Monitor CBCP
JANUARY 7 - 20, 2019 VOL. 23 NO. 01
CBCPMONITOR@AREOPAGUSCOMMUNICATIONS.COM
PROTAGONIST OF TRUTH, PROMOTER OF PEACE
UGNAYAN
The Newspaper Supplement of Couples for Christ
A3: NEWS
Abuse expert hopes summit will include bishops’ accountability
A6: LOCAL NEWS
Priests urged: Be a newscaster, writer of ‘God’s News’
B1: PASTORAL CONCERNS Message of Pope Francis for the 52nd World Day of Peace
Beware of ‘antiChrists’, archbishop tells Catholics By Roy Lagarde
Priest decries ‘greed for power’ with upcoming polls
A ranking Catholic leader has warned of today’s antiChrists who calls God stupid and tells people “it is useless to go to Church and attend mass.”
In his New Year message, Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan cautioned the faithful against those who speak ill of God and the Church. “Do not listen to him who tells you it is useless to go to Church and attend Mass. Whoever teaches you that is antiChrist and there are many of them, including those who look at it is a joke,” he said. The archbishop did not name President Rodrigo Duterte but clearly referred to the latter’s attacks against the Church. In an open letter to his godson named Seth, he said he feared the child and other kids “might catch the wrong values”. “Nothing is easy these days when it comes to rearing children like you,” said Villegas. “You are subjected to so much vulgarity and violence that I fear… can ruin your future as a good Filipino and as a good child of God,” he lamented. Duterte is well known for his outrageous statements and unfiltered attacks at his critics, including the Church, of his deadly drugs crackdown. These include the “God is stupid” and “kill bishops” remarks. In the past, he also criticized Pope Francis AntiChrists / A7
“AS the elections approach, people are being killed because of man’s greed for power,” said Fr. Joel Mozura in a recent Mass held at the Mary Mother of Hope chapel, Trinoma, Quezon City. In their quest to stay in power, some politicians resort to killing their rivals, said the priest, who noted that some of “the victims of assassinations were innocent ones.” According to Mozura, some leaders seek to install themselves and perpetuate themselves in power at the expense of “innocent lives.”
A sea of devotees surrounds the image of the Black Nazarene as it winds through Hidalgo Street in Manila’s Quiapo district during this year’s “Traslacion” on Wednesday evening, Jan. 9. From the Quirino Grandstand, the image reached Quiapo Church at around 2am the following day or after 21 hours, concluding the traditionally biggest religious procession in the country. ROY LAGARDE
True devotee loves God and others, says Cardinal Tagle
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle gives his homily at the midnight Mass for the feast of the Black Nazarene at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila, Jan. 9, 2019. NICEFORO BALBEDINA
CARDINAL Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila has warned against fanaticism and appealed for real devotion that open one’s heart to God and other people. Speaking during the midnight Mass for the feast of the Black Nazarene at Manila’s Qurino Grandstand on Jan 9, he said that piety is embracing God and others with true love. “A real devotee loves. The essence of devotion is love,” Tagle said in his homily. On the other hand, the cardinal said that fanatics “only hold to something that gives value to them”. “A fanatic, once he does not get what he wants, will stop,” he said. “But a devotee
does not share the same reasoning. You are devoted because you love him or her. That’s what Jesus showed us.” To love, according to him, is among the characteristics of the true devotion to God. The two other qualities of a devotee, he added, are faithfulness and oneness with God and other people. “An overflowing love shows loyalty and service to others,” said Tagle. “And oneness with God and those you love is not an imitation but union.” Cardinal Tagle also came to the defense of the devotees against accusations of “fanaticism”. “It seems that every year Devotee / A7
Massacre of baby boys He pointed out that Scriptures mentions how Herod murdered innocents in his attempt to keep the throne. Mozura recounted how Herod exploited his authority, ordering the massacre of all baby boys aged two years and below, because of his fear of the rumored birth of the Messiah.
Power / A7
Pope prays for new year marked by tenderness, brotherhood, peace A New Year is a chance for a new start, a time to remember that all people are brothers and sisters and a time to nurture amazement that God became human to save all people, Pope Francis said. The Jan. 1 feast of Mary, Mother of God, also is a time to remember how strong maternal love and care are, and how they are the secret to making life more livable, the pope said during his homily at a feast day Mass in St. Peter’s
Basilica. The Catholic Church also marks Jan. 1 at World Peace Day, an observance the pope spoke about when, after Mass, he recited the Angelus with tens of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square. So many people were in the sunny square that Pope Francis remarked, “It seems like a canonization,” which usually is when the square is full. Mary shows to the world her son, the prince of peace,
he said. “He is the blessing for every person and the whole human family. He is the source of grace, mercy and peace.” Pope Francis chose as the theme for this year’s World Peace Day: “Good politics is at the service of peace.” “We must not think politics is reserved to those who govern,” the pope said. “We are all responsible for the life of the community, of the common good, and politics is good to the Tenderness / A3
Pope Francis holds his crosier as he celebrates Mass marking the feast of Mary, Mother of God, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Jan. 1. PAUL HARING/CNS
Faithful urged: Be bearers of ‘faith news’, not fake news IN a homily on the first day of the new year, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, Puerto Princesa Bishop Socrates Mesiona reminded faithful to be bearers of good news and not fake news. During the Mass held at the Puerto Princesa Cathedral, the prelate p rop ose d thre e p ossible new year’s resolutions. One of these is to “try to be bearers of good news” starting 2019. Mesiona told the faithful to emulate the shepherds
in the Gospel of today’s reading. “Like the shepherds in the Gospel, let us all be carrier of good news, not gossip. Faith news and not false news,” he stressed. “These days, there’s so much negativity in this world, we need more good news to uplift the spirit of our brothers and sisters,” he added. The Vicar Apostolic also urged the Mass attendees to be more prayerful and kinder as new year’s resolutions this 2019. (Katya A. Santos / CBCPNews)
Puerto Princesa Bishop Socrates Mesiona suggests three new year’s resolutions for the faithful, including one on being a bearer of “faith news.” PHOTO COURTESY OF KATYA SANTOS
A2 WORLD NEWS
Vatican Briefing Top officials of Vatican press office resign Saying they thought Pope Francis should be “completely free to assemble a new team” for Vatican communications “at this time of transition,” the director of the Vatican press office announced he and the vice director had resigned. Pope Francis accepted the resignations of Greg Burke and Paloma Garcia Ovejero, the press office announced Dec. 31. The pope appointed Alessandro Gisotti, coordinator of social media at the Vatican Dicastery for Communication, to serve as interim director of the press office. Neither of the outgoing journalists issued a formal statement, but Burke, 59, a former U.S. television news correspondent, tweeted the comment about it being the right time for the pope to assemble a new team. Paolo Ruffini, appointed prefect in July, said in a statement that resigning was “their autonomous and free choice.” (Cindy Wooden/CNS) Christian faith is concrete, pope says at Mass The saints were Christians who were “crazy for concreteness,” knowing that faith is not an idea, but a relationship with Jesus, which leads to actions that demonstrate love, Pope Francis said. Celebrating morning Mass Jan. 7 in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the pope said the celebration of Christmas is the celebration of a faith that is concrete. The first reading at Mass was a passage from the First Letter of John, which says Christians are commanded to believe in the name of Jesus and love one another, with “concrete love, not a fantasy love,” the pope said. “Concreteness. This is the challenge,” he said. “Not ideas and beautiful words.” (Cindy Wooden/CNS) Vatican court convicts Italian of money laundering The Vatican City State court sentenced an Italian contractor, who had done work for several Vatican offices, to 2 1/2 years in jail for using a Vatican bank account for money laundering. The conviction and sentencing of Angelo Proietti, 63, was handed down Dec. 17 and announced by the Vatican press office Dec. 27; his lawyer told the Wall Street Journal he would appeal. The Vatican court also ordered the confiscation of the more than 1 million euros ($1.14 million) Proietti had in his account at the Institute for the Works of Religion, the formal name of the Vatican bank. The conviction is the first concluded under Vatican City State laws enacted by now-retired Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism through accounts at the Vatican bank. (Cindy Wooden/CNS) Vietnam, Vatican agree to upgrade diplomatic relations in near future Delegations from the Vatican and from Vietnam reported continued progress in their discussions, including agreeing on “upgrading” relations with a permanent papal representative “in the near future,” a Vatican press statement said. “They shared the belief that this step will help relations between the two sides grow and develop further,” said the statement, released Dec. 20. The two official delegations met in Hanoi Dec. 19 for the seventh meeting of the Vietnam-Holy See joint working group, which is trying to pave the way for full diplomatic relations between the Vatican and the communist government. The last working group meeting was at the Vatican in 2016. (Carol Glatz/CNS) Pope Francis: Prayer is about God’s love, not wordiness When praying, remember the words of Jesus when he taught the ‘Our Father,’ Pope Francis said Wednesday, meeting God as his beloved child and speaking from the heart. Some think that to pray is to use many words. “I too think of many Christians who believe that praying is to talk to God like a parrot, no! Praying is done from the heart, from inside,” the pope said Jan. 2. “He does not need anything, our God: in prayer he asks only that we keep open a channel of communication with him to always discover ourselves [to be] his beloved children and [that] he loves us so much.” (Hannah Brockhaus/CNA) Pope to diplomats: Remember transcendent dimension of human persons Upholding the dignity of the human person, and the rule of law, are essential for good politics, Pope Francis said Monday to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See. Such politics promote the common good and establish and maintain peace between nations, he said, by considering “the transcendent dimension of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God.” The pope made his annual address to the diplomatic corps Jan. 7 in the Vatican’s Sala Regia. “Respect for the dignity of each human being is thus the indispensable premise for all truly peaceful coexistence,” he said, “and law becomes the essential instrument for achieving social justice and nurturing fraternal bonds between peoples.” (Hannah Brockhaus/CNA) Vatican: Investigation underway of bishop accused of abuse, misconduct A bishop from Argentina who had been working in the Vatican’s real estate administration office is the object of a preliminary diocesan investigation after accusations came to light of sexual abuse, abuse of power and mismanagement in his former Diocese of Oran. The interim director of the Vatican press office, Alessandro Gisotti, told reporters in a note Jan. 4 that accusations of sexual abuse against Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, 54, emerged in the “autumn” of 2018. “On the basis of these accusations and from news appearing recently in the media,” Bishop Luis Antonio Scozzina of Oran “has already begun to collect some testimony which still needs to get to the Congregation for Bishops” at the Vatican, Gisotti wrote. The case will be handed over to a special commission for bishops if credible evidence is found, he added. “During the preliminary investigation, (Bishop) Zanchetta will abstain from working” at the Vatican office, Gisotti wrote. (Carol Glatz/CNS)
January 7 - 20, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 01
CBCP Monitor
Knights of Columbus: Anti-Catholic bigotry is nothing new NEW HAVEN, Conn.— Catholics can be good US citizens and honest public servants, the head of the Knights of Columbus wrote Thursday in a message to members of the Catholic charitable organization. “There have been times in our country’s past when uninformed or prejudiced people questions whether Catholics could be good citizens or honest public servants,” Supreme Knight Carl Anderson wrote in the letter. “Sadly, it seems that in some quarters, this prejudice remains.” Anderson’s Jan. 3 letter w as occasione d by tw o senators objecting last month to a federal judicial nominee’s membership in the Knights. Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) asked whether his membership in the Knights of Columbus would prevent Brian C. Buescher from hearing cases “fairly and impartially.” Buescher is an Omaha-based lawyer nominated to sit on the US District Court for the District of Nebraska. The Supreme Knight noted that Buescher’s “fitness for the federal bench” was questioned by Hirono and Harris “precisely because our Order holds firm to the Church’s teachings on the sanctity of life and marriage.” Anderson said, “Such attacks on the basis of our Catholic faith are hardly new. The Knights of Columbus was formed amid a period of antiCatholic bigotry.” From the founding of the Knights of Columbus until the presidential election of John F. Kennedy, “many still
held that Catholics were unfit for public office,” he added. The Knights of Columbus has always adhered to Catholic teaching, Anderson said, adding that “our primary motivation” is Christ’s commandment “that we love God completely and our neighbor as ourselves.” It is this commandment of love that compels the Knights’ charitable work, he noted. “This love also motivates us to stand with the Church on the important issues of life and marriage, precisely because the Church’s teaching reflects and is based on that love. We stand with our Church because we believe that what our faith teaches is consistent with reason, is timeless and transcends the changing sentiments of any particular time or place.” The Supreme Knight also noted that in his letter to the Knights’ 2013 convention, Pope Francis had asked that the organization “bear witness to the authentic nature of marriage and the family, the sanctity and inviolable dignity of human life, and the beauty and truth of human sexuality.” Anderson pointed out the no religious test clause of Article VI of the US Constitution, and the free exercise clause of the Constitution’s First Amendment, saying, “any suggestion that the Order’s adherence to the beliefs of the Catholic Church makes a Brother Knight unfit for public office blatantly violates those constitutional guarantees.” “Let us continue to express our love of God and neighbor by helping those in need and by standing with our Church,
Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Carl Anderson. ALAN HOLDREN/CNA
regardless of the popularity of doing so,” Anderson exhorted. “Let us also remember that, from our founding, we have embodied the truth that a good Catholic is a good citizen who shows civility and dignity even in the face of prejudice.” Buescher was nominated to serve on the U.S. District Court Nov. 3. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Buescher’s nomination Nov. 28, sending him written questions Dec. 5. Hirono had asked Buescher if he would end his membership with the Knights of Columbus if confirmed, so as “to avoid any appearance of bias,” saying the organization “has taken a number of extreme positions.” And Harris described the Knights as “an allmale society”, and asked if Buescher was aware that the Knights of Columbus “opposed a woman’s right to choose” and were against “marriage equality” when he joined. Harris raised a statement from Anderson saying
abortion constituted “the killing of the innocent on a massive scale” and asked Buescher if he agreed with Anderson. Senator Cory Booker (DNJ) noted the nominee’s previously outspoken opposition to abortion and asked, “why should a litigant in your courtroom expect to get a fair hearing from an impartial judge in a case involving abortion rights?” Buescher ran in the Republican primary for Nebraska attorney general in 2014. During that campaign he described himself as “avidly pro-life” and said opposition to abortion was part of his “moral fabric.” In his responses to the questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, Buescher said if confirmed as a federal judge, he would follow established rules regarding conflicts of interest, and that he would not seek to advance personal opinions, but would make rulings in accord with t h e j u d i c i al p re c e d e nt s established by the US Supreme Court. (CNA)
Argentine archbishop temporarily closes monastery after monks arrested
BUENOS Aires, Argentina— Archbishop Marcelo Daniel Colombo of Mendoza, Argentina has temporarily closed the Christ at Prayer Monastery in the town of Tupungato, after two of the community’s founding monks were arrested on sexual abuse charges. “Without pre-judging the guilt of these priests, which is being evaluated by the canonical and state criminal justice system, it becomes necessary for us, right now, to consider the way to continue this experience of religious life in this context,” the archbishop said in a statement. On December 27, a police delegation entered the monastery and arrested Fr. Diego Roque and Fr. Oscar Portillo, two priests from Buenos Aires who have led the monastery since 1996. The priests are accused of sexual abuse, including abuse of a minor, and
abuse of authority between 2009 and 2015. They allegedly abused a man who tried to enter the monastery. Both priests maintain their innocence. They will remain in custody while the facts of the case are being determined. In his statement, Archbishop Colombo said that the monastery was left with only four brothers and authorities. As a result, he is closing the monastery until further notice. “The youngest brothers, who very recently entered will return to their family homes and will continue to be spiritually accompanied in their vocational search,” the archbishop said. The two older members, “one professed and the other a novice, already a priest, will from now on live in a parish community to be designated and will be able to continue discerning their vocational call in a climate of spiritual recollection.”
As for the administration and management of the monastery, Archbishop Colombo said that it will be the direct responsibility of the Archdiocese of Mendoza in the person of Fr. Aldo Vallone, who will serve as Diocesan Moderator of the Christ at Prayer Monastery. “Sharing the pain that these events cause us, I ask you to accompany us with your prayers,” the archbishop said. “I know of many people who love the Monastery…I ask them to try to understand the unprecedented situation this poses and the indispensable prudential action which is expected of the Church in cases like these.” Colombo asked for prayers for all those who have suffered abuse. He and called on Our Lady of the Rosary to accompany the community. (ACI Prensa)
Mass grave of Christians killed by Islamic State found in Libya MISRATA, Libya— A mass grave of 34 Ethiopian Christians executed by the so-called Islamic State group in 2015 has reportedly been unearthed in Libya. The bodies have been exhumed and will be eventually repatriated to Ethiopia, the Libyan interior ministry says. Libyan government authorities found the mass grave Dec. 23 after obtaining information from arrested
Islamic State members. The grave appears to be located on a farm near the coastal city of Sirte, 170 miles southeast of Misrata. Islamic State gained control of Sirte in 2015, but United Nations-backed forces regained control of the city in December 2016 after months of deadly fighting. According to the Libyan Express newspaper, a propaganda video posted to social media in April 2015
appeared to show the Islamic State members shooting and beheading the Ethiopian Christians, who were all wearing orange jumpsuits, on a beach. The Christians were in Libya to seek work as migrant workers, according to International Christian Concern. The 2015 incident happened just months after Islamic State members executed a group of nearly two dozen Coptic Christians; a mass grave containing
their bodies was found last October. Islamic State and other terrorist organizations are still active in Libya and retain control of parts of the country. A suicide bomber attack on the Libyan foreign ministry in the capital Tripoli, for which Islamic State claimed responsibility, killed at least three people and injured 21 on Christmas Day. A senior Libyan diplomat was among those killed. (CNA)
CBCP Monitor
NEWS FEATURES A3
January 7 - 20, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 01
Abuse expert hopes summit will This 'pilgrim grandmother' include bishops’ accountability walked 570 miles to pray VATICAN—A member of the committee organizing Pope Francis’ February summit on the sexual abuse crisis said the meeting should include discussing ways to hold bishops accountable for handling cases correctly. Addressing members of the Roman Curia before Christmas, Pope Francis said the meeting Feb. 21-24 of the presidents of the world’s bishops’ conferences, the heads of the Eastern Catholic churches and leaders of religious orders will reaffirm the church’s “firm resolve to pursue unstintingly a path of purification.” In addition, he said, with the help of experts, the meeting will examine “how best to protect children, to avoid these tragedies, to bring healing and restoration to the victims, and to improve the training imparted in seminaries.” Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, a me mb e r o f t h e c o mmi t t e e organizing the February meeting, told Vatican News Dec. 27 that in addition to the goals outlined by the pope, “we want to see how we also can put on the table the question of bishops’ responsibility, so there would be greater clarity about who must do something and who checks if the things the Holy Father and the church—the dicasteries—have ordered be done are, in effect, done.” Father Zollner, president of the Center for Child Protection at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University, said the pope’s commitment to not undervaluing
Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, a professor of psychology and president of the Center for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, is pictured in a 2015 photo. Father Zollner has been on the frontlines of advocating for survivors of clerical sexual abuse and developing detailed programs to prevent abuse. He said the crisis unfolding again in the United States is a summons to a new way of envisioning the church and taking responsibility for it. PAUL HARING/CNS
or covering up any case of abuse will require “a clarification of procedures, which aren’t so clear, especially when we are talking about the co-responsibility of a bishop or a provincial or head of an Eastern church with respect to what others bishops, provincials and superiors are doing.” And, second, he said, there must be a change of attitude. “The rules, the laws as such, will not change hearts. We see this not only in Europe, but throughout the world. So, we must see how we can reinforce throughout the church this attitude of openness and attention to the protection of minors because that is the attitude Jesus teaches us.” Father Zollner said he hoped the February meeting would help
everyone in the church, everywhere in the world, realize “the urgency of making the protection of minors and bringing justice to the victims a priority.” Vatican Media also spoke to Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, former papal spokesman, who published an article in mid-December saying that church leaders who continue to believe clerical sexual abuse is a problem only in some countries or cultures must open their eyes and take action, otherwise “the church will continue to find itself facing one crisis after another.” People have great expectations for the February meeting he said, but they also should take time to look at all the church has been doing to face up to the crisis and protect children. “This isn’t something that began today or yesterday, but decades ago,” he said. Bishops’ conferences in many countries “have undertaken important initiatives, have tried to understand what really happened, how to help the victims and how to establish a culture of prevention,” Father Lombardi said. And, beginning with Pope Benedict XVI, the universal church has strengthened its norms and procedures for dealing with cases. “We must understand that the problem is very serious, very important for society and for the church,” he said, and that “there is a real renewal needed in the church, there is a long road to travel, but, at the same time, we are not starting from zero.” (Cindy Wooden/ CNS)
for families
MEXICO— Emma Morosini has been called the “pilgrim grandmother.” Earlier this year, at the age of 94, she earned that nickname by concluding a 570-mile walking pilgrimage in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Her 40-day pilgrimage took M o r o s i n i f r o m The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. EDUARDO BERDEJO/CNA Monterrey, in northeastern Mexico, to Mexico At various points on her way City, where she prayed at the she was accompanied by medical Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and civil defense personnel or before the tilma of Saint Juan Diego. by Mexico’s Federal Police. She Morosini, a native of Italy who was often housed by municipal for more than 25 years has made authorities along her route. pilgrimages to shrines around the During a 2015 pilgrimage in world, arrived the afternoon of May 12 Argentina, when she was 91, at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe Morosini told reporters that she in Mexico City, to pray for families, was praying for “peace in the world, young people, and “world peace.” for young people, for all these The “pilgrim grandmother” has families that are divided. Many are visited shrines in Portugal, Spain, separated, some live together but Poland, Israel, Brazil and Argentina. aren’t spouses, or they don’t have During this pilgrimage, Morosini children. It’s very sad.” began walking each day at 6:30 am, The “pilgrim grandmother” was carrying a small suitcase and an applauded by fellow pilgrims when umbrella, and wearing a reflective she arrived at the the Basilica of Our vest as a safety precaution. Lady of Guadalupe. Before entering For food, Morosini carried milk, the church, she woman knelt down, juice, bread, and water, receiving kissed the ground, made the sign of along the way some donations of the cross and prayed silently for a fruits and vegetables. few moments. (ACI Prensa)
The pilot bishop of the South Pacific
Hong Kong bishop dies at age 73 HONG KONG— Bishop Michael Yeung Mingcheung of Hong Kong died in hospital Thursday at the age of 73, after suffering liver failure due to cirrhosis. He had been admitted to Canossa (Caritas) Hospital Dec. 27, and died the afternoon of Jan. 3. A board of eight senior members of Hong Kong’s Church administration met Jan. 4 to discuss the diocese’ future leadership, and decided to hold off on choosing an acting bishop as interim leader of the diocese until after Yeung’s funeral, the South China Morning News reports. Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing of Hong Kong reportedly told the media that the diocese was particularly saddened by Bishop Yeung’s death, because his condition had been described as stable only a few hours before his death, though he had evidently been facing health problems for several years. The bishop’s funeral Mass will be said Jan. 11. Bishop Yeung was born Dec. 1, 1945 in Shanghai, and ordained a priest of the Hong Kong diocese in 1978 after studying at a pontifical Roman university.
