Monitor

CBCP

MARCH 19 - APRIL 1, 2018 VOL. 22 NO. 6 CBCPMONITOR@AREOPAGUSCOMMUNICATIONS.COM

PROTAGONIST OF TRUTH, PROMOTER OF PEACE

THE CROSS A3: NEWS A6: LOCAL NEWS B1: PASTORAL CONCERNS
A SUPPLEMENT PUBLICATION
OF KCFAPI AND THE ORDER OF Pope: Crucifix is a sign of God’s love, Filipinos call on church leaders to heed young CBCP Statement on the Divorce Bill
THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS not just a piece of jewelry

CBCP: ‘Divorce law could

destroy repairable marriages’
By Nirva’ana Ella Delacruz

GIVING struggling
couples an easy option
to jump ship is like
consigning still fixable
marriages to an instant
death.
This was one of the main
messages of the Philippine bishops
in a pastoral statement on the
pending divorce bill, issued March
13, Tuesday.
“In a context in which divorce
is presented as an easy option,
marriages and families are bound
to break up more easily,” said
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the
Philippines president Archbishop
of Davao Romulo Valles.

4 out of 10 marriages
The prelate also posed the
question of whether the Philippines
is setting out to follow the path of
other “progressive countries” like
the United States’ where 4 out of 10
marriages end up in divorce.
“We merely ask that they consider
the possibility that divorce, while it
may indeed provide quick legal
remedies for some seemingly
‘failed marriages’, might end up
destroying even those marriages
that could have been saved by
dialogues or the intervention
of family, friends, pastors, and
counselors,” he stressed.
Urging lawmakers, Valles said:
“The social costs that go with an
easy recourse to the dissolution
of a marriage when couples begin
to face the difficult challenges Thousands of Knights of Columbus members and their families march the streets of QUEZON CITY FOR THIS YEAR’S “WALK FOR LIFE” TO PROMOTE THE DIGNITY OF HUMAN LIFE AND TO DEMONSTRATE THEIR OPPOSITION TO LEGALIZE DIVORCE
Divorce / A6 IN THE COUNTRY, MARCH 17, 2018. ROY
LAGARDE

Bishops hit Duterte’s withdrawal from ICC
THE Philippine
government’s intention
to withdraw from the
International Criminal
Court (ICC) provides strong
basis for investigation into
its ruthless war on drugs,
Catholic bishops said.
The withdrawal comes
about a month after the court
opened an investigation
into the alleged
extrajudicial killings and
other atrocities committed
under President Rodrigo
Duterte’s crackdown on
illegal narcotics trade.
Manila Auxiliary Bishop
Broderick Pabillo said the
country’s commitment
to human rights in the
international community
cannot just be set aside by
Nuns attend Mass during the “Walk for Life” in Manila on Feb. 24 to protest drug-
related killings in the country. ROY LAGARDE
the President alone.
“This shows that there is
basis for the investigation
on him,” Pabillo said. “They
It’s better to be loved than
the country will withdraw feared, says Cardinal Tagle
from the ICC, accusing it
and the United Nations
of bias and violating due
process and constitutional
presumption of innocence.
But for the bishop, it’s
clearly an attempt to evade
liability.
“The Philippines is not
Duterte,” he said.
Bishop Arturo Bastes of
Sorsogon, for his part, said
Duterte’s action is a sign
that he’s afraid of a “possible
conviction”. Cardinal Tagle prays with Benedictine Fr. Austin Cadiz as he lies prostate in the floor
“His withdrawal from in the most solemn part of his installation as the new abbot of the Abbey of Our Lady
the Rome Statute of the of Montserrat Manila, March 10, 2018. ROY LAGARDE
ICC is an act of cowardice,
are afraid of accountabilities. which makes his name THE head of Manila’s wonder whether they are real
Duterte should be more infamous,” he Roman Catholic Church has servants,” he said.
investigated.” said. (Roy Lagarde/ cautioned “servants” who act The cardinal made the
Duterte on March 14 said CBCPNews) like “masters”, saying that statement in his homily
too often such action leads during the installation Mass

Oppose amendments to coco Biking priest’s ‘last trip’ to protest

to impropriety. for Benedictine Fr. Austin
Cardinal Luis Antonio Cadiz as the new abbot of

levy fund bill, senators urged EJKs, martial law

THE National Secretariat
for Social Action (Nassa)
called on senators to junk
provisions of the pending
senate bill that would deny
farmers’ their rights to
decide on the coco levy fund
amounting to P75 billion.
Calling for the resolution
of the protracted problem of
the coconut farmers, Nassa
executive secretary Fr. Edwin
Gariguez said that “this 40-
year injustice has to end.”
“We are appealing to our
senators to please give our
farmers their rights on how
to utilize these coco levies,”
Gariguez said as senators
deliberate on the Coconut
Farmers’ and Industry Trust
Fund, or the Senate Bill 1233.
The Church has been
supporting the farmers in
their struggle to recover the
coco levy fund and to put it
into good use, management
and administration.
In a letter sent to the
senators, Nassa together with
the farmers’ group KILUS
Magniniyog particularly
cited that the coco levies
Levy / A6
IN what could quite possibly
be his fifth and last biking
advocacy trip, Redemptorist
Fr. Amado Picardal on
March 14 embarked on a
1,500-kilometer, or a 16-day
biking voyage across the
country to protest the ongoing
extra-judicial killings (EJKs)
and martial law in Mindanao.
“EJK, total war and
martial law will not solve
the basic problems of our
people… I make this appeal
to all concerned, especially
to President Duterte,
government officials, the
police and military,” said the
priest who is known to the
media as the “Biking Priest.”
Despite threats to his life,
Picardal will be cycling through
Southern Luzon, Samar, Leyte,
and Northern Mindanao to
“add his voice to the collective
efforts in awakening the
conscience of the nation and
bringing about goodness and
decency in our country.”
“I am doing this fully
aware of the risks and the
danger I am facing. I too can
be a target of extrajudicial
EJK / A6
Tagle said all Christians
are called to be servants by
staying “connected” to Christ
and doing what He would do
in their place.
“The moment Jesus
disappears you might
become that steward who will
pretend to be the master. And
when someone pretend to be
the master it’s not anymore
responsible actions, instead
abusive actions,” Tagle said.
And abusive servants, he
stressed, are feared and those
responsible are loved.
“The superior must be
loved, not feared. Many of
our so-called servants are
feared but not loved. You
Our Lady Montserrat Abbey
in Manila on March 10.
According to him, a true
servant is someone who will
remain faithful to the task
“even if the master is away”.
“In the mind and heart of
a true servant the master
is always present. There is
never a moment when the
true servant will say ‘I am
alone, the master cannot see
me so I can do what I want…
no!’” he said.
Elected last Feb. 21,
Cadiz is the eighth head
of the Benedictine monks’
community in Manila and the
fourth Filipino abbot. (Roy
Lagarde/CBCPNews)
A2 WORLD NEWS March 19 - April 1, 2018 Vol. 22 No. 6 CBCP Monitor

The legacy of Stephen Hawking - Vatican Briefing

a Catholic scientist reflects Imitate St. Pio’s life, don’t forget poor,
marginalized, pope says
Many people admire St. Padre Pio, but too few imitate
CAMBRIDGE, England— him, especially in his care for the weak, the sick and those
The death of Stephen who modern culture treats as disposable, Pope Francis
Hawking this week prompted said during Mass at Padre Pio’s shrine. “Many are ready to
a leading Catholic scientist to ‘like’ the page of the great saints, but who does what they
reflect on the life of the famed do?” the pope asked March 17. “The Christian life is not
physicist, including his an ‘I like,’ but an ‘I give myself.’” Pope Francis celebrated
“astonishing” contributions the Mass outside the Shrine of St. Pio of Pietrelcina with
to physics and his lifelong about 30,000 people after visiting children in the cancer
atheism. ward of the hospital St. Pio founded, Casa Sollievo della
“He was of course a very Sofferenza (House for the Relief of Suffering). (Junno
great physicist and one of Arocho Esteves/CNS)
the greatest physicists of
his generation,” Stephen Pope asks that young people write meditations
M. Barr, a particle physics for Way of Cross
and cosmology researcher In light of this year’s Synod of Bishops on young
who is a professor at the people, Pope Francis has asked that the Way of the
University of Delaware, Cross meditations be written by a group of students. An
told CNA. “He made several Italian high school religion teacher was coordinating the
major contributions to the texts that will be written by 15 of his students in Rome,
understanding of gravity the Vatican announced March 8. Each year, the pope
and the big bang and the asks a different person or group of people to write the
black holes that will be meditations for the nighttime Holy Week event at Rome’s
remembered as long as Colosseum. This year, Good Friday falls on March 30.
physics is known.” The pope named Andrea Monda, an Italian writer with
Hawking, a Cambridge a degree in law and a degree in religious studies, who
Pope Francis greets physicist Stephan Hawking in Vatican City. VATICAN MEDIA
University physicist, passed quit his job in the legal department of an Italian bank to
away Wednesday morning, “It’s amazing that he Barr, the current president understood the issue in the teach high school religion class. He was overseeing and
March 14 at the age of 76. was able to do physics at of the Society of Catholics earlier book and got confused collecting the different texts for the 14 stations of the
Author of the bestselling such a high level when Scientists, reflected on what in the later book.” cross, the Vatican said. The pope wanted today’s younger
generation reflect on the Passion of Christ, Vatican News
1988 book “A Brief History of for example, most of us Hawking’s role as a scientist Barr suggested that
reported. (Carol Glatz/CNS)
Time,” he became a symbol write on blackboards and means for beliefs about the Hawking’s lifelong atheism
of science in pop culture, do calculations on pieces origin of the universe. might have had an effect
Disgraced cardinal from Scotland dies at 80
appearing on shows like “Star of paper. We can hardly In “A Brief History of on those who overrate
Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who resigned five years
Trek: The Next Generation” imagine being able to do Time,” Hawking “made some scientists’ ability to speak ago as archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh after
and “The Simpsons.” our work when we can’t do rather perceptive remarks to on non-scientific topics. He admitting to sexual misconduct, died early March 19 at
In 1963, as a 21-year-old those basic things,” he said. the effect that physics cannot countered that many great the age of 80. He had been receiving care at a hospital in
graduate student, Hawking “It’s astonishing. It’s simply even in principle explain why scientists have also been Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, after suffering injuries
he learned that he had astonishing. A lot of what he there is an actually existing religious. from a fall in February. His successor, Archbishop Leo
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, did, he did in his head.” universe,” Barr said. Hawking himself found Cushley, administered the last rites March 17 -- the
a neuromuscular disease Hawking’s work developed “In other words, he recognition from the Catholic cardinal’s 80th birthday. The cardinal stepped down as
known as Lou Gehrig’s several key insights, understood and said Church, being named a archbishop in February 2013, after the Observer, a British
disease. Doctors expected including calculations which rather pithily in that book member of the Pontifical weekly newspaper, carried a story detailing complaints of
him to live only a few years. appear to show that black why physics can never Academy of Sciences. This three priests and one former priest who alleged Cardinal
Hawking far outlived holes, the densest objects substitute for a Creator, academy includes 80 global O’Brien had made sexual advances toward them more
his prognosis, though in the known universe, do though he didn’t phrase it leaders in science from a than 20 years earlier. (Carol Glatz/CNS)
over decades the disease in fact emit energy—energy quite that way, that was the variety of backgrounds and
gradually limited his ability now known as Hawking import.” beliefs. He attended the Vatican official urges support for Mideast
to move, eventually to radiation. Previously nothing Barr was critical of a later group’s annual meeting in Christians on Good Friday
the point where he could was believed to escape the work of Hawking, “The 2016 and gave a talk on Christians in the Middle East, particularly those who
only flex one finger and black hole’s intense gravity. Grand Design,” co-authored “The Origin of the Universe.” have been forced from their homes by violence and
make eye movements. Hawking’s intellectual with theoretical physicist He credited Catholic priest persecution, need the support of the Catholic Church, a
By the 1980s, computer process involved an Leonard Mlodinow. and physicist Msgr. Georges Vatican official said. “Let us show them concretely our
technology had progressed unprecedented application “He seems to have Lemaitre, a past president closeness, through our constant prayer and through our
to the point where he could of quantum mechanics to forgotten his earlier of the Pontifical Academy monetary aid,” said Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of
communicate through a gravity. insights,” said Barr. “He of the Sciences, as the true the Congregation for Eastern Churches. Such support is
computer and voice “The most important thing was arguing, in effect, that father of the “Big Bang” especially key now that the Ninevah Plain in Iraq has been
synthesizer—though with about Hawking radiation physics can explain why theory of the universe—a liberated from Islamic State and “most Iraqi Christians
an American accent. is that it shows that the there is a universe at all theory sometimes credited and Syrians want to return to their own land where
Barr reflected on Hawking’s black hole is not cut off from and why there is an actually to another physicist. (Kevin their houses were destroyed, with schools, hospitals
success despite his poor the rest of the universe,” existing universe. I find this Jones/CNA/EWTN and churches devastated. Let us not leave them alone,”
health. Hawking said. very puzzling. He actually News) he said in a letter sent to bishops around the world. The
Vatican released a copy of the letter March 12. (Carol
Glatz/CNS)
‘Godmothers for Life’ serve vulnerable moms in Uruguay German cardinal, theologian, dies at 81
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay— An and her husband traveled from Although the original purpose Cardinal Karl Lehmann, longtime president of the
Uruguayan non-profit organization Uruguay to visit the shrine where of the organization was to help German bishops’ conference and a respected theologian
called “Godmothers for Life” has been they experienced in prayer what they women decide to keep their babies, who participated in the Second Vatican Council, died
serving mothers in crisis pregnancies described as “Our Lady of Guadalupe’s Teresa Rodriguez, the group’s March 11. The 81-year-old cardinal died at his home in
for more than 17 years, working out call” to dedicate themselves to the current president, explained that Mainz after declining health and a stroke in September.
of a facility at Saint Jerome Chapel in cause of life. they eventually saw “that besides In a telegram to Bishop Peter Kohlgraf of Mainz, Pope
Montevideo. Marta felt in her heart that God was the girls who wanted to abort, there Francis expressed his condolences and recognized how
Offering talks, one-on-one asking her to fight abortion and save were pregnant girls who were not the late cardinal’s service “shaped the life of the church
conversations, and job training, these babies when she got back to Uruguay. thinking of aborting but were in a very and society.” Cardinal Lehmann led the German bishops’
“godmothers” help vulnerable moms However, she did not see a clear path vulnerable situation.” conference for 21 years, resigning in 2008 because of
face their pregnancies with dignity forward at the time, because she was In response, the group expanded its health issues. However, he continued to lead the Diocese
and hope, and not to see abortion as working and supporting her family. work by providing free job training of Mainz—where he was appointed in 1983—until 2016,
the only way out of their situation. Nevertheless, she felt God telling her, courses and workshops on Christian when he turned 80. The cardinal, who participated in the
Being chosen as a godparent is a “You take care of my things and I’ll and human formation, “always focusing Second Vatican Council, worked to improve the position
significant honor in Latin America, take care of yours.” on the mom and her baby, helping her of women and laypeople in the church. (Carol Glatz/
where godparents are typically When the couple returned to to value motherhood, but also helping CNS)
highly involved in the lives of their Uruguay, a pregnant woman rang the family,” so they can find their way
godchildren, which gives the group’s their doorbell asking for food. She had out of poverty. Currently, Godmothers Pope to visit Baltic states in September, Vatican
name a special meaning. made up her mind to get an abortion. for Life is serving about 60 at-risk announces
The organization has its origins That encounter was how Godmothers women in Montevideo, relying solely The Vatican announced that Pope Francis will make
in 2000 at Basilica of Our Lady of for Life got its start, with Marta Grego on donations for their work. (CNA/ a four-day trip to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in
Guadalupe in Mexico. Marta Grego as its founder and director. EWTN News) September. In a statement released March 9, Vatican
spokesman Greg Burke said the pope will visit five
cities during the Sept. 22-25 trip, including Vilnius and
Children’s well-being sacrificed to adults’ sexual whims, new book says Kaunas in Lithuania; Riga and Aglona in Latvia; and
Tallinn, Estonia. The pope’s schedule, Burke said, “will
CATONSVILLE, Md.— The legalizing same-sex marriage. have defined marriage in a As a family law professor I be published shortly.” The pope’s visit coincides with the
U.S. government, which In the abortion decision, way that valued procreation have a very strong interest 100th anniversary of all three Baltic countries declaring
once made guarding the the court prioritized “the or could have decided that in the well-being of children their independence from Russia in 1918. Lithuania, Latvia
well-being of children a top wishes of the adults involved” it had no value,” she added. and particularly about the gap and Estonia were incorporated into the Soviet Union in
priority, has now abandoned and gave no consideration Through the same-sex between the rich and poor and 1940 until 1991, shortly before the socialist state was
their interests in favor of to the effects on children, marriage decision, “states how family structure affects dissolved. This will be the second visit from a pontiff to
the sexual wishes of their whether in terms of possible were forbidden from valuing this.” the three Baltic nations. St. John Paul II visited Lithuania,
parents, according to a new pain to the unborn child children’s links to mother Alvare said there is “really Latvia and Estonia in September 1993. (Junno Arocho
book by law professor Helen or the consequences to and father,” Alvare said. robust data that children’s Esteves/CNS)
M. Alvare. other children in a family “That’s shocking.” family structure matters a
“Putting Children’s where an abortion has taken Alvare, who formerly lot,” especially in the case of No parking zone: Christians need to journey, take
Interests First in U.S. Family place, Alvare told Catholic taught at the Columbus boys and their likelihood of risks, pope says
Law and Policy: With Power News Service in a telephone School of Law at The Catholic marry or to father children True Christians take risks to constantly seek out
Comes Responsibility” was interview March 12. University of America in outside of marriage. But the Christ, because they know that receiving God’s grace is
published earlier this year by Although “individual states Washington and before that federal government offers just the beginning of a lifelong journey toward real joy,
Cambridge University Press. can protect the state bird, or served as the U.S. bishops’ “very few marriage assistance Pope Francis said. Settling and being content with the
Alvare, who teaches family the eggs of the state bird,” Roe spokeswoman on pro-life programs” and instead has first grace one receives from God is like filling up on the
law and property law in the made decisions about the fate issues, said although the partnered with groups such appetizer and leaving the restaurant unaware that the
Antonin Scalia Law School at of unborn children “all about views expressed in her book as Planned Parenthood and best was yet to come, he said in his homily March 12 at
George Mason University in the adults’ thinking about are compatible with her Power to Decide (formerly morning Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae. “There
Arlington, Virginia, traces the pregnancy and childbirth,” Catholic background, they the National Campaign to are lots of stationary Christians, who do not walk, bogged
government’s declining concern she said. “What only matters are informed more by her Prevent Teen and Unplanned down by everyday things,” he said. They are good people,
for children to the Supreme is the adult.” legal background. Pregnancy) that promote he said, “but they do not grow, they stay small.” They are
Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade Before Obergefell, “all of “The church’s thinking contraception, abortion and like “parked Christians—they park themselves. Caged
decision removing most state state law on marriage was affirms what reason says,” she sex without responsibility, Christians who do not know how to fly with the dream of
restrictions on abortion and about linking a child to the said. “Just like my Catholicism she said. (Nancy Frazier this beautiful thing the Lord calls us to,” he said. (Carol
says it culminated in the 2015 mother and father,” she said. followed from my reason, this O’Brien/Catholic News Glatz/CNS)
Obergefell v. Hodges decision The Supreme Court “could book has a similar trajectory. Service)
CBCP Monitor March 19 - April 1, 2018 Vol. 22 No. 6 NEWS FEATURES A3

