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CBCP

VOLUME 19
NUMBER 14

July 6 - 19, 2015

PROTAGONIST OF TRUTH, PROMOTER OF PEACE

CBCPMONITOR.COM

Natural generation
In a statement released Tuesday, July 6, Filipinos for Life
affirms the Church teaching
which holds that the conjugal
covenant has always been directed towards the natural generation and nurturing of persons in order to build a moral,
ethical, and just society.
SC / A6

WHATS INSIDE
Practice what you preach, Pope
encourages new archbishops, A1

Restoring the Church,

rekindling the faith, B1

By Roy Lagarde

sa taas should not be criterion

for their choice of local officials.
We reject a government by
patronage, read part of the
statement signed by Archbishop
Socrates Villegas, president of
the CBCP.

THE countrys system

of political patronage
is among the biggest
impediments to good
governance, the head of Common good
Tagle was among the speakers
Manilas Roman Cathoof the two-day pastoral conferlic Church said.
ence held in Quezon City, where
In a conference on Servant
Leadership in Public Service
July 3, Cardinal Luis Antonio
Tagle did not mince words in
attacking opportunistic patronage politicians, saying they exacerbate the countrys problems.
Stones falling from the sky,
may they hit us all because
socially and culturally and politically our society has not graduated from patronage, Tagle said.
And ultimately, patronage
politics or the patronage style
of leadership is not service,
he said.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines has
repeatedly lamented how the
country continues to suffer the
stranglehold of patronage politics in spite of the various efforts
on political education.
In their most recent statement
entitled Elections and the duty
of the Christian, the bishops
warned voters against political
patronage, saying that kapit

he also lashed out at politicians

who provide the needs of the
community, not out of charity,
but to make the people beholden
to them.
There is a form of giving
that further enslaves the other
people, he said. They do not
contribute to the common
good.
True public servants, he said,
are guided by real mission for the
common good and are not taking advantage of their positions.
And part of serving the common good, he added, is inviting
everyone to participate in the
achievement of the common
good.
Are we truly serving, or are
we keeping people beholden to
us? Tagle asked.

ticians: a washbasin, towel

and pitcher.
When they ask, What is
this? you say, Read John 13,
Tagle said, referring to the
classic Biblical account
that demonstrated Jesus
leadership and practice.
Tagle said the teachings and life style of
Jesus are important in
Christian life and in
leadership.
This environment
of common good will
be achieved if there is
real service for others
even those who do not belong to my group, even not
to my persuasion, he said.

mility of a servant.
Pride ruins leaders, Tagle
said. Pride
sets me

Pride
Tagle then criticized politicians who have an excessive
sense of self-importance,
saying they should
contemplate
the hu-

A washbasin, towel and pitcher

As the national election
is fast approaching, the cardinal gave the audience an
idea on what to give to poli-

Pope Francis encyclical spurs

Caritas PH fight against coal plants
Global response
We, the Church and the
people of the Philippines,
will stand alongside the
Pope as strong allies in the
struggle for a socially just,
environmentally sustainable and spiritually rich
world that Pope Francis
and the broader climate
movement are fighting for,
Gariguez said.
He said the Church now
faces the task of spurring the
faithful to take concrete steps
in reducing the countrys contribution to climate change.
Through the encyclical,
he said the Church raises

Palma to priests: Go beyond

palliatives in helping the poor
A CATHOLIC archbishop has called on his
fellow clergymen and
the religious to make the
cries of the poor central
to their prayers and not
just seek band aid solutions to poverty.
A r c h b i s h o p Jo s e
Palma of Cebu, the
countrys second largest
archdiocese, said churchmen must take a stand
on issues that oppress
the poor the same way
Blessed Oscar Romero
of El Salvador and Redemptorist Fr. Rudy Romano did.
I call upon the whole
archdiocese to remember these two modern
martyrs. Above all, I
pray that we would be
as brave as Jesus, Blessed
Oscar, and Fr. Rudy.
May we also go beyond

Fr. Rudy Romano

palliative approaches in
helping the poor, Palma
said.
30th anniversary
The archbishop made
the statement in a letter
inviting Cebus clergy,
religious and seminarians
to join a tribute for Romano who disappeared
three decades ago.
Ceremonies will be
held on July 11, marking
Palliatives / A7

critical issues that need to

be considered in the global
response to this unprecedented threat.
According to him, global
capitalism has lifted millions
out of poverty by burning
fuels. But on the flipside,
he added, it has created
vast inequalities and sacrificed the environment over
short-term gain.
Now is the time to break
the stranglehold of fossil
fuels over our lives and the
planet. If it is wrong to
wreck the planet then it is
wrong to benefit from its
wreckage; a growing global

movement to divest from

fossil fuels takes this ethos
at heart, Gariguez said.
26 new coal plants
Last month, more than
a thousand demonstrators,
led by church leaders, staged
a rally against a proposed
coal-fired power plant in
Atimonan, Quezon.
Similarly, priests in
Batangas are also at the forefront of the fight against the
construction of a new coal
power plant project.
The Church cannot
remain a passive bystander.
Its our moral imperative to

give voice to the voiceless,

added Gariguez.
He also said the Church
has been vocal in opposing
coal mining because it will
make our country contribute
to climate change, endanger
ecosystems, as well as the
health and lives of people.
Our churches have often led the struggles against
dirty energy, he said.
The Philippine Movement for Climate Justice
said there are 26 new coal
plant projects that will
operate in the country by
year 2020. (Roy Lagarde/
CBCPNews)

Lay leaders to tackle divorce, homosexuality

CARING for wounded families and
pastoral care for homosexual persons are
among the topics that will tackled in a
forum on marriage and family, with Manila
Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle
among the speakers.
Heads of family ministries of the different dioceses, pro-life advocates, and faithbased groups will convene at the Century
Park Hotel in Manila on July 25 for a
monumental conference, during which
significant issues facing the Church and
Filipino families will be discussed.
The so-called Marriage Encounter Na-

tional Congress is the countrys second

forum of its kind which seeks to formulate
motions for the two-week Synod of Bishops on the family at the Vatican in October.
Organized by the Marriage Encounter Foundation of the Philippines, Inc.
(MEFP), the forum will serve as a venue
for consensus-building on common marital
and family enrichment programs that can
be shared by faith-based orgnizations.
Tagle will deliver the keynote speech,
while Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop
Socrates Villegas, CBCP president, will be
Leaders / A7

Congregation goes online fishing

ILLUSTRATION BY BROTHERS MATIAS

INSPIRED by Pope Francis encyclical on climate

change, Caritas Philippines and other environmental groups keep the
momentum going by
sending a strong message
against camps backing
coal-fired power projects
in the country.
Fr. Edu Gariguez, executive secretary of Caritas
Philippines, said they support the landmark document Laudato Si, even if
it will not go down well
with powerful interests
that benefit from the status quo.

above the others, even if its not

true. I start thinking of myself
as better than the others.
Pride places ambition ahead
of mission and people, he also
said.
In May, the cardinal also
warned the business sector
against making political donations in its quest for immense
and big profit.
With only less than a year to
go before the 2016 elections,
he said that many businessmen
would attempt to buy influence
with political contributions.
Please dont tell me its altruistic. It is giving so I could
get something in return, Tagle
said. In fact, some give and the
giving violate the dignity of the
recipient.

BONG PENAS

COMING out in support of

traditional marriage, a pro-life
group has called on justices,
lawmakers, and other influential people to reject and
oppose any attempt by LGBT
lobbyists to redefine marriage
in the country, and exhorted
fellow Filipinos to do their
part in helping prevent this
scenario.

Cardinal Tagle deplores

political patronage

THE Sisters of St. Francis

Xavier (SFX) community
of San Pedro, Laguna, three
of whom are Myanmar nationals and one Filipina, are
discovering the wide reach
of vocations promotions via
social media.
Through Facebook connectivity, the community was able to inspire six
young women in the last
three years to undergo forCongregation / A7

Bishops to revisit concepts,

presuppositions on gay
marriage after US ruling

MATT POPOVICH

Group to SC,
solons: Junk
gay agenda

CBCPMONITOR@CBCPWORLD.NET

SAME-sex marriage will

likely be on the agenda of
the Philippine bishops after
the US Supreme Courts
affirmation of gay couples
right to marry.
The Catholic Bishops
Conference of the Philippines said the courts ruling
will not go unheeded,
saying it will revisit the
gay marriage debate but
according to the Gospel
teachings.
We shall study it with
assiduousness, and revisit
our concepts and presuppositions, always with
an eye to being faithful
to the Gospel and to the
mission of the Church,
said Archbishop Socrates
Villegas, CBCP President.
In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court
in Washington yesterday
ruled in favor of same sex
marriage nationwide.
The ruling triggered
mixed reactions in the Philippines, with some in favor
and some strongly against.
An anti-discrimination bill is currently
pending in Congress but
some expressed concerns
that it could eventually
lead to legalization of
same sex unions.

The bishops said they

support the measure as
long as it rejects secondclass treatment for the gay
community, but reaffirmed
Church teaching against
homosexual acts.
The Church continues to maintain what it
has always taught, Villegas said, reiterating that
marriage is a permanent
union of man and woman, in the complementarity of the sexes and the
mutual fulfillment that
the union of a man and
a woman bring into the
loftiness of the matrimonial bond.
If there is an undeniable
difference between man
and woman, there is also an
undeniable difference between the permanent union
of a man and a woman,
he said.
However, in a conciliatory words on gays, Villegas reiterated that they
should not be judged or
marginalized.
A l l w i l l c o n t i n u e
to find welcome in the
Church, while, under the
command from the Lord
himself, will continue to
teach what the Church
has unceasingly taught, he
said. (CBCPNews)

A2 WORLD NEWS

Vaticans communications secretariat prioritizes new media

Internet content and video production will assume a greater
role in Vatican communications in the years to come, suggests
the establishment and, particularly, the leadership of the newly
established Secretariat for Communications. At the same
time, traditional media, such as the Vaticans newspaper and
radio, are likely to diminish in prominence. On June 27, Pope
Francis established the new secretariat via a motu proprio.
From June 29, it will oversee the all of the Vaticans communications offices, including Vatican Radio, LOsservatore
Romano, the Vatican Television Center, the Holy See Press
Office, the Pontifical Council for Social Communications,
Vatican Internet Service, the Vatican Typography, the Photograph Service, and the Vatican publishing house. Each of these
offices must continue their own activities, in accordance,
however, with the indications given by the Secretariat for
Communications. (CNA)
Vatican official says its time to act on protecting the environment
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vaticans Secretary of State,
has expressed his hope that Pope Francis recent environmental encyclical will have a strong impact on the United
Nations three major gatherings this year, and will inspire
global powers not only to talk, but to act. The cardinal
spoke to CNA July 2, saying he hopes the effect of the
encyclical on the U.N. meetings will be especially concrete
in climate change impact. We have discussed a lot about
the problem of climate change; now it is time to act. I
think this is exactly what the Pope is requesting from us,
to act and to start to change our lifestyle to preserve our
common house which is the earth. The cardinal answered
reporters questions before addressing a Vatican conference
titled: People and Planet First: the Imperative to Change
Course. (CNA)
Pope officially paves the way for Saint Thereses parents to
be canonized
Pope Francis formally approved on Saturday the decrees necessary for Blesseds Louis and Zelie Martinknown for being
the parents of St. Therese of Lisieuxto be declared saints
later this year. The two blessed will be the first couple ever to
be canonized at the same ceremony, which will be held Oct.
18 in the Vatican. The event will take place fewer than three
weeks after the Oct. 1 feast of their daughter, and doctor of
the Church, St. Therese of the Child Jesus. The Roman Pontiff
approved the decrees for the Martins canonization during
a June 27 consistory of bishops at the Apostolic Palace. On
March 18, the Pope had recognized a miracle attributed to
the couple. (CNA)
Catholics and Orthodox should meet, cooperate more often,
Pope exhorts
Greeting a delegation of the leader of Eastern Orthodoxy on
Saturday, Pope Francis voiced hope that Catholics and Eastern
Orthodox would encounter each other more often, so as to
overcome prejudices. I hope, therefore, that opportunities
may increase for meeting each other, for exchange and cooperation among Catholic and Orthodox faithful, in such a way
that as we deepen our knowledge and esteem for one another,
we may be able to overcome any prejudice and misunderstanding that may remain as a result of our long separation,
the Bishop of Rome said June 27 at the Vaticans Apostolic
Palace. He was receiving representatives of Bartholomew I,
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, who are in Rome to
observe the June 29 feast of Saints Peter and Paul, who were
martyred in the city and who are the principal patrons of the
Church of Rome. (CNA)
Cardinal sends Ramadan wishes to suffering Muslims, rebukes
religious violence
In an oblique rebuke to the Islamic State and other militants,
Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran has wished Muslims a peaceful
and joyful Ramadan and acknowledged the pain of those
who have suffered or died because of violence. With Pope
Francis, we wish you that the fruits of Ramadan and the
joy of Eid al-Fitr may bring about peace and prosperity,
enhancing your human and spiritual growth, Cardinal
Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious
Dialogue, said in a June 12 letter to Muslims. His remarks
alluded to ongoing violence in the Middle East and elsewhere. He asked both Christians and Muslims to pray. Our
prayer is much needed: for justice, for peace and security in
the world; for those who have deviated from the true path
of life and commit violence in the name of religion, so as to
return to God and change life; for the poor and the sick,
said the French-born cardinal. (CNA)
Families need prayers, mercy, courage, including from Synod,
pope says
Even if a pastoral proposal for helping a Catholic family
with problems seems scandalous at first, it is possible God
could use that proposal to bring healing and holiness, Pope
Francis said. Encouraging and celebrating family life during a Mass July 6 in Guayaquil, Pope Francis asked people
to pray for the October Synod of Bishops on the family,
and he tied the synod to the Jubilee of Mercy, a yearlong
celebration that will begin in December. The synod will
be a time for the church to deepen her spiritual discernment and consider concrete solutions to the many difficult
and significant challenges facing families in our time, the
pope said. (CNS)
Alliances needed to fight global warming, poverty, say
Vatican speakers
Democracy must return to politics and unusual alliances must
form in order to get the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and tackle poverty, said a panel of speakers attending a
Vatican conference. But as people band together for change,
world leaders will have to commit to real binding action at
upcoming global summits on climate change and development because there is zero tolerance for yet another failure
being dressed up as a success for the cameras, said Naomi
Klein, a Canadian social activist, author and filmmaker, who
was invited to speak at the Vatican. The Pontifical Council
for Justice and Peace, together with the international alliance of Catholic development agencies, CIDSE, presented
the aims of a jointly sponsored meeting at a news conference
July 1. (CNS)

CBCP Monitor

Japanese Bishop Laments Countrys

Population Dropping to Dramatic Lows
VATICAN CIT Y, July 3,
2015A Japanese Bishop is decrying how his nations population is dropping to historic lows.
According to AsiaNews, Bishop Isao Kikuchi of Niigata has
released a statement in which he
explains how the aging population is currently the most urgent
problem for the country, which
threatens to collapse the pension
system and welfare.
This drama, he wrote, also
brings another negative aspect:
An aging society and the dramatic decline of the young population, which moves to big cities
like Tokyo, means the disappearance of local communities.
The Church in Japan has
sought to raise awareness among
Japanese residents. The Bishops
Conference declared 2010 Year
for Life and launched a series of
medical and social initiatives in
favor of pregnancies.

The results,
however, are
still unsatisfactory. Focusing
on their careers,
many couples
prefer to wait beyond the maximum age to have
a child. In addition, a very high
rate of suicide
among juveniles
and a overly
consumerist social policy make
matters worse.
The Japanese population
dropped for the
sixth year in a row
in 2014 and reached historic lows
according to data from the national
census. According to official data,
the Japanese are now 12,616,0000:
in 2014, the total number dropped

WWW.ASIANEWS.IT

Vatican Briefing

July 6 - 19, 2015 Vol. 19 No. 14

by 271,058. This figure represents

the sharpest decline ever recorded
in modern times.
The statistics also show that
25.9% of the population are over

65. Government officials state it

is the first time since 1968 that
this sector of society has been
more than a quarter of the total.
(Zenit)

Catholic media urged to unpack deeper meanings in popes sound bites

BUFFALO, N.Y., June 29, 2015Catholic journalists could easily remain on the
surface when reporting on Pope Francis
with his great photo opportunities and
buzz-catching expressions, but they need
to take their coverage a step further, said
Basilian Father Thomas Rosica.
Our work as Catholic media is not
to remain on the surface but to go to
the deeper level of that story within the
story, urged the priest, founding CEO of
Canadas Salt and Light Catholic Media
Foundation.
Father Rosica was the keynote speaker
June 26 at the Catholic Media Conference
in Buffalo. He also was the recipient of the
Clarion Award from the Catholic Academy
of Communication Professionals, presented
June 25 at the organizations Gabriel Awards
banquet. The award recognizes creativity,
excellence and leadership in communications and ecumenical cooperation.
The priest, born in Rochester, got his
journalism start by writing a weekly section of the Courier-Journal daily newspaper about Catholic school events.
In his address, he told Catholic media
representatives about the popes recent
headline-making comments about how
he doesnt watch television, have a laptop
or an iPhone.
Those remarks are not the end of the
story though and Father Rosica said they
shouldnt suggest the pope has no interest
in modern technology.
The pope is by no means a Luddite,
he said, noting that Pope Francis understands what authentic communication
is all about and demonstrates it in the
ways he connects with people and what he

wrote in Laudato Si about how modern

media can shield us from direct contact
with the pain, the fears and the joys of
others and the complexity of their personal
experiences.
Father Rosica said the popes ecumenical
outreaches often make for nice photos or
quick headlines but also should be given
a deeper look. He said although these
gestures are new and even disconcerting
to some, the idea of growth in unity being
the result of growth in fidelity to Christ
is not.
Another key aspect of the popes ministryhis calling together of the Synod of
Bishops on the family last Octoberwas
also reduced to sound bites, that at times
were inaccurate, the priest said.
He told the group of journalists and
media professionals that they may have
heard, read or even incorrectly reported
that the synod was about changing the
teaching of the church on marriage, family
life or sexual morality. This is not true. It
was about the pastoral care that the church
strives to (give) people, the motherly love
of the church, especially when facing difficult moments and experiences in family
life.
Father Rosica stressed that any reports
that the synod represented a defeat for
Pope Francis or that he was disappointed
at its outcome are totally false. At the
end of the two weeks, the pope said the
gathering had been a spiritual journey,
not a debating chamber.
The priest urged journalists to read the
text of the popes closing address at the
synod, which he said confirms the story
within the story of the synods achieve-

ment.
Father Rosica also drew attention to
the popes recent encyclical Laudato Si,
pointing out that until now, the dialogue
about the environment has been framed
mainly using political, scientific and
economic language. Now, the language of
faith enters the discussion.
He said the document is deeply uncomfortable because it not only addresses
climate change but the deeper tragedy of
humanity itself.
He also disagreed with those who argue
that the pope has no authority to speak
on this issue, stressing that it builds on
Catholic social teaching. He also noted
that when journalists report on the encyclical, they need to present the full picture
of the document which calls for a response
to the cry of the earth and the poor.
Father Rosica reminded members of
the Catholic media that Pope Francis has
declared the upcoming year as a Year of
Mercy, which means that the pope wants
everyone in the church to open themselves to Gods mercy and to find concrete,
creative ways to put mercy into practice.
The church can live out mercy when parishes reflect the image of church as field
hospital that Pope Francis has used, but
such work also can be done by members
of the Catholic media, he added.
In this room, there are close to 300 field
hospital workers ready for deployment,
he said, urging them to recognize how the
world is in need of the popes revolution
of tenderness, mercy and normalcy now
more than ever before.
Be sure to tell that story to the world,
he told them. (CNS)

Sister Nirmala, former head of Missionaries of Charity, dies in India

KOLKATA, India, June 23,
2015Catholics around the
world are mourning the death
of Sister Nirmala Joshi, who
passed away Tuesday. Sr. Nirmala
had succeeded Blessed Teresa
of Calcutta as superior general
of the Missionaries of Charity,
serving in that capacity from
1997 to 2009.
Sr. Nirmala, who was 81, had
suffered ill health for some years,
and was hospitalized and then
brought home a few days ago,
dying at a Missionaries of Charity home in Kolkata in the early
hours of June 23.
All people in India and especially the Archdiocese of Calcutta is saddened with this great
loss of Sr. Nirmala Joshi, who
was very close and dear to us, Fr.
Dominic Gomes, vicar general
of the Archdiocese of Calcutta,
told CNA.
She was simple, humble
and emanated a strong spirituality of faith, Fr. Gomes
added. Her exemplary life
was an inspiration to the
younger generation in the

congregation and to people

around the world.
The body of Sr. Nirmala is lying in state at St Johns Church
in Kolkatas Sealdah district, and
will be taken to the Missionaries
of Charitys Mother House in
Kolkata tomorrow. The funeral
Mass will be said at 4 pm local
time on Wednesday, and then
interred at St. Johns cemetery.
Archbishop Thomas DSouza
of Calcutta, who had visited Sr.
Nirmala a fortnight ago when
she had regained consciousness,
has expressed his deep sadness
and grief at her death, saying,
she was a great soul.
He praised her work, noting
that she never talked about
herself; she was more about
how to support peace, to be
helpful to the poor she had
a deep union with Jesus and she
was a gentle apostle of peace
until the end.
Sr. Nirmala was in born in
1934 in Ranchi, capital of what
is now Indias Jharkhand state,
to a Hindu brahmin family from
Nepal who were serving the

British during colonial rule. Her

given name was Kusum, meaning flower, and she was the
eldest sibling among eight girls
and two boys. Her early education was at Christian schools.
She was inspired by Mother
Teresas humanitarian work, and
was baptized. She later entered
the Missionaries of Charity and
took the name Nirmala, meaning purity in Sanskrit. She
completed a masters degree in
political science, and studied law
as well. In the 1970s, she became
head of the congregations contemplative wing.
Sr. Nirmala was elected as
superior general of the congregation just a few months before
Mother Teresas death in 1997,
and pursued the founders cause
for beatification.
During the Missionaries of
Charitys general chapter in 2009
she declined to remain head
of the congregation, given her
health issues. She was succeeded
by Sr. Mary Prema Pierick, who
remains superior general.
The Indian government has

recognized her work for the poor

and for peace, granting her the
Padma Vibhushan, the nations
second highest civilian award,
in 2009.
Tributes and messages have
started to flood social media
praising her service to the poor.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi was quick to tweet,
Sister Nirmalas life was devoted
to service, caring for the poor &
underprivileged. Saddened by
her demise. May her soul rest
in peace.
The opposition Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted:
Extremely saddened at the passing away of Sister Nirmala. She
carried forward Mother Teresas
work with quiet dedication &
dignity. She will be missed by
the countless whose lives she
touched.
The West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee stated,
Saddened at the passing away
of Sister Nirmala, who headed
the Missionaries of Charity after
Mother Teresa. Kolkata and the
world will miss her. (CNA)

Nuns center in Cambodia lights up lives

PHNOM PENH, July 3, 2015The Center
of Light and Mercy (CELAC) in Boeung
Tumpon district of the Cambodian capital
Phnom Penh, has been living up to its name
lighting up the lives of the disabled children
for almost two decades.
Two nuns set it up in 1997Sister Dany
of the Society of Jesus (SJ) and Sr. Mary Adel
of the Providence of Portieux Sisters (PP).
They started with three blind children who
stayed at the centre and did their studies.
Later, in cooperation with Kruo Sar Thmei
organization (new family) additional programmes were initiated so that the deaf and
mute children could pursue studies.

Today the Center has 33 students from

four different schoolsPhnom Penh Thmei
School for blind children, Chbar Ompov
School for deaf and mute children, the
children from the School of Smile and stateowned schools.
The eight bishops of Cambodia and Laos
had visited CELAC in May during the
Episcopal Conference held in Pnom Penh.
The children at the centre performed
European-style dances and sang beautiful
songs to welcome the bishops. One of the
bishops from Laos sang a Laotian song in
order to express his love for all the children
at the centre.

The bishops were shown the activities carried out by the centre. At the Center, blind
children can learn the English language, using the computer and music. The deaf and
mute children can also learn dances, folding
of papers into shapes of flowers, animals etc.
The Apostolic Vicar of Phnom Penh,
Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusleur, said, All
of us are really happy being here because at
todays meeting we reflected on compassion
and on how to share our sense of compassion. So far we have seen that the Center of
Light and Mercy shares compassion with the
children by helping and encouraging them.
(Catholic Cambodia/UCAN)

CBCP Monitor

NEWS FEATURES A3

July 6 - 19, 2015 Vol. 19 No. 14

Practice what you preach, Pope encourages new archbishops

VATICAN, June 29, 2015During his
Mass for the feast of Saints Peter and
Paul on Monday, Pope Francis called on
the Churchs new archbishops to be courageous witnesses who are not ashamed
of Christ, and who are convinced by
what they themselves teach.
Kingdoms, peoples, cultures, nations, ideologies, powers have passed,
but the Church, founded on Christ,
notwithstanding the many storms and
our many sins, remains ever faithful to
the deposit of faith shown in service,
the Roman Pontiff said during the
homily for his June 29 Mass, addressing
the 46 new metropolitan archbishops
installed over the past year.
During the Papal Mass for Saints
Peter and Paul, the Bishop of Rome
bestows a vestment known as a pallium
on the archbishops who have been installed within the past year. The pallium,
a white woolen vestment worn around
the neck and above the chasuble, is a
symbol of archbishops communion
and close ties with the Church of Rome.
Today there is no great need for masters, but for courageous witnesses, who are
convinced and convincing; witnesses who
are not ashamed of the name of Christ and
of his cross; not before the roaring lions,
nor before the powers of this world.
The Pope added that, in being witnesses to the faith, archbishops should
practice what they preach.
The most effective and authentic
witness is one that does not contradict, by behavior and lifestyle, what is
preached with the word and taught to
others!

Vatican City - May 30, 2015. Pope Francis met with a group of children who arrived at the Vatican aboard the Childrens Train. CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY

Drawing from the reading from the

Acts of the Apostles, which recounts
St. Peters imprisonment, the Pope, not
wishing to dwell on these atrocious,
inhuman and incomprehensible persecutions, the likes of which still occur
today, instead focused on the courage
of the apostles and the early Christians.
This courage carried forward the
work of evangelisation, free of fear
of death and martyrdom, within the
social context of a pagan empire, the
Pope said.
Pope Francis centered his homily on
three examples in the life of these early
Christians and apostlesprayer, faith,
and witnesswhich todays Christians

Vatican official says its time to

act on protecting the environment
VATICAN, July 3, 2015Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vaticans
Secretary of State, has expressed
his hope that Pope Francis recent environmental encyclical
will have a strong impact on the
United Nations three major
gatherings this year, and will
inspire global powers not only
to talk, but to act.
The cardinal spoke to CNA
July 2, saying he hopes the effect
of the encyclical on the U.N.
meetings will be especially concrete in climate change impact.
We have discussed a lot about
the problem of climate change;
now it is time to act. I think
this is exactly what the Pope is
requesting from us, to act and
to start to change our lifestyle
to preserve our common house
which is the earth.
The cardinal answered reporters questions before addressing
a Vatican conference titled:
People and Planet First: the
Imperative to Change Course.
Taking place in Rome July 2-3,
the summit was organized by the
Pontifical Council for Justice and
Peace, which prepared a first draft
of Francis encyclical, alongside
the Catholic International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity, a network of 17 Catholic
development agencies working
together for global justice.
The goal of the conference is
to use Laudato Si to influence
several major political gatherings
set to happen this year, including
key U.N. conferences.
Among them are the July
13-16 Addis Ababa meeting on
Finance and Development, the
U.N. General Assembly to approve Sustainable Development
Goals in September, and Decembers COP 21 meeting in Paris to
agree on a global climate deal.
Cardinal Parolin spoke on
the importance of Laudato Si
for the Church and the world
specifically in light of 2015s major political events, but also the
impact it will have on the future.
He said that while the encyclical will certainly have an effect
on this years events, its breadth
and depth go well beyond its
context in time.
The environment, the earth
and the climate are a common
and collective good which belong to the whole of humanity,
and as such are the responsibility of everyone, the cardinal
observed.
He said both the technological
and operative basis for promoting a more human and integral
progress are already available or
within our reach, and that the
international community must
seize this great opportunity to
move forward with development.
At the heart of this progress
lay the key objectives of allowing human dignity to flourish,

helping to eradicate poverty, and

countering environmental decay,
the cardinal continued.
He then turned to the national and local sphere of the
climate discussion, saying that
frequently there are too many
special interests, and economic
interests (too) easily end up
trumping the common good
and manipulating information
so that their own plans will not
be affected.
Awareness among organizations must be increased, he said,
explaining that this is where the
Churchs social doctrine comes
in as a point of reference on both
the dignity of the human person
and the promotion of the common good.
The cardinal then reiterated
what Pope Francis said in his
encyclical about the role of
the Church in the discussion,
saying she does not presume
to settle scientific questions or
to replace politics, but rather
brings awareness of the need
to question the meaning and
purpose of all human activity.
He said that when we think
of what kind of world we want
to leave behind, its no longer
enough to simply express concern
for future generations, but there is
also a need to see that what is at
stake is our own dignity.
Our responsibility is to be
responsible for the responsibility of the other, the cardinal
stated, adding that our human
vocation to be protectors of the
earth and the environment is
not something optional.
In his comments to CNA,
Cardinal Parolin also spoke
about the Popes objectives for
his July 5-13 trip to the South
American nations of Ecuador,
Bolivia, and Paraguay.
As in all trips, the Pope goes
to meet the Catholic community.
This is his ministry as pastor of
the universal Church, inserting
himself inside the pastoral and
catechetical paths that each (local) Church is pursuing, he said.
The cardinal also addressed the
concern of those who say the Pope
will use the trip to dip into local
politics, such as the debate surrounding Bolivias access to the sea.
Distinguishing between party
goals and political goals, Cardinal Parolin said that for Pope
Francis, political interests in his
trips are understood in the sense
of the construction of the social
and political community.
On the part of Christians
there is truly an action and contribution to help solve problems
that they find in that regard, he
said, explaining that the Pope
isnt going to support any specific
person, but rather to promote
peace, reconciliation, and material and spiritual development.
(Elise Harris/Catholic News
Agency)

are called to follow.

