participants: Clergy,
Religious and the laity from 34 parishes of the whole Apostolic Vicariate. They all where one in their aims
in the assessment of the pastoral
situation of the particular Church,
confront pastoral problems, come
up with solutions and pastoral decrees to assist the Bishop in his
administration of the Vicariate so
that from the past till forever, “GOD
MAY BE ALL IN ALL” (1Cor. 15:28).
The local church defines its vision as a community of disciples,
renewed and with the concern for the
poor and the environment, responding to the signs of the times, one with
the Father, animated by Christ guided
by the Holy Spirit and nourished by
the sacraments.
The important thrust of the ministry of the Church of Palawan is its
Social Apostolate. Highlight of the
social apostolate of the Vicariate is
the Indigenous People Apostolate
aimed to provide services to tribal
groups
considered
to
be
marginalized. The Augustinian Missionaries in the Philippines and the
Marist Brothers live with tribal communities and minister to them. Part of
the program is literacy and numeracy
aimed to empower the tribal communities and allowing them to defend
their rights. Community-based health
programs, biodiversity conservation
network sustainable agriculture
projects, ancestral domain processing, ecology program, rural water
supplies are some of programs under
the Commission on Social Action of
the Vicariate.
The Indigenous
Apostolate
Peoples
The beginnings of Tribal Filipino Apostolate can be traced back
as early as 1985. However, the concrete programs were first implemented in the year 1988 after series of
community visitations to indigenous
peoples’ communities, consultations, conceptualization and finalization of project proposals.
The first program implemented
by the apostolate was a three-year
Literacy and Numeracy Program for
selected indigenous peoples communities in the year 1988. This is in
view of the fact that there is no meaningful and expedient intervention for
the IPs than education. As Rev. Fr.
Armando R. Limsa, the pioneering
Executive Director of Tribal Filipino
Apostolate says, “illiteracy is a human killer… it dehumanizes human
person”.
One worth mentioning is the
organization and strengthening of
the federation of indigenous peoples
in the province of Palawan, which
has now more or less 70 indigenous
people organization (IPO) member
province wide. Today, the said federation which is popularly known as
Nagkakaisang mga Tribu ng Palawan
(NATRIPAL) or United Tribes in
Palawan, is a recognized provincial
Puerto Princesa / P12
CBCP Monitor
Liturgy
10
Letter of Pope Benedict XVI’s to Cardinal
Arinze on the Occasion of the 43rd Anniversary
of “Sacrosanctum Comcilium”
TO my Venerable Brother, Cardinal
Francis Arinze, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the
Discipline of the Sacraments, I am
pleased to offer my cordial greeting to
you and to those taking part in the
Study Day organized by this
Dicastery on the anniversary of the
promulgation of the Constitution
“Sacrosanctum Concilium.” After reflecting in the past on the Roman
Martyrology and on Sacred Music,
you are now preparing to examine in
depth the theme: “Sunday Mass for
the sanctification of the Christian
People”. Because of its spiritual and
pastoral implications, this is a very
timely topic.
The Second Vatican Council
teaches that “the Church celebrates
the Paschal Mystery every seventh
day, which day is appropriately called
the “Lord’s Day’ or “Sunday’”
(“Sacrosanctum Concilium,” n. 106).
Sunday remains the fertile foundation and at the same time the fundamental nucleus of the liturgical year
which originated in Christ’s Resurrection, thanks to which the features
of eternity were impressed on time.
Thus, Sunday is, so to speak, a
fragment of time imbued with eternity, for its dawn saw the Crucified
and Risen Christ enter victorious into
eternal life.
With the event of the Resurrection, creation and redemption reach
their fulfillment. On the “first day after
Saturday”, the women and then the
Disciples, meeting the Risen One,
understood that this was “the day
which the Lord has made” (Ps
118[117]:24), “his” day, the “Dies
Domini.” In fact, this is what the
liturgy sings: “O first and last day,
radiant and shining with Christ’s triumph”.
From the very outset, this has
been a stable element in the perception of the mystery of Sunday: “The
Word”, Origen affirms, “has moved
the feast of the Sabbath to the day on
which the light was produced and has
given us as an image of true repose,
Sunday, the day of salvation, the first
day of the light in which the Savior of
the world, after completing all his
work with men and after conquering
death, crossed the threshold of
Heaven, surpassing the creation of
the six days and receiving the blessed
Sabbath and rest in God” (Comment
on Psalm 91).
Inspired by knowledge of this, St
Ignatius of Antioch asserted: “We
are no longer keeping the Sabbath,
but the Lord’s Day” (Ad Magn. 9, 1).
For the first Christians, participation in the Sunday celebrations
was the natural expression of their
belonging to Christ, of communion
with his Mystical Body, in the joyful
expectation of his glorious return.
This belonging was expressed
heroically in what happened to the
martyrs of Abitene, who faced death
exclaiming, “Sine dominico non possumus”: without gathering together
on Sunday to celebrate the Eucharist,
we cannot live.
How much more necessary it is
today to reaffirm the sacredness of
the Lord’s Day and the need to take
part in Sunday Mass!
The cultural context in which we
live, often marked by religious indifference and secularism that blot out
the horizon of the transcendent, must
not let us forget that the People of
God, born from “Christ’s Passover,
Sunday”, should return to it as to an
inexhaustible source, in order to understand better and better the features of their own identity and the
reasons for their existence.
The Second Vatican Council,
after pointing out the origin of Sunday, continued: “On this day Christ’s
faithful are bound to come together
into one place. They should listen to
the Word of God and take part in the
Eucharist, thus calling to mind the
Passion, Resurrection and Glory of
the Lord Jesus and giving thanks to
God who “has begotten them again,
through the Resurrection of Christ
from the dead, unto a living hope’”
(“Sacrosanctum Concilium,” n. 106).
Sunday was not chosen by the
Christian community but by the
Apostles, and indeed by Christ himself, who on that day, “the first day of
the week”, rose and appeared to the
disciples (cf. Mt 28:1; Mk 16: 9; Lk
24:1; Jn 20:1,19; Acts 20:7; I Cor 16: 2),
and appeared to them again “eight
days later” (Jn 20:26).
Sunday is the day on which the
Risen Lord makes himself present
among his followers, invites them to
his banquet and shares himself with
them so that they too, united and
configured to him, may worship God
properly.
Therefore, as I encourage people
to give ever greater importance to the
“Lord’s Day”, I am eager to highlight
the central place of the Eucharist as a
fundamental pillar of Sunday and of
all ecclesial life. Indeed, at every Sunday Eucharistic celebration, the sanctification of the Christian people takes
place as it will take place until the
Sunday that never sets, the day of the
definitive encounter of God with his
creatures.
In this perspective, I express the
hope that the Study Day promoted by
this Dicastery on such a timely theme
will contribute to the recovery of the
Christian meaning of Sunday in the
context of pastoral care and in every
believer’s life.
May the “Day of the Lord” that
could well be called “the lord of days”
regain all its importance and be perceived and lived to the full in the
celebration of the Eucharist, from
which the Christian community grows
authentically and on which it depends
(cf. “Presbyterorum Ordinis,” n. 6).
As I assure you of my remembrance in prayer and invoke upon
each one the motherly protection of
Mary Most Holy, I warmly impart a
special Apostolic Blessing to you,
Venerable Brother, to your collaborators and to all the participants in this
important meeting.
From the Vatican, 27 November 2006.
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
Vol. 11 No. 2
January 22, 2007
Explaining the Mass During Mass
(Father Edward McNamara, Professor of Liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum University, answers a question posted at Zenit.org by M.F. of Singapore)
Q: Are there possibilities for
the celebrant to share more insights
about what is taking place at different stages of the Mass, to facilitate
better participation from the congregation? I pose this question
because most times I observe that
people seem to “go through the
motions” during the Mass and
many don’t seem to “be connected”
with what’s happening during the
different parts of the Eucharistic
celebration. — M.F., Singapore
A: This point is covered by the
General Instruction of the Roman
Missal (GIRM), No. 31:
“It is also up to the priest, in
the exercise of his office of presiding over the gathered assembly, to
offer certain explanations that are
foreseen in the rite itself. Where it
is indicated in the rubrics, the celebrant is permitted to adapt them
somewhat in order that they respond to the understanding of
those participating. However, he
should always take care to keep to
the sense of the text given in the
Missal and to express them succinctly. The presiding priest is also
to direct the word of God and to
impart the final blessing. In addition, he may give the faithful a very
brief introduction to the Mass of
the day (after the initial Greeting
and before the Act of Penitence),
to the Liturgy of the Word (before
the readings), and to the Eucharistic Prayer (before the Preface),
though never during the Eucharistic Prayer itself; he may also
make concluding comments to the
entire sacred action before the dismissal.”
The GIRM thus suggests four
moments when brief explanations
or comments may be profitably inserted: at the beginning, before the
readings, before the preface, and
before the dismissal.
Ideally, explanations of the
Mass would be best imparted
through programs for the continual
Christian formation of adults. But
this is not feasible in most cases as
relatively few Catholics have both
the commitment and the time to
avail of these programs.
Some priests, realizing that
many of the rites and prayers were
lost on the faithful, have sought to
remedy the situation with brief explanations carried out on a cyclical
basis.
For example, a priest who habitually celebrates Mass at the same
time for basically the same congregation announces that besides his
usual homily (perhaps shaving it
by a couple of minutes), he will
dedicate a few minutes each week
to explain one or two particular
points of the Mass.
Following this he uses one of
the suggested moments to explain
the meaning of the rite and the
spiritual fruits that the Church desires us to harvest through active
participation in its celebration and
a deeper understanding of the exercise of the royal or common priesthood of the faithful.