Bishop Michael Yeung Ming-cheung of Hong Kong, who died Jan. 3, 2019. GCATHOLIC.ORG
He then earned a master’s degree in communications from Syracuse University in 1982, and later a master’s degree in education from Harvard University in 1990. Since August 2003 he had served as the head of Caritas Hong Kong, and was vicar general from 2009. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of Hong Kong in 2014, and coadjutor bishop in 2016. He succeeded Cardinal John Tong Hon Aug. 1, 2017. From the very first homily after his installation, Bishop Yeung talked about serving the poor, the sick, and t he ne e d y, because, in his words, “the well-being of society
requires the fostering of genuine ecology and unceasing efforts to bring about integral human development,” and said that “the Chinese government has generally encouraged the religious sector to participate more in social and charitable services.” The Caritas Institute of Higher Education, of which Yeung was chair, held a Requiem Mass for the bishop’s soul Jan. 4. The school is seeking to be recognized as a university and change its name to “St. Francis University,” the organization announced in 2014. As a special administrative region, Hong Kong has a large degree of autonomy from mainland China,
with its own political and economic system. The territory was a British colony from 1842 until 1997. There are some 581,000 Catholics in Hong Kong, or about eight percent of the population. Bishop Yeung previously told CNA in an interview that the Catholic Church “mustn’t compete with the communist party for power and authority in this world. The Lord Jesus never told the disciples to compete with the Roman empire...the Church has, however, her role to play. She is called to have a good attitude to dialogue, and at the same time she is called to tell the truth, and to speak out against social injustice, when the latter happens.” Yeung’s death comes at a time of rapprochement between the Vatican and the Chinese government. Last month, two bishops of the Vatican-approved underground Catholic Church in China agreed to step aside in favor of bishops of the communist-supported Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, in the wake of a September 2018 deal signed between the Holy See and the Chinese government. (CNA)
Bishop Luciano Capelli, Bishop of Gizo, aboard his airplane.
GIZO, Solomon Islands— Known as the “flying bishop” of Solomon Islands, Bishop Luciano Capelli visits Catholics across dozens of islands by piloting a small airplane he also uses to deliver food and medicine. Capelli, an Italian, was a Salesian missionary in the Philippines for 35 years before coming to the Diocese of Gizo in October 2007. He arrived six months after an earthquake destroyed homes, schools, and churches across the Solomon Islands, a nation of nearly 1,000 islands in Oceania. “My first task was to encourage the people to rebuild the cathedral, the seven parishes and the 12 schools,” he explained in an interview with the Missioni Don Bosco portal. The Diocese of Gizo is comprised of some 40 islands with a total population of 136,347 inhabitants, 11 percent of which are Catholics, i.e. about 15,000. With financial support from the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Capelli was able to take flying lessons and the diocese received an ultralight small airplane. In the plane, which he himself has piloted since 2011, he visits
hospitals, schools and communities, bringing medicine and basic necessities. Capelli said that isolation is a major challenge for people in his diocese, adding that this is resolved “with a presence.” “Presence is possible only if there is a means to take you.” Thanks to the airplane, he can visit each mission location between three to five times a year, whereas without it he would have to use a dangerous and more costly boat, he told Askanews. Capelli has been particularly busy since October 2018, when he decided to send one of his dioceses’ two priests to Italy for advanced studies. Speaking to Missio Italia, the prelate said that “it’s a sacrifice, and to no little account, depriving us of 50 percent of the clergy! But I trust that the Lord will make new vocations flourish and there will be new ones to come for a an effective and courageous evangelization.” “We have been working a lot these years with young people and the new generations to train catechists and leaders in the communities. I’m not afraid!” (ACI Prensa)
the “amazement” they should have experienced at Christmas, amazement that God was born a baby, “held in the arms of a woman who feeds her creator.” “God has become one with humanity forever. God and man, always together, that is the good news of this new year,” he said. “God is no distant lord, dwelling in splendid isolation above the heavens, but love incarnate, born like us of a mother, in order to become a brother to each of us.” Jesus himself “pours out upon humanity a new tenderness,” the pope said, which helps people “understand more fully God’s love, which is both paternal and maternal, like that of a mother who never stops believing in her children and never abandons them.” “God-with-us, Emmanuel, loves
us despite our mistakes, our sins and the way we treat our world,” he said. “God believes in mankind, because its first and preeminent member is his own mother.” The church, which is called to be a mother, the pope said, also must be renewed and filled with amazement at the fact that it is “the dwelling place of the living God” and “a mother who gives birth to her children.” Without that awareness, the church risks turning into “a beautiful museum of the past,” he said. Pope Francis ended his New Year’s homily praying that Mary would “take us by the hand. Clinging to you, we will pass safely through the straits of history.” (Cindy Wooden / Catholic News Service)
Tenderness / A1
degree that everyone does his or her part in the service of peace.” After greeting hundreds of people who participated in a march for peace, carrying signs with the names of countries suffering because of violence, Pope Francis prayed: “Through the intercession of the virgin Mary, may the Lord grant us to be artisans of peace—and this begins at home, in the family—every day of the new year.” Earlier, in his homily at the Mass, Pope Francis paid homage not only to Mary, but also to all mothers and all those who show tender care for others, including in political and economic life. “A world that looks to the future without a mother’s gaze is shortsighted,” he said. “It may well increase its profits, but it will no longer see others as children.
It will make money, but not for everyone. We will all dwell in the same house, but not as brothers and sisters.” Pope Francis prayed that Mary would help all people learn to look at the world and each other as she does, providing for people’s needs, loving them and leading them to Jesus. “In today’s fragmented world, where we risk losing our bearings, a mother’s embrace is essential,” he said. “How much dispersion and solitude there is all around us! The world is completely connected, yet seems increasingly disjointed. We need to entrust ourselves to our Mother.” Too many people, he said, forget they are beloved children and instead “live in anger and indifference to everything! How many, sad to say, react to
everything and everyone with bitterness and malice!” In fact, he said, “showing oneself to be ‘malicious’ even seems at times to be a sign of strength. Yet it is nothing more than weakness. We need to learn from mothers that heroism is shown in selfgiving, strength in compassion, wisdom in meekness.” For Catholics, he said, Mary “is not an optional accessory: she has to be welcomed into our life” because Jesus entrusted her to his disciples and his disciples to her as their mother. “She is the queen of peace, who triumphs over evil and leads us along paths of goodness, who restores unity to her children, who teaches us compassion,” Pope Francis said. He urged people to begin the new year holding on to
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opinion
January 7 - 20, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 01
CBCP Monitor
EDITORIAL
EVERY year, for 52 years now, the Holy Father gives a reflection on peace on New Year’s Day as his message for the celebration of the World Day for Peace. This year the message of Pope Francis is entitled: GOOD POLITICS IS AT THE SERVICE OF PEACE. This is a good reminder for many Christians who think that the Church should keep off from politics. Jesus has come to save the world, and this includes the world of politics. All people of good will agree that politics too need truth, justice, peace and love. Politics is at the service of common good. This shows that politics is to be guided by moral norms. Politics can veer away from the right path either through ignorance, weakness of the character of leaders, or sheer ill will. Hence it too should be saved from abuses, weaknesses and ignorance. It too needs the light of Good News. For this reason no less than the Pope himself speaks of politics and gives it guidance. Pope Francis wrote: “Politics is an essential means of building human community and institutions, but when political life is not seen as a form of service to society as a whole, it can become a means of oppression, marginalization and even destruction.” When properly exercised, politics is a way of loving, which is the core of the message of Christ, and it can bring well-being to the citizens. But when abused, it can create a lot of harm. So the Holy Father continues: “Political office and political responsibility constantly challenge those called to the service of their country to make every effort to protect those who live there and to create the conditions for a worthy and just future. If exercised with basic respect for the life, freedom and dignity of persons, political life can indeed become an outstanding form of charity.” When Pope Francis speaks about the virtues that politics should have, he quoted from the “Beatitudes of the Politician” that was proposed by Vietnamese Cardinal François-Xavier Nguyễn Vãn Thuận, who died in 2002. It is to be recalled that this Vietnamese Cardinal had been a prisoner of the Vietcong for 13 years, yet he bore no grudge against his captors and was even a good influence in the concentration camps where he was imprisoned. When assigned to Rome after his release, he became the head of the Pontifical Commission for Justice and Peace, so he did a lot of reflection with the whole church on the politics that can bring about peace. Here is his reflection: “Blessed be the politician with a lofty sense and deep understanding of his role. Blessed be the politician who personally exemplifies credibility. Blessed be the politician who works for the common good and not his or her own interest. Blessed be the politician who remains consistent. Blessed be the politician who works for unity. Blessed be the politician who works to accomplish radical change. Blessed be the politician who is capable of listening. Blessed be the politician who is without fear.” How we wish that our politicians would have these virtues so that they can be blessed and our people would be happy. Finally, Pope Francis reminds us that “peace is based on respect for each person, whatever his or her background, on respect for the law and the common good, on respect for the environment entrusted to our care and for the richness of the moral tradition inherited from past generations.” So when good politics is at the service of peace it respects and promotes fundamental human rights. May the year 2019, which for our country is an election year, bring us politicians who really serve with the common good in mind, and thus bring about much needed peace to our people. `(Guest editorial by Bishop Broderick Pabillo)
Explore, adapt, innovate WHILE we may have our own particular niche in life that is fit to our personal condition and circumstances, we have to realize that we are not meant to be imprisoned there, but should rather have an attitude of openness to the flowing developments of the times. That is why we have to feel the necessity to continually explore the things, adapt ourselves to the changing circumstances and make the necessary innovations along the way. Of course, we should remember that there are things that should be held as permanent, absolute, unchanging. These are the essential things that define their nature as designed by God the Creator. To guide us in this, we of course can use our sciences and technologies, but we should give priority to what the Church teaches, since the Church has been entrusted by Christ himself to define what is truly proper to our human nature. Because of this, the Church is dubbed as the ‘expert in humanity.’ But other than these permanent things, there are also many other things that can and should change as we cruise through life. These things are earth-and-time bound. They are expected to vary according to time and place, and other factors, like culture, age, gender, etc. It cannot be denied that each generation, for example, has its peculiar characteristics. We have to be as sensitive as possible to these distinctions. We should not stick to our own usual ways of understanding and doing things. It’s in these latter things Editorial / A6
Monitor CBCP
PROTAGONIST OF TRUTH, PROMOTER OF PEACE
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The CBCP Monitor is published fortnightly by the CBCP Media Office with editorial and business offices at 3rd Floor, CBCP Compound, 470 General Luna St., Intramuros, Manila. Email Address: cbcpmonitor@areopaguscommunications.com, Business: (632) 404 - 1612. ISSN 1908-2940.
ILLUSTRATION BY BLADIMER USI
Good politics: A way to peace
Launching the Year of the Youth THE Philippine Church is now on the seventh year of its nine-year journey towards 2021, the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the Philippines. Thus, 2019 is dedicated to the Youth; 2020 to Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue; and 2021 to missio ad gentes [mission to the nations]. This nine-year “novena” seeks the comprehensive renewal of our local Philippine Church. This program of a spiritual journey to 2021 was promulgated by the Philippine bishops (CBCP) in 2012. It is pure coincidence that the Philippine “Youth” Year begins shortly after the conclusion of the 2018 World Synod of Bishops on the Youth. Yet, it is truly a felicitous occurrence! The Philippine Church will be
able to draw upon many insights of Pope Francis and the Synod as it seeks to engage the youth and connect them with the Church. Pope Francis determined the theme for the 2018 Synod of Bishops: “Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment.” In 2017 he wrote a letter to the youth of the world, telling them: “I wanted you to be the center of attention, because you are in my heart.” This same perspective motivates the Philippine Church as it celebrates its “Year of the Youth.” Come and See. In extending his invitation for the youth to become involved in renewing both the Church and society, Pope Francis notes: “I would also remind you of the words that Jesus
And That’s The Truth
Living Mission Fr. James H. Kroeger, MM
once said to the disciples who asked him: ‘Teacher, … where do you live?’ He replied, ‘Come and see’ (Jn 1:38).” Pope Francis continues: “Jesus looks at you and invites you to go with him. Dear young people, have you noticed this look towards you? Have you heard this voice? Have you felt this urge to undertake this journey? Francis invites young people to “undertake a journey of discernment to discover God’s plan in your life. Even when the journey is uncertain and you fall, God, rich in mercy, will extend his hand to pick you up.” Here in the Philippines we clearly perceive the heartfelt invitation of Pope Francis to the youth to make this same “faith journey.” Change and Renewal. In
his 2017 letter Pope Francis recalled some events of the 2016 World Youth Day held in Krakow, Poland. He noted: “At the opening of the last World Youth Day, I asked you several times: ‘Can we change things?’ And you shouted: ‘Yes’!” Francis notes: “A better world can be built as a result of your efforts, your desire to change, and your generosity. Do not be afraid to listen to the Spirit.” Thus, taking a cue from Pope Francis, the Philippine Church, during this Year of the Youth, eagerly seeks to engage and accompany the youth in their idealism and enthusiasm to renew both Church and society. We earnestly pray that the many pastoral efforts of our local Church will prove genuinely successful!
Detox and detach
Teresa R. Tunay, OCDS
WONDER what people normally crave after Christmas—after the last gift is opened, the last fruitcake is consumed, and the last party guest leaves you in peace? Merriment can be tiring—let’s face it—especially in this country where people greet you Merry Christmas as early as September, and then it’s eatdrink-shop-shop-shop and be merry until after the last firecracker dies and the Christmas tree is laid to rest. In our culture where Christmas and consumerism are fast becoming inseparable BFFs, it’s considered antisocial not to ho-ho-ho with the flow. You’re labeled a Scrooge or a Grinch, and that’s like a life sentence. Whether we enjoy it or not, we have to teach ourselves to embrace the endless round
of reunions and homecomings and parties—office party, barangay party, parish party, senior citizen party, homeowners’ association party, ad infinitum. And even when you feel stupid telling your kids (or their kids) to be good because Santa Clause is coming to town, you grin and bear it because it’s better to be stupid and kind than to be sensible and cruel. Every honest person I know admits Christmas can be wearying—especially for priests who hardly sleep during the Simbang Gabi stretch and yet, out of politeness, can’t say No to parties galore. (“Oh, but my blood pressure….?” “Don’t worry, Father, me gamut naman eh!”) So, after this season of playing along with this silly and wonderful world, they
Let’s beam with hope
yearn to take a break from the Christmas break—irony of ironies! Super-active consecrated persons tell me they do crave solitude, long for a real break devoid of creature comforts and away, far faraway, from their communities or parishes. Not to escape, no, but to detox and detach, to recharge, to reconnect with the divine in them—so they may become stronger servant leaders when they return. And why not? It’s but human to desire solitude, as English poet William Wordsworth says: “When from our better selves we have too long been parted by the hurrying world, and droop. Sick of its business, of its pleasures tired, how gracious, how benign is solitude.” And That’s the Truth / A6
Candidly Speaking Fr. Roy Cimagala
LET’S try our best to be men and women of hope, of real, great and abiding hope, which means that we have a clear vision of our ultimate goal in life and are confident that with God’s grace and our effort we can reach it. Let’s beam with hope and not just keep it inside, if only to give our present troubled world some real glow. We should try to avoid being tied down by the here and now, though what we have in the here and now is always important and crucial in our journey of hope in life. Yes, we have to be immersed in the things of this world, but clearly knowing that these things are only means, materials, occasions and instruments to reach our
goal. We should not allow ourselves to be swallowed up by them. To be hopeful and mindful of our ultimate end should not diminish the seriousness we have to put into our daily duties and responsibilities. We should not say that just because we are meant for heaven, for a supernatural destination, we can take it easy in our temporal affairs. Let’s remember what Christ wanted us to learn from his parable of talents. (cfr. Mt 25,14-30) We are meant to be fruitful and productive out of the many blessings and endowments God has given us. How we fare in our earthly life somehow determines whether we are truly progressing or not in
our journey towards our definitive home in heaven. So it’s wrong to say that just because we are meant for heaven, we should not be very serious in our business or politics or in whatever field of human endeavor. If our temporal duty is about making money, for example, for the glory of God, then we should not shy away from making as much money as possible. Let us strengthen this hope everyday, trusting always in the assured promises of Christ especially when we are sharply tested in life. We cannot deny that the drama in our life can be such that, if not handled properly, can undermine our faith and
hope. How many people have been confused and lost in that way? That is why we need to spend time meditating on the word of God and on the life of Christ so we don’t get distracted from what is truly our path to follow and so that our faith and hope grow stronger everyday. When there is true hope, we can manage to be at peace and in joy no matter what situation we may find ourselves in. We would just be game with everything. Meditating on God’s word and on Christ’s life will surely teach us what to do to equip ourselves properly for our real pursuit in life. We have to develop the virtues, we Candidly Speaking / A6
CBCP Monitor
opinion
January 7 - 20, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 01
By the Roadside
This thing called being new
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Whisper from the Desert Fr. Amado L. Picardal, CSsR, STD
Fr. Eutiquio ‘Euly’ Belizar, Jr. SThD
“Do not be scared to begin again. Life is a series of beginnings, in-betweens and endings. No one reaches the last leg without making the first. By then, the last becomes the first leg again.” — Yago the Owl EACH year it is the same greeting: “Happy New Year!” But wait. Is life not an invisible circle, time’s inescapably spiraling web or a veritably repetitious cycle that brings us where we first took off? Take, for instance, the ritual we oblige ourselves to go through of celebrating a year’s ending and another year’s beginning. Every new year sends most everyone into misty visions: nostalgia of the year(s) past, fraught with a sense of fulfilment over some achievements of sorts, or with a measure of guilt or regret over goals only half- or partly realized and resolutions that simply tapered off even before the second “whereas”. Then we find ourselves facing again a new year to welcome with new resolutions, some rehashed out of old ones, or simply extending our hands in mock resignation because we are foreseeing similar outcomes in the days ahead. Still, others among us, however pessimistic and cynical the world around them has become, see themselves and the future with bravely bright eyes.
But is it right for anyone to unceremoniously dismiss the prospect of newness as simply an ingredient of a mindless ritual? I say Nein, No. For us who strive to follow the Master who was born in a manger, we should rather get in touch with the why behind the pursuit of newness. And it soon will dawn on us that it has its roots in our link to him through our baptism. We have become incorporated into his Body; in effect, newness must become essential to our very system of living life. Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles says to us point-blank, as he did, to the Corinthians: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here” (2 Cor 5:17). The old creation in us is the old self too that we must constantly send packing into our yesterdays because we refuse to be immersed endlessly in slavery to sin and the dark shadows of living outside of God’s grace. But that is not enough. We must also allow the Master to disabuse us of our fanciful thinking that newness is primarily a business of our making. The book of Revelation has the Master reminding us: “‘See, I make all things new!’ said the One sitting on the throne. And he said to me, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true” (Rev 21:5). I have wondered
Make Christ our light in 2019 A Very Happy and Healthy New Year! I believe that a healthy person is happy and is at peace with the Lord. The year 2018 may have brought us sorrows and frustrations, but let them be drowned by the blessings we received. Let us be thankful and grateful to our Lord. Pope Francis’ advice to the priests: “We are good priests if we go to Jesus Christ, if we seek the Lord in prayer: the prayer of intercession, the prayer of adoration. If instead we distance ourselves from Jesus Christ, we have to compensate for this with other worldly attitudes. But the priest adores Jesus Christ, the priest speaks with Jesus Christ, the priest seeks Jesus Christ and allows himself to be sought by Jesus Christ. This is the centre of our lives. If we do not have this, we lose everything! And then what shall we give to the people?” Last year, I visited my siblings in the U.S. We had Pilgrimage to 5 of the 21 California Mission Churches established by St. Junifero Serra— San Diego de Alcala, San Luis Rey de Francia, San Juan Capistrano, San Gabriel Arcangel, San Fernando Rey de Espaňa. The main goal of California Mission was to convert Native Americans into devoted Christians. Bishop Pablo Virgilio “Ambo” David told me that these mission churches are his inspirations in creating mission stations in his Diocese (Kalookan), bring the Church to the peripheries of Society. My siblings and I also had bonding moments during our road trip to Las Vegas, Northern California,
until now if even we in the Church have allowed the truth of these words to sink in, especially in a way that this becomes palpable in the way we carry ourselves, our visions, our missions, our every effort at evangelization. The consequences of not doing so are too blatantly clear to ignore and they abound around us: individual, communal, political, economic, social, cultural programs of change that are stuck in the gridlock of individual-collectiveinstitutional selfishness, pride and arrogance that do not and cannot arrest crime, corruption, wars, widespread famine, terrorism, displacement and forced migrations of peoples, ecological catastrophes in forms unheard of before, trade wars, new forms of racism and bigotry in the name of national security. We could go on. The bottom-line for the believer is unmistakable: The Author of real change and renewal is seldom, if ever, allowed or even considered in the crafting, processing, managing and the directing of change. Like the proverbial spiral and endless circle, those who advocate change find themselves facing the same evils or even unleashing alternative evils in their efforts to actualize their notions of change. They conveniently ignore, not to say forget, who makes all
By the Roadside / A7
Duc in Altum Atty. Aurora A. Santiago
Oregon, Washington, Vancouver and Victoria Island in Canada. I renewed acquaintance with friends and relatives. 2018 also gifted us with 2 new doctors, my nephew Eric Imperial and niece Ria Imperial. 2018 gave three new priests to the Diocese of Kalookan—Fr. Rene Richard Bernardo (my godson—I put on his vestment during the Solemn Ceremony of Admission to the Sacred Order), Fr. Jay Arvin De Leon and Fr. Phillippe Angelo Garcia; and 2 new Deacons—Rev. Paul Woo and Rev. Randy Leonardo. In 2018, St. Clare of Assisi in Longos, Malabon City (also covers North Bay Boulevard South, Navotas City) became the 28th parish in Kalookan Diocese, with Fr. Cesar Malasa, OFM as parish priest. It was elevated from quasi parish to parish. In 2018, Bishop Ambo created 13 mission stations ministered by Diocesan priests and deacons, religious priests, nuns and brothers. Of the 13 mission stations, two were elevated to Quasi Parish—Nuestra Seňora Delos Remedios in North Bay Boulevard North, Navotas City under Fr. Larry Quitain, SDDH, and Holy Trinity in Tinajeros, Malabon City under Fr. Richard Omol. More parishes, quasi parishes and mission stations will be created. Let us welcome 2019 with hope and prayer for unity among Filipinos, political will and good governance by our government officials, and have Jesus Christ the light in our life. *** Ms. Catriona Gray, a Filipina-
Faith and Culture
things new. On the other hand, Scripture reminds us what happens when the Author of newness is allowed into our life programs. Isaiah declares: “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall. But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Is 40:30-31). Pope Francis in his message for January 1, 2019 on the occasion of the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God and the World Day of Peace points to Mary as our model of someone who, in receiving and giving Jesus, has also become a source of blessing that engineers real change for us and the whole world. Real change has come upon mankind through God’s action in and through her Son and hers after her Son. “She blesses the path of every man and every woman in this year that is beginning, and which will be good precisely in the measure in which each person welcomes the goodness of God that Jesus came to bring into the world.” Submitting ourselves to the One who makes all things new does not really mean only a passive mode to God’s action in us. In Mary we realize it signifies a hearing of the Word that is inseparable from a doing
Australian beauty from Bicol, was crowned Miss Universe 2018. This beauty and brain lady wowed everyone with his winning answer to the question: What is the most important lessons you’ve learned in your life…? She answered: “I worked a lot in the slums of Tondo, Manila and (the) life there was very poor and very sad. I’ve always taught myself to look for the beauty in it, to look for the beauty in the faces of the children, and to be grateful. I would bring this aspect as a Miss Universe to see situations with a silver lining, and to assess where I could give something, where I could provide something as a spokesperson. If I could teach (also) people to be grateful, we could have an amazing world where negativity could not grow and foster, and children would have smile on their face.” *** January is the birth and death month of our father Benito Santiago, Sr. and the wedding anniversary of Tatay and Inay, Gloria. Happy Birthday Tatay; Happy Wedding Anniversary Tatay and Inay! We know you are happy with our Lord Jesus Christ. We love you, we miss you! Please continue to guide us! We thank the Lord for the gift of parents who struggled to give the best to each other and to their children. They gave us, their 7 children, the best education in the best schools – lawyer, doctor, 2 engineers, 3 CPA’s. We will not attain success were it not for our parents. Also, please allow me to greet my sister Flordeliza and brother-in-law Roberto Imperial Happy 29th Wedding Anniversary!