First, the call to prayer: citing the
account of St. Peters imprisonment,
and the Churchs earnest prayer for
him, the Roman Pontiff reflected on
the importance of persistent prayer
within the Christian community.
The community of Peter and Paul
teaches us that the Church at prayer is
a Church on her feet, strong, moving
forward! Indeed, a Christian who prays
is a Christian who is protected, guarded
and sustained, and above all, who is
never alone.
The Pope spoke of the angel rescuing
St. Peter from prison, as recounted in
Acts, and the many times the Lord has

heard our prayer and sent us an angel

during difficult times.
Who comes to snatch us from the
hands of death and from the evil one;
who points out the wrong path; who
rekindles in us the flame of hope; who
gives us tender comfort; who consoles
our broken hearts; who awakens us from
our slumber to the world; or who simply
tells us, You are not alone.
Prayer is the encounter with God,
with God who never lets us down;
with God who is faithful to his word;
with God who does not abandon his
children.
Next, Pope Francis spoke on the call
to faith demonstrated by the early

Christians, turning to the days second

reading in which St. Paul speaks of God
rescuing him from every evil.
How many forces in the course
of history have tried, and still do, to
destroy the Church, from without as
well as within, but they themselves are
destroyed and the Church remains alive
and fruitful!
Finally, Pope Francis spoke of how
Saints Peter and Paul give Christians
today the call to witness to the faith.
A Church or a Christian who does
not give witness is sterile; like a dead
person who thinks they are alive; like a
dried up tree that produces no fruit; an
empty well that offers no water!
The Pope continued: The Church
has overcome evil thanks to the courageous, concrete and humble witness of
her children.
Pope Francis then turned to the archbishops, calling them to be masters of
prayer, masters of faith, and men
of witness.
He explained to them the significance
of the palliums, saying: It is a sign which
represents the sheep that the shepherd
carries on his shoulders as Christ the
Good Shepherd does a symbol of your
pastoral mission.
I wish to entrust you with this call to
prayer, to faith and to witness.
Pope Francis blessed the archbishops
palliums during Mondays Mass; however, the archbishops will be officially
imposed with the vestments in their
respective dioceses by the local apostolic
nuncio, rather than by the Pope in the
Vatican. (CNA/EWTN News)

Evangelizing evangelicals why Pope Francis loves to

meet with charismatic movements
VATICAN, July 3, 2015 -- Pope
Francis attendance for the second
consecutive year at the Catholic
charismatic movements Renewal with the Spirit convocation
shows his attention to charismatic
movements as means to foster
ecumenical path.
Not by chance, Renewal with
the Spirit styled the convocation
to be heavily ecumenical.
During the meeting with Pope
Francis in St. Peters Square,
prayers were raised by Cardinals
Kurt Koch and Leonardo Sandri,
president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian
Unity and Prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches;
the Anglican Archbishop David
Moxon, who represents the Archbishop of Canterbury toward the
Holy See; and Msgr. Barnaba
El Soryani, Coptic-Orthodox
Bishop, as a delegate of Theodore
II, Patriarch of Alexandria.
Also present were Msgr. Athanasisu Matti Shaba Matoka, SyriacCatholic archbishop emeritus of
Baghdad; His Eminence Polycarpus Eugenio Aydin, vicar of the
Syriac-Orthodox diocese of the
Netherlands; Rev. Louie Giglio,
from the Passion City Church of
Atlanta; Jonas Jonsoon, from the
Lutheran Church of Sweden; and
Giovanni Traettino, president of
the Evangelical Church for Reconciliation in Italy.
This varied presence aligns with
Pope Francis commitment to
ecumenism. Beyond the recently
opened dialogue with Orthodox
and Anglican Churches, the Evangelical world is a big challenge for
ecumenism, and perhaps one of
the most important ones.
Dialogue with evangelical
groups, especially Pentecostals,
has been called the fourth ecumenism by several authors,

including the Catholic sociologist

Massimo Introvigne, an international authority on religious sects.
According to Introvigne, the
fourth ecumenism that of the
new Protestant sects born at the
beginning of the 20th century is
perhaps the most fruitful ground
for ecumenical dialogue.
Attempts at such dialogue have
limits: for example, a search for
parties to represent the Pentecostals. Although they make up
three-quarters of Protestants in
some parts of the world and as
much as one-third of all Christians, Pentecostals are very fragmented. The diversity within the
group presents difficulties for
dialogue.
This might be why Pope Francis has chosen to foster dialogue
specifically with individuals and
small groups.
On July 28, 2014, the Pope
paid a private visit to the evangelical pastor Giovanni Traettinos
Church in Caserta. The two had
met in 2006 and have maintained
good relations ever since.
That meeting came at the end
of a series of meetings Pope Francis had with evangelical leaders
in 2014.
Televangelist Joel Osteen, pastor Tim Timmons and president
of the Evangelical Westmont
College Gayle D. Beebe visited
Pope Francis June 4, 2014.
Pope Francis then met June 24
of that year with the televangelists
James Robins and Kenneth Copeland, with the bishop Anthony
Palmer of the Communion Evangelical Episcopal Churches, with
the spouses John and Carol Arnott from Toronto andamong
otherswith Geoff Tunnicliffe
and Brian C. Stiller, respectively
general secretary and ambassador
of the World Evangelical Alliance.

According to the prominent

Italian vaticanista Sandro Magister, through these meetings Pope
Francis is putting into action a
broad effort to win the favor of
the worldwide leaders of those
evangelical and Pentecostal
movements which especially in
Latin America are the most fearsome competitor of the Catholic
Church, from which they are
snatching enormous masses of
the faithful.
Attending the Renewal with
the Spirit convocation is part of
this effort. Pope Francis himself
acknowledgedduring his trip
back from World Youth Day in
Rio de Janeirothat he used to
look at charismatic movements
with suspicion, and that he later
changed his mind, and now he
believes that this movement
does much good for the Church
overall.
Renewal with the Spirit president Salvatore Martinez, an
academic of music and musician,
who has been committed to the
movement since his youth, had
the occasion to meet with Pope
Francis at the very beginning of
the pontificate, after the Mass the
Pope celebrated in the Vatican
parish SantAnna March 17,
2013, four days after his election.
After that, Martinez had a private meeting with Pope Francis
in September 2013, and there
the invitation to the 2014 annual
convocation was forwarded directly to the Pope, who accepted,
probably considering it as a part
of his ecumenical commitment.
Speaking in front of the convocation June 1, 2014, the Pope
voiced hope that both evangelical
and Catholic charismatic groups,
gathered in the International
Catholic Charismatic Renewal
Services, would share the same

office as a sign of ecumenism.

They did it.
Meeting with them Oct. 31,
2014, the Pope praised the decision, and stressed that unity is
not uniformity it does not
mean doing everything together,
nor thinking the same way, nor
losing identity.
Pope Francis went further. Last
May 23, he sent a video message
to the participants of the Day
of Dialogue and Prayer organized by the Diocese of Phoenix,
which gathered Catholics and
evangelical Pentecostal pastors.
In the message, the Pope asked
them to pray together for the
grace of unity, that unity that
is flourishing among us, and
begins with the only Baptism all
of us received.
All of these signals suggest that
Pope Francis has indeed changed
his mind and, starting from an
initial skepticism, he later found
in charismatic movements a privileged path to seek ecumenism.
There could be another pressing factor in the Popes enthusiasm for such meetingsa wave of
conversions, particularly in Latin
America, where it is estimated
that100 million Catholics have
converted to evangelical Christianity. Now, it appears that Pope
Francis would like to evangelize
the evangelicals.
His spiritual ecumenism, putting prayer at the center, and even
making it a diplomatic tool, represents the most logical meeting
point with the Protestant world.
Attending a large Catholic
charismatic event could be the
bridge the Pope needs to reach his
final goal, to turn the evangelicals
from rival to allies and push ecumenical efforts forward. (CNA
Vatican Observer, Andrea Gagliarducci/CNA/EWTN News)

Be angry but do not sin prelate to faithful

TACLOBAN City, July 3, 2015It is
possible to get angry and not sin.
This was what Palo Archbishop John
Forrosuelo Du told the faithful during
the pontifical concelebrated Mass on the
feast day of Seor Sto. Nio de Tacloban
on June 30.
Speaking in the vernacular, the prelate
stressed, Kasina, pero ayaw pakasala.
We can be angry but on the condition
that is it is for the right reason, [having
the] right [frame of ] mind and even at
the right intensity, he said, using Jesus
as an example.
An angry Jesus
The prelate explained there were instances when Jesus was angry but also felt
pity for those who were oppressed.
Du recounted how Jesus reprimanded
his disciples when they tried to keep the
children away from him. He admonished
them to allow the people to get close to
him.
According to the prelate, benevolent

temper is one trait that

the faithful should learn
and embrace, especially
towards the poor. God
is just and defends the
poor, Du said, reiterating the common belief
that God hears the cry of
the poor.
Benevolent temper
He c h a l l e n g e d t h e
people to examine themselves and see if they
feel Christs benevolent Palo Archbishop John Forrosuelo Du (in the middle) EILEEN BALLESTEROS NAZARENO
temper whenever they
see the poor being oppressed and deprived. Mesa ni Marta.
As part of the said program, each parish
For the prelate, this is the essence of the
theme of this years feast of Seor Sto. opens its doors to feed indigent individuals
Nio de Tacloban, that is Look at Jesus: on Sundays, following a Mass and catechism. Du shelled out Php 1 million from
Do justice and kindness.
In connection to this, Du called on the his personal account for this purpose, difaithful once more to support the program viding the amount among the 178 parishes
he initiated to answer the need of the poor, within the Archdiocese of Palo. (Eileen
the Sunday feeding program called La Ballesteros Nazareno/CBCPNews)

A4 OPINION

July 6 - 19, 2015 Vol. 19 No. 14

CBCP Monitor

EDITORIAL

THE president of United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

(USCCB), Archbishop Joseph Kurtz called the US Supreme Court
ruling on marriage a tragic error. On the morning of June 26, 2015,
the Supreme Court of the United States handed down a 5-4 decision
establishing the legal right of two individuals of the same sex to legally
marry in all 50 states of North America.
It was victory for the LGBT and their supporters. But the Catholic
Church in the US immediately rose in protest. Regardless of what a
narrow majority of the Supreme Court may declare at this moment
in history, the nature of the human person and marriage remains unchanged and unchangeable.it is profoundly immoral and unjust for
the government to declare that two people of the same sex can constitute
a marriage, contested the president of the U.S. bishops conference,
Archbishop Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky.
While calling for continued pastoral care for homosexual persons,
the bishop of Tyler in East Texas, Most Rev. Joseph Strickland, issued a
strong pastoral statement on the very day the Supreme Court released
its contentious decision. Short of calling for civil disobedience, he said
Given this and recognizing my responsibility and moral authority as
the shepherd of this Church of Tyler, I will shortly issue a decree in
this Diocese establishing, as a particular law, that no member of the
clergy or any person acting as employee of the Church may in any way
participate in the solemnization or consecration of same-sex marriages,
and that no Catholic facilities or properties, including churches, chapels,
meeting halls, Catholic educational, health or charitable institutions, or
any places dedicated or consecrated, or use of Catholic worship, may
be used for the solemnization or consecration of same-sex marriages.
Like the many Catholic bishops in the U.S., the bishop of Lafayette
in Louisiana, Bishop Michael Jarrell instructed all Catholics under his
care not to comply with the Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage.
He said, Let me state this very plainly that no human court has the
authority to change what God has written into the law of creation.
The ruling is irreconcilable with the nature and definition of marriage
as established by Divine LawI realize that this ruling will create conscience problems for many Catholics, especially those in public office.
In some cases, civil disobedience may be a proper response.
It has been said rather flippantly that whenever the United States
sneezes, other countries get cold. Well, there were pockets of jubilation and rallies, too, in this country following the U.S Supreme Court
decision on gay marriage. But well meaning Catholics in this part
of the world will fight tooth and nail before the local Legislature or the
local Supreme Court starts to ape the Americans.

Mary and the Eucharist in the

Churchs Mission
BY her special relationship with the Eucharist, Mary leads us toward this
most sublime Sacrament to find in it the source and goal of the Churchs
evangelizing mission. AS in her virginal womb, the Son of God took on
human nature that made him the Sacrament of the Fathers love, so in
the Eucharist, Christ continues to be Sacrament of the Father through
the sacramentality of the Churchin the person of his minister, in the
proclamation of the Word, in the assembly that prays and sings, but
especially in the Eucharistic Species.
The Church can learn from the school of Mary, the Woman of the
Eucharist, the necessary and proper interior disposition to fruitfully
celebrate and live out the mysteries of redemption: attentive, contemplative and active presence, generous concern for the rest of the world
and humanity, and openness to the eschatological fulfillment of all that
humanity hopes for. Mary exemplifies the Eucharistic worship that
seeks to be concretized in works of love and service and that opens the
faithful to eschatological hope. For to the Christian faithful at worship,
Mary stands as model in listening to the Word and taking it to heart;
in praising and thanking God who has done great favors to oneself
and to the rest of humankind; in bringing Christ and his gifts of joy
and salvation to all that one meets, in praying and interceding for the
needs of all, in nourishing the life of grace which one receives through
the Sacraments, in offering oneself in union with Christs offering of
himself to the Father, in imploring the coming of the Lord, and in in
waiting for it with vigilance. (Cf. Congregation for Divine Worship,
Orientations and Proposals for the Celebration of the Marian Year 19871988, 3 April 1987).
Do whatever he tells you! With these words Mary continues to
tell her Sons Church to take heed of his bidding to do what he did
at the Last Supper and on Calvary in memory of him. But she also
summons the Church to commitment to this most sublime mystery
by her quiet but active engagement in its apostolic mission. She was
with the apostles of her Son as they awaited in constant prayer (Cf.
Act 1:14) the coming of the Holy Spirit he promised them to be their
Teacher and Guide in their mission (Cf. Jn 14:16-17; Jn 16:13-14).
She must have been with the first general of Christians who devoted
themselves to the breaking of the bread (Acts 2:42). She continues
to be present, with the Church and as the Mother of the Church, at
each of our celebrations of the Eucharist. The Church, therefore, never
ceases to ask for the her prayer (at the Confiteor) and to honor her (in
the Eucharistic Prayer) for it is fitting that the Eucharist, being the most
sublime celebration of the mysteries of salvation worked by God through
Christ in the Holy Spirit, must necessarily recall the Holy Mother of
the Savior united indissolubly to these mysteries. (Cf. Congregation
of the Divine Worship, Orientations, cit, 19).
Finally, with Mary, the Church sings the Eucharist as her Magnificat,
recalling the wonders worked by God in salvation history in fulfillment
of the promise once made to the fathers, proclaiming the wondrous
mysteries of Christs redemptive Incarnation, Death and Resurrection,
and awaiting the eschatological hope of glory.

ILLUSTRATION BY BLADIMER USI

A tragic error

Views and Points

Oscar V. Cruz, D.D.

IT is not a secret but neither is it a wellknown fact that the Church all over the
world has her own Penal Law in order to
discipline the erring members of her own
clergynoting well that the term clerics
include not only deacons and priests but also
bishops, archbishops, and cardinals. The said
Penal Law which is basically about the imposition of disciplinary punishments is but
an explicit and official admission on the part
of the Church that though gifted with holiness as a whole, the universal ecclesiastical
community nevertheless has certain clerics or
members of the Clergy who for one reason
or another violate any of the commandments
of God and/or the mandates of Church Law
with duly appended penal sanctions when
disobeyed.
It can be said that among the more known
clerical errant acts, those against continence
and/or contrary to celibacy, are their more
commonly known moral aberrations. Among
many other obligations, clerics are bound to
abstain from carnal acts (Violation of Clerical Continence), and from conjugal ventures

(Violation of Clerical Celibacy). And among

the grave penalties for such serious misdeeds
is dismissal from the clerical state of the cleric
concerned. In short, it means that the individual concerned is punished by his mandatory expulsion from the ranks of the clergy.
Wherefore, the same individual may no longer
exercise valid and licit ministerial acts.
Recently however, Pope Francis formally
made a new normative penal provision that
is both relevant and impressive. The said
provision is clearly intended to emphasize
more not only the ethical but also the moral
imperative of having disciplined clerical
authorities in the Church. In the past, it
was the standard practice that priests who
err by commission against continence and/
or celibacy are penalized. And rightly so.
But now, the Pope himself made a signal
categorical option that is duly translated
into an official penal provision specifically
in conjunction with bishops.
In so many words, while bishops remain
subject to penal sanctions when they themselves engage in immoral acts, now Pope

The Philippine Churchs

Environmental Advocacy
OVER 25 years ago, the CBCP
came out with a pastoral letter entitled What is happening to our
beautiful land. This was the first
time that a bishops conference,
anywhere in the world, addressed
the threat of environmental
degradation and climate change.
It called on the Church to take
action to preserve the integrity
of creation.
As people of the covenant we
are called to protect endangered
ecosystems, like our forests, mangroves, coral reefs and to establish
just human communities in our
land. More and more we must
recognize that the commitment to
work for justice and to preserve the

integrity of creation are two inseparable dimension in our Christian

vocation to work for the coming of
the kingdom of God in our times.
A year before the pastoral
letter was drafted, the Basic
Ecclesial Communities (BECs)
and Peoples Organization (Pagbugtaw sa Kamatuoran) in San
Fernando, Bukidnon successfully
campaigned against the logging
companies with the help of the
Scarboro Missionaries and the
Redemptorist Mission Team with
the support of Bishop Gaudencio
Rosales and the local clergy. Poor
farmers and members of BECs
barricaded the highways with
their bodies and did not allow

Candidly Speaking
Fr. Roy Cimagala

Clerico-penal discipline
in the Church
Francis issued the new official penal provision that bishops are now likewise subject to
penal sanctions when they fail to do what is
right specifically in conjunction with erring
members of the clergy under their respective
territorial jurisdictions. So it is that now,
bishops incur the pertinent ecclesiastical
penalty not only for doing wrong themselves
but also for not doing what is right as far as
the members of their respective clergy are
concerned.
Reason: When bishops do not correct
the erring members of their clergy, this is
a sin of omission which can readily have
the following negative effects: First, it can
scandalize the lay faithful in their respective ecclesiastical jurisdictions who look up
to their priests with respect and reverence.
Second, it can scandalize the other members
of their own clergy who are living their
commitment according to their best. Third,
it can scandalize the seminarians who are
taught about the dignity of the priesthood
that they have to live by when ordained as
priests themselves.

Along the Way

Fr. Amado L. Picardal, CSsR, SThD
logging trucks to pass until the
Aquino Government finally declared a total log ban in the province of Bukidnon. The BECs and
grassroots communities entered
into partnership with the Department of Energy and Natural
Resources in implementing the
log ban and in the reforestation
program. Around the same time,
the townspeople and BECs of
Midsalip also carried out similar
actions against logging companies
with the support of Columban
Missionaries.
The CBCP pastoral letter cited
the various efforts of grassroots
communities including the BECs
of San Fernando and

Midsalip as signs of hope:

We are also encouraged by the
growth in environmental awareness
among many Filipinos. Small efforts which teach contour plowing,
erosion control, organic farming
and tree planting can blossom into a
major movement of genuine care for
our Earth. We are happy that there
have been successes. Both Chico
dam project was suspended and the
Bataan nuclear plant mothballed
after massive resistance. This year
the people of San Fernando, Bukidnon and Midsalip, Zamboanga del
Sur defended what remains of their
forest with their own bodies. At the
Santa Cruz mission in South CoAlong the Way / A6

More amused
than pained

-- From the Theological and Pastoral Reflections in preparation for

the 51st International Eucharistic Congress

Monitor
CBCP

PROTAGONIST OF TRUTH, PROMOTER OF PEACE

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I, OF COURSE, was pained when I learned

about the US Supreme Court decision on
the so-called same-sex marriage (SSM).
But as I started going through the pertinent
articles, including parts of the decision,
sorry, but I started also getting more amused
than pained.
I am now more convinced that this socalled landmark event will not take off and
fly. It may appear as a big, whopping success
to those who favor it, but that victory can
only be at best Pyrrhic and very subjective,
vibrant only in the mind and heart of its
supporters. Its a victory in fantasy land.
Why so? Simply because it is mainly based
on the very flimsy argument of equality,
equal protection, equal right. It is like
saying that any opinion, position, preference, view, lifestyle, sexual orientation, etc.,
do have the same moment and value.
Equality here is taken to mean uniformity, and the tolerance that it is expected
to foster is completely detached from any
objective standard outside of a purely
subjective one. In this regard, no one talks
anymore about what is right and wrong,

what is natural and unnatural. It simply

depends on a subjective ground that can
gain some weight if a consensus of some
sort is achieved.
If a couple of the same sex wants to live
together, they are always free to do so. I
am not aware of any law prohibiting them
to do so, nor throwing them into prison,
except perhaps in some ultra-conservative
countries.
But its another story when with its legalization, its proponents start to redefine
marriage, altering the nature of marriage,
and nullifying what US Chief Justice John
Roberts as the millennia behind the institution of marriage understood as between
one man and one woman.
These are his words: The court invalidates the marriage laws of more than half
the states and orders the transformation
of a social institution that has formed the
basis of human society for millennia, for the
Kalahari Bushmen and the Han Chinese,
the Carthaginians and the Aztecs...Just who
do we think we are?
I completely agree with him when he said:

If you are among the many Americansof

whatever sexual orientationwho favor
expanding same-sex marriage, by all means
celebrate todays decision.
Celebrate the achievement of a desired
goal. Celebrate the opportunity for a new
expression of commitment to a partner.
Celebrate the availability of new benefits.
But do not celebrate the Constitution. It
had nothing to do with it.
And if I may add, much less has it anything to do with the nature of marriage.
Marriage is not a political animal that can
be defined simply by a certain consensus
of the people. Its about a lifelong commitment of love, of total self-giving that
involves the use of the body, i.e., sex. It has
its own nature and law, quite independent
of how we understand it.
As such it has to be stable and indissoluble until death, exclusive, between one man
and one woman, and always open to life. A
love that involves sex has these properties.
And since we are humans who are free, it
is a love that requires them.
Candidly Speaking / A7

CBCP Monitor

OPINION A5

July 6 - 19, 2015 Vol. 19 No. 14

Let us be Vigilant

Duc In Altum

Robert Z. Cortes

Atty. Aurora A. Santiago

SEVERAL events are happening in the country which need to be looked at, studied carefully and reflect on by us as vigilant citizens
of this country, especially with the national
election is fast approaching on May 09, 2016;
we need to seriously consider the persons we
would elect in the government.
Let us be vigilant and aware of our rights
and obligations as Filipino citizens and as
Catholics.
Foremost is what I call the re-registration
as a voter. I am a registered voter since I
voted in the last election, the barangay election. However, the Comelec or the Commission on Election announced that we
need to register again. According to reports,
more than 7 million registered voters will
be barred from voting in the 2016 local and
national elections if they fail to submit their
biometrics data to the Comelec. Registered
voters without biometrics could have voted
in 2013 and 2010, but still would not be
able to vote in 2016 without biometrics.
Voters registration will be up to Oct. 31,
2015, Sunday to Thursday, from 8a.m. to
5p.m. Better go to your local Comelec office
and re-register.
Biometrics refers to the registrants picture, fingerprint, and signature recorded by a
computer during the registration period. This
data is supposed to purge multiple registrants
from the final voters list.
***
The second important thing that we need
to be vigilant about are the DEATH bills
already filed in the House of Representatives
and the Senate which would legalize divorce,
euthanasia or mercy killing, abortion, total
population control, and homosexual unions
or same sex marriage.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued its
decision that it is unconstitutional (under the
U.S. Constitution) to ban same sex marriage.

The CBCP President Socrates Soc Villegas,

Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan stated
in his circular that The Church continues to
maintain what it has always taught. Marriage
is a permanent union of man and woman, in
the complementarity of the sexes and the mutual
fulfilment that the union of a man and a woman
bring into the loftiness of the matrimonial bond.
If there is an undeniable difference between man
and woman, there is also an undeniable difference
between the permanent union of a man and a
woman x x x We will continue to teach the sons
and daughters of the Church that marriage, transformed by The Lord Jesus and by His Church into
a sacramenta means by which the Risen Lord
encounters his peopleis an indissoluble bond of
man and woman. (Underscoring supplied).
***
Third, on amending the economic provisions
of the Constitution. The proponents of the
amendment stated that the restrictive provisions
limiting foreign participation in the Philippine
economy have in fact been prejudicial to economic
growth. Foreign investment and the infusion of foreign capital into the country have been held at bay
by what some characterize as the unduly stringent
provisions of the Constitution.
Clearly paraphrased, one of the most
important economic provision in the Constitution which the legislators want amended
is the one which prohibits foreign corporations from purchasing parcels of lands in
the Philippines. This provision has been in
the 1935 Constitution and reiterated in the
succeeding 1973 and 1987 Constitution
under the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos
and Corazon Aquino. The framers of these
two Constitutions had one purpose in stating
these restrictions: to preserve the wealth and
resources of the country for our countrymen.
It is a known fact that our country was
second to Japan in economic prosperity in
the late 1950s and early 1960s, when the

Prayer Heals

U.S. dollar to Philippine peso conversion

rate was US$1.00 to P2.00. Our countrys
economy was doing good until the 1970s
onwards. Why is our economy going down?
Your answer is as good as mine.
Granting foreign corporations the right to
purchase parcels of land in the Philippines
will result in giving all our land to foreigners
who have all the money in the world to buy
all the available land in the country, in the
end, leaving nothing to Filipinos because most
Filipinos cannot afford to buy even a plot of
residential land.
In his circular on the subject, again CBCP
president Archbishop Soc commented:
While amendments having to do with the form
of government are matters that we, your bishops,
leave to politicians and to their discernment,
proposed amendments in respect to economic
provisions bear directly on issues of social justice.
The social encyclicals of the Church bear witness
to the fact that the Church has always considered
social justice an area of her competence and
solicitude.
Archbishop Soc urged competent Catholic
lay persons to study and provide clear answers
to the following questions: (1) What do we,
as a nation, stand to gain from relaxing the
provisions now deemed restrictive? (2) How are
we assured that the resources of the country, both
natural and human, benefit Filipino nationals
principally?(3) What are the human, social and
environmental costs of lifting present limits to
foreign participation in Philippine economic
and business affairs?
***
We would like to greet Fr. Rey Amante,
Fr. Cristopher Tibong,OFM, and Fr. Antonio Nopasa of the Diocese of Kalookan
a Happy Sacerdotal Anniversary. Happy
Birthday to my niece, Mary Gretchen
Rosales-Castro, daughter of my Ate Violeta
Santiago-Rosales.

P.O.G.I. (Presence Of God Inside)

Rev. Fr. Alan Gozo Bondoc, SVD

AS I write this reflection, my

earthly father is in the Intensive
Care Unit of a hospital with
a fifty-fifty chance to live. His
Doctor did not advise us to have
my father undergo two major
operations: one on the right
side of his brain and second,
his heart, only half of which is
pumping. Given that my father
is 71-years old, the doctor said
these major operations will not
guarantee his full recovery. He
ended by telling us, Just pray
for a miracle. Upon hearing the
doctors explanation and advice
to pray for miracle, I realized that
my fathers situation is already a
hopeless case.
I administered the Sacrament
of the Anointing of the Sick.
As I prayed over him, I felt like
Abraham standing in front of an
altar with Isaac whom he is about
to offer to God. My heart is so
heavy and I feel so much pain as I

look at my father. I feel the pain,

so painful that my heart wants to
burst. All I want to do is cry out
to God, to ask him to take my
life instead of my fathers.
I pray not for healing for my
father but stronger faith for him
and especially for me and the rest
of the family to embrace the will
of God. I do not want to test the
power of God, instead I want to
love Him more. I do not want
to question His Will, instead I
want to answer His call even I
cannot understand His will and
plan. Mother Mary was right in
answering the Will of God by
saying, Be it done to me according to Your Word. She did not
say, Be it done according to my
own way, to my own will, and
to my own plan. In her words
of prayer, she gave God the way
and space to work as He willed
in her life. It was a prayer of self
surrender. Her fiat is her faith

Collection Box

Fr. Jerome Secillano, MPA

THEY always say that when you throw in

ten lawyers to interpret a law, you basically
get ten different interpretations. It is an
exaggeration for some, but definitely true
for others. On the Constitutionality of the
Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) for example, it
is rather difficult whom to believe and what
to accept as our countrys legal luminaries
give practically contrasting opinions on
the matter. As a consolation though, these
so-called legal experts procrastinations will
hardly matter as it is the Supreme Court,
with all its sitting Justices, that will rule on
the issue.
The High Courts ruling, if that happens,
certainly does not speak of the absolute
truth. While we presume the objectivity of
our Justices, it cannot be denied that the
Court simply adopts the decision of the
majority even if the other Justices do not
agree to it. In short, numbers do not guarantee the truth.
Assuming, for the sake of argument, that
the BBL hurdles these Constitutional issues,
will it guarantee peace or bring about developments in Mindanao? Those supportive of
the measure already admitted that it wont
but curiously, they continue to push for its
passage. The Constitutionality of the BBL,
to say the least, merely assures us that our
honorable lawmakers are wise enough to
craft a law that is not illegal. Anything more
than that is suspect. The BBL, especially in
its present form, is not a panacea to all that
is bad in Mindanao.
Why our lawmakers continue to simply
focus on the BBLs Constitutionality is perplexing. Why the debates do not dwell on

Commentary

that God is in control. He knows

what is best and knows how it
can be done. He knows better
than I do.
Truly, when I cannot understand why such painful things
happen in my life... I just need
to let God do His work and carry
out His will. I prayed a prayer
of surrender for my father. For
I believe it is the most powerful
prayer of all. Surrendering does
not mean I lose my hope or I
refuse to believe in the possibility
of a miracle. Surrendering means
total trust; it is a form of truly
loving God.
Letting go does not mean
lesser love. But it is instead, the
greatest gesture of true love. Even
God let go of His Son by giving
Him to the world. Praying for
my father a prayer of surrender
increased and strengthened my
faith in God even more who
knows what is good and right for

me and the entire family. These

are the words I told Him: God,
we belong to you, in life and in
death. I believe in the resurrection as the fullness of life in You.
Do as You will. I believe in Your
Will. My love for You will not
change. My faith in You will not
lessen. I love my earthly father
but You love Him more. Do as
You will for You know better
than I do.
After five days in the Intensive
Care Unit, the doctor visited
us and whispered these words,
Your prayers are powerful; God
heard them because now your
father can leave the Intensive
Care Unit. Our family was
instantly rejuvenated upon hearing the news. Our prayers were
heard and granted. Our prayers
did not only heal my father but
most especially, it healed our relationships in the family. Prayer
truly heals.

