Del Pilar de Morong is in Morong, Bataan.
September 18
Isang lugar sa bayan ng Morong na nasa dulong bahagi ng ‘Bayandati’ o Brgy. Nagbalayong ang kilala sa tawag na ‘Pinagtaguang Poon’ o ‘Pulang Lupa’ sapagkat isa ito sa kinalagyan ng Mahal na Patrona noong panahon ng giyera kung saan isang nakapangingilabot na himala ang naganap.
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I, Andreas Choi Chang-mou, Archbishop of Kwangju, exercising this episcopal office according to the gracious concern and mandate of the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter, and thanking God always for His mercy and grace, promulgate, after serious reflection, the following decree for the unity and communion of the ecclesiastical community (Cf. Can. 391):
First, I judge that ‘those who believe in Julia Youn in Naju and all related phenomena’ no longer have the intention to be in unity and harmony with the Catholic Church, because they have not acceded to and have opposed archdiocesan notifications (on January 1, 1998 and on May 5, 2005) and pastoral directives (on May 5, 2001). When between March and August 2003 I and accompanying witnesses visited the place of Julia Youn Hong-sun and her husband Julio Kim Man-bok and talked with them, I asked them to lead a normal life of faith [to attend Sunday Mass at the parish, to receive the Sacrament of Penance and Holy Communion (Cf. Can. 920,989), and to donate the denarius cultus to the parish] and I presented directives (to submit records of fund raising and of all gifts and goods received). They, however, have ignored these requests and directives. Moreover, they have not acceded to the final warning of the archdiocese in February 2005. Instead they have continuously claimed that ‘Julia Youn in Naju and all related phenomena’ are a ‘private revelation’ or ‘miracles’. They have also raised money for the construction of an alleged ‘temple’. They have pretended to be recognized by the Roman Pontiff or the Apostolic See. Through printed materials and online media (such as public relations brochures, publications, newspaper articles, the internet, and so on), they have libelled the Archbishop of Kwangju, and the Korean bishops, and even the entire Catholic Church in Korea.
Therefore, I am led to the final conclusion that their actions and attitude are not in accord with Catholic practice and thought and that they are not promoting a sound devotion and cult.
Thus, I declare that the clergy, religious, or laity who preside over or attend the celebration of the sacraments or sacramentals, against my prohibition, at any alleged ‘oratory’ or the ‘hill of Our Lady in Naju’ incur a latae sententiae excommunication (Cf. Can. 1336,1364). In doing so they are disobeying the pastoral directives and judgement of the Ordinary and they are thereby breaching Canon Law (Cf. Can. 1369,1371,1373) and destroying ecclesiastical unity and communion. This decree binds all the clergy, religious, and laity in the Archdiocese of Kwangju as well as all the faithful in the Catholic Church.
Second, I confirm that Fr. Aloysius Chang Hong-bin, a priest of the Archdiocese of Kwangju, no longer has the intention to be in unity and harmony with the archdiocesan presbyterium, because he claims that ‘Julia Youn in Naju and all related phenomena’ are a ‘private revelation’ and ‘miracles’ and that following them is a matter of choice that the faithful make in accord with their ‘conscience’. Also on several occasions he has not observed the solemn promise of obedience to his Ordinary that he made at ordination. He has not changed and defended his opinion regarding ‘Julia Youn in Naju and all related phenomena’ in two meetings with the Archdiocesan College of Consultors (on June 1, 2007 and on January 15, 2008). Thus, he has shown himself as ‘one of those who believe in Julia Youn in Naju and all related phenomena’ rather than a diocesan priest who observes the obligation of obedience to his Ordinary (Cf. Can. 273,278).
Therefore, Aloysius Chang Hong-bin no longer possesses the title and rights of a priest of the Archdiocese of Kwangju, and all ‘common faculties attaching to diocesan priests in Korea’ previously bestowed by sacred ordination are revoked (Cf. Can. 194,1333,1336,1371).
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The Archdiocese of Gwangju established the ‘Naju Investigation Committee’ (December 30, 1994), in accordance with the directions of His Eminence Joseph Card. Ratzinger, the then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to examine all the related phenomena which have happened since the Statue of Blessed Mary in Julia Youn’s house began to shed tears of blood on June 30, 1985. As the result of its investigations for about three years, the Archdiocese of Gwangju came to the following conclusion: “these phenomena produce no evidence which prove that they are truly supernatural and thus from God”.
