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Month: November 2021

CBCP Circular No. 21-50

Circular No. 21-50

8 November 2021

Your Eminences, Excellencies and Reverend Administrators:

RE: National Consecration of Families to St. Joseph on December 8

On December 8, we will be closing the “Year of Saint Joseph” coinciding with the celebration of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

With the year-long celebration of the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of Saint Joseph as Patron Saint of the Universal Church, we were all invited to undertake the interior path of the carpenter of Nazareth, so as to “increase our love for this great saint, to encourage us to implore his intercession and to imitate his virtues and his zeal. ”(Pope Francis, Apostolic Letter, Patris Corde)

The Ad-hoc Committee on the Year of Saint Joseph has prepared several activities to fittingly culminate this whole-year celebration. First, is the National Consecration of Families to Saint Joseph and second, the Launching of the Men of St. Joseph – Philippines in all parishes throughout the country.

Consecrating ourselves and our families to St. Joseph is an act of entrustment to his fatherly care, protection, and guidance. The goal of this consecration is to imitate St. Joseph’s virtue, example, and closeness with Christ. As Fr. Donald Calloway, writes, “We need the spiritual fatherhood of St. Joseph to help us protect marriage and the family. Marriage and the family have always been under attack, but in modern times, the threats have reached extraordinary heights… To combat and overcome Satan’s deceptions, the Church needs St. Joseph.” (Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father, 4)

Thus, on December 8, at 11:00 a.m., His Excellency Most Rev. Pablo Virgilio S. David, Bishop of Kalookan and who by that time will be the CBCP President together with some representatives of families in his diocese will lead the praying of the Holy Rosary and the Act of Consecration of Families to St. Joseph at the Cathedral of San Roque in the Diocese of Kalookan. The celebration shall be broadcasted via CBCP News, Dominus Est, Radio Veritas, TV Maria Philippines and cross-posted in various Catholic Social Media platforms all over the country.

All the archbishops and bishops of the country are kindly requested to participate in this event together with the clergy, religious, and families at their homes. It is suggested that a celebration of the Holy Eucharist be done after the National Consecration. Diocesan and/or Parish Consecration could also be made especially for those that could not follow the National Consecration.

All Parish churches are also hereby requested to launch the Men of St. Joseph- a Catholic Association of Men committed to Jesus Christ and consecrated to St. Joseph. The institution of this lay association is the Philippine Church’s response to the call of Pope Francis as contained in his Apostolic Letter – Patris Corde, encouraging us to reflect upon the role of St. Joseph in caring and loving our Savior with the Father’s heart.The priests of the Oblates of St. Joseph humbly accepted the honor of being the propagator and spiritual guide of this association.

For further guidance and information regarding this celebration, you may contact Mr. Joseph S. Jesalva of LAIKO at telephone number 8527-5388 and email address laiko_phils@yahoo.com.ph

Thank you very much for your kind attention, and we are hoping for your participation in this activity.

With sentiments of esteem and cordial greetings, I remain

Si Bonifacio at ang Halalang 2022 Forum

October 29, 2021                               

Dear Fellow Priests, Brothers and Sisters,

Solidarity Greetings!

On November 30, the Church People-Workers Solidarity (CWS) will join the whole nation in celebrating Bonifacio Day. Andres Bonifacio, the great plebeian was instrumental in waging anti-colonial struggle against Spanish colonizers. His revolutionary fervor has become a source of inspiration to Filipino workers who continue to fight for dignified work.

As we collectively discern who to vote this coming 2022 elections, it is but proper to revisit Bonifacio’s legacy of genuine service and enduring courage and patriotism. Indeed, our future leaders can learn a lot from Bonifacio’s life as a great leader and a humble servant of the masses. This online forum seeks inform church people and members of the academe on the relevance of Bonifacio especially in this epochal historical juncture.

