CBCP Monitor Vol. 23 No. 17 (August 19 - September 1, 2019) with UGNAYAN

Monitor CBCP

August 19 - September 1, 2019, Vol 23, No. 17

PROTAGONIST OF TRUTH, PROMOTER OF PEACE

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‘Solidarity Masses’ held for accused clergy

By Roy Lagarde

AS an expression of solidarity, Masses were held across the country on Aug. 15 for clergymen accused of destablizing the Duterte administration.

Those were the second special Masses this August for some bishops and priests facing sedition charges and other cases from the police.

“We entrust them to the Lord and to our Blessed Mother,” said Archbishop Romulo Valles, president of Philippine bishops’ conference.

“Let us be in solidarity with them in prayer”.

At the Caloocan cathedral, more than a thousand people gathered for the Mass to show support to the accused clergymen including their bishop, Pablo Virgilio David.

Bishop David’s strong stand for the rights of the poor, especially the families of victims of drug-related killings, has earned him the ire of President Rodrigo Duterte.

In a joint statement, the lay faithful and the religious men and women in the diocese expressed dismay over the charges that their church leaders are facing.

“We strongly denounce these false charges against them,” they said.

“We ask the government to withdraw the sedition charges and other cases filed them,” they added.

The police filed sedition charges against 36 individuals, including eight clergymen, over a series of videos posted online linking Duterte and his family to the illegal drug trade.

Aside from David, other church officials facing charges are Archbishop Socrates Villegas, Bishop Honesto Ongtioco and Bishop Teodoro Bacani.

Aside from the bishops, also accused are Fr. Robert Reyes, SVD Fr. Flaviano Villanueva, Jesuit Fr. Albert Alejo, and La Salle Bro. Armin Luistro.

Early this year, most of these Catholic leaders received death threats for their pronouncements against Duterte’s bloody war on drugs that already claimed thousands of lives.

On Aug. 9, the Justice department has conducted a preliminary investigation on the complaints.

The next hearing is on September 6.

Catholic bishops arrive in procession for the canonical installation of Bishop Dennis Villarojo as the new head of the Diocese of Malolos at the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception in Malolos City Aug. 21. ROY LAGARDE

ACN cries ‘persecution’ of clergymen in sedition case

Priests Flavie Villanueva, Albert Alejo, and Robert Reyes, who are among those facing sedition charges, are prayed over by nuns and laypeople after a “solidarity Mass” at the Christ the King Church in Quezon City Aug. 3. PHOTO FROM AMRSP

THE Philippine office of the papal charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) decried as “persecution” the criminal charges filed against some bishops and priests.

ACN, a group that supports churches in difficult situations, came to the rescue of the clergymen who are accused of sedition and other crimes.

“Such charges against them constitute persecution of the church,” said Mr. Jonathan Luciano, ACN Philippines national director.

“These charges are devoid of truth and justice, decency and respect for their human dignity,” he said.

The complaints stemmed from a

Church groups mourn death Priest wounded in shooting incident in Laguna of Gina Lopez

viral video on social media linking President Duterte and his family to the illegal drug trade.

As a group that helps persecuted Christians, Luciano said they are saddened over the “baseless accusations” against the church leaders.

The Justice department on Friday started its preliminary probe into the police’s charges of inciting to sedition, cyber libel, and obstruction of justice against 36 people, mostly government critics.

Among those accused are Archbishop Socrates Villegas, bishops Pablo Virgilio David, Sedition / A2

Bishop calls for independent probe into Negros killings A CHURCH official called for an independent investigation into the spate of killings in the central Philippines.

Bishop Broderick Pabillo, the auxiliary of Manila, said the surge of violence in Negros Oriental demands such action to bring justice to the victims.

“Such an investigation

cannot be simply left to the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines who have been implicated in the killings,” Pabillo said.

Fifteen civilians were killed by alleged vigilantes in the province last month, following the July 18 Killings / A6

Asian Catholic journalists unite against fake news

Environment Secretary Gina Lopez (left) leads the “Walk for the Environment” outside the Senate building in Manila, March 1, 2017. FILE PHOTO

Bystanders help Fr. Emil Larano who was hurt in a shooting incident in San Pablo City on Aug. 19. COURTESY OF JHEROME CORTEZ

TRIBUTES have been paid to a longtime environment advocate who dedicated many years of her life to the cause.

The Caritas Philippines extended its sincere condolences to the family of former environment secretary Gina Lopez, who succumbed to brain cancer on Monday morning. She was 65.

A VILLAGE councilor was killed and a priest was injured in a shooting in San Pablo City, Laguna on Aug. 19.

Authorities identified the fatality as Richard Galit, 36, married and councilor of the city’s Barangay Conception.

Also hurt in the attack was Fr. Emil Larano, who is the director of the San Pablo Diocesan Catholic School System.

Social media users also flooded Facebook and Twitter with the news of Lopez’s death, who was strongly supported by many bishops and church groups for her strong anti-mining stand.

“We grieve for Gina Lopez.

But we too are grateful for the gift of life, spent for a worthy cause… a life of sincere commitment to what Mourns / A6

Initial investigation showed that Galit was the main target of the attack.

Galit was reportedly driving his car along Shetelig Avenue when motorcycleriding gunmen shot him and a stray bullet hit the left shoulder of Larano.

Bishop Buenaventura Famadico said the priest was also driving his car and just Incident / A7

Journalists from different church publications in Asia team up to fight fake news and strengthen evangelization efforts through the media during a conference organized

by SIGNIS Asia in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 14 to 16.

AS in other demographics, religion is a field that has become prey to the socalled “fake news” and disinformation.

Faced with these and other challenges, Catholic journalists in Asia seek to strengthen themselves Journalists / A6

A2 WORLD NEWS

August 19 - September 1, 2019, Vol 23, No. 17

Vatican Briefing

CBCP Monitor

Iraqi church formerly defaced by ISIS rededicated on Assumption feast

Pope Francis: Discover the beauty of prayer in adoration Pope Francis said Sunday that prayer in adoration of God and service to others spreads the fire of God’s love, changing the world one heart at a time. “I invite everyone to discover the beauty of the prayer of adoration and to exercise it often,” Pope Francis said Aug. 18. Adoration of God in prayer is necessary to allow the fire of love that Jesus brought to the earth to envelop our entire existence, the pope explained. (Courtney Grogan/CNA) Pope Francis gives thousands of rosaries to Christians in Syria Pope Francis announced Thursday that he is giving 6,000 blessed rosaries to Catholic communities in Syria as a sign of his closeness on the Marian Feast of the Assumption. “Prayer made with faith is powerful! We continue to pray the rosary for peace in the Middle East and in the whole world,” Pope Francis said Aug. 15 in his Angelus message for the Assumption of Mary. The pope blessed the rosaries made by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, and said that the Syrian families that lost someone because of the war are close to his heart. (Courtney Grogan/CNA) Popular movements key to social change, pope says Popular movements can spark the change needed to ensure a future that is no longer in the hands of elites and powerful people, but includes the poor who have the inalienable right to a life of dignity, Pope Francis said. Grassroots organizations representing the poor, the underemployed, indigenous communities and farmworkers are “a sprout that, like a mustard seed, will bear much fruit: the springboard of a great social transformation,” the pope wrote in the preface of a book that will be published in September by LEV, the Vatican publishing house. “Popular movements, and this is the first thing I would like to highlight, represent in my opinion a great social alternative, a profound cry, a sign of contradiction, a hope that everything can change,” he said. According to Vatican News, the new book, titled, “The Emergence of Popular Movements: Rerum Novarum of Our Time,” was prepared by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and will be published in Spanish. “Rerum Novarum” was Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical on worker’s rights and is considered the foundational document for the church’s social teaching. The new book explores a series of World Meetings of Popular Movements held since 2014 and supported by Pope Francis, it reported.

(Junno Arocho Esteves/CNS) Mexican Cardinal Sergio Obeso Rivera dead at age 87 Cardinal Sergio Obeso Rivera, retired archbishop of Xalapa, Mexico, who was created a cardinal by Pope Francis a little over a year ago, died at the age of 87. According to Vatican News, Cardinal Obeso died Aug. 11 in Xalapa. The pope expressed his condolences in an Aug. 12 telegram to Archbishop Hipolito Reyes Larios of Xalapa and prayed that Jesus may grant the deceased cardinal “the crown of glory that never withers.” According to Vatican News, Cardinal Obeso was buried in the city’s cathedral after a funeral Mass Aug. 13. His death leaves the College of Cardinals with 216 members, 119 of whom are under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a conclave. (Junno Arocho Esteves/CNS) Pope approves new statutes for Vatican bank Pope Francis approved new statutes for the Institute for the Works of Religion, often referred to as the Vatican bank, that include structural changes and a mandatory external audit.

The renewed statutes, which were approved by the pope “ad experimentum” (on a trial basis) for two years, were published by the Vatican press office Aug. 10. In a document signed by the pope Aug. 8, the pope emphasized the changes were to reinforce the Vatican bank’s intended mission to manage assets for “the works of religion or charity.” Among the primary changes to the statutes is the inclusion of an external auditor which, according to the document, can be either an individual or a company that is proposed by the institute’s supervisory board and appointed by the Commission of Cardinals overseeing the institute’s work. (Junno Arocho Esteves/CNS) Church is a mother to all, remains close to those who suffer, pope says Like the apostles who brought spiritual and physical healing to those in need, Christians are called to tend to the wounds of the suffering and the downtrodden, Pope Francis said. The church does not close its eyes when confronted with the sufferings of others but instead “knows how to look at humanity in the face to create meaningful relationships, bridges of friendships and solidarity,” the pope said during his weekly general audience Aug. 7. It is a “church without borders that is a mother to all, that knows how to take them by the hand and accompany them to lift up, not to condemn,” he said. “Jesus always, always stretches forth his hand, he always seeks to raise up to help people heal, be happy and encounter God.” (Junno Arocho Esteves/CNS) Pope urges families build a better future through stronger prayer life Pope Francis has asked families to set aside time to pray both individually and together as a family. His prayer intention for the month of August invites people to pray that “families, through their life of prayer and love, become ever more clearly schools of true human development.” At the start of each month, the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network releases a short video of the pope offering his specific prayer intention at www.thepopevideo.org.

“The Pope Video” was first launched in 2016 to encourage people to join an estimated 50 million Catholics who already had a more formal relationship with the prayer network—better known by its former title, the Apostleship of Prayer. The prayer network is more than 170 years old. (CNS)

Sedition / A1

Honesto Ongtioco and Teodoro Bacani, three priests, and several government critics.

Facing the same allegations include Fathers Albert Alejo, Robert Reyes, and Flavie Villanueva, and La Salle Brother Armin Luistro.

Villegas, David and the three priests previously claimed that they have received death threats for criticizing the spate of killings in the country.

Archbishop Villegas has been serving as president of ACN Philippines since the office was opened in Manila in 2016.

“We continue to pray and hope

that the government and respectful officials concerned will wield justice with truth, the practice of law with integrity,” Luciano said.

On Aug. 6, hundreds of priests, nuns, and laypeople showed their support for the accused church leaders during a “solidarity Mass” and candle lighting activity.

The Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines said the “silent gathering” was to resist the spate of killings and the persecution of church leaders “and those who speak the truth”. (CBCPNews)

The Church of Mar Behnam and Mart Sarah in Qaraqosh, Iraq celebrates Christmas Mass Dec. 25, 2018 before the church’s renovation.

QARAQOSH, Iraq—An Iraqi church damaged and defaced by the Islamic State in 2014 was rededicated Aug. 15 for the parish’s celebration of the Feast of the Assumption of Mary.

The Syriac Catholic Church of Mar Behnam and Mart Sarah in the Iraqi city of Qaraqosh welcomed Archbishop Petros Mouche of Mosul, priests, and the local Catholic community to celebrate the solemnity.

Archbishop Mouche rededicated the church’s altar, which had been burned by the Islamic State. After renonvations and rebuilding, the interior of the church, once charred black by fire, has been painted white.

“All these people do not see the community reborn only as stones, but as faith around

Christ who is celebrated in the Resurrection. So the Resurrection of Christ is the resurrection of the community itself that goes on. Our community has about 800 families,” Fr. George Jahola told Vatican News in an interview published Aug. 15.

Five years ago on the August Feast of the Transfiguration, the Islamic State devastated the city of Qaraqosh in Iraq’s Nineveh Plains causing Christians to flee the region.

“In 2014 we left our churches and our homes. The city had about 50,000 Christian inhabitants,” Fr. Jahola said.

Now the Christian population in the city has been reduced to half of what it was. About 26,000 Christians have returned to

AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Qaraqosh, Jahola explained.

During their occupation, the Islamic State desecrated the churches in Qaraqosh, in some cases writing battle instructions on church walls. St. George’s Syrian Catholic Church was turned into a bomb factory and used as storage for supplies of deadly chemicals to make powerful explosives.

The church of the Immaculate Conception was used as an indoor shooting range with mannequins as targets, according to Aid to the Church in Need.

The Church of Mar Behnam and Mart Sarah was charred black and its bell tower was demolished. “But we never stopped imagining how beautiful our church would be, once fixed,” Fr. Jahola said. (CNA)

‘Unplanned’ actress establishes scholarship for pregnant women COLUMBUS, Ohio— Ashley Bratcher, lead actress in the pro-life movie “Unplanned,” has helped establish a scholarship for women pursing an education during an unexpected pregnancy.

“Women can pursue their careers, live out their dreams, and have richer, more fulfilling lives while balancing motherhood.

Sometimes, it just takes a little help,” Bratcher said in a recent press release from Heartbeat International.

“I wanted to be a part of empowering mothers to chase their dreams and to provide a means for those who choose life to continue their educations.”

The scholarship, called the Unplanned Movie Scholarship, will give $5,000 annually for a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy. It can go toward educational educational opportunities including college or trade school.

The project is backed by Heartbeat International, a pro-life agency providing

pregnancy resources to expecting mothers in over 2,000 locations worldwide.

“Not only will the scholarship financially support the decision of mothers to continue their education, but it will also connect them to an organization that will support them throughout their pregnancy and beyond,” Bratcher added.

Jor-El Godsey, president of Heartbeat International, said the scholarship will help expecting mothers embrace education and life.

“Tucked into Unplanned is a vivid reminder that education can present an obstacle to accepting the new life within,” said Godsey.

“The Unplanned Movie Scholarship will be a lifeline to a young mom’s future as she makes the brave choice to embrace motherhood.”

Bratcher played Abby Johnson in the movie, “Unplanned.” The story follows the life of Johnson, a former clinic director

for Planned Parenthood, who had a conversion experience after witnessing the horrors of abortion. Today, Johnson is a pro-life advocate and the director of And Then There Were None, a ministry that helps other abortion workers leave the industry.

Following the movie’s release, numerous women reached out to Bratcher to share their stories of difficult pregnancy situations.

Andrea Trudden, director of communications for Heartbeat International, told CNA that many women shared a common conflict—they needed financial support to finish their education.

“After the release of ‘Unplanned,’ Ashley had a lot of different questions from moms who were reaching out sharing their stories about their unplanned pregnancies,” she said.

“The education aspect tended to be one of the hurdles.”

Trudden said the scholarship’s development is still underway. She

said applicants will be recommended from one of the agency’s pregnancy help centers, where the mothers’ needs will be best addressed. “[Pregnancy centers] provide parenting classes and financial classes.

We are able to couple what we do through these pregnancy health organizations with the woman who wants to continue her education,” she said.

“We are really looking at exactly how to partner with our pregnancy help organizations in order to provide the funds to the women.”

She said the scholarship will begin accepting applicants at the end of this year, after the organization receives enough funds.

The scholarship is now accepting donations at www.UnplannedMovie Scholarship.com Trudden said the opportunity will provide women the support they need to pursue their education, but it also presents a bigger message.

(CNA)

German archbishop in Auschwitz: Stand up against hubris of the politically powerful KRAKOW, Poland— On the eve of the 80th anniversary of the German invasion of Poland, a German archbishop has called for a stand against hubris and arrogance of those in political power.

Speaking on the occasion of a Mass in the former Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz/Oświęcim on Aug. 14, Archbishop Ludwig Schick of Bamberg recalled the witness of the Polish martyr and saint Fr. Maximilian Kolbe.

“On the anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War, Maximilian Kolbe reminds us to profess that God is the Almighty to whom all must submit for peace and unity in our world today,” Archbishop Schick said.

“No person can put themselves above God, and no nation can put

itself above another, the German prelate stressed, adding that the most important contribution of Christians to peace and unity among peoples and nations was “to profess the one and only benevolent God, the Father of all creation.”

God gives equal dignity and rights to all people, peoples and nations, and imposes the same duties of charity on all, Schick said, adding that St. Maximilian Kolbe had deeply committed himself to the obligation of charity.

The Polish priest resisted the totalitarian terror of Nazi ideology and was incarcerated in Auschwitz concentration camp. In 1941, he gave his life for a fellow prisoner.

He was brutally executed after suffering starvation in a hunger bunker.

Today, St. Maximilian Kolbe is a patron saint of Europe, reminding Catholics to stand against war, abuse of power and arrogance on the part of politicians, powerful men and leaders who presume to take God’s place, Schick continued.

Archbishop Schick is Chairman of the Contact Group of the German and Polish bishops’ conferences. He is taking part in the 10th workshop of the Maximilian Kolbe Foundation, of which he is Chairman of the Board of Directors, on St. Maximilian Kolbe’s Day of Remembrance at Oświęcim/Auschwitz. Since last Sunday, 45 participants from twelve European countries have been meeting there to discuss the topic “Dealing with the violent past.” (CNA)

CBCP Monitor

NEWS FEATURES A3

August 19 - September 1, 2019, Vol 23, No. 17

Appeals court upholds Cardinal Negros bishop takes up peacemaker’s mantle Pell conviction on abuse charges MELBOURNE, Australia— An Australian appeals court upheld the conviction of Cardinal George Pell on five counts of sexually assaulting two choirboys more than two decades ago.

A three-judge panel of the Appeals Division of the Supreme Court of Victoria announced its decision Aug. 21 in Melbourne with the cardinal in attendance.

“Cardinal Pell is obviously disappointed with the decision today,” said his spokesperson, Katrina Lee. “Cardinal Pell maintains his innocence,” and his legal team will study the panel’s judgment before deciding whether to appeal to the High Court of Australia.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said an investigation of the cardinal by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith would not begin until after the entire civil process concludes.

“As in other cases, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is awaiting the outcome of the ongoing proceedings and the conclusion of the appellate process prior to taking up the case,” he said.

Nevertheless, Bruni said, as the Vatican affirmed in February when the cardinal’s conviction was announced, “the Holy Father had already confirmed the precautionary measures imposed on Cardinal Pell upon his return to Australia, that is, as is the norm, the prohibition from exercising public ministry and from any voluntary contact whatsoever with minors.”

Possible church penalties, including removing a cleric from the priesthood, are imposed only after the doctrinal congregation

Cardinal George Pell is pictured during the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family at the Vatican in this Oct. 16, 2014, file photo. An Australian appeals court Aug. 21, 2019, upheld the conviction of Cardinal Pell on five counts of sexually assaulting two choirboys more than two decades ago. PAUL HARING/CNS

completes its process.

Chief Justice Anne Ferguson had read the appeals panel decision during a 30-minute hearing. She said the court was split 2-1 on the cardinal’s argument that the conviction was “unreasonable” given the evidence presented at trial to convict him beyond a reasonable doubt.

“Justice (Chris) Maxwell and I accepted the prosecutor’s submission that the complainant was a compelling witness, was clearly not a liar, was not a fantasist and was a witness of truth,” Ferguson said.

The third judge, Justice Mark Weinberg, agreed with Cardinal Pell’s attorneys.

The chief justice also told the court that the three judges unanimously agreed to throw out the two other grounds for appeal: that the cardinal should have presented his not guilty plea in person to the trial jury in December rather than by video and that the cardinal’s lawyers were not permitted to play a 19-minute animation to the jury in their closing statement.

Ferguson said the court decided that Cardinal Pell must continue to serve at least three years and six months of the six-and-a-halfyear sentence he received following his conviction in December.

“Whether he will be released on parole will be a decision of the adult parole board, not the court,” she said.

“While reiterating its respect for the Australian judicial system,” the Vatican “recalls that the cardinal has always maintained his innocence throughout the judicial process and that it is his right to appeal to the High Court,” said Bruni, director of the Vatican press office.

“At this time, together with the church in Australia, the Holy See confirms its closeness to the victims of sexual abuse and its commitment to pursue, through the competent ecclesiastical authorities, those members of the clergy who commit such abuse,” Bruni said.

The surviving victim, who cannot be named for legal

reasons, said that he never wished to damage the church and he had never sought compensation.

“After attending the funeral of my childhood friend, the other choir boy, I felt a responsibility to come forward,” he said.

“Some commentators have suggested that I reported to the police somehow for my own personal gain. Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said through his lawyer, Vivian Waller.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, president of the Australian bishops’ conference, said the bishops “believe all Australians must be equal under the law and accept today’s judgment accordingly.”

The archbishop also acknowledged the pain of survivors of abuse and the deep differences of opinion among Catholics about whether Cardinal Pell was treated fairly.

Survivor support groups applauded the judges’ decision. “For many survivors, a conviction being upheld against a high-profile, once-powerful perpetrator underlines faith in the justice process and the possibility of speaking out,” said Pam Stavropoulos, spokesperson for the Blue Knot Foundation.

The decision from the three-judge panel followed a two-day hearing June 5-6 in which Cardinal Pell, 78, and his attorneys argued that his December 2018 conviction on five counts of sexually assaulting two choirboys was “unreasonable” given the evidence presented.

The conviction occurred during the second trial for Cardinal Pell. The first trial in September 2018 resulted in a hung jury. (CNS)

Hospital boat named ‘Pope Francis’ sets sail to serve rural Amazon region BELEM, Brazil— A hospital boat named the “Pope Francis” set sail this week in the Amazon River to bring medical care to rural populations.

“Just as Jesus, who appeared walking on water, calmed the storm and strengthened the faith of the disciples, this boat will bring spiritual comfort and calm to the worries of needy men and women, abandoned to their fate,” Pope Francis said in a letter sent to mark the ship’s launch Aug. 17 in Belem, Brazil.

“In addition to being a beautiful concrete gesture in view of the Synod of Bishops for Amazon, this river hospital is above all a response to the Lord’s mandate, who continues to send His disciples to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick,” the pope said, according to Vatican News.

The hospital boat is the initiative of the Fraternity of Saint Francis of Assisi in the Providence of God in partnership with their local diocese and the Brazilian government.

The Brazilian Franciscans were inspired to create the floating hospital when Pope Francis visited their healthcare facility during World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro in 2013.

Pope Francis hospital ship. VATICAN MEDIA

During the visit, the pope encouraged Friar Francisco Belotti to expand his religious order’s charitable works into the Amazon region.

The boat, 32 meters in length, contains an operating room and analysis laboratory, and is able to provide a range of medical services, including X-rays, vaccinations, electrocardiogram, mammograms, and ultrasounds. The hospital began treating its first patients Aug. 18.

“Barco Hospital Papa Francisco” will travel along the Amazon River to reach people who live in communities in the Amazon only accessible by river.

It is staffed by 20 medical volunteers, 10 crew members, and a Franciscan boat director for each 10-day voyage.

Pope Francis, who has often spoken of the Church as a “field hospital,” added that the Church can also now be seen as a “hospital on the water.” (Courtney Grogan/CNA)

How one priest is helping children who’ve escaped slavery in the DRC mines KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo— Fr. Willy Milayi is a Missionary of the Immaculate Conception who lives in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He works rescuing children who fled the coltan mines and offering them a place to live and learn a trade.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one the world’s top producers of coltan, a rare mineral used in the manufacture of many electronic devices, such as cell phones.

Working conditions in the DRC’s coltan mines are dangerous and the workers,

including young children, are often exploited.

“The exploitation of these mines is in the hands of the guerrillas,” explained Fr. Malayi in an interview with the Diocese of Málaga in Spain.

“Our cell phones are stained with the blood of the ‘walking dead children’.”

Malayi works with children who have escaped forced labor in the mines. Many of them are living on the streets when he finds them. Some 20,000 children live on the streets of Kinshasa alone.

The Missionaries of the Immaculate Conception have

started an educational center in the city. He described the center as “a home where they can learn a trade that ensures them a future away from the mines and to never return to the streets.”

“We can’t solve all the problems, but we thank God for every one of the children we can rescue. It’s a true miracle that is made possible thanks to people of goodwill,” Malayi said.