So what if the BBL is

Constitutional?

the more practical issues like its effectiveness

to combat the problems in Mindanao or its
responsiveness to the needs of Mindanaoans
is baffling. President Pnoy and the supporters
of the measure continue to harp on giving
peace a chance as if those not in favor of the
BBL are not for peace. What we are hearing
from the President and his blind followers are
motherhood statements for peace, ironically,
they themselves admitted that the measure
does not guarantee such. Is it not logical
to say, then, that those who are against the
measure but continue to look for better
alternatives are the ones genuinely for peace?
If the President will be so hard-headed as
to force the approval of the measure by using
the powers and resources of the government,
it will greatly help him if the BBL will be
thoroughly studied and analyzed based on
the following criteria:
Effectiveness refers to whether a policy
alternative results in the achievement of a valued outcome of action, that is, an objective.
(William N. Dunn, Public Policy Analysis,
p.224). Already they say that the BBL, at
least in its present form, does not guarantee
peace in Mindanao. Why dont they refine it
so that it may contain pertinent provisions
that will effectively lead to peace and take
away provisions that will only cause more
problems later?
Efficiency refers to the amount of effort
required to produce a given level of effectiveness. It is synonymous with economic
rationality and it is the relationship between
effectiveness and effort with the latter often
measured in terms of monetary costs. Policies
that achieve the greatest effectiveness at the

least cost are said to be efficient. (Dunn, p.

224) How do you think the BBL will fare
against this criterion? It was already revealed
that billions of pesos will be poured in Mindanao from the annual block grant, shares
in taxes from cultivating the regions natural
resources and other income. How sure are
we that those who will be elected leaders of
the Bangsamoro will be less callous than their
predecessors in the Autonomous Region of
Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)? Do they really
need such a big amount of money to be able
to bring about development in the region?
Equity is closely related with legal and social rationality and refers to the distribution
of effects and effort among different groups
in society. It asks, How can a policy maximize the welfare of society and not just the
welfare of particular individuals or groups?
(Dunn, p. 228) Under the BBL, we ask, Is
the welfare of the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF) the same as those of the Indigenous Peoples (IPs) in the region, of the
Christian minorities and of the other rebel
groups like the Moro National Liberation
Front (MNLF) or the Abu Sayyaf? Obviously
not! But the government dealt exclusively
with the MILF and appears headed to always
acquiesce to the latters demands without
even seriously considering the sentiments of
other stakeholders in the region. Under these
circumstances, is the government working
for the welfare of the nation or merely for
somebody elses interests?
Responsiveness refers to the extent that
a policy satisfies the needs, preferences or
values of particular groups. This criterion is
Collection Box / A6

#LoveWins,
Human Society Loses
BY now no one has not seen those rainbow-colored #LoveWins
memes. Or those rainbow-colored hearts that Twitter tacked on to
the hashtag to celebrate the victory of same-sex marriage in the Land
of the Free.
Yet there was neither victory for love and marriage, nor victory for
America in the Scotus decision. What that 5-4 Supreme Court decision
did, in the words of marriage scholar and author Dr. Ryan Anderson,
was to short-circuit the democratic process to put a stop to the
national discussion we were having about the future of marriage. For
this, the decision meant a supreme loss for human society.
Why so? First, because in place of a sturdy and obvious definition
that has served civilization well since the dawn of human history,
the majority has replaced it with their own veneer and traditionless
definition of marriage and a confused idea of marital love. And that, according to Chief Justice Roberts, without even a pretense of humility.
I certainly do not want to demean the love that exists between the
homosexual couples who have sought, in the words of Justice Kennedy, simply to find (marriages) fulfillment for themselves not to
be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilizations
oldest institutions. Yet, we know that ardent longings for fulfillment
are not enough to change the nature and purpose of marriage. Indeed,
longings cannot change the nature of anything.
And homosexual love, no matter how noble it may be, no matter
how eternal it possibly could, indeed, no matter how desirous of
marriage it is, simply is not and cannot be marital love. It may be a
reflection of a human beings basic need, but the fulfillment of that
need in the homosexual person is not homosexual marriage. This
is not dictated by bigotry; this is dictated by the nature and purpose
of marriage.
Whatever that fulfillment may be, it should be admitted, is something
that still needs to be truly discerned. It is something that needs to
be pinned down and specified soon. In fact, expediting the process
to do that may be the positive thing that will come out of this whole
experience. This demands a sincere effort from everyone in society in
terms of honest research and open discussion. But what is evident is
that it is not to force the lie that in marriage biological complementarity
does not matter, and that mothers and fathers are interchangeable.
Marital love is the fullness of self-surrender, the completeness of
personal commitment manifested by a total openness to the begetting
and raising of children. This means that marital love, although an end
in itself, really does have a purpose: to stabilize marriage for the sake of
the children. Marriage, in the words of Chief Justice Roberts, arose
in the nature of things to meet a vital need: ensuring that children are
conceived by a mother and father committed to raising
them in the stable conditions of a lifelong relationship.
Marriage, then, demands complementarity all the way down to the
biological, because it is there for the purpose of first begetting, then
stably raising, children as far as it is possible. The so-called personal
complementarity proposed by Catholic theologians Michael G.
Lawler and Todd A. Salzman to justify gay marriage just doesnt make
the cut. Above all because it is bogus: personal complementarity ought
to include biological complementarity. Human persons are, after all,
bodies as well as spirits.
Sadly, instead of correctly and truthfully interpreting the natural
law and the Constitution, as proper Supreme Court Justices ought to
do, the sentimental reasoning of the majority limited them instead to
propping up wounded self-esteem or helping seemingly hapless people
find their way out of a lonely wood. Indeed, for a while, reading Justice
Kennedys words, I thought I was reading a Hollywood script.
But whats worse about the majoritys decision is not that its going
to inspire a host of movies with this theme next Oscar season. It
that it has replaced Americas strong democratic pillarsmarriage
and authentic democratic processeswith a wobbly stick of a social
experiment. As a consequence, hatred and chaos loom somewhere
over the rainbow. Wheres victory there for America?
Justice Alito wrote that the decision will be used to vilify Americans
who are unwilling to assent to the new orthodoxy. Indeed, we know
this is already happening. The day after the decision, one tweet from
Stevie J West read I have never seen hatred like the kind spewed from
the frothing mouths of the tolerant left. #LoveWins unless you dare
to disagree.
And the hatred will not end with speech. Indeed it hasnt and hadnt,
even way before the decision came out. People who hold deeply
seated beliefs about marriage as it was always been understood have
been litigated, summoned to courts, sacked from jobs, kicked out of
school, and unjustly fined simply for living out a reasonable belief
supported by more than 2,000 years of history. Moreover, despite
traditional marriage believers doing them good service, the tolerant
left would even demand from them not to express their beliefs in
their own business premises.
Marriage perversion will follow. Ethicist Christian Brugger wrote
as early as two years ago that if we concede this type of Orwellian
power to change meaning, then the possibilities for future redefinition remain open-ended. And now it has come true. Hardly had the
Supreme Court come out when promoters of legalized polygamy are
gleefully rubbing their hands in preparation for assault. And after this,
Brugger adds, marriage will go beyond adults, and beyond humans.
If we think otherwise, were nave.
Further, the pot of golden marriage equality at the end of the
rainbow will not bring peace even to the LGBT community. Chief
Justice Roberts warns, There will be consequences to shutting down
the political process on an issue of such profound public significance.
Closing debate tends to close minds. People denied a voice are less
likely to accept the ruling of a court on an issue that does not seem
to be the sort of thing courts usually decide.
Even considering just these points, this much is clear: America
has lost in this decision. And because much of the world looks up
to America and its model of democratic process, human society has
lost as well.
It is thus imperative that America find its way back to enshrining
both the truth of marriage and the truth of its democratic process, so
it becomes once again the beacon it has been to the world.
Just dont expect Justice Kennedy to lead the way. For he said the
marriage institutioneven as confined to opposite-sex relationshas
evolved over time; yet if you ask him where its evolving to, its a sure
bet he cant tell you. Thankfully, there are, I believe, enough Americans
of goodwill to lead and even more to actually make this happen not
without shedding blood, sweat, and tears.
As for the rest of the world who are just about ready to spring and
follow Americas lead down this slippery slope, please. If only for the
sake of leaving our societies a sane and orderly place for ourselves and
for our children, lets not do anything rash. Please pause and think
a bit more.
Dont follow America. In this decision, she is mistaken.
(Robert Z. Cortes is a PhD student in Social Institutional Communication at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce, Rome. He has an M.A.
in Ed. Leadership from Columbia University, N.Y.)

A6 LOCAL NEWS

July 6 - 19, 2015 Vol. 19 No. 14

Cardinal Tagle renews piso

fundraising drive for IEC

CBCP Monitor

Pope grants indulgence for

venerating Perpetual Help icon
F I L I PI N O C a t h o l i c s , e s pecially Marian devotees,
have an entire year all to
themselves in order to avail
of a plenary indulgence Pope
Francis granted recently to
those who venerate the icon
of Our Mother of Perpetual
Help, dubbed the Icon of
Love, at her shrine in Baclaran or any other churches
run by the Redemptorists.

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle presides over the send off Mass for the
IEC pilgrim symbol at the Manila Cathedral on Monday. ROY LAGARDE

MANILA Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle has asked

for financial assistance for an
upcoming global church event
in Cebu City next year.
With only six months to go
before the 51st International
Eucharistic Congress (IEC), he
said donations are needed to
help defray the expenses for the
gathering.
Affordable fundraising
Let us help the Eucharistic
Congress through our financial
contributions because there will
also be delegations from other
countries, Tagle said.
The cardinal made the appeal
in his homily on Monday during
the send-off Mass for the pilgrim
symbol of the IEC held at the
Manila Cathedral.
It was early last year when the
IEC Committee launched the
Piso para sa Misa ng Mundo
to support preparations for the
gathering to be held on Jan. 24
to 31, 2016.
Organizers said they decided
to use coins in raising funds
because it is affordable to the
faithful from all walks of life.
Donation boxes were also
placed in Catholic schools and
parishes across the country.
Pilgrimage
In line with the Year of the
Poor, he said the Archdiocese of
Manila will be sending delegates
from poor families who cannot
afford the events travel expenses
and other logistical costs.
If everyday you will give a

peso until January, you will be

able to help a delegate, Tagle
said.
Its for them also to experience this kind of international
event. So please be generous in
your support of the Eucharistic
Congress, he added.
From the Manila Cathedral,
the pilgrims symbol was brought
to the cathedral of the Military
Ordinariate of the Philippines in
Camp Aguinaldo.
Since last January from Cebu,
the IEC symbol has been on a
national pilgrimage to different
dioceses across the country to
heighten our awareness of this
international event that will happen in our country.
Deepen knowledge on the
Eucharist
Tagle also asked for prayers
for the success of the event and
urged the faithful to deepen their
participation in and knowledge
of the Eucharist. We are also
invited to live the meaning of
the Eucharist. To believe in it,
to celebrate and to live in daily
life, he said.
I hope that in the coming
months before January, we will
have a much deeper preparation
for the Eucharistic Congress. So
lets join the Eucharist, understand it fully and live it, Tagle
said.
Held every four years, at least
15,000 participants are expected
to attend the IEC with the theme
Christ in You: Our hope of
Glory. (R. Lagarde with Luke
Godoy/CBCPNews)

Along the Way / A4

tabato serious efforts are underway

to reforest bald hills and develop
ecologically sound ways of farming.
The diocese of Pagadian has chosen
the Eucharist and ecology as its
pastoral focus for this year. These
are all signs for us that the Spirit of
God, who breathed over the water,
and originally brought life out of
chaos is no prompting men and
women both inside and outside
the Church to dedicate their lives
in enhancing and protecting the
integrity of Creation.
Pope Francis encyclical Laudato Si, which cites the CBCP
pastoral letter, is an affirmation
of the pioneering efforts of the
Church in the Philippinesincluding the BECsto defend
the environment over the years.
Bishops, priests, religious, and
lay people in various parts of
the country have been at the
forefront in the struggle against
logging, mining and coal-fired
power-plant projects, etc.
As we respond to Pope Francis
urgent challenge to protect our
common home, each diocese,
parish, BEC, lay organization,
movement, and association
needs to study the encyclical
more and come up with plans
to continually concretize the
Churchs commitment to the
environment. For many it will
require creative militant action to stop the destruction
of the environment by greedy

capitalists abetted by corrupt

government officials. For all
of us, it will mean adopting a
more simple and green lifestyle,
rejecting consumerism. This
requires reducing our carbon
footprints. This implies less
dependence on private transportation, using public modes
of transportation not dependent
on fossil fuels, lots of walking,
biking, etc. It also means avoiding wasteful consumption and
implement waste-management,
developing a greener environment (cleaning-up, gardening,
tree-planting, etc.). We can also
adopt a more natural diet, less
meat-consumption, and eating
more vegetables, and fruits. This
also means constructing, renovating, and building houses with
natural ventilation, lighting, less
dependence on electrical appliances or using alternative power
sources such as solar energy.
Since the Philippines is most
vulnerable to the disastrous effects
of climate change such as floods,
super-typhoons, droughts, and
pollution, the Church must also
advocate disaster preparedness
and management.
Continuous education about
the environmental crisis and
the obligation of each one to
act must be integrated into the
program of evangelization and
catechesis at the parish and BEC
levels.

Collection Box / A5

important because a policy may

satisfy all the foregoing criteria yet
still fail to respond to the actual
needs of a group that is supposed
to benefit from a policy. (Dunn, p.
229) When we speak of a group,
we refer not only to the MILF but
to the Mindanaoans who will be
under the Bangsamoro. What is so
bothersome with the BBL is that it
gave too many concessions to the
MILF but spoke too little about
the rights and welfare of the other
stakeholders.
By enumerating these criteria,

my only wish is for our government to make a policy for peace

and development in Mindanao
that is both inclusive and sustainable. The Mindanaoans
deserve a policy that is not only
Constitutional but something
effective, efficient, equitable,
and responsive to their aspirations. I am not undermining the
significance of the BBLs Constitutionality but what, then, if it
is Constitutional yet lacks the
capacity to achieve peace and
development?

Icon of Love
According to the Redemptorist International website,
the Holy Father offered this
opportunity to all Catholics
who want the temporal punishment due to their sins remitted
in keeping with the celebration
of 150 years since Pope Pius
IX placed the much-beloved
picture in the care of the Congregation of the Most Holy
Redeemer (C.Ss.R.).
It reads, The indulgence
is available to all who make a
pilgrimage, between the 27th
June 2015 and 27th June 2016,
to the Church of St. Alphonsus
[Maria de Liguori] in Rome or
in any Redemptorist church
anywhere in the world to venerate the icon of Our Mother of
Perpetual Help.
Indulgence
As usual, the plenary indulgence can only be had
provided pilgrims meet these
conditions: the celebration of
the sacrament of reconciliation, Eucharistic communion;
prayer for the intentions of the

All roads led to Baclaran on Saturday, June 27, as thousands of devotees from within Metro Manila and the nearby provinces poured
into the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help to to thank her for prayers answered through her intercession as well as to
celebrate 150 years of making her known. JAMES BENEDICT MALABANAN

Holy Father; the visit should

conclude with the recitation
of the Our Father; the Creed
and prayers to Our Blessed
Mother.
The Code of Canon Law
(Can. 992) and the Catechism
of the Catholic Church (n.
1471) define an indulgence
as a remission before God
of the temporal punishment
due to sins whose guilt has
already been forgiven, which
the faithful Christian who
is duly disposed gains under
certain prescribed conditions
through the action of the

Church which, as the minister

of redemption, dispenses and
applies with authority the
treasury of the satisfactions of
Christ and the saints.
Making her known
Meanwhile, all roads led to
the National Shrine of Our
Mother of Perpetual Help in
Baclaran on Saturday, June 27,
as devotees joined the local
Redemptorists in celebrating
the start of the Jubilee Year of
making her known.
In his homily, Paraaque
Bishop Jesse E. Mercado hailed

the Blessed Virgin using her

title, the Mother of Perpetual
Help, for continuing to intercede before Christ on behalf of
her little ones on earth.
He said that since devotion to her was introduced
in the Philippines sometime
in 1948 by Fr. Leo English,
C.Ss.R., she has always become a source of strength and
inspiration to untold number
o f f a i t h f u l Fi l i p i n o s w h o
constantly seek her maternal comfort and protection.
( R a y m o n d A . Se b a s t i n /
CBCP News)

USTs lay Dominicans on LGBT: Talk to them with love

MEMBERS of the Dominican Laity of St.
Martin de Porres-University of Santo Tomas
(UST) Chapter have urged fellow Catholics
to communicate with the LGBT community
in a manner they believe is consistent with
the Christian values and principles of charity,
compassion, and sensitivity.
Charity, compassion
It is also our humble call to our beloved
brothers and sisters, that as children of our
one Motherthe Holy Catholic and Apostolic Churchto come up with a more
innovative and creative manner to dialogue
with members of the LGBT, based on Charity, Compassion and Sensitivity, they share
in an open letter posted on their official Facebook page just days after the United States
Supreme Court declared same-sex marriage
legal in all American states.

Citing the Catechism of the Catholic

Church (CCC), the group encourages the
faithful to avoid every sign of unjust discrimination (2358) towards people who
identify as homosexuals.
Love builds bridges, not walls. Dialogue
leads to understanding, not hate. We love our
Church, so are the members of the LGBT
who need our pastoral concern. We hate Sin,
not the Sinners, it explains.
1 man, 1 woman
Driven by the desire to share the fruits of
contemplation, the lay Dominicans stressed
their allegiance to the Church of Rome and
her teachings, particularly on the sanctity of
marriage, between one man and one woman.
However, even as they uphold, support,
and teach the Catholic views on marriage,
they make it clear that they abhor any sort

of negative speech, hate crimes against gays,

lesbians, and bisexuals.
Salvation of souls
As Dominicans who are called and
formed to prioritize the salvation of souls, we
believe that such acts would only result to a
more complicated scenario, of letting many
to distance themselves from the Church,
instead of bringing them closer to Godto
salvation!, they explained.
Nonetheless, they added that the position
expressed in the manifesto is only that of
individual members, and does not necessarily
reflect the views of the Philippine Dominican Laity, nor do they represent the official
position of the University of Santo Tomas
and affiliated units, nor the Dominican
Province of the Philippines. (Raymond A.
Sebastin/CBCP News)

Priest: Pray for conversion of uncharitable pols

ECHOING Pope Francis intention for July, a Filipino religious has called on the faithful
to pray for government officials who fail to graspand
live outthe truth that charity is an important component
of public service.
Act of charity
This is what is lacking in
the understanding of so many
men and women who have
been entrusted with political
responsibility, especially in
our country, said Fr. Amado
Baranquel, a member of the
Order of Friars Minor (OFM)
doing mission work among
Overseas Filipino Workers

(OFW) in Benghazi, Libya.The Franciscan from Albay

reminded politicians that they
owe it to the people who voted
them into office to treat them
with charity.
Living and exercising
[their political powers] rightfully is an act of charity towards the populace, Baranquel stressed.
Legal Moral
Meanwhile, a religious educator told CBCP News he
sees the Holy Fathers current
prayer intention in the light of
the recent ruling of American
Supreme Court legalizing
same-sex union in all states of

the country.
Catholic officials should
adhere to and comply with the
teachings of the Magisterium,
always keeping in mind that
not everything that is legal
is necessarily moral, Prof.
Nestor Limqueco noted.
He pointed out the duty of
government leaders, especially
those who profess the Catholic
faith, to stand firm on all issues
involving morality and ethics.
Gods first
Quoting St. Thomas More,
the English martyr who is
considered the patron of politicians, Limqueco shared, I
am the kings good servant,

but Gods first.

We will know the sincerity
of our elected officials based
on the consistency of their
moral position.
Responsibility
The Holy Fathers universal
prayer intention for the month
reads: That political responsibility may be lived at all levels
as a high form of charity.
Moreover, his intention
for evangelization is: That,
amid social inequalities, Latin
American Christians may bear
witness to love for the poor
and contribute to a more fraternal society. (Raymond A.
Sebastin/CBCP News)

SC, A1

Same-sex marriage can do neither of

these, since its main purpose is directed
towards itself, it explains.
The group also makes clear it will have
none of the argument that tries to justify
a copycat refashioning of marriage under
the guise of rights just because many
[heterosexual] couples are clueless as to the
true meaning of marriage and the sanctity
inherent in it.
It notes, This will only serve to negatively impact our underserved, highly impressionable youth, and further fragment
our already fragile institutions.
Right to biological parents
Reacting to the recent ruling that legalized marriage between persons of
the same gender in the United States,
Filipinos for Life went on to point out
that what the American Supreme Court
(SCOTUS) had done departs radically

from natural law given that it introduces

other forms of relationships that can deny
children their right to a biological mother
and father, and that destroy the stability
of economy and society.
We believe that SCOTUS acted outside
the bounds of its authority in redefining the
meaning of an institution which has been
understood, from the beginning of human
civilization, as the union between a man
and a woman, the statement reads in part.
Moreover, it tramples on the right of
people of faith to oppose and object to
this and other forms of relationships yet to
come, and to collectively decide the fundamental law of the land, it continues.
According to Filipinos for Life, the
lamentable decision has no historical,
traditional, cultural, or natural foundations, seeing how it is based on an irrational sentimentality and a misplaced
sense of compassion that fails to consider

the future of the biological family, whose

nature stems from the complementarity
between man and woman.
Loving the sinner
Meanwhile, the group stresses it in no
way condones physical and verbal disrespect, as well as hostility toward people
struggling with same sex attraction (SSA).
Rather, the group expresses willingness
to help their brothers and sisters with SSA
to strive to make healthy choices, lead
chaste lives, and practice their faith fully
despite the cross they bear.
It adds, We encourage our countrymen, the majority of whom oppose same
sex marriage, to exercise vigilance and to
act decisively, on their own and through
their elected representatives, to prevent
a similar travesty from being inflicted
upon our beloved country. (Raymond
A. Sebastin/CBCP News)

CBCP Monitor

A7

July 6 - 19, 2015 Vol. 19 No. 14

Palo archdiocese celebrates first bishop in 28 years

TACLOBAN City With Pope
Francis appointment of Bishopelect Oscar Jaime Llaneta Florencio as the new auxiliary bishop of
Cebu, the entire Archdiocese of
Palo celebrates the gift of the archdiocese first bishop after 28 years.
I am very happy, especially
for Palo. The last bishop that
has been appointed was twentyeight years ago, Bishop Leonardo
Medroso (of Tagbilaran, Bohol)
which was in 1987 and now he
is already retiring, said Palo
Archbishop John Du.
As a bishop, he (Florencio) is
now in the lineage of the apostles
and can do confirmation and
give absolution to certain grave
sins, he explained.
Gift to Palo, to the Church
Florencio whom Du relieved of

his current assignment as rector of

the St. John the Evangelist School
of Theology was himself surprised
at his new appointment, saying
he did not aspire for it.
[Besides] as a gift for me,
the whole presbyterium and the
whole church of the Archdiocese
of Palo, I also consider this (appointment) as a responsibility
and a commitment that I will
have to commit again to God
to be of service to the Church,
especially this year that we are
celebrating the Year of the Poor,
so we can help also the poor,
which are all for the glory of
God, Florencio said.
Florencio, who still considers
Du as his immediate superior
and mentor, celebrated his silver
sacerdotal anniversary in April
this year.

He admitted he needs the help

and guidance of the prelate who
was a former auxiliary bishop of
Cebu prior to his assignment as
bishop of Dumaguete, Negros
Oriental, on account of his cultural orientation which is Waray
and not Cebuano.

Palo Archbishop John Du (left) with Bishop-elect Oscar Jaime Llaneta Florencio EILEEN
NAZARENO BALLESTEROS

Davao priests join basketball

tourney for charity in Cebu

Davao Agila Team: Some members of the Diocesan Clergy of Davao will join a basketball tournament in
Cebu City from July 6 to 10, 2015 for the benefit of their chosen charity, the Archdiocesan Nourishment
Center (ANC) of the Archdiocese of Davao. JOHN FRANCES FUENTES

DAVAO CityCalling themselves the

Davao Agila Team, some members of
the Diocesan Clergy of Davao will join
a basketball tournament in Cebu City
for the benefit of their chosen charity,
the Archdiocesan Nourishment Center
(ANC) of the Archdiocese of Davao.
We will be playing basketball hoping
that we will have a good play. We are
confident that the Lord is with us as we
enter the court and play the games, said
Fr. Rene Ribac, professor of St. Francis
Xavier Regional Major Seminary and
member of the Davao Agila Team.
Feeding kids
The tournament, dubbed the Spring
Rain Missions Cup, the 3rd InterClergy Basketball Tournament is set on
July 6 to 10 in Cebu City with 14 participating teams of priests from different
dioceses and religious congregations in
the Philippines.
The 12 Davao priests, who make up
Davao Agila Team, chose the ANC
as its beneficiary since it is one of the
Archdiocese of Davaos programs for the
poor and needy.
Fr. Leif Simbajon, parochial vicar
of Sto. Rosario Parish in Toril, who
is part of the Davao Agila Team
said they chose ANC because they
want the children under the said

program to benefit from the proceeds of their prize as they see the
need to continue the feeding program of malnourished children in
the Archdiocese of Davao.
Playing for the mission
I was once assigned in the Our Lady
of Fatima Parish and ANC is located
near the parish and there I have seen the
health situation of the children, who are
mostly our parishioners, and I also saw
the eagerness of the volunteers to serve
but the feeding program needs funding
for its continuity, said Simbajon.
ANC is located in the house formerly
occupied by the Missionaries of Charity.
The same house was also the residence
where Blessed Theresa of Calcutta, the
founder of the congregation, once stayed
in during her visit in Davao City years ago.
Aside from feeding the children, the
ANC also takes care of their spiritual
nourishment and gives parents formation and seminars on parenting.
Playing for the Mission and Win
for your Mission, is the tournaments
theme, further inspiring the Davao clergy
to practice and do their best on the court.
We will need the prayers of our
fellow priests and the faithful of the
Archdiocese of Davao, said Ribac
during an interview. (John Frances C.
Fuentes/CBCPNews)

Palliatives, A1

the 30th anniversary of the abduction of

the priest, whose fate remains a mystery.
A memorial service will be held at 9:00
a.m. at the site where Romano was abducted on Katipunan corner Cabarrubias
streets in Tisa, Labangon, Cebu City.
A concelebrated Mass will also be
held at 5:30 p.m. at the Redemptorist
Church, followed by a candle-lighting
ceremony.
Romano was abducted by suspected
military men on July 11, 1985.
Unjust structures
Palma, a former president of the
CBCP, also compared Romano to
Blessed Romero, a martyr and an outspoken champion of the poor who opposed,
at great personal risk, the tyrannical

repression in El Salvador.
He said Romero, who was killed by the
military while celebrating Mass because
of his advocacies, did not just help the
poor with palliatives but also experienced the unjust structures used by the
oppressors to exploit the poor.
In a similar though different way, he
said Romano also went beyond shortterm responses to the plight of the poor.
The priest, he added, was particularly
vocal and active with exploited workers,
slum dwellers, landless peasants, and
other sectors of society oppressed by
unjust structures.
Together with them, may we also
confront the structures that keep the
poor exploited and oppressed, Palma
said. (CBCPNews)

Candidly Speaking / A4

Conjugal love is not just for pleasure. It is procreative or open to life,

because that is the very nature of sex,
irrespective of whether the recourse to
the conjugal act results in procreation
or not.
The love that underlies those in the
side of #LoveWins, which in turn underlies that Supreme Court decision, is
a love detached from natural law. Its
a love that can go in any which way, a
love that can include the expression of
human sexuality that has gone berserk,
that is perverted.
Its with that frame of mind that
another group, for example, is claiming that pedophilia is natural to men
since they are always attracted to young
people. And so we will hear more of all
sorts of so-called natural and human

rights that for millennia have been

considered unnatural and inhuman. I
wonder what would be next.
Of course, divorce and abortion have
already long been legalized. All kinds
of rationalizations were made, and the
vicious drift continues. Its the slippery
slope in action.
In all this, we should try to be discriminating but not discriminatory.
Discriminating in the sense of being
keen to distinguish between right and
wrong, and choosing the best and
practicable option for the good of all.
Not discriminatory in the sense of not
being intolerant even of those who
are clearly in error, always practicing
patience, understanding, and mercy.
We should aim at unity and communion based on truth and charity.

Work continues
The Palo prelate advised Florencio to focus on his being a new
prelate and to prepare for his
Episcopal consecration on Sept.
10 at the Palo Cathedral.
Florencio ably handled various
assignments, including being an
assistant chancellor during the
Episcopal service of now retired
Archbishop Pedro Dean and at
present, as priest-in-charge of the
Archdiocesan commission on
faith communities, concurrent

with his being rector of SJEST.

This does not mean that
we have to stop working, he
stressed, addressing his fellow
priests in the Archdiocese during
a recent press conference.
Florencio added: With Archbishop Du as our leader we have
to move on and continue working because this is an enormous
acknowledgement given by the
Holy See, by the Holy Father,
that there is something we can
do for the good of the people and
the church in the Archdiocese
of Palo.
He called on the seminarians
to continue what we have begun
(especially) that we are reposed
with the trust and confidence
and therefore responsibility sets
in. (Eileen Nazareno Ballesteros/CBCPNews)

Prayers offered for victims of Ormoc

bay mishap
TACLOBAN CityThe
clergy of Sts. Peter and Paul
Parish in Ormoc City did
not waste time in visiting
survivors and in blessing
the bodies of those who
died in a sea mishap off the
bay in Ormoc yesterday.
38 people were confirmed dead and 15 others reported missing as of
today, after the two-decked
MB Kim Nirvana capsized
10 minutes from leaving
the port of Ormoc, about
200 meters from the shores
of Ormoc City, at 12:20
p.m. yesterday on its way
to Camotes Island in Cebu.
Fr. Isagani Petilos, pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul

Parish, led his fellow clergy

and church volunteers in
blessing the dead at the
funeral parlor and at the
Ormoc Doctors Hospital.
Accommodations offered
I was in the pier watching the rescue and retrieval
operations together with
other government agencies,
I found out that there were
around 20 survivors staying
overnight at the Supercat
terminal, he narrated.
The priest offered accommodations at the parish pastoral center but he
was assured that the city
government had taken care
of the survivors.

A Mass was offered this

morning, as well as yesterday
afternoon for the victims
who died in the sea tragedy.
There were 176 passengers and 16 crew on
board when the motorized
banca left Ormoc. The
boat capsized when it met
huge waves on its way to
Camotes Island.
Strong waves
Among the passengers
were traders bringing their
farm yields and other merchandise to Camotes island. Survivors accounts
have it, too, that among
the products on board were
sacks of rice and cement.

