By Roy LagardeFebruary 22, 2024Manila, Philippines Pope Francis on Thursday appointed Bishop Rex Andrew Alarcon as the new archbishop of Caceres, his home archdiocese. Alarcon,...
Archbishop Emeritus Fernando Capalla of Davao. DAVAO CATHOLIC HERALD
By Fr. Sebastiano D’Ambra, PIME January 7, 2024 Manila, Philippines
The news of the death of Archbishop Fernando Capalla on January 6 , 2024, who died at the age of 89 is a time of sorrow for all of us and for me also an occasion to remember him as a good friend who contributed a lot for the promotion of interreligious dialogue in Mindanao and on the national and international level.
When I started the Silsilah Dialogue Movement in 1984, he was happy of this new beginning to the point that when he was elected as chairperson of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) for the Commission on Interreligious Dialogue he asked me to be the executive secretary and allow me to have the office in Zamboanga near the office of Silsilah.
This great sign of trust and friendship helped me a lot to be challenged more in the mission that I started in dialogue with the Muslims in Zamboanga and along the years in Mindanao and on the national level.
Silsilah invited Archbishop Capalla in Zamboanga for some seminars and for the summer course. He was also with us the day that Fr. Salvatore Carzedda, PIME was killed in Zamboanga City on May 20, 1992. I can also recall a critical moment when in Davao I was rushed to the hospital and he helped me in many ways.
I believe many of us can say many things about the goodness and generosity of archbishop Capalla. I think he is well known for starting the Bishops Ulama Forum that after a few years was renamed as Bishops’ – Ulama Conference. I was at his side as executive secretary of the CBCP for the Commission on Interreligious Dialogue. I remember the first gathering in Cebu in 1996 and the many other gatherings in the different parts of Mindanao and Manila. For two occasions we also did the gathering of the Bishops-Ulama Conference in Harmony Village, Zamboanga City.
Our friendship was expressed in many ways and he was an honorary member of the Board of Trustee of Silsilah, he encouraged me to continue the dream to start the Emmaus Dialogue Community in Zamboanga. In that occasion as chairman of the Episcopal Commission for Interreligious Dialogue of the CBCP he wrote: “The diocesan bishop is advised by the new Code of Canon Law:’to discern the new gifts of the consecrated life which the Holy Spirit entrusted to the Church (C.605). The Emmaus Dialogue Community is a new form of consecrated life in the local Church.’ I believe that this new community is a gift and a blessing to the local Church and to the Church at large. With dialogue as its primary objective it answers a long-felt need in this Church’s Ministry.”
Guided by this spirit and friendship with the new Emmaus Dialogue Community that after was renamed Emmaus Dialogue Community opening the charism to all in the Church, Archbishop Capalla volunteered to be the patron bishop of this new reality of Emmaus in the Church and was very happy when during one of my visits in Davao I shared to him that Emmaus Dialogue Movement is ground on and we opened an Emmaus College of Theology, major on Interreligious Dialogue.
This illustration shows a laptop user browsing the internet. According to a Statista report, as of October 2023, there were 5.3 billion internet users worldwide, or 65.7% of the global population. Of this total, 4.95 billion internet users, or 61.4% of the world’s population, were social media users, the site said. (OSV News photo/Yui Mok, PA Images via Reuters)
(OSV News) — The word “missionary” can conjure up in the Catholic mind a vision of saintly figures traveling to distant lands and enduring heroic hardships to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.
Nowadays, however, the mission field is just as likely to be found in cyberspace — a fact recognized by the Synod on Synodality, which concluded its first session in Rome and is set to resume in October 2024.
“Digital culture,” said the synod’s synthesis report from Oct. 28, “represents a fundamental change in the way we conceive of reality and consequently relate to ourselves, one another, our surroundings, and even to God. … Missionaries have always gone with Christ to new frontiers, while the Holy Spirit pushed and preceded them. It is up to us to reach today’s culture in all spaces where people seek meaning and love, including the spaces they enter through their cell phones and tablets.”
