Archbishop Rex Andrew Alarcon of Caceres. PHOTO FROM ARCHDIOCESE OF CACERES
By CBCP News May 29, 2024 Manila, Philippines
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has appointed Archbishop Rex Andrew Alarcon of Caceres as the national spiritual director of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV).
CBCP president Bishop Pablo Virgilio David formally appointed Alarcon to the post on May 27, following the Permanent Council’s decision during its May 22 meeting.
In his appointment letter to Alarcon, the CBCP head said, “We express our deepest gratitude to you for accepting this assignment. May the Lord continue to bless and guide your ministry.”
He said the functions of the office “are in accordance with the statutes of the PPCRV and in coordination with the CBCP Episcopal Commission on the Laity.”
PPCRV is a national parish-based, political but non-partisan lay movement that works for clean, honest, accurate, meaningful, and peaceful elections.
Established in 1991, the movement was born from the realization that the laity must be part of nation-building and the renewal of Christian life.
PPCRV’s current national chairperson is Evelyn Singson.
Approximately 20 boats carrying around 40 small-scale fishers set sail from Masinloc, Zambales to Scarborough Shoal on the afternoon of Thursday, May 30, to carry out what they call a “collective fishing” as a stand against the fishing ban imposed by China in an area that falls within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Philippines. According to the group Pamalakaya, the activity was not meant as a provocation but as a reassertion of fishing rights and national sovereignty. Photo by John Carlo Magallon/ Altermidya
The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA) held a two-day fishing expedition in Masinloc, Zambales, to protest foreign military presence and assert sovereignty over Philippine territorial waters.
The initiative responds to Beijing’s unilateral fishing moratorium and the recent U.S. Balikatan military exercises.
According to PAMALAKAYA, the action challenges the fishing ban and advocates for the total removal of military operations in the West Philippine Sea.
Joey Marabe, provincial coordinator for PAMALAKAYA-Zambales, criticized military activities by both China and the United States.
“Foreign military presence in our waters challenges our sovereignty and affects our fisherfolk,” Marabe said.
Pope Francis declared the 25th and 26th of May 2024 to be the celebration of the first World Children’s Day at the Vatican. “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5) is the theme for this year’s event. In his letter addressed to children, Pope Francis says to them, “All of you, girls and boys, are a source of joy for your parents and your families, but also for our human family and for the Church, in which each of us is like a link in a great chain stretching from the past to the future and cov
Sr Oluwakemi Akinleye fsp
Children are precious gifts to their families and to humanity. Pope Francis reminds us that “Children, everywhere, are a sign of every person’s desire to grow and flourish. You remind us that we are all children, brothers and sisters. We would not be alive unless others brought us into this world, nor could we grow without having others to love and from whom to receive love.” Where ever they are, children deserve to be loved and protected.
Raising children in the digital era
Good parental guidance is needed at every stage of a chid’s life. Today, digital technologies give children more learning opportunities than in the past but they can also lead them to being exposed to vices such as pornography and violence at an early age. Therefore, the responsibility of parents spending more time with and guding their children can not be underestimated.
When asked about the difficulties parents face today in raising children, Barrister Mrs Virginia Mudimu, a mother and guardian from Zimbabwe, spoke about the fact that “Nowadays, parents are so busy trying to make ends meet, that they leave their children very often with television and phones. These devices are needed and useful but children must be guided on their proper use.” She also reminds parents of the invaluable necessity of spending quality time with their children.
Do not forget those other Children
In a world where gross inequality exists between the haves and the have-nots, Pope Francis invites children to remember “all those other children and young people who are already battling illness and hardship, in hospital or at home, and those who even now are being cruelly robbed of their childhood.”
Prayer as a special secret
Teaching children how to pray and helping them grow in having a loving relationship with God is a priceless gift to them. Pope Francis shares his special secret with the children, one of having a life of prayer. “Now, I am going to share a special secret with you. If we really want to be happy, we need to pray, to pray a lot, to pray every day, because prayer connects us directly to God. Prayer fills our hearts with light and warmth; it helps us to do everything with confidence and peace of mind.”
Bishop Socrates Mesiona presides over Mass to inaugurate the Apostolic Vicariate of Puerto Princesa’s new apostolate for the “pastoral care of the people of the sea” at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral on May 30, 2024. AVPP
By Katya A. Santos May 31, 2024 Puerto Princesa City
The Apostolic Vicariate of Puerto Princesa (AVPP) on Thursday inaugurated an apostolate dedicated to the well-being and pastoral care of seafarers and coastal communities.