After Vatican verdict, Guam

archbishop apologizes for
predecessor’s ‘harm’
A Vatican tribunal found Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron of Agana, Guam, guilty of
sexual abuse of minors. Archbishop Apuron is pictured in a 2012 photo at the Vatican.
PAUL HARING/CNS
PUBLICLY apologizing
on behalf of the whole
archdiocese for the “grave
harm” caused by former
anonymously with journalists,
claimed the archbishop was
found guilty on only two of six
charges and that the sentence
Pope: Crucifix is a sign of God’s
love, not just a piece of jewelry
THE revelation of God’s
love toward humanity
is made known through
contemplating the crucifix
and not just using it as
work of art or as a fashion
accessory, Pope Francis said.
Through the image of
Christ crucified, the mystery
of Jesus’ death “as a supreme
act of love, source of life and
salvation for humanity in
every age is revealed,” the
pope said March 18 before
reciting the Angelus prayer
with pilgrims gathered in St.
Peter’s Square.
“Today’s Gospel invites
us to turn our gaze toward
the crucifix, which is not
an ornamental object or a
clothing accessory—that is
often abused—but a religious
sign to contemplate and
comprehend,” he said.
The pope reflected on the
day’s Gospel reading from
St. John, in which Jesus
foreshadows his death
through the imagery of the
grain of wheat that, once
dead, “produces much fruit.”
“Whoever loves his life
loses it, and whoever hates
his life in this world will
preserve it for eternal life,”
Jesus said.
Christ’s comparison to the
grain of wheat, the pope
explained, was made so his
disciples would understand
that the “extreme event”
of his crucifixion, death
and resurrection was an act
meant to bear fruit and save
men and women from the
slavery of sin.
“He paid that price. This
is the mystery of Christ.
Go to his wounds, enter,
contemplate. Look at Jesus
but from within,” he said.
Like the grain of wheat,
Pope Francis said, Christians
are also called to “lose
their life” by thinking “less
of ourselves, our personal
interests” and thinking more
of the needs of the least of
these.
“To carry out works of
charity with joy toward
those who suffer in body and
spirit is the most authentic
way of living the Gospel,”
Pope Francis said. “It is the
necessary foundation so
that our communities may
grow in brotherhood and
mutual hospitality.” (Junno
Arocho Esteves/Catholic
News Service)

