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Pope Francis releases the prayer intention for the month of August, inviting everyone to work for a transformation of the Church – a work that begins with “a reform of ourselves” through an experience of prayer, charity and service, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

By Benedict Mayaki, SJ

In his video message for his prayer intention for August, Pope Francis reminds the faithful that “the vocation of the Church is evangelization,” and even more, “the Church’s identity is evangelization.”

In this month, the Holy Father reflects on the situation of the Church, its vocation and its identity, and calls us to renew it “by discerning God’s will in our daily life,” and “embarking on a transformation guided by the Holy Spirit.”

“Our own reform as persons is that transformation,” the Pope said. This allows the “Holy Spirit, the gift of God in our hearts, to remind us what Jesus taught and helps us to put into practice.”

Evangelization and a more missionary option

Pope Francis begins with the specific vocation of the Church, which is to evangelize. The Holy Father dreams of an even more missionary option: “one that goes out to meet others without proselytism and transforms its structures for the evangelization of today’s world.”

He emphasizes that he is not talking about proselytism but rather a reform of the Church through “a reform of ourselves, without prefabricated ideas, without ideological prejudices and rigidity.”

To make progress in this regard, Pope Francis invites all to move forward based on spiritual experience: “an experience of prayer, an experience of charity and an experience of service.”

Reforming the Church

“Let us remember that the Church always has difficulties,” the Pope said, explaining that the Church goes through crises because she is alive; not like the dead who do not go through crises.

In a statement accompanying the Pope’s prayer intention, the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which prepares “The Pope Video” each month, explains that in the recent letter Pope Francis wrote to Cardinal Reinhard Marx, in which he refused his offer of resignation, the Holy Father acknowledged the crisis in the Church brought about by abuse cases, emphasizing the need for reform.

Fr. Shay Cullen
6 August 2021

The recruitment and sale of humans is an age-old crime against the rights, freedom and dignity of everyone exploited and forced to work for little or no wages and controlled and trapped by their traffickers and slave-masters.Young women and boys are especially targeted and offered fake jobs and given empty promises to get them to sign documents that put them in debt and under the control of their recruiters. Worse, when trafficked to work in the Philippines or abroad, they are forced to work in brothels, as domestics, in factories and are living mostly in sub-human conditions and are underpaid. Many are brought to brothels and sex parlors, sexually abused and trapped in sex work from which few escape.

The “Not for Sale Fund,” an international charity says, “Today, there are approximately 45.8 million people caught in the trap of modern slavery around the world. This includes 10 million children, 15.4 million people in forced marriage, and 4.8 million people in forced sexual exploitation. However, it is difficult to determine exact statistics because so many cases of human trafficking go undetected and unreported.”

Poverty and the desire for a life of economic liberty and well-being of one’s family make poor men and women vulnerable and in danger of a life of slavery. Human trafficking is a form of modern slavery and it is facilitated in the Philippines by individuals’ and syndicates aided by corrupt officials. It is a global business worth billions of dollars to traffickers around the world. It is a crime that will never be vanquished unless the victims are healed and cared for and the criminals convicted and jailed. Most criminals operate with impunity and walk free. Only 89 were convicted in 2019 and 73 were convicted in 2020 in the Philippines.

The Philippines is considered a hot spot for human trafficking and slavery and while hundreds of suspected traffickers are arrested, few are convicted. The US Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report for 2020 points out how very few convictions there are in a population of 110 million people.

In part the report says, “The government convicted 73 traffickers under the anti-trafficking act and related laws (89 traffickers in 2019). Most of the convicted traffickers subjected children to sex trafficking, including 25 who sexually exploited children online (compared to 32 in 2019); three committed labor trafficking (five in 2019).”

This low conviction rate is because some investigators, government social services and rescue NGOs have limited facilities and therapeutic centres to protect, treat and empower the rescued victims of sexual abuse, exploitation, and trafficking. Many victims after giving statements, staying a few days or weeks in a temporary shelter without therapeutic and psychological intervention, are sent home, traumatized. There, the relatives and friends of the accused trafficker threaten them not to testify. Protection, healing and empowerment are the most important services needed to help the victims and stop human trafficking but they are not available in most cases.