The priest recounted one boy he encountered in his ministry, who had escaped the mines and fled hundreds of miles.

Starving and grief-stricken,

the boy needed someone to listen to him. “After giving him something to eat, he told me about his life,” Milayi said.

The boy said that his family had been kidnapped from their house by militiamen, who took them to the forest and told them they must choose between death and mining coltan 13 hours a day.

The family chose the mines: “They worked 650 feet below the surface taking out 15 sacks of coltan a day, for which they received two dollars at the end of the month,” Milayi said.

When riots broke out against the militias, they raped and Mines / A7

Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos. FILE PHOTO

BISHOP Gerardo Alminaza’s candid social media posts give a picture of the ups and downs of his days as shepherd to a besieged flock in San Carlos Diocese on the central Philippine island of Negros.

The prelate, who has just turned 60, wears a peacekeeper’s heavy mantle.

The four million residents of the country’s fourth-largest island are caught in the middle as President Rodrigo Duterte and communist guerrillas face off with each other.

Duterte ignored Bishop Alminaza’s call for a ceasefire amid a bloodletting that killed 21 civilians in less than two weeks last month.

Instead, the president threatened emergency rule “to replicate the atrocious acts done by communist rebels to the civilians,” though there remains no clear proof of rebel attacks against non-combatants.

Duterte also dangled a US$100,000 “dead or alive” reward for the killers of four police officers ambushed on July 18.

Bishop Alminaza meditated on the need for patience and poise in facing dark days. He offered quotes from inspirational Catholic authors.

From the late American bishop and theologian Fulton J. Sheen: “Patience is not the absence of action; rather, it is the power of right action — it waits on the right time to act, based on the right principles and executed on the right strategies.”

From the late Italian Catholic activist Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement that promotes the ideals of unity and universal brotherhood: “God allows moment of darkness, of agitation, and bitterness, so that we might know who we are and, conscious of our misery, and of our nothingness, we might throw ourselves back onto Him, with total trust only in Him.” One more post states that a moment of patience can ward off disaster while the opposite may ruin lives.

Social volcano A day after Duterte’s threat, Bishop Alminaza issued his strongest statement yet. He criticized the deployment of 300 crack policemen on the island and urged the president to “address the roots of armed conflict.”

“Martial law is neither the answer to centuries-old agrarian problems nor to decades of armed rebellion,” said the bishop.

His passionate defense of human rights and the dignity of life echo that of the late bishop, Antonio Fortich of Bacolod.

In the 1970s, Bishop Fortich had called Negros “a social volcano” because an economy based on a single plantation crop, sugar cane, had spawned obscene contrasts between the lives of a handful of families and hundreds of thousands of field hands and mill workers.

The late dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ ruthless response

to workers’ struggles fueled rebellion and built a bastion for the communist underground.

Duterte has vowed to bring back those old scorched earth tactics.

President Corazon Aquino succeeded Marcos in 1986 after the peaceful “people power” revolt. She brought sugar land under agrarian reform. But she saddled the measure with loopholes benefiting landowners, including her wealthy clan.

Today, 98,000 hectares of agricultural land remain undistributed on Negros, which provides 45 percent of the country’s sugar produce.

Only 1,860 individuals own 34 percent of more than 424,000 hectares of sugar land. More than 53,000 workers own only 35 percent.

Many agrarian reform beneficiaries, bereft of government support systems, have ceded back control of land.

Many of the island’s 385,000 farm workers are employed for only six to nine months a year, often on a piecemeal basis, in some cases earning less than US$3 a day.

Civilian targets Bishop Alminaza has many reasons to pray for fortitude.

In six months from September 2018 to March 2019, three massacres snuffed out the lives of 29 men from towns in his diocese, which spans the border towns of the island’s two provinces. All were sugar workers and small farmers.

All were breadwinners, barely earning enough to feed their families.

They were either struggling for the right to own land they had tilled for decades or helping others to do the same.

In 10 days in July, 21 more men were gunned down in his diocese. The targets were now mostly from the “middle class”: a lawyer, educator siblings, village chiefs, a councilor, a former mayor, a father and his child.

Police and military units had tagged most as either communists or rebel supporters. Several were publicly threatened with death by vigilante groups.

Rights groups link the murder spree to Duterte’s Memorandum 22, signed in November 2018, to “suppress lawless violence” in the island’s two provinces.

The practical expression of Duterte’s order is conflating activism with terrorism. He has blamed communists for exploiting land unrest by instigating a farmers’ campaign to occupy undistributed land.

Deadline passes Despite these draconian measures, Duterte missed his mid-June 2019 deadline to crush the 50-year-old communist rebellion.

He is expected to step up the use of urban drug war tactics, with death squads providing proxy services in provincial centers as two army brigades conduct sweeps of suspected guerrilla zones.

But he now faces a New Mantle / A7

A4 OPINION

August 19 - September 1, 2019, Vol 23, No. 17

CBCP Monitor

EDITORIAL

OF course, the same problems plaguing the country today are the very same hitches that Filipinos have been bearing since decades ago. The perennial poverty, peace and order, pervasive corruption, the secessionist groups, patronage political culture and many more stud the litany of the sorrowful fate that the country seems to have been condemned into.

The perceived election manipulation aside, Filipinos have been seemingly hoodwinked into voting candidates to the highest office of the land believing they were the messiahs, or so they are promised during electoral campaigns, that could transform the Philippines into that relative greatness before the 14 years of Martial Law plundered both its resources and dignity. The country has been retrogressing and its citizens salivating at the progress that has become of their Asian neighbors that, forty or so years ago, were looking up to the Philippines.

Even more painful than the empty stomach of millions of Filipinos is the growing problem of disinformation and the government’s seeming intolerance of critical dissent. These being the stuff that totalitarian governments are made of, makes it even more worrisome. Totalitarian governments are centered and subservient to their leaders not to their citizens, and, therefore, progress, if ever it happens, is vertical, not horizontal. History is replete with despots who ruled with greed and fleeced their subjects. The first thing that totalitarian leaders do is spread disinformation or propaganda then stifle opposition or critical dissent.

Disputable as it may seem, but there are streaks of indicators that the Philippines is heading to a near future that is not so democratic. Filing charges of inciting sedition to people who are telling the truth and critical to the present dispensation but upholding instead liars and con artists does not augur for a better Philippines.

Parents are our first teachers THERE’S no denying about it. No matter how much we try, we can never thank our parents enough. Through them and through their love, we come into being. They are actually the ones used by God to put us into existence. Thus, they are our first link to God. Seeing them is like seeing God right behind them.

They are the first ones to have authority over us in this world. And they exercise that authority with such tenderness and affection that we do not even realize that authority is exercised over us. We are not even aware that we are obeying and following them, especially when we are still very small.

Parents should then realize that their authority is no laughing matter at all. Their authority over us is always a participation in the authority of God as St. Paul once said. (cfr. Rom 13,1) They have to be aware that they have to exercise their authority the way God would exercise it over us. And in our case, as their children, since our parents gave birth to us and put us to life, their authority over us has a wider and deeper coverage than that of the other authorities we have in life.

Parents have to realize that their authority over us does not spring simply because of their biological relation to us.

That’s because from that biological basis arise many other and more important aspects of their authority. It’s not limited to the physical, material, emotional. It goes to the spiritual and supernatural aspects of our life.

Thus, our parents as our first authority here on earth are also our first teachers. And they teach us not only how to smile, speak, walk, eat properly, especially when we are still small, but also how to think, reason out, react and behave in the different situations in life as we grow up.

But there is one aspect of their being teacher to us that they should be ready to carry out. And that is to teach us how to develop our spiritual life, how to be not only truly human but also truly Christian, a firm believer and lover of God and of everyone else. More than the schools and the churches, more than the teachers and priests and nuns, who only play a subsidiary and supporting role in the education and formation of children, it is the parents who should help their children acquire the spiritual and supernatural life proper to all of us.

For this reason, they have to be ready to teach their children about God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Church and the sacraments, the commandments and morality, and especially about prayer. They have to see to it that their children are truly learning these things properly.

And more than teaching by words, they have to teach by their deeds and example. The guidance and accompaniment they give to their children should not just be physical and material, not even simply emotional and intellectual, though these are already a tall order. They have to provide the appropriate moral and spiritual guidance and accompaniment to their children. For sure, parents need to be given due formation for this delicate task of theirs. So, they should be the first ones to realize that they have to look for that formation.

They should not take this matter for granted.

On the part of the schools, churches, LGUs, NGOs, etc., they should also contribute in this concern by providing the appropriate programs for this purpose. There should be an active campaign to involve as many parents as possible in these programs.

At the moment, there is truly a great need for ongoing formation programs for parents, given the galloping developments we have around. We are now before an increasingly complicated challenge in the world insofar as the formation of parents and children are concerned.

Monitor CBCP

PROTAGONIST OF TRUTH, PROMOTER OF PEACE

Pedro Quitorio Editor-in-Chief

Nirva’ana E. Delacruz

Ron Ramos, Sky Ortigas

Associate Editor

Design Artists

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News Editor

Circulation Manager

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Marcelita Dominguez

Managing Editor

Comptroller

The CBCP Monitor is published fortnightly by the CBCP - Media Office with editorial and business offices at 3rd Floor, CBCP Compound, 470 General Luna Street, Intramuros, Manila. Email Address: cbcpmonitor@ areopaguscommunications.com, Business: (632) 404 - 1612.

ISSN 1908-2940.

ILLUSTRATION BY BLADIMER USI

Stifling the truth is retrogressive

Youth respond to Christus Vivit IN the Diocese of Vicenza, Italy, Laphidil Oppong Twumasi, the head of the youth group of the Ghanaian community, recently expressed her evaluation of Pope Francis’ Christus Vivit. She noted her satisfaction that the Pope’s exhortation is not “merely a manual of doctrine and teachings,” but rather “a guide and a set of suggestions, something that we may be referred to when we feel a little lost. It does not have pre-packaged answers to our questions.”

“It is up to us as young people in the Church, involved in youth pastoral care, in the parishes … to get up and to get busy. We must pick up the final document of the Synod and this Apostolic Exhortation, extrapolate the themes and issues closest to us, and adapt them to our needs.”

She enthusiastically continued: “This tells me that there is a mutual need, that there must be closeness between the ‘adult’ Church and the ‘young’ Church,

Living Mission

Fr. James H. Kroeger, MM

as we young people have strength, enthusiasm, charism, but we need experience and the knowledge of adults who can show us the way and help us channel our gifts.”

A Young Catechist’s View. As an engaged catechist-teacher, Alessio Lorrai has observed that he finds in Pope Francis’ Christus Vivit, an honest attempt to answer deep questions that youth face today. These are the same dilemmas faced by the rich young man in the Gospel (Mk 10:17-27; cf. Mt 19:1622). There is often a struggle between cultural values that emphasize having material possessions and the following of Jesus’ values and teachings.

How can the Church respond to real challenges facing the youth today? One of the many possible responses that Lorrai finds in Christus Vivit is Pope Francis’ suggestion that the Church needs to “make a home” and “create a family.” “A home, as we all know, demands that everyone work together.

And That’s The Truth

No one can be indifferent or stand apart, since each stone is needed to build the home” (n. 217).

Parishes, schools, and Church organizations must seek to create spaces where one truly feels at home, feels loved, and at the same time is accompanied, guided, even corrected.

All this is done with the desire that each person, the young in particular, will bear much fruit, rooted in the soil of the Church, our home.

Fostering Open, Authentic Communication. Several youth have noted that an important underlying theme that permeates much of Pope Francis’ Christus Vivit is the promotion of genuine communication in society and in the Church. Truly, this is a never-ending challenge; a few issues and concerns, raised by the youth, are noted here.

“The digital environment is characteristic of the contemporary Living Mission / A5

Bullied and helpless?

Teresa R. Tunay, OCDS

BEFORE the month of August ends, Beijing will witness the meeting between President Rodrigo Duterte and President Xi Jinping. In the light of current developments involving Chinese nationals and operations in the Philippines, it’s anybody’s guess how that encounter will play out.

Will Digong continue to be as eager as a puppy to please Xi or will he now hiss and show his fangs on the issue of China’s territorial grab in the West Philippine Sea? Can he do that without bursting into expletives? And if he does descend into the level of obscenities and profanities— as he almost always does in

the land of his birth—how will his Chinese counterpart take it? Will he smile or smirk or simply keep up that inscrutable oriental face?

Not only do Digong and Xi have contrasting personalities that might hamper diplomatic communication—cultural differences can also come into play to aggravate matters. Even when trying his best to be civil or feigning modesty, Digong rattles off what’s on his mind, while Xi is typically more circumspect in his statements.

Let’s give Digong the benefit of the doubt and imagine him truly, sincerely, and politely speaking this time for all concerned

When failures come

Filipinos—not only for his supporters—while PROC’s master of ambiguity responds with enigmatic one-liners.

Digong: Your Excellency, my people are getting more and more worried about China’s militarization in our territory. They see the structures you have built—and they think you are preparing to go to war. I cannot convince my countrymen that we are friends if you continue putting radars, airports, fighter jets, and submarines in our waters.

Xi (after some silence, strokes his chin and says very slowly): The timber is already a boat; the rice is

cooked.

Digong: Your Excellency, it has been months since Beijing promised to investigate the unfortunate incident in Recto Bank when one night your mighty ship rammed our humble fishing boat and vanished in the dark without helping our drowning fishermen. May we know what has come of this investigation and when may we be officially informed about it?

Xi (looks up at the ceiling, sighs, and says): Watch till clouds part to see moonlight.

Digong (getting impatient): Your Excellency, in the interest of peace and in the And That’s The Truth / A6

Candidly Speaking Fr. Roy Cimagala

FAILURES do happen in our lives. They can happen everyday, and many times during the day. They may not be big failures. They are usually small ones. But they are somehow like a constant feature of our life. We should not anymore be surprised by this fact of life, and much less, held captive by them.

We should know how to handle them.

Not only that, we should know how we can derive some good from them.

That’s because our failures can actually channel great things for us. They can be a blessing in disguise.

In this life, we are supposed to be clever as serpents while remaining simple as doves. (cfr. Mt 10,16) That’s the advice Christ gave his disciples in dealing with the drama of life. And this advice can be more concretely specified by developing in us that skill of knowing how to let go and to move on when we suffer failures.

We should not forget that there are many other more pleasant possibilities than getting stuck with our failures. As one saint would put, when one door closes, then open another one. In life, there are actually many doors that we can open.

If we have the proper attitude, if we are with God, we would know that our life possesses an infinity of possibilities.

The spiritual and supernatural character of life makes that possible, since it transcends the limitations of the material and natural dimensions of our life.

We always have to remember that God is always on top of things. Nothing happens outside of his providence no matter how messy things can get in our life. There’s a time for everything, we are told. (cfr. Ecclesiastes 3,1-8) This should always be in our mind so that we do not overreact when failures come.

What we ought to do is to go immediately to God and to refer things to him. He will be the one to reassure us that everything will just be fine.

Nothing happens without him knowing and allowing it to happen. And if he allows it to happen, it is because there is a greater good that can be derived from it. In God’s math, the gains far outweigh the losses.

Of course, what this greater good is can escape our understanding, given our limitations. And that’s why we have to activate our faith. Otherwise, we would confine ourselves to our own limited understanding of things that can make us suffer unnecessarily. Of course, there will always be suffering involved, but we sometimes suffer beyond what is necessary because of our lack of faith.

We have to realize that there are many things we do not know. And the things Candidly Speaking / A5

CBCP Monitor

OPINION A5

August 19 - September 1, 2019, Vol 23, No. 17

By the Roadside

Learning from Gina L

Whatever

Fr. Francis Ongkingco

Fr. Eutiquio ‘Euly’ Belizar, Jr. SThD “Sometimes it takes a person born to affluence and privilege to teach more effectively those who are in hot pursuit of them the truth that the meaning of life lies elsewhere”—Yogi the Owl MANY Filipinos are in genuine mourning.

My own younger sister who once by accident met her and takes pride in having her smiling face taken in a selfie with her recently expressed a palpable sadness at a Facebook post.

Yes, on the morning of August 19, 2019 a really famous Filipino environmentalist named Gina L passed on. Like most Filipinos, I never met her personally.

Perhaps there was no need to. She herself had shared so much of her life’s journey, including her innermost thoughts, to the media. Like many more Filipinos, I regarded her unabashed passion for life, for the poor and for the environment with deep admiration. I know that I am not alone. But I also realize with sadness that there are not too many Filipinos like her who live by their passions and leave behind an “impact” (her own word).

Even now people are singing her praises. Given her family’s unparalleled identification not only with wealth but also with media, it is a forgone conclusion that there will be more in the days ahead.

But as a priest and still a struggling believer, I was struck by some aspects of Gina L’s life that to me speak of realities relevant to anyone who takes the Church seriously.

First off, the earlier Gina made an admission that she did not find the answer to her inner search for the “something more” in life in the Church.

“There was something in me that was looking for something and i didn’t find it in the church...The church can be very external and ritualistic, not touching the soul. I don’t see how you can feel God unless you do some kind of meditation, stilling the mind, feeling peace inside” (Interview with Yvette Tan, Spotlight, ANC, August 19, 2019). To my mind this is a reality check for those of us who habitually present only the institutional side of the Church, perhaps unintentionally. It not only does not reflect the whole mystery of Jesus Christ; it also does very little in leading people to the same. Priests, bishops, catechists, pastoral workers, parents, teachers of the faith better pay attention: If even the most privileged among us who have access to the best Catholic education feel shortchanged in the things of the spirit, we cannot remain unperturbed. I wonder if even our best Catholic education may not necessarily be imparting the true wealth of the Catholic faith or at least aspects of Catholic life that can effectively respond to the often tumultuous spiritual struggles of the Church’s sons and daughters of today.

The later Gina changed her view of the Church and even observed that her own mother belonged to a Christian meditation group and her father to a Zen meditation community “headed by a priest and s nun”. Still she mused: “Religion does not really equate to spirituality, that’s what I discovered. I think something inside of me was looking for something, so I ended up in Ananda Marga, and I ended up leaving them after a long time.”

If indeed Gina thought of the Catholic

The truth will set us free

faith or Christianity as “a religion” and it “does not equate to spirituality”, that is beyond sad. It is downright tragic.

For Christianity, the Catholic faith itself, though often known only as religion, is also a spirituality. But then again differences in understanding spirituality play a role in this impasse. If spirituality were seen only as a way of getting in touch with the ‘spirit’ dimension of the human person, then the “external” and “ritualistic” Catholicism most Catholics are exposed to is quite off the mark. But if spirituality were understood as a way of following Jesus Christ and his Gospel— as it is understood by trained people of faith—then the external and ritualistic aspects of “church experience” will be seen for what they are—as forming part of the nature of sacraments in the Church.

They are “visible signs” of “invisible realities” that manifest the presence of Jesus Christ and effects his saving acts.

In the seminary we were taught that even if the minister of a sacrament (“ex opera operantis”) is unworthy, the sacrament itself “effects what it signifies” (“ex opere operato”). Of course, we say, this is because Jesus Christ uses the sacrament and its minister, acting through it by the power of the Spirit to bring us the fruit of his saving work. But therein lies a problem. When a minister relies too much on the inherent power of (Jesus Christ in) the sacrament and ignores putting on Christ and living like Christ as he should, consciously or unconsciously thinking that by ‘ex opera operantis’ he does not need to, then he is the foremost promoter of “religion” that “does not equate to By the Roadside / A7

Duc in Altum

Atty. Aurora A. Santiago

THE clergy, religious, and the laity of the Diocese of Kalookan pushed through with the Solidarity Mass at San Roque Cathedral, on the occasion of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to support the bishops and priests, specially its shepherd Bishop Pablo Virgilio “Ambo” David, who were falsely accused of sedition and other charges.

Fr. Jeronimo “Jerome” Cruz, Vicar General and Rector of the Cathedral, presided over the Mass. In his homily, Fr. Jerome said that the clergy, religious, the laity from the Diocese and other Dioceses and the LGUs (Local Government Units) partners, gathered together to pray, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that truth and justice will prevail in the country.

He rebuked that there is no truth to the allegation of sedition and other charges against Bishop Ambo, other

bishops, priests and the laity because those charges are all lies. The Church leaders did what they ought to do, to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, because they are the shepherd; that every life is important and no one has the right to kill anyone; that the Diocese, through Bishop Ambo, was one of the first to appeal “Stop the Killing, Start the Healing.” Drug addicts are sick, they are not criminal.

The Diocesan Ministry of Youth Affairs President Kriz Payumo read the “Statement of Support of the Youth”.

He said that the accusations against the bishops and priests, particularly Bishop Ambo, might be the means to expose the truth, to see the value of life, to know Jesus more, and to understand His teachings. The youth is united in giving support and love to Bishop Ambo. “We know that our shepherd is honest, caring, loving and values life”. He affirmed that the youth will continue

Whisper from the Desert Fr. Amado L. Picardal, CSsR, STD

WE find ourselves living in a society where killing and corruption have become normal. People don’t even consider these as sin. What is happening can be described as the “culture of death”—a term used by Pope John II in his encyclical “Evangelium Vitae.” It simply means a way of life, of behaving, acting and thinking that does not put value on human life—where it is easy to kill. Madali lang ang pagpatay, sanayan lang ang pagpatay. It is a culture that produces and normalizes death—that kills. It begins in the womb—abortion— the mass murder of the unborn.

This is manifested in murder carried out by criminals and also by the police and death squads and by the military – through extra-judicial killings. This is also being carried out by armed groups fighting the government. War is another manifestation of the culture of death.

Death penalty or capital punishment is part of the culture of death. Euthanasia is another form of the culture of death.

What is not obvious is the destruction of the environment—the logging, mining, coal-fired power-plant. It is not

to pray for the safety and good health of Bishop Ambo and all the clergy; that they believe in the truth and justice that Jesus brings; that Bishop Ambo is the shepherd and his flock will continue to support him and the clergy.

The Council of the Laity of Kalookan (CLK) President Atty. Aurora Santiago read the Statement of the lay faithful entitled “The Truth Will Set Us Free”. The laity is concerned and worried because the charges against the bishops and priests have no clear basis. “The Church, particularly Bishop Ambo, neither said nor encouraged the downfall of the present administration, and never told the people to revolt.

Only his love for the People of God pushed him to express his opposition to the policies which do not value life, dignity and rights of the citizens”. The CLK calls for a truthful, honest, fair and thorough review of the charges; it called on the lay faithful in the

country and all over the world to pray for the bishops and priests, for truth and justice to prevail, and for the charges to be dismissed.

She enumerated the many projects of Bishop Ambo wherein the Diocese partners with the government. Like the lay faithful, CLK is also asking why sedition charges were filed against Bishop Ambo despite his many projects that help the people, his partnership with the LGU’s, his advice to the faithful to follow the law, respect the dignity and right of the people and value life?”

Fr. Willy Samson, S.J. read the Statement of the Association of Religious in the Diocese of Kalookan (ARDOK) and Mission Stations in the Diocese of Kalookan (MSDOK). Entitled “Commitment and Support” for truth, justice and peace, they object to the filing of false charges against the bishops and others. The church leaders’ concern is to Duc in Altum / A6

The culture of death and social sin

just the murder committed by assassins on the environmentalists and protesters.

It is also the effect of these that poisons the environment and the climate change which will lead to the destruction of our common home that will kill us all.

Poverty can also be the breeding ground of the culture of death because it can kill, sometimes bloodlessly, at times with blood. The victims of the War on Drugs are the poor, many of users of shabu are poor.

Corruption is also part of the culture of death. Corrupt government officials, policemen, military men resort to murder to enrich themselves.

The corrupt officials enable drugs to pass through customs, continue the destruction of the environment, construct substandard bridges and buildings. All these contribute to death.

Thus, the culture of death is so pervasive.

Pope John Paul II associates the culture of death with what he calls “veritable structures of sin” or in other words social sin. Sin is not just a personal act it also has a social dimension. Sinful acts or behavior such as killing, stealing, lying,

adultery are personal acts with social consequences and even origin. They may begin within the hearts and minds of individuals—rooted in selfishness, greed, avarice, etc. But they are also embedded in the systems and structures of society—political, economic, social, cultural, etc. Economic systems such as capitalism and neo-liberalism are based on selfishness and greed—maximizing profits and exploiting workers and the environments. Authoritarian, dictatorial political systems is based on the greed for power and violation of human rights. It is maintained through blind obedience.

Corruption can also be part of the political culture (the patronage politics).

It is called social or structural sin because these structures induce people to commit sin—to steal, lie, kill, etc.