“We need to provide opportunities for recognizing, forming, and accompanying those already working as digital missionaries, while also facilitating networking amongst them,” the synod’s report added.
Statista reports, “As of October 2023, there were 5.3 billion internet users worldwide, which amounted to 65.7 percent of the global population. Of this total, 4.95 billion, or 61.4 percent of the world’s population, were social media users.”
OSV News spoke with three “digital missionaries” to hear their thoughts about forming disciples of Jesus into missionaries for online evangelization.
“In several dioceses there are already institutes for lay formation,” said Father Iván Montelongo, judicial vicar and vocations director for the Diocese of El Paso, Texas. “I know that we have one here in my diocese. It would be a great thing in those institutions to start offering courses — curriculum guided toward that; toward learning about the internet, perhaps the nature of communications and about the Gospel.”
Father Montelongo, who regularly posts on X (formerly Twitter), attended the Synod on Synodality in Rome, and will return in 2024. One of six non-bishop voting delegates from the U.S. chosen to represent North America, he’s also the synod coordinator for his diocese.
While formation classes could equip Catholics to evangelize digital spaces, Father Montelongo advised a community bond is also essential.
“The connection to a church is important, too,” he added. “We can learn a lot of things online; take a course; I’m sure there’s great resources out there. But it should be a community that sends us, too — and we should come back to that community. I think that is necessary in order to form missionaries.”
Community roots and reinforcement gain even greater importance considering the often strident tone of online polemics.
“It’s hard sometimes when we see those debates — especially some platforms that don’t make that connection with the physical world, and don’t foster that encounter,” Father Montelongo said. “They can just become nasty places.”
As Catholic journalist and author John L. Allen Jr., observes in “Catholics and Contempt: How Catholic Media Fuel Today’s Fights, and What to Do About It,” the experience of social media shows that “people will say terrible things anonymously that they would never dare utter face-to-face. … In a sense, social media is designed to bring out the worst angels of our nature.”
That doesn’t mean, however, that Catholics should avoid online engagement; indeed, Father Montelongo was encouraged by the digital emphasis at the synod.
“Sometimes we are a little bit behind in these things,” he said, referring to the Catholic Church. “Changing our perspective from the internet as a dangerous place to the internet as mission territory — that paradigm shift is already a huge improvement.”
Preparation is important — but missionaries also need to just take the first step, Father Montelongo emphasized.
“The disciples went out. Jesus gave them enough — and they also learned on their way, too,” he said. “That should be our attitude — whether in person, whether online — being missionary disciples who are still learning,” said Father Montelongo. “We haven’t figured everything out — but we’re going out without fear, knowing that God is accompanying us.”
Sister Orianne Dyck, a Daughter of Saint Paul who serves her order as U.S. and Canada social media coordinator, said while specific formation could be helpful to digital missionaries, the first thing for Catholics to remember is their baptism.
“You have people who enter into the online space on purpose as missionaries — that’s their ministry. But then you also have just the average Joe, who — by virtue of his baptism — will always be a missionary, no matter where he or she is,” Sister Orianne explained. “So I think in that sense, it’s actually more important for us to form one another as everyday, normal Christians, able to live in a missionary way all of our life — because then that will translate over to how we interact with people online.”
Catholics’ remembering their baptism also should shape their online exchanges, said Sister Orianne.
“Being able to understand we’re called to communicate out of this covenant relationship we’ve entered into with Christ — that we have died with Christ; that we can live with Christ — should change everything about how we intake communication, and also how we output communication,” she added. “Because it means that everything I’m filling myself with I want to be for the glory of God and the peace of mankind — and likewise, everything that I share I want to be for the glory of God and the peace of mankind. And online no less so.”
It’s something she always remembers in her own online messaging, said Sister Orianne.
“People will maybe leave kind of an angry comment under a video or whatever that I post, and I try to respond in charity,” she said. “And when they notice that I’m responding to them in a different tone than every other Christian they’ve encountered online, they’re surprised — and it shouldn’t be that way. Every Christian should be able to communicate in charity and know the importance of it.”
Echoing Father Montelongo, Sister Orianne also emphasized true community as the foundation of communication.