Frogmen of the Philippine Coast Guard believe

that passengers are still
trapped in the first floor of
the vessel.
Survivors alleged that the
ferrys bow suddenly tilted
up when it encountered
strong waves. This caused
the vessel to flip over on
one side turning the banca
upside down, trapping the
passengers under the boat.
The church is hopeful
that more survivors will
be rescued. The clergy also
calls for continued prayers
for those who perished,
as well as for survivors.
(Eileen Nazareno-Ballesteros/CBCP News)

Shroud of Turin replica in Iloilo

MOLO, Iloilo City A life-size replica
of the Shroud of Turin has been made
available for public viewing in St. Anne
Parish in Molo, Iloilo City, to provide a
more accessible and a more meaningful
way of reflecting on the passion and
death of Jesus Christ.
Parish priest Fr. Espiridion R. Celis Jr.
said they introduced the replica of the
Holy Shroud for the first time in Molo
during the observance of the Holy Week.
According to the parish priest the
replica was imported from California, courtesy of the Shroud of Turin
Research Project, with the help of an
unnamed donor from Iloilo.
Jubilee of Mercy
This is a way for our parish to help
prepare the faithful for the Extraordinary
Jubilee of Mercy, the priest explained.
The Molo parish priest stressed that
the exhibition of the life-size replica of
the Holy Shroud, believed to be the
burial cloth which was used to wrap Jesus Christs remains, is a unique chance
offered to devotees in the Philippines.
The Holy Shroud can be visited as
long as the church is open. There is no
time limit, Celis said.
Aside from the veneration of the Shroud,
St. Anne Parish has scheduled intensive catechism sessions on Wednesdays, open to all.
Worth the pains
The parish priest recalled from one

of catechism classes
a resolution made
by a devotee upon
venerating the Holy
Shroud: Adopt the
wound in Jesus
body which was
caused by your sin.
Kiss it so that, it
will not hurt.
This alone is
worth all the pains
of bringing the Holy
Shroud all the way
to Molo, Celis said.
The recent visit
of Pope Francis to The faithfuls veneration of a replica of the Shroud of Turin in St. Anne parish
Turin on June 21, church in Molo is ongoing. PARISH OF ST. ANNE FACEBOOK ACCOUNT
to venerate the Holy
Misericordiae Vultus is also the title
Shroud, sparked renewed interest in the
of the Bull of Indiction issued by Pope
shroud among the faithful.
Imprinted on the linen cloth are the Francis convoking the Extraordinary Juface and body of a man bearing the bilee of Mercy that will begin on Dec. 8.
The exhibition of the Holy Shroud in
marks of crucifixion.
the Cathedral of Turin is a rare event.
In the past five centuries the Shroud of
Face of Mercy
Although the Shroud has been popu- Turin was displayed for veneration 18
larly venerated for centuries, the Catho- times only. The latest public exhibition
lic Church has so far neither officially was held in April 19 to June 24, 2015.
Although everyone is given the opendorsed nor rejected the belief that it
portunity to see and pray before the Holy
was Jesus Christs burial cloth.
Celis said their primary objective is Shroud, visits are limited every 15 minutes
to bring people closer to the Shroud, only and visitors are advised to book well
so that they can contemplate the Face in advance, stated the Shroud of Turin
of Jesus Christ or the Misericordiae Visiting Information Service in its website. (Fr. Mickey Cardenas/CBCPNews)
Vultus (the Face of Mercy).

Congregation, A1

mation, said SFX formation

directress Sr. Venus Marie
S. Pegar.
The congregation just
used Facebook and mobile
phones, she said. We did
not really go to places for
recruitment.The young
women hailed from different
provinces, like Leyte, Samar,
Negros Occidental, Davao
del Norte, Capiz, and Antique with ages ranging from
16 to 25-years old.
Four of them are aspirants
(pre-postulants), one postulant, while the others are
novices.
Two more, one of whom is

currently employed in Hong

Kong as an overseas Filipino
contract worker OFW), will
start undergoing formation
in December, Pegar said.
The OFW wishes to earn
and save for her family before
going through vocation formation, she revealed.
Both were also recruited
by Pegar through the online
social network Facebook.
Gina S. Genosa, a 19-year
old novice; and Ingelyn B.
San Juan, an 18-year-old
postulant, said they did not
feel any pressure to enter
the SFX.
The congregation just

waited for their preparedness to undergo formation,

the two ladies said.
The longest period of recruitment through Facebook
took three years because the
aspirant had to finish high
school and work to support
for her family for a while,
Pegar said.
According to Pegar, the
congregation requires aspirants to meet the minimum
age of 16 and be at least high
school graduates.
We have the simplicity
of life here, she said. There
is joy in the religious life of
each member.

The congregation, which

has its mother house in
Myanmar, is committed to
a four-fold mission, namely,
praying, evangelizing, educating, and nursing, Pegar
said.
Me a n w h i l e , t h e n e w
Myanmar nuns who arrived
in the country in April are attending courses on speaking
and writing in Filipino.
They need to learn the local
tongue in order to take care of
the 18 residents of the Mother
of Mercy Home for the Abandoned and Elderly, which the
community runs. (Oliver
Samson/CBCPNews)

Leaders, A1

the opening plenary speaker.

Issues on divorce and single-parent
families will be discussed by Jesuit Fr.
Rex Mananzan, while Fr. Daniel Healy,
spiritual director of Courage Philippines,
will talk about pastoral attention towards
persons with homosexual tendencies.

Other speakers include Fr. Dominador Guzman, Jr., SSP, on Pastoral Care
for Couples Civilly Married or Living
Together; Ms. Mitos Rivera on The
Transmission of Life and the Challenge
of the Declining Birthrate; Fr. Benito
Tuazon on Guiding Engaged Couples

in their Preparation for Marriage; Fr.

Ruben Tanseco, SJ, on Accompanying
Married Couples in the Initial Years of
Marriage; and Fr. Anton Pascual who
will focus on Upbringing and the Role
of the Family in Evangelization. (Luke
Godoy/CBCPNews)

A8

CBCP Monitor

July 6 - 19, 2015 Vol. 19 No. 14

Pinoys join global petition for traditional

marriage ahead of synod
STANDING for traditional
marriage and in solidarity with
prominent Catholic personalities and organizations worldwide, an alliance of some 47
pro-life and pro-family groups
in the Philippines joins the
growing public clamor to defend the future of the family in
view of the forthcoming Synod
in October through a signature
campaign.
Fears, hopes
Our fears arise from witnessing a decades-long sexual revolution promoted by an alliance of
powerful organizations, political
forces and the mass media that
consistently work against the
very existence of the family as
the basic unit of society, their
petition letter reads.
It continues: In fact, we
see widespread confusion arising from the possibility that a
breach has been opened within
the Church that would accept
adulteryby permitting divorced and then civilly remarried
Catholics to receive Holy Communionand would virtually
accept even homosexual unions
when such practices are categorically condemned as being
contrary to Divine and natural
law Paradoxically, our hope
stems from this confusion.
Pillars of Christian civilization
Speaking on behalf of the coalition, Dr. Jos Mara Alcasid,
a physician volunteering for the
Defense of Tradition, Family
and Property (TFP), said on

Vatican City - October 10, 2014: Pope Francis leads a session of the Synod on the Family inside the Vaticans Synod Hall on Oct. 10, 2014. CNA

Sunday, June 28, during the

training session of the Catholic
Faith Defenders (CFD) Metro
Manila, that it is necessary to
protect the family, as well as
tradition and private ownership,
from elements bent to destroy it.
Tradition, family, and property are the pillars of Christian
civilization, the physician explained, encouraging everyone
to support the fight against
what Pope St. John Paul called
the culture of death by signing

their petition.
This is a very important
thing. We see the trend. We
will not go with the times. We
will go against the times Just
because something is in fashion means its right, Alcasid
stressed.
Family Synod
He pointed out the signatures
collected will be presented to the
Holy Father ahead of the Synod
on the Family.

Fire destroys convent in Manila

A statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was blackened but survived the fire that razed the Mother House of
the Holy Face Sisters along Hidalgo St., in Quiapo, Manila early morning of June 30. ROY LAGARDE

A PRE-DAWN fire engulfed the old

convent building of the Sisters of the
Holy Face of Jesus (HFJ) on Hidalgo
Street in Quiapo, Manila on Tuesday.
The blaze broke out at around 2:00
a.m. and was halted shortly before 5:00
AM by local fire brigades.
No one was injured in the fire.
Investigators are continuing to piece
together what caused the fire which

destroyed the interior of the HFJs

Generalate house.
Household items, memorabilia, and
documents were destroyed in the fire
including important records about the
congregations foundress, Mother Mary
Therese Vicente.
The other buildings inside the compound including the chapel, however,
were spared. (Roy Lagarde/CBCPNews)

Markings
Appointed. Two Catholic priestsone
from the Archdiocese of Palo, the other
from the Archdiocese of Cebuwere
appointed auxiliary bishops by Pope
Francis on July 3. Fr. Oscar Florencio, rector of St. John the Evangelist
School of Theology (SJEST) in Palo and
Msgr. Dennis Villarojo, who is currently
serving at the Our Lady of the Sacred
Heart Parish Church in Cebu City, were
named auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Cebu. The appointments
will bring three auxiliary bishops for
Cebu although Bishop Emilio Bataclan
is reaching the mandatory retirement
age of 75 for bishops in September.
Florencio, 49, was born in Capoocan,
Leyte, and was ordained priest on April
3, 1990. Bishop-elect Villarojo was born
in Cebu City and was ordained priest on
June 10, 1994.
Appointed. Manila Archbishop Luis
Antonio Cardinal Tagle has appointed

his private secretary as the new rector

of the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate
Conception or the Manila Cathedral, effective July 1. Fr. Reginald Malicdem will
succeed Monsignor Nestor Cerbo who
is assigned to the Saint John the Baptist
Parish in San Juan City. Malicdem is currently the personal secretary of Tagle, the
same post he served during the term of
Manila Archbishop Emeritus Gaudencio
Cardinal Rosales. At 37, Malicdem is the
youngest priest to become rector of the
first cathedral in the Philippines.
Installed. Fr. Antonio Joy C. Zabala, Jr.
of the Order of Augustinian Recollects
(OAR) officially became the new rector
and parish priest of the Minor Basilica
of San Sebastin (National Shrine of
Our Lady of Mount Carmel) in Quiapo
following his installation on Sunday, July
5. Manila Archbishop Lus Antonio G.
Cardinal Tagle presided over the Mass
to mark the event.

To date, the coalition has

gathered close to 300,000 signatures from individuals and
groups in different countries.
Filial appeal
The coalition also notes, Truly, in these circumstances, a
word from Your Holiness is the
only way to clarify the growing
confusion amongst the faithful.
It would prevent the very teaching of Jesus Christ from being
watered-down and would dispel

the darkness looming over our

childrens future should that beacon no longer light their way.
It further implores Pope Francis to do so with a heart devoted to all that You are and
represent.
We do so with the certainty
that Your word will never disassociate pastoral practice from
the teaching bequeathed by
Jesus Christ and his vicarsas
this would only add to the confusion, it adds.

PH supporters
According to Alcasid, some of
the prominent Filipino Church
leaders who signed the petition
include Archbishop Ramn C.
Argelles of Lipa; Archbishop
ngel N. Lagdameo of Jaro;
Archbishop John F. Du of Palo;
Retired Bishop Ral Q. Mrtirez
of San Jos de Antique; and
Fr. Melvin P. Castro of Tarlac,
executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the
Philippines (CBCP)s Episcopal
Commission on Family and Life
(ECFL).
Furthermore, their official
website lists Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal of Ceb;
Fr. Jos Francisco Syqua, head
of the Archdiocese of Manila
(RCAM)s Office of Exorcism;
Fr. Elijah Maria Pantorilla,
OFMConv., National Director
of Militia Immaculata Philippines; Dr. Rene Bullecer, Director of Human Life International;
Eric B. Manalang, President
of ProLife Philippines; Jos V.
Romero, Former Philippine
Ambassador to Italy; Renato S.
de Villa, Former Secretary of
National Defense; Betty RoxasChua, President of Rosary for
Life-Philippines; Fr. Joselin
Gonda, Parish Priest and Rector of the Shrine of Padre Pio in
San Pedro, Sto. Tomas; and Fr.
Joseph A. Faller, Director of the
Kamay ni Hesus Shrine Lukban
as supporters of the said petition.
To sign the petition, interested parties may visit: http://
filialappeal.org. (Raymond A.
Sebastin/CBCP News)

Talk series on family set

ADVOCATES of the family,
read on!
The Mary Queen of the
Apostles (MQA) Parish,
through its Parish Pastoral
Council Commission on
Family, invites couples, parents, and single adults to attend a series of monthly talks
on what the catechism hails
as the domestic Church:
the family.
Themed The Family:
A Celebration of Love,
Mercy, and Reconciliation, it will kick off on
June 28, Sunday, 1:00
p.m., at the MQA Community Hall, San Miguel
St., San Antonio Valley 6,
Paraaque City.
For its opening salvo, the
first discussion will dwell on
the topic Man and Woman
as the Masterpieces of God
to be facilitated by Jaime B.

Leornas, country director of

Family Life Philippines.
Created in Gods image
According to the Bible,
God created man in his
own image, in the image of
God he created him; male
and female he created them
(Gn 1: 27).
Commenting on this passage, then Pope John Paul
II, in what would later be
included in his Theology
of the Body (TOB), taught
that this statement is the
basis of Christian anthropology, because it identifies the
foundation of mans dignity
as a person created in the
likeness of God.
[...]neither man nor
woman separately are the
image of the Creator, but
man and woman in their
reciprocity. Both are equally

Gods masterpiece, he said

during a Wednesday General
Audience at the Vatican on
Nov. 24, 1999.
Cradle of love
Meanwhile, the Social
Doctrine of the Church
affirms that the family has
central importance in reference to the person given that
it is in this cradle of life and
love that people are born and
grow (212).
[...]when a child is conceived, society receives the
gift of a new person who is
called from the innermost
depths of self to communion
with others and to the giving
of self to others, it reads.
Schedule of talks
The schedule of subsequent talks is as follows:
July 26, 2015, MQA Com-

munity Hall - The Couple as

a Sign of the Sacrament of
Love
August 16, 2015, MQA
Community Hall - The Family as the Cradle of Love
September 27, 2015,
MQA Community Hall Life and Family Issues
October 25, 2015, MQA
Community Hall - Understanding Children in Todays
World
November 22, 2015,
MQA Community Hall Teen Sexuality and Integrity
December 27, 2015, Covered Court - Family Day,
Celebration of Commitment
and Love
For inquiries, interested parties may contact the
MQA Parish at +63 (2) 8265315 or +63 (2) 826-8321.
(Raymond A. Sebastin/
CBCP News)

Smoking banned in Baclaran shrine starting July 31

SMOKERS, take heed.
The Novena Capital of the Philippines is set to become a No Smoking
haven starting on July 31, 2015.
Fr. Joseph O. Echano, rector of
the much-visited National Shrine of
Our Mother of Perpetual Help told
CBCP News in an interview that the
decision to make the church green
and smoke-free is in line with the
ongoing Year of Jubilee celebrated by
the Congregation of the Most Holy
Redeemer (C.Ss.R.) worldwide, thanking the Lord for 150 years of helping
spread the devotion to Our Mother of
Perpetual Help.
Eco-shrine
I believe that we at the shrine must
embody what we want to preach and
what we want to preach is sustainable
living, sustainable relationship with
Mother Nature, with Gods creation
And that begins with the shrine,
he said.
Moreover, Echano explained that

Besides the prohibition on smoking,

the priest went on to share that the
Baclaran Redemptorists also plan to
cultivate vegetable gardens inside the
shrine, using recyclable materials, in
order to show devotees and pilgrims it
is possible to plant vegetables even in
an urban setting.

Fr. Joseph O. Echano, rector, National Shrine of Our

Mother of Perpetual Help Edwin Dio Despabiladeras

the greening of the shrine is also the

proactive response of the Redemptorist Community of Baclaran, which he
heads, to Laudato si, the recent encyclical of Pope Francis, where he underscores the responsibility of all humans,
regardless of race and religion, to care
for the planet, our common home.

Solar panels
On top of all these, the rector noted
the congregation intends to put up solar
panels in the compound as a safe and
clean alternative to conventional energy
sources, and also in anticipation of a
looming power crisis in the future.
Although we know it will cost much
money, we would like to do our part in
helping lessen carbon footprint in the
environment, Echano said.
They say the easiest solution to this
problem is coal, but we cannot have
any of that since the destruction it is
expected to do far outweighs its supposed benefits, he added. (Raymond
A. Sebastin/CBCP News)

San Juan Bautista unveiled in Quiapo

LIKE a visible reminder of the churchs
lesser known heavenly patron, as well
as of the need for conversion, a life-size
statue of San Juan BautistaSt. John
the Baptistwhich stands just outside
the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene as though blessing passersby, was
inaugurated on his feast day, June 24,
by retired Manila Archbishop Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales, coinciding

with the 444th foundation anniversary

of the City of Manila.
Symbol of repentance, conversion
Created by veteran sculptor Eduardo Castrillo, whose other works
include the Stations of the Cross
hanging on the inside walls of Quiapo
Church, the statue is a joint project
of the minor basilica and Ateneo de

Manilas Seminario de San Jos, and is

dedicated to all devotees of the Black
Nazarene.
Loosely translated into English, part
of the plaque posted on the base of the
St. John sculpture reads: Erected at
Plaza Carriedo, let this statue be a reminder to all who come to this shrine of
the God who calls them for repentance.
It adds, Let this also be a sign and a

witness to the unwavering faith of Filipinos who persevere in their devotion

to our Blessed Lord Jesus the Nazarene
since the 17th century.
Great Forerunner
The plaque also displays a verse
taken from John 1:23, which echoes
the Great Forerunners bold proclamation about himself: Ako ang tinig ng

isang taong sumisigaw sa ilang. Tuwirin ninyo ang daraanan ng Panginoon

[I am the voice of one crying out in
the desert. Make straight the way of
the Lord].
While more famous simply as
Quiapo Church, the official, canonical
name of this iconic religious landmark
is Parish of St. John the Baptist. (Raymond A. Sebastin/CBCP News)

CBCP Monitor

PASTORAL CONCERNS B1

July 6 - 19, 2015 Vol. 19 No. 14

Restoring the Church,

rekindling the faith

Daet Diocese

(A homily delivered by Bishop Gilbert Garcera, on the occasion of the rededication of the
Parish Church of the Parroquia de San Pedro Apostol, Vinzons, Camarines Norte, June 29, 2015.)

I BEGIN this homily begging your

kind understanding on two important issues at hand. First, I beg your
indulgence about Cardinal Rosales
who could not join us morning. I
received a fax message from His Eminence, stating and I quote:
Dear Bishop Gilbert, I write to
express my regret that because of
the two recent [events needing my]
urgent attention in Manila and in
Paraaque on this day, the 29th of
this month, I will not be able to go
to Vinzons for the blessings of the
newly-reconstructed church that was
burned years ago. Because of these recent commitments, I may not make it
to the Manila Cathedral for the Mass
for the Popes Day, on this day, June
29. This third commitment is at the
invitation of the Papal Nuncio and
the Archbishop of Manila. I am sorry
that when I agreed to go to Camarines Norte over the phone conversation with you, I never foresaw these
present date and time conflicts.
The second important issue at hand
is addressed to my brother Bishops.
I hope they will forgive me for the
statement which I will tell you. I
ask the understanding of Bishop
Lito Cortes, Bishop of Dumaguete,
and at present the chairman of the
CBCP Cultural Heritage of the
Church; Bishop Rojas of the Diocese
of Libmanan; Bishop Lucilo Quiambao; and Bishop Jose Sorra, Bishop
Emeriti of the Diocese of Legazpi.
Our very own Bishop Emeritus,
Bishop Ben Almoneda and all of
you will agree with what I will pronounce this morning. This Church
of San Pedro Apostol of Vinzons is
now reputed to be the most beautiful
church in the whole Bicol region if
not the most impressive and tremendously amazing church in the whole
Philippines.
Gratitude for its beauty
What makes this church beautiful?
Is it because of the architectual
design conceptualized by our two respectable architects, Fr. Alex Bautista
and Architect Jeremy Balagat? Or is
it the in-depth analysis of the 400year old church structure conducted
by Engineer Ruel Ramirez? Truly, we
thank them. I thank Architect Reynaldo Inovero, the former Chief of
the Historic Preservation Division of
the National Historical Commission
of the Philippines, who supervised
in the treatment of the century old
coral stones and walls of this church.
But, what makes this church so impressive? Is it the effort of Mr. Abel
Cereno Icato, our Provincial Historian and the Curator of our Provincial
Museum, who tailored the tapestry of

historical pictures so that this church

will be more or less reflective of the
17 th century Parroquia de San Pedro
Apostol? Of course, I thank Mr. Abel
Icatlo. I wish to express my gratitude
to Fr. Lito Heraldo and Fr. RJ Abanto
for sharing with us their liturgical
knowledge on church renovation.
Shall we say that the attraction of this
church is due to the acoustic design
of the known sound engineer of our
national cinema, our very own Engr.

This is what makes the church beautiful. Let me repeat myself, your faith
is the defining benchmark of the
beauty of this magnificent church.
Our faith defines the beauty of the
Church
And this is what our Gospel is
telling us today. Our faith is like
that of the centurions faith. We all
believe that with firm conviction like
that of the centurion, all things are

Make your Parish an environment

where the Word of God is listened to,
where people experience growth as
Christians, where dialogue, charitable
outreach, worship and celebration are
publicly observed by all.
Mike Idioma, with the assistance of
the light specialist, Architect Joaana
Maulon? Engr. Mike and Architect
Joanna, thank you for leading us to
recognize Jesus through sounds and
lights. I bring you to the walls of this
Church where we see the panorama
of the life of St. Peter from Jesus call
to Peters martyrdom. And I thank
the multi-awarded national artist
from Camarines Norte, Mr. Hermes
Alegre, for showing us the mystery of
the life of St. Peter who was acutely
aware of his own sinfulness and his
own weakness and despite his unworthiness he was loved by Jesus. I thank
all of you for making this church so
beautiful!
But, there must be a deeper reason
for making this Church extremely
and exquisitely beautiful.
You will all agree with me that it is
your faith Our faith as people of
God is the main reason for the astonishing beauty of this church. It is the
faith of the people of Vinzons which
had been tested when at midnight of
Dec. 25, 2012, the church was razed
down by fire. It is the sturdy and
robust faith of this parish which was
neither dampened nor undermined
by the heart-wrenching misfortune
that visited this town in 2012. This
parish church which was constructed
in the year 1611 with Fray Juan de
Lozar, OFM, the first parish priest,
may have succumbed to the fire of
Christmas, but this parish church
of Vinzons which is built on Christ
and truly planted in the hearts of all
parishioners was only shaken but not
crushed. The fire destroyed the building but not the faith of the people.

possible with the grace of God. The

Gospel says, You may go; as you have
believed, let it be done for you. In
faith, the parishioners of this Parroquia de San Pedro Apostol have heard
the words of Jesus. They started the
work in reconstructing this church
because they believe they believe
that with Gods grace, it will be done
and now, it is finished.
Let us thank the prime mover of this
work, the parish priest, Fr. Toti Angeles. We also thank our government
officials both provincial, headed by

He brings us the spirit of healing.

Jesus takes away our infirmities and
our diseases. Jesus blesses us with
His own consolation after sadness.
Jesus even touched the woman who
was lying in bed with a fever and she
was healed.
This, my brothers and sisters also
happened in the Diocese of Daet and
in particular, in this town of Vinzons.
When I assigned Fr. Toti Angeles as
the new parish priest, 5 months after
this parish church was burned, to be
exact May 20, 2013 at 9:00 oclock
in the morning, I gave two humble
instructions to Fr. Toti: restore the
Church, rekindle the faith of the
people of Vinzons.
Yes, you have restored the structural church but you have also given
hope to our people, especially the
poor.
You will recall [what happened]
in the morning after the fire. That
was Dec. 26, 2012, [the] people of
Vinzons were crying like those women of Jerusalem The Vinzonzians
were down-hearted like the two disciples going to Emmaus ... You were
so frustrated. You were then hopeless!
I would like you to recall what
happened to Peter after he was so
depressed when he abandoned the
Lord. After the resurrection, Jesus
approached Peter. Jesus asked Peter
the same question three times. Peter,
do you love me? Yes, Lord. Peter
a n s w e re d . T h e n Je s u s i n s t r u c t e d
Peter, Feed my sheep. With the
enthusiasm of Peter to respond to this
very personal question, Peter said to

There must be a deeper reason for

making this Church extremely and
exquisitely beautiful. You will all agree
with me that it is your faith
Our faith as people of God
is the main reason for the astonishing
beauty of this church.
Governor Egay Tallado, and municipal,
[headed by] Mayor Mayor Agnes Ang.
And of course, the Lord through St.
Peter the Apostle has written in the
book of Life the names of our generous
benefactors and friends. Thank you
for your faith! Our Lord knows you
by your real names and He will be the
one who will repay you in due time.
Rekindle the faith
Jesus assures us in the Gospel that

Jesus for the third time, Yes, Lord,

You know I love You. Then, Jesus instructed him, take care of my sheep.
Brothers and sisters, the instruction of Jesus is to feed the sheep
to take care of the people of God.
And so, the work of the parish priest
of Vinzons, is not just to make this
physical church truly a house of God
nor a tourist destination in Camarines Norte. The task of Fr. Toti,
the shepherd of the flock of Jesus in

Vinzons, is not just to restore this

four century old church but most
especially, to rekindle the faith ..
to make alive again the faith of the
people of Vinzons to make them
more active and involved, to make
them feel they are touched and cared
for, to make them outward-looking
and service driven.
When you make the faith of the
people alive, you listen to invitation
of Jesus in the Gospel of St. Mark,
Let us go on to the next towns.. to
the next barangay, that I may preach
there also, for that is why I came out
(Mk 1:38).
The pastoral responsibility of the
parish priest is to respond to this
invitation of Jesus. It is a concretization of Pope Francis challenge for us
today, that is, the Church must be
a community of missionary disciples
who take the first step, who are involved and supportive, who bear fruit
and rejoice (EV no. 24).
The poor reflect the beauty of the
church
Your parish priest together with
Mrs. Merly Fontanilla, the Parish
Pastoral Council coordinator, the
social action ministry of the parish
have responded to this invitation
of the Gospel. Their concern is not
only to finish the construction of
the church. Deep in their heart is
the missionary aspiration to reach
out those who are in the peripheries
of the parish. The Church has to go
forth to everyone without exception.
But to whom should the Church
go first? (EG no. 48). Pope Francis
responded by saying not so much
our friends and wealthy neighbors,
but above all the poor and the sick,
those who are usually despised and
overlooked, those who cannot repay
you (Lk 14:14). The poor are the
privileged recipients of the Gospel.
Thus, the Church should go out to
touch base with those who are perceived to be poor.
I thank the 48 parish lay evangelizers and the 15 couples who have
been trained to regularly visit the
50 indigent families in Mangcayo,
the poorest barangay in the parish. I
thank the generous benefactors who
regularly send assistance of food,
clothing, and medicine to the identified poor parishioners of Barangay
Uno, Dos, and Tres in this poblacion.
I thank our poor people for allowing Jesus to touch them. Nagpapasalamat ako sa mga maralita.. mga
may kapansanan, mga matatanda..
mga maysakit sa pagbibigay ninyo ng
panahon upang hipuin kayo ng Diyos.
As I thank all of you, I direct this
Restore / B5

B2 UPDATES

July 6 - 19, 2015 Vol. 19 No. 14

(Second of a series)
VII. A VARIETY OF OPINIONS
60. Finally, we need to acknowledge
that different approaches and lines of
thought have emerged regarding this
situation and its possible solutions.
At one extreme, we find those who
doggedly uphold the myth of progress
and tell us that ecological problems
will solve themselves simply with
the application of new technology

stem from our convictions.