On the trail of the Magi
Cristina Montes
“A cold coming we had of it, Just the worst time of the year For a journey, and such a long journey:” THUS begins T.S. Eliot’s famous poem, “The Journey of the Magi”, which tells of the difficulties the Magi had to endure in their famous journey to Bethlehem. The story of the Magi has always been one of my favorite Gospel passages. The journey of wise men
from far-off lands to adore the Christ Child has fired up my imagination since I was young, especially after I’ve watched that Gospel episode depicted in Franco Zeferelli’s Jesus of Nazareth, with its rich Oriental details, the background music evoking exotic cultures, and thenyoung James Earl Jones playing Balthazar. As an amateur astronomer myself, I have been fascinated by the idea of the Magi scanning the
sky and referring to their star maps as a guide to what they were seeing, the way I and my fellow hobbyists do on dark nights with clear skies. The Gospels do not say how many the Magi really were, but tradition in the Western world has it that there were three, since the Gospels mention that three gifts were given to the Christ Child. In medieval paintings, Melchior has been depicted as an old man, Balthazar as a middle-
aged man, and Caspar as a young man. It has also been customary to depict one of them with Arabic features, the second one as Greek, and the third one as African. Thus, the Magi have come to symbolize all generations and all peoples. As expected, the Magi have, through time, also been associated with gift-giving— but not just the gifts they left to the Christ Child. In Faith and Culture / A6
Duterte’s War Against the Church “KILL your bishops, they are useless fools. All they do is criticize.” This is what President Duterte told his audience in a speech in Malacañang on Dec. 5, 2018. He also said that 90 percent of priests are gay, and the Church should therefore not moralize. Earlier on, he falsely accused Bishop Pablo David of stealing from the Church’s offerings and suspected him of being an addict. He threatened that if he catches him involved in drugs, he will behead the bishop. In another speech, Duterte told Catholics to stop going to church and to instead, build their own chapels at home. Statements like these are unprecedented which no previous president in the Philippines or elsewhere in the world have ever done. These are statements that one does not expect from any sane government leader, not even in non-Christian countries, how much more in a great Catholic nation. No amount of spinning can justify this statement as just a joke. After inspiring the police and death squads to commit extrajudicial killings, Duterte is inciting people to murder bishops. This deserves condemnation and should be added to the complaint against him in the International Criminal Court. It appears that Duterte has stepped up his war on the Catholic Church in the Philippines which he regards as the enemy. He already started doing this before being elected when he called Pope Francis “son of a whore” for the traffic caused during the papal visit in 2015. As president, he continued his tirade against the Church, calling her the most hypocritical institution that is “full of shit.” He vowed to destroy the Church by exposing the abuses of the clergy. At one time, he falsely accused Bishop Teodoro Bacani of having two wives. He declared that the Church will be irrelevant within thirty years. In several speeches, he declared that he doesn’t believe in the God of the Catholics—whom he called a “stupid God” due to the Bible’s creation story which he considers ridiculous. He has been distributing copies of the book “Altar of Secrets.” His attack on the Church appeared to take a violent turn when three priests were killed one after another, while one was wounded. Another priest was able to evade an assassination attempt. The president’s latest statement against Bishop David and other bishops indicate that the leaders of the Church, especially those critical against him are fair targets for assassination. Being a priest or bishop will not keep one safe from the death squads. What has become obvious is that Duterte is waging a war against the Church. The question is why is he doing this? Many people believe that his controversial statements are simply a way of diverting the people’s attention from the real issues raised against him: the failed war on drugs—in spite of the extrajudicial killings that has reached more than 27,000 victims, the unchecked entry of tons of drugs into the country and the suspicion of the involvement of his own family, worsening poverty, rising prices, rampant corruption, the sell-out to China, the collapse of the peace process with the NDF, etc. His failure to address these problems has revealed his gross incompetence, greed, and brutality. Others would see his behavior and statements as signs of physical and mental illness worsened by drug abuse. He has admitted to using fentanyl—an opioid more addictive and powerful than heroin—and marijuana. Others would say he is just joking. Others believe that his hatred for the Church stems from adverse childhood experiences: of allegedly being molested by a priest and of being physically abused by his mother (who was very pious and close to priests and nuns). Duterte’s war on the Church may also be traced to a mixture of fear and anger vis-a-vis the Church which he believes has the capacity to resist him and bring him down. This is based on his awareness that the Catholic Church played a vital role in bringing down the Marcos dictatorship and also the Estrada presidency. Since becoming president, the Church - through the CBCP and various religious groups—has criticized the culture of death, documented EJKs, provided assistance to families of victims, given sanctuary to witnesses, and assisted in the filing of complaints at the International Criminal Court. The CBCP came out with several statements critical of the extrajudicial killings and upholding the value of life. The latest CBCP statement of concern in support of Bishop David could have led him to urge Catholics to kill their bishops. Instead of just venting his ire on Bishop David he has widened his target. The threat of violence is meant to intimidate the leaders of the Church, to instill fear in their hearts so that they will remain silent and will not be a threat to his authoritarian rule. How should the Church leaders and the vast majority of the faithful respond to these attacks against the Church? There is no need to be afraid. The Lord has promised that no power on earth can destroy the Church. For the last two thousand years the Church has survived crises and persecutions, outliving kings and emperors who tried to destroy her. In no way should this be seen as a struggle between the Church and State. The Church should not be seen as an institution defending its interest or asserting its power. It is not a question of which one is more powerful. The Church must be prepared to become a powerless, persecuted Church. It is time for Catholics to make a choice: to remain members of the Church or to obey the president (stop going to church, build your own chapel, kill your bishops) - in other words, join the Iglesia ni Duterte. The time for appeasing Duterte is over. Dialogue with someone who intends to destroy the Church is futile. When it comes to cases of clerical abuse, the Church should not be defensive or engage in cover up. Those who are guilty of sexual abuse, financial anomalies, and corruption should be held accountable. The prosecution of these cases will not weaken the Church but rather purify and strengthen her. The Church should continue her mission as prophet and humble servant - speaking truth to power, promoting the Gospel values of the sacredness of life, of justice and peace and of compassion. The clergy should inspire the lay faithful to be actively involved in the defense of life and human rights, in the peaceful struggle against corruption and injustice, in the work for the common good and the transformation of society. The leaders of the Church, especially the bishops and priests, should be prepared to act as compassionate and Whisper from the Desert / A6
A6 LOCAL NEWS
January 7 - 20, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 01
CBCP Monitor
Priests urged: Be a newscaster, writer of ‘God’s News’ “BE news writers and casters in the world today.” THIS is what Cubao Bishop and Malolos Apostolic Administrator Honesto F. Ongtioco encouraged some 200 priests present at the Clergy Christmas Thanksgiving Mass held at St. Martin of Tours Parish – Diocesan Shrine of Mahal na Poon ng Krus sa Wawa in this town. “People like watching the news [on] television because they want to learn of what is happening. The same goes for us. We priests are called to be like St. John. John was a very good writer and newscaster. As chosen by God we do not only hear the Word being given to us, we are called to speak of it,” said the prelate at the celebration, which was
hosted by the Vicariate of St. Martin of Tours of the diocese’s eastern district. Ongtioco said priests will be able to become “newscasters and writers” only if they are rooted in God. “We can only become good newswriters and newscasters for God if we witness, hear and experience God in our lives,” he said. ‘Fifth Gospel’ Challenging the priests, the prelate said: “The way we live our priesthood is how we are able to write God’s News in the hearts of each person we serve.” Ongtioco stressed that God himself will give priests the necessary grace to do so, saying: “May God assist us in writing the ‘fifth Gospel’, meaning the Word of God
being lived by our own faith, by our own life.” He also stressed the harm caused when priests lack fidelity to their vocation. “… If you are unfaithful to the Gospel and your vocation, that will affect the faithful. We have to make them alive in the faith!” Trusting God “Those who do not live in God’s ways is a liar. We could be liars even as priests when we do not live our commitments,” he added. The prelate noted, however, the importance of trusting in God: “Yet what we could always hold on to is to trust God. Because despite our failures, our shortcomings, whenever we choose God, God fills us with love.”
Cubao Bishop and Malolos Apostolic Administrator Honesto Ongtioco celebrates a clergy Christmas thanksgiving Mass at St. Martin of Tours Parish – Diocesan Shrine of Mahal na Poon ng Krus sa Wawa, Bocaue, Bulacan, Dec. 27, 2018. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Pointing out priests’ role i n t h e w o rl d , O ng t i o c o said, “The world needs us. Because amidst the
Wanted: 200k youth to save Marikina Watershed AS part of the celebration of the Year of the Youth, an ecological advocate has been going around dioceses on a mission to have at least 200,000 young people sign up to save the Marikina Watershed. “We need to go beyond the tarpaulins and formations from one liturgical year to the next as we prepare for the 500th anniversary of Christianity in the country,” said Fr. Benigno Beltran, SVD in Filipino during a homily on Dec. 9 at the Sacred Heart Parish of Kamuning in this city. “We need concrete action in this Year of the Youth by branding the youth stewards of the earth,” he stressed, referring to the treeplanting the youth will spearhead. ‘Go organic’ Drawing insights from the Gospel that day about the faith of the paralyzed man’s friends and how “finding extraordinary means” to get to Jesus healed him, the priest said he has been seeking the help of bishops and priests to “go organic.” In this process, Beltran said, he is also getting the bishops to volunteer 400 young people per diocese to
reach his goal. According to him, Novaliches Bishop Antonio Tobias and his clergy have already agreed to support the project. “Imagine that’s 71 parishes!” he exclaimed, adding that the diocese will also send 400 youth to join the tree-planting in the Marikina Watershed. 8k organic farmers He underlined the need to care for the Marikina Watershed that has been neglected over the years. According to Beltran, Bishop Honesto Ongtioco has also expressed support for the project. The Dioceses of Cubao and Malolos, which he oversees as its Administrator, will soon have Sunday markets in the parishes where people can buy organic produce. He said Bishop Francis of Antipolo has also recently agreed to his proposal. “Countless women have already died to breast cancer because of the food they eat that is laden with chemicals, so we are doing something about it through these efforts,” he explained. He revealed that he has already organized the organic farmers in
God is always in full control of things, no matter how we and the devil mess up things. Even in our worst predicament, he can always derive something good. As long as we are at least open to his will, even if we don’t fully get it or understand it, there is always hope, because he is a Father to us who will always take care of us, especially in our weak and bad moments. Let’s just try our best that with all the benefits of hope, we do God’s will as fully, faithfully and lovingly as possible.
Whisper from the Desert / A5
courageous good shepherds, ready to offer their lives as they prevent the slaughter of the flock, especially the poor. They must be ready to embrace martyrdom if necessary. Meanwhile, instead of engaging in a word war, the Church should just continue praying for Rodrigo Duterte—that he will repent and undergo conversion after finally listening to his conscience, that he will
experience inner healing, that he will reconcile with the Church into which he was baptized, that he will become compassionate, that he will fulfill his promises, that he will make amends for whatever wrongs he has committed, that he will be ready to face judgment from either the International Criminal Court or the Divine Judge whom he called stupid. And when the time comes, let him rest in peace. Amen.
Faith and Culture / A5
some countries, children expect gifts from the Magi instead of from Santa Claus. When I was living in Spain, I witnessed children and even adults looking forward to receiving their regalos de Reyes, and malls advertising shopping deals as such. Here in the Philippines, due to the influences of both Spain and the U.S., children, after having expected gifts from Santa Claus during Christmas eve, also expect the Magi to leave money in their shoes on the eve of the feast of the Epiphany. By the time this article sees print, the feast of the Epiphany would have just been over. But this is no
the CALABARZON area to provide the produce for the organic markets he is proposing. Because of this, he stressed, the Department of Agriculture has now reached out to him to seek his assistance in organizing 8,000 organic farmers in Region III. (Minnie Agdeppa / CBCPNews)
in our preaching and in our brotherhood.” (Kendrick Ivan Panganiban / CBCPNews)
Faithful reminded: ‘Mary is sign we can all be holy’ HOW “attainable” is holiness? If you’ve ever wondered look no further than Mary. This was the gist of the message of Cubao Bishop and Malolos Apostolic Administrator Honesto F. Ongtioco during a recent Marian feast day. “We must always remember that our celebration of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception shows to us how Mary is the sign of our hope. She reveals to us how we should hope for salvation. She gives us inspiration to become holy people,” said the prelate on Dec. 8, 2018 during the Immaculate Conception Parish – Cathedral & Minor Basilica and Immaculate Conception Major Seminary communities’ celebration of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Malolos Vicar General Pablo Legaspi, Jr., together with the
Cathedral Team Ministry, priests from the Malolos Vicariate, and the seminary fathers celebrated the Misa Mayor celebration at 6:00 a.m. “May we live out what Mary shows to us. She shows to us how to be like her Son, Our Lord. May we do the same in responding to the call of the Lord for each one of us to be like him,” said Ongtioco, who elaborated on the 2018 fiesta theme “MARIA: Buklod ng Pagtugon sa Tawag ng Diyos.” Besides the aforementioned, the Immaculate Conception is also the titular patroness of four archdioceses namely: Capiz, Ozamiz, Cotabato and Zamboanga; five dioceses, namely: Urdaneta, Antipolo, Boac, Virac, and the Apostolic Vicariate of Puerto Princesa. (Kendrick Ivan Panganiban / CBCPNews)
Editorial / A4
Candidly Speaking / A4
have to learn to have recourse to spiritual and supernatural means, like praying, making sacrifices, learning how to do ascetical struggle, availing of the sacraments, etc. We have to learn how to be both serious and not too serious, knowing that in this life, no matter how much we try, there will always be surprises, disappointments, setbacks, failures, etc. There are things that are simply beyond our control. And so we have to learn how to accept them with a good sense of humor.
Ecological advocate Fr. Benigno Beltran, SVD is calling on young Filipinos to help heal the Marikina Watershed by joining a massive tree-planting as part of the Year of the Youth. FR. BELTRAN’S FB ACCOUNT
many troubles, violence, challenges, fake news, God’s word is here. We need to proclaim it with our lives,
reason to stop following the trail of the Magi. This line by T.S. Eliot which I quoted at the beginning describes not only the sacrifices the Magi made for the journey, but also that they came back from the journey changed. Despite the grave tone with which the poem ends, there is also a sense that the change was for the better. Indeed, following the trail of the Magi who searched for Christ with sincere hearts and earnest efforts, who were rewarded in their search, and who gave Him precious gifts can only change us for the better. For God rewards everyone who sincerely seeks Him.
that we should try to monitor as closely as possible and make the necessary adaptation and innovation. Thus, we should also do some kind of exploration so that we would know what are happening in the world as we go along. We are told that there is actually nothing new under the sun, since God is in control of everything and things are determined by their nature. Even in our case, with our power to go against our nature, things are still in God’s control. As the book of Ecclesiastes would put it, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be
done again. There is nothing new under the sun.” (1,9) Just the same, we also know that things vary and change from time to time, producing what may appear as new things. It is in these variations and changes that we should try our best to cope, to adapt and to make some innovations as a consequence. Nowadays, we are quite privileged since we can now avail of the new technologies that are a big help in this task of exploration and monitoring. With Google and the social media, we can easily get in touch with people in far-away places and
know the happenings there. We should have the proper attitude regarding this need, and start developing the proper skills. We have to be guarded though from the strong possibility of getting entangled in distractions and even temptations that can appear irresistible. It is reported that many people are hooked to the social media because of “constant psychological boosts” they get from it, and these boosts are not necessarily motivated from the proper spirit of love. They appear more animated by egoism, vanity, narcissism and the like. So it can happen that instead of having a good
view and monitoring of developments around the world, one is only reinforcing what he wants to see and know. He becomes more subjective than objective. He will surely miss the target. With this problem at the get-go of the task, the succeeding stages of adaptation and innovation would be gravely compromised. The only counter-measure for this is for one to be truly a man of God. That’s when he can become more objective, more discerning, more able to say no to distractions. Otherwise, he would just be at the mercy of his passions, biases and preferences.
And That’s the Truth / A4
There’s a place in Tuba, Benguet that perfectly fills that aching need for solitude—a “house of prayer” that sits on a one-hectare lot on a hilltop, at the end of the only road that cuts through a minuscule subdivision called “Carmel Heights.” At 5,300 feet above sea level— higher than Baguio City—the property gives you a 360-degree view of the valleys below and the hills beyond. On a clear day you can see La Union Bay, but every day, rain or shine, for a couple of hours or so, fog envelops the hilltop and blinds you— like when you’re on a plane that’s gliding through the clouds—and that’s how nature there pulls you into nothingness. Out there, silence and solitude engulfs you gently because the nearest neighbor is about 250 meters down the road, and the only man-made structures in that whole hectare are the house and the Way of the Cross that winds along the periphery and ends at the foot of the six-meter high cross that’s visible from the highway below. Because it was built by Secular Discalced Carmelites as a retreat house, it has carefully preserved its spirit of detachment through the decades by remaining untouched by telephone lines, radio, television, and internet—something truly appreciated by those seeking liberation from gadgets and alone-time with God. Thus, except for bird calls at sunrise waking you up for Mass, the place is so silent that you could almost hear the grass grow.
An author (whose name I forget) once wrote that silence moves him to talk to the trees and the sky and they answer by the “the trembling of the leaves and the movement of the clouds.” There, no one will stop you from talking to the shrubbery and getting answers from the flowers. As of last count, 23 different flowering plants grow on the property—a few cultivated, the rest deliciously wild— like the land, which is pretty much left in the merciful hands of the Creator. When Creator and creation collaborate, the outcome is wondrously fulfilling. In keeping with the spirit of austerity that is the foundation of a rich interior life, nothing luxurious or superfluous is kept in that retreat house. All pieces of furniture are donations, and used until they disintegrate; beds are simple, and so are the wooden pews with bare kneelers in the chapel—and yet they let you experience better sleep and deeper prayer. Books are donations, too, but handpicked to allow you acquaintance with the Desert Fathers, the Saints and Doctors of the Church, and of course, the Big Three: Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Retreatants claim they are amazed they can easily detox and detach there, realizing they can actually live without eat-all-you-can buffets, Facebook or Probinsiyano, after all. But how, pray tell, could you miss man-made pleasures when God-made beauty is opening the eyes you never thought you had? It is sheer wonder to take in the beauty of a
black cross silhouetted against a blazing red sunset sky and see Jesus rising from it. The fleecy clouds in the fierce sunlight morph into menacing shapes in the purple haze of evening, turning the sky into a battleground for good and evil. Indeed, the raw beauty of the place inspires creativity and fills you with anticipation for the unknown. Even at night in a raging storm, when you’re alone there groping for a candle in pitch darkness, you are fearless, knowing you are loved by the Unknowable. So, what is the name of that place? The Address? And how do you find it? It’s odd that we have kept it nameless all these years, only fondly referring to it as our “house of prayer”. Nor does it have an address to help the postman—or Google’s map makers. But Google can help if you search for “Carmel of the Most Holy Trinity Monastery Benguet”, home of our Discalced Carmelite cloistered nuns, and where we walk down to for daily Mass. Trace the road to its hilltop end and there you’ll find our nameless house of prayer, glorious in its isolation. If that dot in the map whispers to you “Meet me, know me, love me…” just let us know by emailing teresa.de.manila@gmail.com. Our door is open to all. A truth is hidden in Aristotle’s words “Whoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god”—but we hope that in our house of prayer on Carmel Heights, the riddle may lead you to your own mystery. And that’s the truth.
CBCP Monitor
DIOCESAN NEWS A7
January 7 - 20, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 01
Mindanao churchmen warn against spreading terror rumors SOUTH COTABATO— Church leaders in the southern Philippines have warned against whipping up fear by spreading unfounded rumors of an alleged terror plot ahead of this month’s plebiscite on the creation of an autonomous Muslim region. Cardinal Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato appealed for calm on Jan. 8 after rumors spread on social media about armed men supposedly planning to attack the city. An air of uncertainty and fear still lingers in the city following a New Year’s Eve bomb explosion outside a shopping center that killed two people and wounded more than 30 others. “Do not allow fear to reign over us. Let us be calm,” said Cardinal Quevedo in an address broadcast on a Catholic radio station to the region.