“We are able to literally grow together — and to form one another and to encourage one another — in a way that is not possible if it’s just seen as a dissemination of information,” she noted. “It’s much more communal — which is really beautiful, because it becomes an even deeper way of building up the body of Christ. So there’s a huge gift in that — although it certainly comes with its own challenges.”
One of those challenges, said Matthew Warner, founder and CEO of Flocknote, a member management and messaging tool created for churches and ministries, is authenticity.
“The better Catholics learn to integrate digital tools into their lives in healthy, authentic ways, the better digital missionaries they will be able to be,” Warner said. “It’s easy for the digital tools to become distractions or misrepresentations of our true selves, which hinder our ability to build the strong relationships which lead to effective evangelization.”
But again, real community is vital.
“Personally, I think we put too much stock in a need for most people to evangelize online,” Warner shared. “Don’t get me wrong — there is a distinct need for a presence there from the church. But I think the most powerful evangelizing occurs in personal relationships and offline.”
“In fact,” he reflected, “the increase in massive digital activity — by both culture and the church — has coincided with a great increase in broken families, more depression and anxiety, fewer closer relationships and an acceleration of people no longer practicing or believing their faith.”
In 2019, a poll conducted by the American Psychiatric Association revealed, “More than one in three adults (38%) see social media usage as harmful to mental health; nearly half (45%) see social media usage as having both positive and negative impact on mental health; only 5% see it as having a positive impact.”
Warner also reminded Catholics that as digital missionaries, the mission field they’ll encounter online will often be close to home — and so making time to go offline and cultivate those relationships in person is critical.
“If we are going to reverse the mass exodus of the next generation leaving the church,” he suggested, “I think it’s going to happen more fundamentally by Catholics realizing God has already placed their most urgent mission field right in front of them — in their homes, with their neighbor, with their coworker they talk to every day … If more of us focused more there — and spent less time online — I think big things would start to happen.”
Kimberley Heatherington writes for OSV News from Virginia.
By Pope Francis Vatican City, Dec 24, 2023 / 18:00 pm
Below is the full text of Pope Francis’ homily for the solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, delivered on Dec. 24, 2023, in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Christmas Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on the night of Dec. 24, 2023
“A census of the whole earth” (cf. Lk 2:1). This was the context in which Jesus was born, and the Gospel makes a point of it. The census might have been mentioned in passing, but instead is carefully noted. And in this way, a great contrast emerges. While the emperor numbers the world’s inhabitants, God enters it almost surreptitiously. While those who exercise power seek to take their place with the great ones of history, the King of history chooses the way of littleness. None of the powerful take notice of him: only a few shepherds, relegated to the margins of social life.
The census speaks of something else. In the Scriptures, the taking of a census has negative associations. King David, tempted by large numbers and an unhealthy sense of self-sufficiency, sinned gravely by ordering a census of the people. He wanted to know how powerful he was. After some nine months, he knew how many men could wield a sword (cf. 2 Sam 24:1-9). The Lord was angered and the people suffered. On this night, however, Jesus, the “Son of David,” after nine months in Mary’s womb, is born in Bethlehem, the city of David. He does not impose punishment for the census but humbly allows himself to be registered as one among many. Here we see not a god of wrath and chastisement but the God of mercy, who takes flesh and enters the world in weakness, heralded by the announcement: “on earth peace among those whom he favors” (Lk 2:14). Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war, by the clash of arms that even today prevents him from finding room in the world (cf. Lk 2:7).
The census of the whole earth, in a word, manifests the all-too-human thread that runs through history: the quest for worldly power and might, fame and glory, which measures everything in terms of success, results, numbers, and figures, a world obsessed with achievement. Yet the census also manifests the way of Jesus, who comes to seek us through enfleshment. He is not the god of accomplishment, but the God of incarnation. He does not eliminate injustice from above by a show of power but from below, by a show of love. He does not burst on the scene with limitless power, but descends to the narrow confines of our lives. He does not shun our frailties, but makes them his own.