II. THE W ISDOM OF THE
BIBLICAL ACCOUNTS
65. Without repeating the entire
theology of creation, we can ask what
the great biblical narratives say about
the relationship of human beings with
the world. In the first creation account in
the Book of Genesis, Gods plan includes
creating humanity. After the creation of
man and woman, God saw everything

a birds nest in any tree or on the ground,

with young ones or eggs and the mother
sitting upon the young or upon the eggs;
you shall not take the mother with the
young (Dt22:4, 6). Along these same
lines, rest on the seventh day is meant
not only for human beings, but also so
that your ox and your donkey may have
rest (Ex23:12). Clearly, the Bible has no
place for a tyrannical anthropocentrism
unconcerned for other creatures.
69. Together with our obligation to

tells us that life itself is endangered. We

see this in the story of Noah, where God
threatens to do away with humanity
because of its constant failure to fulfill
the requirements of justice and peace: I
have determined to make an end of all
flesh; for the earth is filled with violence
through them (Gen6:13). These ancient
stories, full of symbolism, bear witness to
a conviction which we today share, that
everything is interconnected, and that
genuine care for our own lives and our

CBCP Monitor

to praise God the Creator, who

spread out the earth on the waters,
for his steadfast love endures for ever
(Ps 136:6). They also invite other
creatures to join us in this praise:
Praise him, sun and moon, praise
him, all you shining stars! Praise
him, you highest heavens, and you
waters above the heavens! Let them
praise the name of the Lord, for he
commanded and they were created
(Ps 148:3-5). We do not only exist

Laudato Si

Encyclical Letter of the Holy Father Francis on the Care of our Common Home

CHAPTER TWO
THE GOSPEL OF CREATION
62. Why should this document,
addressed to all people of good will,
include a chapter dealing with the
convictions of believers? I am well
aware that in the areas of politics
and philosophy there are those
who f irmly reject the idea of a
Creator, or consider it irrelevant, and
consequently dismiss as irrational
the rich contribution which religions
c a n ma ke towa rd s a n i nteg ra l
ecology and the full development
of humanity. Others view religions
simply as a subculture to be tolerated.
Nonetheless, science and religion,
with their distinctive approaches to
understanding reality, can enter into
an intense dialogue fruitful for both.
I. THE LIGHT OFFER ED BY
FAITH
63. Given the complexity of the
ecological crisis and its multiple
causes, we need to realize that the
solutions will not emerge from
just one way of interpreting and
transforming reality. Respect must
also be shown for the various cultural
riches of different peoples, their art
and poetry, their interior life and
spirituality. If we are truly concerned
to develop an ecology capable of
remedying the damage we have
done, no branch of the sciences
and no form of wisdom can be left
out, and that includes religion and
the language particular to it. The
Catholic Church is open to dialogue
with philosophical thought; this
has enabled her to produce various
syntheses between faith and reason.
The development of the Churchs
social teaching represents such a
synthesis with regard to social issues;
this teaching is called to be enriched
by taking up new challenges.
64. Furthermore, although this
Encyclical welcomes dialogue with
everyone so that together we can
seek paths of liberation, I would like
from the outset to show how faith
convictions can offer Christians, and
some other believers as well, ample
motivation to care for nature and for
the most vulnerable of their brothers
and sisters. If the simple fact of being
human moves people to care for the
environment of which they are a part,
Christians in their turn realize that
their responsibility within creation,
and their duty towards nature and
the Creator, are an essential part
of their faith.[36] It is good for
humanity and the world at large
when we believers better recognize
the ecological commitments which

that he had made, and behold it wasvery

good (Gen1:31). The Bible teaches that
every man and woman is created out
of love and made in Gods image and
likeness (cf. Gen 1:26). This shows us
the immense dignity of each person,
who is not just something, but someone.
He is capable of self-knowledge, of selfpossession and of freely giving himself
and entering into communion with other
persons.[37] Saint John Paul II stated
that the special love of the Creator for
each human being confers upon him
or her an infinite dignity.[38] Those
who are committed to defending human
dignity can find in the Christian faith
the deepest reasons for this commitment.
How wonderful is the certainty that each
human life is not adrift in the midst of
hopeless chaos, in a world ruled by pure
chance or endlessly recurring cycles! The
Creator can say to each one of us: Before
I formed you in the womb, I knew you
( Jer1:5). We were conceived in the heart
of God, and for this reason each of us is
the result of a thought of God. Each of
us is willed, each of us is loved, each of
us is necessary.[39]
66. The creation accounts in the book
of Genesis contain, in their own symbolic
a nd na rrative la ng ua ge, profound
teachings about human existence and
its historica l rea lit y. They suggest
that human life is grounded in three
fundamental and closely intertwined
relationships: with God, with our
neighbor and with the earth itself.
According to the Bible, these three
vital relationships have been broken,
both outwardly and within us. This
rupture is sin. The harmony between
the Creator, humanity and creation as a
whole was disrupted by our presuming
to take the place of God and refusing to
acknowledge our creaturely limitations.
This in turn distorted our mandate
to have dominion over the earth
(cf. Gen 1:28), to till it and keep it
(Gen 2:15). As a result, the originally
harmonious relationship between human
beings and nature became conflictual
(cf. Gen 3:17-19). It is significant that
the harmony which Saint Francis of
Assisi experienced with all creatures was
seen as a healing of that rupture. Saint
Bonaventure held that, through universal
reconciliation with every creature, Saint
Francis in some way returned to the state
of original innocence.[40] This is a far
cry from our situation today, where sin
is manifest in all its destructive power
in wars, the various forms of violence
and abuse, the abandonment of the most
vulnerable, and attacks on nature.
67. We are not God. The earth was
here before us and it has been given
to us. This allows us to respond to the
charge that Judaeo-Christian thinking,
on the basis of the Genesis account
which grants man dominion over the
earth (cf. Gen 1:28), has encouraged
the unbridled exploitation of nature
by painting him as domineering and
destructive by nature. This is not a
correct interpretation of the Bible as
understood by the Church. Although it
is true that we Christians have at times
incorrectly interpreted the Scriptures,
nowadays we must forcefully reject the
notion that our being created in Gods
image and given dominion over the earth
justifies absolute domination over other
creatures. The biblical texts are to be
read in their context, with an appropriate
hermeneutic, recognizing that they tell
us to till and keep the garden of the
world (cf.Gen2:15). Tilling refers to
cultivating, ploughing or working, while
keeping means caring, protecting,
overseeing and preserving. This implies
a relationship of mutual responsibility
between human beings and nature.
Each community can take from the
bounty of the earth whatever it needs
for subsistence, but it also has the duty
to protect the earth and to ensure its
fruitfulness for coming generations.
The earth is the Lords (Ps 24:1); to
him belongs the earth with all that is
within it (Dt10:14). Thus God rejects
every claim to absolute ownership: The
land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for
the land is mine; for you are strangers and
sojourners with me (Lev25:23).
68. This responsibility for Gods earth
means that human beings, endowed with
intelligence, must respect the laws of
nature and the delicate equilibria existing
between the creatures of this world, for
he commanded and they were created;
and he established them for ever and
ever; he fixed their bounds and he set a
law which cannot pass away (Ps148:5b6). The laws found in the Bible dwell on
relationships, not only among individuals
but also with other living beings. You
shall not see your brothers donkey or his
ox fallen down by the way and withhold
your help If you chance to come upon

use the earths goods responsibly, we

are called to recognize that other living
beings have a value of their own in Gods
eyes: by their mere existence they bless
him and give him glory,[41]and indeed,
the Lord rejoices in all his works
(Ps 104:31). By virtue of our unique
dignity and our gift of intelligence, we are
called to respect creation and its inherent
laws, for the Lord by wisdom founded
the earth (Prov3:19). In our time, the
Church does not simply state that other
creatures are completely subordinated to
the good of human beings, as if they have
no worth in themselves and can be treated
as we wish. The German bishops have
taught that, where other creatures are
concerned, we can speak of the priority
ofbeingover that ofbeing useful.[42]The
Catechism clearly and forcefully criticizes
a distorted anthropocentrism: Each
creature possesses its own particular

relationships with nature is inseparable

from fraternity, justice and faithfulness
to others.
71. Although the wickedness of man
was great in the earth (Gen6:5) and the
Lord was sorry that he had made man
on the earth (Gen 6:6), nonetheless,
through Noah, who remained innocent
and just, God decided to open a path of
salvation. In this way he gave humanity
the chance of a new beginning. All it
takes is one good person to restore hope!
The biblical tradition clearly shows that
this renewal entails recovering and
respecting the rhythms inscribed in
nature by the hand of the Creator. We
see this, for example, in the law of the
Sabbath. On the seventh day, God rested
from all his work. He commanded Israel
to set aside each seventh day as a day of
rest, aSabbath, (cf.Gen2:2-3;Ex16:23;
20:10). Similarly, every seven years, a

by Gods mighty power; we also live

with him and beside him. This is why
we adore him.
73. The writings of the prophets
invite us to find renewed strength
in times of trial by contemplating
the all-powerful God who created
the universe. Yet Gods inf inite
power does not lead us to flee his
fatherly tenderness, because in him
affection and strength are joined.
Indeed, all sound spirituality entails
both welcoming divine love and
adoration, confident in the Lord
because of his infinite power. In the
Bible, the God who liberates and
saves is the same God who created
the universe, and these two divine
ways of acting are intimately and
inseparably connected: Ah Lord
God! It is you who made the heavens
and the earth by your great power and

goodness and perfection Each of the

various creatures, willed in its own being,
reflects in its own way a ray of Gods
infinite wisdom and goodness. Man must
therefore respect the particular goodness
of every creature, to avoid any disordered
use of things.[43]
70. In the story of Cain and Abel, we
see how envy led Cain to commit the
ultimate injustice against his brother,
which in turn ruptured the relationship
between Cain and God, and between
Cain and the earth from which he was
banished. This is seen clearly in the
dramatic exchange between God and
Cain. God asks: Where is Abel your
brother? Cain answers that he does not
know, and God persists: What have you
done? The voice of your brothers blood is
crying to me from the ground. And now
you are cursed from the ground (Gen4:911). Disregard for the duty to cultivate
and maintain a proper relationship with
my neighbor, for whose care and custody
I am responsible, ruins my relationship
with my own self, with others, with
God and with the earth. When all these
relationships are neglected, when justice
no longer dwells in the land, the Bible

sabbatical year was set aside for Israel, a

complete rest for the land (cf.Lev25:14), when sowing was forbidden and one
reaped only what was necessary to live on
and to feed ones household (cf.Lev25:46). Finally, after seven weeks of years,
which is to say forty-nine years, the
Jubilee was celebrated as a year of general
forgiveness and liberty throughout the
land for all its inhabitants (cf.Lev25:10).
This law came about as an attempt to
ensure balance and fairness in their
relationships with others and with the
land on which they lived and worked. At
the same time, it was an acknowledgment
that the gift of the earth with its fruits
belongs to everyone. Those who tilled
and kept the land were obliged to share
its fruits, especially with the poor, with
widows, orphans and foreigners in their
midst: When you reap the harvest of
your land, you shall not reap your field
to its very border, neither shall you gather
the gleanings after the harvest. And you
shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither
shall you gather the fallen grapes of your
vineyard; you shall leave them for the
poor and for the sojourner (Lev19:9-10).
72. The Psalms frequently exhort us

by your outstretched arm! Nothing

is too hard for you You brought
your people Israel out of the land
of Egypt with signs and wonders
( Jer 32:17, 21). The Lord is the
everlasting God, the Creator of the
ends of the earth. He does not faint
or grow weary; his understanding is
unsearchable. He gives power to the
faint, and strengthens the powerless
(Is40:28b-29).
74 . T h e e x p e r i e n c e o f t h e
Babylonian captivity provoked a
spiritual crisis which led to deeper
faith in God. Now his creative
omnipotence was given pride of
place in order to exhort the people
to regain their hope in the midst
of their wretched predicament.
Centuries later, in another age of
trial and persecution, when the
Roma n Empire wa s seek ing to
impose absolute dominion, the
faithful would once again f ind
consolation and hope in a growing
trust in the all-powerful God: Great
and wonderful are your deeds, O
Lord God the Almighty! Just and

CNA

and without any need for ethical

considerations or deep cha nge.
At the other extreme are those
who view men and women and all
their interventions as no more than
a threat, jeopardizing the global
ecosystem, and consequently the
presence of human beings on the
planet should be reduced and all
forms of intervention prohibited.
Viable future scenarios will have
to be generated bet ween t hese
extremes, since there is no one path
to a solution. This makes a variety
of proposals possible, all capable of
entering into dialogue with a view to
developing comprehensive solutions.
61. On many concrete questions,
the Church has no reason to offer a
definitive opinion; she knows that
honest debate must be encouraged
among experts, while respecting
divergent views. But we need only
take a frank look at the facts to see
that our common home is falling into
serious disrepair. Hope would have
us recognize that there is always a
way out, that we can always redirect
our steps, that we can always do
something to solve our problems.
Still, we can see signs that things
are now reaching a breaking point,
due to the rapid pace of change and
degradation; these are evident in
large-scale natural disasters as well as
social and even financial crises, for the
worlds problems cannot be analyzed
or explained in isolation. There are
regions now at high risk and, aside
from all doomsday predictions, the
present world system is certainly
unsustainable from a number of
points of view, for we have stopped
thinking about the goals of human
activity. If we scan the regions of
our planet, we immediately see that
humanity has disappointed Gods
expectations.[35]

Laudato Si / B4

CBCP Monitor

FEATURES B3

July 6 - 19, 2015 Vol. 19 No. 14

Christ in you, our hope of glory

The Eucharist: Source and Goal of the Churchs Mission

Theological and pastoral reflections in preparation for the 51st International Eucharistic Congress
(Fourth of a series)

A. Inculturation and Mission

A theological and pastoral
imperative. The intent to engage in inculturation in Asia is
motivated by a vision: that of
genuine Christian communities
in AsiaAsian in their way of
thinking, praying, living, and
in communicating their own
Christ-experience to others.
(Cf. Conclusion of the Asian
Colloquium on Ministries in the
Church, Hong Kong, 3 March
1977, in For all the Peoples of
Asia I, FABC Documents from
1970-1991, ed. G. B. RosalesC. G. Arevalo, Quezon City:
Claretian Publications, 1997, p.
70). Toward this vision, inculturation is not merely a matter of
option; it is rather a theological
and pastoral imperative. The
mystery of the Incarnation and
the Paschal Mystery are at one
the foundation and the model
for the deep insertion of local
Churches in the surrounding
cultures, in the aspects of their
life, celebration, witness, and
mission. (Church Issues in Asia
in the Context of Evangelization,
Dialogue and Proclamation.
Conclusion of the Theological
Consultations, Thailand, 3-10
November 1991, in For All the
Peoples of Asia II. FABC Documents from 1992-1996, ed. F.J.
Eilers, Quezon City: Claretian
Publications, 1997, p. 201).
The Son of God became man, a
Jew, and thus became part of the
history, culture, traditions, and
religion of the Jewish people.
The Church, too, should incarnate herself in every race and
culture where she finds herself.
She must become part of every
people among whom she finds
herself implanted for the same
motive which led Christ to bind
himself, in virtue of his incarnation, to the definite social and
cultural conditions of those
human beings among whom he
dwelt. (AG, 10). The Church
must be assimilated into the life
of a people that receives her;
she cannot remain a stranger to
them. She must incarnate herself in such a way that she can be
regarded not only as the Church
that is in Asia but as the Asian
Church, not only as the Church
that is in the Philippines but as
the Filipino Church.
Such incarnational stance,
rather than jeopardizing the
universality of the Church, will
even foster such universality.
Through the faith of the church
and through the celebration of
his work of redemption, Christ

continues to incarnate himself

in the various races and cultures.
He is the universal Savior because he can make himself part
of the concrete realities of every
particular people and there bring
them redemption. The Church,
too, is truly universal because
she can incarnate herself in the
concrete realities of every local
Church. When she
incarnates herself,
she enriches broth
the local people and
herself. Incarnation
brings about mutual
enrichment to the
people who receive
the faith and to the
Church who incarnates herself.
In dialogue with
the cultures of Asia.
By proclaiming the
Gospel and celebrating worship
using the cultural realities of a
people, the Church is continuing
in time and space the dialogue
of salvation initiated by God
and brought to a culmination
when he uttered his Word in
a very concrete situation. (Cf.

preached to them using living

symbols, images, realities, and
stories that are part of their
day-to-day existence as a people.
They receive the Word and make
it the principle of their lives, values, attitudes, and aspirations.
They are helped to understand
and experience their faith and
to celebrate worship in a way

that reflects the values they hold

dear, using expressions that are
part of their culture. After all,
the language, rites, and symbols
of Christian worship always
have their origin in a culture
and will always derive meaning
from that culture. Liturgical

is evangelized. By this, too,

they are built up as a truly local
Church which ish the here and
now realization and enfleshment of the Body of Christ in the
life of this particular people. It
is a community that is unique in
itself but is in communion with

Letter of Participants of the First

Bishops Institute for Missionary
Apostolate, Baguio City, Philippines, 27 July 1978, in For
all the Peoples of Asia
I, FABC Documents
from 1970-1991, ed.
G. B. Rosales-C.G.
Arevalo, Quezon City:
Claretian Publications,
1997, p. 94). Inculturation is not a mere
device to make her
faith, worship, and life
attractive and acceptable to a local people.
Carrying out a dialogue with the cultures
of Asia means to make
the message and life of
Christ truly incarnate
in the minds and lives
of our peoples so that they can
live in a way that is uniquely
Asian, that is, truly as a local
Church of Asia. The Gospel is

history attests to the integration

of cultural elements drawn from
the different peoples with which
the Church came into contact in

other communities which likewise possess their own uniqueness. With them particular way.
On the other hand, a truly local

local people.
With them it professes the
one faith and shares the one
Spirit. With them it shares the
one sacramental life, the same
Eucharist, but celebrates it in
her become the Body of Christ
in this particular time and place.
By this dialogue, the Gospel
is inculturated, and their culture

regard with openness those that

the local culture can contribute
to authentic Christian spirituality: a richly developed prayer
of the whole person in unity of
body-psyche-spirit, prayer of
deep interiority and immanence,
traditions of asceticism and
renunciation, technique of contemplation found in the ancient
Eastern religions, simplified prayer forms,
and other popular
expressions of faith
and piety easily available even to simpler
folk, whose hearts and
minds so readily turn
to God in their daily
lives. The Spirit is
leading the Churches
of Asia to integrate
into the treasury of
our Christian heritage
all that is best in our traditional
ways of prayer and worship.
This is Asias gift of prayer to
the Church.

B . Po p u l a r P i e t y i n t h e
Churchs dialogue with the
Cultures of Asia

She must incarnate herself in such a way

that she can be regarded not only as the
Church that is in Asia but as the Asian
Church, not only as the Church that is in
the Philippines but as the Filipino Church.

Roy Lagarde

The mission of the Church

in Asia has to be undertaken in
dialogue with a wide variety of
cultures. Not only is Asia the
earths largest continent and
home to almost two-thirds of the
worlds population, it is also host
to an intricate mosaic of many
cultures, languages, beliefs, and
traditions. Calling to mind an
observation voiced out by the
bishops of Asia, the Holy Father
Pope Francis pointed out afresh
the manifold challenges that are
being brought to bear on Asian
cultures, among them, the new
patterns of behavior caused by
overexposure to various forms
of mass media and traditional
values, including the sacredness of marriage and stability of
the family, being undermined
by some damaging elements of
the media and entertainment
industries. This, in additional
to the fact that Christianity has
remained to be the minority religion in this continent attributed
to its being perceived as too
western and an instrument
of colonial domination. (Cf.
A. J. Chupungco, Mission and
inculturation: East Asia and the
Pacific, in The Oxford History
of Christian Worship, ed., G.
Wainwright-K.B. Westerfield
Tucker, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 665.).
Thus by necessity the Christian
mission in Asia has to include
a dialogue between the Gospel
and the Christian Faith on one
hand and the culture of the Asian
people, on the other, the desired
result of which is faith that is
inculturated and culture that is
evangelized. (Cf. Consultation
on Evangelization and Inculturation, in For All the Peoples
of Asia III, FABC Documents
from 1997-2001, ed. E.-J. Eilers,
Quezon City: Claretian Publications, 2002, p. 218.

Maurice Joseph Almadrones

V. Mission in dialogue with

peoples and cultures

The discourse on the Churchs

dialogue with cultures in the
concrete context of Asia will not
be complete without consideration of the many
forms of popular
piety that abound
among the peoples of
the continent. Followers of practically
all cultures and religions are so drawn
to worship, religious festivals, and
popular devotions
that their existence
and practice among
Asians cannot be ignored in the mission
of evangelization,
especially in the task
of inculturating faith
and worship. (Cf. EA, 22). Such
forms of popular piety manifest
a thirst for God which only
the poor and the simple can

It will be fruitful to present the Eucharist

as the family meal where God gathers his
children together to feed them with his
Word and with the Body of his Son,
a meal where the children are able to thank
and praise their Father for his immense
love for them...
the course of several centuries.
Worship of a particular Christian community cannot but take
on the cultural expressions of the

Church is the most effective way

to inculturate the Gospel and
worship that celebrates it.
The Church in Asia must

know (EN, 48) and they make

people capable of generosity
and sacrifice event to the point
of heroism, when it is a question
of bearing witness to belief. (Cf.
EA, 22).
To give importance to popular
piety and its various forms in
the context of the mission in
Asia means, first, to recognize
the power of popular piety t
communicate the Gospel and
to draw the people to worship.
Second, the Church in Asia is
challenged to allow worship so
that they will feel more at home
at it and experience it as God
encountering them in the very
concrete realities of their lives.
In other words, there is need to
bring the liturgy and popular
piety to a mutually enriching
exchange whereby the yearning
expressed in prayer and charisms
found in our countries today
may be channeled with clarity
and prudence and popular
religiosity, with its symbolic
and expressive wealth, can share
its creative dynamism with the
liturgy. (Latin American Episcopal Conference, The Puebla
Document, 1979, n. 465).
Popular piety in the mission of the Church. It was by
introducing the devotion to the
Santo Nio and to the Blessed
Mother that the Spanish missionaries had a considerably easy
time making the Filipinos accept
the Christian Faith and embrace
it in great numbers. Popular religiosity has always been
the stronghold of Catholicism
among the Filipinos. Because
of the Filipinos attachment to
their religious devotion, they
did not abandon the Christian
Faith even when they rebelled
against the Spanish friars who
introduced to them.
When the educational system
in the country was controlled
by American Protestant teachers, the Filipinos did not turn
away from Roman Catholicism.
They proselytizing activities
of fundamentalist sects among
Catholics were largely unsuccessful because these sects have no
sympathy for their devotions. It
is a fact that much of what Filipino Catholics know of Catholic
doctrinal truths and moral values
is learned through the sacraments and devotional practices.
(Cf. Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, New
National Catechetical Directory
of the Philippines, 2007, n. 308).
Moreover, the practice of certain
forms of popular devotions have
always provided occasion and
structure for organized works of
charity for the poor.
On account of this and many
other similar mission stories,
the Church encourages a sympathetic stance toward popular
piety: to approach it with the
gaze of the Good Shepherd,
who seeks not to judge but to
love; to recognize and appreciate
the theological life present in
the piety of Christian peoples,
especially among the poor.
(Evangelii Gaudium, 125). It
is to be promoted and strengthened because it possesses an
evangelizing power that should
be underestimated, for to do so
is to fail to recognize the work
of the Holy Spirit.
In practice, this sympathetic
stance may mean the integration of aspects (linguistic and
ritual) of popular religiosity
with the liturgy especially for
those communities with longstanding tradition of popular
religiosity. The result is that
the people are able to experience
something familiar during the
liturgy and popular religiosity
becomes an authentic vehicle of
the Gospel. Inculturation in this
case, a healthy dialogue between
liturgy and culture, gives ah human countenance to the liturgy
and a more solid foundation to
popular religiosity.
C . T h e Eu c h a r i s t i n t h e
Churchs dialogue with cultures
While Asia is home to a wide
variety of cultures, values, and
traditions, there are cultural elements that are common among
them: close family ties, filial
reverence, family meals, sacredness of Gods word (deposited in
sacred writings), hospitality, and
leadership exercised as service
and readiness to sacrifice, among
others. In the concrete context
of Asia, the Eucharist is a potent
starting point for the mission of
reaching out to its many peoples,
as well as the goal to aspire for
Eucharist / B5

B4 FEATURES
Laudato Si / B2

true are your ways! (Rev15:3). The

God who created the universe out
of nothing can also intervene in this
world and overcome every form of
evil. Injustice is not invincible.
75. A spirituality which forgets
God as all-powerful and Creator
is not acceptable. That is how we
end up worshipping earthly powers,
or ourselves usurping the place of

July 6 - 19, 2015 Vol. 19 No. 14

Christian thought demy thologized

nature. While continuing to admire
its grandeur and immensit y, it no
longer saw nature as divine. In doing
so, it emphasizes all the more our
human responsibility for nature. This
rediscovery of nature can never be at the
cost of the freedom and responsibility of
human beings who, as part of the world,
have the duty to cultivate their abilities
in order to protect it and develop its
potential. If we acknowledge the value

[52]
81. Human beings, even if we postulate
a process of evolution, also possess
a uniqueness which cannot be fully
explained by the evolution of other
open systems. Each of us has his or her
own personal identity and is capable
of entering into dialogue with others
and with God himself. Our capacity
to reason, to develop arguments, to
be inventive, to interpret reality and
to create art, along with other not

everything is, as it were, a caress of God.

The history of our friendship with God is
always linked to particular places which
take on an intensely personal meaning;
we all remember places, and revisiting
those memories does us much good.
Anyone who has grown up in the hills
or used to sit by the spring to drink, or
played outdoors in the neighbourhood
square; going back to these places is a
chance to recover something of their
true selves.

Laudato Si

CBCP Monitor

with all your creatures,

especia lly Sir Brother Sun,
w ho i s t he d a y a nd t h r ou g h
w h o m y o u g i v e u s l i g h t .
And he is beautiful and
r ad ia nt w it h g re at splendou r ;
and bears a likeness of you, Most High.
Praised be you, my Lord, through
Sister Moon a nd t he sta rs,
in heaven you formed t hem
clear and precious and beautiful.
Praised be you, my Lord,

Encyclical Letter of the Holy Father Francis on the Care of our Common Home
God, even to the point of claiming
an unlimited right to trample his
creation underfoot. The best way
to restore men and women to their
rightful place, putting an end to
their claim to absolute dominion
over the earth, is to speak once more
of the figure of a Father who creates
and who alone owns the world.
Otherwise, human beings will always
try to impose their own laws and
interests on reality.

yet discovered capacities, are signs of

a uniqueness which transcends the
spheres of physics and biology. The sheer
novelty involved in the emergence of a
personal being within a material universe
presupposes a direct action of God and a
particular call to life and to relationship
on the part of a Thou who addresses
himself to another thou. The biblical
accounts of creation invite us to see each
human being as a subject who can never
be reduced to the status of an object.
82. Yet it would also be mistaken
to view other living beings as mere
objects subjected to arbitrary human
domination. When nature is viewed
solely as a source of profit and gain, this
has serious consequences for society.
This vision of might is right has
engendered immense inequality, injustice
and acts of violence against the majority
of humanity, since resources end up
in the hands of the first comer or the
most powerful: the winner takes all.
Completely at odds with this model are

85. God has written a precious book,

whose letters are the multitude of
created things present in the universe.
[54] The Canadian bishops rightly
pointed out that no creature is excluded
from this manifestation of God: From
panoramic vistas to the tiniest living
form, nature is a constant source of
wonder and awe. It is also a continuing
revelation of the divine.[55]The bishops
of Japan, for their part, made a thoughtprovoking observation: To sense each
creature singing the hymn of its existence
is to live joyfully in Gods love and hope.
[56] This contemplation of creation
allows us to discover in each thing a
teaching which God wishes to hand
on to us, since for the believer, to
contemplate creation is to hear a message,
to listen to a paradoxical and silent
voice.[57] We can say that alongside
revelation properly so-called, contained
in sacred Scripture, there is a divine
manifestation in the blaze of the sun and
the fall of night.[58] Paying attention

through Brother Wind,

and through the air, cloudy and
serene, and every kind of weather
through whom you give
su sten a nc e to you r cre at u re s.
Praised be you, my Lord,
t h rou g h Si s ter Water,
who is ver y useful and humble
and precious and chaste.
Praised be you, my Lord,
t h r o u g h B r o t h e r F i r e ,
through whom you light the night,
and he is beautiful and playful and
robust and strong.[64]
88. The bishops of Brazil have
pointed out that nature as a whole
not only manifests God but is also
a locus of his presence. The Spirit of
life dwells in every living creature
and calls us to enter into relationship
with him.[65] Discovering this
presence leads us to cultivate the
ecological virtues.[66]This is not
to forget that there is an infinite
distance bet ween God and the

CNA

III. THE M YSTERY OF THE

UNIVERSE
76. In t he Jud aeo - Christ ia n
tradition, the word creation has
a broader meaning than nature,
for it has to do with Gods loving
plan in which every creature has its
own value and significance. Nature
is usually seen as a system which
can be studied, understood and
controlled, whereas creation can
only be understood as a gift from

and the fragility of nature and, at the

same time, our God-given abilities, we
can finally leave behind the modern
myth of unlimited material progress.
A fragile world, entrusted by God to
human care, challenges us to devise
intelligent ways of directing, developing
and limiting our power.
79. In this universe, shaped by open
and intercommunicating systems, we can
discern countless forms of relationship
and participation. This leads us to
think of the whole as open to Gods
transcendence, within which it develops.
Faith allows us to interpret the meaning
and the mysterious beauty of what is
unfolding. We are free to apply our
intelligence towards things evolving
positively, or towards adding new ills,
new causes of suffering and real setbacks.
This is what makes for the excitement
and drama of human history, in which
freedom, growth, salvation and love
can blossom, or lead towards decadence
and mutual destruction. The work of

Vatican City - June 18, 2015. A press conference on Pope Francis newly released encyclical Laudato Si in Paul VI Hall on June 18, 2015. Laudato Si is taken from St. Francis of Assisis medieval Italian prayer Canticle of the Sun. Pope Francis addresses
the environment, climate change, abortion, embryonic experimentation, and population control in the encyclical.

the outstretched hand of the Father

of all, and as a reality illuminated by
the love which calls us together into
universal communion.
77. By the word of the Lord the
heavens were made (Ps33:6). This
tells us that the world came about
as the result of a decision, not from
chaos or chance, and this exalts
it all the more. The creating word
expresses a free choice. The universe
did not emerge as the result of
arbitrary omnipotence, a show of
force or a desire for self-assertion.
Creation is of the order of love. Gods
love is the fundamental moving
force in all created things: For
you love all things that exist, and
detest none of the things that you
have made; for you would not have
made anything if you had hated it
(Wis 11:24). Every creature is thus
the object of the Fathers tenderness,
who gives it its place in the world.
Even the f leeting life of the least
of beings is the object of his love,
and in its few seconds of existence,
God enfolds it with his affection.
Saint Basil the Great described
the Creator as goodness without
measure,[44]while Dante Alighieri
spoke of the love which moves the
sun and the stars.[45]Consequently,
we can ascend from created things
to the greatness of God and to his
loving mercy.[46]
78. At the same time, Judaeo-

the Church seeks not only to remind

everyone of the duty to care for nature,
but at the same time she must above all
protect mankind from self-destruction.
[47]
80. Yet God, who wishes to work with
us and who counts on our cooperation,
can also bring good out of the evil we
have done. The Holy Spirit can be
said to possess an infinite creativity,
proper to the divine mind, which knows
how to loosen the knots of human
affairs, including the most complex and
inscrutable.[48] Creating a world in
need of development, God in some way
sought to limit himself in such a way
that many of the things we think of as
evils, dangers or sources of suffering, are
in reality part of the pains of childbirth
which he uses to draw us into the act of
cooperation with the Creator.[49] God
is intimately present to each being,
without impinging on the autonomy of
his creature, and this gives rise to the
rightful autonomy of earthly affairs.
[50]His divine presence, which ensures
the subsistence and growth of each being,
continues the work of creation.[51]The
Spirit of God has filled the universe with
possibilities and therefore, from the very
heart of things, something new can
always emerge: Nature is nothing other
than a certain kind of art, namely Gods
art, impressed upon things, whereby
those things are moved to a determinate
end. It is as if a shipbuilder were able to
give timbers the wherewithal to move
themselves to take the form of a ship.

the ideals of harmony, justice, fraternity

and peace as proposed by Jesus. As he
said of the powers of his own age: You
know that the rulers of the Gentiles
lord it over them, and their great men
exercise authority over them. It shall not
be so among you; but whoever would be
great among you must be your servant
(Mt20:25-26).
83. The u ltimate destiny of t he
universe is in the fullness of God, which
has already been attained by the risen
Christ, the measure of the maturity of all
things.[53]Here we can add yet another
argument for rejecting every tyrannical
and irresponsible domination of human
beings over other creatures. The ultimate
purpose of other creatures is not to be
found in us. Rather, all creatures are
moving forward with us and through
us towards a common point of arrival,
which is God, in that transcendent
fullness where the risen Christ embraces
and illumines all things. Human beings,
endowed with intelligence and love, and
drawn by the fullness of Christ, are called
to lead all creatures back to their Creator.
I V. T H E M E S S AG E OF E AC H
CREATURE IN THE HARMONY
OF CREATION
84. Our insistence that each human
being is an image of God should not
make us overlook the fact that each
creature has its own purpose. None is
superfluous. The entire material universe
speaks of Gods love, his boundless
affection for us. Soil, water, mountains:

to this manifestation, we learn to see

ourselves in relation to all other creatures:
I express myself in expressing the world;
in my effort to decipher the sacredness of
the world, I explore my own.[59]
86. The universe as a whole, in all its
manifold relationships, shows forth the
inexhaustible riches of God. Saint Thomas
Aquinas wisely noted that multiplicity
and variety come from the intention of
the first agent who willed that what was
wanting to one in the representation of
the divine goodness might be supplied
by another,[60] inasmuch as Gods
goodness could not be represented
fittingly by any one creature.[61]Hence
we need to grasp the variety of things
in their multiple relationships.[62] We
understa nd better t he impor ta nce
and meaning of each creature if we
contemplate it within the entirety of
Gods plan. As the Catechism teaches:
God wills the interdependence of
creatures. The sun and the moon, the
cedar and the little f lower, the eagle
and the sparrow: the spectacle of their
countless diversities and inequalities
tells us that no creature is self-sufficient.
Creatures exist only in dependence on
each other, to complete each other, in
the service of each other.[63]
87. When we can see God reflected in
all that exists, our hearts are moved to
praise the Lord for all his creatures and
to worship him in union with them. This
sentiment finds magnificent expression
in the hymn of Saint Francis of Assisi:
Praised be you, my Lord,

things of this world, which do not

possess his fullness. Otherwise, we
would not be doing the creatures
themselves any good either, for we
would be failing to acknowledge
their right and proper place. We
would end up unduly demanding of
them something which they, in their
smallness, cannot give us.
V. A UNIVERSAL COMMUNION
89. The created things of this
world are not free of ownership: For
they are yours, O Lord, who love
the living (Wis 11:26). This is the
basis of our conviction that, as part
of the universe, called into being by
one Father, all of us are linked by
unseen bonds and together form a
kind of universal family, a sublime
communion which fills us with a
sacred, affectionate and humble
respect. Here I would reiterate that
God has joined us so closely to
the world around us that we can
feel the desertification of the soil
almost as a physical ailment, and the
extinction of a species as a painful
disfigurement.[67]
90. This is not to put all living
beings on the same level nor to
deprive huma n beings of their
unique worth and the tremendous
responsibility it entails. Nor does
it imply a divinization of the earth
wh ich wou ld pre vent u s f rom
working on it and protecting it in
Laudato Si / B7

CBCP Monitor

STATEMENTS B5

July 6 - 19, 2015 Vol. 19 No. 14

On the US Supreme Court

ruling on same sex marriage

THE US Supreme Court was asked whether banning same-sex marriages was in accord with the Constitution. It has recently
ruled that such a ban is unconstitutional.
That is the gist as well as the significance
of the ruling of the US Supreme Court. Its
reference is the US Constitution.
Fortunately for human persons, there
is so much more to us and to our dignity
than what the law prescribes. While human
positive law is the distillation of human
experience of orderly and organized life, it
does not exhaust human wisdom, nor does
it have room for the wisdom of which God
makes us participants.

