Category: News

CBCP NEWS
TAGAYTAY City— Here’s the full text of Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal Advincula’s homily during Mass on the first day of the National Synodal Consultation at the Carmelite Missionaries Center of Spirituality on July 4, 2022:

His Excellency Most Reverend Pablo Virgilio David, President of the CBCP; my dear brother bishops; my brother priests, dear consecrated persons, brothers and sisters in Christ, mga minámahál kong kamánlalakbáy:

Let us thank the Lord for gathering us all today, to journey together as one Church. It is very touching to see all of you. I am particularly happy to be with my brother-bishops again, after more than two years of us holding plenary sessions via Zoom. I missed our common prayers, bonding sessions, and moments of fraternal candor with each other. I am happy to see you again.

It is also refreshing to see bishops, priests, religious brothers and sisters, and lay persons mingling together and freely interacting with each other. It is inspiring to see that we have already formed a sense of belongingness and community, despite the very rich diversity of contexts that we represent. We are men and women, young and old, city dwellers and rural villagers, veteran servants and young ministers; and yet we can all feel that we belong to one Church, one family of faith.  Indeed, we are a synodal Church!

My dear brothers and sisters: In the Gospel reading today, Jesus rebuked the onlooking crowd, “Go away! The girl is not dead but sleeping.” A world that sees only death is a world that only seeks death. Jesus however sees life, and so he gives life. And the life that Jesus gives to the world is his own.

I am sure that many of you resonate with our experience in the Archdiocese of Manila and in the Ecclesiastical Province of Manila, wherein the synodal consultations in our respective local Churches have surfaced various painful stories in our Church. Our people have narrated their experiences, and they have voiced their hurts and frustrations about sins, abuses, and failures in the Church, especially among us her ministers and leaders. It is indeed difficult and disturbing to come face-to-face with the reality of a wounded and imperfect Church. In the midst of these, it is sometimes very tempting to think that the Church is dying, if not dead.

However, I am also sure that, in our respective local Churches, we did not fall into such temptation, because the Holy Spirit has also opened our eyes to see that the Church is alive! She may appear to be sleeping or having some difficulty waking up, but definitely, she is not dead. The Church is very much alive!

The Church is alive in our dear lay faithful, who selflessly and joyfully offer themselves to the service of God and neighbor. They generously share their capacities and resources for the mission of the Church, and they inspire us all by their commitment to lead holy lives.

The Church is alive in her servant-leaders—lay, consecrated, and ordained—who are imbued with the spirit of synodality: intimately close to God and pastorally close to the people. We blessed with ministers in our Church who boldly proclaim God’s Word and compassionately listen to God’s people. Their prayers sanctify us; their words enlighten us; their witnessing encourages us; their shepherding guides us; and their virtues give us hope.

The Church is alive in every Christian family that loves and cares for the young and the elderly, and strives to be faithful to the Gospel amid challenges and temptations in today’s world.

The Church is especially alive in our beloved poor people and in those who are in the peripheries. They touch us and challenge us, by their simple faith, by their keen sensitivity to the presence of God, and by their profound confidence in the providence of God.

Most importantly, the Church is alive not because we are able to keep it alive. Rather, the Church is alive because God is merciful and faithful to us, accompanying us, healing us, renewing us. By God’s grace, the Church is not merely surviving, but growing and ever-renewing.

Buháy ang Simbáhan dahil buháy si Hesus sa átin. Binubúhay táyo ni Hesús! Nag-álay si Hesus ng saríli nyang búhay úpang ang kanyáng káwan ay makátamásà ng ‘kaganápan ng búhay’ (cf. Jn 10:10). Áyaw ni Hesus ng Simbáhang papátay-pátay. Gustó nya ng Simbáhang buháy na buháy! Áyaw ni Hesus ng Simbáhang nag-aágaw-búhay. Gustó nya ng Simbáhang nagbíbigáy-búhay. Salámat kay Hesús, buháy na buháy ang Simbáhan díto sa Pilipinas, at sa buóng mundó.

Dear brothers and sisters: as we continue to journey together on the path of synodality, let us invoke the help of the Holy Spirit, who is our Lord and Giver of Life. May the Holy Spirit build our communion, encourage our participation, and empower us for mission. May Our Lady, so beloved by our nation that is pueblo amante de Maria, guide us, accompany us, and pray for us all. Amen.

Inmates are packed in cells like sardines, says Catholic prison care group

LICAS News

By Joseph Peter Calleja
July 22, 2022

Authorities in the Philippines have announced long-overdue reforms seeking to end the suffering of inmates in the country’s overcrowded prisons by acquiring more land to build additional facilities.

Jesus Crispin Remulla, the new Justice Secretary, announced on July 21 that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s new administration would not be “blind to the cries of the persons deprived of liberty.”