The prelate called on those who received unverified information to immediately report it to authorities instead of posting it on social media. Father Eliseo Mercado Jr., an Oblate missionary priest who once acted as peace negotiator with Moro rebels, also appealed for sobriety ahead of the plebiscite. “Whether we are for or against inclusion [in the Muslim region], we must not forget that we are all united and stakeholders in the peace and development of Mindanao,” said the priest. Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi of Cotabato assured that the authorities were “doing their best to protect the city.” “Do not let fear overwhelm us because the law is on our side,” she said. The Commission on Elections
announced on Jan. 7 that the plebiscite for the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law would take place on Jan. 21 in areas under the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, including the cities of Isabela in Basilan province and Cotabato. Those residing in the province of Lanao del Norte except Iligan City and six North Cotabato towns will vote on Feb. 6. At least 2.8 million voters are expected to cast their votes in the plebiscite. The new autonomous region, if accepted, will replace the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. A Bangsamoro parliament, whose members will be elected by the region’s residents, will govern the new Muslim region. (Bong S. Sarmiento/UCAN)
Cardinal Orlando Quevedo, Apostolic Administrator of Cotabato. FILE PHOTO
Diocese promotes 11 young saints for ‘Year of Youth’
As part of the celebration of the Year of the Youth, the Malolos Diocesan Commission on Liturgy (DCL) has been promoting eleven youth saints as examples of Catholic virtue. DOEL PETER PAUL ALVAREZ
MALOLOS CITY, Bulacan— Kicking off during the Simbang Gabi or the traditional novena in preparation for Christmas Day, the Malolos Diocesan Commission on Liturgy (DCL) has been promoting eleven youth saints as examples of Catholic virtue, especially in line with the Church in the Philippines’ celebration of the Year of the Youth. Young yet holy DCL Consultant and Northern District Episcopal Vicar Msgr. Andres S. Valera explained that these saints were chosen, “because of the virtues they exemplified as young saints, which we want the youth in our diocese to imbibe.” According to the St. Augustine parish priest and “Itanong mo kung Bakit?” Video Series host, the commission chose eleven saints to promote starting on Dec. 15, 2018, which has become a usual celebration of Simbang Gabi in some barrio chapels in the parishes. The saints were also specially highlighted during the nine succeeding days from Dec. 16 to 23, and two for both the morning and evening Masses on Dec. 24. The saints are the following: • St. Dominic Savio • Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati • St. Therese of the Child Jesus • St. Maria Goretti • St. Pedro Calungsod • La Niña Maria • St. Tarcisius • St. Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio • St. Aloysius Gonzaga • Young St. John the Baptist • St. Stanislaus Kostka Not too young to be holy This list of saints presents a variety
of vocations among young people. St. Dominic Savio is the patron saint of choirboys. Savio was an Italian adolescent student of St. John Bosco. He was studying to be a priest when he fell ill and died at the age of 14. Bl. Pier Giorgo Frassati, patron saint of youth groups, was an Italian Roman Catholic social activist and a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic who joined several youth groups such as Catholic Social Action and other Catholic charities that helped the poor. St. Therese of the Child Jesus, patron saint of missions, was a French Carmelite nun known as “the Little Flower.” She comes from a family of saints with her mother and father, Louis and Zelie Martin, canonized in 2015. Her sisters Marie, Pauline, Leonie, and Celine were all nuns and are on the path to sainthood as well. She promoted the “little way” or doing small things with great love as a path to holiness. St. Maria Gorretti, patron saint of teenage girls, was an Italian virgin and martyr who refused to submit to a young man’s sexual advances and who forgave him for killing her. From catechists to martyrs St. Pedro Calungsod, the patron saint of Filipino Catholic youth, migrants and catechists, was a Visayan migrant, sacristan, missionary catechist, and aid to Jesuit Fr. Diego Luis de San Vitores who was killed in Guam by Chamoros. La Niña Maria is the young Virgin Mary, under the care of Sts. Anne and Joachim, her parents. St. Tarcisius, patron saint of altar servers and first communicants, was an early Christian Church martyr, who according to Pope St. Damasus I, was
stoned by a crowd while carrying the Blessed Sacrament, and was beaten to death. St. Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio, patron saint of persecuted Christians, was a young Mexican Cristero who was put to death by government officials because he refused to renounce his faith during a time of anti-Catholic propaganda and violence in a Catholic country. St. Aloysius Gonzaga, patron saint of the youth and AIDS patients, was an Italian aristocrat who joined the Jesuits, giving up his nobility and inheritance to follow Christ’s path. Despite being sickly, he continued in his vocation to become a priest and helped the poor and the sick. The young St. John the Baptist is featured in light of his jumping for joy in the womb of his mother Elizabeth during her meeting with the Blessed Virgin who was pregnant with Jesus. A Filipino tradition St. Stanislaus Kostka, patron saint of students, was a Polish Jesuit novice who despite the refusal of his brother to enter the congregation, became one of the most renowned pious Jesuit youth who helped the needy during his time. In St. Ildephonse of Toledo Parish in Guiguinto, Bulacan, they added on Christmas, Dec. 25, 2018, St. Josephine Bakhita, a Canossian nun who fought against racism and slavery in Africa. The Simbang Gabi tradition has been a practice of the Catholic Church in the Philippines since the Spanish period. Through an indult or special permission from the Holy See, the Gloria could be sung in these novena Masses and the white liturgical color is used over the violet color of Advent. (Kendrick Ivan B. Panganiban/CBCP News)
By the Roadside / A5
of the same Word. Again the Master himself tells us that the glory of his Mom is not only that she had given him birth and nurture, something you and I can hardly replicate. Nay, her real commonality with us, aside from a common humanity, is her discipleship. To a woman in the crowd who praised his mother by saying “blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you”, Jesus replies, “Yes, but, moreover, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it” (Lk 11:27-28). This allows us a fuller view of the Mother of Jesus who, Jesus being God’s Son, is certainly the Mother of God.
I may be accused of trying to impose a Christian bias or mindset, if you will, on the largely secular project called newness. Perhaps. But that precisely reveals the inherent weakness of our individual (such as one’s new year’s resolutions) or collective (such as political platforms for change) efforts at newness—they are largely secular in orientation, resources and direction. The problem is not that we have had too little human effort; the problem is that even the greatest human effort is never enough. Is it too surprising that after thousands of years of human
effort, nations, especially like ours, have leaders that hark back to the dark ages of strongman politics that does not hesitate to trample underfoot human dignity and human rights for the sake of social change? How explain the prevalence of leaders that are reminiscent of history’s horrific chapters of hatred, barbaric bigotry and international narcissism rather than more enlightened future civilizations of understanding, solidarity, social justice, shared prosperity and peace? What kind of newness have we come into when it translates into people alienating people
who themselves desire to belong to one another? Is civilization being advanced and security truly promoted by walls of mistrust rather than by bridges of dialogue and collaboration? The Master does not think in maxims and methodologies too complicated for the least and lost to comprehend. He has a simple recipe for our part in the pursuit of newness: “The time of fulfilment has come. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent and believe in the Good News!” (Mk 1:15). Has he, in so doing, unwrapped for us the secret to “Happy” and “New” in every year?
AntiChrists / A1
in crude language. The president also mocked the concept of original sin. Most recently, ridiculed the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity, calling it “silly”. His outbursts often got him into trouble but he has remained unfazed and continued to attack the bishops and threaten his critics. Duterte, who claimed to have been molested by a priest while a teenager, called on the Catholic hierarchy not use religion to criticize him. Villegas told his grandson to never disrespect the name of God and always treat women with respect. “They who call God stupid is antiChrist,” he said. “Pray for these people but do not imitate them. Respect them as elders but do not follow their bad example.” “Rape is not a joke. Immodesty is not laughing
matter. Respect girls and women always. You have no excuse to abuse women specially the poor women,” he added. While urging his grandson to avoid illegal drugs, the prelate urged him not to believe those who offer killing as a solution. “People who kill and people who coax others to kill are antiGod. They are antiChrist. Christ came to give us new life, eternal life,” Villegas also said. Duterte, who claimed to have been molested by a priest while a teenager, called on the Catholic hierarchy not use religion to criticize him. Finally, Villegas asked his godson to respect the pope and other church leaders and “be a loyal son of the Church.” “We are not spotless like angels but in our weaknesses, God still uses us for His mission,” he said.
Devotee / A1
The Black Nazarene arrives at the doorstep of San Sebastian Church at around 10:45pm on Wednesday for the traditional “Dungaw”. It commemorates the Blessed Mother’s encounter with the suffering Christ on His way to Calvary. RON RAMOS/CBCPNEWS
it is questioned if that is right and important—being a devotee,” the cardinal said. “But only devotees will understand it. If you’re not a devotee you’re going to question it,” he added. About 2 million devotees joined this year’s “traslacion” which commemorates the transfer of the image from its old home in Intramuros to Quiapo Church. After a 21-hour procession, the image entered the church at around 2:21am on Jan. 10. “This year’s Traslacion is almost an hour shorter,” said Quiapo Church Rector Msgr. Hernando “Ding” Coronel.
But Colonel said what is more important than the number of crowd and the length of the procession is the meaning of the activity. “It was orderly, safe, and meaningful as there were many testimonies and discourses of the people’s experiences about Jesus Christ the Nazarene,” he said. No deaths were reported but the chaotic crowds led to more than 700 people suffering injuries ranging from having difficulty in breathing to fainting spells. (Roy Lagarde / CBCPNews)
Power / A1
“He ordered the slaughter of children, hoping that one of them was Jesus,” said the priest. ‘Earliest victims’ The children who were killed by Herod were one of the “earliest victims” of man’s greed for power, added Mozura. In his bid to consolidate his claim on the throne, Herod also resorted to deception, he said. He tried to fool the three wise men by asking them to inform him of the whereabouts of the Messiah so he could also worship him. But his true intention was to send his men to kill the baby. Fake news & murder Some leaders today also
use deception and violence, abusing their authority to keep themselves in power, a netizen observed. “Millions of pesos were spent on fake news during the 2016 elections campaign period to deceive voters,” said Jeston Mercado, an entrepreneur. The today’s leaders also use their power to persecute people and fellow leaders who oppose their agenda, he added. “Worst, they attack religion and God to justify their actions,” Mercado said. “They even killed priests who spoke against abuses and corruptions.” (Oliver Samson / CBCPNews)
A8 PEOPLE, FACTS, AND PLACES
January 7 - 20, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 01
Pope appoints new bishop of San Jose de Antique POPE Francis has appointed on Jan. 7 Monsignor Marvyn Maceda as the new bishop of the Diocese of San Jose de Antique. Maceda, 49, becomes the first bishop from Naval which was created a diocese in 1988. He succeeds now Archbishop Jose Romeo Lazo who was appointed to head the Archdiocese of Jaro in February 2018. The bishop-elect took his philosophical studies at the Sacred Heart Seminary in Palo, Leyte, and his theology at the San Jose Seminary in the Ateneo de Manila University. He was ordained a priest for the Naval diocese on May 29, 1996. Among his first assignments were as parish priest at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Mission, Diocesan Director for the Youth, while performing the functions as diocesan
Bishop-elect Marvyn Maceda of San Jose de Antique
financial administrator and chancellor. From 2000 to 2010, he was priest in charge St. Roch Mission Chapel and then of Our Lady of the Immaculate
Conception Mission Chapel in Naval. He also participated in the diocesan group of formation of the Basic Ecclesial Community (BEC), of which
he was the diocesan director from 2006 to 2010. In 2010 to 2011, he went on sabbatical leave at Our Lady of the Philippines Trappist Monastery, in San Miguel, Jordan, Guimaras. Back in Naval, from 2011 to 2017, he was moderator of the group of ordained ministers at the Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception parish and Pastoral Director of the BEC. He also served as Vicar General of Naval and became member of the Presbyteral Council and Board of Consultors. Upon his appointment, Maceda has been serving as Director of the Naval diocese’s Commission on Clergy. With his new assignment, Maceda becomes the fifth bishop of San Jose de Antique with about 54 priests and more than 80 religious w o me n in 2 5 p ari s h e s . (CBCP News)
Filipinos set to attend World Youth Day
CBCP Monitor
Pope names new bishop of Daet
Bishop-elect Rex Andrew Alarcon of Daet
POPE Francis has appointed Fr. Rex Andrew Alarcon as the new bishop of the Diocese of Daet in Camarines Norte. The appointment was made at the Vatican on Wednesday, Jan. 2, at 12 noon (7:00pm, Manila time). Alarcon, 47, will be the fourth bishop of the diocese, succeeding Archbishop Gilbert Garcera. The diocese has been without a bishop since last April 2017 when Garcera was installed as archbishop of Lipa in Batangas. Born in Daet, Alarcon took his philosophy at the Holy Rosary Major Seminary in Naga City and his theology at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Caceres on Nov. 9, 1996. From 1996 to 1997, he was parish vicar in the parish of
Saint John the Evangelist in Naga and educator at the minor seminary. In 1997, he served as private secretary to the archbishop until 1999 when he went for study abroad. In 2001, he obtained his licentiate in Church history at Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy. Returning home from Rome, he became a lecturer at the Holy Rosary seminary; from 2002, director of the stewardship program of the Caceres archdioces and, since 2007, superintendent of the Naga Parish School and president of the Catholic Association of Education. Since 2013 he has held the office of superintendent of the Catholic schools of Caceres, member of the college of consultors, and spokesman for the same archdiocese. (CBCP News)
Pope Francis passes near to a group of Filipino pilgrims waving a Philippine flag during the 2016 World Youth Day in Poland. ROY LAGARDE
AT least 70 young Filipinos, including some priests and bishops, are set to attend this year’s World Youth Day celebrations in Panama from Jan. 22 to 27. However, many more are expected to register before the big event begins in the Central American country later this month. Father Conegundo Garganta, executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Youth of the bishops’ conference, said at least 70 youth pilgrims have registered for the event.
“There are still other groups that have yet to send the names of their delegates,” he said. He estimated that there would be at least 250 Filipino delegates attending the international gathering. This year, World Youth Day coincides with the Year of the Youth in the Philippines. The special year was declared by the country’s bishops’ conference as part of preparations to mark the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the Philippines in 1521.
St. Pope John Paul II, who was from Poland, established World Youth Day in 1985. The first event was held in Rome in 1986. Since then it has been staged in various cities throughout the world, typically every three years. Among the Filipino church leaders who will be attending the international gathering this year are Bishops Daniel Patrick Parcon of Talibon, Patrick Buzon of Bacolod, Antonio Tobias of Novaliches, and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila. (Joe Torres/UCAN)
Devotees, bearing the miraculous images of the Sto. Nino de Cebu, gather at the courtyard of the Basilica Minore del Sto. Nino on Jan. 10 to hear the first novena mass, marking the start of the 454th Fiesta Señor celebration. PHOTO COURTESY OF DYRF
Pope names administrator for Jolo POPE Francis has appointed Fr. Rex Andrew Alarcon as the new bishop of the Diocese of Daet in Camarines Norte. The appointment was made at the Vatican on Wednesday, Jan. 2, at 12 noon (7:00pm, Manila time). Alarcon, 47, will be the fourth bishop of the diocese, succeeding Archbishop Gilbert Garcera. The diocese has been without a bishop since last April 2017 when Garcera was installed as archbishop of Lipa in Batangas. Born in Daet, Alarcon took his philosophy at the Holy Rosary Major Seminary in Naga City and his theology at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Caceres on Nov. 9, 1996. From 1996 to 1997, he was parish vicar in the parish of Saint John the Evangelist in Naga and educator at the minor seminary. In 1997, he served as private secretary to the archbishop until 1999 when he went for study abroad. In 2001, he obtained his licentiate in Church history
Fr. Romeo Saniel, OMI, newly appointed Apostolic Adminstrator of Jolo
at Pont i f i c al Gre g o ri an University in Rome, Italy. Returning home from Rome, he became a lecturer at the Holy Rosary seminary; from 2002, director of the stewardship program of the Caceres archdioces and, since 2007, superintendent of the Naga Parish School and president of the Catholic Association of Education. Since 2013 he has held the office of superintendent of the Catholic schools of Caceres, member of the college of consultors, and spokesman for the same archdiocese. (CBCP News)
CBCP Monitor
PASTORAL CONCERNS B1
January 7 - 20, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 1
Good politics is at the service of peace Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for the celebration of the 52nd World Day of Peace, 1 January 2019
Pope Francis leads the Angelus from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Jan. 1, the feast of Mary, Mother of God. PAUL HARING/CNS
1. “Peace be to this house!” In sending his disciples forth on mission, Jesus told them: “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall return to you” (Lk 10:5-6). Bringing peace is central to the mission of Christ’s disciples. That peace is offered to all those men and women who long for peace amid the tragedies and violence that mark human history.[1]The “house” of which Jesus speaks is every family, community, country and continent, in all their diversity and history. It is first and foremost each individual person, without distinction or discrimination. But it is also our “common home”: the world in which God has placed us and which we are called to care for and cultivate. So let this be my greeting at the beginning of the New Year: “Peace be to this house!” 2. The challenge of good politics Peace is like the hope which the poet Charles Péguy celebrated.[2] It is like a delicate flower struggling to blossom on the stony ground of violence. We know that the thirst for power at any price leads to abuses and injustice. Politics is an essential means of building human community and institutions, but when political life is not seen as a form of service to society as a whole, it can become a means of oppression, marginalization and even destruction. Jesus tells us that, “if anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (Mk 9:35). In the words of Pope Paul VI, “to take politics seriously at its different levels— local, regional, national and worldwide—is to affirm the duty of each individual to acknowledge the reality and value of the freedom offered him to work at one and the same time for the good of the city, the nation and all mankind”.[3] Political office and political responsibility thus constantly challenge those called to the service of their country to make every effort to protect those who live there and to create the conditions for a worthy and just future. If exercised with basic respect for the life, freedom and dignity of persons, political life can indeed become an outstanding form of charity. 3. Charity and human virtues: the basis of politics at the service of human rights and peace Pope Benedict XVI noted that “every Christian is called to practice charity in a manner corresponding to his vocation and according to the degree of influence he wields in the pólis… When animated by charity, commitment to the common good has greater worth than a merely secular and political stand would have… Man’s earthly activity, when inspired and sustained by charity, contributes to the building of the universal city of God, which is the goal of the history of the human family”.[4] This is a programme on which all politicians, whatever their culture or religion,
can agree, if they wish to work together for the good of the human family and to practise those human virtues that sustain all sound political activity: justice, equality, mutual respect, sincerity, honesty, fidelity. In this regard, it may be helpful to recall the “Beatitudes of the Politician”, proposed by Vietnamese Cardinal François-Xavier Nguyễn Vãn Thuận, a faithful witness to the Gospel who died in 2002: Blessed be the politician with a lofty sense and deep understanding of his role. Blessed be the politician who personally exemplifies credibility. Blessed be the politician who works for the common good and not his or her own interest. Blessed be the politician who remains consistent. Blessed be the politician who works for unity. Blessed be the politician who works to accomplish radical change. Blessed be the politician who is capable of listening. Blessed be the politician who is without fear.[5] Every election and re-election, and every stage of public life, is an opportunity to return to the original points of reference that inspire justice and law. One thing is certain: good politics is at the service of peace. It respects and promotes fundamental human rights, which are at the same time mutual obligations, enabling a bond of trust and gratitude to be forged between present and future generations. 4. Political vices Sadly, together with its virtues, politics also has its share of vices, whether due to personal incompetence or to flaws in the system and its institutions. Clearly, these vices detract from the credibility of political life overall, as well as the authority, decisions and actions of those engaged in it. These vices, which undermine the ideal of an authentic democracy, bring disgrace to public life and threaten social harmony. We think of corruption in its varied forms: the misappropriation of public resources, the exploitation of individuals, the denial of rights, the flouting of community rules, dishonest gain, the justification of power by force or the arbitrary appeal to raison d’état and the refusal to relinquish power. To which we can add xenophobia, racism, lack of concern for the natural environment, the plundering of natural resources for the sake of quick profit and contempt for those forced into exile. 5. Good politics promotes the participation of the young and trust in others When the exercise of political power aims only at protecting the interests of a few privileged individuals, the future is compromised and young people can be tempted to lose confidence, since they are relegated to the margins of society without
the possibility of helping to build the future. But when politics concretely fosters the talents of young people and their aspirations, peace grows in their outlook and on their faces. It becomes a confident assurance that says, “I trust you and with you I believe” that we can all work together for the common good. Politics is at the service of peace if it finds expression in the recognition of the gifts and abilities of each individual. “What could be more beautiful than an outstretched hand? It was meant by God to offer and to receive. God did not want it to kill (cf. Gen 4:1ff) or to inflict suffering, but to offer care and help in life. Together with our heart and our intelligence, our hands too can become a means of dialogue”.[6] Everyone can contribute his or her stone to help build the common home. Authentic political life, grounded in law and in frank and fair relations between individuals, experiences renewal whenever we are convinced that every woman, man and generation brings the promise of new relational, intellectual, cultural and spiritual energies. That kind of trust is never easy to achieve, because human relations are complex, especially in our own times, marked by a climate of mistrust rooted in the fear of others or of strangers, or anxiety about one’s personal security. Sadly, it is also seen at the political level, in attitudes of rejection or forms of nationalism that call into question the fraternity of which our globalized world has such great need. Today more than ever, our societies need “artisans of peace” who can be messengers and authentic witnesses of God the Father, who wills the good and the happiness of the human family. 6. No to war and to the strategy of fear A hundred years after the end of the First World War, as we remember the young people killed in those battles and the civilian populations torn apart, we are more conscious than ever of the terrible lesson taught by fratricidal wars: peace can never be reduced solely to a balance between power and fear. To threaten others is to lower them to the status of objects and to deny their dignity. This is why we state once more that an escalation of intimidation, and the uncontrolled proliferation of arms, is contrary to morality and the search for true peace. Terror exerted over those who are most vulnerable contributes to the exile of entire populations who seek a place of peace. Political addresses that tend to blame every evil on migrants and to deprive the poor of hope are unacceptable. Rather, there is a need to reaffirm that peace is based on respect for each person, whatever his or her background, on respect for the law and the common good, on respect for the environment entrusted to our care and for the richness of the moral tradition inherited from past generations. Our thoughts turn in a particular way to all those children currently living in areas of conflict, and to all those who work to protect their lives and defend their rights. One out of every six children in our world is affected by
the violence of war or its effects, even when they are not enrolled as child soldiers or held hostage by armed groups. The witness given by those who work to defend them and their dignity is most precious for the future of humanity. 7. A great project of peace In these days, we celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in the wake of the Second World War. In this context, let us also remember the observation of Pope John XXIII: “Man’s awareness of his rights must inevitably lead him to the recognition of his duties. The possession of rights involves the duty of implementing those rights, for they are the expression of a man’s personal dignity. And the possession of rights also involves their recognition and respect by others”.[7] Peace, in effect, is the fruit of a great political project grounded in the mutual responsibility and interdependence of human beings. But it is also a challenge that demands to be taken up ever anew. It entails a conversion of heart and soul; it is both interior and communal; and it has three inseparable aspects: - peace with oneself, rejecting inflexibility, anger and impatience; in the words of Saint Francis de Sales, showing “a bit of sweetness towards oneself” in order to offer “a bit of sweetness to others”; - peace with others: family members, friends, strangers, the poor and the suffering, being unafraid to encounter them and listen to what they have to say; - peace with all creation, rediscovering the grandeur of God’s gift and our individual and shared responsibility as inhabitants of this world, citizens and builders of the future. The politics of peace, conscious of and deeply concerned for every situation of human vulnerability, can always draw inspiration from the Magnificat, the hymn that Mary, the Mother of Christ the Savior and Queen of Peace, sang in the name of all mankind: “He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm; he has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly; …for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever” (Lk 1:50-55). From the Vatican, 8 December 2018 Francis [1] Cf. Lk 2:14: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased”. [2] Cf. Le Porche du mystère de la deuxième vertu, Paris, 1986. [3] Apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens (14 May 1971), 46. [4] Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate (29 June 2009), 7. [5] Cf. Address at the “Civitas” Exhibition-Convention in Padua: “30 Giorni”, no. 5, 2002. [6] BENEDICT XVI, Address to the Authorities of Benin, Cotonou, 19 November 2011. [7] Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris (11 April 1963), ed. Carlen, 24.
