Dignity of All, Rights of All
An expression of solidarity in Celebration of the Human Rights Day
SYNCRONIZED RINGING OF CHURCH’S BELL
02 December 2019
To my brother bishops:
Greetings of Peace from CBCP-ECSA-JP!
On the occasion of the celebration of the Human Rights Day on December 10, we humbly urge the Philippine Catholic Church to manifest our commitment in the defense of life through our participation in the promotion of “dignity of all, rights of all” communal action.
The Human person is created in the “image and likeness of God.” Being the “image and likeness of God” is the source of his/her dignity. This dignity is not only founded on creation but also on redemption. This is why God became Human in Jesus to redeem the Human person because the Human person is so important to God.
The best way to recognize the value and dignity of the Human person is to respect human rights. Human person must be accorded with respect regardless of class, gender, race, color, ethnicity, economic status, age, religion or educational attainment. It is imperative that Human person must serve fellow-Human persons in order to preserve humanity, protect all human persons and to guarantee them with benefit equally from the abundance of God’s creations.
Present realities however show that majority of Human persons are being oppressed, manipulated and/or exploited by their fellow human persons. Worst, they are victims of unjust structures of our society, making them vulnerable to arbitrary abuse of power by government and “the powers that be“, and they receive constant threat to their beings and personal security. They should be protected and afforded the rights as being Human persons.
As the whole world celebrates the anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10 as Human Rights Day, the Episcopal Commission on Social Action – Justice and Peace, through its secretariat, NASSA, is proposing as social arm of the CBCP that the Philippine Catholic Church participate in the celebration by ringing of bells in all the Churches at 10 am in December 10 for 10 seconds; and in addition, celebrate the Holy Eucharist at 5:30 pm or 6:00 pm, for Human Rights Day with special prayers for the occasion. By doing this simple manifestation of solidarity, ECSA-JP believes that we proclaim our concern for human rights in the context of Christian discipleship, witness and solidarity. Our concern for human rights is a vital expression of discipleship demanded of us by Jesus Christ for total and integral well-being of humanity (Amos 5:10-24; Luke 4: 18-19; Mt. 22:34-40).
The Philippine Catholic Church participation in this universal celebration is simply a continuing work of God’s redemptive plan for humanity, which is to proclaim God’s love and to recognize the people as beings created in the image of God, free from all dehumanizing, repressive, oppressive and exploitative policies and structures in our society. It is a way of proclaiming that the Philippine Catholic Church does not allow human dignity to be dehumanized, manipulated, exploited, marginalized, and set-aside, excluded or demonized. This is our simplest expression of solidarity, and our way of continuing accompaniment and service to the least in our society.
The ringing of bells is our affirmation of commitment to solidarity for the common good. But more particularly it is our simplest way to show empathy with the victims of human rights violations, of injustices and inequalities happening in our country and in the whole world. We hope that our dioceses and parishes will participate in this event as part of our mission on evangelization for total human development and salvation.
We continue to seek the prayers and intercession of Mary, our mother and Queen of Peace and beg her to help us to bring peace in our country.
For the Episcopal Commission on Social Action – Justice and Peace,