Christmas Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on the night of Dec. 24, 2023. Vatican Media
Brothers and sisters, tonight we might ask ourselves: Which God do we believe in? In the God of incarnation or the god of achievement? Because there is always a risk that we can celebrate Christmas while thinking of God in pagan terms, as a powerful potentate in the sky; a god linked to power, worldly success, and the idolatry of consumerism. With the false image of a distant and petulant deity who treats the good well and the bad poorly; a deity made in our own image and likeness, handy for resolving our problems and removing our ills. God, on the other hand, waves no magic wand; he is no god of commerce who promises “everything all at once.” He does not save us by pushing a button, but draws near us, in order to change our world from within. Yet how deeply ingrained is the worldly notion of a distant, domineering, unbending, and powerful deity who helps his own to prevail against others! So many times this image is ingrained in us. But that is not the case: our God was born for all, during a census of the whole earth.
Let us look, then, to the “living and true God” (1 Thes 1:9). The God who is beyond all human reckoning and yet allows himself to be numbered by our accounting. The God who revolutionizes history by becoming a part of history. The God who so respects us as to allow us to reject him; who takes away sin by taking it upon himself; who does not eliminate pain but transforms it; who does not remove problems from our lives but grants us a hope that is greater than all our problems. God so greatly desires to embrace our lives that, infinite though he is, he becomes finite for our sake. In his greatness, he chooses to become small; in his righteousness, he submits to our injustice. Brothers and sisters, this is the wonder of Christmas: not a mixture of sappy emotions and worldly contentment, but the unprecedented tenderness of a God who saves the world by becoming incarnate. Let us contemplate the Child, let us contemplate the manger, his crib, which the angels call “a sign” for us (cf. Lk 2:12). For it truly is the sign that reveals God’s face, a face of compassion and mercy, whose might is shown always and only in love. He makes himself close, tender, and compassionate. This is God’s way: closeness, compassion, tenderness.
Pope Francis brings a figure of the Christ child over to the nativity scene inside of St. Peter’s Basilica at the end of Mass. Vatican Media
Sisters and brothers, let us marvel at the fact that he “became flesh” (Jn 1:14). Flesh: the very word evokes our human frailty. The Gospel uses this word to show us that God completely assumed our human condition. Why did he go to such lengths? Because he cares for us, because he loves us to the point that he considers us more precious than all else. Dear brother, dear sister, to God, who changed history in the course of a census, you are not a number but a face. Your name is written on his heart. But if you look to your own heart and think of your own inadequacies and this world that is so judgmental and unforgiving, you may feel it difficult to celebrate this Christmas. You may think things are going badly, or feel dissatisfied with your limitations, your failings, your problems, and your sins. Today, though, please, let Jesus take the initiative. He says to you, “For your sake, I became flesh; for your sake, I became just like you.” So why remain caught up in your troubles? Like the shepherds, who left their flocks, leave behind the prison of your sorrows and embrace the tender love of the God who became a child. Put aside your masks and your armor; cast your cares on him and he will care for you (cf. Ps 55:22). He became flesh; he is looking not for your achievements but for your open and trusting heart. In him, you will rediscover who you truly are: a beloved son or daughter of God. Now you can believe it, for tonight the Lord was born to light up your life; his eyes are alight with love for you. We have difficulty believing in this, that God’s eyes shine with love for us.
Pope Francis prays during Christmas Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 24, 2023. Vatican Media
Christ does not look at numbers but at faces. However, who looks at him amid the many distractions and mad rush of a bustling and indifferent world? Who is watching? In Bethlehem, as crowds of people were caught up in the excitement of the census, coming and going, filling the inns, and engaged in petty conversation, a few were close to Jesus: Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, and then the Magi.
Let us learn from them. They stood gazing upon Jesus, with their hearts set on him. They did not speak, they worshipped. Tonight, brothers and sisters, is a time of adoration, of worship.
The Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas has been seeing posts about Fiducia Supplicans, and the concern it has brought about in terms of shaking the foundation of marriage.