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CBCP Monitor
Pre-nuptial agreements By Fr. Jaime B. Achacoso, J.C.D. I am a Catholic priest. In a recent marriage that I solemnized outside Manila, the bride’s father demanded that the Marriage Contract contain an annotation that a Pre-Nuptial Agreement had been made (regarding real estate properties that the bride was inheriting from her parents), and that such annotation be made prior to the filing of such Marriage Contract in the City Hall. Though taken aback, since it was the first time I encountered such a request, I agreed, since it was too late to do anything else. Did I do right? THOUGH we had tackled this matter in the past, enough time has elapsed for us to need to touch on it again. In the case under consideration, what saved the day for the canonical marriage is the fact that there are normally two marriages being contracted when a so-called Church wedding takes place: first and foremost, the canonical marriage (which is what we can comment about) and the civil marriage (which is what the Marriage Contract from City Hall attests to, and about which we shall not comment about for lack of competence). Since the annotation was made in the Marriage Contract for the civil marriage—assuming that such pre-nuptial agreements are licit in the civil sphere—, then there was absolutely no problem as far as the canonical marriage was concerned. Nevertheless, it would be good to comment on the incidence of such pre-nuptial agreements on the validity and/or licitude of the canonical marriage, if such
agreement were really taken formally by the spouses as part of their matrimonial consent. Conditioned matrimonial consent in Canon Law This matter is regulated in Canon Law by c.1102, which states: Can. 1102 — §1. Marriage based on a condition concerning the future cannot be contracted validly. §2. Marriage based on a condition concerning the past or the present is valid or invalid, insofar as the subject matter of the condition exists or not. §3. The condition mentioned in §2 cannot be placed licitly without the written permission of the Local Ordinary. As we had explained in the past, matrimonial consent should in principle not be subjected to any condition, since by its very nature, marriage implies a total acceptance of the other in the actual moment of the celebration of marriage. However, under certain conditions, such conditions may be permitted by the competent authority. As far as a condition concerning the past are concerned, the validity of the marriage contracted would depend on whether or not the condition is met or not—something which can be verified at the moment of marriage since the condition is of the past; nevertheless, the Law prohibits (under pain of illicitness but not of invalidity) the placing of such conditions without the written permission of the Local Ordinary. On the other hand, a condition concerning the future invalidates the marriage, since the condition—on which the consent depends—still
does not exist at the moment of celebrating the marriage. Pre-nuptial agreements and Canon Law The so-called pre-nuptial agreement, which of late is becoming popular in some Western countries, is still relatively uncommon in the Philippines. When it occurs—as in the present case—it normally involves property settlements—in the case of death of one of the spouses, or the separation of the spouses, or the declaration of nullity of the marriage—and is an issue exclusively in the sphere of civil law. However, care should be taken by the parish priest (or the solemnizing priest) that such a pre-nuptial agreement does not in fact formally enter in the formation of the consent given in the celebration of a canonical marriage: 1st: because if such a condition involves property settlements in the future, such a condition invalidates the consent (and the marriage), since it involves a condition that does not yet exist (c.1102, §1). 2 nd : because even if such a condition involves something of the past, it should not be allowed without written permission of the Local Ordinary (c.1102, §3), under pain of illicitness. Conclusion From the tenor of the consultation, it can safely be stated that the canonical marriage was contracted validly by the spouses, since the prenuptial agreement was a purely civil instrument.
A pair of wedding bands symbolizing the sacrament of marriage is depicted in a stained-glass window at a church in Florida, USA. GREGORY A. SHEMITZ/CNS
Communion for non-celebrating priests (Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy and dean of theology at the Regina Apostolorum university, answers the following query:)
PHOTO BY JOHANN MANGUSSAD
Q: May non-concelebrating priests who are part of the congregation receive directly from the ciborium held by a priest distributing Communion? If they are not allowed, may I ask which document contains the guidelines that forbid this? Also, the GIRM guidelines say that “a cross with the figure of Christ” must be on the altar or close to it. If it’s not on the altar, how close must it be? If there is a large crucifix on the back of the sanctuary, does that count as “close” to the altar? Or what if there’s a crucifix nearer to the congregation than to the altar? I’d appreciate an explanation. — M.S., Manila, Philippines A: Our reader has asked two diverse questions that might cover details left out in earlier replies to similar
questions. My answers here are necessarily approximative as current liturgical norms do not specify everything in detail and have to be deduced from general principles. The first question seems to be if a non-concelebrating priest may take Communion himself from the ciborium and chalice in the manner of concelebrants. The answer is no. A non-concelebrant priest may receive Communion under both species but does so in the manner of the faithful through a minister. I remember observing Pope St. John Paul II toward the end of his pontificate receive Communion from a deacon at a Mass he attended but did not celebrate. The missal foresees this in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM):
“160. The Priest then takes the paten or ciborium and approaches the communicants, who usually come up in procession. It is not permitted for the faithful to take the consecrated Bread or the sacred chalice by themselves and, still less, to hand them on from one to another among themselves …. “283. In addition to those cases given in the ritual books, Communion under both kinds is permitted for: “a) Priests who are not able to celebrate or concelebrate Mass.” The instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum says: “98. The Communion of Priest concelebrants should proceed according to the norms prescribed in the liturgical books, always using hosts consecrated at the same Mass
and always with Communion under both kinds being received by all of the concelebrants. It is to be noted that if the Priest or Deacon hands the sacred host or chalice to the concelebrants, he says nothing; that is to say, he does not pronounce the words ‘The Body of Christ’ or ‘The Blood of Christ.’” The reason the deacon says nothing is because the priest is a concelebrant and therefore the deacon is not, in this case, ministering to the priest but fulfilling a service for the agile communion of priests in a large concelebration. However, he would be a minister in the case of a non-concelebrating priest who was present at the Mass. While there are no express norms as to how close to the altar the crucifix should be, there are several
norms which would indicate that it should be clearly in relationship with the altar. The first option of having the crucifix upon the altar is, obviously, very close indeed and leaves no doubt. Such a crucifix should, however, be of sufficient dimensions so that it can be seen by the faithful and therefore should not be so small as to be practically invisible. This was Pope Benedict XVI’s preferred solution. Another valid option is to use the processional cross as the altar crucifix. In this case, it is usually placed very close to one side or at the center, no more than a few inches distance from the altar itself. In both cases above, the figure of Christ faces the altar and not the Communion / B7
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January 7 - 20, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 1
Praying bodies, dying bodies Reflection on the Nazareno and Santo Niño By Fr. Daniel Franklin E. Pilario, CM
Devotees flock to the carriage of Black Nazarene during the annual Traslacion in Manila. PHOTO COURTESY OF LLOYD LAGARDE
I HAVE shared this reflection on Facebook two years ago at the height of Duterte’s War on Drugs (January 9, 2017) when we were helping bury 5 bodies almost every week. As the Nazareno procession goes winding along the streets of Quiapo today (January 9, 2019), I read the text again and the message remains painfully the same. The streets where the images travel are the same streets where killings did and continue to happen. Duterte even in his recent speeches angrily proclaim: “Papatayin ko talaga kayo” (I will really kill you!). Just before Christmas, several men were gunned down in the streets of Cebu. After this New Year, another man fell in Payatas. And the people who yearly cheer at the Nazareno and Santo Niño as the images pass by are mostly the same people who applaud for Duterte in adulation. This is the longest and most painful three years I have ever felt in my life. In the Quiapo procession of the Black Nazarene are bodies— sweating bodies next to each other, rushing and pushing bodies—trying to reach, wipe, wave at the passing image which is also a body of the
suffering Jesus trying to stand up from the unjust pain imposed on him. Next week, at the Cebu or Kalibo procession of the Santo Niño, we will also see bodies—dancing and singing bodies—also waving, swaying to the drum beat in their most sincere prayer deep in their hearts uttering their deepest need they could not express except in dance and song to the child Jesus whom they feel as most sensitive to their utmost desire. Beyond Fanaticism and Opportunism People from outside could not understand. On the one side, we hear voices of condemnation: fanaticism, superstition, uncritical devotion. On the other side, we witness devotional commercialism, touristic instrumentalism and political opportunism at its best seemingly oblivious to what is going on within the hearts of the participants. But regardless of what outsiders say, the devotees continue walking in the procession rain or shine, from morning to the next dawn – saying their prayers, wiping their towels, waving their
handkerchiefs, lighting their candles hoping that at the day’s end, a problem will be solved, a sickness will be cured, a relationship healed. And even if these do not happen, one gains some strength to continue to survive and a hope that life shall be bearable no matter how. It is only people who have experienced this for a long time who know what this is all about. For these people, there is no need to explain. They keep coming here every year and place their bodies on the line. They believe. And no matter how much you prevent them, they will still come no matter what. I met an 80-year old lady in Quaipo who has been coming to this place since she was 20years old. She came alone despite the warnings of her children. She knows her way here and she feels it is the safest place to be—despite the bomb threat! She thinks she will get sick if she does not come. I have also talked to old women gracefully dancing the Sinulog in front of the Cebu Basilica year in and year out—candles in hand and a ready prayer for the one requesting. If you are there for the first time, you
feel awkward to dance. But these women can spontaneously utter a prayer in the sincerest of their hearts accompanied by graceful steps because they have been doing it the whole of their lives. And a danced prayer is better heard by the SantoNiño, they say. Bodies and Habitus As I was trying to make sense of these powerful experiences, I remember a sociologist by the name of Pierre Bourdieu who talks about habitus. Habitus are durable bodily dispositions which we learn as members of specific societies. We are identified as members of specific societies because of our habitus. Since we are ‘born into the game’ of our societies, we possess the ‘feel’ for it. We possess that capacity for endless improvisation of taken for granted practices which our society taught us – the wiping, the dancing, the believing. Only those who are socialized into them can do and can understand. This sociological insight is important to understand the events in Quiapo, Sinulog, Ati-atihan, Baclaran—and almost the whole
of Filipino popular Catholicism. First, the ‘body’ is central, i.e., the senses, corporeality and physical presence. There is a need to kiss the crucifix, to wipe the santo with one’s handkerchief, to walk through the procession despite the long route, to bathe the image of the saint in a fluvial parade to pray for rain, to make the Sign of the Cross no matter how hastily when one passes by a church building or before one starts a boxing match in the Las Vegas arena, to kneel down or prostrate oneself, to close one’s eyes, to wave one’s hands and shout ‘Amen’! An overly ‘mentalist’ or intellectualist religion, at least in the context of the many countries in the South, could never survive. Even in the West where these practices are long gone, people still love to light candles (not necessarily in the church) or are quite charmed by the repetitious rhythm of Taizé hymns. Even the Left knows this: protest rallies and mass mobilizations also acknowledge the centrality of bodily expressions, such as the ‘clenched fist’, the linked-up arms, the oneliner chants or the long marches. A ‘sea of protesting bodies’ conveys the statement of dissent much more powerfully than an intellectual debate. Durability and Improvisation Second, since practices are embodied, they are enduring and stable (i.e., habitus). In fact, it is in their durability that social agents feel a sense of order and security generated by their capacity to master the game itself. But such permanence does not connote a sense of stasis. On the contrary, it is habitus’s durably structured dispositions which engender the capacity for inventiveness and creativity. A ‘new participant’ in the game is not yet capable of improvisation. It is the stable habitus alone which generates the ‘feel for the game’. What consequence has this point for pastoral practice? People love to go through the same practices year in and year out: the same rituals, the same processional routes, the same meeting places, the same hymns and gestures, etc. It may even cause some sense of disorientation if they are changed too often. Yet the innovative value of these regularities could not be underestimated. A traditional Marian procession can organically spill over into a protest march against Marcos’ martial law; a repetitious chanting of the Pasyon
Families of victims of extrajudicial killings join the Walk for Life in Manila. Feb. 24, 2018. FILE PHOTO
Praying / B7
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January 7 - 20, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 1
CBCP Monitor
“Urbi et Orbi” Message of His Holiness Pope Francis Christmas 2018, Central Loggia of the Vatican Basilica, 25 December 2018 DEAR Brothers and Sisters, Happy Christmas! To you, the faithful of Rome, to you, the pilgrims, and to all who are linked to us from every part of the world, I renew the joyous proclamation of Bethlehem: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those whom he favours” (Lk 2:14). Like the shepherds who first went with haste to the stable, let us halt in wonder before the sign that God has given us: “A baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” (Lk 2:12). In silence, let us fall to our knees and worship. What does that Child, born for us of the Virgin Mary, have to tell us? What is the universal message of Christmas? It is that God is a good Father and we are all brothers and sisters. This truth is the basis of the Christian vision of humanity. Without the fraternity that Jesus Christ has bestowed on us, our efforts for a more just world fall short, and even our best plans and projects risk being soulless and empty. For this reason, my wish for a happy Christmas is a wish for fraternity. Fraternity among individuals of every nation and culture. Fraternity among people with different ideas, yet capable of respecting and listening to one another. Fraternity among persons of different religions. Jesus came to reveal the face of God to all those who seek him. The face of God has been revealed in a human face. It did not appear in an angel, but in one man, born in a specific time and place. By his incarnation, the Son of God tells us that salvation comes through love, acceptance, respect for this poor humanity of ours, which we all share in a great variety of races, languages, and cultures. Yet all of us are brothers and sisters in humanity!
Pope Francis delivers his Christmas blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Dec. 25. VATICAN MEDIA
Our differences, then, are not a detriment or a danger; they are a source of richness. As when an artist is about to make a mosaic: it is better to have tiles of many colors available, rather than just a few! The experience of families teaches us this: as brothers and sisters, we are all different from each other. We do not always agree, but there is an unbreakable bond uniting us, and the love of our parents helps us to love one another. The same is true for the larger human family, but here, God is our “parent”, the foundation and strength of our fraternity. May this Christmas help us to rediscover the bonds of fraternity linking us together as individuals and joining all peoples. May it enable Israelis and Palestinians to resume dialogue and undertake a
journey of peace that can put an end to a conflict that for over seventy years has rent the land chosen by the Lord to show his face of love. May the Child Jesus allow the beloved and beleaguered country of Syria once again to find fraternity after these long years of war. May the international community work decisively for a political solution that can put aside divisions and partisan interests, so that the Syrian people, especially all those who were forced to leave their own lands and seek refuge elsewhere, can return to live in peace in their own country. My thoughts turn to Yemen, in the hope that the truce brokered by the international community may finally bring relief to all those children and people exhausted by war and famine. I think too of Africa, where millions
of persons are refugees or displaced and in need of humanitarian assistance and food security. May the Holy Child, the King of Peace, silence the clash of arms and allow a new dawn of fraternity to rise over the entire continent, blessing the efforts of all those who work to promote paths of reconciliation in political and social life. May Christmas consolidate the bonds of fraternity uniting the Korean peninsula and help the path of rapprochement recently undertaken to continue and to reach agreed solutions capable of ensuring the development and well-being of all. May this blessed season allow Venezuela once more to recover social harmony and enable all the members of society to work fraternally for the country’s development and to aid the most
vulnerable sectors of the population. May the Newborn Lord bring relief to the beloved land of Ukraine, yearning to regain a lasting peace that is slow to come. Only with a peace respectful of the rights of every nation can the country recover from the sufferings it has endured and restore dignified living conditions for its citizens. I am close to the Christian communities of the region, and I pray that they may develop relationships of fraternity and friendship. Before the Child Jesus, may the inhabitants of beloved Nicaragua see themselves once more as brothers and sisters, so that divisions and discord will not prevail, but all may work to promote reconciliation and to build together the future of the country. I want to mention, too, all those peoples that experience ideological, cultural and economic forms of colonization and see their freedom and identity compromised, as well as those suffering from hunger and the lack of educational and health care services. A particular thought goes to our brothers and sisters who celebrate the Birth of the Lord in difficult, if not hostile situations, especially where the Christian community is a minority, often vulnerable or not taken into account. May the Lord grant that they, and all minorities, may live in peace and see their rights recognized, especially the right to religious freedom. May the little Child whom we contemplate today in the manger, in the cold of the night, watch over all the children of the world, and every frail, vulnerable and discarded person. May all of us receive peace and consolation from the birth of the Savior and, in the knowledge that we are loved by the one heavenly Father, realize anew that we are brothers and sisters and come to live as such!
Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God 52nd World Day of Peace, Vatican Basilica, 1 January 2019 “ALL who heard were amazed at what the shepherds told them” (Lk 2:18). To be amazed: this is what is asked of us today, at the conclusion of the Octave of Christmas, as we continue to contemplate the Child born for us, lacking everything yet abounding in love. Amazement is what we should feel at the beginning of each year, for life is a gift that constantly gives us a chance to make a new start, even from the most lowly of circumstances. Today is also a day to be amazed by the Mother of God. God appears as a little child, held in the arms of a woman who feeds her Creator. The statue before our eyes depicts the Mother and Child so close as to appear as one. That is the mystery we celebrate today, which gives rise to boundless amazement: God has become one with humanity forever. God and man, always together, that is the good news of this new year. God is no distant lord, dwelling in splendid isolation above the heavens, but love incarnate, born like us of a mother, in order to be a brother to each of us, to be close to us: the God of closeness. He rests on the lap of his mother, who is also our mother, and from there he pours out upon humanity a new tenderness. Thus we come to understand more fully God’s love, which is both paternal and maternal, like that of a mother who never stops believing in her children and never abandons them. God-with-us, Emmanuel, loves us despite our mistakes, our sins, and the way we treat our world. God believes in mankind, because its first and preeminent member is his own Mother. At the beginning of the year, let us implore from Mary the grace to be amazed at the God of surprises. Let us renew the amazement we felt when faith was first born in us. The Mother of God helps us: the Mother who gave birth to the Lord, now presents us, reborn, to the Lord. She is a mother who generates in her children the amazement of faith, because faith is an encounter, not a religion. Without amazement, life becomes dull and routine, and so it is with faith. The Church too needs to renew her amazement at being the dwelling place of the living God, the Bride of the Lord, a Mother who gives birth to her children. Otherwise, she risks turning into a beautiful museum of the past. A “Church museum”. Our Lady instead gives the Church the feel of a home, a home in which the God of newness dwells. Let us receive with amazement the mystery of the Mother of God, as the inhabitants of Ephesus did at the time of the Council. Like them, let us acclaim her “Holy Mother of God”. From her, let us allow ourselves to be gazed upon, to be embraced, to be taken by the hand. Let us allow ourselves to be gazed upon.
Especially in times of need, when we are entangled in life’s knots, we rightly lift our eyes to Our Lady, to Our Mother. Yet first, we should let ourselves be gazed upon by Our Lady. When she gazes upon us, she does not see sinners but children. It is said that the eyes are the mirror of the soul; the eyes of Mary, full of grace, reflect the beauty of God, they show us a reflection of heaven. Jesus himself said that the eye is “the lamp of the body” (Mt 6:22): the eyes of Our Lady are able to bring light to every dark corner; everywhere they rekindle hope. As she gazes upon us, she says: “Take heart, dear children; here I am, your Mother!” This maternal gaze, which instills confidence and trust, helps us to grow in faith. Faith is a bond with God that engages the whole person; to be preserved, it needs the Mother of God. Her maternal gaze helps us see ourselves as beloved children in God’s faithful people, and to love one another regardless of our individual limitations and approaches. Our Lady keeps us rooted in the Church, where unity counts more than diversity; she encourages us to care for one another. Mary’s gaze reminds us that faith demands a tenderness that can save us from becoming lukewarm. Tenderness: the Church of tenderness. Tenderness is a word that today many want to remove from the dictionary. When faith makes a place for the Mother of God, we never lose sight of the centre: the Lord, for Mary never points to herself but to Jesus; and our brothers and sisters, for Mary is mother. The gaze of the Mother, and the gaze of every mother. A world that looks to the future without a mother’s gaze is shortsighted. It may well increase its profits, but it will no longer see others as children. It will make money, but not for everyone. We will all dwell in the same house, but not as brothers and sisters. The human family is built upon mothers. A world in which maternal tenderness is dismissed as mere sentiment may be rich materially, but poor where the future is concerned. Mother of God, teach us to see life as you do. Turn your gaze upon us, upon our misery, our poverty. Turn to us thine eyes of mercy. Let us allow ourselves to be embraced. From Mary’s gaze, we now turn to her heart, in which, as today’s Gospel recounts, she “treasured all these things and pondered them” (Lk 2:19). Our Lady, in other words, took everything to heart; she embraced everything, events both good and bad. And she pondered all these things; she brought them before God. This was her secret. In the same way, she now takes to heart the life of each of us: she wants to embrace our every situation and to present it to God.
Children dressed as the Three Kings attend Pope Francis’ celebration of Mass marking the feast of Mary, Mother of God, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Jan. 1. PAUL HARING/CNS
In today’s fragmented world, where we risk losing our bearings, a Mother’s embrace is essential. How much dispersion and solitude there is all around us! The world is completely connected, yet seems increasingly disjointed. We need to entrust ourselves to our Mother. In the Scriptures, Our Lady embraces any number of concrete situations; she is present wherever she is needed. She visits her cousin Elizabeth; she comes to the aid of the newlyweds in Cana; she encourages the disciples in the Upper Room… Mary is a cure for solitude and dispersion. She is the Mother of con-solation: she stands “with” those who are “alone”. She knows that words are not enough to console; presence is needed, and she is present as a mother. Let us allow her to embrace our lives. In the Salve Regina, we call her “our life”. This may seem exaggerated, for Christ himself is “life” (cf. Jn 14:6), yet Mary is so closely united to him, and so close to us, that we can do no better than to put our hands in hers and to acknowledge her as “our life, our sweetness and our hope.” And in the journey of life, let us allow ourselves to be taken by the hand. Mothers take their children by the hand and lovingly introduce them to life. But how many children today wander off on their own and lose their way. Thinking they are strong, they get lost;
thinking they are free, they become slaves. How many, forgetting a mother’s affection, live in anger with themselves and indifference to everything! How many, sad to say, react to everything and everyone with bitterness and malice! Life is such. Showing oneself “malicious” even seems at times to be a sign of strength. Yet it is nothing more than weakness. We need to learn from mothers that heroism is shown in self-giving, strength in compassion, wisdom in meekness. God himself needed a Mother: how much more so do we! Jesus himself gave her to us, from the cross: “Behold your mother!” (Jn 19:27). He said this to the beloved disciple and to every disciple. Our Lady is not an optional accessory: she has to be welcomed into our life. She is the Queen of peace, who triumphs over evil and leads us along paths of goodness, who restores unity to her children, who teaches us compassion. Mary, take us by the hand. Clinging to you, we will pass safely through the straits of history. Lead us by the hand to rediscover the bonds that unite us. Gather us beneath your mantle, in the tenderness of true love, where the human family is reborn: “We fly to thy protection, O Holy Mother of God”. Let us together pray these words to Our Lady: “We fly to thy protection, O Holy Mother of God”.
CBCP Monitor
STATEMENTS B5
January 7 - 20, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 1
Young Jesus with the young Pastoral Letter for the 2019 Year of the Youth in the Archdiocese of Lingayen Dagupan looking forward to the 100thanniversary of the Diocese of Lingayen in 2028 MY dear people of God: We all need companions all the time. In infancy and childhood, from puberty to adulthood, in our career paths and life choices, in sickness unto our deathbed--we all need to be accompanied. Life would be impossible if we went through it alone. The Year 2019 is TABIN Year for the Archdiocese of Lingayen Dagupan. As Catholic Philippines observes 2019 as Year of the Youth looking forward to the five hundredth anniversary of the first baptism and first Mass in the Philippines, we in Lingayen Dagupan offer to our youth the Church as companion, kalakbay. TABIN.
