National Laity Week Closing Ceremony at the Diocese of Bacolod
Pope’s October prayer intention: A Church that walks together
Pope Francis releases his prayer intention for the month of October, in which he asks that the Church be one of synodality, which means walking together, along the same road.
By Francesca Merlo
As is customary at the beginning of every month, Pope Francis has released his prayer intention for the month of October: “A Church that is open to everyone”.
In The Pope Video, produced by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, the Holy Father begins by asking “What does it mean ‘to synod’?”, before answering himself, that it means walking together: syn-od. He explains that in Greek, the word synod means to walk together, and to walk on the same road.
This, continued the Pope, “is what God expects of the Church of the third millennium – that it regain its awareness of being a people on the road and of having to travel together”.
He adds that a Church with this synodal style is one that listens, aware that listening is more than just hearing.
“It means listening to each other in our diversity and opening doors to those outside the Church. It’s not about gathering opinions, nor holding a parliament. The synod isn’t a survey; it’s about listening to the protagonist, the Holy Spirit. It’s about praying. Without prayer, there will be no Synod”, says the Pope.
His two-minute-long video, which shows images of people walking, praying and attending classes together, ends with the Holy Father asking that we “take advantage of this opportunity to be a Church of closeness, which is God’s style –closeness”, as well as asking that we “give thanks to all the people of God who, with their attentive listening, are walking the synodal way”. Finally, the Pope says, “let us pray that the Church, ever faithful to the Gospel and courageous in preaching it, may live in an increasing atmosphere of synodality and be a community of solidarity, fraternity, and welcome”.
Vatican Unveils New Documentary on Climate Change
A new documentary “on humanity’s power to stop the ecological crisis” facing the world is presented at a press conference at the Vatican on Tuesday. The film “The Letter,” says Cardinal Michael Czerny, “is a clarion cry to people everywhere: we have to act together, we have to do it now.”
By Christopher Wells
A new documentary by filmmaker Nicolas Brown “highlights the key concept of dialogue,” Cardinal Michael Czerny explained on Tuesday, at the presentation of the film “The Letter” at the Holy See Press Office.
The film itself is aimed at conveying the messages of Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Laudato si’. Despite the encyclical’s “widespread impact on the global stage” since its publication seven years ago, “the environmental crisis of our common home has worsened drastically,” the Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development said.
Voices from the peripheries
This led to the DPIHD to collaborate with Brown and his Off The Fence Productions team, as well as the Laudato Si’ Movement and the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, to arrange a dialogue between Pope Francis and a variety of voices from “the peripheries”, including an indigenous leader, a climate refugee, a youth activist, and a group of scientists.
These “remarkable leaders,” said Cardinal Czerny, can speak for the often neglected voices of the peripheries, first through their dialogue with Pope Francis, and then by sharing their own stories. “The film and the personal stories powerfully show that the ecological crisis has arrived and is happening now,” the Cardinal said, while warning of the negative effects of climate change that continue to grow.
Continue readingCaritas to organize good governance advocates in parishes

By CBCP News
October 4, 2022
Manila, Philippines
A church-led grassroots movement will organize advocates in parishes across the country who will act as “champions” of good governance and nation-building.
Caritas Philippines announced the plan Monday during the official launching of its “Simbayanihan” movement, a “whole-of-Church” approach to address poverty and corruption.
“So among our next moves is to organize good governance advocates in different dioceses and parishes,” Caritas’ executive secretary Fr. Tony Labiao said. “We have to organize communities.”
“We need to organize the working teams who will lead the engagements for economic empowerment and participation in local governance,” said the priest, who is also the national convenor of Simbayanihan.
The launching was preceded with the first Simbayanihan National Congress at the Caritas Philippines Academy in Tagaytay City, south of Manila.
The whole-day event was attended by representatives from different diocesan social action centers across the country.
The national Caritas said the program also aims to form and support principled politics and politicians and create “critical vigilance” among communities.
Its national director Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo said that the previous elections taught them that “we failed in our old strategies” to bring people together to discuss politics and development.
“Simbayanihan was hoped to bridge the gap between faith and justice, by taking part in concrete social action works on ecology, justice and peace, and good governance,” Bagaforo said.
Fr. Rex Paul Arjona, one of the convenors of Simbayanihan, said the movement is focused on linking existing good governance and community development programs through organization and partnership building, training and formation for responsible citizenship, and principled cooperation with government.
Aside from the Caritas network, Agri Partylist, the Quezon City government, and the People Power Volunteers for Reform are also part of the convening groups.
“We always believe in the influence of the church to effect community empowerment and development, which is vital in ensuring that government programs are enforced properly, and maximized fully,” said Agri Partylist Rep. Wilbert Lee.
“We are working with Caritas Philippines and our partners to provide communities with sustainable economic activities so we will be able to help create empowered communities who can exact accountability among local and national politicians, and be more engaged in local governance,” Lee added.
Simbayanihan will be launched at the regional and diocesan levels in the coming months, involving the civil society, government, and private organizations, through the social action clusters and centers.
New Pathways For Synodality