Vatican’s Korea diplomat to help bridge the gap

Archbishop Anthony S.
Apuron of Agana, Archbishop
Michael J. Byrnes said a
new chapter of humility,
repentance and healing
has opened for the Catholic
Church in Guam following
a Vatican verdict against his
predecessor.
“I called and still call upon
all Catholics on Guam to
intensify their prayers and
with great humility, offer
sacrifice for the grave harm
and sins which we have
experienced or have enabled
in our church,” Archbishop
Byrnes said during a news
conference in Guam March
18.
“We hang our heads in
shame for the grave evil
one member inflicted upon
others, in this case the
most vulnerable,” he said
in remarks, which were
later released in a written
statement.
“Our prayers for the victims
of child abuse by Bishop
Apuron and all victims of
abuse here and worldwide
continue; so shall our
efforts to bring healing and
restoration to all victims of
clergy sexual abuse and to
ensure this never happens
again,” he said.
Archbishop Byrnes,
who has been leading the
archdiocese since 2016,
made his comments after a
Vatican tribunal announced
March 16 it found Archbishop
Agana guilty of some of the
accusations made against
him, including the sexual
abuse of minors.
After a canonical trial
conducted by the apostolic
tribunal of the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith,
Vatican judges imposed the
following sanctions on the
72-year-old archbishop: the
removal from office and a
prohibition from residing in
Guam. The archbishop can
and will appeal.
During the news conference,
Archbishop Byrnes said he did
not know on what charges the
former archbishop had been
found guilty and which ones
had been dismissed. In fact,
he told local reporters, he had
received no communication
about the trial’s findings
other than “I got a phone
call saying to go to this site”
to read the Vatican’s public
announcement.
He said there had been no
follow-up from the Vatican
either as of March 17 and
he assumed the former
archbishop was now to be
called Bishop Apuron, since
losing the office of archbishop
meant also losing the title
associated with it.
“We’ll see with the appeal”
what the final situation will
be, he added.
Archbishop Apuron
released a statement March
17 through his lawyer,
Jacqueline Taitano Terlaje:
“While I am relieved that
the tribunal dismissed the
majority of the accusations
against me, I have appealed
the verdict. ... God is my
witness; I am innocent and
I look forward to proving
my innocence in the appeals
process.”
Supporters of the
archbishop, conversing
implies those charges were
not the most serious ones.
Generally, clerics found guilty
of sexually abusing minors
face either removal from the
priesthood or are sentenced
to a life of prayer and penance
and banned from any public
ministry.
Archbishop Byrnes said
while there is much work and
consultation to do in regard
to local legal issues, he felt
“a sense of relief” when the
Vatican verdict had been
announced.
He said his reaction upon
hearing the news was, “OK,
good. Something’s happened
and they’re not just stringing
us along.” The announcement
of the verdict from the
Vatican investigation, which
began in February 2017, had
been expected last year, the
archbishop had said.
Archbishop Apuron is
among the highest-ranking
church leaders to have been
tried by the Vatican for sexual
offenses.
In a statement released
March 16, the Vatican
tribunal said, “The
canonical trial in the matter
of accusations, including
accusations of sexual abuse
of minors, brought against
the Most Reverend Anthony
Sablan Apuron, O.F.M.Cap.,
Archbishop of Agana, Guam,
has been concluded.”
“The apostolic tribunal
of the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith,
composed of five judges,
has issued its sentence of
first instance, finding the
accused guilty of certain of
the accusations and imposing
upon the accused the
penalties of privation of office
and prohibition of residence
in the Archdiocese of Guam.”
U.S. Cardinal Raymond L.
Burke, a noted canon lawyer,
was the presiding judge in
the canonical investigation of
Archbishop Apuron.
The statement did not
specify the number of charges
the archbishop faced, how
many of them he was found
guilty of or even the nature of
the offenses for which he was
convicted.
“The sentence remains
subject to possible appeal,”
the Vatican statement said.
“In the absence of an appeal,
the sentence becomes final
and effective. In the case of an
appeal, the imposed penalties
are suspended until final
resolution.”
Archbishop Apuron had
been accused of sexually
abusing several boys in the
1970s, and, in early January,
one of the archbishop’s
nephews publicly claimed
the archbishop had
sexually abused him in
1990. Archbishop Apuron
continually has denied the
abuse allegations.
Pope Francis placed
Archbishop Apuron on
leave in June 2016 after
the accusations were made
public. The pope named
an apostolic administrator
to run the archdiocese for
several months and then
named Coadjutor Archbishop
Michael J. Byrnes, a former
auxiliary bishop of Detroit,
to take over. (Carol Glatz/
CNS)
between North and South
THE Vatican’s recent diplomatic Although he lacks the diplomatic to the White House.
appointment to South Korea gained experience of his predecessors in the South Korean President Moon Jae-
added significance as President Donald Korean nunciature, the Maltese cleric in helped to facilitate the upcoming
Trump announced that he will meet is reported to be close to Pope Francis. meeting between the U.S. and North
with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un for “Monsignor Xuereb is one of the Korea. Moon sent his National Security
nuclear negotiations within the next closest allies of Pope Francis and reads Advisor Chung Eui-yong to Pyongyang
two months. the pope’s thinking very well,” continued on Monday and then quickly on to
Pope Francis’ appointed Monsignor Monsignor Sprizzi. Washington to convey the North Korean
Alfred Xuereb to serve as the Apostolic Trump announced March 8 that he leader’s invitation to Trump.
Nuncio to Korea beginning March 19. had accepted an invitation to meet with Moon is a practicing Catholic who has
“As the pope continually shows his North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un to pledged himself to peaceful dialogue
concern for the reconciliation of the negotiate the North’s nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula. Shortly
two Koreas and [prays for] peace on the program. Trump will be the first sitting after taking office in Seoul, Moon
Korean Peninsula, the new nuncio will U.S. president to meet face to face with commissioned a Korean envoy to meet
play an active role in bridging the gap a North Korean leader. with Pope Francis in Rome last May to
between the two Koreas and working Trump followed up the March 8 advocate for Vatican support for Korean
for peace in the region,” said the Acting announcement with calls to Chinese reconciliation.
Apostolic Nuncio to Korea, Monsignor President Xi Jinping and Japanese Catholic bishops in South Korea have
Marco Sprizzi, according to UCA news. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss long advocated for a peaceful solution
Monsignor Xuereb, who previously the prospect of dialogue between the on the Korean peninsula. In response
served as a private secretary to both U.S. and North Korea and to confirm to North Korea’s nuclear provocations,
Pope Francis and Benedict XVI, will be a shared commitment to maintaining the bishops appealed for peace talks
consecrated a bishop as he takes up his sanctions until tangible steps toward in an official statement in Aug. 2017.
first diplomatic posting for the Vatican. denuclearization are taken, according (Courtney Grogan/CNA)
Miracles attributed to Pope Paul VI, Romero clear way for sainthood
POPE Francis has cleared the before she could make her
way for the canonizations of final vows.
Blesseds Paul VI and Oscar The pope also recognized
Romero. the martyrdom of a 16-year-
At a meeting March 6 with old laywoman from Slovakia.
Cardinal Angelo Amato, Anna Kolesarova, who lived
prefect of the Congregation from 1928 to 1944 in the
for Saints’ Causes, Pope eastern town of Pavlovce,
Francis signed decrees for was murdered during
the causes of 13 men and Slovakia’s occupation by
women -- among them a the Soviet army in World
pope, an archbishop, two War II after refusing sexual
young laywomen and a favors to a Russian soldier.
number of priests and nuns. In causes just beginning
He recognized a miracle their way toward
attributed to Blessed Paul, sainthood, the pope signed
who, according Cardinal decrees recognizing the
Pietro Parolin, Vatican Pope Francis has cleared the way for the canonizations of Blesseds Paul VI and Oscar heroic virtues of Polish
secretary of state, will be Romero. They are pictured in undated combination photos. CNS FILE PHOTO/OCTAVIO DURAN Redemptorist Father
declared a saint in late Bernard Lubienski, who
October at the end of the approval of the miracle, the canonization of: Father entered the congregation in
the Synod of Bishops on and it turns out the pope Francesco Spinelli of Italy, England and then returned
youth and discernment. approved it yesterday,” he founder of the Sisters to Poland to re-found
Blessed Paul, who was born said. Adorers of the Blessed the Redemptorists there
Giovanni Battista Montini, Lopez told CNS that he was Sacrament; Father Vincenzo in the 20th century, and
was pope from 1963 to 1978. happy that Blessed Oscar Romano of Italy; and Sandra Sabattini, a young
Pope Francis also Romero’s canonization Mother Maria Katharina Italian lay woman who was
formally signed the decree was imminent and that his Kasper, founder of the active in helping the poor
recognizing the miracle holiness was recognized religious congregation, the with the Pope John XXIII
needed to advance the alongside one of his earliest Poor Handmaids of Jesus Community. She was hit by
sainthood cause of supporters. Christ. a car and died in 1984 at the
Archbishop Romero of San “To see that he will be He recognized the miracle age of 22.
Salvador, martyr. canonized along with needed for the beatification The pope also recognized
El Salvador’s ambassador (Blessed) Paul VI, who was of Maria Felicia Guggiari the heroic virtues of
to the Holy See, Manuel a great friend of Archbishop Echeverria, a Discalced Antonio Pietro Cortinovis
Roberto Lopez, told Catholic Romero and supported his Carmelite from Paraguay of the Order of Friars Minor
News Service March 7 that work, is a great blessing,” whom Pope Francis has Capuchin (1885-1984) and
the news of the pope’s Lopez said. upheld as a model for three Italian women—two
approval “took us by The Vatican did not the youth of Paraguay. who founded religious
surprise.” announce a date for Blessed Affectionately called, orders and a laywoman who
“They told us before that Romero’s canonization. “Chiquitunga,” she died founded a lay fraternity.
the process was going well The pope also recognized from an unexpected illness (Carol Glatz / Catholic
and that all we needed was the miracles needed for in 1959 at the age of 34 News Service)
Pope by numbers: Vatican releases statistics of Francis’ pontificate
IN just five years as leader of the 81-year-old pope has: in Rome, including the city’s synagogue
universal church, Pope Francis has -- Created 61 new cardinals. and Rome’s German Evangelical
made 22 international trips, traveling -- Led 219 general audiences, Lutheran Church, Anglican church and
154,906 miles—the equivalent of six with catechetical series that include the Ukrainian Catholic Basilica of Santa
times around the world. reflections on the sacraments, the Sophia.
He also has declared 880 new saints, church, the family, mercy and the Mass. -- Called four synods of bishops: two
which includes the martyrdom of an -- Issued 41 major documents, on the family, this year’s synod on young
estimated 800 Italian laymen killed by including the encyclicals “Lumen fidei” people and a synod on the Amazon in 2019.
Ottoman soldiers in the 15th century. and “Laudato Si’” and the apostolic -- Declared two special years: on
Those numbers and more were exhortations, “Evangelii Gaudium” and consecrated life and the extraordinary
released by the Vatican, detailing the “Amoris Laetitia.” Year of Mercy.
many papal events, documents, travels -- Prayed the Angelus and “Regina -- Established or proclaimed seven
and accomplishments the past five Coeli” with visitors 286 times. special days, including World Day of the
years. The numbers, released March -- Completed 22 trips abroad, 18 Poor, 24 Hours for the Lord and a day
17, cover the period from March 19, pastoral visits within Italy and 16 visits of prayer and fasting for peace in Syria,
2013—the solemnity of St. Joseph, the to parishes in Rome -- the diocese of the South Sudan and Congo.
day officially inaugurating the start of pope as bishop of Rome. -- Attended or announced three World
his pontificate—to March 19, 2018. -- Made nine other visits to churches Youth Days (Brazil, Poland and Panama
According to the Vatican statistics, the for special events and places of worship for 2019). (Carol Glatz/CNS)
A4 OPINION March 19 - April 1, 2018 Vol. 22 No. 6 CBCP Monitor

EDITORIAL

Marriage, the foundation of the family

THE full reality of a family as ordinarily perceived, understood
and seen, has the following three constituent factors: man/
father, woman/mother plus children—all together considered as
one intimate domestic community. Marriage as qualified by the
unifying and united unit of the spouses and the indissolubility of
their union plus the actuality of their child/children they have
brought into the world—this is when marriage in truth and in
fact qualified as the ontological foundation of the family.
Sad but true, it would be downright hypocrisy to say that
a soluble marriage for whatever cause is the foundation of
the family, the premise of a domestic community. With a
soluble valid marriage for whatever cause or reason, fathers,
mothers, children there can be. But an honest-to-goodness
permanently standing family, they are certainly not. So it
is that dogs and cats have their respective offspring. But
domestic communities they do not form. Reason: Unless
tied well and/or securely caged, the said paired dogs and
cats ultimately part ways as a matter of course based on their
instinct and pursuant action and behavior patterns.
For the interpersonal good of the spouses who totally and
irrevocably gave each one to the other, and for the proper
upbringing of the children born through their procreative

ILLUSTRATION BY BLADIMER USI

union and also for the harmony and peace of society precisely
composed of families, the marriage bond should not be made
altogether dependent on but the personal decision of one or both
of the spouses to hold on to or to get rid of. Needless to say, the
family being a component of society affects the latter one way or
the other—depending on the attributes or liabilities of the former.
Let it be expressly and categorically said that no mere
human authority or power may abolish not only the natural
right for men and women to get married but also to dare
modify the essence and objectives of marriage as established
by Natural Law and affirmed by Divine Law, do not give in
Duterte is not Panaghoy
to but mere human individualistic likes and personal dislikes
about marriage. The truth is that before the advent of any the Philippines! Bp. Broderick Pabillo
State, before the formation of any government, marriage
has already been defined by ethics and morals—again—as
stipulated by Natural Law and confirmed by Divine Law.
It is both sad and pitiful when there are certain public officials HOW dare Duterte reject the Rome his cohorts. But in the case of the poor, so incongruent! But we must remind
– whose existence and finality are precisely meant for the Statutes and get the Philippines out of mere allegations are already reasons ourselves. Congruence and logic are not
promotion of the common good, for the affirmation of public the International Criminal Court! He to kill. When accusations are pointed to be expected from raving people—from
welfare—who are the very ones who author and/or promote is not the Philippines! Can treaties and at him, first he brings out a barrage ravingly mad people.
legislations against the intrinsic nature and ontological finalities ties of the country just be severed at of dirty language and random counter So now, just because he will be
of marriage which is one-to-one for life. There are indications the whim of one man—even if he be the accusations, many of which have no basis investigated by the international court,
that those politicians thus promoting the “Dissolution” of president—especially one whose interest at all. He just rumbles them out. Then he severs our ties with the international
marriage for this and that cause have failed marriages, other de is not of the country but only to save his he hits back at his opponents. Accusing body? He had already used foul language
facto partners or the like. So it is that they invent these and those
own skin? them of fabricated cases and using the against the international body and
novel terminologies all of which in fact simply means divorce.
It is always the alibi of despotic leaders agencies and resources of the state to put its rapporteurs and investigators. But
So it is that for these politicos, the vision of the Constitution
of the Philippines (State Policies, Section 12) plus the that when they are investigated they them to jail, to take them out of office, or nobody is threatened by his dirty words
affirmation of the Family Code of the Philippines (Title 1, claim that there is no jurisdiction, or simply to shame them in public. When in the international community. So now
Article 1) are all nonsense. there is abuse of power, or that it is just the accused are his relatives or friends, he accuses them of being unfair and of
a political move. There are many reports he lets the cases sleep and be forgotten. politicking. Fortunately, according to
The family as center of formation of blatant abuse of human rights in the What happened to the 6.4 B drug scam? international rules, the investigation
country. Let these be investigated. If So much drugs were smuggled and up will go on. And we say he should be
THERE’S a certain urgency to make the family today the present administration has a clean to now nobody is held accountable. investigated. Nobody should stand
an effective center of formation. With all the growing record, as it claims it has, then it should For a few grams of shabu the poor are unaccountable. Nobody has impunity.
developments and complicated challenges of our times, we not be afraid of investigations. By killed--and not just apprehended and The investigation may take years. But
cannot afford to sit pretty and just allow blind fate to take its withdrawing the country so suddenly investigated--but for such a big haul, let it start--and now! Duterte and his
course. We have to take the bull by the horns. from international commitments nobody is held accountable! Why? cohorts should know that they cannot
\We need to remember that the family plays a very strategic because it is falling under investigation Because those involved are close to forever dodge justice and the truth.
role in the development of a person and of society in general. It is a very cowardly act. him! Now big names of drug lords, even In the long run, justice and truth will
should be able to handle the duties and responsibilities inherent This seems to be the reactions of self-confessed ones, are set free. Not prevail.
to its nature and purpose. We cannot deny the fact that many Duterte to allegations against him and enough evidence against them! This is
people have inadequate, if not erroneous understanding of what
the family and its closely related institution of marriage are. In
‘Walang forever’
the US today, for example, they are now legalizing and are openly
promoting the so-called same-sex marriage and open marriages. And That’s The Truth
\It’s no wonder that we have many broken marriages and
dysfunctional families nowadays with matching complicated Teresa R. Tunay, OCDS
is fake news
consequences. Of course, the recourse to divorce does not
solve the problem. It can even make things worse. Everything
has to be done to address this fundamental problem. And
all the subsidiary institutions and offices—the Church, ISN’T it ironic that on loving people, we celebrate because their daughter is their consuming desire for
government, schools, NGOs, etc.—should lend a hand. March 19, the Solemnity births and birthdays, we a Saint; rather, the Church sanctity, Louis and Zelie
\Continuing formation and evangelization about marriage of St. Joseph—family man respect life, we love wedding acknowledges that their decided they would, while
and family has to be pursued without letup. For one, couples par excellence who chose anniversaries and happily- daughter became a Saint married, live a “celibate” life
planning to marry should be made to realize clearly that their not to divorce Mary, the ever-after movies, and we because she was raised together—but God didn’t
marriage brings with it the duty to make their family the basic mother of Jesus—the divorce truly believe that “walang by saintly parents. When allow that either. A priest
center of formation for their children. They should be prepared bill was approved on its forever” is fake news, Therese wrote “Holiness soon advised them to do as
and equipped to carry out this delicate duty. As the basic center for third and final reading by manufactured by the broken consists simply in doing married people normally do,
formation, the family that is led by the parents should know how Congress? Officially known hearted. There is forever, and God’s will, and being just have children, and raise them
to lay the foundations of the human virtues and the life of faith and as House Bill 7303 or “An Act with the relics of St. Therese what God wants us to be”, she for God. They obeyed the
piety of the children. It should be well-versed with the doctrine Instituting Absolute Divorce of Lisieux in our midst (since must have had her parents priest, but prayed for sons
of faith and the traditions of piety so that as early as possible the
and Dissolution of Marriage January 12) until May 2018, in mind. with the noble intention of
children would have the right attitudes and outlook in life.
in the Philippines”, the bill we may yet be inspired to Before they met, both offering them to the Lord as
\Parents should be ready by acquiring the necessary
competence to face the modern challenges of raising children, was voted on 134-57. To imitate her parents, St. Zelie Zelie and Louis had wanted priests—but again, God had
especially the teen-agers, today. They must know how to run date, the Philippines and the and St. Louis, to help us form the religious life—he as a other plans. They had nine
a home, how to be good administrators of money and the Vatican are the only states virtuous spouses who would monk and she as a nun—but children, and the only two
things of the house, how to understand the character of the where divorce is illegal, and love their children enough to God wanted something else. boys God took back in their
children, how to get the children improve in their individual Filipino Catholics take pride rule out divorce as an escape So they met (curiously, on infancy, along with two girls
behaviors, etc. Parents should realize that their own in that. But with a vote of from marital trials—and yes, a bridge) and barely four in their childhood, leaving
formation is also something they should take care of. They 134 vs. 57… who knows what stay together, forever. months later got married the couple five girls who
have to update themselves regarding marriage and family Senate will say? The Church did not make on July 12, 1858; he was grew up into adulthood and
life through an ongoing plan of formation. In this, they can Filipinos are a family- Louis and Zelie Saints 34, she was 26. Still, with And That’s the Truth / A7
also take initiatives, with the help of other parents and other
experts, to organize classes, talks and chats for this purpose.
\The important thing to remember is that the family is
made an effective basic center of formation for the children.
The great, simple man Candidly Speaking
Fr. Roy Cimagala