An honest person can become corrupt within a bureaucracy infected by a culture of corruption. A pious police officer can become a murderer when the PNP becomes involved in extrajudicial killings etc. Nurses and doctors may Whisper from the Desert / A7

Heart map “ONE, two, three, four and five,” Sheila counted her steps. Then she sat down and meticulously jotted it down in a piece of paper.

“One, two, three, … fifteen!”

She exhaled with apparent exhaustion from counting and jotting down her steps.

“One, two, three, … twentythree and one-half up the stairs till the door,” she froze to immediately recorded her carefully counted steps.

“Honey?” Her mother called out from the kitchen.

“Yes, mommy!” She answered.

“What are you counting?”

The sound of random metal clutter echoed from the kitchen.

“My steps, mommy,” she said.

“When you’re done and if you want, maybe you can give me a hand in preparing daddy’s favorite dessert!”

“Yeees, mommy. I want to help prepare his dessert!”

“Thanks sweety!”

“Is it okay if I finish the first part of my map, mommy?”

“Sure! Finish what you need to do and come right down so you can wash the strawberries and prepare the whip cream.”

“Coooming!” Sheila runs down zipping into the kitchen.

“So, why were you counting your steps?” She hands her daughter the bowl of strawberries.

“I’m making a pirate’s treasure map, mommy.”

“A treasure map? That’s very interesting.”

“In history class I chose a pirate character and the map goes with the pirate,” Sheila started washing the strawberries in the sink.

“Since when did you want to become a pirate?” Her mother chuckled.

“Ever since I watch the Pirates of the Caribbean, mommy!”

“And how many islands and galleons will you own?”

“Hundreds!!!” *** A few weeks later, Sheila’s mom receives a phone call from her daughter’s tutor.

It wasn’t yet the usual scheduled session and she wondered what important matter would be brought up.

“Mrs. Daniel, there is no need to be upset. I simply wanted to show you Sheila’s history project and perhaps, how you would prefer to

interpret what she came up with.”

“Oh, you mean her pirate map?” She asked.

“So, she told you about it?”

“In fact, she was very excited about it. Is there anything that she may have done wrong?”

Sheila’s tutor only smiled and handed her the map.

Mrs. Daniel recognized the parchment paper that she and Sheila had bought at the paper shop. Together she helped her carefully burn its edges to give it a fragile and antique appearance.

Afterwards, she left Sheila alone to finalize her map on the parchment.

She unfolded the map.

On the uppermost part was written: My Secret Treasure Map. The dotted lines, indicating the path to follow, started at their doghouse. The starting point had a number summing up the steps one had to take to the next marker.

It was ten steps from the doghouse to the front door.

From the entrance was four steps to the landing and three more to the staircase. Then from the bottom to the top were twenty-three and onehalf steps to the door of the master’s bedroom.

From the door were dotted lines that led to their bed and finally the ‘X’ marking the spot! At the bottom of the ‘X’ was a small heart and the word TREASURE! At first, she wondered if Sheila could have hidden something under their bed.

But then that would have been easily noticed. She pondered a little more and traced the little heart with her index finger.

Then she realized what the treasure was.

Teary-eyed, she hands the map back to Sheila’s tutor.

“I believe we both understand what her treasure is now,” she said.

When Mrs. Daniel arrived home, she took out her smartphone and jotted down the following considerations: 1) Come out with my own spiritual heart map for my husband and each of my children 2) Remember the steps it takes to each one’s heart concretized in one good deed every day 3) Daily consider my heart map to ask myself if my heart is truly in the treasure that is my family

Living Mission / A4

world…. It is no longer merely a question of ‘using’ instruments of communication, but of living in a highly digitalized culture that has had a profound impact on ideas of time and space, on our self-understanding, our understanding of others and the world, and our ability to communicate, learn, be informed and enter into relationship with others” (n. 86).

The youth today “confront a new challenge: that of interacting with a real and virtual world that they enter alone, as if setting foot on an undiscovered global continent.

Young people today are the first to have to effect this synthesis between what is personal, what is distinctive to their respective cultures, and what is global. This means that they must find ways to pass from virtual contact to good and healthy communication” (n. 90). Indeed, a perennial question emerges: How can the Church continue to effectively accompany the “digital youth” of today?

Candidly Speaking / A4

that we know usually are those that favor our own subjective view of things. We cannot have a completely objective view of everything. Only God the creator has that. We should just trust him, just as we usually trust our elders even in things that we do not quite understand. That’s what faith is all about.

So let’s see to it that we are not unnecessarily detained or distracted by our failures. We have to learn how to let go and move on. Better still, we have to assume that more supernatural attitude of letting go and of letting God resolve the issues that still grip us.

If we have done our part and still face a blank wall, then let God do things for us. We know that we cannot and are not expected to solve everything in our life. Our death, for example, is something we can never avoid and undo. But God takes care of it.

It would be good if everyday, as we suffer the usual failures, we would immediately let go and move on. If one door closes, let’s open another one. We may have better luck there. And with it, we can make up for our failures somehow.

A6 LOCAL NEWS

August 19 - September 1, 2019, Vol 23, No. 17

Church communicators dared to fill social media with ‘good news’ A CATHOLIC bishop dared those working for the Church’s communications ministry to fill the various social media platforms and the internet with “good news.”

Speaking before a national assembly of Philippine Catholic media workers, Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara urged media practitioners to find ways to facilitate “communion.”

The bishop of Pasig, who heads the Episcopal Commission on Social Communications, echoed Pope Francis’ call to use the internet to help build Christian communities.

“The challenge for us now is the shift from communication to communion,” said the prelate during this year’s National Catholic Media

Congress.

Bishop Vergara said what is important is that the spread the Gospel “will not just stay in the social media but will also touch the hearts of the people for them to experience God’s love.”

He said that building a community of social communicators is needed amid the “persecution” being experienced by Catholics in the country.

“It is at this time that we cannot work alone, that is, to each his own. We need to work together given our identity and mission as one body of Christ, one Church,” he said.

Bishop Marcelino Antonio Maralit Jr., incoming head of the social communications commission, expressed hope

Bishop Marcelino Antonio Maralit Jr. (left) receives the standarte from Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara during the turnover of the leadership of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Social Communications at the end of the 5th National Catholic Media Convention in the province of Batangas Aug. 9. PHOTO FROM NCMC

that the Church will be able to adapt to developments in technology.

“We already have a network of good news. It means that we too have to organize to provide ‘faith news’ not ‘fake news’,” the prelate told participants of the gathering.

More than 180 participants from dioceses across the

country joined this year’s gathering that was held in the province of Batangas, north of Manila.

The four-day meeting was organized by the Catholic bishops’ social communications commission to strengthen collaboration among Catholic media organizations. (UCAN)

Bishop leading migration ministry visits OFWs in Jordan, Lebanon THE head of the bishops’ Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People has made a pastoral visit to Filipino chaplaincies in the Middle East.

Bishop Ruperto Santos of Balanga went to Jordan on Aug. 7 and met with Filipino workers in Jordan, his first destination.

Accompanied by Scalabrinian Fr. Restituto Ogsimer, his secretary in the ministry, they stayed in the majority Muslim country until Aug. 13.

“We desire to let them feel that our Church is with them, walking with them and working for their welfare and

wellbeing,” Santos said.

The Filipino chaplaincy in Amman was established in 2016 with Fr. Gerald Metal of the Antipolo diocese as its first Filipino chaplain.

About 26,000 to 28,000 Filipinos are living and working in Jordan, according to the Philippine embassy in Amman.

Christians in the country are a very small minority with only about two percent of the overall population.

Bishop Santos also met with officials of the Latin Patriarchate of Jordan and the Philippine embassy in the area.

“We would like to express our

Journalists / A1

through networking and updating.

On Aug. 14 to 16, Catholic editors and journalists gathered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to work toward the promotion of regional collaboration and regular training in Catholic journalism.

In a post-meeting statement, the journalists did not provide a solution to fake news but said that they can do something about the misguided reporting about the church and their societies.

“We abhor sensationalism and fake news and we resolve to abide by the Gospel values of truth, honesty and transparency in our ministry,” part of the statement read.

“We shall strive to stand for and with the Church to uphold hear greater good, especially in promoting justice and services to the poor,” it stated.

partnership and collaboration for the promotion and protection of our OFWs,” he said.

From Amman, Bishop Santos travelled to Lebanon where there are approximately 30,000 Filipinos, most of whom are women working as domestic helpers.

The prelate also held Masses and meet with OFWs and Philippine embassy officials in Beirut, where he stayed until Aug. 20.

Although Islam has a strong presence in Lebanon, a country of about 5 million, Christians are free to practice their faith.

(CBCPNews)

Killings / A1

Convened by the Asian chapter of SIGNIS, a Vatican-recognized lay organization of Catholic communicators, the meeting reflected on the theme “Peace Journalism in a Viral Culture”.

At least 18 journalists attended the gathering coming from the Philippines, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Korea, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Speakers include SIGNIS World President Helen Osman and Dr. Peter Rachada Monthienvichienchai, Executive Director of the Union of Catholic Asia News.

Fr. Pakkam Michael Harris of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication, and Fr. Paul Samasumo of the Vatican Radio also updated the participants on the reforms and operations of the Vatican media. (CBCPNews)

ambush of four cops by the communist rebels.

On March 30, at least 14 suspected rebels were killed in a supposed clash with security forces, police said, but human rights activists said those who died were farmers.

“A bloodbath is now happening in Negros. This cannot go on. The killings must stop,” Pabillo said.

Human rights groups have reported at least 87 killings of unarmed civilians in Negros since the government intensified its anti-insurgency campaign in 2017.

The prelate is also leading a signature drive to stop the killings on Negros Island “which we will send to all parties and individuals who

can act to stop the carnage”.

Joined by Benedictine nun Mary John Mananzan and former senator Rene Saguisag, the campaign urged Filipinos to be steadfast in upholding human rights and dignity.

They also warned President Duterte against inciting the state forces to retaliate against alleged rebel atrocities, saying that this could lead “to even more indiscriminate killings and exacerbate the spiral of killings”.

“We likewise call on all Filipinos to help stop the bloodbath in Negros,” they said. “Together, let us achieve peace and justice through dialogue and the highest respect for human life.” (CBCPNews)

CBCP Monitor

Duc in Altum / A5

defend life, justice and the common good. The Church supports the government in finding solutions to illegal drug problem. The Church wants to help the innocent people who were drawn to illegal drug, not cause the downfall of the government.

It is a big mistake to file sedition and other charges against the Bishop and others. The association give their whole-hearted prayer and support to the bishops. They appeal to the government to dismiss the case of sedition and other charges.

Fr. Gaudioso “Gau” Sustento, the Chancellor of the Diocese, read the Statement of Support of the Clergy. In 2016, at the height of the government’s campaign against illegal drug, the Diocese of Kalookan, under the leadership of Bishop Ambo, started the community-based drug rehabilitation through its Salubong Program. The LGU of Caloocan, Malabon and Navotas work with the Diocese in this project.

The Statement said “Bishop Ambo is our shepherd. He is the voice of those whose cries are muted and silenced by the guns of violence. He is the voice of the widows and the orphans who are left behind by the victims of the war on drugs. Never has our shepherd’s voice spoken to bring down any government or to destroy any duly elected official by the people. Our shepherd, respects the choices that people make.

He only has the welfare of the people in his mind and heart, the flock that the Good Shepherd Jesus entrusted to him.” The clergy condemns any accusation of sedition and other charges against

Bishop Ambo because all those accusations are lies.

They know it for they are the shepherd’s flock. Jesus, the ultimate Good Shepherd, attests to it for His Person is embodied in the shepherd.

He enjoins everyone in the parishes to do what is right and to pray for one another especially for Bishop Ambo.

Bishop Ambo on his part thanked everyone for their support. He said that the statements of support gradually wipe out all the worries in his heart.

He stated that no person is inherently bad and no person has the right to end the life of another, even if that person is on illegal drugs, because that person is sick and he needs help, care and rehabilitation. He said that the Diocese opened the parishes to surrenderers, plea bargainers, children in conflict with the law for the Salubong program. “This is what our religion wants us to do, as disciples of Christ.

Individuals got involved in illegal drugs due to poverty, lack of hope, no education, abuse, mental health issues.”

Bishop Ambo mentioned what St. Ignatius of Loyola said, the competition between two flags: the flag of Christ and the flag of Satan. “Together with Mother Mary, we will not surrender the spiritual battle for the flag of Christ, even if the dragon runs after us. There are many sacrifices in following the mission of Christ but we should stand firm and we should not worry because Christ, our Lord and our Savior, is always with us.

Maraming salamat po sa inyong pakikiisa.” (Thank you very much for your support).

Mourns / A1

truly matters,” said Fr. Edwin Gariguez, Caritas’ executive secretary.

She lived her life to the full, happily and with love.

With her, we celebrate life meaningfully,” he said.

The Commission on Appointments in 2017 rejected the appointment as environment chief of Lopez, who led a crackdown on mining firms that didn’t

comply with environmental safety standards.

The Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM) – Philippines also lauded Lopez for her “passionate commitment to care for our common home”.

“You will always be remembered by the Filipino people with love and gratitude,” the GCCM said.

(CBCPNews)

And That’s The Truth / A4

spirit of sharing the bounty in our seas, the Philippines is pleased to give you permission to fish in our territory, even though your son-of-a-horse patrol boats always terrorize away our fishermen who for centuries have depended on our waters to earn a living. Even the UNCLOS is on our side!

Xi (solemnly utters): If you are smartest person in room, then you are in wrong room.

Digong (regaining his composure): Your Excellency, a few days ago, news spread about a swarm of 140 Chinese ships surrounding Pag-asa Island from February this year until July, and Chinese warships recently passing through Sibutu Straits without seeking prior clearance from us as other countries do, even the United States. To make it worse, your warships turned off their automatic identification system, making it impossible to track them.

My Defense Secretary asks, “Why the secrecy?” My Chief Legal Counsel says, “We are friends, so there should be no secrets between friends.”

Xi (nodding his head, says): When a mute eats dumplings, he knows how many he has eaten.

Digong: Your Excellency, my people are alarmed that Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators facilities are located near military bases.

These gambling hubs are run by the Chinese, employ Chinese workers, and are patronized by Chinese tourists. The Filipino people are wondering why these facilities are very close to military bases. Tell me this a mere coincidence.

Xi (shaking his head): Man with one chopstick go hungry.

Digong: Not only that, Your Excellency. Last July 23, two groups of Chinese tourists were

caught taking photos inside our naval facility at Parola in Palawan, Puerto Princesa, where a new naval ship was berthed. Any idiot knows that military facilities are off limits to tourists. So my people are saying that they are sure the Chinese tourists were not roaming around there hoping to take selfies with American sailors. What can you say about that?

Xi: Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like bananas.

Digong: Your Excellency, the whole world respects the Filipino worker. You and I have closed so many deals in support of our Build, Build, Build program. But now my people are sad that you are importing Chinese construction workers for these projects, taking away job opportunities from them.

It is reported that we already have 400,000 Chinese nationals working in our country without Alien Employment Permits. What’s the matter with you? Don’t our Chinese partners trust the expertise of the Filipinos?

Xi (yawns and then says): Dragons soaring, tigers leaping.

Digong (grinning like an ambassador): Thank you, Your Excellency! This visit has been very fruitful! (And then mutters: Sampalin kita diyan, pisting yawa!

Pa-bugtong-bugtong ka pa, barilin na lang kita, ipalaman kita sa siopao! Uwi na ko! Let’s go, Bong Go!) We dread to see the meeting end up in a stalemate. We can no longer play blind to the writing on the wall.

One need not be an economist, a political strategist, or a military expert to see how Beijing is slyly tightening the noose around our collective neck while persuading our decision makers to accept China

as our economic savior. We only need common sense and a nose for danger in order to connect the dots—it’s really but child’s play for the intuitive.

It was bad enough that the Duterte government did not uphold the UNCLOS ruling that scored a victory for the Philippines and invalidated China’s sweeping claim to ownership of practically the entire South China Sea. In spite of that, Digong began playing footsies with Xi Jinping while calling Barack Obama a son-of-a-bitch; this is like having your house burgled while you’re asleep, and then inviting the burglar to stay over for breakfast, assuring him we don’t keep guard dogs.

We further invited the burglar to lunch, quite literally, when we signed the 29 deals with China during Xi’s visit to the Philippines in November 2018. Then again we laid out the red carpet and invited the burglar to dinner, when Digong signed 19 agreements with Chinese businesses during the Belt and Road forum in Beijing last April.

Malacañang said on April 26 that these 19 agreements—a chop suey package of memoranda of understanding, memoranda of agreement, purchase agreements, and one contract agreement— could bring $12,165 billion (634 trillion pesos) worth of investments to the Philippines and provide employment to 21,000 Filipinos.

Isn’t that a rather reckless gamble— welcoming investments worth 634 trillion pesos when the country’s entire budget for 2019 is but 3.7 trillion? Are we already dying of hunger that we would eat anything that looks like food without first scrutinizing its contents? Or are our businessmen salivating over

the projected profits to accrue over time?

Economics, development, progress—they are not just about money, but also about choices and alternatives, and remembering (in this case) that we are a sovereign nation whose God is above and beyond money. We must learn to look carefully beneath the glossy surface of these business deals, and teach our children—particularly the millennials and Gen Zers— to be as discerning, for if they do not understand things now, insurmountable problems will fall on their laps 25 years hence if our government fails to pay up the loans. Problems that compromise our sovereignty and rob our people of dignity.

China is aiming not only at regional supremacy in our part of the world, but also towards global domination. They have schemes that have trapped at least eight partner-nations in debts that were offered as honey-coated collaboration projects with their land and natural resources as de facto collaterals. These victim nations’ mistakes can help us avoid disaster. If China’s ambitions include plans to set up a permanent station in outer space by 2020, it is foolish to doubt that their net traps are already set in our very territory.

In Beijing’s eyes, the colonization of the Philippines is a piece of cake.

Time and again, our president has admitted that we are no match against China’s military might, justifying his fawning way of dealing with his friend Xi. But as Senator Richard Gordon reminded, “We should not let the president’s personal friendship dictate foreign policy.” The deals and agreements with China show who is dictating

the terms. Millennials, Gen Zers, wake up!

Beijing does not see Filipinos as equals; China does not help us because it admires us—China wants us because it can use us cheap.

One item in the 19 agreements signed last April is a Memorandum of Agreement to “establish a strategic partnership to train and to introduce Filipino Domestic Helpers to China”. Among other agreements on huge infrastructure and telecommunications projects, why “train” our most precious resources to become servants in their land? So their citizens can be free to pursue a capitalistic lifestyle while our college graduates scrub their toilets? Why not train out talented young people in their aerospace program, for instance?

Or let our linguists train their professionals to teach English to the Chinese? Don’t they see we have geniuses in our midst?

We are a country of 108,315,639 Filipinos, all talented and blessed in our own right, and all with the potential to lift this world up from festering mediocrity. Jeremiah 1:45. 17-19 ought to give us hope as a nation: “As for you, prepare yourself for action… Have no fear of them and in their presence I will make you fearless… They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you, Yahweh declares, to rescue you.”

We were not born to be bullied and helpless. Let nobody think our destiny is to be used as doormats, but after we pray we must act. We are not Juan Tamad waiting for the guava fruit to fall into his gaping mouth. We believe in God; this God is within us, and we do His will. We shall overcome. And that’s the truth.

CBCP Monitor

DIOCESAN NEWS A7

August 19 - September 1, 2019, Vol 23, No. 17

Mindanao religious leaders adopt pope’s Abu Dhabi document DAVAO City— Religious leaders in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao adopted a document last week, endorsed by Pope Francis early this year, to foster mutual understanding among different faiths.

Archbishop Romulo Valles of Davao, president of the Catholic bishops’ conference, said he would recommend the country’s Catholic prelates adopt the document as a “code of conduct.”

Pope Francis and Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, the grand imam of Al Azhar, issued the “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together” during the pontiff’s visit to Abu Dhabi.

A gathering of Christian and Muslim leaders was held in Davao City last week in the wake of recent bomb attacks in Sulu and Zamboanga provinces.

Jesuit priest Joel Tabora, president of Ateneo de Davao University, described the document as “remarkable” because it is the product of dialogue.

The priest noted the longstanding “history of conflict, violence and war” between Muslims and Christians despite the fact that “both believe in one God of Compassion.”

“Dialogue promotes a culture of tolerance and reduces economic, social, political, and environmental problems,” said Father Tabora.

Carlito Galvez Jr., the government’s peace adviser, said the document “would help prevent the recurrence

Religious leaders in Mindanao hold a conference on ‘Walking and Working Together for Reconciliation and Unity’ at the Ateneo de Davao University on Aug. 14. PHOTO COURTESY OF OPAPP

of armed conflict and the spread of violent extremism” in the region.

“We will use this document as a basis for our agency’s interventions,” said the former military general.

The Mindanao meeting, which carried the theme “Working and Walking Together for Healing and Reconciliation,” aimed to gather suggestions on how to address peace and security concerns.

Professor Moner Bajunaid, secretary-general of the National Ulama Conference of the Philippines, said religious diversity in the Philippines should be a basis for dialogue.

“This work of attaining peace through dialogue should be a continuous endeavor,” he said, adding that, “there is a need to make this more dynamic.”

“We should bear in mind that we do not only have

two religions. We should be careful not to touch on each other’s sensibilities,” he said.

Father Tabora, meanwhile, noted the timeliness of the document’s release in relation to the ratification of a peace deal between the Philippine government and Moro rebels in Mindanao.

“The ratification [of the peace agreement] was a historic ‘yes’ to peace in Mindanao and in the Philippines between Muslims and Christians who had been at enmity with each other for centuries,” said the priest.

After four decades of war, the government and the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front eventually hammered out a comprehensive peace agreement in 2014.

Residents of predominantly Muslim regions in Mindanao ratified the deal with the passage of the Bangsamoro Organic Law in January that

paves the way for the creation of a new Muslim autonomous region.

The new Muslim region is envisioned to have broader autonomy, more powers and resources, and larger territory than its predecessor.

“An arduous peace process determined that the historical injustice committed against the Bangsamoro could be righted,” said Father Tabora.

The priest highlighted the major declarations made

by Pope Francis and AlTayyeb in the document that included “the adoption of a culture of dialogue is the path, mutual cooperation is the code of conduct, and reciprocal understanding is the method and standard.”

The document also calls for the protection of places of worship—synagogues, churches and mosques— during times of conflict.

(UCAN)

Mantle / A3

People’s Army (NPA) that has expanded enough to put up rural shadow governments.

Duterte, who used to taunt guerrillas about not being able to hold a single slice of Philippine territory, now says the left has formed “quasi governments” in the Negros countryside.

An NPA statement released on July 23 could explain the reason for Duterte’s ire. It hailed the completion on July 21 of an island conference of some 200 leaders of underground mass organizations from the peasants, the youth, women “and support groups

from the ranks of the middle forces” — a phrase used to describe professionals and small business owners.

The rebel group said local guerrillas, a village defense unit and a people’s militia stood guardOn the day rebels released the statement, the last series of attacks on civilians started with the ambush of lawyer Anthony Trinidad.

Following Duterte’s threat, the NPA pledged to fight for civilians and step up attacks against the military, police and death squads, suspected to be former rebels.

Bishop Alminaza warned the rebels and other groups against countering

violence with violence.

“Our people have suffered more than enough. Let us stop the cycle of violence by going back to the negotiating table and pursue a just and lasting peace,” he said.

“Yes, we understand the animosities and anger between state forces and rebels. Both sides are burning with rage and desire for revenge.”

He warned that a “militarist approach of governance, or pessimism to the attainment of peace” would only worsen conflict and add to the burdens of the poor. (Inday Espina-Varona/ UCAN)

and violence, etc. We should act as conscience of society. We also should call people to conversion.

We should also proclaim the Gospel of Life. According to Pope John Paul II in Evangelium Vitae—this is part of our prophetic role—of evangelization. We need to proclaim that life is sacred. Life is sacred because God our Creator is the source of life. All of us were made in the image and likeness of God. This is the source of human dignity and equality.

This is the source and foundation of our human rights. The basic and fundamental of all rights is the right to life. This is a right guaranteed to all—no matter how sinful (including addicts and convicted criminals). Life is sacred— from the moment of conception to its natural end. This is reinforced by God’s commandment: “Thou shalt not kill.”