Some longer rites and prayers
may be explained piecemeal. For
example, before the preface the
priest could invite the people to be
attentive to the different moments
of the Eucharistic Prayer (preface,
transitions, epiclesis, consecration,
anamnesis, intercessions, etc.) and
then explain one of these parts each
week. A fairly complete explanation of the Mass can be given over
two or three months, allowing for
interruptions such as feasts and
the celebration of sacraments during Mass.
Once completed, another cycle
can be preached every few years as
deemed pastorally necessary.
Although these explanations
must necessarily be brief, several
priests who have applied this
method have commented that most
parishioners responded positively
and affirmed that it has helped them
to understand and live the Mass in
a deeper way.
In China / from p3
those who belong to the official Church—have spent
some time in prison or in the
concentration camps. Last
January 7 the oldest of them
died: Joseph Meng Ziwen, the
unofficial bishop of Nanning
in Guagxi. He was 103 years
old, and until recently said
Mass every Sunday in three
different parishes. He had
spent more than twenty years
in forced labor. The regime
never recognized him as a
bishop.
Today the persecutions
Malaybalay / from p3
against Christians continue in
China, although these don’t
compare to those of the years
of Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution. But little by
little, the witnesses of the great
martyrdom are disappearing.
Their accounts remain.
Very little has been published
about these—even outside of
China, even in free countries,
even in the rest of the Catholic
Church, at least until very recently.
This silence was to a large
extent motivated by reasons
of politics, and of ecclesiastical politics. “But to continue
along the way of silence today would be an incomprehensible and unforgivable error,” writes cardinal Zen.
He writes this in a preface
to a book published this winter in Italy—edited by the Pontifical Institute for Foreign
Missions, in Milan—which,
for the first time, collects and
offers to the general public
the accounts of some of the
Chinese Catholics persecuted
or killed from 1940 to 1983.
The first two of the texts
that make up this volume are
the diaries written in prison
and in a forced labor camp—
lasting thirty and twenty-five
years respectively—by the
priests Francis Tan Tiande
and John Huang, the first of
whom is still alive.
The third document is
the life of another priest, Fr. Li
Chang, who died in 1981. It
was written by his cousin Li
Daoming, who is also a priest.
This is followed by the
autobiography of a young
Catholic, Gertrude Li, written
in longhand on little scraps of
paper that arrived in the West
hidden in the shoes of a missionary, Fr. Giovanni Carbone
of the Pontifical Institute for
Foreign Missions, who was
expelled from China in 1952.
The collection closes
with the account of the martyrdom of thirty-three
Cistercian Monks of the Strict
Observance from the monastery of Yangjiaping, killed at
the end of a “way of the cross”
of torments in 1947.
whole people of God. True to
our commitment, there are
priests from our diocese who
are serving in both the local
and foreign missions. Though
there is still a great lack in terms
of number of priests for our
diocese, our bishop does not
wait for us to satisfy completely our need of priests before sharing some of us to other
dioceses. Generosity is not
giving because there is an excess, rather it is giving because
others need most of what we
have.
man freedom; rather, it protects and promotes that freedom. (SV, 35)
In the family young
people are taught to appreciate restraint and are encouraged to practice self-discipline. If parents can talk of
making personal sacrifice for
the needs of the family, or
doing difficult things because
of concern for others, then
they also can and must elevate motivation and include
the love of God when mastery
of self is also called for.
No matter how true it is
that values begin in the family, still the family does not
create values. Truth and goodness, love, honesty and compassion: these are not made in
the home. Not even one’s
wish or freedom can create
values. (SV, 35). Like gold
that is discovered, mined (dug
from the bowels of the earth)
and then purified through fire,
truth and goodness, love honesty and compassion, simplicity and humility and the rest of
the virtues are discovered,
discerned, enhanced and encouragingly practiced in the
family. In Christian families,
values are encouraged to surface, to develop and to be
lived by members mutually
supporting each other.
Conversations, stories
and experiences are interestingly exchanged and shared
in the home making possible
personal and family commit-
ment of virtues. This is the
reason why we say that values rightly begin to be discovered primarily and only in
the family, because in the family admonitions and reminders, examples and models,
weaknesses and strength,
sadness and joy, failure and
success are perceived to
complement each other.
community of life and love,
that the young are formed as
members of Christ’s Church.
It is in the family, where, while
honouring and loving their
parents, they can enrich the
lives of all members of the
wider family.
As the family goes, so
goes society. “The family is
the original cell of social life. It
is the natural society in which
husband and wife are called to
give themselves in love and in
the gift of life. Authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundations for freedom, security and fraternity
within society. The family is
the community in which, from
childhood, one can learn moral
values, begin to honour God,
make good use of freedom.
Family life is an initiation into
life in society”. So we believe
and so we teach and live under the guidance of the
Church. (CCC, 2207).
This is how important the
family is to society in the
teaching of the Church. The
same truth is expressed in the
old saying “Any success in
the world cannot compensate
for failure in the family”. In
effect, we declare that we are
trying to solve the ills of society by first saving the family.
The Family / from p5
except in the service of what is
good and just. The choice to
disobey and do evil is an abuse
of freedom and leads to the
slavery of sin”, so the teaching of the Church says. (CCC,
1733). And thus, the parents
will teach their children.
It is true that humans are
free, but their freedom must
stop before the moral law given
by God. Law must not be seen
as in conflict with or restricting freedom, nor freedom
ought to be considered as
forever grappling with the law.
The truth is that “human freedom finds its authentic and
complete fulfilment precisely
in the acceptance of that law…
God’s law does not reduce,
much less do away with hu-
The Family must succeed: No Other Choice
The Fourth World Meeting of Families, held in Manila,
January 2003, reiterated in its
Concluding Statement that the
natural place for the education of the young is the Family. It is in the family, the
(This piece was delivered by His
Eminence, Gaudencio Cardinal B.
Rosales at the CBCP 2007 International Conference on Bioethics and
the Family, January 8-9, 2007, Manila).
CBCP Monitor
Social Concern
Vol. 11 No. 2
January 22, 2007
Order taking and delivery officers (OTDO) of the parish
with His Eminence Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales and parish priest, Fr. Benigno Beltran, SVD.
Tech-Savvy
Priest Turns
Parish Into
E-Community
By Pinky Barrientos, FSP
SMOKEY Mountain parish priest,
Fr. Benigno Beltran talks animatedly
of narrowing the digital divide between the tech-savvy middle class
and his poor community through elearning and e-trading. Indeed, in the
parish of the Risen Christ in Smokey
Mountain, mothers are taught basic
computer literacy, while children use
interactive CDs to enhance their
learning.
The parish boasts of having the
most advanced computer center in
the whole archdiocese of Manila.
Soon it will also showcase the
first environment-friendly and electronic church in the world. The
planned church building (which will
be wi-fi capable and composed of
four floors) will have a basement for
livelihood program and two floors
for e-learning program. A terrace
deck will serve as a vegetable garden, while solar panels will be fitted
on the roof to convert sunlight into
electricity.
A Divine Word missionary
(SVD), Beltran started working
among the scavengers of Smokey
Mountain in the late 70’s. When
Smokey Mountain was erected as a
parish in 1989, he stayed as its pastor.
Twenty-one medium-rise buildings now stood on what once a mountain of garbage. The buildings which
have four floors each, house 2,000
families who were previously living
on the dumpsite.
Intent on liberating the community from their scavenging mentality, Beltran established basic ecclesial
communities (BEC) and spearheaded
various livelihood programs.
“We cannot organize BEC if
there is no livelihood component,”
opines Beltran; stressing that a person with a hungry stomach cannot
listen.
But getting the trust and cooperation of the community to change
their lifestyle and mindset did not
come easy for the priest.
“You have to be involved with
them,” says Beltran. “They will not
accept your vision until you are
friends with them.”
And befriending them he did.
For the past 28 years, Beltran labored
to win the trust and cooperation of
the community. He talks of the spirituality of kenosis as a way of describing his life of service, that, of
suffering with the community he is
currently serving, and being “broken” in the process.
“Here, a grenade had been
thrown at me. I had been and still am
a victim of slander from certain groups
of people,” Beltran discloses.
The parish’s livelihood programs include construction, bakery,
garment, handicrafts and bags, which
are made out of old newspapers. The
women are involved in e-trading, the
men provide manpower services,
while children and out-of-school
youth are into e-learning program.
The parish is helping its nonschooled young people aged 15-24
to become competitive by training
them in computer literacy. They avail
of non-formal education being spearheaded by the parish for its out-ofschool youth through e-learning
program.
The parish has developed interactive CDs for elementary and
high school using the content of
the modules prepared by the Department of Education (DepEd). Students are asked to take the equivalency exam from the DepEd to obtain a high school diploma when
they have completed all the required
modules.
The women, meanwhile, are engaged into an enterprise Beltran calls
e-trading. Selected women from BECs
are mobilized as order takers and
delivery officers of goods.
Families in need of basic commodities such as rice, fish and dry
goods, use their mobile phones to
text their orders. The order takers
bargain for the lowest price of goods
among wholesalers around Manila
and nearby provinces.
The system, which, Beltran conceptualized work two ways. The residents get to buy their goods at a
much lower price, while the order
takers obtain a modest commission
out of their efforts.
The women drawn in the livelihood programs are mostly mothers,
who have much time in their hands
once the kids are off in school. They
go to the parish computer center to
learn Microsoft excel and entrepreneurship on a small scale.