Monitor
CBCP
I’M referring to St. Joseph, the husband accepted to be Mary’s husband even if to be unfaithful to his vocation.
of Mary and the foster father of Christ. at first he already planned of separating Let’s remember that even in those
PROTAGONIST OF TRUTH, PROMOTER OF PEACE His greatness lies in his simplicity and from her. He readily fled to Egypt to apostles who were already very close to
in the simple role he carried out with escape Herod’s madness when he was Christ, one betrayed him and another
Pedro Quitorio so much diligence in the life of the Holy warned about it in a dream. denied him three times. It’s a common
Editor-in-Chief Family and of the whole world. To be sure, his total availability phenomenon in the spiritual life that
He is worth emulating, worth giving to God’s plans was not something the bigger the role one plays in God’s
Nirva’ana E. Delacruz Ron Ramos more and better attention than a cursory, mechanical or passive. Knowing that providence and the more willing to be
Design Artist
Associate Editor casual one. His condition is very much he had to be father and husband to the faithful one is to his vocation, the graver
identifiable with that of the majority of two most important persons in human also would be the temptations and the
Roy Lagarde Mercedita Juanite the people all over the world. Like him, history, he must have continually trials that will hound him.
News Editor Circulation Manager
many of us do very ordinary simple renewed his eagerness to be faithful, In all these possibilities, St. Joseph
Christine Paguirigan Marcelita Dominguez duties, with hardly any public or social obedient and docile to God’s ways. passed with flying colors. We can
Managing Editor Comptroller consequence. But the possibility of being It must not have been easy for him, guess that his secret was precisely his
great, like St. Joseph, is always there. given the human condition to which simplicity and humility that enabled
The CBCP Monitor is published fortnightly by the The secret is simply being faithful in he was also subjected. He must have to him to be faithful, to sustain his love
CBCP - Media Office with editorial and business offices
at 3rd Floor, CBCP Compound, 470 General Luna obeying God’s will, however it turns in contend also with all kinds of human for God and his spiritual life, even in
Street, Intramuros, Manila. Email Address: cbcpmonitor@ the drama of our life. St. Joseph, for frailties, like the tendency to take things the humdrum of the ordinary life that
areopaguscommunications.com, Business: (632) 404 - 1612.
ISSN 1908-2940. example, just made himself completely for granted, to lapse into routine and he led. He conquered monotony with
available to God’s plan. He readily boredom, if not to betray and Candidly Speaking / A5
CBCP Monitor March 19 - April 1, 2018 Vol. 22 No. 6 OPINION A5

Is the withdrawal from Whatever

By the Roadside
Fr. Eutiquio ‘Euly’ Belizar, Jr. SThD ICC moral or immoral? Fr. Francis Ongkingco

