Category: News

An effect of the Corona virus pandemic that is here to stay is social distancing. The consciousness and the practice of social distancing will be with us long after the quarantine is lifted. What would this imply in our ministries in the Church? How do we limit the attendance of the people in our services? This may mean additional masses on Sundays and asking the people to come on the times when there are less people in order to reduce the density of mass goers in any given time. This can also mean the re-training of our ushers. We should get younger ones who can politely ask the people to keep social distancing. Each parish is to determine the adequate spaces to be observed between the mass attendees. Perhaps big celebrations should be done outdoors to follow the social distancing protocols. The churches can also invest in big LCD screens and a good outdoor sound system so that people can remain outside and still be part of the celebration.

Another thing that is here to stay is our consciousness of the need for constant handwashing. A regular feature of our churches will now be the alcohol bottles or hand sanitizers that will be made ubiquitous at the door of our churches and offices. A foot bath is to be provided at the door steps of our churches and offices. A new ministry can be started in the parishes –  perhaps to be called “sanitation ministry” – whose task is to disinfect or clean the pews in between masses. This would mean that masses should no longer be on an hourly basis. Some time should be given between services for the cleaning of the pews and other “high touch” surfaces much used in the church.

An important Filipino social custom may also change – that of the mano po. Instead of getting the hand of the elderly or the priest and putting it on one’s forehead, or much worse, kissing the ring of the bishop, the people would be taught to show their respect by a polite bow and similar gestures.

As Filipinos we are a tactile people. We want to express our nearness by touching. This we do to one another and also to the objects of devotion. Thus we see people lovingly and devotedly touching the statues and even the casing of the statues. We have to be educated to do without this form of reverence anymore. A slight bow or a moment of silent prayer in front of a statue is also a worthy expression of our desire to commune with God and his saints.

We have been telling the people during lent that if we cannot go to confession, we can obtain God’s forgiveness by a sincere contrition of our sins with firm resolve to come to confess our sins to a priest as soon as there is the opportunity. One of the conditions to fulfill in order to receive the plenary indulgence is to confess our sins to a priest. After the lockdown, it would be good if the vicariates can organize a kumpisalan ng bayan in all the parishes so that the faithful can avail themselves of this sacrament. Perhaps it would also help if parishes can re-design their confessional boxes that it would no longer be stuffy but that there be enough room for social distancing during confession. Proper physical distance should still be kept during the kumpisalan ng bayan.

Let us use our creativity on how to serve our people in the new situation that we are now in. If the new practices that we will adapt are properly explained to the people, they will understand. They will even appreciate that we are making changes so that we can serve God without jeopardizing our loved ones.

Bishop Broderick S. Pabillo
Chairman
Episcopal Commission on Lay Apostolate
April 13, 2020

After about a month of quarantine, many people have gotten used to it. Now, the challenge to us in the church is no longer on adjusting to the lock down. We should instead start looking forward to what we will do after the quarantine!

It would be too naïve to imagine that come May 1, we will all jump back to the life that we had before the quarantine. No! There will be a very gradual period of adjustment. Many of our ways of doing ministry will change. This early let us already project the changes that can come about based on our experiences during this past month and plan for them accordingly.

Some realizations become clear to us. First, the importance of the social media. Parishes who have well-developed social media ministry are able to reach their people easily and offer them services. Thus we should develop our social media ministry. Online religious services are here to stay. Many of our elderly people will hesitate to go to church; the social distancing cannot be easily done in our churches because we do not have that many churches. So the media apostolate is here to stay and will play a greater role in the life of the Church from now on. Thus all Church institutions are encouraged to set up good social media ministries.

If many of our elderly people would prefer to participate in the mass online after the lock down, we should be able to offer them the possibility of receiving communion in their homes. We should deploy more our lay ministers to bring communion to the sick and the elderly. In many parishes, we either do not have enough lay ministers, or many of our lay ministers are old, or both. The elderly ones can no longer give communion in the homes because they themselves are susceptible to be infected. Thus we need to recruit more and younger lay ministers. Can we fast track their recruitment and their formation? We can get from the older altar servers, or older choir members, or even ask the religious sisters and brothers to help in this ministry of bringing the Body of Christ to the elderly.

The pandemic has shown us the importance of the ministry to the sick. Not many parishes have this. In Manila we have only five priests of the archdiocese who are in the hospital chaplaincy. Most of our hospital chaplains are either religious or guest priests. We should seriously think as an archdiocese to strengthen our ministry to the sick, even down to the parochial level. This ministry does not only cater to the sick in the hospitals but also to the medical staff, and also to the sick and the elderly in their homes.