“There are cultural values in
Philippine culture that resists entrepreneurship,” says Beltran. “Afraid
to risk, conservatism, resignation,
incapacity to plan,” he rattles off. He
is confident that teaching women to
be computer literate will help them
overcome that kind of mentality. “It
will change their thinking,” Beltran
asserts.
The parish community is involved not only in livelihood programs but also in other aspects of
social concerns like housing, clean
water, health, education, environment and advocacy. Having lived in
the midst of an environmental disaster as Smokey Mountain, the present
community is acutely aware of the
catastrophic effects an environment
not properly cared for can bring.
The parish has organized a dance
troupe composed of 60 children,
dubbed Mga Anak ni Inang Daigdig
that call attention to global warming
through their indigenous dances.
“They are officially designated
as the ambassadors for peace and
environment,” says Beltran, not without a tinge of pride in his voice.
In the community the families
are taught to segregate their garbage. The parish has a bio-reactor
that process food waste. This generates two tanks of organic compost a
day which are then sold to farmers as
fertilizers.
“Five thousand tanks (of garbage) were dumped (here) and there
were 25,000 people there,” Beltran
says retrospectively. “So as a parish, we were very conscious about
how to take care of (our) garbage.
We (also) have to take care of air
pollution.”
The idea of building an environment-friendly church came from the
people, according to Beltran. “Let’s
build a Church to remind everyone in
this planet not to dump their garbage
everywhere, take care of global warming.”
Beltran’s vision for Smokey
Mountain is now being piloted in the
vicariate level. The eight parishes—
Risen Christ, San Rafael, San Jose
Manggagawa,
St.
Joseph
Gagalangin, San Roque Blumentritt,
Espiritu Santo, Immaculate Conception and Sta. Monica put up a multipurpose cooperative involving 800
women elected by the BECs in the
vicariate as order takers and delivery
officers.
Beltran explained that the women
will be considered owners of the
cooperative since they have to pay
a membership fee of P500 each, and
will have voting power.
Beltran believes that e-trading
on the vicariate level will set free
thousands of women from poverty
and ignorance. However, his vision
goes further. “We would like (to involve) the whole archdiocese. The etrading network plans 10,000 women
to be uplifted from poverty in the 92
parishes. They will be selling this deliver, internet connectivity is es(detergent) and they will be earning sential to fast track the system.
Beltran hopes the program will
from 15,000 to 20,000 a month.”
One of the commodities being spread not only within the archdiosold is a detergent repacked on the cese of Manila but throughout the
vicariate’s own label called Veritas. different ecclesiastical territories in
Beltran goes on to explain how the country. This early he is already
the system works. With a list of com- planning to concentrate on e-tradmodities on hand, the order takers e- ing and e-learning programs when
mail the orders to the different manu- the construction of the Church is
facturers, whom Beltran calls strate- finished.
Palawan bishop Pedro Arigo,
gic partners. Since the goods are
intended for twenty thousand fami- Taytay apostolic vicar Edgardo
lies, these will amount to millions of Juanich, San Jose Mindoro apospesos. This gives the Coop a better tolic vicar Antonio Palang, and
leverage in its buying power. The Calapan vicar apostolic Warlito
purchased goods are then repacked Cajandig, have visited the parish;
and were impressed by the e-trading
and delivered at once to families.
The idea, according to Beltran, program.
Beltran sees the possibility of
is like a “mall without walls.” The
production or repacking of goods is having this kind of trade operational
based on actual needs. As soon as in various dioceses. “It will happen.”
goods are packed they are delivered Confidently, he adds, “It is just a
matter of time.”
at once to consumers.
“That’s why, we
need to be connected
to the internet,” says
Beltran. There are currently three computer
centers in the vicariate.
Plans are afoot to equip
each parish with four
computers each to facilitate orders and deliveries of goods. With
the increase of commodities (they are targeting 20 kinds of commodities this year) to The proposed Shrine of Hope, Parish of the Risen Christ.
NASSA’s Relief & Rehabilitation Efforts
Highlight Social Concerns Year
By Bob R. Acebedo
FOR the casual observer at the
CBCP
headquarters
in
Intramuros, Manila, the voluminous heaps of bundled sacks,
each filled to the brim and are
stacked all over the corridors and
grounds, are not an unusual
sight.
With donations continuously pouring in, these copious
heaps of packed goods –of food
and non-food items—are regularly sent as relief assistance to
the areas or provinces in the
Bicol region devastated by Typhoon Reming in November of
last year. Spearheading in the
relief and rehabilitation campaign
is the National Secretariat for
Social Action (NASSA) of the
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of
the Philippines.
Apparently for NASSA, two
months after Typhoon Reming
wrought destruction in Bicol and
with two other typhoons,
Milenyo and Paeng, which earlier shortly ravaged the country—and not to mention too the
killer landslides in Southern
Leyte and Quezon provinces that
struck even earlier on—the celebration of Social Concerns Year
of 2006, declared by the CBCP,
has been largely defined or pre-
11
occupied by relief and rehabilitation efforts in response to the disastrous effects wrought by natural
calamities.
Even until to date, NASSA’s
Relief and Rehabilitation unit is yet
on its second cycle of relentless
distribution of relief goods—consisting of rice, dried fish, medicines,
sheltering materials like personal hygiene items, kitchen utensils, blankets, mosquito nets, mats, etc.—to
the victims of the recent killer typhoon, Particularly in the dioceses
of Legaspi and Libmanan, Virac, and
Boac. These areas were hardest hit
by Typhoon Reming which, according to official figures, has affected
over 1 million individuals and some
200,000 families.
Elvira Manalansan, coordinator of NASSA’s Relief and Rehabilitation (R&R) Program, disclosed
that by far, to date, NASSA has
already released an ample number
of sacks of relief items to the affected areas—3,000 sacks for the
diocese of Legaspi, 1,000 for the
prelature of Libmanan, and 500 for
Boac diocese in Marinduque.
With NASSA’s unabated campaign of local and international appeals for help, there’s no letting up
still in the on-going relief operations in the affected areas,
Manalansan said.
Manalansan also revealed
that NASSA is already currently
initiating another level of intervention for the displaced families—the rehabilitation program
which aims to provide shelters,
and subsequently livelihood opportunities, to the victims. With
an earmarked cost of around P119
million, Manalansan said that the
Shelter Program is expected to
benefit some 875 displaced families in the dioceses of Legaspi,
Libmanan, Boac, and Virac.
In a related development,
NASSA’s 2006 annual report revealed that even earlier as of
June last year, NASSA’s relief
and rehabilitation efforts have
benefited 14,767 famailies and
750 individuals nationwide. Likewise, the same report added that
as of mid-2006, NASSA was able
to raise P79.3 million for housing
projects and P1.9 million for emergency or relief assistance for the
flashfloods and landslides victims in Aurora, Quezon and
Southern Leyte provinces.
Ostensibly so, for most observers, NASSA’s continuing relief and rehabilitation efforts may
just be the fitting highlight marking the culmination of the Social
Concerns Year of 2006 as well as
NASSA’s 40th foundation anniversary.
Created by the CBCP in 1966
under its Episcopal Commission
on Social Action-Justice and
Peace (ECSA-JP) as the social
development arm of the Philippine Catholic Church, the National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA) provides a host of
programs and services which,
aside from Relief and Rehabilitation program, include—BEC
Based Integral Evangelization
Program; Thematic programs on
Sustainable Agriculture, Ecology, Children and Women,
Peacebuilding and Alay Kapwa;
and Advocacy Research and
Communications Program.
In the wake, however, of
hundreds of extrajudicial killings
plaguing the country today, the
Episcopal Commission on Social
Action—Justice and Peace still
has to see some systems to address this very serious concern.
CBCP Monitor
Message
12
Vol. 11 No. 2
January 22, 2007
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On 11 February 2007, when the Church
keeps the liturgical memorial of Our
Lady of Lourdes, the Fifteenth World
Day of the Sick will be celebrated in
Seoul, Korea. A number of meetings,
conferences, pastoral gatherings and
liturgical celebrations will take place
with representatives of the Church in
Korea, health care personnel, the sick
and their families. Once again the
Church turns her eyes to those who
suffer and calls attention to the incurably ill, many of whom are dying from
terminal diseases. They are found on
every continent, particularly in places
where poverty and hardship cause
immense misery and grief. Conscious
of these sufferings, I will be spiritually
present at the World Day of the Sick,
united with those meeting to discuss
the plight of the incurably ill in our
world and encouraging the efforts of
Christian communities in their witness to the Lord’s tenderness and
mercy.
Sickness inevitably brings with
it a moment of crisis and sober confrontation with one’s own personal
situation. Advances in the health
sciences often provide the means
necessary to meet this challenge, at
least with regard to its physical aspects. Human life, however, has intrinsic limitations, and sooner or later
it ends in death. This is an experience
to which each human being is called,
and one for which he or she must be
prepared. Despite the advances of
science, a cure cannot be found for
Message of His Holiness Benedict XVI for the
Fifteenth World Day of the Sick
every illness, and thus, in hospitals,
hospices and homes throughout the
world we encounter the sufferings of
our many brothers and sisters who
are incurably and often terminally ill.
In addition, many millions of people
in our world still experience unsanitary living conditions and lack access
to much-needed medical resources,
often of the most basic kind, with the
result that the number of human beings considered “incurable” is greatly
increased.
The Church wishes to support
the incurably and terminally ill by
calling for just social policies which
can help to eliminate the causes of
many diseases and by urging improved care for the dying and those
for whom no medical remedy is available. There is a need to promote policies which create conditions where
human beings can bear even incurable illnesses and death in a dignified
manner. Here it is necessary to stress
once again the need for more palliative care centres which provide integral care, offering the sick the human
assistance and spiritual accompaniment they need. This is a right belonging to every human being, one
which we must all be committed to
defend.