“He seizes the poor man and drags the country’s chances to be protected of social life which enable individuals,
him away.” (Psalm 10:9) from abusive administrations now
and in the future, if and when the
families and organizations to achieve
complete and efficacious fulfilment” (GS A bland new hero
BISHOPS and priests are neither lawyers human dignity and human rights of 74; Mater et Magistra, n. 53), I do not
nor jurists. Legal matters are not their citizens, particularly the poor and the see how human dignity, human rights EVERYBODY needs a hero! Unfortunately, heroes are
field of competence. This is usually the powerless, are threatened or trampled and justice could be excluded. A leader’s getting harder to find these days, not only because it takes
battle cry of those who tell bishops and upon. Philippine justice is, from a long act therefore that, while it protects him a lot of sacrifice to become one, but also due to a massive
priests to “stay out of politics”. history of indicators, is tailored to serve from accountability, compromises the campaign to change the concept of a hero.
But they ignore one thing: Even the the rich and the powerful. That most common good, cannot be moral. Why change the notions of a hero and heroism? Every one
hierarchy (a term for the clergy as a drug-related killings victimize the poor Perhaps it could be argued that naturally experiences a deep inspiration in and attraction
body) also has a field of competence. illustrates this point. To deprive the present circumstances appear to to the embodiment of a hero or heroine who goes through
The Pastoral Constitution on the Church disadvantaged (the more numerous in conspire against the chief executive’s what is called a “hero’s journey.”
in the Modern World or ‘Gaudium et the population) of a potential source getting a fair treatment from the ICC. This journey describes a “simple boy or girl” awakening
Spes (Joy and Hope)’ defines what of legal sanctuary and an alternative I am sure the ICC would respond to a call. His adventure begins when he leaves behind a
is traditionally understood as the recourse for justice can never be moral. to this in the negative, and perhaps comfortable life and seeks the guidance of a wise sage. This
hierarchy’s proper task: “to preach the The question of intention is fraught just as adequately. In a recent press sage helps to unveil the hero’s past and the mission he has
faith, to proclaim its teaching about with uncertainty and doubt. But it has conference the presidential spokesman to confront. He trains in order to face internal and external
society, to carry out its tasks among to be truthfully answered. Is the chief claimed that the Philippines was obstacles, and finally, battles the main enemy and saves the
men without any hindrance, and to executive by the ICC withdrawal keeping a leader in the ICC and that its day or the world. This is how a hero is made!
pass moral judgments even in matters the country out of an international withdrawal would also trigger the This is the basic hero template which makes stories like
relating to politics, whenever the rights body truly prejudiced against him, withdrawal of many other member King Arthur, Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, Harry
of men or the salvation of souls requires or as having veritably prejudged him nations. Even if true, saying so does Potter, and Percy Jackson very appealing and full of ideals
it” (GS 76). negatively? To these experts opine little to heighten the rightness of the for both young and old to imitate. So why strip stories and
As a priest, therefore, I feel I should that there is not even an investigation withdrawal itself but feeds merely movies of this important classical hero framework?
focus more on the moral aspect of one yet, and thus prejudgment is out of the oversized ego of some people in The answer lies in an agenda to propagate an ideology
subject now burning among concerned the question. Even granting that that government. On the one hand, unfair instead of telling a story. For example, one will easily detect
Filipinos: the chief executive’s decision were true, how and why would this also treatment is mostly within the realm strong feminist ideologies and hues of LGBTQ in many
to take the country out of the ICC include the whole country’s interests, of speculation, considering that no forms of entertainment. Thus, the movies we watch, the
(International Criminal Court) that is its present and future pursuit of justice? ICC action is taken and made public books and comics we read, some video games we play and
set to perform a legal process in relation Or is he merely out to keep himself as yet. On the other hand, separation music we enjoy are emptied of original and engaging story
to the drug killings in the country. from being reached by the long arm from ICC already deals a severe blow lines and plots.
Morality in Catholic teaching is arrived of the law, even if from an external to the country’s trustworthiness as a I personally find it unfair that the creators and composers
at by considering the object (matter source, at the country’s expense? Is he responsible member of the community of such entertainment media would be feeding a captive
of a human act), the intention (end or not, in effect, merely serving his own of nations. That alone raises the audience with an ideology instead of a cool story. A recent
purpose of an act) and the circumstances good and not the common good? It culpability of the withdrawal itself and example would be the latest Star Wars (now called Star
surrounding an act (Catechism of the would stretch the mind too much to that can hardly be considered moral. Warped for its failure to reach fan expectation) installment.
Catholic Church, nn. 1749-1756). say that the common good is served To quote Bovee: “It is only an error The movie, as Bishop Robert Baron observed, totally
The act itself of withdrawing the by the ICC withdrawal. If, as St. John in judgment to make a mistake, but it dismantles the concept of the hero’s journey. Instead, it
country from the ICC seems neutral. XXIII defines it, the common good is shows infirmity of character to adhere presents a “packaged hero” who requires no teacher, no
But it is not. It already prejudices “the sum total of all those conditions to it when discovered.” learning curve and saves the day all on his own. A similar
but subtler example is the case of Katniss, the heroine of
Hunger Games.
Duc in Altum Not only does it ruin a good series, but also attempts
to hard-sell a feminist tenet that women are now better
Atty. Aurora A. Santiago than men when it comes to fighting and saving the day.
Bishop Baron complains that the original Star Wars never
attempted to pit Luke and Leia against each other. They
were both heroes on a journey and had complementary
DATELINE: Los Angeles, your husband or wife, think of Big Ben, Empire State social institution, is the roles to save the day.
California someone who’s crying out to Building, Pyramids of Egypt, foundation of the family and When such ideologically pumped pseudo-stories end, the
Life is the greatest gift God for a companion. Before CN Tower of Canada, Rizal shall be protected by the audience is left hanging, empty, and exhausted. An ideology,
on earth. Life is a blessing you complain about your life, Park of the Philippines. Big State”. (Sec. 3, Art. XV); that a philosophical construct that focuses on one reality and
nobody can deny. Life can think of someone who went business establishments, “the State shall strengthen excludes the rest, is a weak framework for any story. Since
be in any form—the life of early to heaven. Before you government offices, school the family’s solidarity and only a person and not a concept can become a hero, then
a person, the life of Mother complain about your children, campuses, Churches and actively promote its total a story is genuinely told when it revolves around a person,
Nature, the life of a marriage. think of someone who desires individuals in their respective development. The State shall who journeys to become a hero.
March is my birthday children but is barren. Before houses observed the Earth defend the right of families.” But with feminists and LGBTQ advocates out on a mission
month. I sincerely thank you argue about your dirty Hour. (Sec. 1, Art. XV). The Bill to neuter all of history and society of heroes, I’m afraid we
the Lord for the life he has house that someone didn’t So disappointing is the weakens marriage as an are going to be left with a bland new set of tasteless heroes,
given me. I thank Him for the clean or sweep, think of the withdrawal by the United inviolable social institution neither sweet nor sour, neither hot nor cold. Heroes that
blessing of family and friends. people who are living in the States from the Paris and as the foundation do not stand for anything or anyone.
For what I am, I owe it to Him. streets. Before whining about Agreement—the world’s first of the family. The Bill
For what I have been, I owe it the distance you drive, think truly global plan to address downgraded marriage as an
to my parents. With a grateful
heart, I thank the Lord for
of someone who walks the
same distance with his feet.
climate change. To think
that the United States is one
ordinary contract wherein
the spouses will be freely
Dr. Raul Nidoy
my loving parents Gloria And when you are tired and of the world’s top leaders. allowed to establish such Life Matters
and Benito (may they rest complain about your job, Why do small nations like critical areas as support,
in peace) who worked hard think of the unemployed, the Philippines worked parental authority, custody,
to raise me and my siblings the disabled and those who harder to ease climate change living arrangements for the
to be strong and firm in our wished they had your job. And and not big countries? common children by their
faith, to finish our studies
and become all professional. I
before you think of pointing
the finger or condemning
Ordinary people want “to
change climate change.”
mere agreement. The Bill
also allows the government
If we want school
thank the Lord for my siblings
for their love and care. I thank
another, remember that not
one of us is without sin and
It is good that despite its
government’s decision,
to interfere in the parenting
of children by assuming the shootings, break up
the Lord for my friends who
are always around when I
will answer to one Maker. And
when depressing thoughts
the leaders of business
communities, organizations,
role of parents. The CBCP
stated that “Like Catholics in the family
need them most. I thank seem to get you down, try to college campuses and most other countries where
the Lord for all the people put a smile on your face and individuals across America divorce is legal, we wish WE’VE seen them on TV and videos. We have seen the
who touched and continue to thank God you’re alive and are committed to care for the to assert that nothing, not anguish, anger, and unbearable fear of young people who
touch my life for they inspire still around. Life is a gift, enjoy environment. “Let us care for even a divorce law can make survived. One survivor who was being interviewed, just
me to go on with life. I thank it, celebrate it, and fulfill it.” Mother Nature, Let us care us give up our faith in the faltered: “I can’t do it, I’m sorry, I can’t,” as he choked and
the Lord for all His many for our Children’s Future!” indissolubility of marriage as walked away.
blessings. Obeying God’s will *** In his Encyclical, Laudato a lifetime covenant between Entering the feelings of the children who were inside
for what I have been, is my Another life that we should Si, Pope Francis said “Let a man and woman who have one of those classrooms should help us think seriously,
offer of thanksgiving to Him. be thankful is the Mother us be protectors of creation, freely said yes to the call to and decide that we do not want any of those elements that
I will continue my advocacy Nature. This year, Earth Hour protectors of God’s plan, love and commit themselves have led to this hellish state in the most influential nation
of sharing my time, talent is observed at 8:30pm, local inscribed in nature, to God and to each other, in the world.
and treasure in the service to time, on March 24 instead of protectors of one another through thick and thin.” And so it should lead us to research with a most non-
the Universal Church. “Nasa the last Saturday of March and of the environment. prejudiced mind why this happens, so we can prevent this
Diyos ang Awa, Nasa Tao ang as traditionally done since it God always forgives; *** contagion from reaching our shores. A father of a daughter
Gawa”. falls on Holy Saturday. Let us human beings sometimes Happy Sacerdotal who is threatened by a deadly disease will not sit back
be part of the historic “lights- forgive; but when nature Anniversary to Fr. Adrian nonchalant, but will be driven to stop the problem. And he
*** out display” by turning off is mistreated, she never Magnait, the Priest Director will not just be driven, he will get the most reliable expert
Let me share what I read in all non-essential lights at forgives.” of the Council of the Laity advice on the matter.
one of the websites about Life 8:30pm. and continue our of the Diocese of Kalookan The truth is: the most eminent experts who have devoted
being a gift. fight against climate change. *** and parish priest of St. their lives to study crime have already spoken. But the
“Life is a gift, so today: United, all of us can establish Unfortunately, House Bill Gabriel the Archangel jaundiced Western media and politicians have long been
Before you think of saying and achieve a future “where No. 6027, or the so-called Parish, Fr. Boyet Pedroso, held captive by their ideologies they can’t look straight at
an unkind word, think of people and nature thrive.” Divorce Bill, was passed parish priest of Mary Help the elephant in the room.
someone who can’t speak. The famous and popular on second reading by the of Christian and Fr. Jerome The elephant in the room in crime has been pinpointed
Before you complain about landmarks worldwide went House of Representatives, Cruz, Vicar General of by eminent criminologists Michael Gottfredson and Travis
the taste of your food, think of dark during Earth Hour despite the provision the Diocese of Kalookan Hirschi who wrote “A General Theory of Crime” published
someone who has nothing to which includes the Eiffel of the Constitution that and Rector of San Roque by Stanford University Press, a testable theory that has
eat. Before you complain about Tower, Sydney Opera House, “marriage, as an inviolable Cathedral Parish. been confirmed by several empirical studies as well. This
same elephant was clearly spotted by Robert J. Sampson,
Candidly Speaking / A4 Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard
University, who was Chair of its Department of Sociology,
those qualities. lot to be keenly aware of whom he was supernatural bearing, and feel’s Christ’s and President of the American Society of Criminology.
It must have been these qualities that taking care of. Proximity helps. But that continuous presence in our life and in our All of them declared that family dysfunction is among
enabled him to see the sacredness of should not be an excuse for us to feel not affairs, and be moved to react accordingly. the most powerful predictors of crime. Gottfredson and
what may appear to be ordinary duties as lucky as St. Joseph. Christ is always St. Joseph is showing us that the Hirschi concluded that “such family measures as the
according to human standards. By close to us. He is always watching over ordinary things in life, the performance percentage of the population divorced, the percentage
being faithful to them and putting love us and guiding us all the time. We just of the duties inherent to our state in life, of households headed by women, and the percentage of
into them, he managed to touch heaven have to learn how to correspond better are the very occasions we can be with unattached individuals in the community are among the
while here on earth. The many ordinary to that reality. Christ and deal with him as we ought. most powerful predictors of crime rates.”
little things he did somehow acquired That’s why it’s important that from That’s when, like St. Joseph, we can Harvard’s Sampson even stressed: “Family structure
eternal and redemptive value. time to time we pause and pray so that also aspire to greatness in the very is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, predictor of
Of course, it must have helped him a we can have or regain our spiritual and simple things of our life! Life Matters / A6
A6 LOCAL NEWS
Bishop: Theology and
pastoral care are not
opposites
Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan speaks during this year’s International
Theological Forum at the Ateneo de Manila University, March 15, 2018. PHOTO COURTESY
OF EUGENE PARAYAOAN
THEOLOGICAL reflection
must always be done in the
context of pastoral care, a
Catholic bishop said.
Speaking to theology
professors and students,
Bishop Pablo Virgilio David
of Kalookan said that the
church’s teaching and
her pastoral ministry are
inseparable.
“The doing is what really
matters,” he said during the
International Theological
Forum hosted by the Loyola
School of Theology (LST) at
the Leong Hall of the Ateneo
de Manila University on
March 15.
To stress his point, the
vice president of the Catholic
Bishops’ Conference of the
Philippines (CBCP) stressed,
“I became a real theologian
when I became a pastor.”
According to him, it is with
the people where theology
becomes alive and where
God’s word is allowed “to
address the people, my
community, effectively.”
“It is in that pastoral
care setting that I learned
to do theology after years
of studying and teaching
theology,” David said.
‘Selfie church’
He then reminded the
participants that there is a
gap between those people
who always go to Church and
those who do not. Even the
church, he added, has poor
people in her margins.
“The poor are not just in
the fringes, they are also in
the church,” said David.
“The gaps that we have so
efficiently established in the
world is the chasm of apathy
and indifference
The gaps that prevent
us from seeing the needy
prevents us from seeing the
Lord,” he said.
Problems within the
Church, the bishop said, are
Levy / A1
must be treated as a special
fund and not as part of the
general fund.
The funds, they said, must
be used solely to develop the
coconut industry with small
coconut farmers as direct
participants and primary
beneficiaries.
They added that while the
Philippine Coconut Authority
needs reforms, it should not
be part of this law because
the reconstituted PCA
governing board may run
the risk of being struck down
as unconstitutional in court.
There is also a question
on the PCA charter, which
is limited only to coconut
oil production, and may be
overburdened by its other
regulatory functions.
“Historically, the PCA
was part of the coco levy
scam itself. The PCA is also
a Government-Owned and
Controlled Corporation
(GOCC), whose primary
function is to generate
revenues,” Gariguez said.
He also reiterated the need
to immediately enact the
Coconut Farmers’ Trust Law,
caused by self-centeredness
or what he called the “selfie
church” that is “living within
herself, of herself, for herself”.
He said that there’s
a “serious disease of
parochialism in our
churches. We maintain them
but we don’t realize that
sometimes they get afflicted
by self-preferentiality and
theological and pastoral
narcissism.”
Instrument
of reconciliation
Meanwhile, Archbishop
Gabriele Caccia, Apostolic
Nuncio to the Philippines,
emphasized the need for
priests to become more open
to others.
“One of the main mission
of the priest is to be an
instrument of reconciliation
and forgiveness,” the papal
nuncio said.
In a world where division
and abuse of power is
prevalent, he noted that it
is the Christian’s mission
to remember whom Christ
engaged in the world.
“Recognition, collaboration
and humility,” he said.
Acknowledging that
sometimes church people
become obstacles to the
mission of Christ in the
world, he reminded everyone
of those who tirelessly work
and endure persecutions just
“to keep up the faith.”
“God is always at work. Let
us be ready not to hinder this
work of God. Let us build a
kingdom of justice, of love,
of hope,” Caccia said.
The International
Theological Forum is a two-
day event organized by LST
since 2015. This year’s theme
is “Formation for Ministry in
21st Century Asian Contexts”
on the occasion of the CBCP
Year of the Clergy and
Consecrated Life. (Roel
Joe Abonal/ CBCPNews)
which will provide a Trust
Fund Committee composed
majority of farmers,
paving the way for the just
utilization, management
and administration of the
recovered coco levy fund.
At least 3.5 million coconut
farmers, who have waited 40
years for justice to be served,
will benefit from the passage
of the law.
According to Soc Banzuela,
Executive Director of KILUS
Magniniyog, “justice for
coconut farmers has been
so delayed, thus the need
for the immediate passage
of SB 1233, without any
amendments.”
To heighten calls for the
passage of the bill, coconut
farmers represented by
KILUS Magniniyog will
march again to senate on
Monday.
It can be recalled that the
House of Representatives
passed the bill in September
last year. Now, the farmers
want the senate to do
the same before the 17th
Congress closes by the end
of the year. (CBCPNews)
March 19 - April 1, 2018 Vol. 22 No. 6 CBCP Monitor
Filipinos call on church
leaders to heed young
FILIPINO delegates to a CFC-Youth for Christ and
pre-synod gathering in Rome representing the Vicariate of
said Catholic Church leaders Southern Arabia; and Joy Eva
need to understand how Bohol of the World Council of
young people live, think and Churches.
communicate to be able to Fr. Conegundo Garganta,
preach the Gospel. executive secretary of the
About 300 young people bishops’ Commission on
from around the world will Youth, said Philippine
gather at the Vatican from Church leaders have been
March 19-24 for a five-day using “all possible means” to
preparatory meeting for the listen to young people.
Synod of Bishops with a The priest said the synod
youth theme in October. this year is an opportunity
“[Church leaders need] to clarify the concepts that
to understand and journey Gerald Rey Coquia (back row, from left) and Alyana Therese Pangilinan, who are the church has about young
together with young people representing the CBCP, and Joy Eva Bohol of the World Council of Churches listen to people and “come up with
Pope Francis at the opening of the pre-synodal meeting in Rome, March 19, 2018.
so that [they] will have VATICAN NEWS/SCREEN GRAB
the language that will be fit in
that sense of belonging addressing their concerns.”
and support,” said Alyana wounds of young people to be works in a local school. “We speak the same
Therese Pangilinan from the able to minister effectively to “We are supposed to share language but how this
Philippines. future generation.” the teachings of the church, language is used or delivered
The 23-year-old youth The synod of bishops in but if no one knows or will give is a cause of hindrance for
leader from Bacolod Diocese October will focus on the [the youth] these teachings the church and for young
said it is important for the theme of “faith and vocational then definitely there will people to meet,” said Father
church and its leaders,”to discernment” among young be confusion among young Garganta.
listen and respond” to the people. people,” he said. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle
concerns of young people as Gerald Rey Coquia, a Bishops’ conferences of Manila said that while the
they face myriad issues. 29-year-old youth leader from around the world are church has its own views on
Some quarters have Palo Archdiocese, said there is expected to send participants where young people stand
expressed concern at the an urgent need for priests and to the preparatory meeting. today, it is also important to
risk they face from extremist religious figures to engage the Pangilinan and Coquia hear opinions straight from
groups. younger generation. went through a thorough the horse’s mouth.
“It’s very important to be He said the church is screening process to “This will be an interesting
accepting and to be a listening supposed to be a “ministry represent the CBCP. synod where bishops will
church,” said Pangilinan, of presence” and should have There are also four more listen to young people, in
a member of the Christian an “aggressive but tender Filipinos in the meeting order for them to actively
Family Movement in her embrace” for its members. namely, Bro. Earl Valdez, a help in shaping the mission of
dioceses. “This embrace should not seminarian from the Manila the church and the direction
She said church leaders cause pain, it should not be archdiocese; Salesian Sister of the world,” said the
need to understand the so tight that it hurts young Cynthia Calabig; Caroline prelate. (Roy Lagarde/
“questions, hopes, fears and people,” said Coquia, who Kate Montefrio of the UCANews)
Divorce / A1
of marital love and commitment are cited the emotional and psychological The group stressed that, contrary
what we ask our legislators to consider toll divorce will take on those who will to the bill’s assertion that children of
seriously.” be immediately and directly affected, struggling couples suffer “pain, stress,
According to the prelate, virtually the children. and agony consequent to their parents’
every marriage will go through periods “More children will grow up constant marital clashes,” they do
of marital difficulties and trials. disoriented and deprived of the care of not want to their parents separating
“Even couples in seemingly successful both parents,” he said. just because of difficulties in their
marriages would often look back and Some 24 lay organizations and relationship.
recall the countless challenges that had movements also issued on Feb. 21 a “The sight of their parents persevering
almost brought their relationship to a statement against divorce, saying: together will always remain with them
breaking point if they had not learned “Couples who overcome trials in especially when they will have their own
to transcend personal hurts through marriage together grow in virtue and families,” stressed the statement.
understanding and forgiveness, or happiness. That is why decent peoples The organizations that helped craft
sometimes through the intervention of of the world accompany couples and the document include Couples for
a dialogue facilitator such as a marriage families toward reconciliation and Christ Global Mission Foundation,
counselor,” he stressed. healing.” Prayer Warriors of the Holy Souls,
The lay leaders also upheld the welfare Ang Ligaya ng Panginoon, Alliance
‘Disoriented children’ of children, saying they “deserve a Home for the Family Foundation, Inc., and
Speaking on behalf of nearly a hundred where love, faithfulness, and forgiveness Educhild Foundation, Inc., among
bishops all over the country, Valles also reign.” others.
EJK / A1
killing… I will not cower in several legs of his inter-island
fear. I will not back down,” cycling course.
he said in his pre-departure Picardal revealed the trip
statement during a Mass at will most probably be his last
the Baclaran Church. advocacy ride before bowing
The human rights activist out of the public eye in favor
also stressed that EJKs has of a hermetic life. He started
proved to be “an ineffective to bike for peace across the
strategy” in the Duterte Philippines in 2000, biking
administration’s war on again for life and peace around
drugs that must be stopped Mindanao in 2006.
and that martial law in In 2008, Picardal biked
Mindanao is unnecessary. for life and peace around the
Picardal further called on Fr. Amado Picardal is accompanied by local cyclists as he crosses the Bicol region, Philippines again in 2014
the president to fulfill his March 19, 2018. PHOTO FROM FR. PICARDAL’S FACEBOOK ACCOUNT to raise awareness about
promise to resume peace environmental degradation.
talks with the National and recounted stories of in the evenings, he will be A send-off and departure
Democractic Front (NDF). conversion he witnessed preaching in the parishes Mass was held Tuesday,
He also emphasizes his himself. hosting him for the night. March 13, for Picardal’s fifth
belief in the “goodness During daytime throughout Running priest Fr. Robert bike advocacy that kicked off
and humanity within each his ride, the 64-year old Reyes, together with other earlier today. (Christine
one no matter how sinful” priest will be fasting, and bikers, will be joining him in Paguirigan/CBCPNews)
Life Matters / A5
variations in urban violence stable homes. He showed are supposed to teach you truly want to serve the
across cities in the United that in one sample covering self-mastery, self-sacrificing country and become the
States.” both the US and non- commitment, forgiveness, greatest of statesmen,
Study after study has only US countries, 82% of the forbearance, and fidelity they should pass laws to
strengthened the parent shooters were from broken teach you the opposite with strengthen the family,
factor and self-control theory families, while 18% from their actions. such as a serious marriage
of Gottfriedson and Hirschi. intact families. And some of our nation’s preparation program that
One is that of Carter Hay MercatorNet which legislators who want divorce will enable couples to
on “Parenting, Self-Control has been following the in this country are so taken discern their decision, learn
and Deviancy” and another background of killers in by the wealth of the West to effectively communicate
by Vaszonyi and Belliston, mass shootings has seen that that they are oblivious to the and understand each other’s
a cross-cultural and cross- “almost all school shooters anguish their children face gender idiosyncrasies, and
national test of self-control come from families where the every day in the schools that develop the mega-skills of
theory, particularly the parents are either divorced are supposed to be havens of emotional intelligence such
family dysfunction factor. or alienated.” serenity and joy. as patience and forgiveness.
And the data is not just Surely, all this research Our legislators should The positive step of
for crime in general, but for bears out common sense. listen to the wisdom of strengthening rather than
school shooting in particular. We know what havoc family Michael Cook of MercatorNet weakening the Filipino family
In a website dedicated to break-ups create. What when he advises the Western which is known worldwide as
school shooting, Dr. Peter trauma is created in the nations: “Perhaps they one of our greatest strengths,
Langman debunks a myth vulnerable psyche of young wouldn’t need more gun follows the wise management
(probably perpetrated by children. What overturning control if they had better principle of Peter Drucker,
anti-family advocates) that of values happens when your divorce control.” an unparalleled management
school shooters come from own parents, the ones who And if our lawmakers guru: build on strength.
CBCP Monitor March 19 - April 1, 2018 Vol. 22 No. 6 DIOCESAN NEWS A7