When a case does get to court, the delaying tactics by the defence, where endless postponements, allowed by complicit judges, frustrate the victim witness and they give up attending hearings not having testified.They are vulnerable to threats or a payoff. As a result, hundreds of legal cases are dismissed- for lack of evidence- to the frustration of law enforcers. Some other traffickers can recruit the victims again and they return to sex work to pay off debts. The anti-trafficking law needs review and a new section must be added that says victims must be given specified therapeutic care, protection, and professional intervention. This has to be for a time and the victim financially compensated while in the therapeutic centre for a longer period of time until they have healed and are empowered to testify in court. Then they will be provided with aftercare, education and livelihood.

There are some success stories, however. Most of the girls in the Preda Foundation Home for trafficked and abused children belong to dysfunctional families and were victims of domestic abuse and violence from an early age. These neglected and abused children then take to the streets to survive and to find freedom from the beatings and sexual abuse in their homes. On the streets, they are most vulnerable to unscrupulous traffickers who pick them up, offer them money, food, clothes, jobs and cheap smart phones. That puts them in the power of the traffickers.

When five girls aged 14 to 16 were trafficked by Michael Macaranas in Subic, he brought them to his house and with other men abused them sexually many times. After a tip off, they were rescued by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and put under the protective custody of the Preda Foundation. They were protected, cared for, had many months of therapy and were healed from trauma and empowered to testify against their trafficker Michael Macaranas. He was convicted on two counts of trafficking and was sentenced to life in prison and to pay his victims moral and exemplary damages which he never did. The Preda aftercare helped the victims finish school and lead a happier, better life. That was one more conviction in the annual success rate of an average of 15 convictions by the Preda children.

That’s because the victims were healed after a few months of Emotional Release Therapy and were self-confident and changed young girls. Their testimony was direct, clear and convincing.

In her decision dated October 7, 2019, Judge Ma. Cristina J. Mendoza-Pizarro conducted a no-nonsense speedy trial, brooked no delaying tactics and noted that the defence of consent did not apply as the minors were forced and tricked into the sexual exploitation, a noteworthy decision.

Oppose all developments that will advance the green revolution and the corporate capture of food systems

Aug 4, 2021
MASIPAG Advocacy

Greetings!

Last July 21, 2021, the Department of Agriculture of Philippines approved the permit for the commercial propagation of the highly contested GM yellow rice, called ‘Golden Rice’ (GR). Several CSOs, experts, and other concerned individuals gathered to craft an action plan on how to combat Golden Rice in different areas and platforms.

We attached a unity statement reiterating our calls to junk the recently approved and railroaded permit, oppose other advances of the Green Revolution in the country, and end the corporate capture of our food and agricultural systems. We request that you and/or your organization become a signatory. We also request that you and/or your organization help us reach out to other audiences and potential allies in this campaign. This statement will be posted on our social media pages and website. This will also be presented in our activities.

For individual signatories, sign here: https://forms.gle/13GRghpY2aVcMS177

For organizations, you may upload your logos here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Oewj6Z28bZPz6GDa11Tw5ElGxwMJkc8M?usp=sharin or you may send it directly to us.

The deadline for signing is on August 8, 8:00 PM.

Thanks,

MASIPAG

Last July 21, 2021, the Department of Agriculture – Bureau of Plant Industry (DA-BPI) approved the commercial propagation of GR2E, a genetically modified type of rice that it calls Golden Rice due to its yellow color. The approval blindsided the broad coalition of Filipino farmers, consumers, scientists, lawyers, and the general public who have been campaigning for greater public participation, transparency in the results of the biosafety process, and independence in the risk assessments of this GM product given rice is a daily staple in the Philippines and its production has profound impacts on health, the environment, the economy, and Philippine society and culture. Neither Da-BPI nor the Philippine Rice Research Institute has given any in-depth satisfactory response to the Filipino public’s request.

On August 9, 2021, 10 AM, the Stop Golden Rice! Network is hosting a press conference to provide various perspectives on this surprise approval of GMO rice for production and consumption. The Philippines is being hailed for being the first government and country in the world to commercially grow, distribute and eat this GMO rice. Is it really a cause for celebration…or concern? Did the joint agencies follow regulatory procedures or were there lapses? What are the legal implications of this latest move from DA-PhilRice? What are the immediate and long-term impacts of GMO rice in the Philippines on Filipino people, especially the local rice farmers and poor households who are at the crosshairs as the growers and consumers of this GM food? How does this affect the local rice industry on top of the Rice Liberalization Law? Are there other sectors that may be gravely affected by the GR2E propagation?