Here I would like to encourage
the efforts of those who work daily to
ensure that the incurably and terminally ill, together with their families,
receive adequate and loving care. The
Church, following the example of the
Good Samaritan, has always shown
particular concern for the infirm.
Through her individual members and
institutions, she continues to stand
alongside the suffering and to attend
the dying, striving to preserve their
Roadside / from p6
sin. Any rescue would bring
us light. Jesus is that Light, the
son born on Christmas Day.
This makes it easy therefore to
see Jesus with Simeon’s eyes
as the “light to reveal you to
the nations and the glory of
your people Israel” (Lk 2:32).
Around this time Catholics in places where there is
winter may experience snow
storms. Sometimes there could
be power failures too. In the
middle of the storms it’s been
customary for Catholics to
light their presentation candles
blessed on the feast day. No, it
The Truth / from p7
has nothing to do with superstition. It’s simply to express
the faith of Catholics that in the
middle of the storms of life
when darkness reigns; Jesus,
our light, is with us and does
not abandon us, no matter
what happens.
We Pinoy Catholics are
no strangers to storms and
super typhoons, both literal
and figurative ones. In so
many of these we, I speak especially of Eastern Samarnons
like myself, experience
people—sometimes family or
friends, very often politicians
and/or the government—deserting us. The good news is:
Jesus does not. A James
Ingram song expresses the
message: “No need to say
goodbye. I’ll see again tomorrow. No matter how life turns
around, I’ll always be there.”
The un-withdrawn hand of
the never-absent Jesus is a
fact. It’s also our command.
Are our hands just as unwithdrawn and our presence
freely given to people who
need us? (For feedbacks
please
write
to:
frebbjr@yahoo.com)
Puerto Princesa / from p9
federation with its own office,
staff, programs and registered
with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),
working hand in hand with
CSSC in reaching the communities of IPs in far flung areas
of the province.
The Particular Church as
Apostolic Vicariate of
Puerto Princesa
His Holiness Pope John
Paul II officially announced
on May 13, 2002 the division
of the Apostolic Vicariate of
Palawan into two Vicariates.
The Apostolic Vicariate of
Taytay was canonically
erected covering the sixteen
(16) parishes of Northern
Palawan with Most Rev.
Edgardo S. Juanich, D.D. as
their shepherd. The remaining territory was subsequently
named Apostolic Vicariate of
Puerto Princesa, under the jurisdiction of Most Rev. Pedro
D. Arigo, D.D.
The Apostolic Vicariate
of Puerto Princesa, having the
same seat of the Apostolic
Vicariate of Palawan, continues the legacy of the Particular Church of Palawan. It covers the city of Puerto Princesa
and the mainland municipalities of Southern Palawan;
Aborlan, Narra, Quezon,
Rizal, Española, Brooke’s
dignity at these significant moments
of human existence. Many such individuals—health care professionals,
pastoral agents and volunteers—and
institutions throughout the world are
tirelessly serving the sick, in hospitals and in palliative care units, on city
streets, in housing projects and parishes.
I now turn to you, my dear brothers and sisters suffering from incurable and terminal diseases. I encour-
age you to contemplate the sufferings of Christ crucified, and, in union
with him, to turn to the Father with
complete trust that all life, and your
lives in particular, are in his hands.
Trust that your sufferings, united to
those of Christ, will prove fruitful for
the needs of the Church and the
world. I ask the Lord to strengthen
your faith in his love, especially during these trials that you are experiencing. It is my hope that, wherever you
are, you will always find the spiritual
encouragement and strength needed
to nourish your faith and bring you
closer to the Father of Life. Through
her priests and pastoral workers, the
Church wishes to assist you and
stand at your side, helping you in
your hour of need, and thus making
present Christ’s own loving mercy
towards those who suffer.
In conclusion, I ask ecclesial
communities throughout the world,
and particularly those dedicated to
the service of the infirm, to continue,
with the help of Mary, Salus
Infirmorum, to bear effective witness
to the loving concern of God our
Father. May the Blessed Virgin, our
Mother, comfort those who are ill and
sustain all who have devoted their
lives, as Good Samaritans, to healing
the physical and spiritual wounds of
those who suffer. United to each of
you in thought and prayer, I cordially
impart my Apostolic Blessing as a
pledge of strength and peace in the
Lord.
From the Vatican, 8 December 2006
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
Point, Bataraza and the island – municipalities of
Balabac and Cagayancillo.
AVPP Golden Jubilee
1955-2005
On 03 July 2005, the Local
Church of Puerto Princesa has
celebrated the 50th Anniversary of its elevation from Apostolic Prefecture in 1955.
On the very special occasion, the following were given
priority attention: 1. integral
faith formation; 2. renewal of
the clergy and the religious; 3.
people empowerment; and, 4.
the re-enkindling of the missionary zeal in every member
of the Church.
Present Realities
At present the Apostolic
Vicariate of Puerto Princesa
has forty three Diocesan
Clergy; Six Religious from the
SVD; A Priest and a Brother
from the OAR; Two Marist
Brothers; an Amigonian
Brother and forty four Religious Sisters who administer
the Spiritual and Pastoral
needs of 417,834 Catholics in
twenty-two parishes, three
prison-chaplaincies, two mission territories and five quasiparishes.
Certainly there is no
shortage of pastoral difficulties or spiritual or physical
exhaustion caused by overwork or a lack of that balance
which recommends healthy
periods of physical rest and
spiritual renewal. Yet, despite
of these realities, majority of
our priests face the difficulties of the present positively,
supported by the solicitude
of the Bishop joyfully living
their generous pastoral commitment and their priestly
identity to the full.
As we move towards the
growth of the Church of
Palawan, we are faced with
many challenges. Yet we face
this with trust and faith that
God in His providence will
sustain his Church, that God
in his wisdom will touch the
hearts of the people to be part
of the missionary work entrusted to everyone.
The local Church of
Palawan will always be in
gratitude to all who has been
part of this missionary task.
We are encouraged by the
hope and light of Christ to its
final destiny and of great consolation that the Mother of
our Redeemer, Our Lady of
the Immaculate Conception,
Patroness of our Vicariate is
always close to us guiding
her sons and daughters in the
way to Christ “Ad Iesum per
Mariam.”
bone ticklers. Here’s a
nutty one from a Tokyo
bar: SPECIAL COCKTAILS
FOR THE LADIES WITH
NUTS.
A cocktail lounge in
Norway, meanwhile, shows
such care in protecting the
innocent: LADIES ARE REQUESTED NOT TO HAVE
CHILDREN IN THE BAR.
In a restaurant in Rome,
this sign implies there are
521 days a year: OPEN
SEVEN DAYS A WEEK,
AND WEEKENDS TOO.
A Nairobi restaurant
notice matter-of-factly
states:
CUSTOMERS
WHO FIND OUR WAITRESSES RUDE OUGHT TO
SEE THE MANAGER.
Restaurant menus also
offer humor besides nourishment: Note this one
from a Swiss restaurant in
Fribourg: OUR WINES
LEAVE YOU NOTHING TO
HOPE FOR.
And from a quaint restaurant in Poland’s countryside: SALAD A FIRM’S
OWN MAKE; LIMPID
RED BEET SOUP WITH
CHEESY DUMPLINGS IN
THE FORM OF A FINGER;
ROASTED DUCK LET
LOOSE; BEEF RASHERS
BEATEN IN THE COUNTRY PEOPLE’S FASHION.
A new type of omelet
seems a specialty in a roadside restaurant in Luxor,
Egypt: WE SERVE OMELETTE WITH EGGS.
Roadside reminders are
another source of travel
fun. Right here at home, a
sign cautions motorists in
Tagaytay: PLEASE DRIVE
SLOWLY. 6 PEOPLE DIED
HERE BY ACCIDENT.
To wake up sleepy local tourists on the road to
Malolos, a billboard advertising chicken feed boasts:
PALAKIHAN NG ITLOG.
While you fill up at a
gasoline station in Tarlac,
an invitation painted on its
wall says: DROP IN. THIS
IS A GOOD PLACE TO
TAKE A LEAK.
Travel agencies do
their part in making your
trip mishap-free—as this
one from Czechoslovakia :
TA K E O N E O F O U R
HORSE-DRIVEN CITY
TOURS. WE GUARANTEE
NO MISCARRIAGES.
Sometimes
travel
agents’ enthusiasm leads to
ambivalence, like this longwinding claim noted at a
tourist bureau in Padova,
Italy: THIS HOTEL IS RENOWNED FOR ITS PEACE
AND SOLITUDE. IN FACT,
CROWDS FROM ALL
OVER THE WORLD FLOCK
HERE TO ENJOY ITS SOLITUDE.
Sometimes, too, airline
ticket offices may not be
the most helpful of places;
see
this
sign
in
Copenhagen: WE TAKE
YOUR BAGS AND SEND
THEM IN ALL DIRECTIONS.
The Japanese countryside is so beautiful even its
travel tips can get to be poetic, as this one found in a
car rental brochure in Tokyo: WHEN PASSENGER
O F F O O T H E AV E I N
S I G H T, TO O T L E THE
HORN. TRUMPET HIM
MELODIOUSLY AT FIRST,
BUT IF HE STILL OBSTACLES YOUR PASSAGE
THEN TOOTLE HIM WITH
VIGOUR.