Archdiocese expands ‘mercy Seminarians urged:

‘Obey your bishop’
ministry’ to fight drug problem
DAGUPAN City— From
helping the families of victims
of drug-related killings, the
Archdiocese of Lingayen-
Dagupan has widened its
“Ministry of Me rcy” to
address the drug problem in
Pangasinan province.
Archbishop Socrates
Villegas said it is going to be
a “wider and more focused”
program on the pastoral
aspects of drug dependence,
sale, and abuse. Archbishop Martin Jumoad of Ozamiz told seminarians to obey their bishop or else
they “are not fit” to become shepherds of the flock. BRENDA MILAN
Three interrelated
approaches namely, OZAMIZ City— Archbishop the Church outnumber men
education and prevention, Martin Jumoad of Ozamiz that is why there is a need to
community-based has called on seminarians to increase their participation
rehabilitation, and pastoral, obey their bishops once they whether as ministers or
said the prelate, will help become priests. leaders in the community.
address the “socio-pastoral” In his homily during the He, however, called on the
problems of families of Baccalaureate Mass for faithful not to discount the
victims of extrajudicial the 24th Commencement role of women in the life of
killings. Exercises of St. Francis Xavier the Church.
“We have a duty from the Regional Major Seminary, “When you become a priest,
Lord to take care of the least Archbishop Socrates Villegas leads a prayer service for the victims of extrajudicial killings and others who were slain under the
government’s crackdown against illegal drugs, at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Dagupan City, Sept. 23, 2017. GLENN March 19, Monday, the imitate your father. Your
of our brethren and we will MUNOZ LOPEZ prelate said seminarians father who offered his calvary
be judged at the sunset of should draw their inspiration [of] love for his children,”
life by what we did to the Dagupan City. The ministry also offers that they know about EJKs, from St. Joseph, husband of Jumoad said.
least of our brethren,” said It was last year when sanctuary and protection to have sought the protection Mary who was obedient to the He said they should also
Villegas. the archdiocese opened those willing to testify against of the Church. will of the Father. become a good father to their
To prepare the parishes for the ministry of mercy to cases of extrajudicial killings While not tolerating those “Obedience is very flock, especially in the parish,
the program, the archdiocese respond pastorally to the in the country. involved in illegal drugs, he important to the Church. If saying that Christ the Good
will also hold a seminar drug problem and the In October 2017, Villegas said the ministry of mercy priests are not obedient to the Shepherd “came to serve and
workshop for the “ministers alarming cases of summary said several members of also serves those who need bishop, then the Church will not to be served.”
of mercy” on April 5 at the executions in the past two the police, who expressed the hospitality of the Church. be divided,” said Jumoad.
Lay Formation Center in years. willingness to “expose all” (CBCPNews) He added that the priest is Silence, a fruit of peace
the extension of the bishop The Archbishop of Ozamiz
‘Support network’ for priests launched and if a seminarian often
criticizes his formator and
noted that the seminarians
must also appreciate and give
JARO, Iloilo— Instead of placards, following activities which the rest of the Spreading to more parishes his bishop, then he might time for silence and reflection
streamers, or marching bands, a group of lay faithful may actively participate in: The initiative, which started in February, be not fit for the priesthood. when they become priests
lay people serving in different capacities Organize regular prayer circles in the now has regular prayer circles in at least “When you grumble and talk soon.
in parish communities and ministries in parishes to encourage the faithful to 54 different parishes with lay people against your formators and “Silence is the fruit of
the Archdiocese of Jaro are committing pray and to offer sacrifices for priests; actively praying for priests and offering your bishop, then you have peace. We need silence to
themselves to a system of supporting Offer Mass intentions and Holy Thursday Mass intentions for them. no business of becoming a experience inner healing,”
priests to manifest their gratitude and Communion for priests, especially on “We hope to reach out to other priest.” he said.
love for them, especially during the Thursdays, the day of the week on which parishes in the Archdiocese of Jaro “You go out and bring peace The prelate also added that
Year of the Clergy and of Consecrated the institution of the sacrament of Holy and jump-start an active consciousness to the seminary and peace to though they have already
Persons. Orders is commemorated; among lay people on the need to gather yourself,” added Jumoad. finished their academic
“This initiative came about as various In coordination with the parish priest regularly as a community to pray for requirements, seminarians
lay persons discussed ways in which we and the parish councils, facilitate at ‘renewed servant leaders for the New Bring more men into the must continue reading books.
can, in our own little way and according least one Eucharistic adoration during Evangelization’,” added Soberano. Church He said reading will “bring
to our vocation as laity in the Church, do the Year of the Clergy and Consecrated He also exhorted the 23 them everywhere” as it will
our part for the Year of the Clergy and of Persons and offer it specifically for the Going beyond the Year of the theology 4 seminarians and also fill their hunger and
Consecrated Persons,” said the group’s sanctification and renewal of the priests; Clergy 29 theology 3 seminarians to thirst for knowledge.
convenor, Paul Soberano of St. Juan Write a letter or make a spiritual According to him, many of the prayer increase the participation of “Read more. Encounter
de Sahagun Parish in Tigbauan, Iloilo, bouquet for the priests in the parish or circles have even pledged to continue men in the Church once they Jesus through your
and a member of the Jaro Archdiocesan vicariate to express gratitude to them as the regular Eucharistic Adoration and become priests assigned in reading,” Jumoad said.
Pastoral Secretariat (JAPS) pastors and to let them know that they prayer for priests, especially in the Holy the parishes. (John Frances Fuentes/
are being prayed for; Mass even beyond the Year of the Clergy Jumoad said that women in CBCPNews)
Laity’s role in the Year of the Facilitate the celebration of Priests’ and Consecrated Persons.
Clergy
According to him, the group’s first
Day in the parish to coincide with the
parish priest’s birthday or sacerdotal
People interested in joining this
initiative, even those outside the
Redemptorist brother is Datu
task is to pray for members of the clergy.
“Mindful of the daily difficulties and
anniversary, or the feast day of St.
John Marie Vianney, the patron saint
geographical boundaries of the
Archdiocese of Jaro, including those
Bago awardee
struggles of priests in the exercise of of priests; staying overseas, may visit or follow
their ministry, committing ourselves to Organize a parish or group visitation the Road To Emmaüs (Lay Catechetical
pray for them came out foremost among to the St. John Marie Vianney Center Formation) Facebook page for regular
our resolutions,” explained Soberano. for retired and sick priests of the updates. (Fr. Mickey Cardenas/
The group’s convenor identified the Archdiocese. CBCPNews)
And That’s the Truth / A4