A declaration concerning this conclusion was issued by my predecessor, the Most Rev. Victorinus K. Youn, the Archbishop of Gwangju at that time after consultation with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the official stance of the Church that the phenomena in Naju “were not proved supernatural” was confirmed in the letter on April 23, 2008 of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (Prot. N.112/1993-27066).
In 2011, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith reconfirmed this conclusion, adding that “the cases transmitted from the followers of Julia Youn in Naju to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith have little correlation with Christian piety, and the Apostolic See has no plan to change the stance of the Church on the alleged miracles in Naju” (Prot. N.112/1993-35015, March 30, 2011). With this letter, the Archdiocese of Gwangju received the competent faculty to announce the declaration concerning the phenomena in Naju for wise measures in pastoral care, such as the declaration of May 1, 2011.
The Archdiocese of Gwangju maintains its stance that the events and various strange phenomena in Naju alleged as miracles cannot be proved to be supernatural. I ask all the Catholic to be well aware of this matter and never believe the phenomena in Naju.
Therefore, I issue once again the following “Guidelines on the phenomena in Naju” in the name of the Archbishop of Gwangju:
July 6, 2012
07 October 2018
Daisy Arago
CTUHR Executive Director
October 8, 2018
This is to inform you that the email account of the Diocese has been compromised/ hacked by an unauthorized user last October 6, 2018 (Saturday).
Please be advised that, any donation requests for the typhoon victims made for and in the name of the Diocese of Laoag and the Bishop are NOT TRUE.
Please help the diocese disseminate the information and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience it caused you. Thank you very much.
Photo credit: Altermidya
Altermidya – People’s Alternative Media Network
August 28, 2018
‘HISTORIC’. Families of victims of drug-related killings filed charges today against Pres. Rodrigo Duterte for Crimes Against Humanity under Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. According to NUPL, counsel for the complainants, this is the first case directly filed by the kin of victims themselves.
Watch our live video of the press conference –https://www.facebook.com/altermidya/videos/2196585290621503/
Friends and relatives of Kian delos Santos, a teenager killed in the Philippine government’s war against illegal drugs on Aug. 16, 2017, light candles to mark the first anniversary of his death. (Photo by Kimberly dela Cruz)
Leonel Abasola and Kimberly dela Cruz, Manila, Philippines
August 17, 2018
A Philippine senator has proposed declaring a day in August each year as a “National Day of Remembrance” to mark the death of a teenager last year in the government’s war against drugs.
The death of 17-year-old Kian de los Santos on Aug. 16, 2017, at the hands of police conducting an anti-drug operation sparked national and international outrage.
Senator Risa Hontiveros said the killing of De los Santos “underscored the human rights atrocities committed in the name of the bloody war on drugs.”
The opposition legislator said that by remembering all those who have died in the government’s drug war, “the public states its clear rejection of the culture of killing and impunity.”
“We have a duty to remember,” said Hontiveros. “We must not allow Kian and all the victims to be rendered nameless, invisible and forgotten.”
The legislator said the act of remembering, “is an act of defiance against the killings,” adding that, “to forget is to give consent.”
Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan led relatives and friends of De los Santos in unveiling a memorial marker at San Roque Cathedral in Manila’s Caloocan City.
De los Santos’ case stirred up controversy after police claimed that the teenager tried to fight it out with them with a .45 caliber pistol.
Witness testimonies, however, disproved the claims. An independent autopsy also showed the boy was shot in the head.
“If they said that he fought back, and it’s not true, how many other cases are there where police were lying?” said Jose Luis Martin Gascon, chairman of the Commission on Human Rights.
Catholic priest Flavie Villanueva said Delos Santos “became a symbol of systematic killing involving youths.”
Data from the Children’s Legal Rights and Development Center revealed that at least 74 children have been killed in the two-year old war on narcotics.
Opposition congressman France Castro said President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war has claimed more than 12,000 victims, many of whom were poor.
Early this week, Duterte admitted that he might not be able to solve the drug problem during his six-year term as president.
The Philippine National Police has reported that 23,518 murder cases have been investigated since July 2016, when Duterte came to power, to June 2018. Of that number, at least 4,279 involved drug suspects killed during “legitimate police operations.”
LaCroixInternational| Philippines August 20, 2018
Rodrigo Duterte speaking in Davao City on Sept. 30, 2016. (Photo by Toto Lozano/PPD)
This is about our Philippine president calling our God stupid.I remember when I was a teenager and my father had an altercation with our neighbor.
With a bolo in his hand, the neighbor challenged my father to a fight.I was afraid, but my father was apparently not disturbed. He did not respond to the provocation.