We would like to affirm the recent statements of His Excellency Socrates Villegas, Archbishop of Lingayen – Dagupan, and CBCP President His Excellency Ambo David, who have clarified this, and even have reiterated the importance and sacredness of marriage.
The advisory from Bishop Ambo David, “ON THE POSSIBILITY OF BLESSINGS FOR COUPLES IN IRREGULAR SITUATIONS AND FOR COUPLES OF THE SAME SEX,” he says:
“The document has an introduction where the Prefect of the said dicastery, Victor Manuel Cardinal Fernandez points out that “this declaration remains firm on the traditional doctrine of the Church about marriage, not allowing any type of liturgical rite or blessing similar to a liturgical rite that can create confusion.” “
This, along with the statement from Archbishop Soc Villegas, “BLESSINGS OF MERCY: EPISCOPAL GUIDANCE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF FIDUCIA” which says about these spontaneous blessings:
“This blessing of mercy is not and cannot be a blessing of sanctification since we cannot ask God to bless something that, as Fiducia supplicans explains, is not “conformed to God’s will, as expressed in the teachings of the Church” (no. 9). Priests who are invited to bless couples in irregular situations should choose the appropriate words to reveal this intent of the Church.”
And even reminds us that we should lead those in these irregular unions to conversion, in order to make right their relationships:
“Therefore, when a Catholic priest prays a blessing of mercy on a couple in an irregular situation, who “desire to entrust themselves to the Lord and his mercy, to invoke his help, and to be guided to a greater understanding of his plan of love and of truth” (no.30), he is asking God to have pity on both of them and to give them the grace of conversion so that they can regularize their relationships.” “
As members of the Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas, we staunchly uphold the sanctity of marriage. Our commitment remains steadfast in advocating and enlightening the laity about its profound significance.
Additionally, we extend our prayers for couples in irregular situations and couples of the same sex, hoping they find solace in the Lord’s compassion and embark on a path towards spiritual transformation.
An Interview with Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, part 2
On the possibility of blessings for couples in irregular situations and couples of the same sex, the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said in a statement on Wednesday that “the document speaks for itself and therefore does not require much explanation.”
Pablo Virgilio David, also the Bishop of Kalookan, referred to the Declaration entitled “Fiducia Supplicans,” which was released on December 18 by the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith with the approval of Pope Francis.
“It is clear in its content and intent. Basically, it elaborates ‘On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings’,” said David. He cited paragraph 41 which says “What has been said in this Declaration regarding the blessings of same-sex couples is sufficient to guide the prudent and fatherly discernment of ordained ministers in this regard. Thus, beyond the guidance provided above, no further responses should be expected about possible ways to regulate details or practicalities regarding blessings of this type.”
Speaking for the CBCP, David gave the link to the document for those interested to know and understand what the document itself is saying https://www.vatican.va/…/rc_ddf_doc_20231218_fiducia…
He described the document with an introduction where the Prefect of the said dicastery, Victor Manuel Cardinal Fernandez pointed out that “this declaration remains firm on the traditional doctrine of the Church about marriage, not allowing any type of liturgical rite or blessing similar to a liturgical rite that can create confusion.”
What Cardinal Fernandez considers as unique value of this document is that “…it offers a specific and innovative contribution to the pastoral meaning of blessings, permitting a broadening and enrichment of the classical understanding of blessings…”, said David.
Pope Francis (R) greets pilgrims during his weekly general audience in Paul-VI hall at the Vatican on December 13, 2023. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)
Pope Francis on Wednesday closed his catechetical series on apostolic zeal, delivered during his recent general audiences, by noting that the attitude of being open is a duty for every Christian and a precondition for authentically announcing the Gospel.
“The Christian must be open to the Word of God and to the service of others,” the pope said during the audience. He went on to juxtapose this notion of openness with a mentality of “closure,” noting that the latter contradicts the central message of the Gospel and allows people to fall into ideological ways of thinking.
“Closed Christians always end up badly, because they are not Christians, they are ideologues, ideologues of closure,” the pope said.
The pope highlighted this openness by pointing to the Gospel of Mark when Jesus performs the miracle of healing a deaf-mute man, using “the decisive word” of “effatà,” which the Holy Father noted means “open up” in Aramaic.