At the beginning of the lock down there were criticisms that the church to use its reputedly big money to help the poor. These criticisms soon died down when it apparent that we have churches, schools, and religious houses who were the first ones to open their facilities to house and feed the street people, the medical front liners and the uniformed personnel. People will not fault us for having big and good facilities as long as they see that these are open to serve those in need in times of emergency. This should be a deliberate choice by our institutions from one on since nowadays emergencies are a new normal in our life.

One thing that caught the admiration of the business community and the government is our silent but rapid mobilization to distribute more than 1 billion pesos worth of gift certificates (GCs) to the poor. Each family was given 1,000 pesos worth of GCs. This was done through the organizing capacity of Caritas Manila and the enthusiasm of more than  668 parishes in MegaManila and their volunteers. Our parishes would not be able to identify the poor families if there was no good networking with barangay officials. Many times the good relations with the barangay are forged because of the BECs.  This is one thing that we have to develop more – better relations with the barangay especially through the BECs. Naging mabango ang simbahan sa buwang ito dahil sa ang simbahan ay bumaba sa mga tao. Talagang naramdaman nila ang simbahan, hindi sa kanyang gawaing pangsamba ngunit sa kanyang pagtulong sa mahihirap.

LiCAS.news reporter
April 12, 2020
Licas news

Dear brothers and sisters,

Happy Easter.

Today the Church’s proclamation echoes throughout the world: “Jesus Christ is risen!” – “He is truly risen!”.

Like a new flame this Good News springs up in the night: the night of a world already faced with epochal challenges and now oppressed by a pandemic severely testing our whole human family. In this night, the Church’s voice rings out: “Christ, my hope, has arisen!”.

This is a different “contagion”, a message transmitted from heart to heart – for every human heart awaits this Good News.

It is the contagion of hope: “Christ, my hope, is risen!”.

This is no magic formula that makes problems vanish. No, the resurrection of Christ is not that.

Instead, it is the victory of love over the root of evil, a victory that does not “by-pass” suffering and death, but passes through them, opening a path in the abyss, transforming evil into good: this is the unique hallmark of the power of God.

The Risen Lord is also the Crucified One, not someone else. In his glorious body he bears indelible wounds: wounds that have become windows of hope.

Let us turn our gaze to him that he may heal the wounds of an afflicted humanity.

Today my thoughts turn in the first place to the many who have been directly affected by the coronavirus: the sick, those who have died and family members who mourn the loss of their loved ones, to whom, in some cases, they were unable even to bid a final farewell.

May the Lord of life welcome the departed into his kingdom and grant comfort and hope to those still suffering, especially the elderly and those who are alone. May he never withdraw his consolation and help from those who are especially vulnerable, such as persons who work in nursing homes, or live in barracks and prisons. For many, this is an Easter of solitude lived amid the sorrow and hardship that the pandemic is causing, from physical suffering to economic difficulties.

This disease has not only deprived us of human closeness, but also of the possibility of receiving in person the consolation that flows from the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist and Reconciliation.

In many countries, it has not been possible to approach them, but the Lord has not left us alone! United in our prayer, we are convinced that he has laid his hand upon us, firmly reassuring us: Do not be afraid, “I have risen and I am with you still!”.

May Jesus, our Passover, grant strength and hope to doctors and nurses, who everywhere offer a witness of care and love for our neighbours, to the point of exhaustion and not infrequently at the expense of their own health.

Our gratitude and affection go to them, to all who work diligently to guarantee the essential services necessary for civil society, and to the law enforcement and military personnel who in many countries have helped ease people’s difficulties and sufferings.

In these weeks, the lives of millions of people have suddenly changed.

For many, remaining at home has been an opportunity to reflect, to withdraw from the frenetic pace of life, stay with loved ones and enjoy their company.

For many, though, this is also a time of worry about an uncertain future, about jobs that are at risk and about other consequences of the current crisis.

I encourage political leaders to work actively for the common good, to provide the means and resources needed to enable everyone to lead a dignified life and, when circumstances allow, to assist them in resuming their normal daily activities.

This is not a time for indifference, because the whole world is suffering and needs to be united in facing the pandemic.

La Croix
Eric Hodgens
Australia
April 11, 2020

Easter is one of the biggest holidays of the year throughout much of the world. It was originally a Holy Day. But its significance is changing.