Jesus also proclaimed “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Pope John Paul II reminds us to promote a culture of life amidst the culture of death. This means promoting a culture that values life, compassion, mercy and peace. This

also means promoting consistent ethic of life. We are called to be prolife. This means fighting against all form and manifestation of the culture of death: abortion, drug addiction, EJK, war, violence, death penalty, corruption, environmental destruction.

Our advocacy should be holistic and broad: defense of human rights and rule of law, Respect for life—the right to life, poverty alleviation (instead of population control), peace (instead of war and armed struggle), defense of the environment and good governance.

As Christians, we are called upon to struggle against sin that is within each one of us—in our hearts and minds. But we also need to struggle against sin and evil in our midst—in society and the policies, structures and systems that are sinful and that breed sin. This is a task that is not just exclusive to the clergy and religious. Lay people are called to actively participate in this mission. This is not just for adults but also for young people—as task that they should become more aware of especially during this Year of the Youth.

Whisper from the Desert / A5

become complicit in murder of the unborn in a country where abortion is legalized.

When sin becomes embedded in the political, economic, social, cultural systems and structures, it leads to suffering and death. It is a system where sin and evil rules, where there is darkness. It produces a society and environment that is lacking in mercy and compassion.

It is a system when ordinary people lose their sense of right and wrong, when they lose their conscience.

What can we do amidst the culture of death and the sinful structures and systems in society? As Christians, we are called to exercise a prophetic role.

This requires denouncing the culture of death and social sin. and announcing and proclaiming the Gospel of life.

We cannot remain silent amidst the culture of death and the sinful structures and systems that prevail in our society.

We must denounce the manifestation of these: Whether human rights violation, EJK, corruption, ecological destruction, abortion, capital punishment, war By the Roadside / A5

spirituality”. Naturally, he will not be alone. The socalled “faithful” who are such because they habitually take part—mostly, if not only—in the external aspects of religion are his accessories. They may verbally call on and proclaim Jesus Christ, but they do not impart Jesus Christ. They have a religion, but it is devoid of spirituality.

I do not know if Gina L found the essential meaning of, or made peace with, the institutional side of the Church. If her mainly friendly

Priest dies at ordination of youngest Filipino bishop IPIL, Zamboanga Sibugay— A CATHOLIC priest died due to heart attack while he was to attend the episcopal ordination on Aug. 20 of Bishop Jose Rapadas of Iligan in Mindanao.

Dozens of Iligan clergy went to Ipil in Zamboanga Sibugay for the ordination of their new bishop, among them was Fr. Albert Trazo.

Minutes before the ceremony begun at the St. Joseph the Worker Cathedral, the 60-year-old priest was rushed to a hospital.

The Iligan diocese said that by 9:24 a.m., he passed away due to “acute myocardial infarction”.

“Amidst our joy and thanksgiving for the gift of God in the person of Bp Joey,

you have left and to meet our Creator,” the diocese posted on its Facebook page.

In his message after his ordination, Bishop Rapadas admitted that his “feeling of joy and exaltation” was “tempered by sorrows” with the demise of Fr. Trazo.

At one part of his speech, he also called for a moment of silence to pray for Fr. Trazo “who served the Lord and his people as pastor”.

“May the Lord in His mercy also reward him,” said Rapadas, who is also the country’s youngest bishop at 47.

Bishop Rapadas will be installed as the new bishop of Iligan at the St. Michael Cathedral on Sept. 5.

(CBCPNews)

Diocese grants episcopal coronation decree for Marikina’s Our Lady of Fatima MARIKINA City— After almost nine years, a decree recognizing the episcopal coronation of the image of Our Lady of Fatima at a parish in Marikina City was released recently.

The Diocese of Antipolo granted the decree to the St. Paul of the Cross Parish (SPCP) during a Mass attended by hundreds of people on Sunday, Aug. 18.

The event also coincided with the visit of the National Pilgrim Image of Our Lady of Fatima from its national shrine in Valenzuela City.

The image was episcopally crowned on Oct. 17, 2010, during the administration of Bishop Emeritus Gabriel Reyes.

However, the issuance of the decree was delayed due to the period being between Bishop Reyes’ retirement and Bishop Francisco De Leon’s succession in Antipolo.

Last July 26, the parish has petitioned the diocese to grant the decree of the episcopal coronation of the image of their second patroness.

On Aug. 5, Bishop De Leon approved the petition, recognizing the act of his predecessor.

SPCP parish priest Fr. Peter Julian Eymard Balatbat said that the devotion to Our Lady of Fatima in the parish has been prominent since the image’s arrival.

The decree was read to the faithful by Fr. Alejandro Pestaño, the diocesan chancellor.

Also present during the ceremony was Bishop Nolly Buco, the auxiliary of Antipolo, who also led in

A woman prays before an image of Our Lady of Fatima at the St. Paul of the Cross Parish in Marikina City. COURTESY OF SPCP SOCCOM MINISTRY

welcoming of the national pilgrim image of Our Lady of Fatima.

The decree states that “the strong and lively devotion of the parishioners has led them to the celebration of the Episcopal Coronation under the title ‘Our Lady of Fatima.’”

“It further reminds the faithful how such a grant is “aimed to deepen and renew their faith in the Triune God, strengthen their love for God and neighbor, especially the poor and the neglected in society,” the decree reads.

The National Pilgrim Committee of Our Lady of Fatima expressed its felicitation for the parish as the Fatima image of Marikina joins three more icons of Our Lady of Fatima in the Philippines that have been granted such a coronation.

These are Our Lady of Fatima of Las Piñas City (2007), Our Lady of Fatima of Binakayan, Cavite (2009) and Our Lady of Fatima of Valenzuela City (2017). (Kendrick Ivan Panganiban/ CBCPNews)

Mines / A3

killed the boy’s mother and two teenage sisters. They also killed his father.

“He managed to escape. But he told me amid tears: ‘I’m not afraid of death, I’m a corpse and a corpse does not fear death’,” the priest said.

At the educational center, the Missionaries of the Immaculate Conception teach the children “to take care of each other,” Malayi said.

“We have heard more than one of them say: ‘Father Willy taught us that when we are older we’ll have to help.’ I think this is a very important

step,” he said.

Malayi called on Christians to “defend the dignity of the person, the image of God” and recognize the value of each person as a brother or sister.

“In our world this concept has been lost, and we have put material things ahead of people,” he said. “What is killing us today is indifference.

We don’t want to know anything about other people’s problems, and we just talk about our own. What is more worrisome than material poverty is spiritual poverty.”

(CNA)

Incident / A1

and even close collaboration with some priests and bishops in her advocacies were a criterion for judgment, one could say that she must have.

And fortunately her return to the Philippines after years as an Ananda Marga missionary in Africa and even in India led her back to the embrace of core Catholic values: social justice, for she tirelessly worked that the wealth of the country be also shared by the majority; integrity of creation, for she epitomized love for God’s creation that she

always exhibited a readiness to make war with any form of abuse against it; preferential love for the poor, children and the marginalized, for she showed compassion for the least in society that was translated into efforts to uplift them economically, socially, culturally and politically; truth, for she did not hesitate to point out to people with enormous wealth and power realities of abuse and corruption; love, for she reveled in her experience and rediscovery of God’s love in her life and allowed it to

propel her service to the poor and the country as a whole.

Maybe I should paraphrase Brutus here: I have not written this piece to praise Gina L but to see what we in Church could hear and learn from her and her kind.

In the final analysis, Gina L has reaffirmed for me what many believers have realized in other epochs: That the journey of faith is sometimes like our journey home; it may find itself taking circuitous routes, but will ultimately reach its destination.

happened “to be at the wrong place at the wrong time”.

“Let us pray that the suspects will be arrested and that justice will be served for the victims,” Famadico said over Radio Veritas on Aug. 20.

He said that Fr. Larano remains in a stable condition while undergoing treatment at a hospital in the city.

In June 2018, a priest of the San Pablo diocese was hurt in a shooting attack in Calamba City.

Fr. Rey Urmeneta of the St.

Michael the Archangel Parish in Calamba cheated death when gunmen fired shots at his car while on his way to a meeting.

The priest, a former police chaplain, suffered wounds to his left upper back and left arm.

Local authorities are yet to make arrests in the attack.

At least three priests were killed in the country in the span of six months last year, and none of the cases has been solved.

(CBCPNews)

A8 PEOPLE, FACTS, AND PLACES

August 19 - September 1, 2019, Vol 23, No. 17

CBCP Monitor

Church ordains new bishop for Novaliches MORE than a thousand people gathered in Manila on Aug. 22 to celebrate the ordination of a new bishop of the Catholic Church.

Churchgoers at the Manila Cathedral applauded when Roberto Gaa prostrated himself in front of the altar and was anointed as the new bishop of Novaliches.

At 57, he is also one of the eight Filipinos appointed by Pope Francis as bishops this year.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle said the archdiocese is grateful to receive the “beautiful gift” in Bishop Gaa “who is now asked to share that gift to others”.

“And we hope that your ordination as a bishop on the queenship of Mary would constantly remind you that the royal people must be led in faith,” Cardinal Tagle enjoined him.

“That’s your personal mission and mission as a bishop,” he said.

The ordination marked a milestone for Cardinal Tagle as he presided his first episcopal consecration since he took the post as Manila archbishop in 2011.

Before his appointment,

the bishop had been serving as rector of the Manila archdiocese-run Holy Apostle Senior Seminary (HASS) in Makati City.

He is also the second bishop who graduated from HASS after Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara of Pasig.

The new prelate admitted he feels “so inadequate” because he served most of his priestly ministry as a seminary formator.

“There are so many challenges ahead, but with your prayers [and] God’s guidance, everything will fall into place,” Bishop Gaa said.

A number of top church officials attended the ceremony including Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales and Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines.

Archbishop Romulo Valles, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, was also among the 40 prelates in attendance.

The new bishop was installed as the third head of Novaliches diocese at the Cathedral Shrine and Parish of the Good Shepherd Aug. 24. (Roy Lagarde/ CBCPNews)

Bishop Roberto Gaa reacts to applause from the congregation and his fellow bishops as he takes his place among them after the ordination rite at the Manila Cathedral Aug. 22. ROY LAGARDE

Malolos diocese welcomes new bishop New prelate for Iligan ordained

Bishop Jose Rapadas (center) is welcomed into the College of Bishops by other prelates during his episcopal ordination Aug. 20. PHOTO FROM THE DIOCESE OF ILIGAN

Bishop Dennis Villarojo greets the faithful after his installation as the fifth bishop of Malolos Aug. 21. ROY LAGARDE

A HUGE crowd filled the church on Aug. 21 and burst into applause as they welcomed the new bishop of the Diocese of Malolos.

Bishop Dennis Villarojo was installed as the diocese’s pastoral leader during a Mass at the Malolos Cathedral, also known as the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception.

The fifth bishop of Malolos, he’ll now serve as head of the diocese, home to nearly 4 million Catholics in the entire Bulacan province and the nearby city of Valenzuela.

Villarojo, 52, has served as auxiliary bishop of Cebu since 2015.

During his installation on Aug. 21, he was recognized as one who can provide a renewed sense of hope and faith for the local church.

“The mission of the Church is to wipe away the blood, tears, and

sweat of those who are heavily laden,” Villarojo said.

The first 20 minutes of the Mass was dedicated to Villarojo’s installation officiated by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila and Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines.

A mitre was placed on his head, a shepherd’s staff was handed to him and then he sat in the cathedra, signifying his possession of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Malolos.

He was then greeted by members of the diocesan clergy and lay faithful who represented various parts of the diocese. Some government leaders also came up to greet him.

Also present were 50 bishops and around 200 priests, mostly Cebu and Malolos.

Upon his arrival in Malolos on Aug. 19, Villarojo visited some

ministries that attend to the church’s works of mercy – such as houses of charity and a correctional facility.

The diocese has been without a bishop since Bishop Jose Oliveros died in May 2018. For more than a year, the ecclesiastical territory was overseen by Bishop Honesto Ongtioco of Cubao as apostolic administrator.

Many of the bishops present during the installation also came all the way from Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay for the episcopal ordination of Bishop Jose Rapadas of Iligan on Aug. 20.

Bishop Rapadas is the first priest from the country’s youngest diocese to be raised to the episcopacy. He will be installed as the new bishop of Iligan in Lanao del Norte on Sept. 5. (CBCPNews)

A 47-YEAR-OLD man of the cloth has become the first priest to be ordained bishop in Ipil diocese in southern Philippines.

Bishop Jose Rapadas was raised to the episcopacy in a ceremony at the town’s St. Joseph the Worker Cathedral on Aug. 20.

Ipil is the youngest Catholic diocese in the country with around half-a-million Catholics.

It was the first episcopal ordination in Ipil since 2010 when it was erected into a diocese.

Hundreds attended the ceremony, among them 24 prelates including Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines.

Bishop Julius Tonel of Ipil was the principal consecrator with Bishops Alberto Uy of Tagbilaran and Jose Cabantan of Malaybalay as co-consecrators.

Speaking after the Mass, Bishop Rapadas said he knows he faces challenges and asked the faithful for prayers in his new mission.

“Please pray for me that I may have the courage and strength…

Nominations now open for 2019 Catholic Social Media Awards CATHOLIC social communicators will have the chance to shine at this year’s Catholic Social Media Awards (CSMA).

Once again there’s no fee to enter the award categories which cover various social media platforms.

Now on its fourth year, the CSMA hands out recognition to encourage dioceses, parishes and church organizations to evangelize through the digital world.

Organizers launched CSMA 2019 on Aug. 22 with nominations now open for 13 categories.

The categories open for submissions until October 6

are: • Best Parish Facebook page • Best Catholic Organization Facebook Page • Best Facebook Public Group • Best Diocesan Website • Best Parish Website • Best Catholic Organization Website • Best Catholic Blog • Best Catholic Vlog • Best Twitter Account • Best Instagram Account • Catholic Song of the Year • Male Social Media Influencer • Female Social Media Influencer The CSMA was established

by YouthPinoy and Areopagus Communications in 2015, which aims to encourage and

instil a sense of responsibility among online communicators.

YouthPinoy is a group of “online missionaries” who “strives to win the world through the Word”.

The awards also run under the auspices of the Media Office of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

“CSMA was established to motivate Filipinos to initiate and nurture the culture of truth in social media,” said Msgr.

Pedro Quitorio, CBCP Media Director.

This year’s CSMA will be held on Nov. 16, which will culminate the 8th Catholic Social Media Summit to be held Manila. (CBCPNews)

that I may be a joyful and humble servant to the people of Iligan entrusted to my care,” he said.

Pope Francis on June 13 had tapped Rapadas to lead the Diocese of Iligan in Lanao Del Norte, also in Mindanao.

He also becomes the youngest member of the College of Bishops in the Philippines.

Bishop Rapadas will be formally installed as the fifth bishop of Iligan at the St. Michael Cathedral on Sept. 5.

Catholics make up about 65 percent of Lanao del Norte’s around 1.5 million population.

Rapadas was ordained a priest in 1999 after finishing his studies at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Cagayan de Oro City.

He has a licentiate in dogmatic theology from the Loyola School of Theology at Ateneo de Manila University.

As a priest, he served as a seminary professor and rector, director of catechesis, parish vicar and coordinator of the diocesan social pastoral ministry. (CBCPNews)

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August 19 - September 1, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 17

(In May this year, the Holy See Press Office released the following message of Pope Francis for the 105th World Day of Migrants and Refugees that will be observed in September 29, 2019.)

Pope Francis visits with refugees in Sofia, Bulgaria, May 6, 2019. PAUL HARING/CNS

“It is not just about migrants” Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for the 105th World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2019 DEAR Brothers and Sisters, Faith assures us that in a mysterious way the Kingdom of God is already present here on earth (cf. Gaudium et spes, 39). Yet in our own time, we are saddened to see the obstacles and opposition it encounters.

Violent conflicts and all-out wars continue to tear humanity apart; injustices and discrimination follow one upon the other; economic and social imbalances on a local or global scale prove difficult to overcome.

And above all it is the poorest of the poor and the most disadvantaged who pay the price.

The most economically advanced societies are witnessing a growing trend towards extreme individualism which, combined with a utilitarian mentality and reinforced by the media, is producing a “globalization of indifference”. In this scenario, migrants, refugees, displaced persons and victims of trafficking have become emblems of exclusion.

In addition to the hardships that their condition entails, they are often looked down upon and considered the source of all society’s ills. That attitude is an alarm bell warning of the moral decline we will face if we continue to give ground to the throw-away culture. In fact, if it continues, anyone who does not fall within the accepted norms of physical, mental and social wellbeing is at risk of marginalization and exclusion.

For this reason, the presence of migrants and refugees—and of vulnerable people in general— is an invitation to recover some of those essential dimensions of our Christian existence and our humanity that risk being overlooked in a prosperous society. That is why it is not just about migrants.

When we show concern for them, we also show concern for ourselves, for everyone; in taking care of them, we all grow; in listening to them, we also give voice to a part of ourselves that we may keep hidden because it is not well regarded nowadays.

“Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!” (Mt 14:27). It is not just about migrants: it is also about our fears. The signs of meanness we see around us heighten “our fear of ‘the other’, the unknown, the marginalized, the foreigner... We see this today in particular, faced

with the arrival of migrants and refugees knocking on our door in search of protection, security and a better future. To some extent, the fear is legitimate, also because the preparation for this encounter is lacking” (Homily in Sacrofano, 15 February 2019). But the problem is not that we have doubts and fears.

The problem is when they condition our way of thinking and acting to the point of making us intolerant, closed and perhaps even—without realizing it—racist. In this way, fear deprives us of the desire and the ability to encounter the other, the person different from myself; it deprives me of an opportunity to encounter the Lord (cf. Homily at Mass for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, 14 January 2018).

“For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same?” (Mt 5:46). It is not just about migrants: it is about charity.

Through works of charity, we demonstrate our faith (cf. Jas 2:18).

And the highest form of charity is that shown to those unable to reciprocate and perhaps even to thank us in return. “It is also about the face we want to give to our society and about the value of each human life... The progress of our peoples... depends above all on our openness to being touched and moved by those who knock at our door. Their faces shatter and debunk all those false idols that can take over and enslave our lives; idols that promise an illusory and momentary happiness blind to the lives and sufferings of others” (Address at the Diocesan Caritas of Rabat, 30 March 2019).

“But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight” (Lk 10:33). It is not just about migrants: it is about our humanity. Compassion motivated that Samaritan—for the Jews, a foreigner—not to pass by.

Compassion is a feeling that cannot be explained on a purely rational level. Compassion strikes the most sensitive chords of our humanity, releasing a vibrant urge to “be a neighbour” to all those whom we see in difficulty. As Jesus himself teaches us (cf. Mt 9:35-36; 14:1314; 15:32-37), being compassionate means recognizing the suffering of the other and taking immediate

action to soothe, heal and save. To be compassionate means to make room for that tenderness which today’s society so often asks us to repress.

“Opening ourselves to others does not lead to impoverishment, but rather enrichment, because it enables us to be more human: to recognize ourselves as participants in a greater collectivity and to understand our life as a gift for others; to see as the goal, not our own interests, but rather the good of humanity” (Address at the Heydar Aliyev Mosque in Baku, 2 October 2016).

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father” (Mt 18:10). It is not just about migrants: it is a question of seeing that no one is excluded. Today’s world is increasingly becoming more elitist and cruel towards the excluded. Developing countries continue to be drained of their best natural and human resources for the benefit of a few privileged markets. Wars only affect some regions of the world, yet weapons of war are produced and sold in other regions which are then unwilling to take in the refugees produced by these conflicts. Those who pay the price are always the little ones, the poor, the most vulnerable, who are prevented from sitting at the table and are left with the “crumbs” of the banquet (cf. Lk 16:19-21).

“The Church which ‘goes forth’... can move forward, boldly take the initiative, go out to others, seek those who have fallen away, stand at the crossroads and welcome the outcast” (Evangelii Gaudium, 24). A development that excludes makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. A real development, on the other hand, seeks to include all the world’s men and women, to promote their integral growth, and to show concern for coming generations.

“Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all” (Mk10:4344). It is not just about migrants: it is about putting the last in first place.

Jesus Christ asks us not to yield to the logic of the world, which justifies injustice to others for my own gain or that of my group. “Me first, and then the others!” Instead, the true

motto of the Christian is, “The last shall be first!” “An individualistic spirit is fertile soil for the growth of that kind of indifference towards our neighbours which leads to viewing them in purely economic terms, to a lack of concern for their humanity, and ultimately to feelings of fear and cynicism. Are these not the attitudes we often adopt towards the poor, the marginalized and the ‘least’ of society? And how many of these ‘least’ do we have in our societies!

Among them I think primarily of migrants, with their burden of hardship and suffering, as they seek daily, often in desperation, a place to live in peace and dignity” (Address to the Diplomatic Corps, 11 January 2016). In the logic of the Gospel, the last come first, and we must put ourselves at their service.

“I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (Jn 10:10). It is not just about migrants: it is about the whole person, about all people. In Jesus’ words, we encounter the very heart of his mission: to see that all receive the gift of life in its fullness, according to the will of the Father.

In every political activity, in every programme, in every pastoral action we must always put the person at the centre, in his or her many aspects, including the spiritual dimension. And this applies to all people, whose fundamental equality must be recognized. Consequently, “development cannot be restricted to economic growth alone. To be authentic, it must be well-rounded; it must foster the development of each man and of the whole man” (SAINT PAUL VI, Populorum Progressio, 14).

“So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God” (Eph 2:19). It is not just about migrants: it is about building the city of God and man. In our time, which can also be called the era of migration, many innocent people fall victim to the “great deception” of limitless technological and consumerist development (cf. Laudato Si’, 34). As a result, they undertake a journey towards a “paradise” that inevitably betrays their expectations. Their presence, at times uncomfortable, helps to debunk the myth of a progress

that benefits a few while built on the exploitation of many. “We ourselves need to see, and then to enable others to see, that migrants and refugees do not only represent a problem to be solved, but are brothers and sisters to be welcomed, respected and loved. They are an occasion that Providence gives us to help build a more just society, a more perfect democracy, a more united country, a more fraternal world and a more open and evangelical Christian community” (Message for the 2014 World Day of Migrants and Refugees).

Dear brothers and sisters, our response to the challenges posed by contemporary migration can be summed up in four verbs: welcome, protect, promote and integrate. Yet these verbs do not apply only to migrants and refugees. They describe the Church’s mission to all those living in the existential peripheries, who need to be welcomed, protected, promoted and integrated. If we put those four verbs into practice, we will help build the city of God and man. We will promote the integral human development of all people. We will also help the world community to come closer to the goals of sustainable development that it has set for itself and that, lacking such an approach, will prove difficult to achieve.

In a word, it is not only the cause of migrants that is at stake; it is not just about them, but about all of us, and about the present and future of the human family. Migrants, especially those who are most vulnerable, help us to read the “signs of the times”.

Through them, the Lord is calling us to conversion, to be set free from exclusivity, indifference and the throw-away culture. Through them, the Lord invites us to embrace fully our Christian life and to contribute, each according to his or her proper vocation, to the building up of a world that is more and more in accord with God’s plan.

In expressing this prayerful hope, and through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Way, I invoke God’s abundant blessings upon all the world’s migrants and refugees and upon all those who accompany them on their journey.

From the Vatican, 30 April 2019 FRANCIS

B2 FEATURE

August 19 - September 1, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 17

CBCP Monitor

The Judicial Office in the Church The Ordinary Contentious Trial (Part II)

By Fr. Jaime B. Achacoso, J.C.D.

Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles, CBCP President, and the delegates of the 26th National Convention of the Canon Law Society of the Philippines pose for a group photo after the Mass at the San Pedro Cathedral in Davao City, Feb. 26, 2018. PHOTO FROM THE DAVAO CATHOLIC HERALD

After studying the canonical theory behind the process, and the subjects (the parts and the competent tribunal) that are involved in it, we can now go step by step through the paradigm of the judicial process: the ordinary contentious trial. The other types of special processes— e.g., matrimonial processes—are only variations of this basic type.

1. Stages and Processal Activities As previously seen, the process is procedural precisely because it consists of a series of acts which must follow an order. a. The Stages of the Process (or Trial).

A trial may be viewed as consisting of four stages, each one of them made up of a series of processal (or pre-processal) acts:

1) Introductory Stage (cc.1501-1525): This includes the petition made by the active part

(actor, petitioner or plaintiff) to the judge, its acceptance by the judge, the citation of the passive part (respondent or defendant) by the judge, presentation of possible exceptions or counter-claims (reconvention) by the respondent, and the establishment of the grounds which results in the joinder of the issues.