It was an attitude that I did not understand then. As a son, I felt I had to do something not because my father needed it but because I needed it.
I felt that I had to intervene, and if necessary, “defend” my father in a way that I was not even sure how.
By speaking ill of my father, the neighbor also hurt me. I felt violated.
What greater love can we offer to our parents than to be on their side when they are threatened?
What better expression of support can we show to them than to speak on behalf of our mother and father when they are maligned for no apparent reason?
Yes, even if they do not need it, and even if we are afraid.
To my relatives, friends, fellow priests, and religious in the Philippines, I am afraid to speak to you about this because I am not holier than anyone of you.
I hesitate to tell you what I think because you have been so good to me, and many of you are even better than some of those who criticize our president.
Even if I don’t understand your unequivocal support to the policies of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, I respect you in the same way that you respect me when I do not completely agree with you.
But this is no longer about the president.
This is about our Father in Heaven and our Mother Church being maligned.
God does not need us to protect Him, but we need to say something because in our blood we have the same DNA with His Son as “we are created in His own image and likeness.
“The Church “will prevail even if the gates of hell will bar,” but to be on the side of our Mother when she most needs it is the least that we can and should do.
In these challenging times, we need to draw the line.
When he cursed the Holy Father, we were silent.
Now that he calls our God “stupid,” I could not be silenced.
August 16, 2018, Manila – The window of opportunity to act is about to close and the government should act decisively now to save our country from the worst possible effects of climate change.
This was the dire warning sounded by a new network of ecological advocates after days of heavy rains inundated vast swaths of Metro Manila and six provinces of Luzon, causing rivers to swell and bringing massive floods that forced hundreds of Filipinos to flee to evacuation centers, in scenes reminiscent of Tropical Storm Ondoy nine years ago.
Called URGENT, the group was convened early this year by Bishop Broderick Pabillo of the Archdiocese of Manila, Fr. Pedro Montallana, Chairperson of Save Sierra Madre Network Alliance Inc., and Yeb Saño, Executive Director of Greenpeace Asia and former Climate Change Commissioner.
Saño made climate change issues popular when he held a hunger strike and made a tearful, emotional appeal at the United Nations Climate Change Conference that was being held as Typhoon Haiyan, locally known as Yolanda wreaked havoc on southern Philippines in 2013.
Yolanda is one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded that devastated portions of Southeast Asia, causing over 6, 000deaths in the country .
“We need to stop ourselves from a business-as-usual track right now and take drastic actions,” URGENT said today in a statement sent to the media.
“The heavy rains and floods brought by five consecutive typhoons Gardo, Henry, Inday, Josie and Karding this month should shake us and wake us up to the fact that climate change issue is real and urgent and we need to act now,” the group said.
“It is a must that we make radical lifestyle change as individuals and take drastic collective actions to address this issue,” Bp. Pabillo sounded off. He further echoed Pope Francis call to all people of goodwill in his encyclical letter, Laudato Si on Care for our Common Home, for ecological conversion and hearing both the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor.
Over the weekend, a red rainfall warning — the highest — was raised over Metro Manila and weather bureau PAGASA has said that downpours are expected to persist in the coming days due to the southwest monsoon.
Meanwhile, massive floods occurred in most of Bulacan and parts of Rizal, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Pampanga, Cavite and Zambales, as well as Metro Manila.
In recent years, tropical storms — Ondoy (Ketsana), Sendong (Washi), Pablo (Bopha) and Yolanda (Haiyan) — have left trails of death and destruction, shattered homes, and destroying communities.
In Yolanda alone, non-government organizations have estimated the damage to property and to the country’s economy to be at least P650 billion ($13 billion).
The Philippines is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including sea level rise, increased frequency of extreme weather events, rising temperatures and extreme rainfall.
This is due to its high exposure to natural hazards (cyclones, landslides, floods, droughts), dependence on climate-sensitive natural resources and vast coastlines where all major cities and the majority of the population reside.
The Philippines lies in the world’s most cyclone-prone region, averaging 19–20 cyclones each year, of which 7–9 make landfall. Due to climate change, sea levels in the Philippines are rising faster than the global average, increasing the hazard posed by storm surges and threatening permanent inundation of low-lying areas.
URGENT was echoing decades of warnings made by many international scientists. Over the past decades, scientists have warned that our increasing use of fossil fuels is adding heat-trapping gases to the Earth’s atmosphere, causing mountain glaciers and ice masses to melt, sea levels to rise, plant blooming to shift, as well as extreme weather events like weird weather patterns, stronger and more frequent storms and heat waves. Continue reading
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