In order to prepare church people for this momentous event, CWS is organizing an online forum with the theme: SI BONIFACIO AT ANG HALALANG 2022. The webinar is intended to deepen our understanding on the historical significance of Andres Bonifacio and the Katipunan viz-a-viz the 2022 Elections.

We invited Prof. Jerry D. Imbong who will share with us on the topic “Bonifacio in the Messianic era: Hope and the Redemption of History in the light of Jürgen Moltmann’s Eschatology”

In this connection, we are inviting you to join us in this online discussion on November 27, 2021, from 9am-11:30am. You can register through this link: https://forms.gle/AJvREKarV8p8ABD88

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Last 3 Laiko Conversations in 2021

November 2, 2021

To All LAIKO Members: Arch/Diocesan Councils of the Laity & National Lay Organizations

Dear Brother and Sisters: Good day!

As a response to the resolutions made during the 22nd Laiko Biennial Convention which will guide the lay-faithful in engaging society in the different areas like Agriculture, Education, Economics and Politics, the Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas will be conducting a series of follow-thru conversations this November:

November 13 – “Securing the Food, Energy and the Patrimony of our Nation”

Speakers: Former Congressman and DA Secretary, Ka Leonie Montemayor of the Federation of Free Farmers, and Atty. Rodel Rodis, complainant on the controversial Malampaya Stake Deal

November 20 – “The Education Agenda” – speakers to be announced

November 27 – “Principled Partisan Politics” – Laiko Warriors

May we invite you to these last 3 conversations of the year. Kindly invite the members of your organizations to join us too. To register, please email/inform Mr. Joseph Jesalva at laiko_phils@yahoo.com.ph.

Thank you very much,

Amid rain and wind, Catholics join 100,000 demonstrators at COP26 climate march


EarthBeat

Nov 8, 2021
by Brian Roewe | Action

Thousands of Catholics joined the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice, which drew upwards of 100,000 people into the streets of Glasgow, Scotland, on Nov. 6 at the midpoint of the COP26 United Nations climate change conference. (Laudato Si’ Movement)

On a wet, windy and cold day in Scotland, an estimated 100,000 people took to the streets of Glasgow on Nov. 6 in demonstrations calling for increased action and results from COP26, the two-week United Nations climate summit being hosted by the United Kingdom.

Among the throngs of people marching from Kelvingrove Park to Glasgow Green as part of the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice were hundreds of Catholics, many hailing from the U.K. while others represented countries across Africa, the Pacific, Europe and the Americas.

EarthBeat asked some of the participants to share in their own words what the march meant to them and what message they sought to send to delegates and world leaders at COP26.

Laudato Si’ Movement
SCIAF

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Pope’s November prayer intention: For those who suffer from depression

The Pope Video

Pope Francis releases his prayer intention for the month of November, and invites everyone to pray for and be near those who suffer from exhaustion, burn-out, and depression.

By Devin Watkins
03 November 2021

“Overwork and work-related stress cause many people to experience extreme exhaustion —mental, emotional, affective, and physical exhaustion.”

Pope Francis opened the video accompanying his prayer intention for November with those words with which most people can probably identify.

His intention was released in this month’s The Pope Video, prepared by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.

It comes as people living in the Northern Hemisphere enter the Autumn and Winter seasons, during which cooler weather is often accompanied by rainy days and more time spent indoors.

Silent listening

The Pope took note of that seasonal situation in his timely prayer intention.

“Sadness, apathy, and spiritual tiredness end up dominating people’s lives, who are overloaded due to the rhythm of life today,” he said.

Pope Francis thus encouraged everyone to reach out to those around us who are depressed, desperate, or without hope. And he advised against comforting others with too many words.

“Often,” he said, “we should just simply listen in silence, because we cannot go and tell someone, ‘No, life’s not like that. Listen to me, I’ll give you the solution.’”

“There is no solution,” remarked the Pope.

Mental health: A personal testimony of assisting depression-sufferers

Jesus’ offer of comfort

However, he continued, besides “indispensable psychological counseling”, Jesus’ words can help us and others to find solace: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

With that advice in mind, Pope Francis wrapped up his prayer intention video message with a renewed invitation to assist those around us.