2) Evidentiary or Probatory Stage (cc.1526-1600): The Instruction of the Case. This includes the collection of proofs— including those related to any exceptions, counter-claims, or incidental questions introduced by the parties—, the publication of the acts and the conclusion in causa (i.e., the conclusion of the probatory stage of the proceedings).

3) Discussion Stage (cc.16011606): This includes the briefs, animadversions, and whatever oral argument made.

4) Decisionary Stage (cc.16071655): This includes the sentence, any possible impugning of the sentence, and the execution of the sentence. b. Time Limits or Deadlines.

Since the ordinary process, governed by the written principle (which takes time), is limited by law to not more than one year in the first instance and six months in the second instance (c.1453), the different processal activities must be well defined and time limits fixed for each of them.

There are three kinds of deadlines in Processal Law: 1) Legal Deadlines: These are fixed by law itself, and can be of two kinds: a) Peremptory Legal Deadlines (fatalia legis) are those which extinguish the right in question— i.e., to carry out a processal act—if the deadline is not met.

Can.1465,§1 states the principle

of non-prorogability and nonrestrictability of peremptory legal deadlines. The rule of thumb is that legal deadlines which refer to the parts are peremptory: e.g., cc. 1505, §4; 1460, §3; 1623; 1630, §1; 1633 and 1646. b) Non-peremptory Legal Deadlines are those which, if unmet, do not extinguish the right. The rule of thumb is that legal deadlines which refer to the court are nonperemptory: e.g., cc.1453; 1609, §5.

An exception to this rule of thumb is c.1506.

2) Judicial Deadlines are those defined or set by the judge, taking into consideration the nature of the act (c.1466).

3) Conventional Deadlines are those defined by agreement of the parts. Can.1465,§2 states the principle of prorogability (at the instance of the parts or with their prior knowledge) and restrictability (only with the agreement of the parts) of both judicial and conventional deadlines; with a caveat against overly prolonging the trial by such prorogation (c.1465,§3). c. Peremption or Abatement (cc.1520-1523). This is the extinction of an instance by lack of processal impulse due to the negligence of the parties.

Can. 1520 states: Barring some impediment, if no procedural act is proposed by the parties for six months, the prosecution of the suit is abated. Particular law can state other time limits for abatement.

The assumption is that, when an unimpeded party takes no interest whatsoever in the trial for a period of six months, such negligence amounts to a tacit renunciation of the instance.

2. The Introductory Stage What follows is a summary, with the more practical details of interest. a. Presentation of the Petition (libellus litis introductorius).

The judicial petition is an act by which a part, alleging a concrete will of the law which guarantees him a certain good, declares his will that this will of the law be actuated, and

invokes for such end the authority of the judicial organ.

Can.1504 requires the libellus introducing a suit to state the following: 1) Petitioner (a quo): name and family name, domicile or quasi-domicile, juridic (judicial) and processal capacity, legitimate mandate (in case of procurator).

2) Respondent (quis): name and family name, domicile or quasidomicile, guardian or curator (for a person with processal incapacity) or legitimate representative (for a juridic person).

3) Judicial organ (coram quo)— invoking the competence of the tribunal (cc.1502, 1504,1°).

4) What is being petitioned (quid: Petitio iudicii)—specifying what is being asked (c.1504, 1°) or the object of the controversy (c.1502).

Precision is important, since the judge will act only on what is being asked.

5) Title of the pretension (quo iure: Causa petendi): The totality of juridic data invoked by the petitioner as foundation of the petition (c.1504, 2°).

6) Written: The use of the term libellus—with its meaning in Roman Law—implies that the petition must be written ordinarily (c.1502). An oral petition may be admitted in special circumstances, but an act must be made by the tribunal itself (c.1503). b. Citation of the Respondent.

This is a processal act, by which a person is informed of a suit that he has been named respondent in, and he is told that he is called to trial (in iudicium vocatur) and is cited to answer (in writing) or to appear in person (c.1507,§1). It is a public act, by decree of the judge, which is inchoative of the process before the consolidation of the processal relation (c.1509,§2).

The citation has the following effect: 1) Origin of the Judge-Respondent Processal Relation. Once the citation has been legitimately communicated (independently of the will of the Judicial / B7

Carrying the Book of the Gospels (Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy and sacramental theology and director of the Sacerdos Institute at the Regina Apostolorum university, answers the following query:) Q: As one who carries the Book of the Gospels at our Masses, I have some questions. When the book is being carried in, should it be at a modest elevation with the cover facing outward or facing the lector/ carrier? I also read that one should make a profound bow when leaving the Book of the Gospels on the altar. Should that be a bow after depositing the book or before that act? — R.B., Rockport, Ontario A: Not everything is specified in detail in the liturgical books. This is especially true of elements such as carrying the Book of the Gospels, which is a relative novelty in the current Latin liturgy, albeit with historical antecedents.

There are some surviving examples of beautiful manuscript versions of the Books of the Gospels for liturgical use until about the 12th century. From about 1200 onward the convention of including all the readings for Mass within the missal led to the practical disappearance of separate lectionaries.

Before the current liturgical reform reintroduced the Lectionary and the Evangeliary as distinct books, it was possible for a local bishop to authorize the publication of separate lectionaries and Books of the Gospel extracted from the missal for certain solemn celebrations.

This was far from being a universal practice, however.

The Introduction to the Book of the Gospels has the following indications: “9. In the Entrance Procession, the vested deacon reverently carries the Book of the Gospels before him so that it may be seen by the faithful.

With the priest he makes the proper reverence and goes up to the altar, placing the Book of the Gospels on it. The deacon then kisses the altar at the same time as the priest.

In the absence of a deacon, the reader reverently carries the Book

of the Gospels in procession. The reader follows the acolytes and other ministers in procession. The reader places the Book of the Gospels on the altar, but the reader does not kiss the altar.”

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) adds the following indications for deacons and lectors carrying the Book of the Gospels: “A. MASS WITHOUT A DEACON “The Introductory Rites “120. Once the people have gathered, the priest and ministers, clad in the sacred vestments, go in procession to the altar in this order: “a. The thurifer carrying a thurible with burning incense, if incense is used; “b. The ministers who carry lighted candles, and between them an acolyte or another minister with the cross; “c. The acolytes and the other ministers; “d. A lector, who may carry the Book of the Gospels (though not the Lectionary), which should be slightly elevated; “e. The priest who is to celebrate the Mass.

“172. Carrying the Book of the Gospels slightly elevated, the deacon precedes the priest as he approaches the altar or else walks at the priest’s side.

“173. When he reaches the altar, if he is carrying the Book of the Gospels, he omits the sign of reverence and goes up to the altar.

It is particularly appropriate that he should place the Book of the Gospels on the altar, after which, together with the priest, he venerates the altar with a kiss.

“If, however, he is not carrying the Book of the Gospels, he makes a profound bow to the altar with the priest in the customary way and with him venerates the altar with a kiss. Lastly, if incense is used, he assists the priest in putting some

This Dec. 13, 2015 photo shows Bishop Walker Nickless of Sioux City, Iowa, carrying the Book of Gospels into the church of the Cathedral of the Epiphany during Mass. CNS/JERRY MENNENGA, CATHOLIC GLOBE

into the thurible and in incensing the cross and the altar.

“D. THE DUTIES OF THE LECTOR “Introductory Rites “194. In coming to the altar, when no deacon is present, the lector, wearing approved attire, may carry the Book of the Gospels, which is to be slightly elevated. In that case, the lector walks in front of the priest but otherwise along with the other ministers.

“195. Upon reaching the altar, the lector makes a profound bow with the others. If he is carrying the Book of the Gospels, he approaches the altar and places the Book of the Gospels upon it. Then the lector takes his own place in the sanctuary with the other ministers.”

While it is clear that the Book of the Gospels should be elevated in

the procession, nothing indicates the direction of the book as such. I would say that it is customary to have the front of the book facing outward toward the people even though this means turning it when reaching the altar so that, in accordance with the practice of the Roman rite, it lies flat upon the altar table.

Indeed, precious bindings and covers for the Book of the Gospel frequently have finer decoration on the front, precisely with the different processions in mind.

While the texts distinguish between the deacon “going up” to the altar and the lector “approaching the altar” it is not clear if any ritual implications would follow. Perhaps it could mean that the deacon would practically always go around the altar before placing the Book of the Gospels and await the arrival of the

priest while the lector will often place the book on the altar from its front. The vast variety of sanctuary designs makes it very difficult to determine exact procedures in this matter.

In general, a profound bow is not made while carrying the book as is specifically indicated for the deacon.

There is no norm as to making a bow after leaving the Book of the Gospels upon the altar, and the deacon would certainly not do so as he will kiss the altar with the priest.

It is understandable that the lector carrying the Book of the Gospels might feel that a bow toward the altar is appropriate at this time, but GIRM No. 195 (above) would appear to suggest that he or she proceed directly to the lector’s assigned place in the sanctuary with no further acts of reverence at this time.*

CBCP Monitor

FEATURE B3

August 19 - September 1, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 17

Addressing climate emergency

By Bro. Jaazeal Jakosalem CLIMATE Change already made its impacts on our planet, of our own making—disastrous impacts on humanity and all of creation.

We have paid the cost of climate divergence: damaging to humanity, irreparable to nature and a bleak future for the generations to come; and climate change is not being treated as an emergency.

‘Climate Emergency’ offers a new approach to our climate action, more than just a campaign slogan or any sort of parliamentary declaration; it is however, a call to engage governments, institutions, organizations and even individuals to prioritize drastic response to any environmental damages. No more sweet talks, or capitalistic sloganeering on the environmental campaigns. We have to immediately change from normal mode to emergency mode.

We need to take part in responding to the climate emergency with urgency: First, the need to embrace the emergency mode, we have to end the climate change romanticism.

Or else, the extreme climate events remain in the news, more and more damaging impacts are happening.

The warnings are real, ‘1 million species already face extinction’; and we cannot allow the damaging accelerated rate of extinction.

Undeniably governments must address drivers of climate divergence

in emergency mode, “the direct drivers of change in nature with the largest global impact have been changes in land and sea use; direct exploitation of organisms; climate change; pollution; and invasion of alien species” accelerating during the past 50 years.

The declaration must be forceful and decisive, demanding consistent ecological framework among governments. This was clearly articulated by Greta Thunberg, she tweeted: “It’s 2019. Can we all now please stop saying ‘climate change’ and instead call it what it is: climate breakdown, climate crisis, climate emergency, ecological breakdown, ecological crisis and ecological emergency?”

Second, the need to strategize the speed of response, climate emergency demands swift and strategic response. In 2018, thru the IPCC report, the world’s leading climate scientists have warned us that we only have 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe—keeping the 1.5°C to a maximum.

Third, the need to have clarity of targets; targets for a fossil-free future, targets for biodiversity protection, targets for a sustainable future—all warrant sustained efforts without compromise. We need realistic targets.

For us to seriously act on climate emergency, we should let our

Coconut farmers in Tanauan, Leyte, help prepare each other’s fields for vegetables in this Feb. 7, 2014, file photo. Catholic bishops in the Philippines criticized “the continuing destruction of our common home” and called for “ecological conversion” amid “climate emergency.” TYLER ORSBURN/CNS

voices be heard, our actions too are important, and amplifying our call to be heard by others is necessary.

Well-articulated by Extinction Rebellion, we must demand from our governments to: (1) tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, working with other institutions to communicate the urgency for change, (2) act now

to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025, (3) create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice.

Pope Francis recently said: “Today’s ecological crisis, especially climate change, threatens the very future of the human family… Faced

with a climate emergency, we must take action accordingly, in order to avoid perpetrating a brutal act of injustice towards the poor and future generations.” In this era we experienced the brutality of the climate impacts. Let us embrace this declaration—as individuals, as organized citizens, as institutions, and as a community of faith.

Enhancing welfare of Filipino seafarers

By Bernardo M. Villegas LAST February 16, 2019, The Economist carried an article entitled “Unsung Filipino seafarers power the global economy.” The figures are impressive: “Today, more than ninetenths of global trade (by weight) is carried by sea, on some 100,000 merchant vessels drawing on a pool of 1.2 million mariners. Of these, well over a quarter, 378,000 are Filipinos—by far the biggest number by country of origin.” According to Engineer Nelson Ramirez, President of the United Filipino Seafarers, Filipino seafarers are appreciated for the following qualities: They speak English. They work hard. They are well trained in the scores of marine colleges all over the country. They are adaptable to any job assignment, “pliant like the bamboo.” No wonder that they represent only 3 percent of all Overseas Filipino Workers but account for 15 percent of the remittances of more than $30 billion annually.

Despite their significant contributions to the economy, not enough is being done for the Filipino seafarers by either the Government or the private sector. As pointed out in the article that appeared in The Economist they are often victimized by unscrupulous operators who tempt seafarers into launching spurious injury claims against ship operators and then pocket the bulk of the damages. There are times when shipowners vanish behind brass plates and leave crews stranded and unpaid. Then there are the myriad of official documents and certificates that they have to present as they travel from one port to another. That is why one of the aims of the party list Angkla is to get the Maritime Industry Authority, a government agency, to set up regional branches so that seafarers do not have to

Filipino seafarers at work in the West African country of Cameroon. FILE PHOTO

travel all the way up to the National Capital Region in order to renew their seaman’s passbook. And that is only of the numerous documents that they have to keep updated.

Fortunately, an application of blockchain technology is recently being considered by the Philippine maritime industry to help seafarers cope with their documentation challenge which can occupy a lot of their very limited time on shore. An entrepreneur I met when I was a Visiting Professor at the IESE Business School, Mr. Anjaney Borwarnkar, has recently introduced to the Philippines the

services of a company he established in Singapore. The firm is called Navozyme and has the mission to enhance lives in the maritime industry via innovative technology solutions that raise the safety, the productivity and the reputation of the global maritime industry.

Navozyme’s blockchain-enabled platforms will help maritime stakeholders to securely exchange real-time critical data related to ship and seafarers’ certifications.

The platform can be used to manage complex processes related to maritime training, certifications, port clearances, etc.

Navozyme will bring the Philippine maritime industry to the fourth industrial revolution, specifically through two solutions. The first one is N-MAP (Navozyme-Maritime Authentication Platform) which is targeted at ship owners/managers/ operators port authorities, classification societies and agencies who handle the port-clearance processes for ship’s entry into a port. With the blockchain-enabled platform, the maritime stakeholders will be able to share authentic real time information in a secure manner.

N-MAP can increase productivity, reduces costs and enhance safety

standards and reputation of the stakeholders. Video about the NMAP can be viewed at hhttps:// www.navozyme.com/ncap.

The second is called N-CAP (Navozyme-Certificate Authentication Platform). This platform can bring about productivity gains and eliminate paper-based risks and processes related to maritime certifications.

Maritime training institutions, shipping companies/manning agents (who hire seafarers) and individual seafarers can benefit from N-CAP as certificate information now can be shared on a secure and digital manner amongst permissioned stakeholders. N-CP also aids shipping companies with easier GDPR compliance. A video about N-CAP can be viewed at https://www.navozyme.com/ncap.

The people behind Navozyme should be thanked for enhancing the welfare of the oftentimes unsung Filipino seafarers who will be around for many more decades to come even if land-based Overseas Filipino Workers may dwindle as the Philippine economy transitions to First World Status and is able to significantly reduce mass poverty. Since seafaring is an occupation or profession that comes naturally to many Filipinos, we will always have them earning substantial foreign exchange for the Philippines even as we reduce the number of Filipinos who go to work abroad because of economic necessity. Thanks to technologies like those of Navozyme, Filipino seafarers today and tomorrow will have less trouble coping with the many documentation challenges inherent to the seafaring profession. For more information on Navozyme, please visit www.navozyme.com. For comments, my email address is bernardo.villegas@uap.asia.

B4 FEATURE

August 19 - September 1, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 17

CBCP Monitor

(The following are the sub-topics for Weeks 42 (October 13-19) and 43 (October 20-26) of the continuing catechetical preparation for celebration of 500 Year of Christianity; prepared by the Episcopal Commission on Catechesis and Catholic Education.)

WEEK 42 : Oct.13-19: Sub-topic: A CALL TO SERVE THE POOR AND THE NEEDY SINCE Christ willed to be born poor, he chose for himself disciples who were poor. He made himself the servant of the poor and shared their poverty. He went so far as to say that he would consider every deed which either helps or harms the poor as done for or against himself.

Since God surely loves the poor, he also loves those who love the poor.

For when one person holds another dear, he also includes in his affection anyone he loves or serves the one he loves. That is why we hope that God will love us for the sake of the poor.

So when we visit the poor and needy, we try to understand the poor and weak. We sympathize with them so fully that we can echo Paul’s words: ” I have become all things to all men” Although in his passion he almost lost the appearance of a man and was considered a fool by the Gentiles and a stumbling block by the Jews, he showed them that his mission was to preach to the poor: “ He sent me to preach the good news to the poor.” We also ought to have this same spirit and imitate Christ’s actions, that is, we must take care of the poor, console them, help them, support their cause.

We must try to be stirred by our neighbors’ worries and distress. We must beg God to pour into our hearts sentiments of pity and compassion and to fill them again and again with these dispositions.

Word of God: Prov 14:31 Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy….Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker , but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. Psalm 9:17-18 “Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “ I will protect them from those who malign them”.

Values / Attitude (towards the poor and the needy) Kindness • Empathy • Generosity • Charitable Doctrine Fraternal Charity : A Work of Justice Pleasing to God ( CCC 2462 ).

How can we not recognize Lazarus, the hungry beggar in the parable ( cf. Lk 17:19-31 ), in the multitude of human beings without bread, a roof or a place to stay? How can we fail to hear Jesus : “As you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me” ( Mt 25:45 )?

Moral Spiritual and Corporal Works

of Mercy. The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities.

Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting, are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently. T he corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead. Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity.

Worship Prayer of intercession has particular value, for it is an act of trust in God and, at the same time, an expression of love for our neighbor. I n reality, our prayer will be all the more pleasing to God and more effected for our growth in holiness if, through intercession, we attempt to practice the twofold commandment that Jesus left us.

Intercessory prayer is an expression of our fraternal concern for others, since we are able to embrace their lives, their deepest troubles and their loftiest dreams. Of those who commit themselves generously to intercessory prayer we can apply the words of Scripture : “ This is a man who loves the brethren and prays much for the people” ( 2 Mac 15:14 ) Faith Response Affirmation/ Conviction: Empathy with the poor in the community Commitment: Involvement in the feeding program of our parish Celebration / Prayer: Prayer of the Faithful ( General Intercessions, Monday first week of Lent) with the response: LORD, LET US LOVE AND SERVE YOU IN OTHERS. That the Church may become a home for the lost, the stray, the weak and the wounded. Let us pray to the Lord.

That rich nations may seriously undertake steps to help in the development of poorer nations. Let us pray to the Lord.

That through our practical generosity, the neglected and rejected of our society may be drawn to the Kingdom of God. Let us pray to the Lord.

That we may spread the reign of the Kingdom in our homes, workplaces and in the community we belong. Let us pray to the Lord.

That the dead may enter the Kingdom prepared for them. Let us pray to the Lord.

Father, knowing your boundless love for all people, we confidently bring our intentions before you in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen

A painting by national artist Fernando Amorsolo on the first baptism in the Philippines on April 14, 1521.

WEEK 43: Oct. 20-26: Sub-topic: BLESSED ARE THE POOR THE Church’s social doctrine is marked with a “preferential option for the poor” PCP 11 asserts that this option, following Christ’s own, takes on great urgency in our country where a very great number of our people wallow in abject poverty and misery, while tremendous social privileges and deference are accorded the rich and powerful. ( PCP 11 312 ) This option, however, must be properly understood. The Church obviously desires to bring the message of salvation to every human being, to every culture and social environment, but in the first place to those who are most in need. Thus “the preference for the poor is a Christian preference,” for Christ came to proclaim a message of salvation to the poor (cf. John Paul 11, to people of Tondo,3).

It is an “option in the exercise of Christian charity to which the whole tradition of the Church bears witness. It affects the life of each Christian inasmuch as he or she seeks to imitate the life of Christ.

But it applies equally to our social responsibilities and hence to our manner of living.(CFC1187) Word of God : Lk 6:20-23 The poor incarnate the evangelical values in their lives: Blest are you poor, the reign of God is yours; Blest are you who hunger, you shall be filled; Blest are you who are weeping, you shall laugh.

Blest shall you be when men hate you, when they ostracize you and

insult you and proscribe your name as evil because of the Son ofMan… Rejoice and exult, for your reward shall be great in heaven.

Values/Attitude • Kindness • Generosity • Empathy • Charity • Detachment Doctrine: Love for the poor God blesses those who come to the aid of the poor and rebukes those who turn away from them.”

Give to him who begs from you, do not refuse him who would barrow from you”; “ you received without pay, give without pay”( Mt5:42)It is by what they have done for the poor that Jesus Christ will recognize his chosen ones ( Mt25:31-36) When the poor have the good news preached to them” it is the sign of Christ’s presence. ( Lk 4:18 ) The Church’s love for the poor is a part of her constant tradition .This love is inspired by the Gospel of the Beatitudes, of the poverty of Jesus and of his concern for the poor.

Love for the poor is even one of the motives for the duty of working so as to be able to give to those in need. ( Eph 4:28) It extends not only to material poverty but also to the many forms of cultural and religious poverty.(CCC 2444) Moral St. Luke does not speak of poverty “of spirit” but simply of those who are “poor”(cf.Lk6:20). In this way, he too invites us to live a plain and austere life. He calls us to share in the life of those most in need, the life lived by the Apostles, and ultimately

to configure ourselves to Jesus who, though rich, “made himself poor” (2 Cor8:9) Worship The ultimate criterion on which our lives will be judged is what we have done for others. Prayer is most precious, for it nourishes a daily commitment to love. Our worship becomes pleasing to God when we devote ourselves to living generously, and allow God’s gift, granted in prayer, to be shown in our concern for our brothers and sisters.

This is the worship most acceptable to God.(GE 104) Faith Response Affirmation: Appreciation of the blessedness of the poor Commitment: Giving hopeful advice to the confused and weary Celebration: Prayer for solidarity with the poor.

Compassionate and loving God, We praise you for the many gifts you provide us May we be mindful of those who go without, each and every day.

Help us to provide the resources needed for our brothers and sisters.

Burdened by the suffering caused by poverty and oppression, Let our work this day be a reminder of our interconnectedness with all your beloved children. Open our eyes to see the needs of the community.

Cleanse our ears to hear the cries of the poor. Anoint our hands and feet to be instruments in fulfilling your justice. We ask this all through your Son Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit one God forever and ever.

Amen.

CBCP Monitor

STATEMENTS B5

August 19 - September 1, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 17

Isang paninindigan at suporta kay Bishop Ambo David, iba pang mga Obispo, mga Pari at Layko “Pinagpala ang mga inuusig nang dahil sa kanilang pagsunod sa kalooban ng Diyos, sapagkat kabilang sila sa kaharian ng langit.” (Mateo 5:10) KAMI, ang mga relihiyoso, kaparian, madre at layko na kabilang sa Association of Religious in the Diocese of Kalookan (ARDOK) at Mission Stations ng Diyosesis ng Kalookan (MSDOK) ay naninindigan para sa katotohanan, katarungan at kapayapaan. Naniniwala kami na ANG BUHAY AY SAGRADO (Genesis 1:27). Ang buhay ay natatanging biyaya mula sa Diyos, kaya’t tungkulin nang lahat na pangalagaan, pagyamanin at ipagtanggol ito.

Naniniwala kami na ANG BAWAL NA GAMOT AY ISANG MABIGAT NA SULIRANIN NG PAMILYA AT KOMUNIDAD. Sinisira nito ang ating buong pagkatao, kasama

na ang ating katawan at kaisipan, maging ang ating ugnayan sa kapwa at Diyos. Kaya’t tungkulin ng lahat na maghanap nang maagap at makataong solusyon. Nakikiisa kami sa ating Pamahalaan na masugpo ang problema sa drogra.

Naninindigan kami na HINDI PAGKITIL NG BUHAY (Jeremiah 22:3) ang tamang solusyon sa problema ng bawal na gamot. Hindi makatao, hindi bumubuhay at hindi tunay na solusyon ang pananakot at pagkitil ng buhay.

Kaya’t KAISA NG AMING OBISPO, Pablo Virgilio David, tahasan rin naming tinutuligsa ang palasak na pagkitil ng buhay o extra judicial killings bilang pangunahing solusyon sa problema ng bawal na gamot. Labag ito sa utos ng Diyos at karapatang pantao. Sagrado ang bawat buhay kaya’t dapat pangalagaan. Karapatan ng bawat isa ang magbagong buhay at walang

karapatan ang sinuman na kumitil ng buhay ng iba.