became nuns, all of them.
For decimating all of their
dreams, did Zelie and Louis
balk at God’s alternatives?
No, they would go with the
flow.
Although their respective
crafts and businesses kept
Louis and Zelie busy, they
were never too busy for
their children. Zelie would
set aside her lace-making
for two hours to “have a
dinner party” with the girls
and their dolls, and Louis
would likewise play along,
saying “I am a big child
with my children.” Unlike
the other businessmen of
their day, Louis and Zelie
refused to open shop on
Sundays, a day reserved
exclusively for worship and
enjoyment with the family.
The Martins’ devotional
practices included early
morning Mass daily, family
prayers said regularly,
and spiritual reading of
favorites like “The Imitation
of Christ” and biographies of
French Saints. In May, they
would surround the statue
of Our Lady of the Smile
with plants and flowers in
keeping with the Catholic
tradition of devoting the
month to Mary. They would
also go on pilgrimages—
Louis visiting local churches
and shrines on foot, and
Zelie to Lourdes by train
when she suffered from
breast cancer.
The death of four of their
nine children, while painful
for the God-fearing parents,
were to become tragedies that
intensified their love for each
other. Instead of wallowing
in their shared grief, Louis
and Zelie poured out their
affection on the surviving
children, all girls: Marie, 12;
Pauline, 11; Leonie, 9; Celine,
3; and the new-born, blonde
and blue-eyed Marie Therese
Francoise, who would after
a hundred years come to
be known as St. Therese of
Lisieux, the Little Flower of
Jesus.
About the pain of losing
her children to death, Zelie
would write in one of her
letters: “When I closed
the eyes of my dear little
children and when I buried
them, I felt great pain, but it
was always with resignation.
I didn’t regret the sorrows
and the problems I had
endured for them. Several
people said to me, ‘It would
be better to never have had
them.’ I can’t bear that
kind of talk. I don’t think
the sorrows and problems
could be weighed against
the eternal happiness of my
children. So they weren’t
lost forever. Life is short
and full of misery. We’ll
see them again in Heaven.”
And in another letter, Zelie
summed up the essence
of parenthood: “When we
had our children, our ideas
changed somewhat. We
lived only for them. They
were all our happiness, and
we never found any except in
them. In short, nothing was
too difficult, and the world
was no longer a burden for
us. For me, our children
were a great compensation,
so I wanted to have a lot of
them in order to raise them
for Heaven.”
Perhaps this is one value
to be learned from the
fourth visit of the relics of St.
Therese of the Child Jesus in
the Philippines. Returning to
our shores at a time when we
are losing our children due to
disasters, human traffickers,
war, or a contentious vaccine,
could Therese be hinting
that we befriend and imitate
her parents so that we may
also cherish and raise our
children as gifts from a loving
God?
Relics bring the presence
of Saints in our midst.
No d ou bt t he re w ill be
more stories of miracles
or favors granted during
the six-month duration of
St. Therese’s relics’ visit
in our country; churches
again will overflow with
people pleading for succor,
even those who hardly go
to church. As we queue
up to kiss or touch these
holy remains and pray for
favors through the Saints’
intercession, may we realize
that our Church presents
Saints to us not only for our
edification or comfort but
more so for our imitation.
But what if we do not receive
the miracle we pray for?
Again, we take a cue from St.
Zelie Martin who, dying of
cancer, went on pilgrimage
to Lourdes (France),
praying to be cured. Denied
her request, she wrote in a
letter: “The Blessed Mother
didn’t cure me in Lourdes.
What can you do, my time
is at an end, and God wants
me to rest elsewhere other
than on earth.”
A faith that does not hinge
on miracles but aims for
surrender to God’s will—we
can bring ourselves to ask that
from God through Sts. Zelie
and Louis. Besides lobbying
against divorce, perhaps
there is little or nothing else
we can do to sway our pro-
divorce lawmakers’ thinking
to ours. We do not want
divorce, but if worse comes
to worst and it is passed into
law we will in complete trust
continue to be docile to God’s,
persevering in marriage and
parenthood, and like Zelie
and Louis Martin, focused on
“raising children for heaven”.
Because we know that deep
within our hearts, God has
planted the seed of forever.
And that’s the truth.
Br. Karl Gaspar, CSsR, a Redemptorist brother, was conferred the Datu Bago Award
this year, along with 6 others, because of his outstanding dedication and considerable
contribution to the development of Davao City. MARK JOY BASALLAJES
DAVAO City— Br.
Karl Gaspar, CSsR, a
Redemptorist brother, was
conferred the 48th Datu
Bago Award this year, along
with 6 others, because of his
outstanding dedication and
considerable contribution to
the development of Davao
City.
“I feel very honored as one
of the seven awardees this
year. It is always a pleasure
to be recognized in terms
of one’s contribution to
one’s own city,” he said an
interview.
One of the major events
during the “Araw ng Davao”
celebration, the Bago Datu
Award recognizes exemplary
individual/s who serves as
models of excellence to all
Davawenyos.
Gaspar was recognized
because of his significant
work helping uphold
indigenous peoples’ (IPs’)
cultural and resources
rights. In particular, he
has assisted the Manobo in
Cotabato and Bukidnon, the
Dulangan Manobo in Sultan
Kudarat, and the Subanen
in Zamboanga del Sur. He
is also a prolific writer who
wrote over 20 books.
Last year, Gaspar bagged
the Ateneo de Manila
University’s Parangal Ligkod
Sambayanan, which honored
him as a “champion of the
Indigenous People’s cultural
and resource rights.” The Asian
Catholic Communicators
also recognized his service
by giving him the Lifetime
Achievement Award.
Xavier University – Ateneo
de Cagayan, meanwhile,
conferred on Gaspar an
honorary degree of Doctor in
Humanities.
At present Br. Karl Gaspar
is the Dean of Studies at the St.
Alphonsus Theological and
Mission Institute in Davao
City where he also teaches
anthropology. (Mark Joy
Basallajes/CBCPNews)
A8 PEOPLE, FACTS, AND PLACES
Filipino bishop appointed to the Int’l
Catholic Migration Commission
AN official of the Catholic Bishops’
Conference of the Philippines
(CBCP) has been elected member
of a global organization working
in areas of refugee and migration
issues.
Bishop Ruperto Santos of Balanga
will now be working with Dr. Anne
Therese Gallager, the newly elected
president of the International
Catholic Migration Commission
and its 14-member governing
committee.
His election is a recognition to
what the local Church has done
and been doing for the migrants,
particularly the overseas Filipino
workers (OFWs).
“They acknowledge contributions of
our migrants and our chaplains to the
universal Church and to the world,”
said Santos, who heads the CBCP’s
Episcopal Commission on Migrants
and Itinerant People (ECMI).
“With this position in ICMC, God
wants us to do something more to
our OFWs,” he said. “We at ECMI
is doing everything since before
and ever to let them feel that God
is with them, our Church journeys
with them.”
Pope accepts resignation
of Bishop Palang, names
administrator
Pope Francis accepts the resignation of Bishop Antonio Palang, SVD, of the Apostolic
Vicariate of San Jose in Occidental Mindoro province. PHOTO FROM THE APOSTOLIC VICARIATE
OF SAN JOSE
POPE Francis has accepted
the early resignation Saturday
of Bishop Antonio Palang
from the pastoral care of the
Apostolic Vicariate of San
Jose in Occidental Mindoro.
The Vatican’s bulletin on
March 17 did not mention
why Palang, who is just 71
years old, resigned from the
post which he served since
2002.
Church law requires
bishops to submit their
resignation at the age of 75.
Since Palang would be
stepping down, Nueva
Segovia Auxiliary Bishop
David William Antonio
will take charge of the
vicariate, after the pope
‘Home of Hope’ drug recovery
center opens in Cebu
A CATHOLIC Church-based
drop-in-center for people
struggling with substance
abuse has opened in Cebu
City recently.
“Home of Hope of St.
Camillus” will offer
immediate access to people
and families needing
support, especially the
poor.
The center augments the
ongoing community-based
drug rehabilitation program
of the Cebu archdiocese and
the Dilaab Foundation with
the help of various local
government agencies.
Fr. Dan Cancino of
the Camillian Philippine
Province who will run the
center said the facility also
offers services to people with
HIV, sexually transmitted
infections, mental illness
and other health problems.
“This is a home where
people can find hope and
the real value of life,”
The bishop is currently in Rome,
Italy after attending the quadrennial
ICMC Council Plenary Meeting held
on March 6-8.
The event was represented by
mandated delegates from the
bishops’ conferences all over
the world. This year, more than
100 delegates from 58 countries
gathered in Rome.
Paramount to the meeting was the
election of the new ICMC head and
regional representatives: two each
from Africa, Asia, Europe, South
and North America, and one each
from the Middle East, North Africa,
Oceania and the Carribean.
Santos together Fr. Jaison
Vadassery Joseph, a delegate of
the Catholic Bishops’ Conference
of India, have been elected to
represent the Asian region.
The ICMC was founded in
1951 in the wake of the massive
displacement caused by the
World War II to coordinate
the work of Catholic charities
in addressing the issues and
concerns of migrants, refugees,
and displaced persons. (Roy
Lagarde/CBCPNews)
reappointed him as apostolic
administrator sede vacante
et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis
(with the See vacant and at
the pleasure of the Holy See).
Palang was ordained priest
for the Society of the Divine
Word (SVD) on July 8, 1972.
He was appointed as the
second bishop of San Jose in
March 2002.
Antonio, meanwhile, was
ordained priest for Nueva
Segovia on December 1, 1988.
He was appointed to the
episcopacy in June 2011.
It was on Nov. 21,
2015, when Antonio, 54,
was first named apostolic
administrator of San Jose.
(CBCPNews)
Cancino, who is also the
executive secretary of the
bishops’ Commission on
Health Care, told Radio
Veritas.
“This Home of Hope
offers health promotion,
medical and surgical,
psychospiritual and social
services,” he said.
The center was opened
with a simple ceremony led
by Cebu Auxiliary Bishop
Oscar Florencio last March
14.
It’s a “network of services,”
the priest added, based on
collaborative partnerships
with government and non-
government agencies.
“This also to affirm that
we in the Church value
life and we stand firm in
the power of God’s love to
transform and we will not
give up on our brothers
and sisters who really want
to change,” Cancino said.
(CBCPNews)
Bishop Ruperto Santos, chairman of the CBCP’s Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People, speaks during the International Catholic Migraiton
Commission’s Council Meeting in Rome, Italy, March 7, 2018. Seated beside him is Fr. Resty Ogsimer, ECMI Executive Secretary. PHOTO FROM ICMC
Pope appoints Msgr. Galbines as new
bishop of Kabankalan
POPE Francis has appointed
Monsignor Louie Galbines as
the next bishop of the Diocese
of Kabankalan in Negros
Occidental.
He replaces Bishop Patricio
Buzon who was transferred to
the Bacolod diocese in 2016
after serving Kabakanlan for
13 years.
Upon his appointment
on March 12, the third
Kabakalan bishop has been
serving as the vicar general of
the Diocese of Bacolod.
Born in Sagay City on
November 18, 1966, Galbines
completed his philosophical
and theological studies at the
University of Santo Tomas in
Manila.
He was ordained a priest
New abbot installed at Our Lady of Montserrat Abbey in Manila
THE new abbot of the Benedictine
monastery at the Abbey Church of
Our Lady of Montserrat in Manila has
been installed at a ceremony over the
weekend.
Fr. Austin Cadiz who was elected as
the eighth abbot by the community
received the abbatial blessing from
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle during
Mass in the abbey’s church.
In his homily, the cardinal reminded
Cadiz “to be always connected
with Jesus… who gives wisdom,
understanding and intelligence.”
“We get afraid when we think all of
these things will come from us… God
will give that,” Tagle said.
“But you have to desire it. You
desire what God gives. You long for
what God wants you to possess for
your search. And let the desire be
pure,” he said.
And in the Benedictine tradition, the
monks are asked not just to teach but
also to be good examples.
Award winning film ‘Ignacio de Loyola’ to air over Holy Week
JESUIT Communication
Foundation’s (JesCom)
banner film project, “Ignacio
de Loyola” returns to free
Philippine TV this Holy
Week.
According to a JesCom
press release, the acclaimed
2016 biopic on the life
and times of St. Ignatius
of Loyola, founder of the
Jesuit order, will air over
the Kapuso network, GMA
7, in three parts on Maundy
Thursday, Good Friday, and
Black Saturday.
Audiences can watch the
2017 Best Film awardee
of the Vatican’s Mirabile
International Film Festival
during the following time
slots:
for the diocese of Bacolod on
29 April 1994.
Galbines, 51, then served
as deputy dean and spiritual
director at the Sacred Heart
Seminary in Bacolod City and
chancellor and secretary of
the diocesan Curia of Bacolod
from 1994 to 1996.
Three years after his
ordination, he continued his
education at the Pontifical
University of Saint Thomas
Aquinas in Rome where he
obtained a licentiate and a
doctorate in sacred theology
in 2001.
On his return to
Bacolod, other posts he
held included president of
the diocesan Commission
for the Clergy as well as
Rt. Rev. Dom Austin Cadiz, OSB, has been installed as the
eighth abbot of the Benedictine monastery at the Abbey
Church of Our Lady of Montserrat in Manila, March 10,
2018. ROY LAGARDE
“So that when you cannot teach by
words anymore, they can look at you,
Actor Andreas Muñoz plays the lead role
in “Ignacio,” a film about Spanish soldier-
saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the
Society of Jesus (SJ). JESCOM
March 19 - April 1, 2018 Vol. 22 No. 6 CBCP Monitor
Bishop-elect Louie Galbines of the Diocese of Kabankalan in Negros Occidental. PHOTO
FROM THE DIOCESE OF BACOLOD
parish vicar of the Saint rector of the Sacred Heart
Sebastian parish from Seminary and, in 2013, vicar
2007 to 2012. general of the same diocese.
In 2012, he became (CBCPNews)
your person and your life and you will
be the teaching,” he stressed.
In many ways, he said, it is not just
the individual Benedictines alone that
are called to be servants, “it is the
community that is the minister”.
“It is the community that is the
servant. It is the community that is the
witness,” Tagle said, as he asked the
support of the Abby community for
Cadiz. “And let the community as one
give witness to the people.”
Cadiz succeeded Fr. Tarcisio Narciso
who was elected in 2001 and served
until 2013.
The fourth Filipino Benedictine
abbot has been in the ministry
for almost 25 years as served as
formator, procurator and sub-prior
administrator.
He also served in different capacities
at the Benedictine-run San Beda
University’s campuses in Manila,
Rizal and Alabang. (Roy Lagarde/
CBCPNews)
• Part 1 on Maundy along with Pauline Mangilog-
Thursday, March 29, 10:30 Saltarin and Ernestine
to 11:30 a.m. Tamana, also of JesCom.
• Part 2 on Good Friday, The film enjoyed a successful
March 30, 10:30 to 11:00 a.m. theatrical run in the country
• Part 3 on Black Saturday, and has been shown in cities
March 31, 10:30 to 11:00 a.m. all over the world. It also
“Ignacio de Loyola” will participated in international
also be shown internationally film festivals, bagging the
via GMA Pinoy TV on Easter Audience Choice Award at the
Sunday, April 1, covering 12th Cine Con Valores Film
North America, Europe, Festival in Mexico.
Middle East, North and “Ignacio de Loyola” also
South Africa, and the Asia- dominated the technical
Pacific region. categories at the 35th
Dubbed in Tagalog and Luna Awards of the Film
featuring the voice of actor Academy of the Philippines
Dingdong Dantes, “Ignacio (FAP), winning Best
de Loyola” is directed by Cinematography, Best
Paolo Dy and produced by Production Design, Best
JesCom executive director Musical Score, and Best
Fr. Emmanuel Alfonso SJ, Sound. (CBCPNews)
CBCP Monitor March 19 - April 1, 2018 Vol. 22 No. 6
CBCP statement on the
Divorce Bill
Catholic bishops attend the opening Mass of the CBCP’s plenary assembly at the Cebu Cathedral, Jan. 18, 2018. ROY LAGARDE
THE fact that we’re one of the last few
countries without a divorce law until now
speaks volumes about us as a nation. No
doubt, those who associate divorce with being
progressive would laud our legislators who
are currently raring to pass a divorce bill in
Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles, CBCP President. ROY LAGARDE
Congress. With due respect to them, we beg
them to make room for more reasoned debates
on the issue. Since they act as representatives
of the people who elected them in office,
we humbly suggest that they submit their
personal opinions to a further consultation
with their constituents. Perhaps they can also
consult experts in various fields in order to
consider the many implications of the issue,
not just on families but on the Philippine
society as a whole.
Ask people around and they’ll have no second
thoughts affirming that the family remains as
one of our most valued treasures as Filipinos.
Do we really intend to follow the same path
taken by so-called “progressive countries”
like the US where 4 out of 10 marriages end
up in divorce?
We do not doubt the sincerity of our pro-
divorce legislators. It is precisely their good
will which we wish to appeal to in asking them
to reconsider their moves towards legalizing
the dissolution of marriages. We do not
even question the fact that there are indeed
failed marriages and that not all married
coupled were “joined together by God”. Thus,
we have provisions for both canonical and
civil annulments, which are not exactly the
equivalent of divorce. They are provisions that
demonstrate how seriously we take marriage
as an institution, such that we make room for
the possibility that some marriages might have
been null and void from the start, such as when
couples enter into marriage not for love, but
for family pressure, and for many other similar
reasons that suggest that no valid marriage
took place. The legal remedies for such difficult
circumstances are not lacking in our existing
laws, both civil and canonical.
PASTORAL CONCERNS B1
The social costs that go with an easy recourse
to the dissolution of a marriage when couples
begin to face the difficult challenges of marital
love and commitment are what we ask
our legislators to consider seriously. Even
couples in seemingly successful marriages
would often look back and recall the countless
challenges that had almost brought their