September 27, 2022
Manila, Philippines
MANILA— Here’s the full text of CBCP president Bishop Pablo Virgilio David’s talk at the Manila Cathedral on Sept. 26 during the “Celebrate Asia in Manila” conference in preparation for the 50th general conference of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) in Bangkok, Thailand next month.
I. Our Philippine synodal experience in the light of FABC’s 50th anniversary
The context in which we are reflecting on New Pathways for Synodality for the Church in the Philippines is our Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of FABC.
FABC has been promoting greater synodality in the Church since it began. It has been known mainly for its insistence on DIALOGUE. For us in Asia, FABC emphasizes that synodality has to take the form of a threefold dialogue: one, with the religions of Asia, two, with the cultures of Asia, and three, with the poor of Asia. Perhaps we can begin by replacing Asia with the Philippines and ask ourselves how we have fared in each level of dialogue while reviewing our own synodal experience in the Philippines.
A. On dialogue with religions
Ironically, as regards IRD, our disadvantage has been the fact that we are a predominantly Christian country. (Ironically, I say, because being predominantly Christian is precisely the reason why we have the tendency to be less concerned about dialoguing with other religions.) It is different talking about dialogue in a context in which you are the majority, than in a context in which you are a minority, which is the more common experience in Asia. It is in a minority setting that the advocacy for religious freedom, tolerance and dialogue usually becomes more palpable. It is a common tendency for us Catholics, when we are the majority, to be presumptuous, to throw our weight around, to be intolerant and less open to dialogue. No wonder, our efforts at IRD have remained very insignificant. The other communities of faith are usually surprised when we even bother to reach out to them.
We have Catholics who simply take it for granted that we can just celebrate Masses in public spaces as if these belonged to us. We sometimes just presumptuously occupy the streets and mess up the traffic for our processions often without bothering to coordinate with the LGUs or Barangays about traffic rerouting. Sometimes, this happens precisely because the LGU leaders and Bgy captains are mostly Catholics anyway. They quickly say ok and presume that we will marshall the traffic ourselves, which, of course doesn’t happen when not consciously attended to. It is when government officials happen to belong to other religions or Christian denominations that we often become conscious of the need for dialogue. I call that a self-serving kind of dialogue, dialogue when we are in a position of disadvantage.
Take note, please, I am not necessarily advocating a secularistic kind of society that is intolerant of religious expressions in public spaces. There are countries where all communities of faith are equally given the privilege of using the public space for their festivals, often even with support from the other religions.
Continue reading‘Be A Force For Good,’ Lay People Told

By CBCP News
September 26, 2022
Manila, Philippines
A top Catholic official opened this year’s National Laity Week by encouraging the lay faithful to be ‘a force for the good’ in the country.
Cardinal Jose Advincula of Manila said that the laity have a far greater area of responsibility in marriage and family.
He said that the lay faithful have a huge role to play on issues related to politics, economy, justice and peace, and the integrity of creation.
“Let us be a force for the good in society,” Advincula said in his homily during Mass at the Lay Force Center of San Carlos Seminary in Makati City on Saturday, Sept. 24.
“Let us strengthen our programs for the poor and our youth ministry,” he also said.
Among the concelebrants was Bishop Enrique Macaraeg of Tarlac, chairman of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on the Laity.
With the theme “Journeying Together and Reflecting Together on the Journey that has been made… Communion, Participation, and Mission”, the week of the laity will end on October 1.