“The administration is not deaf and blind to what’s happening inside our prisons. And it is one of the priorities of the Department of Justice, that is, to make our prison facilities more humane, more dignified,” Remulla told reporters.

He said the new administration would prioritize and tackle overcrowding in prisons by building new ones around the country.

“The new [Marcos, Jr.’s] administration is aware of the problems in the Philippine prison system. We will do our best to decongest jails because of their overcapacity,” Remulla added.

A Catholic group that advocates for the rights of prisoners welcomed the planned move.

“Prisoners are packed like sardines inside prison cells”

In a statement sent to UCA News, Saint Paul Prison Care, Inc. said reforms are needed to offer a solution to overcrowding and other problems faced by Filipino prisoners.

Prisoners are packed like sardines inside prison cells, the group said.

More than 500 inmates are presently squeezed into a space meant for 170 resulting in poor air ventilation, leading to health problems, the group said.

“More than 60 percent of our prisoners in the Philippines have or have experienced respiratory problems because of poor air ventilation which makes the air thick and putrid because of the over-population,” the group said.

It added it has received reports stating that inmates sleep with their legs and arms overlapping with those of their fellow inmates.

“Comfort has been an issue. Our inmate population grew because of the drug war of former president Rodrigo Duterte. Many became drug suspects, others were killed because of Duterte’s war on drugs,” the group said.

“There are about a thousand prisons running in the Philippines yet they are mismanaged”

Rights groups have also documented overcrowding and a lack of basic facilities for prisoners.

In 2019, Amnesty International reported that the Philippines had more than 215,000 prisoners.

“The Philippines has an incarceration rate of about 200 per 100,000 citizens. There are about a thousand prisons running in the Philippines yet they are mismanaged and overcrowded,” the Amnesty report noted.

As of May, 2021, the total number of people in prisons across the Philippines reached roughly 117,300, according to Philippine National Police.

The majority of these prisoners are incarcerated in jails in the National Capital Region.

Remulla, however, said the government has allotted more than 6.7 billion pesos (US$134 million) to buy land for the construction of new prisons.

“Now we see every person deprived of liberty is not just a number but a real human being that has dignity,” Remulla told reporters.

The Catholic bishops’ Commission on Prison Pastoral Care earlier called for an end to overcrowding due to the high infection risk of Covid-19. “With the terrible congestion in our penal institutions, transmission to other inmates is very high and it will be very catastrophic,” the bishops’ said in a statement in 2020.

Unregulated poaching and trading threaten survival of giant clams and endanger ecosystem, activist says

UCANews
By Joseph Peter Calleja
July 19, 2022

A Catholic environmental group in the Philippines has blasted a business nexus for alleged shady deals that allow the poaching and import of giant clams in the coastal province of Pangasinan.

The Saint Francis Group for Greener Environment, formed after Pope Francis published his famed environmental encyclical, Laudato Si’, has called for an investigation into poaching and imports of giant clams in the province north of the capital Manila.

An official from the group said on July 18 that a corporation purportedly violated the law by engaging in poaching and the import of giant clams without securing permits.

The group’s spokesman Jonathan De Guia said they would file a formal complaint with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on behalf of the people of the province to kickstart an investigation into the illegal sale and import of giant clams.

“We have received reports that a certain group goes to Pangasinan province to get clams harvested by locals without permits from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. We reiterate our position that we cannot tolerate poaching and trade of marine resources without valid permits from the government,” De Guia told UCA News.

“We might lose some species dependent on the clams or we could lose the clams themselves”

De Guia said the absence of any permit would mean that poachers could be “excessively” harvesting clams, thus destroying the ecosystem of marine life in the province.

“We had called on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to look into these activities before it’s too late. We might lose some species dependent on the clams or we could lose the clams themselves if their harvest is not regulated,” De Guia added.

Giant clams are the largest mollusks on Earth, living in the bottom of the oceans. They are capable of reaching 1.2 meters in length and weighing more than 227 kilograms, according to the National Geographic website. Giant clams mostly live in the warm waters of the South Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Researchers have found 13 different species of giant clams. The adductor muscle of the giant clam is considered a delicacy. Overharvesting of the species for food, shells, and the aquarium trade has prompted marine groups to list giant clams as a “vulnerable” species, National Geographic noted.

In the Philippines, giant clams are harvested as an ivory substitute and for ornamental purposes, particularly in China and Japan.

The concern about endangered giant clams surfaced in April last year, when the authorities in Palawan province confiscated stockpiles of giant claims weighing 200 metric tons amounting to 1.2 billion pesos (US$23.6 million).

“For us, it is clear there is an organized crime group behind this”

In the past five years, police and naval authorities have reportedly made 13 similar seizures and arrested violators though there were no reports of any violator being permanently put to jail.