In Western culture Easter has morphed from being a great cultural festival to being just another public holiday. In multicultural societies this applies even more so.

With the widespread shutdown due to the COVID-19 virus, Easter 2020 has been largely shut down. It’s just an empty break.

For the practicing Christian, however, the sense of loss is much greater because communal liturgies are banned.

Holy Week is the annual peak of Christian celebration. Palm Sunday celebrates Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem for the fateful week.

Christian churches re-visit this theme with processions.

Holy Thursday recalls Jesus’s Last Supper with his followers. His present-day followers celebrate the Lord’s Supper – the older title given to the Eucharist or Mass.

Good Friday mourns the crucifixion of Jesus with its veneration of the cross.

The climax is Easter Sunday. Jesus is risen from death to life. Christians remember Him not as dead, but living, by celebrating the Eucharist and attributing to him the instruction to do this in his memory.

Holy Week, therefore, is essentially a communal celebration of believers who are one in faith in Jesus dead, but risen. With COVID-19 blocking communal celebration, believers are at an enormous loss.

The coronavirus and Easter share the same eternal theme: life versus death. This was that theme that gave rise to Christianity.

People lived in an oppressive, unjust, poverty stricken and grubby world. Over the three years of Jesus’s public life his message of hope for the ordinary person attracted followers. He announced that God’s Kingdom of peace and justice was coming.

The heightened hope of that story was shattered by his death at the hands of the powers that be. It was then that his followers found an even better hope as they came to believe that Jesus was still alive – but in a different way and in a different dimension.

In Greek they called it the life for the ages (η αιώνια ζωή), translated into English as “Eternal Life”. A shrunken translation, but that’s what happens when imagination struggles for verbal expression.

The flow-on from Jesus’s resurrection is that those who believe in him also share in this different sort of life.

They get it when they first come to belief, and it endures beyond the believer’s earthly death. This reinforces Jesus’s idea of God’s coming kingdom of peace and justice par excellence.

Over time, the believers’ ideas developed. Central to Paul’s message in the mid-60s A.D. was Jesus risen to new life and the disciples’ sharing in it.

My dear people of God in the Archdiocese of Manila,

An Easter Message is supposed to be a joyful message. Can there be joy when we have heard that the Enhanced Community Quarantine has been extended till the end of April? Can there be joy when the resources of many people have dwindled while the quarantine continues? Can there be joy when the news continues to speak about new infections and new deaths?

The joy of Easter is not a joy because there are no problems. It is a joy which surprises all of us, because when God acts, he acts in unexpected ways. In spite of the announcement of the Lord Jesus that he would rise again, the idea of the resurrection did not register among his disciples. So when Jesus was killed and buried, for the disciples, Jesus is over. He is dead. So when they saw the tomb empty, their first thought was, who took his body? And when they finally saw him, they were afraid. They thought they were seeing a ghost! Jesus had to assure them that it was he. He had to show them his wounded hands and side. He had to eat in front of them. The resurrection was totally unexpected to the disciples.

Easter for us this year is also totally unexpected. Not only because we are not able to do what we usually do on Easter – go to the Salubong, attend Mass, and celebrate with friends. As at the first Easter, are we open to be surprised by God? We do not know what will happen in the coming three weeks. We do not know what will be our life after the lock down. Surely, many things will change. What will they be? Of this we are sure, though: we will rise up from this pandemic. We will rise up, hopefully not to go back to our former way of life. We will rise up stronger and more confident. We will rise up with greater care for our health and our families. We will rise up strengthened in our relationships. Most especially, we will rise up with greater trust in our God who never leaves us and who sustains us in difficult times. Let us allow ourselves to be surprised by God.

The resurrection tells us that God is faithful. He is powerful. He overcomes evil and even death. This gives us hope and joy. We can say this with greater conviction this year. The quarantine period was hard, but we have lived through it renewed and with new realizations in life. It has given us new life. Let not the monotony of the quarantine put off the joy of Easter. The basis of this joy is not what we can do, but that the Risen Jesus is with us. He is acting among us and renewing us. Because of him, we shall overcome!

May this Easter give us greater trust and hope. Jesus is risen! He is with us! We will overcome! We will live a new life with Jesus! Happy Easter to you all.