There’s more on the
list, really, but I guess this
is enough gasser for the
day, lest some extra-sensitive reader ask, “What’s a
column like that doing in an
august, dignified paper for
bishops?” Well, as any
honest-to-goodness
church person can tell you,
bishops wouldn’t be able
to endure being bishops if
they didn’t know how to be
human and laugh once in a
while. And that’s the truth.
The
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faith-related, educational and social-advocacy oriented. Its
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CBCP Monitor
Statements
January 22, 2007
ECMI’s Statement of Support to
DOLE’s Upgrade of Policies Covering
the Filipino Household Workers to
be Deployed Overseas
FOR over two decades now of
sending our Filipino women overseas to work as household workers, their situation has never really improved. Many advocates
for migrants in the Catholic
Church had been appealing for
the protection of their rights and
promotion of their welfare as they
are considered the most vulnerable workers considering their
specific working environment.
We recognized that while there
were many attempts in the past to
safeguard their situations, those
systems however had always
been abused by many exploitative recruiting agencies and several employers. We believed that
the recently declared policy reforms covering the household
workers will not necessarily resolve all the problems surrounding their deployment. Nevertheless these would improve their
worsening condition, such as the
case of those OFWs working in
Lebanon, or somehow would lead
the Philippines to graduate from
sending household workers who
are less skilled, in protecting and
preserving their rights. The reforms are not that all perfect but
we wish to praise those parts that
deserve commendation. The
abuse to the system would most
likely to happen again, but we
could only hope that the new
reforms would empower our
women household workers from
now on.
We commend the governing
board of the Philippine Overseas
Employment Administration
(POEA) under your department
for the resolutions made specifically affecting the following:
Age requirement of 25 years
old. Having raised the minimum
age requirement to 25 years old,
our household workers to be deployed overseas would have better psycho-emotional and physical preparation for the work.
Minimum wage of US$400.
Having raised their minimum
monthly salary to US$400 is the
most natural thing if employers
would like to hire skilled household workers as described by the
new policy. There are countries
that could well afford to hire household workers at US$400. The Philippines should only allow countries willing to pay the set wage.
No Placement Fee Policy. The
prohibition to collect placement
fee from the household workers
prior or during their employment
has been what we were advocating for the longest time. We hope
that this would apply as well to
other OFWs. The employer
should pay for the placement fee
of their workers if that is necessary.
Pre-Qualification Certificate.
The requirement of Pre-Qualification Certificate could thwart
abuse and exploitation when
implemented well. This could provide household workers a better
view of what is in store for them.
We observed that while we
could have good policy bills for
our workers, the lack of monitoring work is where most of our
workers fall victims from the exploitation of abusive employers
and agents. We recommend to
our government to strengthen the
aspect of monitoring in the site
and in the country. We think the
Filipino communities overseas
and our network of pastoral workers and chaplains are most willing
to be of help on this aspect of
monitoring when our government
officials would consistently show
sincerity and dedication in their
assistance to our distressed workers at the site.
On behalf of Bishop Precioso
Cantillas, SDB, DD
Chairman, Episcopal Commission
for the Pastoral Care
Of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples
of CBCP
Fr. Edwin D. Corros, CS
Executive Secretary
CBCP-ECMI
January 22, 2007
A Conference Statement of the CBCP 2007 International
Conference on Bioethics and the Family
January 9-10, 2007
EDSA Shangri-La Hote
Ortigas Center, Metro Manila
Recent developments in modern biomedical science are proceeding at a
dizzying pace, presenting untold opportunities and problems for the individual, the family, and society.
Authentic progress, which promotes
the dignity of the human person from
conception until one’s natural death,
is a fundamental concern which the
Catholic Church shares with all of
humanity. It requires that every human activity, including and most specially those related to science, conform to the universal and timeless
principles and norms of ethics, and
that every human achievement confirm these principles and standards.
Determined to make sure that all
progress in genetic engineering and
biotechnology adhere strictly to this
principle, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines felt it has
the duty and the opportunity to contribute to the proper dissemination,
processing and utilization of information and data that could help promote the correct public policies and
private response of individuals and
families to the wide range of issues in
biomedicine and biotechnology.
For this reason, the CBCP decided to organize the 2007 International Conference on Bioethics and
the Family, drawing on the knowledge of experts from the Holy See,
the United States, Europe and the
Philippines, from whose presentation we have drawn the following
conclusions:
1. The human embryo is a human
person, composed of body and
soul, from the moment of his/her
conception, endowed with all the
potentialities, proper identity, individuality, and uniqueness, and
hence has an inherent dignity
that must be respected and protected throughout his/her entire
life.
2. Created in the image of God, the
human embryo has God-given
inviolable rights and is destined
to eternal life.
3. The human family founded on
the institution of marriage (which
includes fatherhood, motherhood and childhood) is the natural and fundamental group unit
of society. Its rights as a social
unit, and not merely of its members as individuals, have to be
respected and promoted.
4. We acknowledge the contributions of science to provide cure
and alleviate human suffering.
However, ethics and social morality set limits for what is permissible in scientific discovery
and the application of scientific
knowledge.
5. The claim by some scientists
that human embryonic stem cells
can be used for treating adult
tissue is false, and hence must
be debunked. Only adult stem
cells have this ability.
6. There is a need to be genuinely
discerning and critical of organizations and systems—national
and international—that seek to
Crisis / from p3
In celebrating the social concerns year, the prelates emphasized
its call for action from a moral standpoint.
The CBCP committed itself to a
program of pastoral action involving the building of character, capacity and community.
It also called on the faithful and
institutions to promote a “civilization of love” through anticorruption and livelihood programs, training sessions on good governance
and good citizenship, election monitoring and voters’ education, among
other projects.
Figura said the speakers and
facilitators for the bishops’ seminar
are some public officials, lay leaders
and high-ranking prelates.
On the first day of the seminar,
the session topics and their respective speakers are: for today, “Leader
and Citizens as Partners in Social
Transformation: the Marikina Experience” by Marikina Mayor
Marides Fernando, and “Electoral
Processes as a Tool for Social
Transformation: the Isabela Province Experience” by Isabela governor Grace Padaca.
On the second day, talks will
include: the “Consistent Crusade
Against Gambling” by LingayenDagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz,
“Citizens Movements: the Ipil
Prelature Experience” by Cagayan
de Oro Archbishop Antonio
Ledesma, and “Evangelizing Politics” by Nandy Pacheco of Ang
Kapatiran.
On the third day, the last day of
the seminar, there will be a talk on
“The Role of Bishops as Leaders in
Addressing Crises in Governance”
by CBCP president and Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo.
The assembly, meanwhile, will
end January 28 with possibly another pastoral statement on the current political situation and other social issues.
CBCP spokesman Msgr Pedro
Quitorio said the bishops might also
tackle issues related to the upcoming elections during the plenary.
“We might also issue guidelines or statements on the elections
as what we did in the past, particularly on what the people should do,
and what their attitude should be in
the coming elections,” he added.
Different commissions of the
CBCP are also expected to report on
their achievements last year and
plans for this year. (Roy Lagarde)
13
© Roy Lagarde / CBCP Media
Vol. 11 No. 2
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abrogate the country’s sovereign constitutional protection of
the family, parents’ rights, and
the right to life.
7. Contraception which gave rise
to what Pope John Paul II referred to as the “culture of death”
has stimulated sharp increases
in adultery, pre-marital sex and
homosexual activity. With it, the
abominable crime of abortion has
been condoned and even considered a right. This loss of respect and care for human life at
its beginning has led to the loss
of respect and care at its natural
end, as in the evils of euthanasia
and abandonment of the elderly
and the handicapped.
8. Various faiths and cultures, at
the national and international
levels, must mutually cooperate
to promote, strengthen and protect human life and the family.
9. The government, particularly
the legislators, has also the moral
obligation to promote and protect human life from its beginning, as well as the dignity of
marriage and the family.
10. Invoking the God of Life, may
our families be inspired,
strengthened and challenged by
the example of the Holy Family,
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, in responding to our vocation to
serve the Church and society by
caring for human life and serving
the family, the basic unit of society.
CBCP Monitor
Reflections
14
Vol. 11 No. 2
January 22, 2007
Bo Sanchez
Hunting for the Best
By Bp. Jose R. Manguiran
IN the course of doing our assignment
we want to do it well, and the best of
course. As you are the first deployed
mission team, you earnestly want to set
the best of everything.
Later on you will come to realize that
the best we have put up is not at all the
best because we discover another way
better than before.
Therefore, the right attitude is to believe that what we are doing now is not
really the best; the best is elusive, it is
forever to be hunted.
Hunting for the best is what makes
life thrilling and missionary. The thrill of
hunting ends when the hunter is trapped
by death. Only at that moment can the
hunter grasp the best he had been chas-
ing in his life-time.
To believe that our work is the best
is to be closed to other possibilities for
the better, even to be proud that no one
can do it better than we do.
What is important is the reason which
motivates us to be doing and not the doing itself. What matters most is, “Thy will
be done,” and not what we have done.
What is important is to “whom shall I go,”
and not where shall I go.
With this perspective in mind, the
“rest will be added unto you” and then
you are on the path to the BEST. Without
this perspective, you will become the
BEAST.
Keep on chasing the best to tame the
“beast” in us!
© Bryan Allen/Corbis
Have Fun When You Can
7:00 AM
One Saturday morning, I kidnap our ANAWIM
orphans and kids, all fifteen
of them, and squeeze them
into my car for a day of fun.
Along the way, the kids are
singing, dancing, screaming, and vomiting on each
other. No wonder my car’s
air freshener isn’t working
well. And where are we
going? Not to those expensive amusement parks
where people pay P400 per
head. Multiply that by fifteen, and I’ll be poorer than
a presidential aspirant who
has just lost the elections.