“Let us pray that people who suffer from depression or burn-out will find support and a light that opens them up to life,” he prayed.

Choosing life amid depression

The November edition of The Pope Video was created in conjunction with the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers, which offers spiritual support for people suffering various forms of mental illness.

According to a press release accompanying the video, around 1 in 10 people worldwide lives with a mental health disorder, amounting to 792 million people or 11 percent of the population.

Depression and anxiety account for around 3 and 4 percent, respectively, of those illnesses.

They can sometimes lead to suicide when left untreated or are severe and recurrent. Some 700,000 people commit suicide each year, making it the fourth leading cause of death in people aged 15 to 29.

Covid-related difficulties

As has been well-noted, the Covid-19 pandemic, and its associated restrictions on daily life, has led severely tested the mental and emotional resilience of many people.

Pope Francis’ call for us to pray and assist those who suffer from depression is therefore an important and timely invitation.

COP26: CAFOD joins Pope Francis in calling for climate action

The Director of the Catholic development agency CAFOD, Christine Allen, welcomes Cardinal Parolin’s address on behalf of the Pope at the COP26 Climate Summit and says “time is running out” in the battle against climate change.

Around 30,000 people were estimated to have taken part in COP25 in Madrid. (Photo courtesy of Catholic Agency for Overseas Development)

By Lydia O’Kane
03 November 2021

As the COP26 Climate Summit continues in Glasgow, Scotland, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development in England and Wales (CAFOD) has joined Pope Francis’ call to act now in the battle against climate change.

Representing the Pope at the summit, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, addressed delegates on Tuesday telling them: “We can achieve the goals set by the Paris Agreement only if we act in a coordinated and a responsible way. Those goals are ambitious, and they can no longer be deferred.”

“Now is the time to act, urgently, courageously and responsibly. Not least, to prepare a future in which our human family will be in a position to care for itself and for the natural environment,” the Cardinal said.

Listening to those affected by Climate Change

Reacting to the Cardinal’s speech, the Director of CAFOD, Christine Allen, said, “Cardinal Parolin emphasised that the voices of communities hardest hit by the effects of the climate crisis must be listened to, and for world leaders to redouble their efforts to work together to provide the practical policies that match the demands of this crisis.”

She went on to say that “from the start of his papacy, Pope Francis has prioritised environmental issues, highlighting how the current global economic models, policies and industrial systems are disastrous to the planet, and the cause of untold suffering and injustice to the world’s most vulnerable communities.”

Climate justice

In an interview with Vatican Radio, Ms. Allen said:  “It’s really critical that countries that have become wealthy through industrialization, and which have been fueled by fossil fuel, that we recognise the responsibility that we have to be able to really take the lead and to take the actions that are necessary, and Pope Francis is highlighting that. This is fundamentally a question of climate justice but it’s the people who are poorest in our world that have done the least to contribute to the changes in our climate that are paying the price, and they’re paying that price now.”

Church engagement

In early October, during the ‘Faith and Science: Towards COP26’ meeting held in the Vatican, Pope Francis, along with scientists and religious leaders, signed a document calling for the world to achieve net-zero carbon emissions as soon as possible; and for wealthier nations to reduce their own emissions and finance emission reductions by poorer nations.

Commenting on the Church’s response to the climate crisis, the CAFOD director underlined that “the Church is at the forefront of the climate issue because the Church is there in communities; those very communities that are facing the impact of climate change.”

“What we’re talking about is more droughts, more floods, more erratic weather that makes it much more difficult for people who are dependent upon the earth to grow crops and feed their families,” she said.

“So the Church is there in practice doing the support for communities, and I know this because CAFOD is doing that as well. We are supporting people and communities and Church-based organizations around the world in helping to adapt, in helping to be more aware of what can they do in order to respond to the climate crisis.”