Be careful against many antiChrists An open letter to Seth my godson on New Year’s Eve DEAR Seth, Nothing is easy these days when it comes to rearing children like you. You are subjected to so much vulgarity and violence that I fear you might catch the wrong values which can ruin your future as a good Filipino and as a good child of God. My first advice to you is pray constantly and go to Mass as frequently as you can, if possible even daily. Do not listen to him who tells you it is useless to go to Church and attend Mass. Whoever teaches you that is antiChrist and there are many of them, including those who look at it is a joke. They are not for Christ. They are against Christ. Inaanak, the name of God is sacred. Promise me never ever to disrespect the name of God. You might not be able to understand God always. Our minds are too limited. Do not force the infinite God to fit into our limited minds. They who call God stupid is antiChrist. Pray for these people but do not imitate them. Respect them as elders but do not follow their bad example. You have a godly father who respects your titas and your Mama. Treat all women and girls with respect, in fact, even with reverence. Do not laugh when older men make fun of women. That is vulgar and if you laugh or imitate them, you become vulgar yourself. Rape is not a joke. Immodesty is not laughing matter. Respect girls and women always. You have no excuse to abuse women specially the poor women.
Walking TOGETHER It happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with the m b ut their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. (Luke 24:15-16) In this walking together with the youth, it is important to renew our appreciation for three very important interlinked institutions— the family, the school and the parish. The youth must be given avenues to participate in the mission of evangelization in the parish. It has been said that the face of God is mercy. Today we say that at the forefront of the Church of mercy are the faces of the young. Let us give the Church a young face. Let us give the youth a space to be heard because true love listens. The first step to walking with the youth is listening to them. There is a healthy kind of restlessness among the youth which we cannot just dismiss in the parishes, schools and families. This restlessness can inject greater dynamism to our parishes that oftentimes favor the status quo more than the missionary passion. I encourage our priests and educators, parents and guardians to allow the youth to express this creative restlessness with an encouraging welcome and a respectful accompaniment. Oftentimes, we Church elders engender impatience among the youth because of our slow, domineering and dragging pastoral approaches.
In 2019, we dream of the Church in Lingayen Dagupan as young Jesus among the young. Learning TOGETHER Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures. (Luke 24:27) In 2018, I invite my fellow pastors and parents to adopt an attitude of learning WITH the youth and FROM the youth. When the educated and the academically titled start to recognize that Jesus is the only lesson we need to learn and the only weapon we have against evil, then we have started the journey of renewal. Some youth are students but all youth are our teachers. They teach us new zeal and missionary passion. The questions that young people ask us priests challenge us to be better. When the young criticize us priests, I encourage you my brother priests to listen to their young voices as the voice of Christ himself calling us to conversion and renewal. All young people are in God’s heart even if some of them do not share our visions of life. An attitude of humility and willingness to listen will open new avenues of renewal for us. Our youth need to teach us the power of the cyberspace digital world while we their elders in turn must accompany them in this daily reality of their young lives. The youth can be at the forefront of using the power of the worldwide web to spread true information, to promote socio-political engagement according to the Gospel values and to be good citizens of the nation. In entering cyberspace with the young, we their elders can protect them from the dark web of isolation, manipulation, exploitation, cyber bullying and pornography. Young Jesus with the young teaching the teachers! Proclaiming TOGETHER Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. (Luke 24: 35) The compass of youth ministry is a
missionary spirit. We envision 2019 as year of young Jesus with the young telling the world of His love. Youth ministry cannot be confined to a handful of youth in the parish hall or the campus ministry office. We must serve and teach those who do not feel welcome in the Church. Let us be reminded that people turn to the Lord not because of eloquent preaching but through inspiring life examples. Saint Paul VI put it most eloquently “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses. It is primarily by her conduct and by her life that the Church will evangelize the world (EV, 41). The Church has been severely hurt and wounded by the sins of her priests against the youth and against the Church. Despite the limitations of us their elders in the Church, we have not been lacking in heroic young leaders in our parishes and schools who serve without pay or recognition. We their spiritual shepherds are humbled by the sterling enthusiastic love of our youth. 2019 Year of the Lord Every day is the Lord’s. All ages and seasons belong to Him. Every year is year of the Lord. In celebrating 2019 as Tabin Year of the Youth, may we recognize in the youth the face of the Lord. To the parents, teachers and priests: The young Jesus is among the young. Let the young teach us as we teach them. Let the young show us the face of Jesus as we keep on trying to love them like Jesus. To the young: Show us Jesus and be our guide to see Him more clearly, to love Him more dearly, to follow Him more nearly. Amen. From the Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist, Dagupan City, January 1, 2019 +SOCRATES B. VILLEGAS Archbishop of Lingayen Dagupan December 30, 2018
Rising of the Manila Cathedral from the rubble of war Message of Eminence Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle to welcome Papal Envoy Thomas Aquinas Cardinal Maeda, on December 8, 2018
Never call people names nor use cuss words even as expressions. Dirty words that come out of your mouth— foul language, lies, gossips, slander, malicious jokes—make you crass and ungentlemanly. Shameless crass people use such dirty words. Do not imitate. They are antiGod; they cannot be honorable. God wants you to be refined and honorable. I have great dreams for you. Do not ever try drugs. Say no to friends who might offer you drugs. You kill yourself slowly by doing that. Drug users and drug addicts are sick. They need treatment and help in order to be well again. Do not believe those who offer killing as a solution. People who kill and people who coax others to kill are antiGod. They are antiChrist. Christ came to give us new life, eternal life. Finally Seth, respect the Pope and my fellow priests and bishops because we are signs of God’s love for you. We are not spotless like angels but in our weaknesses, God still uses us for His mission. Walang silbi? Yes we are but if we are able to do anything good at all, all is because of God’s mercy. In mocking priests and bishops, you do what antiChrists do. Be a loyal son of the Catholic Church. Keep the rosary in your pocket each time you leave the house; your mother’s name is Mary. Carry a handkerchief in your other pocket. That is a mark of good manners. Don’t play with firecrackers tonight. Keep safe. Happy new year! NINONG FATHER SOC December 31, 2018
Papal Legate Cardinal Thomas Aquinas of Osaka and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle lead the Mass to celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and the 60th anniversary of the Manila Cathedral post-war, Dec. 8, 2018. PHOTO FROM RCAM-AOC
AT the outset I would like to greet all of you a blessed Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Mother. Welcome to the Manila Cathedral and Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception as we commemorate the dedication of the post-war reconstructed cathedral in 1958. The “rising of the Manila Cathedral from the rubble of war” 60 years ago is recognized by Pope Francis as an important event of faith, hope and love. For this reason, His Holiness sent someone to represent him and his love for the Church in the Philippines. We welcome the Papal Legate, His Eminence Cardinal Thomas Aquinas Manyo Maeda, Archbishop of Osaka, Japan. The Archdiocese of Manila thanks the Holy Father Pope Francis for gracing the feast through you. We also thank you for accepting the mission the Pope has entrusted you. Your Eminence, last April 12, 2018, I welcomed you here in Manila Cathedral. You came with Japanese pilgrims who were tracing the sites connected to Blessed Justo Ukon Takayama, a Japanese martyr who died in Manila in 1615. A month later, Pope Francis announced that you were being elevated to the College of
Cardinals. I would like to think that Manila Cathedral prepared you for a new mission. Now, we welcome you again not only as the Cardinal-Archbishop of Osaka but as the Papal Legate. We could not think of a better choice. Cardinal Maeda’s ancestors belonged to the hidden Christians in the Japan where Christianity was banned. Families passed on the faith from generation to generation with creativity and courage. Christianity was hidden but not absent. Hiddenness has its own dynamic power. Your Eminence, you carry the un-assuming, humble heritage of hidden but authentic Christians. Here in Manila Cathedral, the longings, cries and thanksgiving of generous of Filipino Catholics have been lifted to God in hidden but real ways. Their hidden faces and voices continue to strengthen us in faith. Cardinal Maeda has been an advocate for peace. Growing up in Nagasaki, he saw the scars of war. His own mother has been exposed to the light and radiation of the atomic bomb that fell on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. The cry for peace screams from his veins. Your Eminence, Manila Cathedral was ravaged to
the ground during the war of liberation in 1945. Like you, this reconstructed Cathedral is a testament to the power of peace over violence. We will always rise again after every storm, earthquake, fire and war, because we believe in peace. Cardinal Maeda is a poet. He almost spontaneously composes the Japanese poetic form called haiku, even in his homilies. I heard him recite haikus in Rome last June after the consistory for new cardinals. When I attended the beatification of Blessed Ukon Takayama in Osaka last year, he brought me to a small Japanese eating place where he made me taste simple Japanese fish, squid, shrimps, vegetables and of course sake. Simplicity, closeness to nature, brokenness, and silence— these are the ingredients that make one a poet. Your Eminence, the Manila Cathedral is a poem to God offered by the Filipino people. Please join your haiku to our tula. Your Eminence, thank you once again. Please convey to Pope Francis our love. And now please lead us in the Eucharist, the eternal Poem of Jesus, the Mystery Hidden but now revealed as the Prince of Peace!
B6 REFLECTIONS
January 7 - 20, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 1
CBCP Monitor
One with sinners to save them The powerful God in a powerless little boy
Baptism of the Lord, Year C, (Luke 3:15-16, 21-22) January 13, 2019 By Fr. Sal Putzu, SDB
An exegetical reflection on the Gospel of the Feast of Santo Niño, Year C (Luke 2:41-52) January 20, 2013 By Msgr. Lope C. Robredillo, SThD
WE say that people make a “prophetic gesture” when they do something striking that is also a sign of greater things to come. Those gestures reveal the depth of their passion or commitment; they are meant to shake people and somehow force them to make a choice, either for or against certain vital issues. In his lifetime, Jesus made many “prophetic gestures,” such as his driving the traders out of the Temple, the healing of the paralytic, and many other miracles he performed. All those gestures were “spectacular” in their own way. They attracted the attention of the crowds, which wondered what their “meaning” could be. There was, in the life of Jesus, a “gesture” which was not spectacular at all and which went unnoticed by almost everybody, except his cousin John: his baptism in the River Jordan. That gesture was absolutely “common” and “ordinary” for it was something that almost everybody was doing in those days, in response to the exhortation of John the
Baptist. But Jesus’ baptism at the Jordan, lost in the crowd of sinners who were seeking forgiveness, had a depth of meaning that made it one of his most dramatic “prophetic gestures.” It was Jesus’ baptism, in fact, which revealed the essence of his mission and became the occasion for the revelation of his concealed divine identity. The “prophetic dimension” of Jesus’ action was not so much in his entering the waters of the Jordan, as his immersing himself in the crowd of sinners. That was something unthinkable and unbelievable. Only God’s incredible love for every human being and all mankind could have conceived such an “immersion” which was so complete and involving as to be a total “identification.” That was the reason why the eternal and all-holy Son of God had come down from heaven and had undergone the fullest “immersion” in the ocean of mankind’s misery and in human history. Jesus’ baptism is a clear manifestation of God’s mercy toward
mankind. The Word, the eternal Son of the Father, clad in human flesh in Jesus of Nazareth, becomes one with sinful mankind not to be its judge but its Savior. And the Holy Spirit, appearing in the form of a dove, a symbol of peace, reminds us of God’s mercy on the “remnant” of mankind as the purifying flood subsided. (See Gn 8:10-11.) Jesus’ baptism was a further manifestation of the meaning and purpose of the Incarnation. Through that “immersion/ identification,” the totally sinless Jesus became a part not only of the relatively small group of sinners gathered by the banks of the Jordan, but also of the immense crowd of sinners that is the whole of humankind. And just as his immersion: in the waters of the river sanctified them, so did his presence among the crowd of sinners bring them the possibility of receiving purification from sin. That was exactly Jesus’ mission. Isaiah the prophet had already foreseen this when he Sinners/ B7
Challenged to grow in wisdom and grace Feast of the Sto. Niño, Year C, (Luke 2:41-52) January 20, 2019 By Fr. Sal Putzu, SDB THE news must have spread like fire in a forest of pine trees: there was in the Temple a wonder boy who kept amazing the teachers of the Law not only with his answers, but also with his questions. The audience of “experts” had been increasing steadily. By the third day, it had swollen to a sizable crowd of Scripture scholars all wondering at what the boy from Nazareth was saying and the questions he was asking. No doubt, the Boy knew the Scriptures in all their details and nuances. He knew more than what the text said. He knew its “message,” the “substance” of it all. His words were deep insights into events and statements, presented with mastery and authority. And he was just a boy of twelve, coming from a remote village in the countryside! The learned teachers just did not know what to make of it . . . . But Jesus was not just a “wonder boy.” He was, above all, a “wonderfaithful,” and an exemplary one at that. Having gone to Jerusalem with
Mary and Joseph for the Passover pilgrimage and the fulfillment of all other duties connected with that feast, he showed that he appreciated and was actively involved in keeping the religious traditions and observances of his people, just as he was at home with the Scriptures. He had been taught to value those traditions, and felt that they were part of his life. One often wonders whether our children and our youth could not be more like Jesus as he progressed in knowledge and maturity with the passing of the years. Jesus had grown in his appreciation of the precious traditions of his people. He knew them thoroughly, and kept them with the enthusiasm that characterizes this age. This is what our children and pre-adolescents would need to have and which many lack . . . Most of our youths are bright. Some are exceptionally bright. They are very familiar with the names and characteristics of movie and TV personalities, sports champions, war heroes . . . .Yet, when it comes
to religious knowledge, many hardly know more than what they learned when they were in kinder and grade school . . . . When it comes to our religious traditions, many show coldness and boredom. When it comes to making some commitment in their parish or religious association, they become over-cautious and unreliable . . . . The feast of the Sto. Niño should offer them an opportunity to reflect on why things are so. Many parents and educators, likewise, should ask themselves at what point they may have gone wrong in the way they have brought up their children and how the situation can be remedied in order to see our youth “progress steadily in wisdom and grace, before God and men” (Lk 2:52), as Jesus did. The observance of the “Year of the Youth,” and Pope Francis’ exhortation to discover (or re-discover) the mission of young people in the Church and society, can be a wonderful opportunity to appreciate the young’s “giftedness” and to duty empower them.
IN RECENT YEARS, there has been a proliferation of various images of the Holy Child: in some, he is dressed like a soldier or a doctor, in others, a fisherman or a pilot. I am not sure why the Infant Jesus was made to take these countenances, but the real image remains that of a child who wears the garb of a king, with crown on his head, scepter on one hand, and the universe on the other. The reason partly comes from the First Reading (Isa 9:1-7), which is the most famous messianic prophecy. God will liberate his people from oppression, through the agency of a child, who is a prince of
voiceless though he is, he is really the revelation of God. How did God manifest himself in this small boy? In today’s Gospel reading (Luke 2:41-52), he is portrayed as one who was devoted to the things of God. Early in his childhood, he was already concerned about his Father’s affairs: “Why did you search for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49). His first allegiance was to his Father. And it is not a simple allegiance. Luke uses the word “must” or “had to be” which, in Luke’s Gospel, characterizes Jesus’ life: “The son of man must
peace. If the image has any meaning at all, it is meant to convey that this child, helpless and innocent though he is, is the king of peace, who is so powerful that he holds the world in his hand, and the liberator of the human race. When we think of a liberator, we associate him with Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, or Napoleon Bonaparte. They are mighty warriors, who defeated their enemies and established empires over which they ruled. Through wars, power, and oppression, they subjugated nations and put their enemies under their feet. That is how worldly power works. But in the ways of the divine, one conquers the world not through power, but through weakness. If Jesus conquered world, sin and death, and now sits at the right of God, it was not through violence, but by submitting himself to the powers of this world. He showed his weakness by allowing himself to be humiliated, crucified and killed. It was in his frailty that he was recognized, especially in the Johannine theology, as king: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” (John 19:19). If in his adulthood where he manifested his weakness, Jesus was recognized as king, so also in his childhood, helpless and feeble though he was, he was already known as king of the universe and its savior. The child, in other words, despite his ordinariness, is not an ordinary one. He is really a king—and more than a king, he is God among us, the Emmanuel (Matt 1:23). Which is why, although the image of a Santo Niño might appear absurd—for how can a mere child place the whole world in his hand, yet its meaning is entirely correct: God has deigned to show himself in this child of Bethlehem . Frail and lowly though he is, yet he is worthy of praise and worship. Small and
suffer…” (9:22); “But first he must suffer many things...” (17:25}, “I must stay in your house…” (19:5), “Everything must be fulfilled...” (26:44). In the conflict of human and divine obligations, the Father’s will must prevail. No wonder, Hebrews characterizes the life of Jesus as doing the Father’s will: “Then I said, here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—I have come to do your will, O God (Heb 10:7). Doing the Father’s will culminates in his death, in weakness, in what appears, from the human point of view, as a defeat. Of course, if from the beginning until his death, Jesus’ life was all about doing the will of his Father, it was not simply because he is God’s Son. As the Gospel today emphasizes, he progressed steadily in wisdom and age and grace (Luke 2:52), and that growth is to be attributed to his upbringing as well. An evidence of that upbringing is that “his parents used to go every year to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover” (Luke 2:41). Surely, as can be seen from the rest of the Gospel of Luke, Mary and Joseph were deeply religious parents. If God was able to manifest himself in a child, in a boy who not only was deeply religious, but whose whole concern was to do the will of his Father, it is in no small measure due to what he received from his parents. Which reminds us of a rhyme: “Before your child has come to seven, Teach him well the way to heaven. Better still the truth will thrive, If he knows it when he is five; Best of all if at your knee, He learns it when he’s only three.” That is the meaning of the figure of Sto Niño: the all powerful God who is king of the universe, deigned to manifest himself in a powerless little boy, who is chiefly concerned about the things of God, partly because of how his parents brought him up.
CBCP Monitor
SOCIAL CONCERNS B7
January 7 - 20, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 1
What the future holds for us By Fr. Shay Cullen, MSSC A SMALL group of students were meeting over Christmas. Inevitably the question of New Year resolutions arose. The agreed to be totally honest and share their New Year resolutions with each other and share how they would better their lives in 2019. Roberto began and said, “I resolve to change my eating habits, I know I am overweight, I eat too much junk foods, fast foods, instant food, but they slow me down and I feel hungry all the time. One day, I will get obese and then have diabetes so I resolve to stop it and eat healthy foods, fish, vegetables, fruit and low on rice. And I promise to walk more.” Everyone on the group nodded in agreement and congratulated Robert and promised to help him as if they too needed to change their life style. Ella was next. “I resolve to fight my addiction to social media, junk news, Facebook and non-stop chatting. It’s taking over my life, it distracts me from my studies and I am getting low grades. When I wake up in the morning the first thing I do is not to thank the creator for the gift of life and another day to live and learn but I reach for my smart phone. I have to see what message came in, and they are all so unimportant, trivial, and nonsensical. Then I get so irritated and angry when I have “low batt.” I am wasting my life for nothing to show for it, time that will never come back, hours wasted everyday and my studies are affected too. I have to get off it but I don’t know how.” Robert told her, “I promise I will never text or message you again, so there.” They all laughed and sympathized with Ella, the others shared her problem to some degree. Some other members of the group felt guilty of the same addiction and looked at floor in frustration. Others turned off their smart phones. Then it was the turn of Benzie. He confessed that he had to change his spending habits. Besides being a nonstop messenger user himself, he said he had a compulsion to buy things. For the New Year, I swear I will never go to the mall, every time I go there I
A boy rides his bike in the streets of Tacloban, Philippines, in this 2014 file photo. The World Day of the Poor -- to be marked each year on the 33rd Sunday of ordinary time -- will be celebrated Nov. 18. TYLER ORSBURN/CNS
have to spend and buy something no matter how trivial it is. Sometimes, it is just a small gadget, an accessory, a new t-shirt and I have so many already. I am always begging my parents for more money and have some debt because I am a captive consumer. So no more malling and spending for me,” he said. Miriam was slow to share. She sat in the group silent, nervous and afraid. Ella encouraged her. “Whatever it is you have to give up it can’t be all that bad. Tell us what your resolution is going to be.” The group laughed. “Well,” she said slowly but with conviction, “I have been reading lot about feeling inadequate and insecure. I think it is because of what I see on television and how they tell us that we should all look like a celebrity. I feel I am not myself and
am trying to be another imaginary person. I was advised to forget myself by being involved with other people and helping them. So my New Year resolution is to join the youth social action group and get involved with helping poor people. I am too much into taking selfies and sharing them over my smart phone and all day I am looking at myself in a mirror and checking my hair and makeup.” “I really am too selfish and I am going to find my real self and stop trying to change how I look. I am also resolving this New Year to stop using skin whitening cream. I know it can damage me and I am not happy with my life and I have to change. I think forgetting how I look and stop worrying about how others see me is what I need to do. I am going to forget me and
other readings, unless it is carried in the Entrance Procession. “122. On reaching the altar, the priest and ministers make a profound bow. The cross adorned with a figure of Christ crucified and perhaps carried in procession may be placed next to the altar to serve as the altar cross, in which case it ought to be the only cross used; otherwise, it is put away in a dignified place. In addition, the candlesticks are placed on the altar or near it. It is a praiseworthy practice that the Book of the Gospels be placed upon the altar. “123. The priest goes up to the altar and venerates it with a kiss. Then, as the occasion suggests, he incenses the cross and the altar, walking around the latter. “188. In the procession to the altar, the acolyte may carry the cross, walking between two ministers with lighted candles. Upon reaching the altar, the acolyte places the cross upright near the altar so that it may serve as the altar cross; otherwise, he puts it in a worthy place. Then he takes his place in the sanctuary. “277. The priest, having put incense into the thurible, blesses it with the Sign of the Cross, without saying anything. Before and after an incensation, a profound bow is made to the person or object that is incensed, except for the incensation of the altar and the offerings for the Sacrifice of the Mass. “The following are incensed with three swings of the thurible: the Most Blessed Sacrament, a relic of
the Holy Cross and images of the Lord exposed for public veneration, the offerings for the Sacrifice of the Mass, the altar cross, the Book of the Gospels, the Paschal Candle, the priest, and the people. “The following are incensed with two swings of the thurible: relics and images of the Saints exposed for public veneration, which should be done, however, only at the beginning of the celebration, after the incensation of the altar. “The altar is incensed with single swings of the thurible in this way: “a. if the altar is freestanding with respect to the wall, the priest incenses walking around it; “b. if the altar is not freestanding, the priest incenses it while walking first to the right-hand side, then to the left. “The cross, if situated on or near the altar, is incensed by the priest before he incenses the altar; otherwise, he incenses it when he passes in front of it. “The priest incenses the offerings with three swings of the thurible or by making the sign of the cross over the offerings with the thurible before going on to incense the cross and the altar. “308. There is also to be a cross, with the figure of Christ crucified upon it, either on the altar or near it, where it is clearly visible to the assembled congregation. It is appropriate that such a cross, which calls to mind for the faithful the saving Passion of the Lord, remain near the altar even outside of liturgical celebrations.”
company—something that shocked the “holy” people of his time. His association with “public sinners” was bound to tarnish his reputation as his opponents pointed out on several occasions. Jesus did not mind that criticism and continued like before, for—as he himself said— it is sick people who need a doctor. (See Mt 9:12.) But his immersing himself in the crowd of sinful mankind cost Jesus much more—it cost him his very life, for he was put to death to atone for the sins of all! Jesus’ vicarious self-offering was
so powerful in its effect because he was God’s beloved Son, on whom the Father’s favor rested! Such a solemn proclamation of Jesus’ divine identity soon after his baptism balanced, so to speak, his associating himself with the crowd of sinners at the Jordan River. It also completed the “prophetic nature” of what happened on that day—God’s very Son coming to save all mankind by sharing fully its predicament of moral misery, in order to transform it from within, through the superabundant holiness that only God is.