De Guia said he fears that organized crime syndicates connected with the government are involved in the illegal trade

“Our authorities have been conducting arrests and seizures of giant clams but still the industry has not stopped. More so, no one has been punished. For us, it is clear there is an organized crime group behind this,” he told UCA News.

He noted that Philippine law prohibits 12 known giant clam species, but their research found that poachers did not discriminate species that were endangered from those that may be caught.

“But even so, they need to have permits to make sure their activity is regulated. Otherwise, it becomes illegal,” De Guia added.

Father Ranhilio Aquino has hit out at lawmaker Edcel Lagman for refiling the bill and reigniting debate on divorce

UCAN News
Joseph Peter Calleja
July 14, 2022

The dean of one of the top law schools in the Philippines has urged lawmakers to drop a pending divorce bill insisting that it violates the sanctity of marriage.

Catholic priest Father Ranhilio Aquino, the dean of Benedictine-run San Beda Graduate School of Law, hit out at lawmaker Edcel Lagman on July 12, for refiling the bill and reigniting the debate on divorce in the Philippines.

“Edcel Lagman, who has made himself notorious for advocating measures diametrically opposed to Catholic teaching, is at it again. He has reignited the divorce debate by filing a bill in Congress that would allow divorce into the Philippine legal system. The paramount question, therefore, is whether we need it!” Father Aquino wrote on Facebook.Ucan Store

Father Aquino said there was no need to pass a divorce law if the reason alone is that the Philippines is the only country in Asia with no divorce law.

“If the most ‘compelling’ argument is that we are the only jurisdiction that does not have it [divorce], the (non) argument is pathetic. It is nothing more than a perpetuation of the “gaya-gaya” [copycat] syndrome, or the sickening mantra today: “Sana all!”[I hope all],” Father Aquino said.

“It is also argued by its proponents that divorce rescues the partners of failed marriages, trapped in a loveless, perhaps even harmful union. But we have laws that amply provide for such situations,” said the priest, a respected jurist and legal scholar.

Father Aquino said divorce could be opposed by not resorting to theological or religious grounds but by the use of legal reasoning.

“Notice that I have not used theological or ecclesial arguments: no quotations from Scripture, no citations from Church doctrine. My point is clear: On the basis of rational thought, divorce does not seem to be a reasonable position,” he said.

The priest said that present laws were sufficient to cure dysfunctional or abusive marriages, thus, there is no need for divorce.

“If it is the safety of one spouse that is the concern owing to the abusive conduct of the other, the rules on legal separation can be invoked. Women and their children who are victims of domestic violence have a safe harbor that allows a woman facing threats or attempts at violence from an abusive partner or spouse to seek immediate protection orders,” he said.

Present laws allow a woman and her child to seek a protection order from the court or in their local community to stop the abusive spouse from going near them for a number of days.

The real purpose of divorce is to enable partners who have failed at marriage a second chance at it, with new partners. In other words, it is betting that they will succeed when given a second chance, Father Aquino said.

Father Aquino said the children are the true victims of divorce, not the couple themselves.

“… marriage involves others. There are the children who are the very first victims of divorce, for no matter what its advocates say, the loss of a parent when the marriage vinculum is sundered is a traumatic experience for any child,” he said.

Catholic supporters of the bill, however, said clergymen opposing the divorce bill could never understand what is meant to be in an abusive relationship because they themselves were not married.

“It’s easy for any priest to say that marriage should be preserved. But the truth remains that priests are not even married so they will never know how it is to live with someone who is so abusive. They really wouldn’t understand,” a Catholic from Manila, who wished to remain anonymous, told UCA News.

He likewise said that legal separation and other legal remedies were “expensive” that only the rich could afford.

“Legal separation and a case for declaration of nullity of marriage is tedious and involves a lot of money because there is a presumption on the validity of marriage. But if there is divorce law, the law on divorce erases that presumption,” he added.

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!

Psalm 133:1

Our Dear People of God,

We hear Pope Francis constantly calling for a Church whose members strive to live in unity and harmony (communion), participate (participation) in the life of the Church, and do not tire of seeking out the least, the lost and the last (mission). This is a call to a Synodal Church – a Church that journeys together.

We responded to his call by starting in our dioceses, prelatures and apostolic vicariates Synodal experiences of listening to one another, from different sectors down to the barangay level, especially those at the peripheries and those excluded from our church communities.

After these consultations, we Bishops, with our representative lay leaders, consecrated persons and clergy, held a 4-day encounter, The National Synodal Consultation, in Tagaytay City.

We LOOKED. It brought us joy to see the persevering faith of our people; the dedication of our ministers, the increasing dialogue of action within and with others. We saw lights.

Yet it caused us sadness seeing we are yet far from our dream of a Church of the poor, and hearing the yearnings and groans of those distant from the Church. We saw gaps and closed doors in our work of evangelization. We saw shadows.

Our shared sentiment resulting from the interweaving of joy and sadness in our hearts was an experience of fellowship, but we yearn for deeper communion.

