Opening Message
Your Eminences, Your Excellency Abp. Charles J. Brown, Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, my brother Archbishops and Bishops, very Reverend Diocesan Administrators:
Welcome to the 122nd Plenary Assembly of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines! This is our second and last Plenary Assembly for the year 2021. This is also our second Plenary done virtually via zoom platform. During our January Assembly, we welcomed His Eminence Jose Cardinal Advincula as the new Cardinal of the Archdiocese of Capiz. Today, in this 122nd Assembly, we welcome him as the new Archbishop of Manila. Cardinal Joe, magtinagalog na gid kita subong. We also thank Cardinal Advincula for allowing Fr. Carlos del Rosario, a priest of Manila, to continue his work as Assistant Secretary General of the CBCP.
We congratulate Bp. Broderick Pabillo; he is now the new Bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Taytay. Our congratulations also to Bishop-elect Noel Pedrigosa, the new Bishop of Malaybalay.
We welcome also a new face, the Archdiocesan Administrator of Capiz, Rev. Fr. Cyril B. Villareal.
On a sad note, we had the deaths of two (2) brother-bishops not too long ago, the Bishop-Emeritus of Mati, Bp. Patricio H. Alo, and the Bishop-Emeritus of the Apostolic Vicariate of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, Bp. Antonio P. Palang, SVD. Both passed away in April this year.
I continue by saying that it is not an exaggeration to say that the past year 2020 and the present year 2021 will be especially and strongly etched in our memory as times of darkness, of misery and suffering, times of terrible sickness and death. We were so worried to know that some bishops were stricken with Covid-19, and we were deeply saddened that some priests and religious lost their lives – all because of this dreaded virus that we continue to endure up to today, a great suffering to everyone but especially to the most poor and vulnerable among us. Sad memory indeed, but the fuller grim picture of this pandemic will take more time to unfold and to be told. This memory can easily envelop us, capture our hearts and minds and lead our spirits into a kind of practical hopelessness and desperation.
But we say to ourselves and to our people that our memory is not simply all of death and suffering.
In faith, we prayed. In faith, we have not forgotten that we belong to the family of the Church. In faith, we struggled to do good deeds, especially for the most suffering among us. In faith, we realized how present God is among us.
I was so inspired to recall what Pope Francis told the Argentinian bishops in a video message on May 7, 2021 as the Argentinian people prepared for their turn to pray the rosary, heeding the call of the Holy Father for a worldwide prayer of the Rosary, and interceding the Blessed Mother for the end of the pandemic. In part the Holy Father said,“A strong memory guarantees a secure future.”
I would like to believe that the Church in the Philippines tried her best, through us bishops, our clergy and religious, our lay leaders, to complete and make the memory of our people strong. In our devotions and in our liturgies, especially the Eucharist, we kept the faith of our people in the ever-abiding presence and accompaniment of the Lord during these very trying times. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, in the Sacrament of the Sick, as difficult as it was to celebrate them, we let our people experience theLord’s mercy and forgiveness and healing comfort. We kept his loving memory alive.
In the midst of many limitations, we celebrated and remembered the beginning of the 500 Years of Christianity in the Philippines on April 4, Easter Sunday, when we recalled the first Eucharist, an Easter Mass celebrated in our islands. On April 14, the Archdiocese of Cebu prepared so well the commemoration of the 500th Anniversary of the First Baptisms in our islands. In our continuing suffering, we were given by the Holy Father the comforting figure of St. Joseph, when he proclaimed the Year of St. Joseph. And how about the food packs that our parishes are continuing to give to the most needy families; the community pantries that good-hearted people have organized; the parish and catholic school facilities that we have offered as vaccination centers.
In giving much comfort and encouragement to our people, last June 12, we led our people in making our National Act of Consecration to our Blessed Mother, reminding ourselves that we are indeed El Pueblo Amante de Maria,because truly, we believe that she is our Mother!
And we remember early on, at the start of this pandemic, we fervently prayed in our OratioImperata that vaccines may be invented and produced. And before the end of last year, we received news that vaccines are coming. Even people among the medical and pharmaceutical circles were unbelieving at first that this is true. Vaccines cannot be produced this fast. But yes, we have the vaccines.
Our memory includes countless people who, we know, witnessed to the light, who witnessed to love in the midst of darkness. In the words of Pope Francis, in his Apostolic Letter PatrisCorde, “… we experienced, amid the crisis, how “our lives are woven together and sustained by ordinary people, people often overlooked. People who do not appear in newspaper and magazine headlines, or on the latest television show, yet in these very days are surely shaping the decisive events of our history. Doctors, nurses, storekeepers and supermarket workers, cleaning personnel, caregivers, transport workers, men and women working to provide essential services and public safety, volunteers, priests, men and women religious, and so very many others. They understood that no one is saved alone… How many people daily exercise patience and offer hope, taking care to spread not panic, but shared responsibility. How many fathers, mothers, grandparents and teachers are showing our children, in small everyday ways, how to accept and deal with a crisis by adjusting their routines, looking ahead and encouraging the practice of prayer. How many are praying, making sacrifices and interceding for the good of all.”
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