Instead, I decide to go to a
place that suits my personal tastes and cultural
preferences and artistic orientation: a place with no
entrance fee.
9:00 AM
I drive them to a free
park (Quezon Circle in
Quezon City), rent old
bikes—that cost me only
P400 for everyone! I spend
the whole morning trying
Church and Elections
NOW that we are in the Year of Social
Concerns, and also that we will be
having elections this year, it seems
but proper that we make some proactive, not reactive, effort to both humanize and Christianize this political
exercise.
Sad to say, our elections have
gone to the dogs, consistently being
accompanied by ugly cohorts like
cheating, bribing, killing, violence,
etc., leading us to a black hole of
hideous social ills.
We still fail to break the vicious
cycle of poverty, injustice, violence,
etc. on the one hand, and all sorts of
political shenanigans, on the other.
Is this task impossible? Difficult, definitely. But impossible?
This is, of course, an enormous
challenge, requiring heroic efforts
and sacrifices and gargantuan resources, but we can always start
now and build on what we have
accomplished so far as we move along
in our national life.
We should try to avoid hasty,
shallow and dangerous improvisations, amateurism, and ad hocism
that should not sit well with us after
so many years of nightmarish experiences regarding elections.
The Church hierarchy and clergy
should not just confine themselves
to ceremonial acts and post-mortem
complaining and lamenting. In terms
of the pertinent catechesis alone, a
lot need to be done. And there are
many other things that can and ought
to be done, before, during and after
the elections.
For example, what to tell or remind our politicians and candidates
with respect to the conduct of the
campaign and election; what to tell
the electorate, the public officials
involved in the exercise, etc., etc.,
should be very interesting and necessary.
What issues to address, what
platforms and programs of government would be appropriate, can be
discussed, ventilated and debated
upon by the different sectors with
some guidelines given by Church
authorities.
Our Church leaders should think
of a comprehensive plan to tackle
By Fr. Roy Cimagala
this important social concern, and
spark to life the appropriate machinery and network to carry out this
indispensable ministry. This should
be an affair.
This is, of course, not a show of
power on the part of the Church, nor
to compromise the true nature and
purpose of the Church, which is religious, and as such is predominantly
spiritual and supernatural in character. This is not to come out with
supposedly exclusive Catholic positions in political issues.
This is rather to make sure that
our earthly and temporal affairs conform to our proper religious end,
inspiring them with true Christian
spirit and doing so by carefully respecting the legitimate autonomy
which these human affairs by their
nature possess, and the plurality of
moral positions they can spawn.
Thus, it can be immediately seen
that the main protagonists of this
exercise would be the lay faithful
insofar as they are also responsible
citizens of the country. The clergy
take more on the guiding and inspiring role, which is no trivial matter.
Care should be taken to avoid
falling into clericalism, a monstrous
mongrel, bastard and hybrid between
religion and politics, the Church and
state. Thus, everyone—clergy, religious and lay—should be taught
about what he or she can do and not
do with respect to the election and to
anything political.
In this regard, not only the diocesan and parochial offices can be
used, but also the mass media. These
offer greater reach and scope. Pope
John Paul II called them the modern
Areopagus, precisely for this reason.
Over the years, many initiatives
in this direction have already been
made. On the whole, they are good
and useful. But some clarifications,
corrections and polishing need to be
done. And, certainly, further development.
It cannot be denied that there
had been irregularities, outright mistakes and frontal violations to the
authentic nature and purpose of the
Church. Meddling by Church officials in political affairs had unfortunately happened.
The elections can be a wonderful occasion for all of us to go deep
and deeper into the social doctrine of
the Church, which is becoming more
relevant as we grow as nation. In
fact, it’s a crying need today!
to teach the small ones how
to balance on a two-wheeler—
and wondering whether the
big kids left the park and were
now biking up Canon road to
Baguio City.
11:30 AM
As I try to catch my
breath, wipe my sweat, and
remove the new designs off
my shirt and pants (i.e. biketracks), I begin to wonder why
I ever got into this thing of
putting up an orphanage.
Perhaps I should shift careers
now. I begin to imagine entering into Showbiz, and making
a movie with Cameron Diaz.
12:00 NOON
After failing to catch
them with a lasso, or with ingenious pits that I dig and
cover with leaves—I give up
and softly whisper to myself,
“Kakain na ako. Kung ayaw
niyong kumain, di huwag.”
Immediately, all fifteen are behind me, little angels in a row.
1:00 PM
After budget meals, plus
ice drops—two pesos each—
for dessert, I decide on a dis-
Political Dynasty
Am a concerned Pilipino in New
York and I would join you in the
prayer rally if I am in the Philippines.
I believe that something
good can be achieved in the show
of another people’s power. The
People must now command our
politicians to pass ANTI-POLITICAL DYNASTY LAW which is
already provided for in the Constitution.
The problems in the Philippines can be summed up into 2
major ones: 1/3 Graft and Corruption and 2/3 Political Dynasty. If
the enabling law can be passed
to enforce the Anti-Political Dynasty, then 2/3 of our problems
can be solved and it would lead
to the minimization of graft and
corruption.
But considering that our
Congressman and politicians will
not take the action, then the initiative should be coming from the
people to compel our leaders to
pass the law that will implement
the will of the Filipino—a more
progressive and peaceful life in
the Philippines—without the
graft and corruption, with the
more capable ordinary citizens
having the chance to truly serve
our people.
I believe that NOW is the
time to order our political leaders
to heed the people’s command,
while the politicians are still feeling the heat of anger by their constituents.
Can I suggest that the passage of the Anti Political Dynasty
be given more emphasis with
those attending the rally exhorted
to continue pressing their leaders to act on this very important
piece of legislation. I am sure
there are still some decent congressman and senators who will
be willing to sponsor a bill for this
matter, especially if the People will
put more pressure.
Thank you for reading and
considering this proposal.
Modesto B.
covery expedition, to a
place that they’ve never
been to. I escort them to a
public toilet. Naturally,
they are flushed with excitement. After that, it was
“swings and slides” time
in the park. Life’s pleasures are free indeed.
5:00 PM
I’m driving home with
my tired crew. I’m exhausted, yes, but peeking
through my rear-view mirror, I catch a glimpse of the
kids sleeping soundly, and
my heart skips a beat.
I love them so much.
One girl was still
awake. She sides up to me
and whispers, “Kuya Bo,
masayang masaya ako
ngayon.” So I wonder if it
was the bike ride, or the
swing, or the ice drop, or
the public toilet. I ask why.
She gives me a tight
hug. “Kasi, kasama ka
namin.”
I try to drive carefully.
My tears are getting in the
way.
FROM THE
INBOX
The Choir and
English Mass
We are grateful for your wise, just
and satisfying spiritual guidance
to the Catholic community.
My friends and I are proud
to strive to be good Catholics.
But we have some concerns
which we know you can fairly resolve. Our Parish Priests always
encourage us to participate in the
celebration of mass especially on
Sundays. We try to and we buy
the monthly missalette. However,
it is difficult for us to participate
because the choir usually deviates from the songs indicated in
the missalette. To enable us to
actively participate, it would be
helpful if the choir is instructed
to sing the songs as indicated in
the missalette.
Another concern is that all
masses in our area are usually in
Tagalog. Is it possible for the
parish to conduct at least one
mass in English on Sundays?
There are a lot of visitors and foreigners married to Filipinos who
desire to attend Sunday Services.
Since they can not comprehend
what is going on, they get discouraged from attending Sunday
mass. It happened recently when
our folks abroad came home to
attend the 50th wedding anniversary of my sister. When they
found out masses are in Tagalog,
they just were disappointed.
Especially this time when English is being encouraged to hone
proficiency, masses in English is
an excellent medium of learning.
Filipinos then were admired for
their ability to communicate in
English fluently.
Lizbeth O.
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 11 No. 2
January 22, 2007
Title: AGENT X44
Running Time: 95 mins
Lead Cast: Vhong Navarro, Mariel
Rodriguez, Cassandra Ponti,
Pokwang, Juliana Palermo,
Mura, Tony Ferrer
Director: Joyce Bernal
Producers: Charo Santos Concio,
Malou Santos
Screenwriter: Mel Mendoza del
Rosario
Music: Charles "Chukie" Dreyfus
Editor: Renewin Alano
Genre: Comedy
Distributor: Star CINEMA
Location: Manila, Philippines
Technical Assessment:
½
Moral Assessment:
CINEMA Rating: For viewers 13
and below with parental
guidance
Nagsasanay si King a.k.a Agent
X43 (Vhong Navarro) upang maging
isang ganap na agent detective
katulad ng kanyang Ninong na si
Agent X44 (Tony Ferrer). Kasabay
ni King sa pagsasanay ang kanyang
sidekick na si Junior a.k.a. Bro (Mura)
at kaibigan na si Mary Grace a.k.a.
Agent 609 (Mariel Rodriguez). Sa
pagtatapos ng training ay itinalaga
bilang mga ganap na agent ang mga
kapwa nila trainees kabilang si Mary
Jigsaw / John (Tobin Bell)
returns for the 3rd installment of
the Saw Trilogy as bedridden
cancer patient now in the brink of
death. He needs to stay alive until
his newest victim Jeff (Agnus
Macfayden), a father mourning
for the loss of his 8 year old son
completes his game wherein he
meets people who contributed to
the death of his son and he is
made to choose to forgive and
save them or watch them die
slowly and painfully. His
prot?g?e, Amanda (Shawnee
Smith), the junkie he saved in the
previous sequel, continues his
torture legacy and kidnaps Dr.