The launch followed a Mass presided over by Bishop Socrates Mesiona at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Puerto Princesa City.
Fr. Eugene Elivera, coordinator of the Committee on Migrants and Itinerant People, will oversee the ministry for “pastoral care for the people of the sea.”
Its mission is to provide spiritual support, counseling, and practical assistance to seafarers, both on land and during their maritime journeys.
In his homily, Mesiona emphasized the significance of seafarers, saying they are “close to the heart of Jesus.”
He recognized their challenges, including separation from families, exposure to unpredictable weather, and vulnerability to exploitation due to globalization.
“As a Church, we must extend our care to them,” Mesiona said. “Let us pray for their well-being, seeking the intercession of the Blessed Mother, the Star of the Sea (Stella Maris).”
The launch was attended by officials from the Philippine Navy, Philippine Coast Guard, and City Tourism Council.
Palawan Gov. Victorino Dennis Socrates, City Councilor Karl Dylan Aquino, representatives of the Philippine Ports Authority, and seafarers’ families also participated in the event.
In April, Bishop Ruperto Santos of Stella Maris – Philippines discussed with Mesiona the possibility of establishing a center in the apostolic vicariate to provide pastoral care for seafarers, fishers, and their families.
Santos said the maritime charity intends to build more centers in the country to reach areas with a large number of seafarers and fishers.
Faith in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Trinity), is not a distant and unattainable experience. Instead, it is as near since it is perennially “broken” for us: This is my Body… This is my blood.”
In 1207, a Belgian Augustinian nun, Giuliana di Cornillon, who had just turned fifteen, had a vision of a full moon with a dark spot sullying it. Contemporary experts interpreted it thus: the full moon symbolized the Church, the dark spot was the absence of a specific feast in honour of the Body of the Eucharistic Jesus. The following year, the same religious had an even clearer vision, but had to fight hard to get the feast instituted. She succeeded only at the diocesan level, when Robert de Thourette became bishop of Liège in 1247. In 1261, the former archdeacon of Liège, Jacques Panteléon, became Pope Urban IV. In 1264, impressed by a Eucharistic miracle that had taken place in Bolsena, near Orvieto in Italy where he was residing, he promulgated the bull Transiturus through which he instituted a new solemnity to be celebrated the Thursday after the Octave of Pentecost in honour of the Blessed Sacrament. Thomas Aquinas was given the task of composing the liturgical office. The last strophe of the hymns very famous hymn he wrote, Sacris Solemniis, which begins with the words Panis angelicus (Bread of angels), has often been set to different musical scores, apart from the rest of the hymn. Since Pope Urban IV died two months after having instituted the feast, the bull was never implemented, but Pope Clement V, the first Avignon Pope (1312), confirmed it later.
The now traditional procession of Corpus Christi was introduced by Pope John XXII in 1316. During his pastoral visit to Orvieto, Saint John Paul II said: “Even though the construction of this cathedral was not directly connected with the Solemnity of ‘Corpus Christi’, instituted by Pope Urban IV with the bull Transiturus, in 1264, nor with the miracle that took place in Bolsena the previous year, there is no doubt that the Eucharistic miracle is powerfully evidenced here due to the corporal of Bolsena for which the chapel was specifically built and which it now jealously guards. Since then, the city of Orvieto became known throughout the world due to that miraculous sign that reminds all of us of the merciful love of God who becomes the food and drink of salvation for humanity on its early pilgrimage. Because of the cult rendered to such a great mystery, your city preserves and nourishes the inextinguishable flame” (17 June 1990).
Jesus said to the Jewish crowds: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” (Jn. 6:51-58)
There’s bread and there is bread
The people did not forget and could not forget the Exodus experience and what God had done for them. The First Reading from the Book of Deuteronomy focuses on this. It can be said that life is guided by memory. “Remember how for forty years now the Lord, your God, directed all your journeying…” (Dt. 8:2). Along that journey, the people received “manna” in which they received the strength to endure the difficult journey through the “vast and terrible wilderness with its saraph serpents and scorpions, its parched and waterless ground; who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock and fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers” (Dt. 8:15).
Every month the Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas releases this Online Newsletter – Laity’s News – which features highlights from the activities of Laiko.