“And for this reason, this effatà, this ‘open up,’ is an invitation to all of us to open up,” he continued.
While acknowledging the condition of “physical deafness,” the pope noted that in the biblical context, it assumes a metaphorical character, conveying that “one who is deaf to the word of God is mute, who does not communicate the word of God.”
Pointing out that it is Jesus “who is capable of opening his ears and mouth,” the pope noted that this mandate to be open in evangelizing comes for all Christians at the moment of baptism when the priest, “touching the ears and lips of the baptized person,” says: “May the Lord Jesus, who made the deaf hear and the mute speak, grant you to quickly listen to his word and profess your faith.”
“We too, who have received the effatà of the Spirit in baptism, are called to open ourselves. ‘Open yourself,’ says Jesus to every believer and to his Church: Open yourself because the message of the Gospel needs you to be witnessed and announced,” Francis continued.
The Holy Father closed his remarks by suggesting that before becoming a witness to the Gospel, it is critical to have a moment of reflection and ask ourselves a series of key questions.
“Do I really love the Lord, to the point of wanting to announce him? Do I want to become his witness or am I content with being his disciple? Do I take the people I meet to heart, do I bring them to Jesus in prayer? Do I want to do something so that the joy of the Gospel, which has transformed my life, makes their lives more beautiful?”
During his greeting to the Italian pilgrims gathered for the audience, Pope Francis recalled that Dec. 13 is the feast day of St. Lucy, a virgin and martyr of Syracuse, Sicily, who was martyred in the fourth century during the Christian persecutions of the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
“In some areas of Italy and Europe it is customary to exchange gifts for the upcoming Christmas on this occasion,” the pope said. “I would like to invite all of you to exchange the gift of friendship and Christian testimony — which is a beautiful gift.”
Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos (center) with Rodne Galicha of Living Laudato Si Philippines (left) and Gerry Arances of the Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (right) during a post-COP28 press briefing in Manila on December 14. Photo by Syrel Espineda/Caritas Philippines
The head of the National Laudato Si’ Program of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) expressed optimism that all 86 dioceses can establish their “Ecology Desks” before the next climate summit.
In a post-COP28 press briefing in Manila on December 14, Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos vowed to continue lobbying at the bishops’ plenary for the full implementation of the Ecology Desk in each diocese.
“We will aim for 100 percent – that all dioceses can create the Desk and fully engage in the ecological campaign of the Catholic Church,” said Bishop Alminaza, who is also the Vice Chairperson of Caritas Philippines.
Ecology Desk is one of the 10 points in the 2019 CBCP pastoral letter titled “An Urgent Call for Ecological Conversion, Hope in the Face of Climate Emergency” aimed to make the protection of the environment a special concern in all dioceses.
It is a response to the call for activating climate action “on behalf of voiceless people and the planet,” which is one of the central messages of Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment – the Laudato Si.
Bishop Alminaza attended the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) in Dubai with other Filipino climate advocates as the official representative of the Catholic Church in the Philippines.
For the first time, the CBCP has sent an official not only to observe but also to engage in various side events and participate in the dialogue.
“Our task is to serve as the voice of the vulnerable communities. We must bring the stories of the communities that are gravely suffering due to the climate crisis to the negotiation table,” the prelate said.
Bishop Alminaza encouraged his brother bishops “to advance the synodal process” and “let the ‘Cry of the Poor and the Cry of the Earth’ be heard in all avenues”.
During the press conference, civil society leaders expressed support for the ecological program of the Catholic Church and noted the importance of the combination of “data-driven, scientific evidence and moral grounding”.
Gerry Arances, executive director of the Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED), said his organization “will continue working” with the Catholic Church on various climate-related issues.
“The collaboration between the Church and the CSOs is vital not only in the climate talks but in empowering vulnerable communities to the impact of the climate crisis,” he said.
Arances vowed that CEED will continue to provide “essential and relevant scientific research and studies” that organizations, including the Philippine Church “can use to advance the discourse on climate change”.