Lynn Denlon (Bahar Soomkh) so
he can ensure he stays alive to
see Jeff finish his game and receive punishment fir committing
adultory. Amanda designs an intricate collar bomb that will ex-
CBCPMonitor
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CINEMA Reviews
Grace maliban kina King at Junior na
sa halip ay itinalaga bilang mga
tagalinis o Janitor. Ikinalungkot ito
ni King at ni Agent X44 dahil kapwa
pala sila umaasa na magkakaroon ng
bagong X44 sa katauhan ni King at
makapagpahinga bilang senior citizen ang kanyang Ninong. Hanggang
isang kaso ng nawawalang artifacts
sa museo ang kailangan solusyunan
na may kinalaman pala sa mga unang
kaso na napagtagumpayan ni Agent
X44 tatlong dekada na ang
nakararaan. Naging hamon ito kay
King upang maisalba ang naunsyami
niyang career bilang agent, kaya
ginawa niya ang lahat ng paraan sa
tulong ni Junior upang maibigay sa
kanya ang kaso. Naibigay naman ito
sa kanya na kaakibat ang mga
kondisyon kasama ang maayos na
pagsasama nila sa trabaho ng
kaibigan na si Mary Grace na nagbalik
matapos ang ibayo pang pagsasanay
sa ibang bansa. Magtagumpay
naman kaya si King sa kasong ito at
maging ganap na Agent X44?
pagbigkas ng mga wikang banyaga)
at misteryosong labanan na wala
namang saysay. Walang sentro ang
kwento kaya hirap masundan ang
daloy nito kahit na ang karakter ni
King ay nakakalito dahil sa tila likas
niyang pagkakomedyante at kahit
papaano ay nagging interesante ang
pagbuhay sa katauhan ng maalamat
na Agent X44 lalo na ang aktuwal na
pagganap ng unang binansagan nito
tatlong dekada na ang nakararaan na
si Tony Ferrer. Sa mga umaasa ng
mga kamangha-manghang eksenang
detektib at mga kakaibang gatgets
ay mabibigo sa pelikulang ito.
Bagama't my effort na magpakita ng
mga tagpo na may animated computer program parang wala naman
itong dating at halos di napansin.
Halos di naman makilala ang mga
karakter dahil sa disenyo ng
produksyon at nakakalitong dubbing. Hilaw ang musika at tunog na
inilapat. Sa kabuuan ng aspetong
teknikal ay walang masydong
maihahain ng pelikula.
Halata na pilit lang nilagyan ng
istorya ang pelikula dahil mas
nangibabaw ang mga agaw eksenang
patawa
(pati
eksaheradang
Hindi mailap ang tagumpay sa
taong nagsisikap at may mithiin sa
buhay. Kahit papaano ay ipinakita
ito ng pelikula sa kabila ng magulong
Title: SAW III
Running Time: 83 mins
Lead Cast: Tobin Bell, Bahar
Soomkh, Angus Macfadyen,
Dina Meyer, Shawnee Smith
Director: Darren Lynn Bausman
Producers: Greg Hoffman, Mark
Burg
Screenwriter: Leigh Whannel
Music: Charlie Clouser
Genre: Horror
Cinematography: David
Armstrong
Location: USA
Technical Assessment:
Moral Assessment:
CINEMA Rating: For mature
viewers 18 and above
pletes the entire mood of scenes
? rusty, gloomy and dark. Cinematography and editing are decent and tight and the scoring is
substantially chilling.
It is surprising how one person can champion values such as
forgiveness, faithfulness and
appreciation of one's life be so
violent, cold blooded and sadistic at the same time. Can a noble
intention such as teaching a person forgiveness or matrimonial
faithfulness justify the mutilation
of a wrongdoer? Society most of
the time applauds vigilantes and
rude heroes who use force and
violence to punish the corrupt,
the immoral and the abusive. At
some point we cry "death by lethal injection or gas chamber" -probably these are "more humane" and less gruesome than
the devises and contraptions of
Jigsaw -- but doesn't it follow the
same principle? Hate the sin and
love the sinner is a very basic
Christian value that needs to be
emphasized these days, vis-?-vis
we give importance to the conversion of the heart and soul and
rectification of attitude as oppose
to judgment and punishment of
an offender. After all, didn't we
commit a mistake or fault at some
point in our lives? The movie fails
to bring its underlying philosophy and concentrated on spilling
liters of blood, body parts and
other vomit-inducing elements
and is definitely not suitable for
young and sensitive audience.
plode the moment John flatlines or
she walks to far from the man. Unfortunately, Jigsaw/John takes fancy of
Lynn which angers Amanda after
giving him her loyalty.
Considering the development
of movies of this genre, one would be
surprised at the dullness of the production. It is neither terrifying nor
thrilling. For horror, it relies a lot on
gore and blood spills and how much
one can stomach as it merely moves
from one torture scene to the next
interspersed with a weak story line.
Although this sequel ties all loose
ends of the previous two; it is a little
confusing as it tries to take an indepth look at the relationship of John
and Amanda; masters and prot?g?e,
love, father and daughter and wallows in detailing subplots of other
characters in the present and previous films. The script is flat and bland
while the production design com-
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takbo ng istorya.
Naniniwala
at
naninindigan si
King sa kanyang
k a k a y a h a n
bagama't gumamit
siya ng pananakot
bilang huwad na
multo para makamit
niya
ang
minimithing kaso
u p a n g
mapatunayan na
karapat-dapat
siyang
maging
ganap na ahente ng
imbestigasyon. Sa
pag-ako naman ng
responsibilidad ay
kailangan bantayan
ang kahinaan upang
wag mahulog sa
bitag katulad ng
pagkabighani sa seksing babae.
Maraming eksenang patawa ang
pelikula na gumamit ng istilong pagaalipusta at pagwawalang halaga sa
kapwa lalo na sa babae. Sa kabuuan
ay bitin ang paghahatid ng
magandang aral sa manonood. Dapat
ring maging maingat sa paggamit sa
marangal na pangalan ng kilalang
15
bayani na katulad ni Lapu-lapu at sa
mga bagay na direktang iniuugnay
sa kanya katulad ng kanyang tabak
na naging subject ng obsession ng
iba't ibang karakter sa pelikula! Dahil
sa di umano ay mahiwagang
kakayahan nito na makagawa ng
langis at mapagyaman sa sinuman
na magmamay-ari nito.
Title: NIGHT AT THE
MUSEUM
Running Time: 95 mins
Lead Cast: Ben Stiller,
Carla Gugino, Dick
Van Dyke, Mickey
Rooney, Bill Cobbs,
Jake Cherry, Ricky
Gervais, Rrobin
Williams, Owen
Wilson
Director: Shawn Levy
Producers: Michael
Barnathan, Chris
Columbus
Screenwriters: Robert
Ben Garant,
Thomas Lennon
Music: Alan Silvestru
Editor: Don Zimmerman
Cinematography:
Guillermo Navarro
Distributor: 20th
Century Fox
Location: USA
Technical Assessment:
Moral Assessment:
CINEMA Rating: For viewers age 13 and below with parental
guidance
Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is a
newly divorced father?jobless,
rudderless, and struggling to get
a job to be able to support his son
Nick (Jake Cherry). So as not to
have to move to Queens, which
will disappoint Nick, Larry takes
the only job that he can, as a
security guard on graveyard shift
at New York's Museum of Natural
History. He inherits the museum's
only copy of the instruction
manual from the three guards
about to retire, Cecil (Dick Van
Dyke), Reginald (Bill Cobbs) and
Gus (Mickey Rooney), along with
a mysterious piece of advice:
"After dark, don't let anyone in--or out." Larry soon sees why--on his first night he discovers
that once the doors are locked
and the sun goes down, all hell
practically breaks loose. The Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton reanimates, as do the lions and all the
African mammals, the Egyptian
statues, Attila the Hun, Theodore
Roosevelt, the little figurines in
the dioramas, even the miniature
trains. But alas, Dexter, the capuchin monkey, tears the instruction manual to piece.
It may not be the most original father-son bonding story ever
told, nor the funniest comedyfantasy ever filmed, but Night at
the Museum wins hands down in
the CGI department. It's both
amusing and entertaining to see a
T-rex skeleton, for instance, behaving like an overeager puppy
and wanting to play "fetch" with
a stunned Stiller. The Lilliputian
diorama figurines tying Stiller
down with his head on the railroad tracks while their equally
tiny trains rams his head without
as much as messing his hair is
also comical. Stiller is his usual
bumbling self here; his looks are
perfect for the funny part, but can
turn earnest when needed. The
two screen veterans (Van Dyke
and Cobbs) play their roles gamely
and well, while the third veteran
(Rooney), looking like a resurrected museum item himself, steals
the scene from both Stiller and the
capuchin monkey.
More sophisticated audiences might fall asleep from either
exhaustion or boredom halfway
through the nigh at the museum
for there are no witty gags or
smart double-talk in this movie.
But as long as viewers know what
to expect, it could be an enjoyable
family movie: entertaining
enough, clean enough, and very
well-made technically, plus
there's that worthy message of
providing oneself against all
odds. Even young children may
watch this, but ready when they
ask things like "How can the giant
skeleton drink?
People, Facts & Places
16
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 11 No. 2
January 22, 2007
Parish of St. Therese in Batangas Declared Shrine
THE shrine of St. Therese
of the Child Jesus and the
Holy Face in Batangas
was
declared
an
Archdiocesan Shrine last
January 2, 2007, on the
134th birthday of the saint.