Need for financing

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A Synodal Church: The Church as A Pilgrim People

The Church as a Pilgrim People

The term synod comes from the image of journeying together – of walking together. The dogmatic constitution on the Church – Lumen Gentium – emphasizes that the Church is a pilgrim people that journeys towards her final destiny – the reign of God. The image of pilgrimage and journeying together is important. We are constantly on the move. We journey together.

There are two ecclesiological themes associated with the people pilgrim people: Communion and People of God. Communion is primarily relational – how the members of the pilgrim community relate to one another and with the Triune God. People of God is mission-oriented: participation in Christ’s prophetic, priestly, and kingly/servant mission. Thus, we can say that the synodal Church is a pilgrim community whose members live in communion and participate in Christ’s mission as a priestly, prophetic and kingly people of God.

Living in Communion

In the Vatican II Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium ) the term communion appears in the first chapter under the general heading of the Mystery of the Church. In the first article the Church is regarded as the sacrament of communion: “since the Church, is in the nature of sacrament – a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all men.” (LG 1) The vertical and horizontal dimension of communion is explicitly affirmed here. The end of the fourth article echoes St. Cyprian when it declares that “the universal Church is seen to be ‘a people brought into unity from the unity of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.’ (LG 4). Here, the Trinitarian communion is affirmed as the basis of ecclesial communion.

What does communion mean and imply? The Latin equivalent is communio which is a translation of the Greek word koinonia which connotes having something in common, being connected by a common bond, union, solidarity, fellowship, kinship, fraternity, community, partnership, sharing, participation. Among Greeks, it is often associated with friendship: “friends are of one heart and mind and they share everything in common” (Nicomachean Ethics, Acts of the Apostles).

From an ecclesiological perspective, communion emerged as the earliest model of the Church (Acts 2:42-47, 4:32-35) – the fellowship of believers, communion of faith, table-fellowship, communion of goods. This was later eclipsed by the institutional model of the Church although its spirit was preserved in religious life through the centuries. This was retrieved in Vatican II especially in Lumen Gentium which became the dominant ecclesiology connected with the People of God. “the Church is a people made one by the unity of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.” Ecclesial communion is, therefore, the reflection of Trinitarian communion. In the document on ecumenism – Ut Unum Sint – the restoration of full communion is the goal of ecumenical dialogue. St. John Paul II associates communion with consecrated life in Vita Consecrata.  In Familiaris Consortio, he affirms the realization of communion in the family which is the domestic church.

The understanding of communion in Vatican II is indeed broad. It describes primarily the nature of the Church and also how it should be structured. It refers to the various dimensions and levels of communion – with the Triune God, among the faithful, among the hierarchy, between local churches, within local churches, and in local communities. It is also the goal of ecumenical dialogue. It is the basis of collegiality and synodality. The communion model is an alternative to the pyramidal model of the Church. The Church is viewed as interconnected network or web of relationships – a communion of communions or communities at various levels. Communion means unity in diversity and equality in dignity of all that constitute the Church.

To be synodal Church is, therefore, a Church where everyone lives in communion. The Church is experienced as community where there is a sense of belonging and solidarity, where we regard one another as brothers and sisters and as friends, where we share our goods and resources – our time, talent and treasure. This means partnership and participation not just in governance but especially in mission. The role of the clergy is to be servant-leaders and to promote communion and participation in mission.

Participation and Mission

            We are called to participate in the Church’s journey as a pilgrim people. Participation is an integral aspect of communion and geared towards mission. To be in communion is to actively participate in the life and mission of the Church. According to Vatican II, by virtue of our baptism we are united to Christ and his Church and empowered by the Holy Spirit to actively participate in Christ’s and the Church’s priestly, prophetic and kingly/servant mission.

This means that in a synodal Church there is active participation of everyone in the liturgical celebration as a priestly people and community. This also means participation in living a holy life, a life of prayer and self-sacrifice. The role of the priest is to preside over the Eucharistic community and enable the lay faithful to actively live out their priestly mission.

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