Every month the Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas releases this Online Newsletter – Laity’s News – which features highlights from the activities of Laiko.
Every month the Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas releases this Online Newsletter – Laity’s News – which features highlights from the activities of Laiko.
Pope Francis at General Audience (28 February 2024)
During his weekly General Audience, Pope Francis continues his catechesis series on virtues and vices, this week focusing on the sins of envy and vainglory, suggesting there are remedies to each, both of which involve making ourselves less at the center, embracing weakness, and letting God operate in our lives.
By Deborah Castellano Lubov 28 February 2024
Envy and vainglory are dangerous vices, but there are remedies to combat each.
Pope Francis suggested this during his weekly General Audience on Wednesday morning in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, as he continued his catechesis series on virtues and vices, this week examining envy and vainglory.
Given the Pope’s recent flu-like symptoms, the Holy Father opted for an official of the Vatican Secretariat of State, Msgr. Filippo Ciampanelli, to read his remarks on his behalf, as he has done for the Holy Father on other occasions.
Speaking first about envy, the Pope recalled the sin, even as early as in the story of Cain and Abel, proved to be a destructive force fuelled by resentment towards others, that often leads to deadly hatred.
“Envy,” he observed, “is an evil that has not only been investigated in the Christian sphere: it has attracted the attention of philosophers and wise men of every culture.”
God’s ‘math’ is different
At envy’s basis, the Holy Father suggested, is a relationship of hate and love. “One desires the evil for the other, but secretly desires to be like him.
“His good fortune,” he continued, “seems to us an injustice: surely, we think to ourselves, we would deserve his successes or good fortune much more!
At the root of this vice, he noted, is “a false idea of God,” where “we do not accept that God has His own ‘math,’ different from ours.”
Remedies to envy and vainglory
The remedy to envy, the Pope suggested, lies in Saint Paul’s exhortation: “Love one another with brotherly affection, compete in esteeming one another.”
Meanwhile, vainglory, which is excessive or ostentatious pride especially in one’s achievements, he said, is marked by an inflated self-esteem and “a craving for constant praise,” “frequently prone to using other people for one’s own ends.”
This sin, the Holy Father pointed out, goes hand in hand with “the demon” of envy, saying both vices are characteristic of a person “who aspires to be the centre of the world.”
God’s power made perfect in weakness
The vainglorious person, the Pope indicated, is completely self-absorbed.
To combat this vice, the Pope suggested following Saint Paul’s example of boasting of his weakness rather than achievements, which “offers an effective way for overcoming vainglory.”
Pope Francis urged the faithful to imitate Saint Paul in knowing that God’s grace is sufficient, since His power is made perfect in weakness.
As we accept and even embrace our weaknesses, the Holy Father suggested, the power of Christ will set us free for a more generous love of others.
Archbishop-elect Rex Andrew Alarcon of Caceres. NIKKO BALBEDINA/CBCP NEWS
By Roy Lagarde February 22, 2024 Manila, Philippines
Pope Francis on Thursday appointed Bishop Rex Andrew Alarcon as the new archbishop of Caceres, his home archdiocese.
Alarcon, currently serving as the bishop of Daet, will succeed Archbishop Rolando Tria Tirona, who retired at the age of 77.
Tirona has led the archdiocese since November 2012.
As archbishop of Caceres, Alarcon will oversee the pastoral care of Catholics in Naga City, considered the economic, cultural, educational, and religious center of the Bicol region.
The archbishop-elect was born in Daet, the provincial capital of Camarines Norte, on August 6, 1970.
After completing his high school education and philosophy courses at the Holy Rosary Minor Seminary in Naga, he studied theology at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Central Seminary in Manila.
Alarcon was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Caceres on November 9, 1996.
The 53-year-old also holds a licentiate in Church history, which he obtained from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 2001.
Before becoming a bishop, he led the Bicol Association of Catholic Schools and served as the president of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP).
On Jan. 2, 2019, the pope appointed him as the bishop of Daet. He was ordained to the episcopate on March 19 of the same year and formally assumed his new role the following day.
As metropolitan archbishop, he also meets with the suffragan bishops to discuss matters of importance to the region. The suffragan dioceses of the Caceres archdiocese include Daet, Legazpi, Libmanan, Masbate, Sorsogon and Virac.
Within the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Alarcon currently serves as the chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Youth.