To offer a holistic perspective, the press conference will be joined by doctors, scientists, lawyers, consumers, farmers, and local government leaders.

#DefendOurRice
#FightForOurRights
#FoodSecurityForAll
#StopGoldenRice

Diocesan Youth Councils
National Councils of FNYO Member Organizations

Dear fellow youth ministers,

Greetings in our Lord Jesus!

The Young Davids program of the CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Youth is conducting a non-partisan voter registration and education campaign.  The CBCP-ECY seeks to partner with you to promote value-based civic engagement to prepare our young people for this coming May elections.

Our voter registration campaign is based on the “Tamang Kandidato sa Eleksyon 2022” (or “TamaKa”) module of Bawat Isa Mahalaga citizen’s movement for godly governance.  The TamaKa module is a 2-hour interactive and facilitated voter education session.  Its aim is to lead young learners to appreciate the value of voting as their right and responsibility as Filipino citizens, and of democracy as a gift and a stewardship from God as followers of Christ.

We offer to share the TamaKa module for implementation in your setting.  A commissioned team of facilitators will train leaders of your ministry to implement the module among your members (young people/ youth leaders/ youth ministers).  This is free of charge without any obligation on your part.

For your reference, please find attached:

1. concept brief for the TamaKa voter registration module

2. some photos of TamaKa workshops for different churches and religious organizations

May we hear from you: kindly read and then fill up this sign-up form to signify your interest in this offer–

https://forms.gle/7A8nJxPFWaAE3onJ7

27 July 2021

Dear mission partners,

Greetings of peace for Good Governance.

Understanding the existing condition on our socio-economic and political situation at the national level is very important to know what we would like to change in making our vote in the coming 2022 elections. 

Therefore, we have invited the Executive Director of IBON, Sonny Africa, to share with us the prevailing political and economic realities of the country based on their research and documentation, and how these influence the social, cultural and environmental aspects of our lives.

You are invited to join our Social Action Network in the Webinar on: National Situation – the context of our Vote in the 2022 Elections (NASSA/ Caritas Philippines Good Governance Webinar) on Thursday, 29 July 2021 at 9:30am – 12:00noon (zoom link will be provided to registered participants)

This Webinar is part of the series of CBCP-NASSA/ Caritas Philippines Good Governance webinars aimed at facilitating social consciousness towards establishing principled communities/ society.

For participation, please send the names and contact details of participants (mobile number and/ or email address) to our Good Governance Program Team at cbcp.nassajp@gmail.com or 09053519411 for zoom participation on or before 28 July to facilitate admission. The webinar will also be livestreamed in the NASSA/ Caritas Philippines Facebook Page.

Thank you and hope to hear from you!

CBCP-NASSA/ Caritas Philippines Good Governance Program Team
CBCP-National Secretariat for Social Action-Justice and Peace

Vatican News
24 July 2021

The United Nations chief says the Olympic spirit “inspires and unifies us in troubled times”.

By Robin Gomes

China on Saturday claimed the first gold medal of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, after the world’s greatest sporting spectacle got off to a sobering start at the National Stadium Friday evening.  Yang Qian won the first gold medal, setting an Olympic record in the women’s 10-meter air rifle event.

The Olympics and pandemic

The opening ceremony revealed an uneasy balance between the greatest show in sports and the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic that still continues to plague and toll lives around the world for more than 16 months since its outbreak.

Delayed by a year because of the pandemic, the 32nd Olympic Games is the first time that the sporting event has been postponed in its 124-year history.  The inauguration of the July 23 to August 8 games permitted fewer than 1,000 spectators in the stands, among whom were the Japanese Emperor Naruhito and International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach, both wearing masks.

More than 11,300 athletes from 207 nations are competing in 339 events of 33 sports, all looking to come home with a coveted Olympic medal. There is also a team of refugee athletes competing under the Olympic flag.

Tokyo Archdiocese cancels pastoral programme for athletes due to pandemic

Even before the opening ceremony, a number of infections have emerged in Tokyo involving athletes and other people involved with the Games.  Despite the subdued spirit, the Olympics Games mark a coming together of the world, with an audience of hundreds of thousands around the globe expected to tune in together to watch the various events of the sporting spectacle.

The Olympic spirit

The United Nations hailed the athletes and thanked the people of Japan for hosting the games. In a video message, on the occasion of Friday’s opening ceremony, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the Olympic spirit brings out humanity’s best: teamwork and solidarity.