We LISTENED. We heard strong voices calling us, our clergy, consecrated persons and lay collaborators to heed the call to conversion, to go out of our comfort zones, to be welcoming, to be transparent and accountable, to be more compassionate. These voices echo Pope Francis’ call to be a ‘Church that sets forth’ and is in a ‘perpetual state of mission.’

After the sharing and listening to the stories from the ground, we opened our hearts and minds to God’s Word and listened to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Our communal discernment engendered in us a longing for wider participation, a more profound communion and renewed mission, urging us to dream once again for God’s people. We sensed the call of the Father’s love made visible in Jesus on the Cross.

We are called to LOVE. In responding to God’s love, we set ourselves anew for mission.

We are moved to ‘open doors’, especially the door of personal, parish, and institutional conversion. This means, for us, opening wide the doors of encounter, listening and dialogue; the door of renewal of ourselves and the clergy; the door to greater witnessing of simplicity and humility; the doors of stewardship, good governance and care for creation; doors towards strengthening the faith formation and empowerment of the laity, and building up of our communities; the door of renewing our structures and ministries, – leaving behind those that do not help and embracing those that make us a community; doors that lead to building bridges, closing the gaps and promoting equality.

We open doors for us all to go out and set forth once again for mission – to seek out those who are far, different, excluded; to encounter, listen and dialogue with our brothers and sisters of different denominations and faith; to explore possibilities for positive engagement in the areas of ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, politics and social media.

We open our eyes, ears, minds and hearts, for we humbly admit that we do not have all the answers to the many questions of our time, while we recognize the goodness and giftedness of our people and those who do not share our faith.

We are grateful to the many faces, eyes, ears and hands whose openness and hard work have made our Synodal experiences possible.

With hope and faith in the mercy of the Lord, we commit ourselves to Synodality – looking, listening and loving as our way of proceeding, that we may grow into a humble, welcoming and inclusive Church in the Philippines.

We invoke the maternal care of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the protection of St. Joseph, as we continue to beg the mercy and love of the Blessed Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

In the name of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines

+ PABLO VIRGILIO S. DAVID, D.D.
Bishop of Kalookan
CBCP President
July 11, 2022

June 28, 2022

Dear Brothers & Sisters:

The peace & love of the Lord!

Once more, we are pleased to invite you and your communities/organizations to the LAIKO Online Conversation on the Empowerment of Children…Character Formation through Literacy on Saturday, July 2, 2022, 2:00 pm to 4:00 P.M.

Dr. Josephine Estopil, Executive Director of  Josefa Segovia Foundation (JSF) will present to us  their on-going initiative in support of  Indigenous People’s` Education in Davao area and Teacher Jeng Quitain from Cradle of Joy Catholic Progressive School will share their Character and Values Formation Program which has shaped young hearts and minds for Jesus.

Here is the Zoom Meeting Link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83668861949

Meeting ID: 836 6886 1949
Passcode: 932893

Kindly email: laiko_phils@yahoo.com.ph to register.

The conversation could also be viewed live at the Facebook page of Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas. 

Sincerely yours,

Pope Francis releases his prayer intention for June 2022, and urges Catholics to pray for all families during the month in which Rome hosts the 10th World Meeting of Families.

By Devin Watkins

“There is no such thing as a perfect family. There are always ‘buts.’’

Pope Francis made that affirmation in The Pope Video released on Thursday to promote his prayer intention for June.

Yet, he added, “that doesn’t matter. We shouldn’t be afraid of mistakes; we have to learn from them so we can move forward.”

United in the family

As the Church prepares to gather in Rome on 22-26 June for the 10th World Meeting of Families, Pope Francis upheld the family and urged all Catholics to pray for them.

“The family is the place where we learn to live with one another, to live with young people and with those who are older. And by being united in our differences—young people, the elderly, adults, children—we evangelize with our example of life.”

God offers path of holiness in families

The Pope recalled that God is always with us, in our neighborhood, cities, and daily life.

“And He takes care of us,” said Pope Francis. “He remains with us at all times in the swaying of the boat tossed by the sea: when we argue, when we suffer, when we’re joyful, the Lord is there and accompanies us, helps us, and corrects us.”

At the same time, he said, love within the family offers a “personal path of holiness.”

“Let us pray for Christian families around the world. May each and every family embody and experience unconditional love and advance in holiness in their daily lives.”

‘Main source of meaning for people’

A press release from the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which prepares the video, referenced a survey carried out by the Pew Research Center in 2021, noting that “the family continues to be the main source of meaning in the lives of many people.”

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, affirmed that every family has its own problems and joys.

“Loving relationships between spouses, parents, children, and grandparents are what become paths of holiness,” he said, noting that this love is “made of simple daily gestures, which take little to make ordinary moments extraordinary.”