Tulad ng isang MABUTING PASTOL (1 Pedro 2:25), buongpusong tinutulungan ng aming Obispo ang mga pamilya ng biktima ng extra judicial killings sa Diyosesis ng Kalookan. Sa tulong ng ating mga lokal na pamahalaan, ahensiya ng pamahalaan, NGOs at Simbahan, buong kabutihan nilang sinasagip ang mga nagumon sa droga, at ang mga inosenteng pinaghinalaang gumagamit ng bawal na gamot.

Kayat’ isang malalim na KALUNGKUTAN AT PAGKADISMAYA ang aming naramdaman sa kasong sedisyon na isinampa ng pamahalaan laban sa aming Obispo Ambo Virgilio David, Obispo Honesto Ongtioco, Obispo Teodoro Bacani Jr, Obispo Socrates Villegas, mga kaparian at layko.

NAKIKIISA ang ating Simbahan, mga obispo, kaparian at layko sa

ating pamahalaan sa paghahanap ng tamang lunas sa problema ng droga. Hindi nila adhikain ang magpabagsak ng ating pamahalaan.

Ang tanging nais ng lahat ay tulungan ang mga inosenteng mamamayan at mga nagumon sa bawal na gamot, at hindi ang magpabagsak ng pamahalaan. Kaya’t isang malaking pagkakamali na sampahan ang mga Obispo at mga kasamahan ng kasong sedisyon at iba pa.

Kaya’t KAMI, ang Association of the Religious of the Diocese of Kalookan (ARDOK) at Mission Stations ng Diyosesis (MSDOK), ay mahigpit na tumututol sa mga maling paratang na ito. Naniniwala kami sa kabutihan-loob ng aming Obispo at iba pa. Malinis ang kanilang hangaring makiisa sa pamahalaan sa pagsugpo sa probema ng bawal na gamot.

KAYA’T ibinibigay namin sa aming mga Obispo at iba pang nasasakdal,

ANG AMING BUONG-PUSONG PAKIISA sa kanilang mabuting adhikain. Makakaasa kayo ng aming panalangin at suporta sa anumang hakbang na inyong tatahakin.

Sasamahan namin kayo. Naniniwala kami sa inyong ipinaglalaban. Iisa ang ating ipinaglalaban.

Kayat’ hinihiling namin sa ating pamahalaan na IPAWALANG-BISA ANG KASONG SEDISYON AT IBA PANG KASO na isinampa laban sa mga Obispo, pari at layko na idinawit sa kasong ito. Malinis ang integridad ng lahat nang nasasakdal.

Ang tanging layunin ng lahat ay ipaglaban ang buhay, katarungan at kapakanan ng lahat. Wala kaming nakikitang mali na mahalin ang mga naliligaw ng landas. (Lukas 15:1-7)— Association of Religious in the Diocese of Kalookan (ARDOK) Mission Stations of the Diocese of Kalookan (MSDOK)

A statement of the Redemptorist Missionaries on the 34th anniversary of the abduction of Fr. Rudy Romano, C.Ss.R. “But if, out of love for others, you give your life for others, like I am going to give mine, you will have an abundant harvest, you will experience the deepest satisfaction.”

These were words uttered by El Salvador Archbishop Oscar Romero while giving a homily on April 1, 1979. A year later, Romero was assassinated on March 24, 1980.

Most recently, he has been canonized

by Pope Francis and is now referred to as San Romero del Mundo.

From the 1970s to the 1980s— when there were many authoritarian regimes that committed human rights violations—there were many martyrs in the Churches across the world, specifically in Central and Latin America as well as in countries like the Philippines. Bishops, priests, religious men and women and lay leaders offered their lives as acts of prophecy even as hundreds were arrested, tortured and jailed. On July 11, 1985, Fr. Rudy Romano, a Redemptorist, was abducted in Cebu City. The Redemptorists did everything to find out what happened to him even as there were witnesses who claimed they actually saw the abduction as it unfolded.

The military, suspected to be behind this act, denied having a hand in his disappearance.

Fr. Rudy Romano disappeared since July 11, 1985

Thirty-four years have passed.

Even as most Filipinos may have forgotten this tragic incident that took the life of our esteemed confrere, we Redemptorists - along with other Filipinos who continue to care about the memory of the Marcos dictatorship - keep alive our hope that one day the truth shall finally be revealed as to who victimized Fr. Romano. And we continue to thank God for the witness of Fr. Romano, whose staunch advocacy to be on the side of the poor inspired many among us to take up our own cross and follow the footsteps of our Lord.

We will always remember Fr. Romano and on this day, we shall find time to reflect on the meaning of his life and sacrifice. There may have been many changes in our country through the past three decades, but there are still some realities that continue to characterize our society, not unlike the one that Fr. Romano critiqued in his own time.

The inequality that has persisted stares us in the face, as a small elite monopolizes the wealth of this Republic while the majority remain poor. Most peasants still are landless, laborers still face contractualization, indigenous peoples continue to be dislocated from their ancestral domains. Human rights violations

continue to take place as the drug war still claims more victims.

As Pope Francis continues to exhort the faithful today to go to the peripheries and serve the flock, we are once again reminded of the example of Fr. Romano whose life was spent primarily to serve the needs of the marginalized. The 34th anniversary of his disappearance once more reminds us how urgent this task is. In his memory, we continue to take to heart the same Gospel challenge. May God bless our efforts as we reach out to the wounded of our society and do what we can “to bring about God’s plentiful Redemption.”

And we ask San Romero and Our Mother of Perpetual Help to instill in us the deep sense of commitment to justice and deep compassion for the most abandoned among our sisters and brothers.

FR. VICTORINO CUETO, CSsR Vice-Province of Manila (Luzon) FR. COPERNICUS PEREZ, JR., CSsR Province of Cebu (Visayas & Mindanao) 11 July 2019

Statement of the Holy Press Office on Cardinal Pell Issued by Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office WHILE reiterating its respect for the Australian judicial system, as stated on 26 February after the first instance verdict was announced, the Holy See acknowledges the court’s decision to dismiss Cardinal Pell’s appeal.

As the proceedings continue to develop, the Holy See recalls that the Cardinal has always maintained his innocence throughout the judicial process and that it is his right to appeal to the High Court.

At this time, together with the Church in Australia, the Holy See confirms its closeness to the victims of sexual abuse and its commitment to pursue, through the competent ecclesiastical authorities, those members of the clergy who commit such abuse.

(Responding to the queries of Journalists, the Holy See Press Office added the following:) “As in other cases, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is awaiting the outcome of the ongoing proceedings and the conclusion of the appellate process prior to taking up the case.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni speaks Aug. 21, 2019, after an Australian appeals court upheld the conviction of Cardinal George Pell on five counts of sexually assaulting two choirboys more than two decades ago. JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES/CNS

As was stated by the Holy See Press Office on 26 February, the Holy Father had already confirmed the precautionary measures imposed on Cardinal Pell upon his return to Australia, that is, as is the norm, the prohibition from exercising public ministry and from any voluntary contact whatsoever with minors”.

B6 REFLECTIONS

August 19 - September 1, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 17

Salvation as primarily the work of God, not ours 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, (Luke 14:1.7-14) September 1, 2019

CBCP Monitor

The challenge to be humble and generous 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, (Luke 14:1.7-14) September 1, 2019

By Msgr. Lope C. Robredillo, SThD

By Fr. Sal Putzu, SDB

IN today’s Gospel, we are told that when Jesus was invited to dine at a Pharisee’s house, he noticed how the Pharisees chose the first places for themselves. According to Luke, these people were rigorous when it comes to the law (Luke 6:2), and sometimes did more than what it required (Luke 18:12). Precisely because of their effort to strictly keep the law, they had reasons to think that they had a great dignity before God and of course before men. If the Gospels portray them as lovers of the first seats in the synagogues,

craving for the special greetings in public places, this should be thought of as a natural consequence of the dignity they claimed for themselves.

It is thus natural on the whole that they sought the best places in the banquet to which a Pharisee invited them together with Jesus.

In our society of unequal wealth and status, one could always find sympathy with the Pharisees. At our formal dinners, we more often than not have a list of guests to be seated at the presidential table. We know that the seating arrangement

provides much indication of the social standing not only of the guests but also of the host himself. Tell me who are your visitors, and I will tell you who you are. Of course, social climbers have been known from Adam. Indeed, how often we emphasize the importance of knowing the right people, especially because what is of consequence nowadays in not so much what you know as who you know. Unlike the Pharisees, though, we do consider dignity not in terms of following Salvation / B7

Can we really live together?

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, (Luke 14:23-33) September 8, 2019

By Msgr. Lope C. Robredillo, SThD A FEW YEARS ago, after the riot in Los Angeles, California, Time Magazine asked: Can we live together? Of course, there has been much progress in the relationship between the Whites and the Blacks (or the Colored) since the time of Martin Luther King, Jr, thanks to the civil right movements, but racism has not vanished into thin air. In the international scene, the struggle between the Third World countries and the First World has still to see a definitive resolution.

It was Karl Marx who said, “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle.”

One may dismiss his philosophy of history, but one cannot deny that the relationship between masters and slaves in ancient times was not substantially different from the relationship between the lords and serfs in the medieval ages, and the workers and the owners of the means of production in modern times. And there is the difficulty of some peoples to look beyond ethnic boundaries.

The question is not quite irrelevant: can we really live together?

If we come to the brass tacks of it all, we will see that we find it difficult to live together because most of us do not want to give up anything that belongs to us. If economic war happens, it is because no one wants to renounce wealth. There is ethnic cleansing because we cannot tolerate the presence of people other than us.

We refuse to share with the Colored because we deny them the right to be human. That is why today’s Gospel speaks of renunciation. Of course, for Luke, God’s will is that we live together—even here on earth, we have to realize God’s kingdom where everyone experiences wholeness, a sense of belonging, fellowship in the community. But according to Luke, this is possible only if we as a community enter into discipleship.

By this is meant the renunciation of self, familial relationship and possession, and the unconditional and total commitment to Jesus by all the members of the community. This is evidenced by our total conversion to Jesus’ life, words, and works.

At the center of the community life in discipleship is Jesus himself. It is to him that we give our undivided loyalty. He is our principle of unity. What should

ultimately bind us together is not law, political party, power, or economic interest, but the person of Jesus himself. Should there be a conflict between our ethnic allegiance and our allegiance to Jesus, it is the latter that ought to prevail. Hence, Jesus said, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and his children, his brothers and sisters, indeed his very self, he cannot be my follower” (Luke 14:26). Each of us lives in a network of loyalties— loyalty to family, clan, school, political party, friends, business partners, corporations, etc.—but the claims of Jesus precede all of them.

Since Jesus is the center of one’s life and that of the community, all other ties are reformulated in terms of our relationship to Jesus. To emphasize this priority, Luke uses the Semitic expression “to hate” which does not mean to loath or to consider oneself as a scum, but which means to turn away from, to detach oneself from, to renounce oneself and family ties and surrender oneself totally to Jesus. Matthew, instead of retaining the original hyperbolic form, tones down the force of the saying by paraphrasing it: “The man who loves his father or mother more than me” (Matt 18:37). Still, the point is that one forgoes the security of family ties so he can be totally united to Jesus. But here, it is not only a question of loving; it is rather a question of making Jesus the center both of one’s individual life and of community life.

This brings us to the next point.

Since it is a question of making Jesus not only the object of love but also the center of the life of the individual and the community, a deeper meaning of discipleship is unraveled. To be a disciple is to undergo a transformation which is seen in one’s new way of life, since Jesus’ words, works and life constitute a new principle that defines and informs one’s life.

This means that Jesus’ way of life becomes our way of life. It is for this reason that Jesus added, “Anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27). The saying is of course metaphorical. The cross was an ancient instrument of torture and execution for disreputable persons, like slaves, thieves and rebels.

People like them forfeited life and honor. Jesus’ words are therefore an invitation to give up personal life and honor and embrace a life of suffering, even to the point of martyrdom. Such a life is certainly devoid of self-assertion and selfinterest. Consequently, it is a life that surrenders everything one has: “none of you can be my disciple if he does not renounce all his possessions” (Luke 14:33).

One’s life is thus so transformed that his outlook, behavior and relationships are concentrated on Jesus; at the same time, Jesus defines one’s outlook, behavior and relationships. The second reading (Phil 9b-10.12-17) provides us an example. Philemon, a resident at Colossae and man of substance, had a slave named Onesimus. At that time, slavery was a social institution in which a person was legally owned by a master as property to be used at will and counted nothing in the social scale. Onesimus then was a man of no rights. In the present letter, Paul asked Philemon to receive his slave as a brother (vv 16-17). To receive a slave as a brother in the Lord is a manifestation of what having Jesus as the center of personal and community life entails in a divided social relationship between master and slave. Of course, Paul did not abolish the institution of slavery— that would have been impossible; but making Christ the center of community life is irreconcilable with the institution of slavery, since in Christ “there is no more Jew or Greek, slave or free, man and woman” (Gal 3:27-28). Such principle transformed the social relationship between Onesimus and Philemon, and one is not surprised that people in the long run realized how incompatible the institution of slavery with Christianity was.

In the Old Testament, this transformation is called wisdom (Wisd 9:13-19, 1st Reading). When such a change happens, one can be certain that division is overcome, self-interest is emptied of itself, and the possibility of living together is removed from the realm of dreams.

Yes, we can live together—if we make Christ as the center of our community life in discipleship. And when that happens, the Kingdom of God is realized, however partially.

A LITERAL and superficial interpretation of the conclusion of the first part of today’s Gospel passage can be misleading. It sounds as if one should choose the lowest place in order to be invited to move higher, right in front of everybody.

(See Lk 14:10.) Such an intention/ attitude could hardly be called humility. Rather, it should be called hypocrisy. And it can hardly be what Jesus is trying to teach his fellow guests and us.

This section should not be understood as suggesting a wrong intention in the one who chooses the lowest place; rather it states a fact—how God (the Host) will treat those who in this life have treasured and practised humility. He will exalt them, even as He will clamp down those who have proudly exalted themselves. (See v. 11. See also Mary’s Canticle, Lk 1:52.) All this amounts to an exaltation of God’s justice and fairness. He promises a reward to all those who deserve it, even as He threatens punishment to the unworthy.

And rightly so, for there is nothing more revolting than pride, and nothing more pleasing than genuine humility. While pride is the ultimate root of all sins and vices, humility is the mother of all virtues. Quite simply, these are the two fundamental opposite attitudes which will determine our eternal destiny.

Contrary to all appearances, pride is the manifestation of a terrible spiritual poverty and moral blindness. For all his/her selfsufficiency, a proud person needs others against whom to measure himself/herself and feel that he/she is stronger, richer, prettier, more intelligent, more powerful, . . . more everything! In their moral blindness,

proud people refuse to recognize that all the good qualities and assets they possess are gifts from the Lord.

Deeply envious of the qualities or success of others, they deny them or attribute them to wrong intentions or dealings . . . . Proud people feel a devouring need to display their trophies and achievements. They refuse even to contemplate the possibility of failing, but all the while they keep nose-diving into their final, irreparable failure – hell!

Diametrically opposite to such spiritual misery and self-destructive attitude towers humility, the sign and fruit of a wonderful spiritual richness. Humble persons see themselves and others as gifts.

They readily acknowledge this truth, and joyfully thank the Donor. Mary is the most stupendous example of such humility. (See the “Magnificat,” especially Lk 1:46-49.)

Happy in receiving with gratitude, and happier still in giving without expecting thanks or reward, or anything in return, humble people readily rejoice in the good qualities or successes of their neighbor. They see no place, no occupation as being too low for them, while considering all others worthier than themselves.

Humble people see themselves as having the mission to be helpful to others, and continually try their best to accomplish such mission.

They can be defined as “people for others.” When they fail, they never feel humiliated, for even the most bitter failure is for them a stepping stone toward the final success— heaven!

Jesus Christ, the greatest of all, was also the most humble of all. He is the champion of all the humble.

All his life (including his death) was the clearest example of what a humble person should be and do.

The challenge to love as Christ did and does 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, (Luke 14:23-33) September 8, 2019

By Fr. Sal Putzu, SDB

ALL spiritual masters and great leaders are noted for their being quite demanding with their followers.

But none of them is as demanding as Jesus. In fact, he requires that his disciples practice a radical detachment not only from material things, but also from their closest family ties and their very selves.

These demands are spelled out in the sternest possible terms in the first part of today’s Gospel passage.

(See Lk 14:26-27.) Even in the rather mild rendering of our preferred translation, the request that we love Jesus more than our father, mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters and one’s very self (see v.

26) is undoubtedly the most radical demand a leader can make of his prospective disciples. We might even get the wrong impression that Jesus is a “heartless man” and would want all his followers to be heartless, too . . .

But, for sure, this is not what Jesus is, or what he wants his disciples to be, for there never was nor will there ever be a greater and more tender lover than he. It was he who, up to the last hours of his earthly life, kept insisting on one basic

commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you.” (See Jn 13:3435; 15:12f.17. See also 1 Jn 4:21.)

What then does Jesus mean with his shocking demands?

He asks us to overcome the instinctive inclination to love in an almost idolatric manner the persons dearest to us. He wants his disciples to learn to love as he does. He wants them to love their relatives and friends in a “detached and pure manner.” Such “detachment” and “purity” obviously entail a tremendous amount of selfforgetfulness and generosity. Not all are able and willing to make so great a sacrifice.

But for those who do their best to comply with such a challenging demand, a wonderful reward lies in store—they will become able to love their own people in a purified and refined manner. They will love them in Christ and as Christ loves them.

That’s the way he loved his mother Mary and his disciples.

Not only this. Once they have reached that degree of purification and refinement in loving their relatives, the disciples will be able Challenge / B7

CBCP Monitor

SOCIAL CONCERNS B7

August 19 - September 1, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 17

Helping the work of Saint Teresa in Calcutta

By Fr. Shay Cullen

Saint Teresa of Calcutta is pictured with an ailing man in an undated photo. CNS/CATHOLIC PRESS PHOTO

TO walk and meet a canonized saint is a wonderful experience and that I did when Saint Teresa came to Manila. Yet many years previous to that, it was my visit to her home and that of the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta that had a profound effect on me and my life.

The anniversary of her canonization will be celebrated on 4th September and her feast day is that of her death anniversary on 5th September. So it is timely to reflect on her work from my actual experience of being part of it.

I was welcomed in Calcutta (now Kolkata) by the community of the Missionary Brothers of Charity, an order of young brothers started

by Mother Teresa with the help of Father Ian Traverse Ball, an Australian Jesuit dedicated in helping the work of Saint Teresa and her Sisters in the Calcutta slums.

There were about fifty brothers living in the three-story house with a flat roof. I was asked to be chaplain for a few weeks until Father Andrew (the name that Father Ian later on took) returned from leave. It

was a very simple, ascetic living.

All unnecessary and superfluous things were eliminated. We were all considered brothers and “washers of feet.” This is the spirit of Saint Teresa: service to the poor is faith in action.

It was a community of prayer, meditation, reflection and service.

We sat on the floor on little cushions in a circle for the celebration of the Eucharist. Bread, baked by the brothers, and a small cup of wine, were offered on a large wooden plate with flower petals and smoking

incense sticks. “Do this in memory of me” is what we did. We broke the bread and passed a cup of wine into which we dipped the sacred bread. We called it having a meal of friendship or merienda with Jesus.

I was soon trudging out into the slums with a small band of brothers, making our way through crowds of poor hungry people, many of whom shuffled along from weakness or deformity. While I walked with the Brothers of Charity through this wilderness of human suffering, I felt as Saint Teresa must have feltfrustrated and wanting to be able to change it all and end the social inequality. While striving for that, we had to help those in immediate need.

It was just a few rich owning so much while billions suffered poverty and hunger. It was similar in the Philippines. In a world of vast wealth and riches and mountains of surplus food, why were so many starving and dying in pain and loneliness, rejected and abandoned? Would justice ever come, I wondered.

The next day I joined the brothers on their regular medical mission.

We entered a yard where a mobile clinic was parked. We drove off, crossed the big bridge that spanned the Hooghly River, it was chocolate brown from pollution and filth. The mobile clinic stopped in the most dilapidated and awful part of the city. There were rats moving about everywhere, unafraid, pausing to look at us with glint in their beady eyes, and then rummaging on through the piles of garbage.

An animal stable stank like a cesspool and nearby was a discarded slaughterhouse. It was to this festering armpit of indescribable destitution that the lepers came, as it was one of the few places where they could come for treatment far away and banned from society. They appeared from clapboard hovels, sewers, and tunnels. They welcomed the brothers, unashamed of their own rotting putrid flesh festering day by day.

Dirty rags covered the worst of their wounds. They were the stricken, the wretched of the earth, the real untouchables—but not for the brothers. Their cheerful banter with the lepers whom they knew by name showed me how they were friends to these unwanted castaways of humanity. Each had a medical record in the mobile clinic and a history of their treatment. The project was to contact new sufferers and

administer drugs that would prevent the leprosy from progressing. Those already badly infected has no chance of recovery but the progress of the disease could be delayed. It was the daily work of the Brothers of Saint Teresa.

The patients were excited and curious by my presence and soon the Brothers were cracking jokes in Urdu with them. I didn’t understand but I could feel I was part of the team. I was busy in preparing the medicines that were to be distributed and opening boxes of clean bandages. The patients were lining up to have their old bandages removed, wounds dressed and bandaged again.

After an hour, there was a long line and the brothers encouraged me to help with the dressings. They gave me a pair of surgical gloves and I couldn’t refuse an old man who stretched out his bandaged hand to me. To refuse would be unthinkable, as if I rejected him, but I reached out to help him, inexperienced as I was.

But I had first aid field training on treating wounds when I was in the Irish army reserve and knew what had to be done.

I cut away the dirty cloth to reveal the decaying fingers. The old man didn’t feel anything because the nerve endings were gone so I didn’t have to worry about hurting him.

I swabbed away the pus and dirt, applied an antiseptic ointment and began to dress and bandage the fingers. Two had already been halfeaten away. It was my first effort and he was so thankful and pleased.

Soon I was wrapping clean bandages on the rotting fingers of another old man. Then I was dabbing another with cotton wool and iodine. We performed simple surgery; there was none else to do it.

I proceeded with greater confidence urged on by the leper vigorously nodding his head in approval. I must be doing the right thing, I thought, as I lobbed off another bit of rotten finger of another patient who seemed happy to get the attention and help. I was pleased with my efforts.

We had treated almost fifty by noon. We continued to clean and wash their wounds and wrap them in clean bandages and then closed the mobile clinic and distributed parcels of food and headed for home, leaving behind a happier group of the truly wretched of the earth weakly waving their bandaged limbs in gratitude.

Judicial / B2

respondent) or the parts have appeared before the judge to pursue the case, the processal relation between the respondent and the judge is consolidated.

2) Birth of the instance (c.1517)—i.e., it give rise to the instance or process. c. Reply to the Charge. The judge specifies the modes of replying in the citation (c.1507,§1), which can be either: 1) Written, which shall contain the reply of the respondent to the petition of the actor contained in the libellus (c.1513, §2).

2) Oral, by appearing before the single judge or the president of the tribunal. This mode is stipulated for more difficult cases, for the determination of the terms of the controversy (c.1513,§1). d. Different Postures of the

Respondent. The respondent can adopt various positions in relation to the charge, any of which constitutes a reply: 1) Contempt: A juridic situation (i.e., the tribunal has to declare it) arising from the inactivity of the respondent, who neither shows up before the tribunal, nor alleges any excuse.

2) Agreement: The declaration of the will of the respondent of total conformity with the pretension of the petitioner.

3) Opposition: The explicit defense of the respondent, opposing the pretension of the petitioner.

4) Reconvention: The explicit defense of the respondent, not by opposing the pretension of the petitioner, but by positing a counter-claim action against him.

e. The Joinder of the Issues (Litiscontestatio). The litiscontestatio is a juridical situation which results from the determination of the object of litigation, based on the petition and reply of the parts, and declared by a decree of the judge.

The joinder of the issues has the following effects: 1) Interruption good faith (c.1514): It interrupts the good faith of the possessor of an object.

2) Petrifaction of the object of litigation: The object of controversy can be modified subsequently only through a new judicial decree, by instance of a part alleging serious reason, and after hearing the other part.

3) Closure of introductory stage: With this, the processal relation is perfected.