+ Bishop BRODERICK S. PABILLO, D.D.
Apostolic Administrator of Manila
11 April 2020

Jerusalem is the foundation of our vision and our entire life. She is the city to which God gave a particular importance in the history of humanity. She is the city towards which all people are in movement – and where they will meet in friendship and love in the presence of the One Unique God, according to the vision of the prophet Isaiah: «In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it (…) He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more» (Is. 2:2-5). Today, the city is inhabited by two peoples of three religions; and it is on this prophetic vision and on the international resolutions concerning the totality of Jerusalem that any political solution must be based. This is the first issue that should be negotiated because the recognition of Jerusalem’s sanctity and its message will be a source of inspiration towards finding a solution to the entire problem, which is largely a problem of mutual trust and ability to set in place a new land in this land of God.

Kairos Palestine Document – A Moment of Truth, Chapter 9.5

Introduction

Christ is risen, indeed He is risen. Let us rejoice and be glad.

We rejoice because Jesus Christ, who triumphed over death, enables us also to triumph over all forms of death in our life. In our life, indeed, the forms of death are many.

Some of the world’s great—along with many of those who have power—are still walking in the ways of death. They are imposing many wars on our Middle East and on our Holy Land, the land of the Resurrection. They see nothing but death as a way to life. The strong in our land continue to see the death imposed on the Palestinian people as their only way to life and security.

Inihanda ng INAM Philippines (Integrative Medicine for Alternative Healthcare Systems [INAM] Philippines, Inc.

Ang bagong sakit po na COVID-19 ay naghatid sa atin ng maraming pangamba dahil sa lawak at lalim ng kanyang epekto sa ating kalusugan. At sa ating buhay, hanapbuhay, kabuhayan, pamumuhay, pakikipamuhay.

Nais po nating magbigay ng ilang pinakabagong kaalaman kung paano tayo makakaangkop sa kasalukuyang situwasyon. At upang maging ligtas tayo, ang ating pamilya, at ating komunidad. At ang ating bansa at maging buong mundo na rin.

Ang COVID-19 po ay isang bagong sakit at marami pang hindi tukoy tungkol dito. Mayroon po tayong impormasyon na makikita sa ating ADVISORY na maaaring magbago kapag may dumating na mga bagong datos. Ang mahalaga po ngayon ay kumilos tayo upang maiwasan ang sakit.

Kumilos po tayo upang tayo ay maging ligtas mula sa COVID-19. ISIPIN PO NATIN NA GINAGAWA NATING LIGTAS ANG ATING SARILI UPANG MAGING LIGTAS DIN ANG ATING PAMILYA. At gayundin ang ating komunidad, ang ating bansa, at ang buong mundo.

SOCIAL/ PHYSICAL DISTANCING

My dear people of God in the Archdiocese of Manila,

The Holy Week for us Filipino Catholics is the most spiritually charged time of the year. It is a special time marked by many traditional religious activities. Due to the corona virus, our Holy Week this year will be doubly special. But can we have a Holy Week without palms, without the neighborhood singing of the Pasyon, without the Senakulo, the Chrism Mass, the Washing of the Feet, the Visita Iglesia, the Way of the Cross? Without the Good Friday Veneration of the Cross, the procession of the Santo Entierro, the solemn Easter Vigil Mass, the much awaited Salubong? Stripped of all these, is there still a Holy Week?

Our Christian faith in the Philippines has been wrapped in many traditional practices. These practices are the external manifestations of our faith. This is a great help for many to experience the faith in concrete ways, but there is also the danger that we identify our religion only with these practices. Indeed, if we are not careful, the external practices can hide the deep meaning of our Christian faith.

Due to the virus, we are challenged this year to live this most holy week without the traditional external trappings. There is still the Holy Week but we celebrate it differently, and hopefully, more deeply.

We open the Holy Week with the Palm Sunday. The palms, and any leafy branch for that matter, is a symbol of welcome to the Lord. We recognize him entering and taking possession of his city but in a lowly manner, riding not on a war horse but on a lowly beast of labor, a donkey. Now without palm branches in our hands, we can still welcome the Lord and ask him to enter our homes and our lives by our prayers and fidelity to his commands.

PMPI Press Release on the Homonhon Islanders blocking-off Techiron Mine Ore Loading
06 April 2020

Quezon City, Philippines – Concerned residents of Homonhon Island in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, one of the many islands hit by Typhoon Yolanda, through their barangay captains, blocked-off the entry of a vessel from China. 