Church that marriage, transformed by

The Lord Jesus and by His Church into a
sacramenta means by which the Risen
Lord encounters his people is an indissoluble bond of man and woman. There
is much that the Church receives that is
part of the depositum fidei.the deposit
of faith of which she is not maker but
guardian and steward.
As President of the CBCP, however, I
reiterate our commitment to the pastoral
solicitude of all, and no bishop, priest, deacon, religious or lay leader actively serving
the Church will ever demand to know of a
person his or her orientation before serving

CNA

If there is an undeniable difference

between man and woman, there is also
an undeniable difference between
the permanent union of
a man and a woman.
The Church continues to maintain
what it has always taught. Marriage is a
permanent union of man and woman,
in the complementarity of the sexes and
the mutual fulfillment that the union of a
man and a woman bring into the loftiness
of the matrimonial bond. If there is an
undeniable difference between man and
woman, there is also an undeniable difference between the permanent union of a
man and a woman.
This is the way the Church has always
read Sacred Scriptures. This is the way
it has live its faith, inspired by the Holy
Spirit, in that living normative found
called Sacred Tradition. We will continue
to teach the sons and daughters of the

the person, as The Lord Jesus commands

all his disciples to serve. All will continue
to find welcome in the Church, while,
under command from The Lord himself,
will continue to teach what the Church
has unceasingly taught.
The US Supreme Court decision will
not go unheeded. We shall study it with
assiduousness, and revisit our concepts
and presuppositions, always with an eye
to being faithful to the Gospel and to the
mission of the Church.
+ SOCRATES B. VILLEGAS
Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan
President, CBCP
June 27, 2015

CFC Statement on the

Supreme Court of the United States (Scotus) Ruling
EVERY human person is a gift.
And it is in his discovery that
he is a gifta gift that must
be sharedthat he is able to
relentlessly pursue his deep
longing for happinessa kind
of happiness that is not shortlived but rather transcends
through time, a kind of happiness that not only would edify
the person himself but also the
ones with whom the human
person decides to offer himself.
The recent decision by the
Supreme Court of the United
States (SCOTUS) calling the
ban on same-sex marriage as
unconstitutional, thereby affirming its approval for it, has
triggered waves and waves of
reaction from various parts
of the world. Lesbians, gays,
bisexuals, trans-genders (LGBT s) and other people who
support their cause have hailed
the decision as a landmark decision that promotes equality
and liberty for everyone regardless of their sexual orientation.
It is, for them, a decision that
has at long last destroyed the
barrier of exclusivity of marriage between a man and a

woman which they find as

discriminatory.
But while the decision has
been celebrated elsewhere in
t h e w o r l d , we w h o u p h o l d
the truth about the sanctity
of marriage view the recent
development not as a death of
morality but rather as a call by
the Lord for a deeper sense of
introspection a greater call
for us to reflect on our own

developed a deluded sense of

happiness and freedom.
In line with the teachings
of the Catholic Church, we in
Couples for Christ:
Firmly believe that marriage
is first and foremost a vocation.
It is not an institution brought
about by mere whims. It is evidence of Gods great confidence
that humanity - man and woman - have the ability to share

scribed in the humanity of man

and woman the vocation, and
thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and communion
(CCC 2331)
Stand firm in our belief that
sexual desire leaves room for
the exercise of the will. And in
exercising that will, the human
person should acknowledge
and accept his sexual identity
(CCC 2333)both body and

deviating from the moral law

man violates his own freedom,
becomes imprisoned within
himself, disrupts neighbourly
fellowship, and rebels against
divine truth. (CCC 1740)
Ma i n t a i n o u r re s p e c t f o r
people of homosexual orientation. We acknowledge that
they too have been given by the
Lord various gifts essential for
the fulfillment of Gods plan.

Marriage is not an institution brought about by mere whims.

It is evidence of Gods great confidence that humanity - man and
woman - have the ability to share and participate in His desire to
bring into existence another human person.
innate giftedness, individually
and collectively, so that we can
lovingly respond to the challenges that threaten the very
foundations of the family. The
decision sends a clear message
for us to widen our understanding of the issue at hand and,
more importantly, to use our
Christian values as a tool to
open the eyes of those who have

and participate in His desire

to bring into existence another
human person as marriage is
ordered to the procreation and
education of the offspring and
it is in them that it finds its
crowning glory. (CCC 1652)
Will continue to uphold the
truth that marriage can only be
between a man and a woman.
We recognize that God in-

soulnot rejecting any part

of it and, in so doing, able to
totally give himself to another
person who would be able to
fully receive him because of
the complementary nature inscribed in their bodies.
Continue to believe that,
in mans pursuit of happiness,
freedom is not absolute and has
its own limitations. And that by

At the same time, we fully understand that what they need is

acceptance and not tolerance,
that we should not waver in
inviting them to self-mastery
that teach them inner freedom,
at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer
and sacramental grace; they
can and should gradually and
resolutely approach Christian

perfection. (CCC 2359)

The times have truly been
challenging for the Christian
faith.
But while we can continue
to voice out our opposition
against those who threaten
marriage, a more effective defense of marriage and family
would be our own marriages
and family lives that are a living
witness to a world that would
rather listen to actions than
words. By having our message
clearly heard, we may then lead
others who have gone astray
towards the right path to happiness and freedom, indeed to
Christ Himself.
We must all the more persevere in prayer and in faith
i n o rd e r t h a t o u r m a r r i a g e s
become a genuine reflect i o n o f G o d s i m a g e h e r e
on earth!
God bless our families!
Fo r t h e C F C In t e r n a t i o n a l
Council
JOSE T. TALE
Chairman
June 30, 2015

Filipinos for Life Official Statement on the Scotus Decision on Same Sex Marriage
WE, the members of Filipinos for
Life, express our dismay at the recent
decision of the Supreme Court of the
United States (SCOTUS) to legalize
same-sex marriage. We believe that
SCOTUS acted outside the bounds
of its authority in redefining the
meaning of an institution which has
been understood, from the beginning of human civilization, as the
union between a man and a woman.
This lamentable decision, which has
no historical, traditional, cultural,
or natural foundations, is based on
an irrational sentimentality and a
misplaced sense of compassion that
fails to consider the future of the
biological family, whose nature stems
from the complementarity between
man and woman. This radical departure from natural law introduces
other forms of relationships, could

Marriage has always been directed towards the natural

generation and nurturing of persons in order to build a
moral, ethical and just society.
Same sex marriage can do neither of these, since its main
purpose is directed towards itself.
deprive children of their right to
their biological mother and father,
and will ultimately be detrimental
to the stability of economy and society. Moreover, it tramples on the
right of people of faith to oppose
and object to this and other forms
of relationships yet to come, and to
collectively decide the fundamental

law of the land.

We condemn any kind of physical or verbal disrespect or hostility
toward those who struggle with same
sex attraction, and we strongly affirm, encourage, and extend our help
to our brothers and sisters of good
will who, while struggling with this
cross, nevertheless strive to make

Restore / B1

challenge to all our beloved

priests in the Diocese. The
Pa r i s h a s s u m e s a d i f f e r e n t
pastoral contour depending on
the openness and missionary
creativity of the parish priest
a n d t h e c o m m u n i t y. M a k e
your parish an environment
w h e re t h e Wo rd o f G o d i s
listened to, where people experience growth as Christians,
where dialogue, charitable outreach, worship and celebration
are publicly observed by all.
Make your parish a community
of communities, a sanctuary
for the poor, a center of cons t a n t m i s s i o n a r y o u t re a c h .
(EG no 28)
Lastly, I wish to remind the
parishioners of Vinzons. Alagaan ninyo ang Simbahang ito.
Bantayan ninyo ang Simbahang
ito. Sana malinis palagi ang
kapaligiran at loob ng Simbah-

healthy choices, lead chaste lives and

determine to practice their faith fully.
That the meaning and sanctity
of marriage is already lost on many
in todays society does not justify
a copycat refashioning of marriage
under the guise of rights. This will
only serve to negatively impact our
underserved, highly impressionable

youth, and fur ther fragment our

already fragile institutions.
We would like to enjoin our justices, lawmakers and other people
of influence to reject and oppose
efforts by LGBT lobbyists to change
the institution of marriage in the
Philippines. Marriage has always
been directed towards the natural
generation and nurturing of persons
in order to build a moral, ethical and
just society. Same sex marriage can
do neither of these, since its main
purpose is directed towards itself.
We encourage our countrymen, the
majority of whom oppose same sex
marriage, to exercise vigilance and
to act decisively, on their own and
through their elected representatives,
to prevent a similar travesty from
being inflicted upon our beloved
country.

Eucharist / B3

ang ito. Aanyayahan ninyo ang

lahat ng mga tao, lalo na ang
mga nasa barangay upang sa
pamamgitan ng Simbahang ito,
maramdaman nila ang Diyos
ang Diyos na nagmamahal sa
ating lahat. Yes, you promise
me to take care of this 400year old renovated and rededicated church. Thank you!
I still have one last reminder. Take care of your family,
the domestic church. Huwag
sanang masunog at tuluyan
malanta ang biyaya ng Diyos
na kanyang itinanim sa pamilya ninyo! In the word of Pope
Fr a n c i s , h e s a i d : Ma r r i e d
c o u p l e s , w h o a re m a n a n d
woman and their children - the
family, constitute the domestic church where Jesus grows
through love, and that this
love is what the Devil wants to
destroy and this explains why

the Devil attacks the family so

much. Sirain mo ang pamilya,
sinirira mo ang lipunan at ang
simbahan, the domestic church!
I end this homily by expressing this humble gratitude to
t h e A l m i g h t y Fa t h e r, w h o
chose St. Peter the Apostle
as our Patron, our guide and
inspiration in this parish of
V i n z o n s . L i k e Pe t e r, w h o
doubted the power of God,
we all acknowledge, full of
humility that it is God that
tr uly restores His Church..
It is truly God who rekindles
the faith.
With the words of St. Peter
in his second letter, I join him
in these words, Let us grow in
the grace of God, and in the
knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. To him be
the glory both now and unto
the day of eternity. Amen.

in the same mission. The Asian

people will have no difficulty
seeing in the Eucharistic Celebration the values they hold
dear in common.
The Eucharist as meal very
clearly upholds family relationship and hospitality so highly
valued by most Asian people.
It will be fruitful to present the
Eucharist as the family meal
where God gathers his children
together to feed them with his
Word and with the Body of his
Son, a meal where the children
are able to thank and praise
their Father for his immense
love for them, where they can
confidently express their needs,
where they are in the company
of their brothers and sisters, and
many others who constitute their
extended family.
The Eucharist as sacrifice can
be very meaningful for most

Asians considering how they

usually perceive leadership,
e.g., the leadership exercised by
parents towards their children,
of elder brothers and sisters
toward their younger siblings,
of village heads towards their
constituents, by the host of a
feast toward his/her guests. It
is a leadership that is exercised
in service and with readiness
to sacrifice for the sake of
ones charge. Among the poor
families in the Philippines, It
is not uncommon for parents
to let their children eat first
before they do, if there is hardly
enough food on the table, to
be sure that no one among the
children goes hungry. Nor is
it uncommon that an elder
brother or sister gives way to
the younger siblings for the
opportunity to go to school if
the family does not have enough

resources to send all children

to school. Or the eldest may
never get married, choose to
work all his or her life, to send
all siblings to school.
The Eucharist will mean much
for most Asians because it expresses many of the cultural values
that they treasure very dearly. The
Eucharist, celebrated well as both
meal and sacrifice, is the best way
to proclaim the Good News of
Gods offer of salvation though
the sacrifice of his Son to the point
of self-sacrificing death, of Gods
invitation to make us all part of
his family, of Gods unending
desire to enrich us all by his lifegiving Word and Body broken
and shared that we may live. The
Eucharist too is the best way to
motivate a spirit and consciousness of mission in view of sharing
the same richness, meaning and
life to others. (To be continued)

B6 REFLECTIONS

July 6 - 19, 2015 Vol. 19 No. 14

The Caring Good Shepherd

Amos and us
everyday people
called to prophesy

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Mk 6:30-34 (B) July 19, 2015

By Fr. Sal Putzu, SDB
JESUS and the handful of his
faithful disciples were on the brink
of exhaustion. They had been on
the go for weeks, trying to cope
with an ever increasing demand
from the people: preaching, healing diseases of every kind, casting
out demons . . . (See Mk 6:12f.)
They couldnt even eat in peace!
(See Mk 6:31.) They needed a break
badly. And Jesus decided to take it,
together with his close associates.
Crossing over to the other shore
of the lake seemed the most natural
solution. Mooring in an unfrequented spot would have given

often be confronted with similar

situations, and would be challenged to respond as Jesus did.
It is an eloquent lesson for
all of us, too, no matter what
position we hold in the Church:
whether we are leaders or plain
Christians. The thirst for Gods
Word these days is so great in so
many millions of people that no
believer can afford to think: This
is not my responsibility! or I
have already done enough! Now I
have the right to rest!
Taking rest and food are surely
fundamental needs. Satisfying
them is a necessity and a condition
for us to remain alert and efficient
in our apostolic commitment. Yet,

Reflections on the 15th

Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Joseph Pellegrino

Jesus example reminds us that

these should never be seen as inviolable rights which we defend
at all costs and against anybody.
Real love knows only one right:
to spend all its energies for the
sake of others.
It is not just a matter of spending ones time in preaching or in
other classical forms of apostolate.
Rather, it is a matter of making oneself totally available to
respond to the needs of others.
Parents who spend a sleepless
night watching anxiously over
their sick child . . . a doctor who
moves tirelessly from one patient
to another, heeding the call of duty
and choosing to disregard the call
of his watch . . . the priest who,
on a late Sunday night, falls on his

Bernhard Plockhorst

Real love knows only one right:

to spend all its energies for the
sake of others.
them some breathing spell. But
the crowds can be quite merciless,
sometimes, even without meaning it. Jesus had not yet reached
the supposedly deserted place,
and thousands were already there,
anxiously waiting for him, like
a flock without a shepherd. (See
Mk 6:34.)
The exhausted Jesus had no hesitation: he cancelled the break
and immediately resumed dispensing the Word of God to the
hungry hearts. The Good Shepherd promised by God through
the prophet Ezekiel had finally
arrived! (See todays First Reading.)
Jesus response to the crowds
who had been looking for him
was an eloquent lesson for his
apostles. In time, they too would

hard bed almost in exhaustion, after fourteen hours of unremitting

apostolic activity . . . these are all
splendid examples of dedication
to the service of others, dedication to the call of love.
Such a behavior will seldom get
a Press or TV coverage. And yet,

this is what keeps the world alive.

God delights in it. All these acts
of selflessness (and similar ones)
are reminders and actualizations
of the example of the merciful
Christ who did not please himself (Rom 15:3), but gave his life
for us all.

The small gifts that feed the crowd

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, John 6:1-15 (B)
Fil-Mission Sunday, July 19, 2015

By Fr. Sal Putzu, SDB

CBCP Monitor

no food at hand, nor money to buy it.

The suggestion of the Twelve to dismiss
them (see Mt 14:15.) is not particularly
impressive, thoughunder the circumstancescould also be seen as prudent
and rational.
But Jesus plan was different. His perception of the whole situation was different. And in a short while, the disciples
found themselves involved in a prodigal
distribution of food which left everybody
astonished and filled with enthusiasm.
The similar miracle performed by Elisha
(see First Reading) is a far cry from what

at the disposal of Jesus, made all the difference that day.

Mankind has been and is periodically
tormented by want and famine. Today,
the undernourished and the starving have
become a huge multitude of some three
billion people! It is a figure that defies all
contingency plans and demands immediate solution. The root of this tragedy is
not scarcity of resources, but lack of
wisdom and generosity, coupled with
the greed and callousness of a clique of
super rich sharks. It is not so much a
problem of production, as a problem of

distribution and solidarity, and even

more, a problem of moral sensitivity.
More than a problem of multiplication,
it is a problem of division a problem
of sharing. Actually, it is the lack of
it! Too many affluent nations give the
crumbs, rather than the full loaves.
What the world needs today is to remember that the fruits of Gods blessings
are for all. We Christians have a special

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

IT was springtime around the Lake of Gennesareth and in the hearts of the people
who followed Jesus. His presence, his
words, the miracles he had been performing had aroused in them a joyful expectation never experienced before.
But the vast crowds that kept following
Jesus because of the signs he had been
performing (see Jn 6:2) could become a
heavy burden if, by meal time, there was

these five thousand mennot counting

the women and children (see Mt 14:21)
experienced by the shore of the Lake of
Gennesareth!
One of the decisive factors which made
that miracle possible was the generosity
of the boy who offered the five barley
loaves and the two fish his baon for
the day. Of course, Jesus did not need
such help. Yet, he did accept that simple
gift and made it the starting point for an
unprecedented miracle. Those five loaves
of bread and two fish, generously placed

The root of this

tragedy
is not scarcity of
resources,
but lack of wisdom
and generosity,
coupled with
the greed and
callousness of a
clique of super
rich sharks.
responsibility in reminding mankind about
this truth, and especially in putting it into
practice. We are to consider ourselves the
descendants of the selfless boy who put his
baon at the disposal of Jesus.
We are challenged to imitate him. If we
do imitate him, then miracles will happen
everywhere, every day. Human life will
become a perennial miracle of brotherly
generosity, with Jesus in the center, multiplying to infinity the wonderful riches
of hearts open to sharing.

AGES and ages ago, I went to a public grade school. There were
no computers back in those days, no Ipads or Ipods, no cell
phones, no DVRs, in fact, it wasnt until I was about 10 that
people started buying color TVs. My school days were so long
ago, that the children in public schools actually began their
school day with prayer. Imagine that if you can. It wasnt much,
though. Someone would read from the Bible, then everyone
would say the Lords Prayer, with the Catholic kids not saying
Thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, because that
was the Protestant version of the Our Father, not the Catholic
version, and God forbid that Catholics do anything Protestant.
The reading from Scripture could be from any place in the
Old Testament, just in case there were any children from Jewish
families. However, most days, that reading was a recitation of
Psalm 23, The Lord is my Shepherd. I do remember that one
week I was appointed to do the reading; so I thought it would
b a good idea to start the Exodus story. I had just seen Cecil
B De Milles Ten Commandments; so I read about Moses and
the Burning Bush. The teacher corrected me afterwards and
told me that I had to stick to the Old Testament, not the New
Testament. I tried to explain that Moses was in the Old Testament, but I got nowhere. I went back to Psalm 23.
At first, this Psalm used to bother me. Why were we saying that we didnt want the Lord to be our shepherd? I finally
realized that the I shall not want part meant that I wouldnt
need anything as long as I had the Lord. Thats when I started
appreciating the beauty of the poetry. Green Pastures, restful
waters, a table set before me loaded with good food, perfume
on my head, OK, that sounded creepy, but the dwelling in the
house of the Lord for the rest of my days sounded wonderful.
As I got older I started focusing on the other parts of this
Psalm, the scary parts. Sometimes, life takes me through dark
valleys, even the shadow of death. Sometimes people will hate
me if I show my devotion to God, but God will take care of
me. Todays first reading and Gospel speak about the shepherd
promised by God, God Himself. They point to the Responsorial
Psalm, Psalm 23.
Journey with me now, if you will, on a trip through this most
popular of all the Psalms. The Lord is my shepherd. God wants
to direct our lives. Jesus felt so bad for the people in todays
Gospel because they had no one to shepherd them. He also
mourns for us. The world can be a confusing place. Life can
be confusing. Governments like those mentioned in the first
reading, often demand that people violate their consciences
for what they claim to be the greater good. Historically, this
has always resulted in people participating in hidden, immoral
agendas. We witnessed this happening the last century with the
two extremes of fascism and Communism. But what should we
do when confronted with what is presented as a small moral
sacrifice for what is claimed to be a greater moral good? We need
a shepherd to direct us. We have one. The Lord is our shepherd.
We should follow God. Right is right and wrong is wrong. We
have to let God direct our lives, not politicians. This will protect
us from taking the steps that would lead to great evil.
I shall not want. God provides that which we really need in
life: a reason for being alive. Following our conscience leads
us to rest in Christ, at peace with God, at peace in our inner
worlds. Those are the restful waters where He leads us. United
with Him, we are who we were meant to be, unique reflections
of the image and likeness of God.
He restores our souls. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount
that we should be perfect as His Heavenly Father is perfect.
How can we be perfect? We are human. We are frail. Well, the
word that is translated perfect in the Sermon on the Mount really means sincere. Be sincere as my Heavenly Father is sincere.
When our external actions reflect our inner beings, we are at
one with God and with ourselves. We are sincere. Our souls are
restored to Gods original purpose for our creation. We are at
peace. When we are at peace with ourselves and with our God,
we want for nothing.
And though I walk through the valley of death, I fear no evil.
Yes, there are continual challenges in life. In fact, the present
life is just a part of the totality of our lives. Here, we are in the
valley of death. We are mortal. We become sick and die. Worse,
our loved ones die. Still, through all the pain, the suffering and
the sorrow, we ultimately trust in God. You are with me, the
Psalm proclaims. He is. He guides us with His rod and staff.
We are comforted with knowing that whatever happens, the
Lord is in charge. He will take care of us. In fact, even when
others attack us for our devotion to Him, when others mock
us for our faith, even when other Catholics deride us for our
determination to live what we profess, even when others mock
us because we are not afraid to say what we pray, God will win.
God always wins. Jesus Christ is the Victor. Those who oppose
us because we live our faith will eventually witness Gods caring
for us at the banquet of His Love.
He sets a table before me in the face of my foes. Psalm 23
ends with the great promise: Live united to the Lord and you
will experience His goodness and kindness in this life and
union with Him in the next life. Surely, goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the
house of the Lord forever.
So often we sing this Psalm. So often we pray this Psalm.
Today, we resolve to live is Psalm.

Bo Sanchez

Bishop Pat Alo

ENCOUNTERS

The storm

A STATE of the nation could be compared to those times the

disciples were caught in a storm. Jesus was with them, but asleep.
They call Jesus: Lord, save us, we are about to drown (Mt.
8:25; Lk. 8:24). Jesus stood up and quieted the winds and the
seas.
The same thing shall happen, if we let Jesus take over our lives
as individuals and as a nation, and stop fighting greedily over
money, power, land and politics. Let there be fair play, mutual
respect as fellow created human beings, not divisive hatred. Let
us not listen to those false prophets who are sowing hatred using
the Church as a front, but inwardly are ravening wolves bringing
ruin to the sheep(Mt. 7:15).
The Church of Jesus was never an instrument of hate. Following the voice of the Good Shepherd will unify the flock towards
peace amidst the storms of life.

SOULFOOD

Do you want to be happy?

Happiness is a by-product, not the product itself.

IM a semi-old man.
My wife hates me when I say
that.
But Im turning 49 next month.
I feel young as ever, but staring at the half-century mark is
unnerving.
Anyway, the reason why I tell
you my age is because in the
course of my life, Ive talked to
thousands of people all over the
world, and Ive met a lot of very
happy people.
Heres what I noticed about
them: Happy people didnt
become happy because they

searched for happiness. They

never took on a life project
entitled, My goal in life is

for something else.

And what is that something
else?

Whenever we love,
we touch our inner core,
the original purpose of why we
were created by God.
to be happy!
In s t e a d , h a p p i n e s s w a s a
by-product for their search

Oh, all sorts of disparate

things
But dig deep the externals and I

found one common thing: At the

end of the day, its lovein whatever manifestation you seek it.
Seek love. Serve. Care.
Volunteer. Give. Share. Sacrifice.
People who love (not out of
obligation or fear but freely giving of themselves to others) find
themselves very happy people.
Why? I believe its because
whenever we love, we touch our
inner core, the original purpose
of why we were created by God.
I pray you find your more happiness today.

CBCP Monitor

UPDATES B7

July 6 - 19, 2015 Vol. 19 No. 14

Laudato Si / B4

its fragility. Such notions would end

up creating new imbalances which
would def lect us from the reality
which challenges us.[68]At times we
see an obsession with denying any
pre-eminence to the human person;
more zeal is shown in protecting other
species than in defending the dignity
which all human beings share in equal
measure. Certainly, we should be

for each of his creatures and which also

unites us in fond affection with brother
sun, sister moon, brother river and
mother earth.
VI. THE COMMON DESTINATION
OF GOODS
93. Whether believers or not, we are
agreed today that the earth is essentially
a shared inheritance, whose fruits are
meant to benefit everyone. For believers,
this becomes a question of fidelity to the

practical consequences, such as those

pointed out by the bishops of Paraguay:
Everycampesinohas a natural right to
possess a reasonable allotment of land
where he can establish his home, work
for subsistence of his family and a secure
life. This right must be guaranteed so that
its exercise is not illusory but real. That
means that apart from the ownership of
property, rural people must have access
to means of technical education, credit,
insurance, and markets.[77]

no admiration at all: Is not this the

carpenter, the son of Mary? (Mk6:3). In
this way he sanctified human labor and
endowed it with a special significance for
our development. As Saint John Paul II
taught, by enduring the toil of work in
union with Christ crucified for us, man
in a way collaborates with the Son of God
for the redemption of humanity.[79]
99. In the Christian understanding
of the world, the destiny of all creation
is bound up with the mystery of Christ,

will deliver all things to the Father, so

that God may be everything to every
one (1 Cor15:28). Thus, the creatures
of this world no longer appear to us
under merely natural guise because
the risen One is mysteriously holding
them to himself and directing them
towards fullness as their end. The
very flowers of the field and the birds
which his human eyes contemplated
and admired are now imbued with
his radiant presence. (To be continued)

Laudato Si

Encyclical Letter of the Holy Father Francis on the Care of our Common Home
concerned lest other living beings be
treated irresponsibly. But we should
be particularly indignant at the
enormous inequalities in our midst,
whereby we continue to tolerate some
considering themselves more worthy
than others. We fail to see that some
are mired in desperate and degrading
poverty, with no way out, while others
have not the faintest idea of what to do
with their possessions, vainly showing
off their supposed superiority and
leaving behind them so much waste
which, if it were the case everywhere,
would destroy the planet. In practice,
we continue to tolerate that some
consider themselves more human
than others, as if they had been born
with greater rights.
91. A sense of deep communion with
the rest of nature cannot be real if our
hearts lack tenderness, compassion
and concern for our fellow human
beings. It is clearly inconsistent to
combat trafficking in endangered
species while remaining completely
indifferent to human trafficking,
unconcerned about the poor, or
underta k ing to destroy a nother
human being deemed unwanted.
This compromises the very meaning
of our struggle for the sake of the
environment. It is no coincidence that,
in the canticle in which Saint Francis
praises God for his creatures, he goes
on to say: Praised be you my Lord,
through those who give pardon for
your love. Everything is connected.
Concern for the environment thus
needs to be joined to a sincere love
for our fellow human beings and an
unwavering commitment to resolving

Creator, since God created the world

for everyone. Hence every ecological
approach needs to incorporate a social
perspective which takes into account
the fundamental rights of the poor and
the underprivileged. The principle of
the subordination of private property to
the universal destination of goods, and
thus the right of everyone to their use,
is a golden rule of social conduct and

Together with
our obligation to
use the earths
goods responsibly,
we are called to
recognize that
other living beings
have a value of
their own in
Gods eyes.
the first principle of the whole ethical
and social order.[71]The Christian
tradition has never recognized the
right to private property as absolute or
inviolable, and has stressed the social
purpose of all forms of private property.
Saint John Paul II forcefully reaffirmed
this teaching, stating that God gave the

95. The natural environment is a

collective good, the patrimony of all
humanity and the responsibility of
everyone. If we make something our
own, it is only to administer it for the
good of all. If we do not, we burden our
consciences with the weight of having
denied the existence of others. That is
why the New Zealand bishops asked
what the commandment Thou shall not
kill means when twenty percent of the
worlds population consumes resources
at a rate that robs the poor nations and
future generations of what they need to
survive.[78]
VII. THE GAZE OF JESUS
96. Jesus took up the biblical faith
in God the Creator, emphasizing a
f unda menta l truth: God is Father
(cf. Mt 11:25). In talking with his
disciples, Jesus would invite them to
recognize the paternal relationship God
has with all his creatures. With moving
tenderness he would remind them that
each one of them is important in Gods
eyes: Are not five sparrows sold for two
pennies? And not one of them is forgotten
before God (Lk12:6). Look at the birds
of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor
gather into barns, and yet your heavenly
Father feeds them(Mt6:26).
97. The Lord was able to invite others
to be attentive to the beauty that there
is in the world because he himself was in
constant touch with nature, lending it an
attention full of fondness and wonder. As
he made his way throughout the land,
he often stopped to contemplate the
beauty sown by his Father, and invited
his disciples to perceive a divine message
in things: Lift up your eyes, and see how
FOOTNOTES:

the problems of society.