4) Expectation of probatory stage. The CIC does not establish a deadline for the opening of the probatory stage, but leaves it to the discretion of the judge (c.1516).

Summary of the Introductory Stage We can appreciate better the stepwise consolidation of the processal relation as follows: 1) Petition: Establishes the relation judgepetitioner.

2) Citation: Establishes the relation judgerespondent.

3) Litiscontestatio: Establishes the object of the litigation.

(To be continued) Challenge / B6

Salvation / B6

the law, but in terms of power and wealth.

In the Gospel, Luke portrays Jesus as setting rules for guests and host at a banquet. At first blush, it would seem that Jesus was giving the invited Pharisees and their host a worldly wisdom with regard to seeking out position of prestige, meant at the same time as a warning against embarrassment in social functions. As it appears, Jesus’ teaching about seeking the lowest place at a banquet echoes an Old Testament wisdom: “Claim no honor in the king’s presence, nor occupy the place of great men; for it is better that you be told, ‘Come up closer,’ than that you be humbled before the prince” (Prov 25:6-7).

We do not know if historically Jesus was concerned with proper decorum in this episode; but there is much reason to think that the intention of Luke is not limited to social etiquette. For one thing, Luke clearly states that this is a parable (Luke 14:7), and in Luke a parable is usually about the Kingdom of God. For another, one finds it strange that

in the entire gospel, it is only in these sayings that Jesus concerns himself with social etiquette. One may not be mistaken in regarding the gospel text not as rules of etiquette or social graces but, most likely, as matters on social behavior used to teach us two important points about the Kingdom of God. The first lesson concerns the composition of the Kingdom of God. From his observation on guests competing for the best places at table to show their status before other guests and the host, Jesus draws the lesson that membership in the community of the Kingdom does not depend on one’s merits, social standing or economic status.

Unlike in many marriage banquets, these count nothing in the Kingdom of God. We do not save ourselves by these means. Salvation is the work of God in the first place. Hence, those who consider themselves worthy of high places in the Kingdom, like the Pharisees in Jerusalem who expected the best seats as reward for their meticulous observance of the law, will find themselves humbled

to take the lowest places. After all, they have received their reward in the honor that banquets brought them. Rather, membership in the Kingdom, which can be identified with one’s salvation, is given as an unmerited gift to those whom God in Jesus calls. He invites those who acknowledge their unworthiness before him. It is these who will ultimately find themselves raised up to high places. This reversal of fortune is best expressed in Mary’s canticle: “He has deposed the mighty from their thrones and raise the lowly to high places” (Luke 1:52).

Second, in the Kingdom of God, fellowship is of great value. After all, salvation is about living in fellowship with the Triune God and the saints. But this will not be realized without having to cultivate fellowship with those who are in the lower brackets of society. It may be recalled that the Pharisees refused social contact with those who could not fulfill the requirements of the Pharisaic piety. This gave the impression that, if the Pharisaic practice was an indication of the

Kingdom of God, those who formed part of the lowest rung of the Jewish society, were to be excluded from the communion in the eschatological banquet. But it is precisely against this tradition that Jesus’ words about hosts at banquet are directed: “When you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind” (Luke 14:13). Indeed, merely to associate with those who belong to one’s social circle or standing, or with those whom one wishes to be with reinforces the inequality of society. For Jesus, to be generous toward those who are excluded by standard piety constitutes a required behavior in a community that reflects the Kingdom of God. This recalls Jesus’ sermon: “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?”

(Luke 6:32). He illustrates this by saying that those who belong to the Kingdom of God cannot but show solidarity with the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind by sharing with them the festive table. When they do this, the Pharisees would show that they have been converted to the values of the Kingdom.

to love everybody, without fear or inhibitions. They will love not only the lovable and the loving, but also the un-lovable and the un-loving. Their behavior will be characterized by an attitude of appreciation, acceptance, respect, encouragement, attention . . . toward all. Everyone will feel “known” and loved in a very personal manner.

Such a feeling experienced by the persons who see themselves as the object of a delicate, sincere and affirming love will prompt in them a similar response/attitude. It will draw out from them the hero and the saint that had been buried by avalanches of rejection, neglect, hatred or lust-filled love.

On seeing such a result, both in themselves and in those they love, the disciples will understand the wisdom of Jesus’ demand and its fruitfulness. They will be extremely grateful to their Master for having challenged them to soar to such heights. And they will rejoice in him who is the “Lord of all beautiful LOVE.”

B8 ENTERTAINMENT

August 19 - September 1, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 17

Fast and Furious: Hobbs & Shaw

Director: David Leitch Lead Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby Screenwriters: Chris Morgan, Drew Pearce Producers: Hiram Garcia, Dwayne Johnson, Chris Morgan, Jason Statham Editor: Christopher Rouse Musical Director: Tyler Bates Cinematographer: Jonathan Sela Genre: Action Distributor: Columbia Pictures Location: England, Scotland, California, Hawaii Running Time: 2hr 14min Technical assessment: 3.5 Moral assessment: 3 CINEMA rating: V 14 MTRCB rating: PG

M16 agent Hattie Shaw (Vanessa Kirby) and her team extract a virus from the biotechnology company Eteon. The virus can liquefy a person’s organs, and Eteon intends to use it to kill millions of people. Brixton Lore (Idris Elba), Eteon’s superhuman cyborg, kills all of Hattie’s team. Cornered, Hattie injects the virus on herself and escapes. US agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and ex-British military operative Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) are deployed to rescue Hattie before Brixton can get to her. In the mission, Hobbs and Shaw are locked in endless squabbles because they just so dislike each other, like frenemies.

And Shaw is incensed that Hobbs is gravitated to Hattie, who turns out to be Shaw’s estranged sister.

Fast and Furious Presents has loads of action and a decent plot to hold everything together, with the altercations and brawls between Shaw and Hobbs sustaining the momentum. Thanks to CGI and other special effects, the story transports us to four countries: US, Russia, Ukraine, and Hawaii. If you haven’t seen any of the previous movies in the franchise, that’s alright. This spin-off — minus Vin Diesel and the rest of the team — introduces a new material.

But while you’ll miss the original cast save for Dwayne Johnson, you’ll be amused to see cameos of Helen Mirren as Shaw’s mom in prison and Ryan Reynolds as a CIA agent.

While the movie is replete with lessons of family, love, and brotherhood across race and color, we regret we can’t recommend it for young children. It’s riddled with expletives, strong words, and violence. CINEMA does commend the movie for building a story around the conflict between technology and humanity and the danger of allowing technology to be more than a tool to mankind and becoming lord to man.

It is no wonder that the climax of the story happens in the beautiful island of Samoa, where there are no guns because there is no need for them. People live peacefully. When Eteon came, the Samoans fight with heart and might. We also appreciate the theme of reconciliation, where forgiveness leads to understanding and acceptance. Hobbs and his brother were estranged and then they forgive. Hattie disowned her brother Shaw and then they reconcile.

One other thing. As in many Hollywood movies these days, the women of Fast and Furious are strong, resolute, and upright — the kind you’d want to be on the same side with when there are difficult choices to make and wars to wage.

CBCP Monitor

Buhay San Miguel

Brothers Matias

TERIBOL OG

Bladimer Usi

Buhay Parokya

FIND 3 MISSING THINGS: 1. VIRGIN MARY 2. HOLY CHALICE 3. SAINT PAUL

Indak DIRECTOR: Paul Alexie Basinillo LEAD CAST: Nadine Lustre, Sam Concepcion, Yayo Aguila SCREENWRITER: Paul Alexei Basinillo, Juvy Galaminton, Kim Noromor PRODUCER: Vicente del Rosario III, Veronique del Rosario-Corpus GENRE: Drama, Dance, Musical CINEMATOGRAPHER: Odyssey Flores DISTRIBUTOR: Viva Films LOCATION: Philippines, South Korea RUNNING TIME: 117 minutes Technical assessment: 3 Moral assessment: 3.5 CINEMA rating: V 13 MTRCB rating: PG

Hilig ni Jen (Nadine Lustre) ang pagsayaw at pangarap niyang makilala sa talentong ito. Kaya’t nang may nagupload ng video kung saan makikita ang husay niya sa pag-indak habang nasa bangka sa gitna ng dagat, maraming humanga sa kanya at nag-viral ito. Hinanap siya ni Vin (Sam Concepcion) at sinadyang pinuntahan kahit pa sa isla siya nakatira upang kumbinsihin na sumali sa grupo nilang Indak Pinas na makikipaglaban sa nalalapit na paligsahan sa South Korea.

Bagama’t hindi sigurado at may alinlangan sa sariling kakayahan (gawa ng isang mahapding karanasan sa pagsayaw nung nakababata pa siya), tinanggap na rin

niya ang alok ni Vin. Sa basbas ng kanyang ina (Yayo Aguila), sumama siya kay Vin at naglayag patungong Maynila upang mag-ensayo at maghanda para sa kumpetisyon.

Mahusay ang daloy at pagkakalahad ng kuwento ng Indak. Ipinakita sa pelikula ang iba’t-ibang daigdig — nariyan ang buhay sa isla, sa siyudad, at sa ibayong dagat. Sa sentro nito ay isang babaeng nag-aagam-agam at tila di tiyak sa kanyang sarili at sa tunay na naisin sa buhay. Makabago ang paglalahad nito ng kuwento — walang histerya, halos walang mabibigat na eksena — kumbaga sa sayaw ay alalay lang at kusang dumadaloy.

Sa umpisa tila nakakabagot ngunit habang lumalalim at yumayabong ang kuwento, kasabay ng mga indakan at tugtugin, naliliwanagan ang manonood na hindi lang ito basta pelikulang romansa o patungkol sa pagabot sa pangarap — tungkol ito sa ating kasarinlan bilang Pilipino na ipininta sa makabagong panahon.

Mahusay ang naging pagganap ni Lustre. Lutang na lutang ang kanyang husay dito hindi lamang sa pag-arte kundi maging sa pagsayaw at pagkanta rin. Hindi rin matatawaran ang angking galing ni Concepcion sa pagsayaw at pag-awit. Marahil nagkulang sa lalim ng kilig o relasyon

ng dalawa ngunit maari na itong palagpasin lalo pa’t hindi naman ito ang sentro ng kuwento. Mas naiangat pa rin sana ang husay ng lahat sa pagsayaw kung mas naging kamangha-mangha pa ang kanilang ipinakitang pag-indak. Ngunit para sa isang pelikulang nangahas ipagyabang at sumugal sa galing ng Pinoy sa pagindak, kapuri-puri pa rin ang pelikula.

Hitik sa aral at pagpapahalagang Pilipino ang Indak. Nariyan ang walang tigil na paalala ng pelikula ukol sa hindi paglimot sa pinanggalingan.

Nagsusumigaw ang mensaheng ito sa maraming eksena lalo na nung nasa Korea

na ang grupo — at madalas na ipinapaalala kay Jen hanggang sa huling sandali na anuman ang marating niya’y mahalagang hindi siya lumimot kung sino siya at kung saan siya nanggaling.

Sa panahong ito kung saan talamak sa mga kabataan ang pagkakaroon ng maraming tanong at agam-agam ukol sa kanilang pagkatao, maging ng kanilang kasarinlan bunga ng impluwensiya ng social media, narito ang isang pelikulang nagsasabing hindi dapat kalimutan ang pinagmulan at dapat laging ipagmalaki ang kasarinlan.

Nariyan din ang mga aral ukol sa pagpapahalaga sa magulang at pamilya at tunay na pagkakaibigan.

Hindi matatawaran ang naging dedikasyon ng bawat miyembro ng Indak Pinas makamit lamang ang kanilang inaasam-asam na pangarap.

Pinakabuod na mensahe ng pelikula ay ito — malawak ang daigdig at maari mong abutin anumang pangarap mo, ngunit wala nang higit pang lalalim at lalawak kaysa iyong karanasan at pagkatao na may kakayanang magmalasakit at magmahal kasabay ng kakayanang mangarap at bumangon mula sa pagkabigo.

Makabuluhan ang pelikula lalo na sa kabataan — ngunit nangangailangan pa rin ng gabay ng magulang habang nanonood ang sinumang nasa edad 13 pababa.

Ugnayan THE NEWS SUPPLEMENT OF COUPLES FOR CHRIST CBCP Monitor. Vol. 23 No. 17

August 19 - September 1, 2019 C1

Celebrating Mary Most Holy Mother Of Light

By Alma Alvarez

The Blessed Virgin Mary goes by many names and titles, and each Catholic has his or her own personal favorite Marian devotion. The Philippines, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary as early as the Spanish era, has the Our Lady of Guadalupe as patroness. In fact, Filipinos call themselves Pueblo Amante de Maria, a people in love with Mary.

It is no small wonder then why the CFC Handmaids of the Lord have always been devoted to the Blessed Mother, Mary being the first handmaid. HOLD honors her every year in August with the Marian Conference.

Why August? Because it is during this month when the Church celebrates not one, not two, but five Marian feasts— Our Lady of the Angels (August 2), Our Lady of the Snows (August 5), Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners (August 13), Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 15), and Queenship of Mary (August 22).

And so let us have no more of the superstition of August being the “ghost month” and begin celebrating Mary, Most Holy Mother of Light!

Mary, Lady of Light On August 10, 2019, about 1,200 leaders of the CFC HOLD gathered at the Henry Lee Irwin Theater, Ateneo de Manila for the annual HOLD Marian Conference. Delegates from Metro Manila, Batangas, Bicol, Bulacan, Laguna, Rizal, Quezon, Zambales, and even as far as Mindanao came to honor the Blessed Mother.

Our Lady’s apparitions have always been accompanied by bright, glorious light. What is the significance of this light? In the first session, HOLD MM West C Coordinator Allen Victorio discussed three Marian apparitions accompanied by brilliant light—the

CFC HOLD Marian Conference features "To the Light with Mary", a celebration of the Blessed Mother as the Lady of Light. (photos: Arthur del Rio)

apparition to Catherine Laboure (Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal), to the three children in Portugal, and the apparition of The Lady of Light in Zeitoun, Egypt.

Mary Represented by Celestial Bodies Celestial bodies are not solely symbols of the occult or new age movements.

The Blessed Virgin Mary has many titles, named after heavenly bodies.

Here are some of them: •

Mary the Rainbow - In the Book of Revelation, St. John mentions a rainbow which encircles the throne of God (Revelation 4:3). According to St. Bernardine of Sienna, it was of the same rainbow that God made

•

a covenant with Noah after the flood. This bow of eternal peace is associated with Mary, who is the “bridge of peace” who brings all of mankind’s prayers through her intercession so that God may forgive their sins and confirm peace with them.

Mary, Star of the Sea - This particular title may be based on 3 Kings 18:41-45, where a little cloud, as small as a man’s hand, appears above the sea as a sign of hope for drought-stricken Israel.

The prophet Elias (Elijah),who saw the cloud, understood this as the symbol of the Virgin to come, based on the prophecies of Isaiah.

Hence, Mary, Star of the Sea, has

•

been invoked by sea workers. She is calmer of the storm, navigating the faithful through the tempests of life, guiding all towards the harbor of safety who is Jesus, her Son. Mary, Morning Star - Not to confuse this with Jesus being referred to as the Morning Star in Revelation 22:16, the Blessed Mother is more associated with the planet Venus, commonly known to astronomers as the morning star. The planet Venus radiates a star-like light before dawn, a few hours before the sun rises. The sequence of appearance of the star Venus before the sun is symbolic of Mary’s appearance before Jesus, who became man.

CFC ANCOP HONORS DONORS, PARTNERS

•

Mary the Moon - Early Church fathers said Christ is the greater light who rules the just, and Mary the lesser light, who rules the sinners cast in the darkness. Pope Innocent III wrote, “Whoever is in the night of sin, let him cast his eyes on the moon and look to Mary.”

The moon reflects the light from the sun, just like Mary reflects the light of Christ.

What do these titles of Mary signify? It is the fact that in man’s darkness, Mary is always present. Some of the Blessed Mother’s apparitions also came in man’s darkest periods of history, whether war, or famine, or the reign of evil. And MARIAN CONFERENCE / P2

MC TEACHING NIGHT

UNPLANNED: Movie Screening

SM Sucat

SM North EDSA

SM North EDSA

On July 6, 2019, CFC ANCOP honored its partners and donors through the ANCOP Thanksgiving Night. Aptly titled “Be the Light Concert”, the Thanksgiving Night was held at the UP Bahay ng Alumni. Institutional partners, donors from Couples for Christ (CFC) areas across the world, and CFC Metro Manila Sectors attended the evening of music and thanksgiving. Through the concert, ANCOP wanted to promote goodwill and build a stronger relationship with all its stakeholders. It was also part of CFC ANCOP’s commitment to improve its services for all stakeholders as an ISO-certified organization.

The evening opened with Holy Mass presided by Fr. Benedict Lagarde of the Missionaries of Jesus. Fr. Benedict honored the mission to the poor programs of CFC. Reflecting on the Gospel message about the mission of the 72, he reminded everyone

of the Kingdom that is awaiting those who answer the cry of the poor. He said, “The last thing that dies is hope. Habang may buhay ay [may] nagbibigay buhay,” (As long as we are alive, we can give life to others.).

The program officially started with an invocation by Elisha Jean Galarosa from North B5 followed by the National Anthem led by the Metro Manila South B Chorale. The night began with a classical piano performance

by Paolo and Miguel Panagsagan, Youth for Christ leaders from Metro Manila Central A. Lito Tayag, former CFC ANCOP Chairman, welcomed all the guests and attendees while CFC ANCOP President Rudy Gaspillo, gave an inspirational message.

Gaspillo spoke of the virtue of humility in working with the poor, to keep on working “behind-the-scenes” and to let God be known and glorified. He said, “You are here tonight not by your own making [or] your plans, but

it is the Lord who brought you to this venue, to collectively glorify and honor Him for using us all to be part of His grand plan [of] salvation to the poor, whom He loves the most.” He congratulated the partners and donors for answering the call of the Lord to help the poor. He expressed his hope for the work of ANCOP to be sustained.

Each of the Metro Manila big sectors performed onstage in the program that followed.

The awarding of certificates for the Top 10 ANCOP Global Walk Donors of each Metro Manila sector and the recognition of partners who are the top donors to CFC ANCOP programs was the highlight of the evening. Among the top donor countries were ANCOP Canada International, ANCOP USA, ANCOP Australia, CFC UAE, CFC New Zealand, CFC Qatar, CFC Oman, CFC Singapore, CFC ANCOP DONORS NIGHT / P2

Mon & Tita Santiago of CFC & Heartbeat Asia

SM Fairview

SM Megamall

The CFC Metro Manila Mission Core held another special movie screening for its Teaching Night on August 21, 2019, this time for the film Unplanned. The movie is the true-to-life transformation story of Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood clinic director in Texas. The film is being shown in 23 SM Cinemas nationwide beginning August 21.

C2

August 19 - September 1, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 17

CFC O.N.E.

FROM THE CHAIRMAN

Michael C. Ariola

Rabboni Francis B. Arjonillo

CFC and Technology: John En Marsha Is Now On “Netflix!”

I was watching a re-run of John en Marsha on a local TV channel one night. During a station break, I switched channels and came across the story of Amazon Company and Jeff Bezos, the richest man on earth – his worth is Php6.5 Trillion. The documentary kept me so riveted, I never got to see the end of what was my favorite show way back when.

The Internet of Things is real. Ordering food, hiring taxi service, booking someone else’s house for vacation, buying things small and huge are now done massively through the internet. Even the most human act of forming and maintaining relationships has not escaped the internet’s power. Now, social media is where we connect, re-connect and un-connect.

Everything we used to do in my generation had EFFORT plastered on our foreheads, complete with sweat beads racing down our faces. To mail letters, we had to go to the post office. To go to the province, we had to go to the bus station to reserve tickets.

If we wanted to read, we went to the bookstore to buy books.

Today, our mobile phones can do everything. Even breaking up a relationship is now effortless – you can just say Goodbye through the Net. The spiritual sphere has not escaped the invasion of the Net. Which is actually a good thing. The Laudate app is a daily staple for me as I can follow the readings when I go to Mass. The Bible app has reduced my time in searching for appropriate Bible passages.

You Tube is a regular in my

household meetings. I eagerly follow the teachings of my priest brother on his web page “Catholics Striving For Holiness.” My Apple notebook is connected to the LED TV of the household meeting host, or I use my “old” and reliable LCD projector for my exhortation and sharings to enhance the prayer meeting experience.

Powerpoint and CFC's Point of Power The use of technology in Couples for Christ conferences was, I would say, quite accidental. Twenty years ago, I was invited to speak in the CFC Ecstasy Weekend echo conference in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. The MS Powerpoint was a new application then.

However, in my work, about 15 years before that, I was already using a presentation software called Storyboard that I introduced in De La Salle and the College of St. Benilde where I was teaching parttime. They were convinced to buy LCD projectors, an unheard of teaching tool at that time. I thought that this emerging technology would be most beneficial because it increased learning - comprehension and retention – by a whopping 400% according to the latest studies.

At that time, I needed someone to help me convince our CFC elders that this technology would be good for the community. A stranger by the name of Reggie Ragojos was also a speaker in that conference. We met at the airport on the way to Palawan and became instant friends as he too took interest

in spreading the good news of technology.

One day, he invited me to give a CLP talk. After the talk, a CFC elder approached me and warned me not to use my LCD projector and powerpoint slides as it was not part of our CFC culture. Obedient as always, I was about to dump this “new” technology when I got a call again from Reggie. Lo and behold, this same elder was requesting me to create powerpoint slides for him for a talk he was about to give! The rest, as they say, is history.

Talks today use more vivid visuals and are more interactive, with apps such as Slido and MentiMeter bringing the pulse of the audience to the doorstep of the speaker.

The Message is the Same but the Conveyance Can Be Different John Puruntong spread his fatherly wisdom and messages of family love and unity using the bulky boob tube of the 1970s as his medium.

His messages continue to be relevant today, preserved and delivered to us on our flat LED TV screens.

Who knows what the future holds? We can only imagine. But as technology continues to reshape our culture, CFC must show its adaptability to remain relevant. The message and the Good News is the same. But with a “flix” of a finger, the Net will deliver the same messages more effectively in a newer and fresher way from the perspective of the Culture of the Future.

MARIAN CONFERENCE / P1

Mary, the light, always leads her children to the Light—her Son Jesus Christ.

To the Light with Mary In the recent HOLD International Conference, the HOLD leaders were exhorted to live as children of light, to imitate the Blessed Mother and grow in her virtue.

How does one imitate Mary? Myra Respicio, HOLD Coordinator for Metro Manila, said, “As women, Handmaids of the Lord can imitate Mary in her motherhood. As mothers, HOLD is being called to be nurturing (not only to her biological children, but souls under her care), giving importance to the gift of life.” She gave the following qualities that can guide women on how to imitate Mary’s motherhood: • Mother Most Pure - her purity allows her to be in perfect harmony with God’s will.

• Mother Most Chaste - Mary is the perfect model of chastity in a world that mocks modesty and chastity.

• Mother Undefiled, Mother Inviolate - HOLD can be “undefiled” like Mary by avoiding sin and occasions that can lead to sin.

• Mother Most Amiable - Being amiable is to be lovable (from the Latin word a m a bi l i s) , t h e p e r fe c t re f l e c t i on of God’s beauty.

• Mother of Good Counsel – Like Mary, HOLD should give good counsel to those who need it. This title originated from a miracle in Genazzano, Italy in 1467. While the

CBCP Monitor

people celebrated the feast of St. Mark in a church that was being restored, they heard a rustling sound and soft strains of music and also saw a little cloud, which vanished to reveal a painting of the Blessed Mother holding the Child Jesus in her arms. In the painting, Mary’s eyes were half-veiled as though lost in contemplation, taking counsel from God, Jesus looking up at her as if to tell the faithful to look for counsel from her, the Seat of Wisdom.

The title of Mary, Most Holy Mother of Light (Maria Madre Santissima de Lume) had its origins in Sicily. At the turn of the 18th century, a Jesuit priest, Fr. Giovanni Antonio Genovesi, went around preaching Jesus. Before he went out, he would always ask the Blessed Mother for guidance. He wanted to take an image of the Virgin Mary in his mission, so he commissioned an artist and asked a pious woman visionary for guidance in making the image of the Blessed Virgin.

After the first painting was “rejected” by the Blessed Mother, Fr. Genovesi asked the visionary woman to guide the painter personally, and the image of Maria Madre Santissima de Lume came about.