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announced that the mission of the “Servant of the Lord” was to bring “justice” (that is, holiness) to the nations. Of him the Lord God said, “I formed you and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon those who live in darkness.” (See today’s First Reading.) In his life, Jesus “actualized” such a liberating and sanctifying “immersion” by associating with sinners and even seeking their
Can people shake off the power of consumerism that stimulates our greed? The masters of manipulation want us to be selfish and to spend and to accumulate things. The economy and those who control it does not to see us as people but consumers, not citizens but cogs in a great wheel that churns out profits and accumulates vast amounts of money for them. Several million tons of perfectly good, surplus food is thrown away daily in the developed countries while the poor starve. Consider this: “Runaway inequality has created a world where 62 people own as much wealth as the poorest half of the world’s population,” Oxfam says in a report. Our resolution for 2019 could be to change that by working for social justice and equality.
Praying / B3
Communion / B2
people. Another common option is to have a large crucifix either directly above the altar or behind it. The distance will depend on the size of the chapel and the crucifix, but they should combine so as to show the clear relationship of crucifix and altar. The norms for incensing offer the possibility of incensing this cross not at the beginning but when passing by the cross in front of the altar. The norms indicate that there should be only one altar cross. Other crosses, even if they are in the sanctuary area, but which are closer to the assembly than the altar and face away from the altar, would not be suitable for use as an altar cross even though they may be an object of devotion. The relevant norms from the GIRM would be the following: “117. The altar is to be covered with at least one white cloth. In addition, on or next to the altar are to be placed candlesticks with lighted candles: at least two in any celebration, or even four or six, especially for a Sunday Mass or a holy day of obligation. If the diocesan Bishop celebrates, then seven candles should be used. Also on or close to the altar, there is to be a cross with a figure of Christ crucified. The candles and the cross adorned with a figure of Christ crucified may also be carried in the Entrance Procession. On the altar, itself may be placed the Book of the Gospels, distinct from the book of
get involved in other people’s lives. That’s my New Year resolution. It will be a challenge but I have to do it,” she told the group. They all applauded. “Yes we can all change if we work up the will power, we can do it.” “Well, why don’t we all join the action group and do a project together, then we help each other be faithful to our resolutions and change our life style, together we might all be faithful to our resolutions,” said Ella. Those confessions and resolutions could inspire many others to change their lifestyle too. As we go into the New Year 2019, we ought to think and act on how we could have a more meaningful life. Can we find greater personal freedom and have the self- discipline to control our own lives and our environment?
can provide a language to articulate a social upheaval against colonial oppression; an ancient practice of communal meditation can become a threat to the status quo (e.g., Falun Gong); or, an antique voodoo ritual can transform itself into, and be perceived as, an act of resistance. This does not take away the necessity of creative planning and real organizing since habitus can also be a very conservative force. But such introduction of new transformative elements into practice can only be successful when change agents are sensitive to the potentials of these durable cultural elements so as to tap their innate creative resources. Incarnation Third, spirituality can only be bodily. Our bodies are the only ways we have to God. This incarnational approach to the divine runs counter to the intellectualist Western tradition which privileges the inner mental state, the esoteric experience, the internal consciousness. The Platonic disdain for the material dismisses the bodily, the sensuous and the ordinary as quite base and lowly. Yet we can only think of God through these sensuous realities. It is thus imperative that all pastors and church ministers immerse themselves and get involved in the tempo of people’s practices. Anyone who ministers from the armchair or who issues pastoral directives from their isolated convents risks of becoming useless and irrelevant. Moreover, if the Church is to help mediate and channel God’s salvation into the human community, these practices should be considered as the way in which the Church must walk and think for it is here that people articulate the acts of God experienced in their everyday life. For ordinary people, these everyday practices which are deeply intertwined with one’s cultural memories and religious histories are the only wells from which they can draw the strength needed in their daily struggle for survival. Dead Bodies Yet, in our times, almost every morning we also see bodies lying
on the streets—already more than six thousands of dead bodies, some with cardboards and letters written on them which goes: “drug pusher, huwag tularan.” Bodies just the same and sprawling on the same streets where our processions pass. And yet, we seldom hear a voice of protest for desecrating the same hallowed bodies that people use to honor their God. The voices who jubilantly shout “Viva!” (to the Nazareno and the Santo Niño) also disdainfully say “May’ra!” (Maayo rang namatay kay addict man. Linisin natin ang lipunan!) The official political machine of course tyrannically extols the success of the project. And, sadly, we seldom hear cries of protest from official ecclesiastical bodies. The only cries we hear are the wailing of widows, mothers and children as they see the bodies of their beloved now bloodied, lifeless, and being carried away by armed men they do not know—be they in uniforms or not. And their cries should not be as loud to avoid added violence or retaliation. No one comes to their wakes because of fear. So, the poor painfully suffer in silence because the political machine uses all its “eyes and ears” to coerce them to submission. Ironically, in some sections of Payatas at the side of the dumpsite, CCTV cameras abound to monitor movements - when hardly functioning ones are found in some sections of the airport. What has become of human lives? What has become of human dignity? What has become of the embodied God in our human bodies? Can our praying bodies, moving bodies, dancing bodies place themselves on the line and stand up to protect the thousands of dying bodies around us? Or, shall we keep waving handkerchiefs or dancing in front of our santos and leave the many others more to continue to die on our streets? (Daniel Franklin E. Pilario, C.M., is Professor and Dean of St. Vincent School of Theology, in Tandang Sora Avenue, Quezon City. Comments maybe emailed to: danielfranklinpilario@yahoo.com)
B8 ENTERTAINMENT
January 7 - 20, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 1
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms DIRECTOR: Lasee Hallstrom STARRING: Keira Knightley. Mackenzie Foy, Eugenio Derbez, Matthew Macfadyen, Jayden Fowora-Knight, Helen Mirren SCREENPLAY BY: Ashleigh Powell STORY BY: E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Nutcracker PRODUCER: Mark Gordon, Larry Franco GENRE(S): Fantasy, Adventure MUSIC BY: James Newton Howard EDITED BY: Stuart Levy CINEMATOGRAPHY: Linus Sandgren PRODUCTION COMPANY: Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios DISTRIBUTED BY: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures COUNTRY: England RUNNING TIME: 99 minutes Technical assessment: 3.0 Moral assessment: 3.5 CINEMA rating: VA MTRCB rating: G
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is a visually appealing adaptation of the 19th century story and ballet. It appeals to the imagination of little girls who love to dress up as princesses and probably their mothers who remember the ballet. The screen is always filled with so much dazzle and sparkles that it becomes necessary to blink and stare into a blank space just to refresh the eyes. Every scene looks like a cut out from a European Christmas card, the costumes and set are outstandingly intricate and the mid-film ballet is a special treat for the audience. However, there is just too much talk and too much plot to be absorbed alongside the production extravaganza. Those who are unfamiliar (and uninterested) with the original narrative will be confused with characters showing up one minute and disappearing the other. The emotional layer was very thin and unreal. It
was hard to sympathize with any character. This is a family movie not meant for the entire family. There are strong redemptive and moral values presented in the movie. First, the value of believing in one’s self and being of service to others. After Clara realizes the gift she received pointed to herself as the only thing she will ever need, she bravely rallies the realms to retrieve the key to defend what her mother loved most. Second, the value of looking beyond superficial beauty. Sugar Plum is sweet, soft spoken, friendly and almost perfect while Mother Ginger is the exact opposite. However, it turns out that real beauty and goodness lies in the heart of the latter. Third, the value of forgiveness — both Mother Ginger and Clara’s father found it in their hearts to let go of the hurt and start over for the sake of keeping the relationship strong. Also, forgiveness would not have been possible if Clara did not ask for it. Clara also delivers the most powerful statement about being selfless and doing things for others as the purpose of life.
CBCP Monitor
Buhay San Miguel
Brothers Matias
Lolo Kiko
Bladimer Usi
Buhay Parokya
FIND 3 MISSING THINGS: 1. BLACK NAZARENE 2. STO. NINO 3. CHALICE
Fantastica: the Princess, the Prince, and the Perya
DIRECTOR: Barry Gonzales LEAD CAST: Vice Ganda, Dingdong Dantes, Richard Gutierrez, Jacklyn Jose, Bela Padilla SCREENWRITER: Enrico Santos, Daisy Cayanan, Jonathan Albano PRODUCER: Vic Del Rosario Jr., Olivia Lamasan EDITOR: Joyce Bernal, Noah Tonga MUSICAL DIRECTOR:
Emerson Texon GENRE: Fantasy Comedy CINEMATOGRAPHER: Anne Monzon DISTRIBUTOR: Star Cinema, Viva Films LOCATION: Philippines RUNNING TIME: 115 minutes Technical assessment: 2.5 Moral assessment: 2.5 CINEMA rating: V14 MTRCB rating: PG
Sa kabila ng madalas nilang di pagkakaunawan, buhay na buhay pa rin ang negosyong perya (na “Perya Wurtzbach” ang tawag) ng mag-inang Belat (Vice Ganda) at Aling Fec (Jacklyn Jose); umaani ito ng maraming “ palakhak” — pinagsamang palakpak at halakhak. Pero merong lagusan ang perya sa daigdig ng Fantastica na magsasara dahil sa isang sumpa. Para magbukas ulit ang lagusan at magpatuloy ang ugnayan sa pagitan ng mundo ng Fantastica at mundo ng tao, kakailanganin ang sampung libong “palakhak”. Magtutulungan si Belat at si Prince Pryce (Richard Gutierrez) upang mabuksan ulit ang lagusan at pabalikin ang sigla ng perya.
Komedyang nakaugat sa pantasiya ang “Fantastica: the Princess, the Prince, and the Perya”, at dahil sa ang bida dito ay si Ganda, alam na marahil ninyo na tulad ng peryang tampok sa pelikula, ninais lamang nitong umani ng palakpak at halakhak mula sa mga manonood. Hindi makapalakpak ang CINEMA sa natunghayan nitong napakababang uri ng komedya, sa gasgas na banghay (plot), sa dayalogong paikot-ikot na parang tsobibong nasira ang preno. At ang kuwento, pantasiya na nga, pasikut-sikot pa, kaya lalong napalabo ng palabok ni Ganda. Sablay din ang casting: ang mga batikang actor na Dantes at Gutierrez ay hindi bagay sa kanilang mga
papel — h indi nakakatawa, bagkus ay katawa-tawa ang kinalabasan nila. Isang bagay lang ang nakita naming nakakatawa: ang boses ng lalaki na namumutawi sa bawa’t pagbuka ng bibig ng marikit na si Bella Padilla. Subali’t kahit na ulanin pa siguro ang “ Fantastica” ng mga pintas ng mga kritiko, kapag pumapalakpak ang manunuod, ang huling halakhak ay sa mga gumawa ng pelikula dahil sa tubongnilugaw na papasok sa kanilang mga bulsa. Ganito na nga ang nangyari: sa simula pa lang ng MFF, nanguna na ang Fantastica sa takilya. Nang manood nito ang CINEMA sa ika-anim na araw, puno pa rin ang sinehan, at humahagalpak ng tawa
ang maraming manunuod sa mga kabaklaan ni Ganda. Paano mo ipapaliwanag sa mga musmos ang mga pantasiya ng isang bakla na ipinagdidiinan ng pelikula? Bagama’t ginustong itampok ng pelikula ang kahalagahan ng pamilya at pag-aaruga ng hindi mo kadugo, hindi ito lumutang dahil nasapawan ito ng walang humpay at walang saysay na pagpapatawa at kabastusan. Paalala lang p o n g C I N E M A — k u n g limitado ang badyet ninyo, makabubuti pa sigurong ibili na lamang ng mga makabuluhang babasahin para sa mga bata iyon kaysa lustayin sa dalawang oras na halakhakan at kapalpakang dulot ng Fantastica.
Ugnayan
THE NEWS SUPPLEMENT OF COUPLES FOR CHRIST CBCP Monitor Vol. 23 No. 1
January 7 - 20, 2019 C1
CFC Celebrates Epiphany Sunday with First Fruits Offering
By CFC Global Comm
AS A fitting beginning to the New Year, the Mission Core of Metro Manila assembled at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City on the Solemnity of the Epiphany. Fitting because they were there to offer their first fruit, their gift of their resources, to the One from whom all these gifts came. The first fruit offering, a community tradition since 2004, is a sacred occasion that involves the consecration of each and every member of CFC on the first gathering of the year. Fr. Ruper Solis, SVD, celebrated the Mass. After the Eucharistic celebration, Pastoral Formation Director Rouquel Ponte exhorted the congregation on the significance of offering the first fruit. “I believe the virtue that the Lord wants us to develop on the Solemnity of the Epiphany is the virtue of generosity,” Ponte began. “As the Lord reveals himself to us as Lord and King, let us allow Him to truly transform us to deepen our generosity,” he added. The tradition of offering the first fruit was born from a prophecy spoken during the yearly discernment and retreat of the International Council and their spouses in November 2003. While steeped in prayer and worship, with much time devoted to listening to God, discernment of God’s messages, and giving prophetic utterances, one of the participants spoke the following message from God quite clearly: “I want to start a TRADITION … a TRADITION of ‘FIRST FRUITS’. At the start of each year, the very first ECG gathering, and the subsequent first gatherings of every group down to the line of every member… should be consecrated to Me. It must be a most solemn and sacred occasion… worthy of my Holiness. This is how the consecration must be done: “You are to prepare an altar. On the altar you are to put an appropriate vessel or container to hold the offerings. Place a crucifix in front of the vessel. Light candles. Adorn with flowers. I WILL BE PRESENT ON THAT SPECIAL OCCASION. MAKE THE SETTING WORTHY OF MY MAJESTY. Worship Me. Sing solemn songs. Then one by one, everyone present including children, without exception, should stand in line. And one by one, each should approach the altar with great reverence. Then offer your FIRST FRUITS, a symbolic amount of money, equivalent to how much of your heart you offer to Me. Your money is of no consequence to Me. But I delight in the amount of love that you will offer to me through that money.” This prophecy is affirmed by the following verse from Deuteronomy:
‘God reveals Himself to those who seek Him’ BELOW are excerpts from the homily given by Fr. Ruper Solis, SVD, during the Mass at the Metro Manila Mission Core Assembly on the Solemnity of the Epiphany. Today we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord. Epiphania, ang pagpapakita ng Diyos. Mga kapatid, ang Diyos ay nagpapakita sa mga taong naghahanap sa Diyos. Ang tunay na hanapbuhay ay ang paghahanap sa Diyos. At ang taong naghahanap sa Diyos ay ang syang natatagpuan ng Diyos. (Brethren, God manifests Himself to those who always seek
Him. Our primary vocation is to seek God, and the person who seeks Him finds Him.) Ang pagpapakita ng Diyos ay ang Kanyang pagtingin sa taong tinitingnan, sa ating lahat. Ang pagtingin ng Diyos sa atin ay ang pagmamahal ng Diyos sa atin. At ang mga nagmamahalan ay may pagtitinginan sa isa’t-isa. (The Epiphany of the Lord to all men is a manifestation of His love. And He who loves us cherishes and regards us as His beloved.) In today’s gospel, the Magi
searched, looked for Jesus, and they encountered Him. Allow me to share three points—qualities or attributes of those who seek, or constantly behold God. 1. Worship - worship is a relationship, not an obligation. When we worship, our desire is to have a deeper, more intimate connection with God. We open up our lives in order for God to enter. 2. Offering - the Magi went to Jesus bearing gifts. A person
who searches for and loves God always comes bearing gifts—time, talents, treasure, love, sacrifice, service. 3. Transformation - our mission is to become a better person today than we were yesterday. This is also the challenge of Epiphany. I believe that the reason we are all here is because we regard the Lord with much love and affection. And as we continue to seek Him, let us be assured that He will find us.
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CFC 2019 Schedule of Events JAN
6 12
Metro Manila Mission Core Assembly & First Fruits Offering CFC International Leaders Conference
for Christ 26th YFC APR 5-7 Youth International Conference (ICON) Handmaids of the Lord (HOLD) 26-28 CFC International Conference
25-27 CFC Mission Core Weekend Retreat
Kids for Christ 26-28 CFC Family Conference (Visayas)
for Christ 26th FEB 15-17 Singles SFC International Conference
Kids for Christ 26-28 CFC Family Conference (Mindanao)
MAR 29-31 JUN
22
CFC Servants of the Lord (SOLD) CFC International Catholic Men`s Conference 2019
CFC 38th Anniversary Celebration
Young Ministries Respond to LAIKO Call to Love for Country
Kids for Christ Family MAY 17-19 CFC Conference (Southern Luzon) Kids for Christ Family 17-19 CFC Conference (Northern Luzon)
ATTY. Alex Lacson, President of the Pilipino Movement for Transformational Leadership (PMTL), a coalition of various faith-based organizations from Catholic, Evangelical and Protestant communities, spoke before leaders of CFC’s younger ministries— Singles for Christ Metro Manila (onsite), and
other SFC leaders in the Philippine Missions (via online stream); Youth for Christ; and Kids for Christ at the CFC Global Mission Center on January 8, 2019. His talk, titled “Understanding Federalism and Charter Change” is designed for young people, who comprise 67% of the Filipino vot-
ing population. The gathering, which sprang from an earlier assembly of member organizations of the CBCP Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas (LAIKO) over the weekend, discussed what young people can do to show their love for country, and how they, like the young heroes YOUNG MINISTRIES, p4
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January 7 - 20, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 1
CBCP Monitor
THE PRESIDENT'S CHAIR Michael “Shok” Ariola
Missionary Journey: The Great Adventure EVERY journey has a beginning and an end. But as someone once said, “It’s the ups and downs of the journey that counts.” We are all missionaries—those who actually go out to far flung places as well as those who labor at home to make sure the mission moves forward. And as missionaries, we began our journey with answering the call. The fulfillment of that call may be said to be the end, the achievement of our metanoia. But that is not the whole story. It is not the complete journey. The initial answer to the call and the satisfaction of seeing the mission fulfilled can only be complete if the journey is done with Jesus, our ultimate goal. For the longest time, I have had this longing and desire to stand on the sacred
soil of the Holy Land together with my co-missionaries. It hasn’t happened yet but I know it will. And I know that once it happens (I hope it is soon), I will never be the same. My life will be completely changed, just like the three wise men who, after meeting the infant Jesus in the manger in Bethlehem, were transformed by the entire experience. The Bible tells us that, having been warned in a dream of Herod’s evil designs on the Child Jesus, they returned to their homes via another route. Here, “another route” can mean another life, another vocation, a new perspective, a new approach to life. The story of Jesus’ resurrection tells us of the same transformation experience. While everyone who saw and came to believe that
Jesus had indeed risen from the dead as the prophets foretold, were never the same thenceforth, it is the the two men journeying to Emmaus who must have been most changed. The Gospel says that when their “eyes were opened,” meaning they finally realized it was Jesus breaking bread with them, they changed their plans and went back to Jerusalem. They were ostensibly escaping from the chaotic situation in Jerusalem and in fear for their future, but meeting Jesus gave them the courage to walk back and confront whatever difficulties their faith in Jesus would bring them. The Gospel says they also went back to Jerusalem because they felt the urge to tell the disciples what had transpired. This desire to tell the
world about Jesus is our journey. Our journey as missionaries is all about experiencing Christ and watching our transformed lives unfold before us. As we begin this new year, our theme calls for us to go into another year of rekindling our gift and fulfilling the ministry we have committed our lives to. This renewed mandate requires that we be deliberate in all our actions—deliberate in meeting Christ especially in others, in situations, even in impossible situations, and in unlovable people. Christ is in every person and in every situation. Our mission is to deliberately look for him. And why should we do that? Simple. Because we do not want to be the same person we were before. Have you ever wondered
how much you have changed just by attempting to follow Christ? Every time we pray, we are changed. Every time we receive the Holy Eucharist, we receive the capacity to be different. Every time we come together as husband and wife, to talk about God’s great plan for our marriage and family, we are never left the same. Every time we gather as a family with our children, if we meet Christ through them, we become a different father or mother. Just by following Jesus, we become completely changed. Let us ask ourselves—Am I the same as I was five minutes, five months or five years ago? For those of us in their senior years, am I the same person I was fifty years ago? If we say, and some would even be proud of this,
that we haven’t changed, then perhaps you need a deeper encounter with Jesus. The year 2019 has just begun. In just over eleven months from now, it will be 2020. Will we be able to say, as we look back at our year, that we have indeed encountered Jesus? Can we start counting down the weeks today, but always mindful that every day, Jesus gives us the opportunity to change even the smallest aspects of our personality, our perspectives, our lives? I look forward to saying Yes to that. I hope you are as excited as I am about the wonderful things our renewed desire to encounter Jesus in ourselves, in our families, in others, will unfold in our lives. Happy New Year!