92. Moreover, when our hearts
are authentically open to universal
communion, this sense of fraternity
excludes nothing and no one. It
follows that our indifference or
cruelty towards fellow creatures of
this world sooner or later affects the
treatment we mete out to other human
beings. We have only one heart, and
the same wretchedness which leads
us to mistreat an animal will not
be long in showing itself in our
relationships with other people. Every
act of cruelty towards any creature is
contrary to human dignity.[69]We
can hardly consider ourselves to
be fully loving if we disregard any
aspect of reality: Peace, justice and
the preservation of creation are three
absolutely interconnected themes,
which ca nnot be sepa rated a nd
treated individually without once
again falling into reductionism.
[70] Everything is related, and we
human beings are united as brothers
and sisters on a wonderful pilgrimage,
woven together by the love God has

earth to the whole human race for the

sustenance of all its members, without
excluding or favouring anyone.[72]These
are strong words. He noted that a type
of development which did not respect
and promote human rights personal
and social, economic and political,
including the rights of nations and of
peoples would not be really worthy
of man.[73] He clearly explained that
the Church does indeed defend the
legitimate right to private property, but
she also teaches no less clearly that there
is always a social mortgage on all private
property, in order that goods may serve
the general purpose that God gave them.
[74]Consequently, he maintained, it is
not in accord with Gods plan that this
gift be used in such a way that its benefits
favour only a few.[75] This calls into
serious question the unjust habits of a
part of humanity.[76]
94. The rich and the poor have equal
dignity, for the Lord is the maker of
them all (Prov 22:2). He himself
made both small and great (Wis 6:7),
and he makes his sun rise on the evil
and on the good (Mt 5:45). This has

the fields are already white for harvest

( Jn4:35). The kingdom of God is like a
grain of mustard seed which a man took
and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of
all seeds, but once it has grown, it is the
greatest of plants(Mt13:31-32).
98. Jesus lived in full harmony with
creation, and others were amazed: What
sort of man is this, that even the winds
and the sea obey him? (Mt8:27). His
appearance was not that of an ascetic
set apart from the world, nor of an
enemy to the pleasant things of life.
Of himself he said: The Son of Man
came eating and drinking and they
say, Look, a glutton and a drunkard!
(Mt 11:19). He was far removed from
philosophies which despised the body,
matter and the things of the world. Such
unhealthy dualisms, nonetheless, left
a mark on certain Christian thinkers
in the course of history and disfigured
the Gospel. Jesus worked with his
hands, in daily contact with the matter
created by God, to which he gave form
by his craftsmanship. It is striking that
most of his life was dedicated to this
task in a simple life which awakened

present from the beginning: All things

have been created though him and for
him (Col1:16).[80]The prologue of the
Gospel of John (1:1-18) reveals Christs
creative work as the Divine Word (Logos).
But then, unexpectedly, the prologue
goes on to say that this same Word
became flesh ( Jn 1:14). One Person
of the Trinity entered into the created
cosmos, throwing in his lot with it,
even to the cross. From the beginning
of the world, but particularly through
the incarnation, the mystery of Christ
is at work in a hidden manner in the
natural world as a whole, without thereby
impinging on its autonomy.
100. The New Testament does not
only tell us of the earthly Jesus and his
tangible and loving relationship with
the world. It also shows him risen and
glorious, present throughout creation by
his universal Lordship: For in him all
the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile to himself
all things, whether on earth or in heaven,
making peace by the blood of his cross
(Col1:19-20). This leads us to direct our
gaze to the end of time, when the Son

[35]ID.,Catechesis(17 January 2001), 3:Insegnamenti24/1 (2001), 178.

[36]JOHN PAUL II,Message for the 1990 World
Day of Peace, 15: AAS 82 (1990), 156.
[37]Catechism of the Catholic Church, 357.
[38]Angelusin Osnabrck (Germany) with the
disabled, 16 November 1980:Insegnamenti 3/2
(1980), 1232.
[39]BENEDICT XVI,Homily for the Solemn Inauguration of the Petrine Ministry(24 April 2005):
AAS 97 (2005), 711.
[40]Cf. BONAVENTURE,The Major Legend of
Saint Francis, VIII, 1, inFrancis of Assisi: Early
Documents, vol. 2, New York-London-Manila, 2000,
586.
[41]Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2416.
[42]GERMAN BISHOPS CONFERENCE,Zukunft der Schpfung Zukunft der Menschheit.
Einklrung der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz zu
Fragen der Umwelt und der Energieversorgung,
(1980), II, 2.
[43]Catechism of the Catholic Church, 339.
[44]Hom. in Hexaemeron,I, 2, 10: PG 29, 9.
[45]The Divine Comedy, Paradiso, Canto XXXIII,
145.
[46]BENEDICT XVI,Catechesis (9 November
2005), 3:Insegnamenti1 (2005), 768.
[47]ID., Encyclical LetterCaritas in Veritate(29
June 2009), 51: AAS 101 (2009), 687.
[48]JOHN PAUL II,Catechesis (24 April 1991),
6:Insegnamenti14 (1991), 856.
[49]The Catechism explains that God wished to
create a world which is journeying towards its ultimate perfection, and that this implies the presence
of imperfection and physical evil; cf.Catechism of
the Catholic Church, 310.
[50]Cf. SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL
COUNCIL, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in
the Modern WorldGaudium et Spes, 36.
[51]THOMAS AQUINAS,Summa Theologiae, I,
q. 104, art. 1 ad 4.
[52]ID.,In octo libros Physicorum Aristotelis
expositio, Lib. II, lectio 14.
[53]Against this horizon we can set the contribution
of Fr Teilhard de Chardin; cf. PAUL VI,Address in
a Chemical and Pharmaceutical Plant(24 February 1966):Insegnamenti4 (1966), 992-993; JOHN
PAUL II,Letter to the Reverend George Coyne(1
June 1988):Insegnamenti11/2 (1988), 1715; BENEDICT XVI,Homily for the Celebration of Vespers in
Aosta(24 July 2009):Insegnamenti5/2 (2009), 60.
[54]JOHN PAUL II,Catechesis (30 January
2002),6:Insegnamenti25/1 (2002), 140.
[55]CANADIAN CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC
BISHOPS, SOCIAL AFFAIRS COMMISSION,
Pastoral LetterYou Love All that Exists All Things
are Yours, God, Lover of Life(4 October 2003), 1.
[56]CATHOLIC BISHOPS CONFERENCE OF
JAPAN, Reverence for Life. A Message for the
Twenty-First Century(1 January 2000), 89.
[57]JOHN PAUL II,Catechesis(26 January 2000),
5:Insegnamenti23/1 (2000), 123.
[58]ID.,Catechesis(2 August 2000), 3:Insegnamenti23/2 (2000), 112.
[59]PAUL RICOEUR,Philosophie de la Volont, t.
II: Finitude et Culpabilit, Paris, 2009, 216.
[60]Summa Theologiae, I, q. 47, art. 1.
[61]Ibid.
[62]Cf. ibid., art. 2, ad 1; art. 3.
[63]Catechism of the Catholic Church, 340.
[64] Canticle of the Creatures, inFrancis of Assisi: Early Documents, New York-London-Manila,
1999, 113-114.
[65]Cf. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE
BISHOPS OF BRAZIL,A Igreja e a Questo
Ecolgica,1992, 53-54.
[66]Ibid., 61.
[67]Apostolic ExhortationEvangelii Gaudium(24
November 2013), 215: AAS 105 (2013), 1109.
[68]Cf. BENEDICT XVI, Encyclical LetterCaritas
in Veritate(29 June 2009), 14: AAS 101 (2009), 650.
[69]Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2418.
[70]CONFERENCE OF DOMINICAN BISHOPS,
Pastoral LetterSobre la relacin del hombre con la
naturaleza(21 January 1987).
[71]JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical LetterLaborem
Exercens (14 September 1981), 19: AAS 73
(1981), 626.
[72]Encyclical LetterCentesimus Annus(1 May
1991), 31: AAS 83 (1991), 831.
[73]Encyclical LetterSollicitudo Rei Socialis(30
December 1987), 33: AAS 80 (1988), 557.
[74] Address to Indigenous and Rural People,Cuilapn, Mexico (29 January 1979), 6: AAS
71 (1979), 209.
[75]Homily at Mass for Farmers,Recife, Brazil (7
July 1980): AAS 72 (1980): AAS 72 (1980), 926.
[76]Cf.Message for the 1990 World Day of Peace,
8: AAS 82 (1990), 152.
[77]PARAGUAYAN BISHOPS CONFERENCE,
Pastoral LetterEl campesino paraguayo y la
tierra(12 June 1983), 2, 4, d.
[78]NEW ZEALAND CATHOLIC BISHOPS
CONFERENCE, Statement on Environmental Issues(1 September 2006).
[79]Encyclical LetterLaborem Exercens(14 September 1981), 27: AAS 73 (1981), 645.
[80] Hence Saint Justin could speak of seeds of
the Word in the world; cf. II Apologia 8, 1-2; 13,
3-6: PG 6, 457-458, 467.

B8 FEATURES

July 6 - 19, 2015 Vol. 19 No. 14

Moral Assessment

Buhay San Miguel

CBCP Monitor
Brothers Matias

Abhorrent

Disturbing
Acceptable
Wholesome

Exemplary

Technical Assessment

Poor
Below average

Average

Above average
E
xcellent

Lolo Kiko
Buhay San Miguel

Buhay Parokya
T W E N T Y- t w o y e a r s a f t e r
the catastrophes with InGens
Jurassic Park project, Simon
Ma s r a n i ( K h a n ) h a s f o u n d
a way to revive and operate
the program and now owns
the biggest Themed Resort,
Ju r a s s i c Wo r l d , w h i c h a t tracts at least 20, 000 visitors
a day. Meanwhile, brothers
Zach (Robinson) and Gray
(Simpkins) are on the way to
Jurassic World to spend some
quality time with their aunt
Claire (Howard), the parks
Operation Manager. However, Claire has more important
matters she feels she needs
to attend to and delegates
her assistant to look after
her nephews. Meanwhile,
t h e p a rk i s a b o u t re a d y t o
release their latest creation,
the Indominus Rex, a T-Rex
genetically engineered according to the comments of
the focus groups. Accordingly, this dinosaur will be
b i g g e r, f i e r c e r, a n d s c a r i e r
since the public are tired of
the existing attractions. Masrani wants the expert opinion
of Owen Grady (Pratt), the
parks Velociraptor trainer,
f i r s t s o C l a i re f e t c h e s h i m
to show the Indominus. But
when they arrive, they find
that the Indominus has apparently escaped basing on
the claw marks on the fence.
A team enters the enclosure
but is ambushed by the Indominus who faked his escaped
through characteristics from
various animals whose DNAs
he was made from. A bigger
chaos is about to ensue with
the unstoppable Indominus
on the loose in a full-packed
park. The only hope is with
Owen and his four Veloci raptors.
A successful box-office film
gives its remakes and sequels
both an advantage and a disadvantage. On the one hand,
there is a ready fan base to
support the franchise, on the
other, comparison is inevitable
for the expectant fans. Jurassic
World has some huge shoes
to fill and it barely does. Storywise, there is a commendable effort to bring in tender
moments between man and
beast instead of portraying the
once extinct creatures as the
antagonists. They, after all,
have been forced to live beyond their time for the selfish
reasons. Main characters were
properly developed and well
played but supporting ones are
forgettable. There is a lack of
humor and punchlines in the
script but is flows effortlessly
still. The computer-generated
images are magnificent and

w or th ones w hi le . Jur a s s i c
Park really comes to life, structure, attraction, dinosaurs and
a l l . Howe ve r, t h e s u s p e n s e
and thrill pales in comparison to Spielbergs 1993 and
1997 films, considering that
CGI here is a thousand times
better. Jurassic World is an
enjoyable movie but it may
not be remembered the way
its predecessors are.
There is a redemptive satisfaction to be reminded that
man cannot dominate creation
and nature. You would think
that the disaster that took
place 22 years ago is enough
to teach people that, but no
man finds a way around for
the sake a few hundred bucks.

JURASSIC
WORLD

DIRECTION: Colin Trevorrow

CAST: Chris Platt, Bryce
Dallas Howard, Vincent
DOnofrio, Ty Simpkins,
Nick Robinson
STORY: Rick Jaffa, Amanda
Silver
SCREENPLAY: Rick Jaffa,
Amanda Silver, Derek
Connolly, Colin Trevorrow
CINEMATOGRAPHY: John
Schwartzman
EDITING: Kevin Stitt
MUSIC: Michael Giacchino
PRODUCERS: Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley
GENRE: Action, Sci-Fi
LOCATION: Isla Nublar, Costa
Rica
DISTRIBUTOR: Universal
Pictures
RUNNING TIME: 124 minutes
TECHNICAL ASSESSMENT:

MORAL ASSESSMENT:

CINEMA Rating: V14

Jurassic World is an epitome of

mans greed and conceit and a
harsh reminder that these will
u l t i m a t e l y l e a d t o h i s ow n
downfall. On the other hand,
Jurassic World emphasizes the
importance of relationships
and bondsmarriage on verge
of breaking up destroys the
kids, a woman who focuses on
her career more than her family loses meaning, a man who
respects life in all forms gains
a friend. This specific theme
made the difference in this
4th installment of the Jurassic
franchise. CINEMA raises a
yellow flag on some scenes too
graphic for very young children that may either scare or
desensitize them. Parents are
advised to use discretion in allowing their younger children
to watch.

Bladimer Usi
Brothers Matias

Look for the image of St John Paul II,

Holy Dove and Holy Chalice.
(Illustration by Bladimer Usi)

The Cross

A Supplement Publication of KCFAPI and the Order of the Knights of Columbus

CBCP Monitor. Vol. 19. No. 14

July 6 - 19, 2015

2015 Organizational Meeting of

State Deputies in New Haven
SUPREME Knight Carl Anderson, Deputy Supreme Knight
Logan Ludwig and Supreme Director Alonso Tan meet with the
leaders of the Philippine jurisdictions (from left to right): Visayas Deputy Anthony Nazario,
Mindanao Deputy Reynaldo
Trinidad, Luzon South Deputy
Ramoncito Ocampo and Luzon
North Deputy Jose Reyes, Jr.
During this private briefing,
Supreme Knight Carl Anderson
congratulated the Philippines
for the tremendous membership
growth. He likewise expressed
his gratitude to all the bishops
for the support they are giving
to the Order of the Knights of
Columbus in the Philippines.
He also reminded the leaders
of the Philippine jurisdictions
regarding their role which is to
work closely with the clergy to
promote Knights of Columbus
in every diocese and to faithfully
respond to the call to serve and
evangelize.
The 2015 Organizational
meeting of State Deputies was
held from June 3- 7, 2015 in
New Haven, Connecticut USA.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WWW.KOFC.ORG

KC Philippines
Foundation
Supreme Council
Scholar Graduates
Magna Cum Laude

ANOTHER scholar of the

KC Philippines Foundation,
Inc., Ms. Katrina B. Baliling
graduated with distinction.
Ms. Baliling graduated
Magna Cum Laude from
the Mindanao State University Iligan Institute of Technology with the Bachelors
degree in Accountancy last
April 7, 2015. She also received a Special Achievement
Award as 1st runner up in the
Philippine Final Chartered
Institute of Management
Accountants (CIMA) 2014
Global Business Challenge
awarded during the graduation rites.
Scholar / C3

Luzon North and South Jurisdictions hold Turnover of Fr. Willmann

Housing Project held
District Deputies Meeting
HUNDREDS of participants
together with the new State Officers led by Former Luzon Deputy
Arsenio Isidro Yap attended the
2015 Organizational Meeting of
District Deputies of the Knights of
Columbus Luzon Jurisdiction. The
said event, with a theme Answering the Call to Evangelize was held
last June 27-28, 2015 at the Manila
Grand Opera Hotel.
Deputy Supreme Knight Logan
T. Ludwig (of the Supreme Office)
earlier announced during the 10th
Knights of Columbus National
Convention held at the SMX Davao
Convention Center in Lanang,
Davao City, that the Luzon Jurisdiction will be divided into two the
Luzon North Jurisdiction and Luzon South Jurisdiction.
Hence, during the 2015 Organizational Meeting of District
Deputies, the new set of officers
for the Columbian Year 20152016 were recognized as follows:

State Program Director

Vicente Ortega
State Squires Chairman
Raymund Gubat
Ceremonial Director
Diogenes Francia
State Treasurer
Joven Joaquin
State Advocate
Rene Samiento
State Warden
Victor Pulangco
State Auditor
Joven Dy

Luzon South Jurisdiction:

Luzon South Deputy
Ramoncito A. Ocampo

Luzon North Jurisdiction:

Secretary
Bonifacio Martinez

Luzon North Deputy

Justice Jose C. Reyes Jr.

Membership Director
Conrado Dator Jr.

Secretary
Pascual Cabrero

State Program
Director Elmer Eroles

Membership Director
Jose Cuaresma

State Squires Chairman

Vicente Duroy

Team Generous - Gods

Little Angels
IT is said that in the
eyes of the father and
mother their child is
always an angel. The
father and mother nurture their baby with all
the love they could give
and there is no better
reward for the parents
than to see their child
grow-up to be a loving person. But that is
not always the case for
some children in our
present world where
economic difficulties
and moral decay had
forced children into a
life without experiencing the love of their
parents. For a child left under
such circumstance, what chances
does he or she have to life under
the care of a loving family.
On the morning of June 21,
2015, KCFAPIs Team Generous
stepped into the compound of
the Concordia Childrens Services in Sta. Mesa, Manila. We were
gathered in a room and briefed
about Concordia Child Services

The 2015 Organizational Meeting of District Deputies of the Knights of Columbus Luzon
Jurisdiction, with a theme Answering the Call to Evangelize was held on June 27-28,
2015 at the Manila Grand Opera Hotel.

Ceremonial Director
Efren Mendoza
State Treasurer
Danilo Sanchez
State Advocate
Antonio Fidelino
State Warden
Isagani Maghirang
State Auditor
Ruben Gutierrez
Moreover, Msgr. Pedro C. Quitorio III, Assistant State Chaplain
celebrated a mass on the second
day of the event and led the oath
taking of State Officers, District
Deputies and Conferment of
Jewels. He also tackled about the

free masonry.
The immediate Past Luzon
Deputy Arsenio Isidro G. Yap on
the other hand, delivered his report
and valedictory address, gave out
recognition and awards and facilitated the ceremonial turn-over of
the gavels.
Yap expressed gratitude to all
District Deputies (DDs) and new
set of officers for The North and
South Jurisdictions for accepting
their positions as their new challenge.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you, for
your never ending support. Youve
played a crucial role in making
all of our achievements possible,
Yap said.

Team Love Bank visits NOH

School for Crippled Children

The awarding/turnover ceremony of the housing project of the Knights of Columbus

Philippines Foundation, Inc. dubbed as the K of C BAHAYNIHAN: A Fr. Willmann Housing
Project was held last June 19, 2015 at the Brgy. Marasbaras, Tacloban City.

The BAHAYNIHAN structures,

which showcase the unique features
of Lego bricks, provide sturdy,
permanent housing to selected
Yolanda victims whose previous
residences built on their personallyowned residential lands were totally
destroyed by the Super typhoon.
The project, which was started
last December 4, 2014, completed
construction of six simple yet
typhoon-resistant houses for six
Yolanda victims. In line with the
initial construction schedule, the
project was originally targeted to
provide visible evidence of the
Knights of Columbus committed
assistance for calamity victims in
time for the historic visit of Pope
Francis to Tacloban last January
17, 2015 but this was not met due
to different operational concerns
encountered during the actual
construction.
It is called BAHAYNIHAN
because these structures represent
a partnership among: 1) the KC
Philippines Foundation, Inc., 2)
the beneficiaries who will pro-

vide minimal equity contribution

and 3) Lego Builders, Inc. as the
contractor. These three parties
worked together to show their
commitment to complete the
project regardless of hurdles and
limitations met.
Present during the event were
officers of the KC Philippines
Foundation, Inc. (KCPFI) led
by its President, Alonso Tan,
Foundations Trustee/Immediate
Past Luzon Deputy and KCFAPI
President Arsenio Isidro Yap, KCFAPI Executive Vice President Ma.
Theresa G. Curia, KC Foundations
Executive Director Roberto Cruz
and Foundations Trustee and
KCFAPI Spiritual Director Msgr.
Pedro Quitorio III.
Early this year, the K of C
Philippines, the largest Catholic
fraternal service organization in
the country urged its members
and other lay organizations to
actively live out their charity by
donating for typhoon victims
relief packs, rehabilitation and
livelihood. (Yen Ocampo)

Team KCFAPI CARES: Caregiver

and a Friend
He heals the brokenhearted and
binds up their
wounds Psalm
147:3
Members of Team Love Bank headed by Mr. Ronulfo Antero G. Infante (in light green
polo) together with the students of NOH School for Crippled Children during their visit
to the institution last June 24, 2015.

and its resident children by Ms.

Nerie Lopez (Lola Nerie, as
she is commonly called), who
is also the supervising care giver
and resident nurse. Founded in
1983, the institution serves as
shelter for children from various
areas in Metro Manila who were
abandoned, neglected, orphaned
including those surrendered by
their parents. The compound
Team Generous / C3

TEAM Love Bank composed of

employees from the Knights of
Columbus Fraternal Association
of the Philippines, Inc. (KCFAPI) visited the NOH School for
Crippled Children in Banawe,
Quezon City. This is in line with
the Year of the Poor Activity
Project of the Association which
is a monthly outreach program
for the less privileged sector of

our society.
During the groups visit last
June 24, Team Love Bank headed
by Mr. Ronnie Infante was welcomed by the school Principal
Marisa F. Duka. In her welcome remarks, Principal Duka
thanked KCFAPI for organizing
activities such as the Year of the
Poor that provides help for the
Team Love Bank / C3

CHILDREN are
Gods gift, they
were born to enjoy life and give
hope, love, and
joy to the world. Team KCFAPI Cares headed by Group Coordinator Bro. Gari M.
In contrast, there San Sebastian and Team Leader Bro. Roberto T. Cruz visited the
are children who patients of WARD 9 - Department of Pediatric of the Philippine
at an early age General Hospital (PGH) last June 24, 2015.
battle for their
lives against sickness and dis- chosen the patients from WARD
ability. Alas, their hearts are 9 - Department of Pediatric of
broken, their wounds are deep, the Philippine General Hospital
and their hopes and dreams tend (PGH) along Taft Ave., Manila
to be lost.
as beneficiary for the month of
Team KCFAPI CARES has
Team KCFAPI Cares / C3

C2

July 6 - 19, 2015 Vol. 19 No. 14

Arsenio Isidro G. Yap

Ma. Theresa G. Curia

Chairmans Message

Curia Settings

The Cross

A Journey in Retrospect
IT was sometime in June of 2007 when then
newly appointed Luzon Deputy Bro. Alonso
Tan called on about forty or so former state officers and officials and a few incumbent, former
District Deputies and a strong delegation from
Council 1000. I was an incumbent official of
outgoing Luzon Deputy Bro. Rodolfo Magsino.
I didnt know Brother Tan then and I didnt know
why he called on me to attend this meeting. From
the looks of the personalities present, it seemed that hes going to have a
complete new set of state officers.
He first met with all of us and announced to all the membership and
service program directors who among us he would like to serve under his
term. He then called about ten of us in a separate room. My heart was
pounding because I was elated on the possibility that I am among his top
ten. My mind race hoping that I could land in the top 5 so I could prove
my mettle and have a very good chance of being lined up as among future
Luzon Deputies.
My hope to land in the top 5 was dashed when he called me first. Ill
be top 10 not 5. To my surprise he suddenly announced that I will be his
State Secretary, the number 2 guy with the greatest chance of being the
next Luzon Deputy. Probably, even the other 9 were caught by surprise
as I was among the lowest ranking officers from the group and as I have
stated earlier, I didnt personally know Brother Alon.
Was it fate or did he know me better than I knew him then?
Barely a year into his term, he confided to me that I will be his choice to
succeed him. I was very glad that my time has come. I asked him if we could
keep this between ourselves so I wouldnt be put in a very embarrassing
situation should he change his mind three years later. I was so elated that
I wanted to shout and tell the world that Ill be the next Luzon Deputy.
But I kept my silence and excitement at bay.
When I was finally appointed as Luzon Deputy by our Supreme Knight
Carl A. Anderson in April of 2011, I immediately assessed the potentials
of my team. I kept all those who had performed well and replaced those
who do not seem to have the time to serve in the State Office.
I thought I knew everything, having served as State Secretary for 4 years,
having been a very active knight for 36 years who already served as Grand
Knight, Faithful Navigator, District Deputy and who has served for 10
years in the State Office occupying various positions. I was wrong and I
found out when I attended the organizational meeting for State Deputies
in New Haven that the task is enormous and demands a lot of time and
attention which I did not experience when I was still the State Secretary.
On June 30, 2015 my term as Luzon Deputy would end together with
my counterparts from the Visayas Bro. Rodrigo Sorongon and from Mindanao Bro. Balbino Fauni. The three of us did our jobs well and brought
honors to our respective jurisdictions. Brother Fauni will have 3 Circle of
Honor (COH) Awards under his belt one of which a Pinnacle Award, the
first for Mindanao. Brother Sorongon will also have 3 COH but the last
two being Pinnacle Awards also a first for the Visayas.
I would be having my fourth consecutive Circle of Honor award, two
of which Pinnacle Awards. I would be the first state deputy from the Philippines to achieve four consecutive COH and probably among the very
few if not the only one in the entire Order and the Knights of Columbus.
All the records that the Luzon Jurisdiction had achieved in the last
four years would stand for a very long time. It would be very difficult to
match. It would be very difficult to surpass. Its almost an impossibility.
Only Luzon could match and surpass it in the near future but since Luzon
is now divided into two, chances are, it wont happen in the near future.
Luzon had achieved so many firsts in this Columbian Year. It had
breached the 10,000 mark on Gross Recruitment and has already reached
12,013 as of June 15. The same thing with Net Recruitment at 11,248 and
is expected to reach 10,000 on Net/Net Recruitment on or before June 30.
As of June 15 total Gross Recruitment for the last four years is already
40,027, Net Recruitment at 36,263 and Net/Net Recruitment at 30,328
bringing Luzons membership to 169,527 from 139,199 four years ago. This

Work Is Service & Ministry

JULY starts the new Columbian
Year for the Order of the Knights
of Columbus. Normally, this
would mean new Leaders not
just for the Order but for the
Association, the Knights of Columbus Fraternal Association of
the Philippines, Inc. (KCFAPI).
The year starts as we welcome
the new Deputies of the Order:
Bro. Justice Jose C. Reyes, Jr.
Luzon North Deputy, Bro.
Ramoncito A. Ocampo Luzon
South Deputy, Bro. Anthony
P. Nazario Visayas Deputy
and Bro. Reynaldo C. Trinidad
Mindanao Deputy. We also
welcome our new set of Board
of Trustees headed by Chairman,
Bro. Arsenio Isidro G. Yap., immediate past Luzon Deputy and
President of KCFAPI.
At the start of Columbian year,
a new year and a new beginning,
we welcome the possibility of
refocusing our life, and professional direction. Let me begin
by sharing what I find is inspiring for me at the start of a new
episode of life.
What meaning do I attach to
my work? Why do I work?
Do I work because this is my
source of livelihood? Do I see this
as my ladder to being rich - to be
successful?
Or is this my way of developing myself to the maximum and
show how good and talented I
am? Or is it because that is the
way I can outshine the others?
Or perhaps this is a good way
to occupy my time, meet other
people and thus beat boredom.
The truth is, beyond the above
reasons, there are other meanings
which I have learned or have read
from the wisdom of many people. I find them quite challenging, even inspiring and I hope I
can internalize them more.
1. Our work is our way of serving; it is a ministry;
2. It develops the Jesus image

in us; and importantly,

3. This makes us co-creators.

Work is ministry.
We like to do our best to excel
in our work. We give our best in
our performance and we strive
for excellence. We do not cheat
in terms of the use of company
time and in the management of
material and human resources.
We do all these things in the
name of service, in the name of
ministry. Our work is a service
to people with whom we work
and to those people for whom we
work. If we work for a company,
an establishment, or for a group
of financiers,-- doing our best
at work is the best service that
we can offer in gratitude. Our
best is an appropriate way of
showing our gratitude and the
most significant way of making
the company profitable. Our
good work will ensure that the
company will continue to exist
and will give work and service
to others. We do justice to the
good idea that started the work
where we are involved in and this
is service.
When we do our best at work
we inspire each other in the team.
When we work seriously and
with dedication, we honor and
respect and therefore, serve our
colleagues who also put in their
serious efforts. Thus when we
succeed, we are able to serve the
team because the contribution of
other people is not put to waste.
But most importantly we work
hard for the people who have
sought or paid for our merchandise or our service. Our work
serves the people who depend on
our merchandise for food, medicine, services and the like. They
benefit from our good work for
they get what they expect, what
they deserve. And they feel good
and honoured that their trust was
not defrauded.

When we strive for excellence

we produce excellent result,
output, and outcomes. This, of
course, serves the general public
who look up to us in our field.
When we tell our clients what
we offer, they trust that we are
telling the truth. And they patronize or come to us for help.
Consistently producing the best
merchandise is not aimed merely
at maintaining our good image in
society and to keep the income
flowing. The best reason for
doing this is to make the clients
feel secure that coming to us,
they will be safe and they will get
quality merchandise or service.
People feel good when they are
not cheated as they patronize our
merchandise or service, and that
they get their moneys worth. It
is indeed a way of serving others
when we give them a feeling of
security, satisfaction and sense of
being respected because they are
not cheated.

Work is an image of Jesus the

Worker
Jesus learned his trade from
his father, Joseph the Worker.
Although he was also a dreamer
and a visionary -- he was also
a Worker. He was a carpenter,
and a preacher. And he did what
he was sent to do with passion
and compassion. His preaching
was meant to be of service to his
listeners in his work of bringing
the good news and sense of wellbeing to them. He served them
by telling them the truth, leading
them to a good life in obedience
to the Father. This is ultimate
service to be able to lead people
to the Truth, the Good and the
Beautiful. He was both The Message and the Messenger by his life
and even his death.
And although we do not have
written evidence, he must have
been also a good, responsible,
trustworthy Carpenter. He must

have delivered good craftsmanship, delivered on time and I am

sure he did not overcharge nor
steal from his clients. He was his
earthly fathers son from whom
he inherited or learned his good
work ethics and skills.