“Mary shows us the way by which we should fulfill our calling in life and in our service in the community,” Respicio concluded. She added, “And so, to journey to the light, Mary Most Holy Mother of Light will be our guide towards her beloved Son, Jesus Christ.”

Ugnayan THE NEWS SUPPLEMENT OF COUPLES FOR CHRIST

Redentor Ragojos IC Oversight Zenaida A. Gimenez Editor-in-Chief

Alma M. Alvarez Associate Editor

Deomar P. Oliveria Layout Artist

Evangeline C. Mecedilla Circulation Staff

The Ugnayan News Supplement is published by the Couples for Christ Global Mission Foundation, Inc., with editorial offices at 156 20th Avenue, 1109 Cubao, Quezon City.

Editorial trunk line: (+63 2) 709-4868 local 31 Direct line : (+63 2) 709-4856 www.couplesforchristglobal.org globalcommunications@couplesforchristglobal.org @CFChrist

When You Change the Way You Look at Things, the Things You Look at Change In Venice, between 1610 and 1633, the great scientist Galileo had a hard time convincing people that Nicolaus Copernicus’ model of the universe was right. According to Copernicus, the sun is the center of the universe and that the Earth revolves around the sun, and not the other way around which was the popular idea at that time. Galileo even gathered the leaders and scientists of his time in San Marco to use his invention (the telescope) so they could examine this theory themselves.

However, he failed to convince the leaders and other scientists. What was worse was they actually they badgered him and threatened him with torture, and Galileo was forced to publicly recant his revolutionary concept. His critics were not appeased with his public recantation. They placed him on house arrest for the remainder of his life.

This was an interesting trivia but I asked myself, What kept these men from appreciating Galileo’s revolutionary idea? One baffling thought also kept coming back to mind: How come people still reject fresh ideas to this day?

We are in the 21st century, when anything that was seemingly impossible in the past is already happening. Which brings me to the concept of paradigm shifts. What is a paradigm shift? According to the dictionary, a paradigm shift is “a fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions”. According to Wikipedia, a paradigm shift is a fundamental change in the basic concepts and experimental practices of a scientific discipline.

Big words? Let’s simplify and define the word “paradigm” first. “Paradigm” means model or pattern. “Shift” means a slight change in position, direction, or tendency. If we put them together, it simply means “a change in pattern or model”.

Here's another story. For hundreds of years, Switzerland was renowned for watch-making excellence. They ushered in the mechanical watch, which made timekeeping revolutionary. Men began to wear mechanical watches on their wrist. These watches were powered by a mainspring that needed to be wound regularly to keep the watch running. In 1968, 65% of the world’s watch market share belonged to the Swiss, translating to 80% of the profits.

In the 1960’s, the Swiss developed the first analog watch, which ran on batteries instead of mainspring, with the movement regulated by a quartz crystal. It was more accurate than a mainspring/mechanical watch, and the Swiss won awards for this new technology.

However, at around the same time, Japan had perfected the same technology and competed with Switzerland in the race to bring the watch industry into a new era. In 1969, a year after the Swiss won their awards, Seiko released the first commercially available quartz watch. A year later, the Swiss decided to come out with their own quartz watch, but Japan had been ahead of the game.

What happened there? Both countries had the technology. However, Japan went right ahead and manufactured the quartz watches commercially. Switzerland, on the other hand, was reluctant to use the technology. They thought the quartz technology would be incompatible with the tradition and art that mechanical watches represented. And so, despite the fact

that quartz technology came from Switzerland, it was placed in the back burner of Swiss watch makers for another country to take and develop.

The rest is history.

If I could travel back to 1967, I would ask the Swiss one question: “What is impossible today in your industry that if it could be done, would fundamentally change it for the better?” Of course, I can’t travel back in time, but pondering on this question, I came to these six realizations: • When a paradigm shift happens, everyone goes back to zero.

• The people who create new paradigms are usually outsiders – they have nothing to lose by creating something new.

• Almost always, the new ideas affect those at the edge – the peripheries • Practitioners of the old paradigm who choose to embrace the new paradigm early in its development, like Galileo and the Japanese, have to be very courageous.

• The decision to embrace a paradigm shift can only be made out of faith.

• The mark of these paradigm pioneers is great courage… and trust in their intuitive judgment.

So what am I driving at here? Basically, the only thing constant in this world is change, and the only thing that we should do is to embrace change, trusting that those who effect change have the best of intentions in mind. We may not know at the onset what the change would bring because the effects of change may become evident only over a period of time. So the next best thing to do is to go with change, and see where it will take you.

However, there are leaders in history who also wanted to effect change but failed to see how introducing a paradigm shift would affect the world. Adolf Hitler, for instance, desired to rid Germany of Jews and establish a New Order to counter what he saw as injustices of the post-World War I international order dominated by Britain and France. His first six years in power “resulted in rapid economic recovery from the Great Depression, repealed restrictions imposed on Germany after World War I, and the invasion of territories inhabited by millions of ethnic Germans, which gave him significant popular support. However, as a result, World War II was triggered, 5.5 million Jews became victims of genocide, and more than 40 million soldiers and civilians perished from the war.”

Then there is Jesus, considered a radical in His time, the Pharisees and scribes could not swallow the ideas that He was introducing. His own disciples followed Him, but even they were uncertain about the future. But because Jesus remained by their side, they were able to harvest the fruits of their obedience to their Master and Teacher. Today, 2,000 years after His ascension to heaven, Jesus’ followers continue to grow in number, with 1 billion Catholics and XX million Christians worldwide.

Here we have two leaders who both introduced fresh ideas that brought about a paradigm shift among their followers, but they saw different outcomes. Was it in the manner they introduced their new ideas? Was it in the way people received and embraced the paradigm shift? What do you think?

ANCOP DONORS NIGHT / P1

Kuwait, CFC Spain, CFC Switzerland, CFC UK, and CFC KSA. Meanwhile, the institutional partners awarded were Cross Catholic Outreach, SM Development Corporation, SM Foundation Inc., ABSCBN Corporation, and Zendesk, Inc. Samantha Ashley Lo, the reigning Bb. Pilipinas Grand International, was also honored for being a strong advocate for the Cornerstone Program.

CFC ANCOP Chairman Melo Villaroman, in his exhortation, said “You are here because this is more than work. This is God’ vision to use ordinary people like you and me, to renew the face of the earth.” He mentioned that ANCOP could not fulfill this vision if the donors and partners do not keep the poor at the center of their hearts, minds and hands, as this is the fullness of Christ’s mis-

sion in CFC. “This is our key to heaven,” Villaroman added, reminding everyone that what they do for the poor, they do for God. CFC Chairman Rabboni Francis Arjonillo expressed his gratitude to all the partner institutions, donors, and CFC ANCOP workers for their tremendous efforts in bringing glad tidings to the p o or . He e m ph a s i z e d t h e significance of CFC's and ANCOP’s twin mission, which is “Building the Church of the Home and Building the Church of the Poor.”

Youth for Christ members and ANCOP Scholars from South B performed the AGW 2019 Theme Song, “Light up Lives” to invite everyone to join AGW 2019 so that more poor but deserving students can go to school.

The “Be the Light Concert” featured the Manila Piano

Trio composed of Dr. Abelardo Galang, III on piano; Ms. Denise Santos-Huang on violin; and Mr. Antoni Josef Inacay on the cello. The Manila Piano Trio are advocates for promoting classical chamber music and Filipino works of various genres, providing scholarship opportunities to the underprivileged through Manila Piano Trio Foundation, as well as bringing the Filipino music to the international scene.

They staged a 50-minute performance of the music of Joseph Haydn, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Astor Piazolla, and a rendition of a Cebuano song, “Usahay.”

The evening ended in a high note, with everyone having a firmer resolve to work even harder to help alleviate the plight of the less fortunate.

(Patria Balila, ANCOP Communications)

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FROM THE VATICAN

AQUILA AND PRISCILLA

Joe Tale

Jun & Jean Uriarte

Pearl of Great Price

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.

Matthew 13:45-46 Many have various takes on this wonderful verse. I would like to share mine.

CFC celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2011, our Pearl Anniversary. On that occasion, we published a commemorative book, aptly titled the "Pearl of Great Price". We had just then emerged from our storms of 2007 and 2009. In my article in that commemorative book, entitled "Honed by the Pearl Maker," I wrote: "On this our pearl anniversary year, we can truly say that we celebrate a new day. The dark night has dawned into daybreak. Morning has indeed broken, and what a beautiful morning it is for the next phase of our community life.

We have just been through severe challenges, much more than any other we have experienced in any period in CFC's history. But these challenges, which could have broken us and even destroyed us, have instead united us as a community, have made our vision and mission clearer, have strengthened our integration

with the Catholic Church, have in fact opened up new horizons, wide open fields for evangelization, for family renewal and for caring for the poor.

Much like the grain of sand that irritates an oyster (and produces a pearl in the process), these challenges have molded us as a community, and by the grace of God, the Pearl Maker Himself, have turned us into a people poised to do more for His kingdom.”

Now, eight years later, CFC has been blessed with several gifts of pearls, all of them of great price. We just need to be sensitive enough and grateful enough for these gifts that the Lord has blessed us with.

This Gospel verse makes me remember with fondness, a brother and a sister, Bob and Aileen Serrano, both of them now gone ahead. Oh how I miss them, wonderful persons, humble, creative, talented. They brought many people closer to the Lord through their music, but more so by their zeal for evangelization and by their example and everyday witness of God's love.

I honor Bob especially for coordinating a group of CFC songwriters that together, moved by the Holy Spirit,

wrote the song "Pearl of Great Price" in just one night.

I had a minor role in composing the song, essentially providing the storyline of the entire song. The other composers were Tito Cayamanda, Mike Serapio, Kirby Llaban, Nonong Sampang, and Bob Serrano.

Composing the song, recording it, making an MTV participated in by CFC in other countries, all these were done orchestrated by the Holy Spirit.

The whole process was nothing short of a miracle! (See the full story in the article "God writes the Song" by Bob Serrano in our 30th Anniversary commemorative book.)

I end by quoting the chorus of the song: "Through God's power and through His might, One voice we sing like eagle's rise And all shall bow down before our God Every tribe and tongue, color and race To g e t h e r p r o c l a i m i n g throughout the world In Jesus we found, the Pearl of Great Price.”

May it indeed be so.

(For the full song, please check YouTube.)

ANCOP Holds Groundbreaking Rites for Salcedoville Church Renovation "Therefore, devote your hearts and souls to seeking the Lord your God. Proceed to build the sanctuary of the Lord God, that the ark of the covenant of the Lord and God’s sacred vessels may be brought into the house built for the name of the Lord.” 1 Chronicles 22:19 The groundbreaking ceremonies, held on August 8, 2019, for the renovation of the San Jose Chapel at Tagbacan, Salcedo, Eastern Samar was made possible through the partnership of CFC ANCOP and SM Development Corporation. From the construction of the Salcedoville Community, the help from

ANCOP has expanded to the renovation of the nearby church, in order to make the home partners’ spiritual formation more holistic.

Msgr. Alfredo Amistoso celebrated the Holy Mass for all those present, including the CFC ANCOP Team, members of the CFC Eastern Samar Area Governance Team, local CFC members, and the Salcedoville home partners.

George Campos, Head of the CFC Church Relations Office, together with his wife Cynthia, exhorted the home partners to take good care of the new community and the church, and to be always grateful to God

for all of the blessings they have received.

The next day, the CFC ANCOP Team made a short visit to the Pope Francis Community in Tacloban City, Leyte

where they met with the Area Governance Team and the Home Owners Association (HOA). – PMB, ANCOP Communications

Clean Water is Healthy Water

Necessity is indeed the mother of invention.

For Rudy Duque, it all started with a desire to help a community become self-sufficient.

IN 2003, Rody and Lyn Duque served in CFC’s work with the poor in Bagong Silang. During that time, the primary concern in Bagong Silang was the lack of safe drinking water.

"There had been an outbreak of water-borne diseases in the community, so my wife and I thought of putting up a water refilling station as a source of livelihood and or course, safe drinking water. Back then, the homeowners were organized into a kapitbahayan, but they did not have any source of funds to run the various programs in the community. So it was hitting two birds with one stone."

In 2009, Rody, who is a nuclear engineer, thought of improving the water refilling station system. Why not make it smaller? So after two years of relentlessly working on his new model, Duque finally had his innovation patented in

2011—a more compact mechanism that can be installed in the home.

Aside from water filtration systems, Duque also developed oxygenated alkaline water systems, a non-chlorinated swimming pool system, and his latest award-winning invention, the portable water purifier.

His latest invention, which won a bronze medal in Geneva, Switzerland in April 2019, is a portable water purifying system which can process even murky water sources during disasters.

Duque won the award at the 47th Annual Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva. The exhibition had 800 participating inventors from different categories. Duque was the only inventor from the Philippines.

According to Duque, the portable water filtration system is not only for disaster areas. Local Government Units can deploy the apparatus to far-flung or mountainous barangays where water is usually sourced from deep wells, or remote areas where water may be contaminated.

“The machine can produce 150 liters of water in 1 hour, under normal circumstances,” Duque shared. “But if the water is from muddy rivers, we can produce about 100 liters only. If there is no other source but flood waters, first we do flocculation using alum, before we treat the water using the filtration system.” (Note: Flocculation is the process of causing fine impurities to clump together using alum or what is commonly known as tawas.)

What is unique with Duque’s invention is the filter itself. Unlike traditional filters which need to be replaced every so often, his invention’s filter has a backwash mechanism. Meaning, one only has to reverse the backwash valve, flush with with water to clean the filter, and use the system again as it is good as new.

Aside from his water purifying systems, Duque has also developed a contraption for cleaning the air by keeping engines of smoke belching vehicles clean. He has yet to apply for a patent for this product.

From his desire to help a poor community, Duque’s dreams for cleaner water (and air) have gotten him this far. Though already retired, Duque remains enthusiastic that his inventions can help greatly in promoting a cleaner environment, which is his current advocacy.

He believes that man can still make a difference in making this earth we live in fresher and cleaner.

“We just need to act now before it’s too late,” Duque said. (A. Alvarez)

It shall not be so among you Mark 10:43 A story is told that when St. John of the Cross was Vice Provincial of the Discalced Carmelites in Andalusia, he visited many monasteries. During one such visit in Seville, he gently corrected two young priests, Fr. Diego Evangelista and Fr. Francisco Crisostomo, for spending too much time outside the monastery preaching. They were good preachers but He reminded them that, as Carmelite priests, they were expected to spend a greater part of their time in prayer and contemplation. This admonition filled the hearts of the two priests with resentment against John, a resentment that they would carry for the rest of their lives.

Some years later, when Fr. Diego was assigned the post of general definitor, he subjected Fr. John to unjust investigations. He tried to prove that Fr. John had indiscreet relationships with the Carmelite nuns, even offering the nuns gifts or threatening them with excommunication to force them to speak against John. John of the Cross suffered from this persecution by his former novice, but he used this persecution to practice the love that he preached to others and thus he wrote: “Have a great love for those who contradict and fail to love you, for in this way love is begotten in a heart that has no love. God so acts with us, for he loves us that we might love by means of the very love he bears toward us.”

Even after the death of Fr. John, Fr. Diego remained bitter about the correction he had received and regretted that John had escaped his hands: “If he had not died, I would have deprived him of the habit and he would not have died in the Order.”

Several years later, Fr. Diego was elected as Provincial of Andalusia. When the news of his election reached the Carmelite nuns in Granada, they complained to God in prayer why the very person who persecuted their beloved John of the Cross, whom they considered as the Father of Carmel, would now become their Provincial.

In their prayers, they heard God saying: “Do not grieve. He will arrive dead in Granada.” A few days later, Fr. Diego was seized with a serious illness in Alcala. He died and his body was brought to Granada to be buried.

Just like St. John of the Cross, Jesus had also corrected his disciples: James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” He replied, ‘What do you wish me to do for you?’ They answered him, ‘Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.’ Jesus said to them, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?’ They said to him, ‘We can.’ Jesus said to them, ‘The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but it is for those it has been prepared.’ When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John. Jesus summoned them and said to them, ‘You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.’” (Mk 10:35-44) This gospel passage is pregnant with many lessons, meanings and messages. One of these messages relates to fraternal or pastoral correction. This is evident in the words of Jesus: "But it shall not be so among you." Jesus was correcting his disciples concerning their wrong attitude towards their respective roles in the community – they should not be like rulers imposing authority but like slaves serving others.

Among the disciples, it is St. Paul who is reported

to have practiced fraternal correction a few times.

For instance, in Antioch, Paul corrected Peter for his behavior: "And when Kephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong. For, until some people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to draw back and separated himself, because he was afraid of the circumcised. And the rest of the Jews also acted hypocritically along with him, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not on the right road in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Kephas in front of all, “If you, though a Jew, are living like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?” (Gal 2:11-14) Giving fraternal or pastoral correction is not easy and is fraught with danger. As we have seen in the case of St. John of the Cross, correcting people, even among supposedly holy members of a religious community, can be a dangerous thing. Fr. Diego Evangelista was aware that he was a good preacher. For this reason, he preferred to stay outside the monastery to preach rather than remain inside to devote more time to prayer, fasting and contemplation, as required by their rules as Carmelites. Thus he preferred to do his will rather than God’s will for him as a priest of a contemplative Order. He probably enjoyed the praises and admiration of people who heard his preaching more than he relished the silence and serenity of the cloisters of contemplatives.

For this reason, Fr. John had to correct him. But he resented the correction made by John of the Cross – this gentle and compassionate priest who, together with Teresa of Avila, worked hard to reform the Carmelite Order.

In our own community, as in the Carmelite community and the community of the early disciples, there will always be need for fraternal and pastoral correction in order to ensure the integrity and continuity of our life and mission.

But no matter how sincere and gentle we make the correction, we can never be sure that it will not be resented.

In our personal journey in the community, we are among those who have been reluctant to give fraternal or pastoral correction because we fear causing others hurt and resentment. It is perhaps due to our long association with the diplomatic community in ASEAN and in the United Nations that we have always coaxed our language in the most diplomatic manner even if, at times, a more direct language is called for.

Perhaps it is also because we know that we still do not have the moral authority of a St. Paul or a St. John of the Cross. Perhaps we do not really hear God’s voice that often or we have not truly developed a close personal relationship with Jesus.

Or perhaps we also fear being corrected by others that we refrain from doing it ourselves. Whatever the real reasons are, we continue to pray that the community will always be empowered by the Holy Spirit to seek the will of the Father through his Son, our Lord. And if this means that some will be raised by God to provide fraternal and pastoral correction to members of the community – then let God’s will be done.

And thus we further pray that God will anoint some to be just like St. John of the Cross, holy, discerning and contemplative, always yearning to be with God in heaven and thus able to pray:

This life that I live Is no life at all, And so I die continually Until I live with you; Hear me, my God: I do not desire this life, I am dying because I do not die.

MTC PROVIDES TVET TRAINING AT POPE FRANCIS COMMUNITY

The Mobile Training Center (MTC) of Don Bosco-One TVET Philippines and CFC ANCOP Global Foundation, Inc. once again provided TVET training for youth and parents who are home partners at the CFC ANCOP Pope Francis Village in Bgy. New Kawayanan, Tacloban City, Leyte.

The week-long training was held from July 29 to August 2, 2019. A total of 24 trainees learned Electrical Installation and Maintenance (EIM) while 26 others were trained on Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW).

The training sessions were facilitated by experts from Don Bosco Technical Institute, who provided quality skills training for an NC II Certification. (PMB, ANCOP Communications)

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AGW 2019 kicks off in Australia, Canada, USA Australia became the first country in Oceania to launch this year's ANCOP Global Walk (AGW). On August 5, CFC Darwin held their successful Walk for a Scholar. On August 11, CFC Sydney and CFC Papua New Guinea held their respective AGWs as well.

An ANCOP team from Sydney participated in the iconic City2Surf in the middle of a freezing polar blast from Antarctica. Together with 80,000 other runners, the 15-person ANCOP team crossed the finish line in front of the iconic Bondi Beach.

City2Surf is one of the biggest fun runs in the world.

Soon to be held are the AGW events for the other Australian cities. These events aim to raise awareness for the work of ANCOP and to raise much needed funds.

Unlike in the Philippines, the AGWs in the Australian cities are done through participation in local fun runs, such as Sydney’s famous City2Surf Run, Canberra’s Running Festival, Cairns’ City Run, Perth’s Chevron City to Surf, Bridge to Brisbane, and the Melbourne Marathon Festival, among others.

CFC, A HIDDEN GEM

July 30, 2019 was a special blessed day for CFC at the Vatican. Our small group of five at the CFC Sede de Roma – Joe and I, Goi and Charm Villegas and Aldrin Poyaoan - was honored with an intimate meeting with a very special priest, Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, who has been the Preacher to the Papal Household since 1980. As Preacher to the Papal Household, his sermons/preachings had been closely listened to by Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, and members of their respective Papal Households.

Joe presented to Fr. Raniero CFC’s various programs and activities, and gave him some brochures and CFC books. We were so affirmed as, browsing through our 35th Anniversary Coffee Table book

(Grateful at 35), he said, "It is sad that media do not pick up this "hidden gem", referring to CFC and the photos of community life and worship he saw in the book.

A CFC culture that he encourages the community to treasure and continue is the "small" weekly household gatherings where members can intimately pray and share reflections. The group ended their meeting with Fr. Cantalamesa asking everyone to hold hands as he confirmed his blessings for the gift of Couples for Christ. He ended his prayer by reciting the lyrics of a very familiar song to CFC, “Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on them. Melt them, mold them, fill them, use them…” (Babylou Tale)

On the other hand, ANCOP Canada has also finished most of the scheduled ANCOP Walks even as early as July!

The latest ANCOP Walk in Canada was in Toronto, which took place at David Pecaut Square. ANCOP Canada Head Ricky Cuenca and his wife Irma headed the walkers in Toronto.

ANCOP USA has likewise finished 7 of its 43 scheduled walks—4 in Southern California, 1 in Virginia, 1 in North Carolina, and 1 in Minnesota.

These three countries are among the biggest supporters of CFC ANCOP Global Foundation Inc. in terms of child sponsorship.

The entire Philippines and other countries are slated to hold their respective ANCOP Global Walk events on November 17, 2019, in line with the celebration of the 3rd World Day of the Poor.

Registration and monetary pledges to the ANCOP Global Walk are still being accepted. For ANCOP Canada, visit https://ancopcanada.org/; for ANCOP USA, go to https://ancopusa.org; for AGW 2019 in the Philippines and other countries, please visit https://www. cfcancop.org/.

FiG in Kenya Year 2 The very first Family is a Gift event in Kenya took place in July 2018 with Couples for Christ collaborating the activity with the Archdiocese of Nairobi. The event was such a success that the archdiocese wanted to have more of the same. Thus, on July 27 of this year, the Archdiocese of Nairobi held its second Family is a Gift event at the Holy Family Minor Basilica.

It was a particularly warm Saturday morning, although it was the middle of the cold season. Participants started arriving early, welcomed with warm greetings and songs of praise.

Rev. Fr. Simon Peter Kamomoe, the parish priest at Holy Family and also the spiritual director of all family life associations in the Archdiocese, gave the opening remarks and led the opening prayer. He exhorted everyone to build firm families, saying:

“As Christian families, there is so much happening around us and threatening the institution of family. Building good families is a process … in due time the true and good fruit would be seen and what is not good, the chaff, would be thrown away.”

The plenary session, on Conjugal Love and Human Sexuality, was given by Sr. Dr. Florence Kabala of Philothea Missionaries who is also the director of the St. John Paul II Institute. She spoke of a world where people are so busy trying to make ends meet, it has become difficult for people to take time and reflect on the gift of marriage, love and human sexuality.

At the break-away sessions, Ken Munyua, a counselling psychologist and director, consultant and training at People Centric Management Co. LTD spoke about “Parenting: When

Children Know More than Parents.” Mrs. Sabina Chege, a counselling psychologist and student advisor at the Technical Institute of Kenya, spoke to older couples in a workshop titled, ‘When the Well Runs Dry’, while the younger couples received a workshop titled, ‘Keep the Fire Burning’.

Sr. Kabala also gave a workshop on “Pornography and its Effects on the Family.”

Holy Mass, the apt conclusion to every CFC event, was celebrated by Rev. Fr. Simon Peter Kamomoe. He congratulated the event organizers, and said there is a need to hold more Family Is a Gift events in the archdiocese for many families are yearning to learn more. He expressed the desire for another FIG within the next two months, or sometime in the month of October. (Emmanuel Muinde Mutua)