The vessel named MV “VW Peace”, flying a Panamanian Flag, manned by Chinese and Myanmar crew is reported to have come from Macau but temporarily docked in Davao for a few days and is supposed to proceed to Cantilado Pier in Homonhon Island based on documents collected. With this, the island’s eight (8) barangay captains immediately issued a joint resolution banning entry of MV “VW Peace” to Homonhon Island.

According to Yoly Esguerra, National Coordinator of the Philippine Misereor Partnership, Inc. (PMPI), “the resolution is a good sign that even in a time of pandemic, the eight (8) barangay leaders, the Municipal Government of Guiuan, and the Provincial Government of Eastern Samar have worked together in decisively weighing the importance of their community-members’ health rights over mining. That the people are united in asserting their health rights sends a flicker of hope amidst the sea of chaos and loss for many in Luzon are troubled by COVID-19 pandemic, they are all united in asserting their health rights.”

Gov. Ben Evardone communicated the said issue to USec. Mitch Cuna of to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and said that the docking of the ship carrying foreign crew and transporting of ore, will violate the both the national and prevailing Provincial Government’s Executive Order on enhanced community quarantine that prohibits mass gatherings. Meanwhile, Mayor Annaliz Gonzales-Kwan mobilized the local PNP and Philippine Coast Guard to bar the foreign vessel from docking into the island.

Fr. Christian Ofilan, Priest at St. John the Baptist Parish in Homonhon Island earlier raised concern over the said vessel and appealed to concerned government officials not to allow the loading of mine ores in the island for the sake of “common good, our health” he said.     

“The Joint Baranggay Resolution dated 6 March 2020 bans the entry of strangers into the island, parallel to the National Government’s effort to fight-off the spread of COVID-19”, said Carmi Macapagao, a resident of Homonhon Island and field officer of PMPI’s Project Pagbangon.  She added, “Homonhonanons are grateful that Hon. Ben Evardone prioritized our health over a mining corporation and made efforts to notify DENR regarding this development.    

Mr. Wenifredo O. Gapate Jr. from Brgy. Pagbabangnan, is one the signatories of the Barangay Joint Resolution, said, “The mining companies, out of greed to gain more profit acts like a thief in the night, attacking the people while sleeping. But they made the wrong move, despite many concerns due to the broadening of COVID-19 infection, we are forever vigilant. He added, “We will continue to monitor movement of these mining companies. We intend to boot them out of the island because they are destroying our home and are robbing our children of their future.”

Homonhon Island in Guiuan, Eastern Samar is historical site tied to Magellan’s first landing in the Philippines back in 1521 and home to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red-listed and Critically Endangered Philippine Cockatoo.

Homonhon Island along with its neighbor Manicani Island and the entire Province of Eastern Samar are covered by Provincial Ordinance No. 09, series of 2005 that prohibits large-scale mining in the entire Eastern Samar Province.

Council for People’s Development and Governance (CPDG) Statement
06 April 2020

Quezon City, Philippines — Amid the Duterte administration’s increasingly hostile militarist lockdown, the Council for People’s Development and Governance (CPDG) calls on Philippine civil society to defend and protect civic spaces and empower the marginalized (http://chng.it/HZt2Gjb92q).

CPDG strongly protests Pres. Rodrigo Duterte’s dangerous and irresponsible order to kill citizens that security forces deem as defying the military lockdown. In a nationally broadcast announcement on April 1, 2020, he said: “Shoot them dead”. The president’s duty is to uphold the rights and welfare of Filipinos. The State and its officials, including security forces, are duty bearers that are accountable to the people.

The president is wrong to treat people asserting their right to emergency relief and to express their views on the government’s response as enemies. The real enemy today is the spread of the COVID-19 and the social and economic crisis this is spawning.

The president is also very wrong to single out activist groups in civil society and shut out their participation in governance. For decades now, activist people’s organizations and NGOs have been among the most determined civil society organizations (CSOs) asserting the right to development. Red-tagging has no place in a democracy, and only becomes more condemnable when done in the middle of the worst public health crisis in the nation’s history.

This is a time of serious crisis. Filipinos are suffering greatly with very uncertain and even dire prospects in the new normal that the pandemic has wrought. The public health system needs to be strengthened further and immediately. The poorest and most vulnerable also need to be immediately given emergency relief including food, hygiene supplies and income support.

The last thing the country needs is for the government itself to threaten and harass civil society groups which are among those on the frontlines of trying to alleviate the widespread suffering that the virus and military lockdown are causing.