Work makes us Co-creators

After God created the world,
He has continually sustained it
with his Bounty and Providence.
But the physical and material
sustainability of the earth is actually done by the work of human
hands. So whatever we do, puts
the ideas of God into operation.
Our talents, our skills and our
creativity continue the act of
creation. All that we have and
all that we do come from the
gifts of God to us humans. We
are the thinking species and we
continue life on earth. We are
Co-Creators of God whenever
we start anything new, whenever
we continue what was begun
by those who went ahead of us
and whenever we stop or change
whatever is not good in the running of the world.
Through our work, we make
the world a better place to live
in and we improve what others
have begun. This is how we
help build Gods Kingdom on
earth. Our work is our proof
that Gods gifts in us bear much
fruit. And we hope that they
are fruits that will last and will
guarantee that the world will
continue as God has planned.
I pray that the evil in men and
women may be touched by
Gods Spirit so that they will
not annihilate Gods work by
their cheating, corr uption,
stealing and violence to Creation and to other humans.
May we offer to the next generation the work of our hands,
the fruits of the earth and our
good hearts made to the image
and likeness of God, the Creator.

Bro. Michael P. Cabra

My Brothers Keeper

Chairmans Message / C3

Charity, Life Insurance and Evangelization

Sir Knight Jose C. Reyes, Jr.

Presidents Message
Answering the call to evangelize
LAST June 4, 2015, the newly elected and
appointed State Deputies gathered for an
orientation-seminar in the headquarters of
the Knights of Columbus in New Haven,
Connecticut. This is the first international
activity that Luzon is represented by two
State Deputies. As part of this important
activity, our Supreme Knight, Carl A.
Anderson, rallied behind Pope Francis call
to serve the poor. This call of our beloved
Pope Francis echoes the call of Jesus taken from Luke 4:16-21 that He
came to bring glad tidings to the poor, give sight to the blind, set free the
oppressed and proclaim liberty to the captives.
Thus, the Luzon North and South Jurisdictions have chosen the theme,
Answering the call to evangelize for this year. It is broad and consistent
with the call of Jesus Christ to all of us Christians. Yet, the response of each
Knight of Columbus member should be specific and with concrete results.
Our Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson has repeatedly reminded us that
it is our moral obligation to invite every eligible Catholic gentleman to
join the Knights of Columbus. But it should not stop there. We should
make known to them what Jesus Christ wants us to do and that is, to
evangelize our brother knights so that they will know more about God
and consequently, love Him more. It is when we are filled with the Holy
Spirit that love overflows and enables us to share the good news to others.
Let us show the Jesus in us so that people will easily accept our invitation to join the Knights of Columbus, to be active members of K of C, to
offer availment of KCFAPI benefit certificates to others, to be donors to
our K of C projects, and to help in various ways to make K of C succeed
in fulfilling its mission.
In the past years, the Knights of Columbus has been generously giving
time and treasure to victims of disasters in Luzon as well as in other parts
of the country. However, we also have brothers and sisters in our areas of
responsibility who need to hear and see God in their lives. They might
have needs that are not material but more emotional and spiritual. This is
an opportunity to make them feel our presence and concern through prayer
and companionship. Remind them that they are never alone because God
is always with each one of us. That even in their difficulties, they too can
help others in more difficult situations, and in so doing, they will feel that
their burdens are light after all.
Sometimes, our brother Knight, our next door neighbor, or a family
member can be blinded by envy; hence, they lose sight of what they have
and the many blessings they have received which are not always material
things. We need to help them see Gods gifts from the smallest to the
biggest such as the gift of family, the gift of community such as the K of
C and the gift of life itself each day we wake up. Let us be sensitive to the
needs of our loved ones at home and beyond.
There are many people who are oppressed by illness, vices, temptation,
stress and other burdens that make them feel away from the Lord, or even
forgotten by God and man. These are the people who need our help in
the form of consoling words to give them hope. Even a visit, a text message, a hand to hold or any form of assurance that their suffering is not
unending. Assure them that Gods light is brightest during dark days and
all they have to do is open their heart to see Gods light even from afar.
Finally, God has given us the task of helping those who are captives of
money, power, work and achievements. Let us help them overcome their
captivity to worldly things that are of no true and lasting worth. May God
bless our plans and our activities all for the glory of God.

ANOTHER Columbian Year (CY) has

ended (CY 2014-2015) and a new one has
just started (CY 2015-2016). The theme
for this new Columbian year is Answering the Call to Evangelize. For Knights
of Columbus members it is Practicing a
Charity that Evangelizes. This same calling was the message that Supreme Knight
Carl Anderson and Supreme Chaplain
Archbishop William Lori brought to state
deputies and state deputy-elects through
their addresses to the 2015 Organizational
Meeting of State Deputies last June 5,
2015. Charity, Life Insurance and Evangelization has one thing in common for
every member of the Order.
As a member of the Knights of Columbus Order, Charity is owning a
benefit certificate. As what Fr. Michael
McGivney always says Charity begins
at home. And home is where the heart
is. Literally, home is our physical body.
Figuratively, home is also our family,
our loved ones. Charity begins with our

physical body by availing a personal

life insurance plan. Availing a benefit
certificate is charity to oneself because
in case of disability or old-age we have
something to support ourselves with
financially without depending on others
and putting the weight on them. Possessing a benefit certificate is also a charity
to our loved ones because in case of
our early demise or premature death we
have a financial legacy to leave behind.
Having a benefit certificate is the best
confirmation how much a Brother
Knight loves his family.
Life insurance claims provide physiological necessities for oneself or the living family members. Physiological needs
include basic needs like food, shelter and
clothing. Based on Abraham Maslows
Hierarchy of Needs, a persons basic need
must be met before self-actualization
can be achieved. Self-Actualization is a
persons motivation to reach his/her full
potential. Evangelization belongs to the

third level of Maslows Hierarchy of Needs

which is Love and Belongingness. Therefore, for one to evangelize or become an
effective evangelist he/she must experience the previous levels. Unfortunately,
very few individuals, especially here in the
Philippines reach this level due to poverty.
To have more evangelists in the future,
more Brother Knights and family members should own a life insurance policy.
As we inch into CY 2015-16, toiling for
the theme Answering the Call to Evangelize, may we always be reminded of the
primary objective of our Order, that is,
To render pecuniary aid to its members,
their families and beneficiaries of members and their families. Before we further
increase the number of our members and
continue conducting charitable works for
our organization, let us all be mindful of
the safety and protection of our existing
members and ensure more evangelists in
the near future. Again, charity begins
at home.

Bro. Roberto T. Cruz

Touching Base with the Foundations

Hopes for a New Columbian Year

FOR the members of the Order
of the Knights of Columbus, July
signals the entry of the new Columbian Year 2015-16 as well as
a new set of KC Officers. For our
two Foundations, the KC Philippines Foundation, Inc. (KCPFI)
and the Knights of Columbus
Fr. George J. Willmann Charities, Inc. (KCFGJWCI), July
likewise means the start of the
new school year for our scholars,
both Collegiate and the seminarians and priests. Probably, the
most anxious here would be the
new crop of incoming freshmen
who will be receiving their first
scholarship grant check from
either foundation. Each check
released to them by the Founda-

tion represents a step closer to

the realization of their personal
dream to improve their personal
life and attain their profession or
vocation in life.
As we have new freshmen
coming in to start their grants
with us, the Foundations have
also acquired a matching new
batch of graduates who will
now be going out to the world,
armed with the education given
by KCPFI or KCFGJWCI, to
meet the challenges of their daily
lives. It is important for these two
groups to spread awareness about
Fr. George J.Willmann, SJ and
to promote his Cause. Particularly for the graduates who have
already fully benefitted from the

scholarships given them, it is now

their chance to truly give back to
Fr. Willmann for all his sacrifices,
devotion and love for the Knights
of Columbus and its family. The
graduates can spread awareness
about Fr. Willmann in their offices
and families (for the Collegiate
scholars) and in their assigned
dioceses and congregations (for the
seminarians and priests).
For the incoming KC Officers
for the new Columbian year
who will soon be assuming their
respective positions, whether
elected or appointed, we pray
that their thrusts will supplement
the Foundations efforts for the
Cause of Fr. Willmann. We must
never forget that without Fr.

Willmann, we would all not be

in the positions we are now in at
the Knights of Columbus. And
as we belong to the KC family,
we must constantly follow the
examples set by Fr. Willmann
himself.
This month of July, we welcome our incoming scholars for
both Foundations. To you and
to our successful graduates, may
you all optimize the life-long
impact you will create in your
life. Finally, we also welcome our
new KC leaders, led by our four
new State Deputies who will now
steer us all to be a more effective
organization of Catholic brothers. A Meaningful and Relevant
New Columbian Year to all!

The Cross

C3

July 6 - 19, 2015 Vol. 19 No. 14

The Enduring Call to Love

By SK Carl A. Anderson
IN 1980, St. John Paul II convened
the first Synod of Bishops during
his pontificate and chose for its
theme the Christian family. Following the synod, he wrote the
most important document on the
pastoral care of marriage and family in the history of the Catholic
Church: his apostolic exhortation
Familiaris Consortio (On the Role
of the Christian Family in the
Modern World).
John Paul II began Familiaris
Consortio with a magnificent vision of the human person. He
wrote: God created man in His
own image and likeness: calling
him to existence through love,
He called him at the same time
for love. God inscribed in the
humanity of man and woman
the vocation, and thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and
communion. Love is therefore the
fundamental and innate vocation
of every human being (11).
In his first encyclical, Redemptor Hominis, written in 1979, the
pope had already identified the
fundamental pastoral and cultural
challenge facing Christians in our
time: Man cannot live without
love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life
is senseless, if love is not revealed
to him, if he does not encounter
love, if he does not experience it
and make it his own, if he does not
participate intimately in it (10).
In short, St. John Paul II saw
that all the so-called social issues
related to procreation, marriage
and the family relate to our vocation of love.
A decade later, Professor James
Davison Hunter of the University
of Virginia popularized the term
culture warsa term that continues to be a way of understanding
the conflict between religious and

secular approaches to social issues.

But John Paul IInever used
such language. Although he often
spoke about a culture of life and
a culture of death, for him the
question was always one of witness,
dialogue and openness to others. A
Christians vocation to love always
applies to those with whom one
might disagree. John Paul II wrote
in Redemptor Hominis that the
Churchs consciousness must go
with universal openness, in order
that all may be able to find in her
the unsearchable riches of Christ
(4).

Pope of the family

During the first five years of
his pontificate, St. John Paul II
instituted seven major initiatives
to strengthen Catholic marriages
and families. The first was his series
of 129 Wednesday catecheses on
human love. Begun in 1979, these
addresses have come to be known
as the theology of the body. The
pope, however, chose another title
for the series: Human Love in the
Divine Plan.
In addition to the synod in 1980
and the publication of Familiaris
Consortio the following year, the
Holy Father also established both
the Pontifical Council for the Family and the Pontifical John Paul II
Institute for Studies on Marriage
and Family. Finally, in 1983, he
promulgated The Charter on the
Rights of the Family and presented
a more pastoral approach to the
Churchs law on marriage through
the revised Code of Canon Law.
The key to understanding St.
John Paul IIs theology of human
love is that there can be no authentic theology of love abstracted
and divorced from the Creators
design of the human body and
human sexuality. The body has a
meaning in the Creators plan for
the vocation and redemption of
every human person. Likewise,

the body has meaning that is

not only biological, but also theological and spiritual. In Familiaris
Consortio, John Paul II put it this
way: Man is called to love in his
unified totality. Love includes the
human body, and the body is made
a sharer in spiritual love (11).
Elsewhere John Paul II explained
that in the Creators design there
is a language of the body, which
each person is expected to speak
truthfully as part of the marital
communion of spouses.
One of the extraordinary aspects of John Paul IIs theology of
love is the way it reintroduces the
idea of natural law. It does so by
reintroducing an understanding
of the Creators design for his created order through an experience
that everyone sharesnamely,
the search for authentic love and
communion. John Paul II knew
that without a connection between
human experience and the design
of the Creator for human action,
issues of procreation and marriage
could easily be reduced to the latest sociological studies or public
opinion polls.

Confronting secularism
Fifty years ago, Protestant theologian Harvey Cox argued in his
book The Secular City that Christians must find a new openness
and acceptance of secularism as
Western societies transition from
a Christian to a secular culture.
Cox wrote that to avoid becoming a prisoner of his own past,
man must understand that God
comes to us today in the events
of social change. He added that
the question of what it means to
be a Christian will be answered
by events that take place in the
future.
This view has obvious implications for the way Christians respond to changes in societys views
of personal morality and family

structure. Such an approach has

done very littleif anything at
allto reverse the decline of many
mainline Protestant denominations
that appear to have adopted it. In
their rush to avoid being prisoners of the past, they have in a way
become prisoners of the future.
But this is only one response to
the problem of secularization.
Writing from a Nazi prison
cell shortly before his execution,
another Protestant theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, put the problem
starkly: We are proceeding toward
a time of no religion at all.
How do we speak of God without
religion?
Bonhoeffers question continues
to resound today, especially in his
native Germany and elsewhere in
Europe. But Bonhoeffers greatness
lies not in the question he asked,
but rather in the fact that he asked
it from a prison cell. Bonhoeffer
answered his own question in the
simple but profound act of his
witnessa witness that led to his
death.
St. John Paul II spent his entire
life confronting secular atheism
often in its most virulent and
violent forms. The claim of these
totalitarian systems was essentially
the same: The answer to mans
problems will come in the events
of social, economic and political
change, whether realized by Hitlers
Thousand Year Reich or Marxs
workers paradise.
John Paul II responded to the
challenge of secularism on many
levels. But most notably he responded to this challenge in his
prophetic ministry to married
couples and families.

The path of Christian witness

Today, both our culture and our
Church are confronting new questions about what it means to be
married and, in particular, what it
means to be married as a Christian.

The Gentle Warrior

By James B. Reuter, SJ
Part II of Chapter Two of The Gentle Warrior series
CHAPTER TWO
--------.--------The Ateneo de Manila

GEORGE Willmann arrived at the old

Ateneo in Intramuros after the school year
had started. He was assigned to teach in
College. The Dean of the College made up
for lost time by assigning George to teach
English, Latin, History, Religion, Economics and Political Science. George was
twenty-five years old. He was physically
fit. He accepted the teaching assignment
with enthusiasm. He was accustomed to
hard work, because of his two years with
that Bank on Wall Street in New York.

He was Moderator of the Sodality of

the Blessed Virgin Mary, Director of the
Ateneo Catechetical Instruction League,
Moderator of the monthly magazine, and
Moderator of the Alumni Association.
His classes in English and in Latin
were an adventure. The Filipino boys
were excellent in languages. Almost all of
them were tri-lingual, at least. They spoke
Spanish at home, English at school, and
Tagalog in the street. But because they
were fluent in language, and not embarrassed when they made mistakes, George
was running into all kinds of new words
in their English compositions. He would
be working up to midnight, correcting
the papers.
Once when he was prefecting the study
hall of the boarders, a young Tagalog boy
came to him, in all innocence, and said:
Father, could I have permission to leave
the study hall for a few minutes? I want to
kwan my kwan. George looked at him,
and said, slowly: You want to.what?
The boy said, happily: I want to kwan my
kwan. George shook his head and said:
Youre not going to do anything like that

while I am prefect of the study hall! Go

back to your desk. The boy pleaded: But
I really have to kwan my shoes! George
said: Your shoes? The boy said, eagerly:
Yes! I have to shine my kwan. George
said: Oh! Why didnt you say that in the
first place? The boy answered: But I did!
I asked permission to kwan my kwan!
That was when George discovered
that kwan meant anything. It could
be a noun, or a verb, or an adjective, or
an adverb. George learned from the boys.
To update his History he read in the library, during all his spare time whatever
spare time he had. This is how he learned
so much about the Philippines it was
Spanish; it was Malay; it was Chinese; it
was Muslim. He learned, little by little, to
distinguish the Spanish mestizos from the
pure Malays; how to recognize a Chinese
mestizo by his accent; how to tell the difference between an Ilocano, a Cebuano, an
Ilonggo, a Waray-Waray, a Pampangueno,
and a Bicolano, or a pure Tagalog from
Malolos in Bulacan.
(To be continued on the next issue.)

Team KCFAPI Cares / C1

June Care for the Sick and

Disabled. The patients are
children who are suffering
from different illnesses like
Pneumonia, various infections, even the life threatening cancer, etc. from ages
zero to fourteen years old.
Our team aimed to let them
know about Fr. George J.
Willmann, SJ who cared for
the young, the sick and to
give them hope, love and joy
in our own little way.
On June 24, 2015, Manila
day at exactly 9:00 in the
morning, we held a short
program that started with
the distribution of Holy
Rosaries and Fr. Willmanns
prayer cards to the patients,
followed by welcome remarks
of Ms. Cecilia Tubig, the

assigned head nurse of ward

9 and a prayer led by one of
the team members, Bro. Basil
Occeo. The team leader,
Bro. Gari San Sebastian,
introduced Team KCFAPI
CARES and the objectives of
the program. Furthermore, as
part of the teams objectives,
Bro. Roberto Cruz, the assigned leader for the month,
brought in the life and works
of Fr. George J. Willmann,
SJ to the children and their
families, nurses, and doctors.
After which, our team
started to share happiness
with the kids and guardians
via a game called Batang
Henyo. Despite their medical conditions and the burden their families experienced, they still participated

and enjoyed the game. The

program did not end there,
the team continued to bring
hope by giving gifts (prizes
and personal hygiene kits)
and by showing inspirational
video clips to uplift their
spirits. After these fun activities, lunch was served and
the program concluded as we
prayed together to God, our
loving and merciful Father
through the intercession of
Fr. George J. Willmann, SJ
to heal each and every patient
in the ward.
At first, it was really challenging and difficult to show
gladness because of the sorrow that each of us felt when
everyone saw the situation of
each patient. Nevertheless, as
Gods Protectors, we showed

the tougher and joyful side

which helped each of us go
through the activities and
bring enjoyment to everyone.
On the other hand, their
laughter served as music to
our ears and their eagerness
to fight against their illnesses
brought great hope to us.
Indeed, it was a life-changing
experience, our team was
very grateful that even for
a short period of time, we
made them happy. Truly,
God can heal our broken
hearts and wounds, learning
from the different forms of
life that keep inspiring us
to live His gift of life. These
and more is all about KCFAPI that cares! (Jennefer
Bautista)

Scholar / C1

Ms. Katrina was born on April 21,

1994 at Iligan City. She is the loving
daughter of Sis. Cerenia B. Baliling, a
public school teacher and Bro. Wilfredo
L. Baliling of Council 12550 Bahayan 6
Luinab, Iligan City. She took her primary
education at Iligan City East Central
School and her secondary education at

Mindanao State University Iligan Institute of Technology Integrated Developmental School. During her elementary
and high school days, she was a consistent honor student and was very active in
many extra-curricular activities. She had
a chance to be the schools representative
for editorial writing during the Division

Schools Press Conference where she

placed as second overall winner.
Currently, Ms. Katrina is busy reviewing at the CPA Review School of the
Philippines in Manila.
Congratulations to Ms. Katrina and
to all the KC Scholar graduates! (Christopher Camila)

These questions have been

brought into sharp focus by recent legal decisions in the United
States and other countries. They
are questions that will be addressed
by the World Meeting of Families
in September and by the Synod of
Bishops in October.
In an increasingly suspicious and
hostile culture, married Christians
will find it difficult to witness to
the Creators design for marriage
and family in their daily lives. Will
Christian spouses find the theological, spiritual and pastoral resources
necessary to help them live this
way? Will Christian parents find
the catechetical resources to help
them transmit this way of life to
their children? In many places
today those resources are not sufficiently available to the faithful.
These questions, too, will need to
be addressed.
For John Paul II, human love
in the divine plan can never be
divorced from the redemption of
human sexuality. That may appear
to be an impossible task in todays
culture, but we are told that if
we have faitheven as small as a
mustard seedwonderful things
will happen.

In the days ahead, some pundits

may see Catholics engaged on a
new front in the culture wars.
And some critics of the Church
will claim that this engagement is
motivated by hostility or animus.
But that was not the way of St.
John Paul II, just as it is not the
way of Pope Francis.
Christians cannot take up their
vocation of love in regard to marriage and at the same time ignore
their vocation of love in regard to
their neighbor.
We must remember the words
of St. Augustine in The City
of God, that among our most
declared enemies there are now
some, unknown to themselves,
who are destined to become our
friends.
On this path of Christian witness, the words of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)
are a guiding light. Canonized by
St. John Paul II in 1998, this great
20th-century witness and martyr
declared, Do not accept anything
as the truth if it lacks love, and do
not accept anything as love which
lacks truth! One without the other
becomes a destructive lie.
Vivat Jesus!

Team Love Bank / C1

disabled adding that they will forever

be thankful for visiting the school and
bringing joy and laughter to the students. Meanwhile, the NOH students
gave Team Love Bank a different kind
of welcome as four disabled students
in their wheelchair together with two
other students performed a dance
number to the tune of All About That
Bass by Niki Minaj to the delight of the
members of the group.
Mr. Rick Jayson Mariano of Team
Love Bank then introduced to the children the life and works of Fr. George
J. Wilmann, SJ. Sharing to the kids the
journey of Fr. Wilmann as an American
national with a Filipino heart, he cited
numerous instances when Fr. Wilmann
showed his love for the Filipino people
and how he established the Knights of
Columbus in the Philippines.
There were more than 100 children
who were treated with a musical play,
snacks, fun games and prizes. This is
the biggest number of beneficiaries
that the Team was able to visit in their

monthly outreach activity. In their

previous outreach programs with the
Year of the Poor Activities, Team Love
Bank went to the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong for
the month of April. For the month of
May, the Team went to Hospicio de
San Jose to bring joy to the orphaned
and abandoned children. During those
months, the number of beneficiaries
and participants range from around
30-40 individuals. This time, the group
tried to outdo itself by gathering 100
students of the NOH School for Crippled
Children. It was a success that the team
was able to accomplish its goal during
their visit to the school, that is to entertain the students and to show them that
even in their difficult condition, there are
people who are willing to help and show
them support.
Towards the end of the activity, Team
Love Bank presented to the children the
different board games requested by their
faculty which are intended to incorporate
fun in learning. (Eddon Jose Sarmiento)

Team Generous / C1

currently takes care of 25 infants and

toddlers. Most cases referred to them
are infants abandoned at a very fragile
age (some as early as a few hours from
birth) and discovered in damp public
areas such as train stations and public
toilets. As described by Lola Nerie,
some of these infants were found with
umbilical cords still attached. Some are
children given away by their parents
out of poverty. Also under their care
is a child who was orphaned when her
mother passed away while giving birth.
The mother never had the chance to
hear her babys first cry.
As soon as we stepped into the play
area toddlers, around 15 of them ranging from 1 to 2 years old, greeted us
with hands stretched out for us to carry
them. We realized that these kids are
going through childhood without the
loving arms of a loving mother and
father, something they desperately long
for. The next few hours were exhausting
having to tend two or more children at
a time, but the sound of their laughter
and the joy in their faces were enough

to keep our spirit and energy high.

After spending time of playing, it was
meal time for the children. Each one
in the group had the opportunity to
feed one to two children who enjoyed
a hearty meal.
For us KCFAPI employees, the
time with the children was an experience worth remembering and an eye
opener. Despite the fun fare with the
children, the look in their eyes shows
their innocence, oblivious of their
past. But what is most apparent is
their instinctive tendency to seek the
love and care of a parent through the
people they meet.
A priest once said that children
born under unusual circumstances are
special in the eyes of God, we believe
so. The children of Concordia Child
Service and all other children with
similar situation should be given all
the love and warmth they deserve and
more importantly our support especially prayers. They are after all, Gods
little angels. (Greg Asis and Gemille
Gloria)

Chairmans Message / C1

represents 9.03% of the total membership

of the Knights of Columbus at 1,875,646.
Luzon is the largest jurisdiction in terms
of membership with 169,527 distant
second is Texas with only 102,960 and
Mindanao at third with 98,526.
Among the proud achievements of
Luzon is the acquisition of an Ultrasound
machine which has already examined
4,105 pregnancies in 65 areas in an effort
to educate and catechize pregnant women
and prevent them from contemplating
abortion.
Another is the Annual Walk for Life
that we knights conduct on the closest
Saturday to March 25, the Feast of the
Annunciation, and make a statement that
we value and will protect life in all its stages

from conception to its final moments.

Also the extended help to victims of
typhoon Yolanda in the form of cash,
relief goods, 4 motorized bancas and 4
chainsaws. The motorized bancas are able
to produce a 500 to a thousand pesos income per day for each of the 4 recipients.
The chainsaws are able to produce 15,000
worth of coco-lumber each per day and
are shared to the different parishes of the
Diocese of Borongan, Eastern Samar.
Im pretty confident that the two new
Luzon Deputies, Bro. Jose Reyes, Jr. for
the North and Bro. Ramoncito Ocampo
for the South would continue and be able
to carry on the programs that have put
Luzon in the record books of the Knights
of Columbus.

C4

July 6 - 19, 2015 Vol. 19 No. 14

The Cross

Knights of Columbus seminarian-scholars

Conferment of Dr.
Ruperto P. Somera, Ordained to the Sacred Order of Priesthood
PhD, DBE, DBA, CPA,
FRI(Rs), FRIAcc,
FRIBA, FRIFC, FRIM,
FIAABRE, FTM
ROYAL INSTITUTION of Singapore
has conferred to Dr.
Ruperto P. Somera
as Honorary Fellow during the 5th
Global Congress
and Conferment
Ceremony held last
June 6, 2015 at the
Century Park Hotel,
Manila.
This is the most
prestigious and the
highest award ever
conferred by the Institution in recognition of Dr. Someras
contributions and
achievements as one
of the most outstanding Philippine government officials and a
very successful accountant, financial consultant, educator and
public administrator.
Dr. Ruperto P. Somera during the Conferment Ceremony
In the citation held last June 6, 2015 at the Century Park Hotel, Manila.
read by Dr. Clarke
Slemon, Chairman of Royal InstiDr. Somera is presently the
tution-Singapore, he mentioned Treasurer of KC Philippines Founthat the Honoree is an exemplary dation, Inc., Knights of Columbus
nation-builder in his own right, Fr. George J. Willmann Charities,
a social engineer revving up the Inc., and the newly elected Vice
engine of growth in many fields Chairman of Mace Insurance
where he is a major player.
Agency, Inc.

THE Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) in the Philippines celebrated their 77th
Founding Anniversary coinciding the 118th Birthday of Fr. George J. Willmann,
SJ last June 28, 2015. Present in the event were Fr. Jerome Cruz, CYO National
Chaplain and International Chaplain of Daughters of Mary Immaculate (DMI),
together with Fr. Loui Atanacio of the Diocese of Antipolo in coordination with
the Knights of Columbus Council 1000 led by Grand Knight Jun Florendo.

Rev. Fr. Remejun Dagon with Mindanao Deputy Balbino C. Fauni

DURING the month of May, two scholars of

the KC Fr. George J. Willmann Charities, Inc.
were ordained to the Sacred Order of Priesthood
in their respective Dioceses.
Last May 5, 2015, the community of Sto.
Nio Cathedral witnessed Rev. Fr. Magdaleno
G. Villarica III as he pledged his perpetual vow
of celibacy to Most Rev. Warlito I. Cajandig
DD, Bishop, Apostolic Vicar of Calapan.
Fr. Bong, as he is fondly called, was born
on September 14, 1986 to Mr. Roy and Mrs.
Perla Villarica of Victoria Oriental Mindoro.
He graduated from his Philosophy degree at
Saint Agustine Seminary in 2008. Thereafter,
the seminary formators recommended that
he continue pursuing his priestly formation.
He was then selected during the school year

Rev. Fr. Magdaleno G. Villarica III

2009-2010 as one of the scholars of the

Knights of Columbus Fr. George J. Willmann
Charities, Inc. for a five-year course in Theology at Divine Word Seminary in Tagaytay
City. Bishop Cajandig ordained him to the
Sacred Order of Deacon last November 18,
2014.
Meanwhile, May 25, 2015 marked the
ordination of a second KC seminarian-scholar
in the person of Rev. Fr. Remejun Dagon. The
ordination was held at the Mary Mediatrix Parish with Most Rev. Romulo T. Dela Cruz DD,
Parish Priest as mass presider.
Fr. Jun is the eldest son of Mr. Rene and
Mrs. Mercedita Dagon. Born on February 18,
1985, Fr. Jun finished his primary education
at Dimakanit Elementary School in 1998.

Inspired by their Parish Priest, he entered the

Notre Dame of Tulunan (administered by the
Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena)
for his secondary studies which he completed
in 2002. Afterwards, he continued his studies
at St. Francis Xavier College where he earned
his Bachelors degree in Philosophy in 2007.
Upon the recommendation of then Diocesan
Administrator Rev. Fr. Armando C. Angeles,
Fr. Jun was able to continue his Theological
Formation at the St. Francis Xavier Regional
Major Seminary thru a scholarship grant by the
Foundation starting school year 2007-2008. Fr.
Jun was ordained to the Sacred Order of Deacon
last June 28, 2014 by Most Rev. Archbishop
Romulo Valle DD, at San Pablo Cathedral,
Davao City. (Christopher Camila)

Turnover of Chapel Project held in Iloilo

THRU the generosity of brother
knights from Concepcion Council
No. 10768, the first ever Catholic
Chapel was finally built in the
island of Salvacion, Concepcion,
Iloilo.
Headed by Immediate Past
Visayas Deputy Bro. Rodrigo
Sorongon, Bro. Anthony Nazario
(now the Visayas Deputy) and
Former State Membership Director Noeni Nepomuceno, brother
knights crossed the wavy seas of
Concepcion, Iloilo to witness the
turnover ceremony for the newly
constructed chapel.
Reminiscing the first Mass in
Limasawa and baptism of the natives, Parish Priest of Concepcion
Rev. Fr. Bernabe Tutana, celebrated
the first Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

in this Catholic chapel of Bgy Salvacion, Concepcion, Iloilo.

Meanwhile, Bro. Nepomuceno
spearheaded other training projects and livelihood programs for
the neighboring island barangays
in Concepcion, Iloilo thru the
help of the Extension & Development Center of WVSU-Iloilo,
together with KofC councils in
Concepcion, along with the support from the Local Government
Unit under Mayor Milliard Villanueva.
Apart from the recently conducted training/seminar on vegetable
and fish processing, more training
programs are envisioned to take
place in the island barangays and
other areas in the Visayas Jurisdiction. (VizNews)

Brother Knights from Concepcion Council No. 10768 together with Immediate Past
Visayas Deputy, Bro. Rodrigo Sorongon during the turnover ceremony of a Chapel in
Brgy. Salvacion, Concepcion, Iloilo.

KCFAPI Vice President for Fraternal Benefits Group Gari M. San Sebastian gives orientation
to the new batch of fraternal counselors during the June FST Training.

BE STRONG. The Mambusao Council No 5614 launched the wheelchair project for
Brian Jade Bernas, a paralyzed victim of a gunshot inflicted by a thief. Incidental to the
celebration of the 117th Independence day of the Philippines, Visayas State Officers,
headed by the incumbent Visayas Deputy Anthony Nazario, turned over the wheelchair
to the recipient at the municipal gym of Mambusao, Capiz.