FROM A PASTORAL PERSPECTIVE Rouquel Ponte
OUR travels take us from place to place and for various reasons —work, leisure, homecoming, mission, etc. But we also have another travel—our own journey of faith. Allow me to focus on our journey of faith in life and propose some key points for our reflection. Let us view this journey from the biblical perspective of Luke 24:13-35—on the road to Emmaus. The journey of the two Emmaus disciples may be described as a walk of despair as they travelled the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. There was a sense of confusion and even hopelessness. We may be experiencing the same in our life—moments of light and moments of darkness. This is the reality we find ourselves in. But the good news is that we are never alone in these moments of distress and confusion. The Risen Lord meets us, listens to us and speaks to us. As He listens, we began to understand that someone understands our present situation. When our Lord appeared to the two disciples, he walked with them, listened and also encouraged them to express what was deep inside them—their hopes and disappointments. This is what happens to us when we al-
Our Journey of Faith low our encounter with the Lord to deepen into greater intimacy. This prayerful listening of Jesus to us teaches us to listen to others as well. Listening is the first step in our journey together. We then become a listening Church, a listening community. This is especially true as we relate with the young people of today— they need to be heard and understood. But this also applies to all of our pastoral life: like Jesus, we are sent into the world to listen to the cry of humanity, which is often a silent cry, at times even suppressed. Journeying and listening should lead us to the third important point— discernment. This requires accompaniment, the same accompaniment that Jesus did to the two disciples and also to His twelve Apostles. He accompanied them with patience and wisdom, teaching them to follow the ways of truth and even helping them discern what was in their hearts. He helped them in their confusion and doubt. In the end, Jesus assured them that He will be with them until the end of age through the Holy Spirit. The mystery of our pastoral vocation and discernment must always be under the power of Jesus’ Spirit which requires the
cooperation of the one called and the one who accompanies. Jesus taught His disciples two important lessons: He opened their minds to Scripture and He opened their eyes to His Presence in the Eucharist. He opened not only their minds and eyes but most especially their hearts, directed to focus only on Him. In our present reality, these lessons are taught again and again in our full participation in the Mass and in receiving Jesus in the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The final word is mission—the travelling together to meet others especially in their need. The two disciples hurriedly went back to Jerusalem and joined their apostolic community which by the power of the Holy Spirit became wholly missionary. Here are some practical points to help us remember the lessons in our journey of faith in life. This will also illustrate the stages of our growth and maturity as disciples of Jesus. 1. I n i t i a t i o n – W e n e e d t o realize that our first call to be Christ’s disciples is to be with Him always. This will require that we spend more time being with Him than do-
ing many things that occupy our day. Prayerful listening; contemplating His Word in Scriptures; a strong devotion to the Blessed Sacrament are some things we can do for us to deepen our intimacy and personal relationship with the Lord. This will lead us to be in full communion with Him and we will be initiated and received into the family of God. 2. Accompaniment – Let us be like the two disciples from Emmaus, who encountered the Lord, listened to Him speak; allowed their hearts to be touched and invited Him to break bread with them at table. Let us also be willing instruments to accompany others in need of God’s presence in their lives. This may take much of our time and we may have to go through some inconvenience or even require our financial resources but like Jesus, like the great men and women of our faith, let us pray for the grace to be willing to go the extra mile in our journey of faith. 3. Mission – As our first call is to be with Jesus, what comes next is to imitate Him and
follow Him all the way. This will mean the readiness and willingness to: : • Choose what Jesus chooses —a life of sacrifice, simplicity and obedience to God’s will, to the point of even foregoing some comfort and pleasures in life, • Let go of any self-entitlement and be content with whatever role is assigned to us; and • Be willing to go all the way, even to the ultimate suffering on the cross. After giving the mission to the twelve apostles, Jesus laid down the conditions to discipleship, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) Let us now together reflect: 1. W h e r e a m I n o w i n m y journey of faith? 2. What two commitments will I pursue so I can continue being with Jesus and the people He sends me to be with?
FIRST FRUITS, C1
THE CFC HISTORY BOOK
“…You shall take some first fruits of the various products of the soil which you harvest from the land which the Lord, your God, gives you, and putting them in a basket, you shall go to the place which the Lord, your God, chooses for the dwelling place of His name. There you shall go to the priest in office at that time and say to him, ‘Today I acknowledge to the Lord, my God that I have indeed come into the land which He swore to our fathers He would give us.’ The priest shall then receive the basket from you and shall set it in front of the altar of the Lord, your God. Then you shall declare before the Lord, your God, ‘He gave this land flowing with milk and honey. Therefore, I have now brought you the first fruits of the products of the soil which you, O Lord, have given me.’ And having set them before the Lord, your God, you shall bow down in His presence. Then you and your family… shall make merry over all these good things which the Lord, your God, has given you.” ~Deuteronomy 26: 2-11 A solemn promise This offering of First Fruits is a symbolic act—individually and as a community. This is a symbolic act of bringing back to God—and thanking Him—for the many blessings He has
given each person, each family, and the entire community. The prophecy further said: “My arms are raised to bless. My hands are poised to give. Honor Me with your FIRST FRUITS solemnly, joyfully, and willingly. Dedicate yourselves to Me through your FIRST FRUITS OFFERING—not because you are just interested in the good results you expect Me to give you—but because you really love me and you delight in honoring Me. Then you will see… if I don’t open the windows of heaven and pour down upon you in abundance all kinds of good things.” The Lord has spoken. Offering one’s firsts fruits is not about the amount being offered but the state of one’s heart as he or she utters a prayer of gratitude for the blessings of the years past, and for blessings God is ready to pour out to each one in the coming year. Aside from CFC Metro Manila, CFC Laguna, CFC Guam and some chapters conducted their own first fruits offering on the first Sunday of the year. The rest of the provinces and countries, from the big assemblies down to the chapter and household level, are expected to hold their first fruits offering on their first assembly/gathering/ household prayer meeting. The first fruits offering are earmarked for the development of the global mission.
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CBCP Monitor
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January 7 - 20, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 1
AQUILA AND PRISCILLA
REFLECTIONS FROM THE VATICAN Joe Tale
Our Own Special Moment
He cured them (Matthew 4:24) HIS name was Juan Jose Barragan Silva. He lived in Mexico City. He was a drug addict. On 6 May 1990, under the drug’s influence, in his mother’s presence, he stabbed himself, went to the balcony of their apartment and jumped out. His mother held on to his legs but she was not strong enough and Barragan managed to free himself. He plunged head first to the ground. Barragan was rushed to the hospital. But to everyone’s surprise, three days later, he was completely healed. He should have died from the fall or at the very least become handicapped for the rest of his life. But no, in only three days, he was completely whole with no broken bones or physical impairment. The doctors all agreed that it was scientifically and medically inexplicable. But the mystery would be solved when Barragan’s mother revealed that, as soon as she lost her grip and her son was falling off the balcony, she invoked the intercession of Juan Diego. In bold words full of faith, she prayed, “Give me proof. Save this son of mine. And you, my Mother, listen to Juan Diego.” This event happened at exactly the same time that Juan Diego was being beatified by Pope John Paul II at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe not too far from where Barragan lived in Mexico City. This miraculous healing, after a long and exhaustive investigation, was the miracle that led to the canonization of St. Juan Diego on 31 July 2002 also by Pope John Paul II. Juan Diego was born in 1474 as Cuauhtlatohuac, which means “he who talks like an eagle”. Following the early death of his parents, he was taken to live with his uncle. He was raised from birth in the Aztec pagan religion. When the Franciscan missionaries arrived in Mexico, Cuauhtlatohuac, his wife, Malintzin, and his uncle were converted to Catholicism and baptized in 1525. He took the name Juan Diego while his wife became Maria Lucia and his uncle became Juan Bernardino. They were among the first natives to be baptized. After baptism, Juan Diego became very committed to his new religion. Even after his wife died, he would walk long distances to receive further religious instruction at the Franciscan mission station
at Tlatelolco. After the events of 9-12 December 1531 during which the image of the Blessed Virgin was miraculously imprinted on his tilma, Juan Diego moved into a little hermitage on Tepeyac Hill. He lived a life of prayer, recounting to countless pilgrims visiting the miraculous image of the Lady of Tepeyac the events that forever changed his life. He remained in the same hermitage until his death on 9 December 1548, exactly 17 years after the first apparition. He is now considered as the patron saint of indigenous people. However, he should also be the patron saint of people who would like to be cured of drug addiction as well as those who have serious and terminal illnesses for it was to him that our Lady of Guadalupe said, “Do not be worried about his illness, or any other pain or anxiety. Am I not here, who am your mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection?” December 8 is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 9 the Feast of St. Juan Diego, and December 12 is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. While everyone was looking forward to our CFC household’s Christmas Party on December 14, several members of the household sent messages that they were not feeling well, one with flu, another with body aches, and still another with severe cough. Another fell down from a two-step ladder, and a few weeks earlier a member of the household fell flat on his face after momentarily losing consciousness. We prayed for them, invoking the intercession of the Blessed Mother. We recited for them the oldest complete prayer to Mary that dates back to 250 A.D., Sub Tuum Praesidium (Under Your Protection), which Pope Francis had also encouraged all Catholics to pray daily for protection from physical and spiritual harm.
Sub Tuum Praesidium We fly to your protection, O holy Mother of God. Despise not our petitions In our necessities, But deliver us from all dangers, O ever glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen. The Blessed Mother must have listened to St. Juan Diego
for the miraculous cure of Barragan. At the hill of Tepeyac, the Virgin of Guadalupe assured Juan Diego on 12 December 1531, when she appeared to him for the fourth time, that his seriously ill and dying uncle, Juan Bernardino, was, at that very same moment, already completely healed. At Lourdes, where she identified herself in 1858 as the Immaculate Conception, thousands of pilgrims have since experienced miraculous healing. Lourdes has become a leading shrine for the sick, the lame, and the blind. All these healings remind us of what Matthew wrote at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee: Jesus went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people. His fame spread to all of Syria, and they brought him all who were sick with various diseases and racked in pain, those who were possessed, lunatics, and paralytics, and he cured them (Mt 4:23-24). Indeed, Jesus is the Great Healer. St. Juan Diego, the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Lady of Lourdes, draw from Jesus their power to heal. A long list of miracles, cures, and intercessions are attributed to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Every year, over 10 million people visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It is the most popular Marian shrine and the most visited Catholic church in the world after St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. More than 20 popes have officially honored Our Lady of Guadalupe. St. John Paul II visited the Basilica four times - on his first apostolic trip outside Rome as Pope in 1979, and again in 1990, 1999 and 2002. During his visit in 1999, Pope John Paul II entrusted the cause of life to her loving protection and placed under her motherly care the innocent lives of children, especially those who are in danger of not being born. God has chosen Mary from the beginning of time to be the Daughter of the Father, the Mother of the Son, and the Spouse of the Spirit. And Mary has chosen Juan Diego to declare to the world that she is “our mother” because she wants to lead us to her Son who draws multitudes toward him (as he, through Mary, is now also drawing us).
FORTY-four years ago, the Lord blessed Babylou and me with our own special moment. The date was December 23, 1974. The place was St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori Church, Magallanes Village, Makati, Metro Manila. I thank the Lord for that moment, for the blessing of God through the sacrament of holy matrimony. I thank Him for Fr Ruben Tanseco, S.J., my college theology professor, who officiated the liturgy and wedding rites. I remember with gratitude my family, and my friends who supported our audacity to marry at the young age of 23 and 22. Very young by today's standards. Many in CFC already know our love story, how Babylou and I first met when we were still in elementary school. Of course, no relationship yet at that stage (just wanted to make that clear). We honor our Grade 4 teacher, Miss Felicidad Buling, for starting it all. I was one year ahead of Babylou, and we did not know each other then. Miss Buling unknowingly "introduced" me to Babylou. I must have impressed Miss Buling, during the time I was her student, that she kept referring to me as her ideal student in the next class she handled, i.e., Babylou's class. Babylou became curious as to who this ideal student was. Well, in those days, one did not really get to be formally introduced to one another. It just happened. And so it did, in that corner of the world we call Valencia Elementary School. I remember being so attracted to Babylou when I first got to know her, much like when Michael Corleone first saw Apolonia in Italy in the Mario Puzo book, The Godfather. I am kidding of course, but what I really want to say is that the Lord brings people together in different ways and circumstances, and this was how He introduced us to one another. And so, while belated and posthumous, we still thank and honor Miss Buling for the “introduction". We also thank and honor The Ambivalent Crowd for singing during our own special moment, with Ryan Cayabyab and the late Willie Cruz on the keyboards.
The heavenly strains of Fill the World with Love , Invocation , One Love , Sunrise Sunset, The Lord's Prayer, and Ang Tangi Kong Pagibig , continue to play in our minds. This they did out of pure friendship. I was a newbie in the Crowd, and so thankful for their support. Babylou and I are forever grateful. I also honor my parents-in-law, Rodolfo and Lydia Gonzalez, though both have passed on to the next life, for loving us and believing in us. Mommy Lyd was my supporter, who with her motherly instinct, gently affirmed Babylou's decision to go for me (Yehey!). Daddy Odol, who we took out to dinner in Kowloon House as our version of pamanhikan was also supportive, even with his serious mien at the start. (My own father had passed away at this time, and I didn't have paternal relatives in Manila except for my Jesuit Brother uncle. So I was alone.) When I still could not muster up the courage to ask for Babylou's hand in marriage, even after we were done with dessert, Daddy Odol, sensitive enough about my predicament, ordered beer, and that gave me the signal, and the courage, to go for it. Honestly, I don't remember a word of what I said, but I must have said the right things, as my father-in-law agreed, and the wedding came to be. I reserve the most important honoring for my bride of 44 years—my girl, my woman, my friend, all rolled into one, as in the song of Jose Mari Chan. I might add— my chef, carpenter, plumber, painter, and gardener, and many more. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for choosing me from all the rest. I love you then, I love you even more now. To you I pledge my love forever.
“One love, in my young life Took me somewhere I have never been And I want to live again, breathe again, In the shelter of this brightly woven love song…” And to our family and friends, especially those who shared our own special moments then and now, thank you!
YOUNG MINISTRIES, C1
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of long ago, can safeguard the sovereignty of this nation. “A good Christian must also be a good citizen,” Atty. Lacson began. Quoting Bishop Broderick Pabillo, LAIKO Chairman, he added, “A good citizen gets involved in the issues that affect people’s lives, and our Christianity compels us to participate in the issues and act on them.” What are these issues? Atty. Lacson presented six big issues for 2019: Elections 2019; the shift to a federal form of government; extrajudicial killings or EJKs; anti-opposition/Communist campaign; martial law declaration; and the conflict between China and the US in the West Philippine Sea. Atty. Lacson emphasized that “We need to vigilantly watch five of these issues this year. Of course there are many other issues like the attacks on the clergy, the vice-presidential post-election contention between Bongbong Marcos and VP Leni Robredo.” He added, “But these issues could happen this year.” Among the six, Atty. Lacson gave great importance and urgency on the proposed shift of the Philippine form of government to federalism. He said, “The issue on federalism is more important than the 2019 elections,” because federalism has more long-term repercussions that favor sitting lawmakers than the elections. He noted that once the country shifts to this new form of government, there will be no turning back, based on the experience of countries
which have gone through the shift. Atty. Lacson also discussed the “12 Dangerous Provisions of GMA’s Federal Charter”. He explained the difference between GMA’s (Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) and the Bayanihan Federal Constitution drafted by the Constitutional Commission (ConCom) headed by Justice Reynaldo Puno. “After the completion of Puno et al’s “Bayanihan Federal Constitution”, the group submitted it to President Duterte, who in turn submitted it to Congress under Speaker of the House Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during the State of the Nation Address (SONA). However, Arroyo completely disregarded the Bayanihan Federal Constitution, and drafted the House’s own version, which the Lower House has approved last December 11, 2018. Hence, the one that is on the table now is the GMA Federal Charter.” A study made of the provisions of the GMA Charter by the group of Atty. Lacson showed that the said Charter would be anti-poor; pro-political dynasty (because of the deletion of antipolitical dynasty provisions, removal of term limits in office, increase in the number of districts and party-list representatives); anti-people (because it removes the State's policy to encourage non-governmental, community-based, or sectoral organizations that promote the welfare of the nation, thus giving more power to Congress); anti-youth (increasing the age
qualification of presidential and vice-presidential candidates from 40 to 45); and anti-Filipino (opening ownership of mass media outfits, and other business wholly or substantially to foreigners). Atty. Lacson likewise noted that the obstacles to the shift to a Federal government are crumbling, and it is up to the young to do something about the situation. He noted that this “something” may not only mean that the youth get into the political arena or march in the streets. For a start, he suggested that the youth learn more about the issues and talk about these issues with their peers and their families . Noli Manuel, Singles for Christ International Coordinator, in wrapping up the discussions, exhorted the youth, now armed with information about the issues, to allow the Spirit to lead them to being good Christians and good citizens. He stated that as future parents, the youth must now ponder on what kind of Philippines they would want to leave to their children. The discussions pointed out one important fact—that there should not be any dichotomy in how Christians conduct themselves in the “real world”. The youth’s mission must not stop at being evangelizers, but they must venture beyond their immediate spheres of influence. They could be numerous sparks of light, but when lit at the same time, can illumine the darkness that shrouds the world. (A. Alvarez)
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January 7 - 20, 2019 Vol. 23 No. 1
CBCP Monitor
FAITH IN ACTION: CANADIAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS GO ON PHILIPPINE SERVICE TRIP FOR the past seven years, the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) has partnered with CFC ANCOP in sponsoring a trip to the Philippines for high school student leaders from different Catholic schools around Toronto. This school year 2018-2019, from December 27, 2018 to January 9, 2019, 23 students and three teachers flew all the way to Manila to put their faith into action as they visited and built relationships with the people from the different ANCOP communities they visited. The students also helped build houses in an on-going construction at Parañaque City. This trip was spearheaded by Michael Consul, together with his coteachers Merle Gonsalves, Celia Ieradi, Pauline Flanagan. Michael’s father is Bernie Consul, a CFC volunteer at AN-
COP Canada. Through the program, Consul hopes that the students may have a heart for the poor, and will be transformed, not just in the way they see the lives of these people, but their own lives as well. In the two weeks of their visit, the students built an extraordinary bond with the people in the following ANCOP sites—Our Lady of Banneux (San Mateo, Rizal); Masagana Village (Quezon City); AVANAI Village (Quezon City); ANCOP Vancouver Homes (Paniqui, Tarlac); Starville IV Homes (Baliwag, Bulacan); and PAR 2 Homes (Parañaque City). They also got the chance to visit Smokey Mountain in Tondo, Manila and the orphaned kids from Bethlehem House of Bread in Baliwag, Bulacan. One activity during this service trip was participating, for three whole
days, in the construction of an ongoing site in PAR 2 Homes. This trip was definitely memorable for both the participants and the families they visited. Hazel Orea, a Grade 12 student, realized during the trip how blessed she is, and why she should not take things for granted. The willingness with which the people in the village, especially the kids, opened their homes and their lives to them amazed Jayzelle Ponce, a Grade 11 student. Putting faith into action may sound ambiguous for some, but this trip is a reminder that even the young can do their share in helping the poor and marginalized, not just with gifts and financial assistance, but more so with the simplest things—by listening and letting them feel that they are loved. (Patria Balilla)
Adventure Learning with TCDSB Student Leaders MICHAEL Consul, facilitator during the latest Catholic Student Leadership activity called Philippines Service Trip, posted the day-to-day activities of the students and teachers on https://catholicstudentleadership.com, to highlight what 23 student leaders under the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) did during their “faith into action” immersion. December 26 - Group left via Toronto Airport. When asked to describe their thoughts or feelings about the trip, the kids (and teachers) agreed that they were grateful, anxious, awesome, adventurous, excited, thrilled, exhilarated, aware, nervous. DAY 1 - Visit to Sitio Masagana The student leaders were welcomed with high fives by the children of Masagana. Basically a day of fellowship, the older kids from the community played a friendly game of basketball with the Canada group, followed by dancing, games, gift-giving and Filipino food.
DAY 2 - Visit to Our Lady of Banneux Community Despite the rains, the group visited the Our Lady of Banneux ANCOP Community in San Mateo, Rizal. More music and dancing, more games, more fellowship with the home partners, more gifts, more food! The women also taught the students how to sew rags, which is one of the sources of livelihood of the residents there. DAY 3 - Visit to Paniqui, Tarlac After a four-hour bus ride, the student leaders reached Tarlac, last year’s immersion build site. Being a Sunday, the Canadian delagates stopped by the St. Rose of Lima parish for a Tagalog Mass. It was a reunion of sorts for the ANCOP families and the Consuls (everyone was calling Mike “Tito Mike”). The children in the ANCOP community performed a folk dance,
and later the visitors engaged the youth DAY 7 - Tagaytay to visit a Canossian nun, plus a little sightin a mock-soccer game. seeing DAY 4 - PAR 2 Community, Parañaque As it was still raining, team Canada and the children of PAR 2 Community played indoors. And then, it was endless singing and picture-taking.
DAY 5 - The slums of Tondo, plus New Year's party Ms. Universe 2018 Catriona Gray put Tondo in the world map when she mentioned the work that she does there. The kids from Canada experienced Tondo first hand, seeing Smokey Mountain, and the mounds of garbage collected and sorted in all the shops as they walked the streets. They also visited the tenement housing where the former residents of Smokey Mountain lived. Fr. Jhonatan Letada, SVD, one of the CFC GMC regular priests, graciously welcomed the Canadian students and the 150 street children in his parish in Balut, Tondo As it was New Year’s Day, they celebrated together with the kids of Tondo with Jollibee meals and gifts, of course! DAY 6 - Live morning TV show guesting The group appeared in Bagong Pilipinas, a live morning show at PTV 4, to talk about what they were doing, about ANCOP, and their experiences during the trip. In the afternoon, Consul took the group to Greenbelt Chapel in Makati to pray. The group also visited the American Memori al Cemetery. They used the solitude of the cemetery to discuss the contrast between Tondo and Makati and to write in their journals their thoughts on gratitude.
Catholic Mission, CFC ANCOP Partner for an Immersion Program at Bantayan Island
CATHOLIC Mission-Australia visited the Philippines for a week-long immersion program, made possible via a partnership with CFC ANCOP. The immersion was held at CFC ANCOP Malbago Community at Bantayan Island, Cebu from December 9-15, 2018. The Catholic Mission contingent was composed of 17 missionaries, all of them college students from St. Francis Xavier College and Mount St. Joseph High School in Australia, and four teacher-chaperones. The participants experienced a different kind of adventure as they engaged with the home partners of the ANCOP site. They were welcomed with typical Pinoy hospitality on
their first day as the villagers prepared festive dances, bringing warm smiles to the missionaries’ faces. Their weeklong schedule also gave them a chance for more engagement with the villagers, sharing meals with them, helping in paving pathways, and making do-it-yourself Christmas decorations for the community common area. The participants also learned something new as they attended the ANCOP orientation and Child Protection Policy Orientation. It wasn’t all work as their hosts made sure that they toured Bantayan Island, famous for its beautiful white sand beaches. The delegates heard Mass at the Immacu-
late Concepcion Parish at the Municipality of Madridejos, and visited Sts. Peter and Paul Church in downtown Bantayan, the oldest church in Cebu and the second oldest in the Philippines. They also had an amazing race team-building activity at the beautiful beach of Lawis. The memories and friendships formed during the immersion left a lasting mark, not only in the participants, but the village residents as well. The experience was clearly an encounter with Jesus. This was the first immersion program partnership between CFC ANCOP and Catholic Mission, and both are looking forward to more mission trips in the future. (Tria Balilla)
DAY 8, 10 & 11 - Building houses in PAR 2 The students put on their gloves and hard hats to help build some of the houses in the community. They sifted sand, laid bricks, did some paint jobs, mixed cement manually. They were tired, but soon were revived in spirit as they rode a jeepney, drank soda in plastic, ate local ice cream (sorbetes), and played with the kids (again).
DAY 9 - Bethlehem House of Bread Orphanage in Bulacan The Canadians played with the 98 children, including 12 infants, in the orphanage, danced with them and made instant friends. Though there wasn’t much physical activity (unlike the build), some of the girls admitted to feeling “drained” because they just wanted to give the children `their all. The group also gave a donation of $250 and gifts for the children. The students flew back to Toronto on January 9, bringing with them not only memories, but hearts full of gratitude for the unique experience of putting their faith in action. (A. Alvarez)