The Archdiocesan
Chancellor, Rev. Father
Gerard Jonas Palmares,
read the Decree in front of
the heavily packed devotees including the
hermanidad and benefactors.
The Eucharistic celebration was presided by
the Archbishop of Lipa,
Most Reverend Ramon
C. Arguelles, DD. The solemn event was also
graced with the presence
of the Auxiliary BishopEmeritus of Lipa, Most
Rev. Salvador Q. Quizon, DD; the Bishop of
Gumaca, Most Rev. Ben Famadico, DD; and the
Bishop-Emeritus of Lucena, Most Rev. Ruben
T. Profugo, DD, and several priests and religious.
The Marker of the Shrine and the belfry
were blessed prior to the celebration of the
Mass.
The newly declared Shrine of St. Therese is
the fourth Archdiocesan Shrine in Lipa. The
first declared Archdiocesan Shrine is the famous and well revered Our Lady of Caysasay in
Labac, Taal, Batangas. The present rector of the
Shrine is Fr. Bong Panganiban.
The second is the Shrine of St. Vincent
Ferrer in Banay-Banay, Lipa City. It is currently
under the supervision of Fr. Jojo Mendoza as
Rector.
The third one which is administered by Fr.
Charlie Argente, an Oblate of St. Joseph Priest,
is the Shrine of St. Joseph, The Patriarch.
The latest which
is under the stewardship of Fr. Bert R.
Cabrera, as Parish
Priest, is the Shrine of
St. Therese of the
Child Jesus and of the
Holy Face.
The shrine of St.
Therese used to be the
parochial Church of
Sta. Teresita Municipality. It is located
along national highway in the midwestern
part of the province of
Batangas. The Sta.
Teresita- Poblacion is
the former Brgy.
Sambat of Taal,
Batangas.
The Parish
Church was declared a Shrine for the Archdiocese of Lipa to acknowledge the widespread of
devotion to the Saint of the New Millennium.
St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy
Face, the Saint of the Little Way and the Patroness of Foreign Missions is also the 34th Doctor
of the Church.
Roses are commonly associated with St.
Therese. They became commonly known as
signs of granted petitions through the intercession of the saint. During the declaration event,
Most Rev. Ramon C. Arguelles, DD, and Fr. Bert
R. Cabrera blessed the roses brought by the
congregation.
St. Therese uttered before she breathed her
last that she will spend her heaven by doing
good on earth. She was true to her promise.
Many devotees attributed the favors they have
received through the intercession of St. Therese.
(by Elvie Reyes & Arlene de Villa)
Fr. Théophile Verbist Founded the CICM in
Brussels, Belgium
THE CICM missionaries arrived in the Philippines in 1907. Since then, for 100 years now, the
CICM missionaries have been in the works of
evangelization in many parts of the country.
This year the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
(CICM), is celebrating 100 years of missionary
work in the country.
Today, 100 members of CICM are of Filipino nationality including Bishop Carlito
Cenzon of the diocese of Baguio, and Bishop
Prudencio Andaya Apostolic Vicar of Tabuk.
Many are in Africa, America or Asia, like
Bishop Wenceslao Padilla, Apostolic Prefect
of Ulaanbaatar, in Mongolia.
Prominent CICM missionaries include Fr
Francis Lambrecht who evangelized the people
of Ifugao and became Vicar Apostolic of Montana province and Msgr. William Brasseur
who came in 1931 to work among the Benguet
people.
The congregation works of evangelization have also challenged and inspired many
Filipinos to give themselves to serve the missions worldwide.
CICM missionaries, priests and brothers
are serving in Belgium, Netherlands, France,
Italy, D.R. Congo, Angola, Cameroon, Chad,
Zambia, Senegal, Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mongolia, Japan, USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, Dominican Republic and Haiti. (CBCP News)
Known Film / from p1
of CINEMA reviewers from the CBCP Office on
Women.
According to CBCP Office on Women,
executive secretary Dr. Zenaida Rotea, it was
out of the initial 4-day seminar conducted by
Malone in Manila on January 12-15, 2000, that
“CINEMA was formed, and competent movie
reviewers and assessors were trained and appointed.” This preliminary seminar was followed by a six-month intensive workshop. In
July 2000, CINEMA was launched.
Malone had been in the country a few
times, but it was his third time to come and visit
CINEMA at the Office on Women. Rotea said
that CINEMA makes it always a point to invite
Malone whenever he is in the Philippines to give
him an update on what the group is doing.
In his meeting with the group last January
18, Malone praised CINEMA for what it had
accomplished since its beginning. He commended the group for being able to sustain this
kind of work. Malone also expressed his wish
that every Episcopal Conference in the world
will have a body of movie reviewers as sustainable as CINEMA.
In the past six years, CINEMA had conducted eleven seminars on “Film Review and
Classification which had an over all total of 187
participants. It also conducted two seminars on
TV advocacy against pornography. The review
body has had 45 assessors and 16 writers who
had reviewed 636 movies.
“CINEMA provides a great service by its
perceptive reviews, mediating the film to the
public of believers and those who do not share
our faith,” said Malone.
Malone is a member of the Missionaries of
the Sacred Heart. He is a native of Australia but
currently resides in London and works for SIGNIS
film desk. Having finished his term as president
of SIGNIS, Malone said he is freer now to go
around and do things that he loved most; that,
of “being a bridge between the Church and the
professional world of cinema—
by review, by juries at festivals, those kinds
of interactions.” He noted that there are a lot of
opportunities that can be explored, “[whether]
publishing books, whether it be expanding the
juries, whether it be seminars or dialogues, all
those kinds of things.” (Pinky Barrientos, FSP)
Visit us online at
• www.cbcponline.net/cbcpmonitor
The Ayala Heights Village QC ladies Association led by Maricor Castillo and Friends staged a Christmas
musicale last December 16, 2006 to raise funds for the victims of typhoons “Reming and Seniang.” Featured
choral groups were the Kilyawan and Children’s Joy Foundation choral ensemble. The money raised
(PHP106,300.00), was presented to Msgr. Juanito Figura, CBCP Secretary General.
Markings
CELEBRATED. St.
Mary’s
College,
Meycauayan
(Bulacan), 90th foundation anniversary;
December, 2006. St.
Mary’s College was
called Escuela de Maycauayan when
founded in 1916 as a parochial school offering primary education with Catechism as its
core subject. It was and is still managed and
administered by the Religious of the Virgin
Mary (RVM), the first Filipino Congregation founded in 1648 by a Filipino, Mother
Ignacia del Espiritu Santo. The school was
torn down completely by fire on April 4,
1949. In 1954, a two-storey semi-concrete
structure was completed. Eleven years
later, the kindergarten course was recognized. In 1981, the school opened its secondary or high school offering. Shortly
thereafter, in keeping with the demands of
the congregations’ education apostolate,
the Sisters opened the doors of the school
to students in the tertiary level. The college
goal is to produce dynamic leaders imbued
with Christian orientation who will contribute to the development of the Maycauayan
and the whole country as well. visibly experienced and felt.
CELEBRATED.
Black Nazarene of
Quiapo (Church),
400th anniversary in
the Philippines. In
1606, Señor Nuestro
Padre
Jesus
Nazareno, known as
the Black Nazarene,
arrived at Luneta in
Manila. In 1767, the
image of the Black
Nazarene was brought to Intramuros by the
Recollect Fathers during the incumbency
of archbishop Basilio Sancho. There is no
definite account as to the origin of the
image. Entrusted to an unknown Recollect
priest, the image was brought across the
Pacific Ocean aboard a galleon that arrived
in Manila at an undetermined date. As the
first group of Recollect Friars came in the
year 1606, it has been assumed that the
image also arrived on that year. Rev. Fr.
Leonardo G. Agcaoile, Vice Chairman, His-
torical Research Committee, Archdiocese
of Manila, stated in the 1964 Souvenir Program of the Quiapo Fiesta, “The Nuestro
Padre Jesus Nazareno was blessed by Archbishop Basilio Sancho in the 18th Century
and by Pope Pius VII in the 19th century.
The Nazarene has since then towered above
the altar of the Quiapo Church.”
CELEBRATED.
Most Rev. Ernesto
Salgado, DD, 71,
archbishop
of
Nueva Segovia,
20th episcopal ordination anniversary; January 15,
2006. Ordained
bishop on January
15, 1987 at St.
Paul’s Cathedral in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Abp.
Salgado was born in Sta. Lucia, Ilocos Sur
on November 22, 1936. He spent his high
school education at the Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary, then took his A.B.
Philosophy degree at the Immaculate Conception Major Seminary, also in Vigan, from
1950-1955. Thereafter, he obtained his Bachelor and Licentiate in Sacred Theology degrees (STB and STL) from the University of
Santo Tomas Central Seminary in Manila.
He later took his Doctor of Sacred Theology
(STD) degree at the Pontifical Gregorian
University in Rome, Italy.
C E L EBRATED. St.
Ildephonse
P a r i s h
(Guiguinto,
Bulacan), 400th
foundation anniversary. The
Catalogo of 1591 already speaks of
Guiguinto convent as a visita of Caruya
(later known as Bigaa and now as Balagtas),
with St. Ildephonse as its Patron Saint.
According to Fray Gaspar de San Agustin,
OSA, during the 1600’s, Guiguinto had two
chapels, one was on the hills of Malis in
honor of St. Bernabe while the other was in
Matungao, Bulacan under the patronage of
St. Nicholas of Tolentino. On October 31,
1607, the Augustinians accepted the town
of Guiguinto as a visita of Caruya.
Caceres H