relationship to a breaking point if they had not
learned to transcend personal hurts through
understanding and forgiveness, or sometimes
through the intervention of a dialogue
facilitator such as a marriage counselor. In
a context in which divorce is presented as an
easy option, marriages and families are bound
to break up more easily. More children will
grow up disoriented and deprived of the care
of both parents.
We do not mean to interfere with the dynamics
of a political entity such as our country’s
legislature. We are fully aware of the limits of
our influence as spiritual and moral leaders
of the ecclesial communities entrusted to
our care. We also acknowledge plurality and
diversity of moral opinions on the matter
at issue. We merely ask that they consider
the possibility that divorce, while it may
indeed provide quick legal remedies for
some seemingly “failed marriages”, might
end up destroying even those marriages that
could have been saved by dialogues or the
intervention of family, friends, pastors, and
counselors.
Like Catholics in most other countries where
divorce is legal, we wish to assert that nothing,
not even a divorce law can make us give up
our faith in the indissolubility of marriage as a
lifetime covenant between a man and woman
who have freely said yes to the call to love and
commit themselves to God and to each other,
through thick and thin.
For the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the
Philippines,
+ROMULO G. VALLES
Archbishop of Davao
President, CBCP
13 March 2018
B2 UPDATES
The categories of truth in the
magisterium of the Church
Revisiting the Apostolic Letter motu proprio Ad Tuendam Fidem
By Fr. Jaime B. Achacoso, JCD
IN 1989, the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith published formulas for the
Professio Fidei et Iusiurandum fidelitatis
in suscipiendo officio nomine Ecclesiae
exercendo (in AAS 81[1989], 104106), to
replace the previous formula of 1967. These
formulas were approved by the Roman Pontiff
in a special Rescript dated, 19 September 1989
(in AAS 81 [1989], 1169). However, the Code
of Canon Law (CIC) of 1983, did not contain
the new formula of the Professio Fidei, which,
in addition to the NiceneConstantinopolitan
Creed, enunciates three categories of truths.
Thus, the Code of Canon Law, and later the
Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches
(CCEO), lacked the juridical, disciplinary and
penal provisions for the second category of
truths.
Given the compelling need to forestall and
refute the theological opinions being raised
against this second category of truths, Pope
John Paul II promulgated the Apostolic
Letter Ad tuendam fidem on May 28, 1998
by which precise norms were established in
canon law regarding the second category of
truths indicated in the second paragraph of
the concluding formula of the Professio Fidei,
through modifications to canons 750 and 1371
n.1 of the CIC and to canons 598 and 1436 of
the CCEO. With the debate heating up again
on divorce and life issues, it is time to revisit
this little-known document.
The three categories of truths
What was the reason for the confusion—and
accompanying abuse—which the motu proprio
came to forestall? An attentive reading of the
pertinent paragraphs of the Professio Fidei
shows that the three categories of truths
enunciated were as follows:
1st Category: “[E]verything contained
in the Word of God, whether written or handed
down in Tradition, which the Church either
by a solemn judgement or by the ordinary
and universal Magisterium sets forth to be
believed as divinely revealed.” These are truths
found immediately in Revelation, which the
Multiple communions on Good Friday
(Father Edward McNamara, professor
of liturgy and dean of theology at the
Regina Apostolorum university, answers the
following query:)
Q: Given that a priest may, in some cases,
celebrate the Good Friday liturgy multiple
times (per Paschalis Solemnitatis, No. 43);
given that the Good Friday liturgy is not a Mass
and thus is not a sacrificial act requiring the
celebrant’s consumption of the victim for its
integrity by divine law; and given the norm
of Canon 917 (as authentically interpreted):
“A person who has already received the Most
Holy Eucharist can receive it a second time
on the same day only within the eucharistic
celebration in which the person participates,
without prejudice to the prescript of can. 921,
§2”—may/must the priest take Communion
during the second Good Friday celebration?
May others (e.g., a deacon who assists in both
services) also receive Communion a second
time? — G.S., Washington, D.C.
A: Paschalis Solemnitatis, No. 43, says:
“43. It is fitting that small religious
communities, both clerical and lay, and other
lay groups should participate in the celebration
of the Easter Triduum in neighboring principal
churches.
“Similarly, where the number of participants
and ministers is so small that the celebrations
of the Easter Triduum cannot be carried out
with the requisite solemnity, such groups of
the faithful should assemble in a larger church.
“Also, where there are small parishes with
only one priest, it is recommended that such
parishes should assemble, as far as possible,
in a principal church and participate in the
celebration there.
“On account of the needs of the faithful,
where a pastor has the responsibility for two or
more parishes in which the faithful assemble
in large numbers, and where the celebration
can be carried out with the requisite care
and solemnity, the celebrations of the Easter
Triduum may be repeated in accord with the
given norms.
“So that seminary students ‘might live fully
Christ’s paschal mystery, and thus be able to
teach those who will be committed to their
care,’ they should be given a thorough and
comprehensive liturgical formation. It is
important that during their formative years in
the seminary, they should experience fruitfully
the solemn Easter celebrations, especially
those over which the bishop presides.”
Church vouches for as contained in Revelation.
This are supposed to be held “with firm faith”,
because their certainty has a twofold basis: the
authority of God Revealing (fides divina) and
the infallible teaching authority of the Church
(fides catholica).
These are commonly referred to in Dogmatic
Theology as De fide Divina et Catholica or
simply dogmas.
2 nd Category: “[E]verything definitively
proposed by the Church regarding teaching
on faith and morals.” These constitute what
Dogmatic Theology has always referred to as
Catholic truths or Church doctrines, which are
to be accepted with a faith based on the sole
authority of the Church (fides ecclesiastica).
Even if the Professio fidei did not expressly
state it, these are as infallibly certain as
dogmas proper.
3rd Category: “[T]he teachings which either
the Roman Pontiff or the College of Bishops
enunciate when they exercise their authentic
Magisterium, even if they do not intend to
proclaim these teachings by a definitive act.”
These are the teachings for which the CIC
stipulates “A religious respect of intellect and
will, even if not the assent of faith” (c.752).
Source of confusion
As previously stated, while the 1 st
and 3rd Categories had their corresponding
provisions in the Code of Canon Law of
1983, there was no expressed provision for
the 2nd Category. Thus, the original cc.750
& 752 described the 1st and 3rd Categories
respectively, and c.1371 provided for the
penal sanction for their violation. This had
given rise to not a few cases of open dissent,
perhaps emboldened by a seeming lacuna in
Canon Law, especially as regards the penal
provisions. This was especially true as regards
the teachings of Humanae Vitae.
A more attentive reading of the Professio
fidei, however, coupled with a solid grounding
in Dogmatic Theology, shows that there was
really no lacuna. The 2nd Category were as
infallibly certain as dogmas proper—i.e., the
norm for the 1st Category should hold also
for the 2nd. Hence, when the CIC expressly
provided for the 1st and 3rd Categories, it had
With respect to Good Friday it also says:
“59. On this day, in accordance with ancient
tradition, the Church does not celebrate the
Eucharist: Holy Communion is distributed
to the faithful during the celebration of the
Lord’s passion alone, though it may be brought
at any time of the day to the sick who cannot
take part in the celebration.”
We are dealing with a special, indeed
unique, case. However, I would say that in my
opinion, the answer would be negative and
that the pastor would not receive Communion
twice on this day.
First of all, as our reader points out, except
in danger of death, canon law foresees the
possibility of a second Communion only
March 19 - April 1, 2018 Vol. 22 No. 6
tacitly provided also for the 2nd Category of
truths.
Nevertheless, since abuses had arisen,
and such were being legally defended against
sanction with the principle of “nulla poena
sine lege”, the Supreme Church Authority
came up with legislation to fill up that seeming
lacuna.
Ad Tuendam Fidem
Following is an abridged version of the
Apostolic Letter, excluding what is pertinent
to the CCEO, and retaining the original
numbering for easy reference. 1
To protect the faith of the Catholic
Church against errors arising from certain
members of the Christian faithful, especially
from among those dedicated to the various
disciplines of sacred theology, we, whose
principal duty is to confirm the brethren in
the faith, consider it absolutely necessary to
add to the existing texts of the Code of Canon
Law (CIC) and the Code of Canons of the
Eastern Churches (CCEC) new norms which
expressly impose the obligation of upholding
truths proposed in a definitive way by the
Magisterium of the Church, and which also
establish related canonical sanctions.
1. From the first centuries to the present
day the Church has professed the truths of
her faith in Christ and the mystery of his
redemption. These truths were subsequently
gathered into the Symbols of the faith,
today known and proclaimed in common
by the faithful in the Solemn and festive
celebration of Mass as the Apostles’ Creed or
the NiceneConstantinopolitan Creed. This
same NiceneConstantinopolitan Creed is
contained in the Profession of Faith developed
by the Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith, which must be made by specific
members of the faithful when they receive an
office that is directly or indirectly related to
deeper investigation into the truths of faith
and morals, or is united to a particular power
in the governance of the Church.
1 Taken from L’Osservatore Ro-
mano, 15.VII.1998
within the context of a Mass, and this is not
a Mass.
Second, whereas at Mass the priest must
always communicate in virtue of his ministry,
in this case there is no intrinsic need to take
a second Communion. Likewise, in the rare
case that he celebrated a third celebration
of the Passion, it would be clear that a third
Communion would go against the law.
Therefore, the priest’s reception is not
essential to the Good Friday celebration.
Third, in 1955 Pope Pius XII restored
the possibility of receiving Communion
during the celebration of the Passion on
Good Friday after many centuries in which
it was not distributed. The intention for this
CBCP Monitor
2. The Profession of Faith, which appropriately
begins with the NiceneConstantinopolitan
Creed, contains three propositions or
paragraphs, intended to describe the truths
of the Catholic faith, which the Church, in the
course of time and under the guidance of the
Holy Spirit “who will teach the whole truth”
(Jn 16,13), has ever more deeply explored and
will continue to explore.
The first paragraph states: “With firm
faith, I also believe everything contained in
the Word of God, whether written or handed
down in Tradition, which the Church either
by a solemn judgement or by the ordinary
and universal Magisterium sets forth to be
believed as divinely revealed.” This paragraph
appropriately confirms and is provided for
in the Church’s legislation in c.750 of the
Code of Canon Law and c.598 of the Code of
Canons of the Eastern Churches. [Referred
to in Dogmatic Theology as De fide Divina et
Catholica.]
The third paragraph states: “Moreover I
adhere with submission of will and intellect to
the teachings which either the Roman Pontiff
or the College of Bishops enunciate when
they exercise their authentic Magisterium,
even if they do not intend to proclaim these
teachings by a definitive act.” This paragraph
has its corresponding legislative expression in
c.752 of the Code of Canon Law and c.599 of
the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.
[Referred to in Dogmatic Theology as De fide
Catholica.]
3. The second paragraph, however, which
states: “I also firmly accept and hold each and
everything definitively proposed by the Church
regarding teaching on faith and morals” has
no corresponding canon in the Codes of the
Catholic Church. This second paragraph of the
Profession of Faith is of utmost importance
since it refers to truths that are necessarily
connected to divine revelation. These truths, in
the investigation of Catholic doctrine, illustrate
the Divine Spirit’s particular inspiration for
the Church’s deeper understanding of a truth
concerning faith and morals, with which they
are connected either for historical reasons or
Magisterium/ B7
JOHANN MANGUSSAD
change was: “[A]bove all: that, devoutly
receiving the Body of the Lord, delivered
up for all on this day, they [the faithful]
may obtain more abundantly the fruits of
Redemption.” The faculty, however, was,
and still is, restricted to participation within
this celebration except for the sick. Because
of these restrictions it would appear that the
Church’s mind on this matter would not favor
multiple Communions on this day.
Finally: if a priest must celebrate more
than one celebration of the Passion it is: “On
account of the needs of the faithful.” Although
he probably derives much spiritual profit
from his dedication, his primary motivation
is that of serving the faithful.
CBCP Monitor March 19 - April 1, 2018 Vol. 22 No. 6
Bishop wants continuing
formation for priests
San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, chairman of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Seminaries. NICO BALBEDINA
AFTER more or less a decade of intense
formation and spiritual direction as
seminarians, priests suddenly find themselves
alone and fending for themselves. But this
shouldn’t be the case, says a bishop. Formation
should be for life.
“Priestly ordination is commonly understood
as the ‘end of priestly formation’ Henceforth,
priests are on a self-help mode. Is that even
right?,” said San Carlos Bishop Gerardo
Alminaza, who gave the last talk at the National
Discernment of Priests on their Prophetic Role,
on Wednesday, March 7.
He called on some 120 members of the clergy
from dioceses and religious congregations all
over the country to consider the “paradigm
shift” presented by the Vatican document Ratio
Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis (The
Gift of Priestly Vocation) that priests should
have continuing formation.
‘A tragedy’
“The first mindset that this Ratio is putting
forward is that … the formation of priests means
following a singular journey of discipleship
which begins at baptism and ends at death,”
said the prelate.
First issued in 1970, the latest Ratio
Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis
Clergy group stand as conveners
on PH’s socio-political concerns
Attendees of the National Discernment of Priests on their Prophetic Role Gathering held March 6. NICO BALBEDINA
BEYOND the call of prayer and service of God
and its people, the church takes the duty to
ensure that no issue in any form should come
against the well-being of all.
This role taken by the Catholic church through
the efforts of the clergy, has been drawing flak,
labeling the agents as anticatalysts to the
deemed effective and practical separation of
the Church and of the State.
Since 2008, a group of Catholic priests
and religious has been working on “circles of
discernment” in contemplation of the priests’
prophetic role in responding to the social
concerns presented by the times.
The National Clergy Discernment Group
(NCDG) is a movement that responded to the
call of judgment and action from the clergy set
out by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the
Philippines (CBCP) in 2008.
Discernment Circles
During the height of the ZTE-NBN scandal
involving the then president of the Philippines
of that year, the CBCP, in a pastoral statement
entitled “Seeking the Truth, Restoring
Integrity,” called for the establishment of
discernment circles among all faithful sectors.
These groups are focused on the formation
of a “collective paradigm, a theologico-pastoral
framework regarding the clergy’s prophetic
role in the global and national issues affecting
the Filipino people.”
According to NCDG Convener Msgr. Manuel
was issued by December 2016.
“…Oftentimes, the priestly formation is
the end of formation. No more breviary. No
more counseling. No more confession. No
more accompaniment. And that’s it. And
that’s a tragedy,” stressed the chairman of the
Episcopal Commission on Seminaries.
Spiritual, psychological help
He also called on priests to see themselves as
a “disciple on a journey … constantly needing
an integrated formation understood as a
continuous configuration to Christ.”
Much-needed spiritual and pastoral support,
added Alminaza, is the key to helping priests
who are struggling to stay faithful to their
priestly ministry. “The priest should not be
isolated … Instead, he should be supported
and accompanied in the spiritual and or
psychological areas.”
Organized by the National Clergy
Discernment Group at the Maryhill School of
Theology in Quezon City, the event aimed to
help priests discern on several key issues in
the country as well as the Year of the Clergy
and Consecrated Persons, and the celebration
of the 500th anniversary of the arrival of
Christianity in the country. (Nirva’ana Ella
Delacruz)
Gabriel, the circles were also set to establish a
deeper understanding of the prevailing issues
in the society.
“Whenever we meet, there are bishops
whom we ask for help to guide us in the
judgment portion so that we could come up
with a common framework and response to
the situation,” he said.
Taking on the watchdog role, the NCDG looks
into bringing out change and transformation
into the world through the “discernment of the
current priority social issues and concerns.”
Msgr. Gabriel added that the members of the
clergy are not just shepherds who guide the
flock but are also men “in prayer who looks into
situations from the vantage points of faith.”
The clergy discernment group had their first
major assembly in 2009 at the Lay Formation
Center of the San Carlos Seminary Complex
and today, the NCDG today holds its sixth
National Clergy Discernment forum themed
“The Filipino Clergy’s Prophetic Ministry
in the Context of the Current Philippine
Situation.”
The focus being the Duterte Administration’s
move towards government reform, violent
“war on drugs”, deteriorating state of Human
Rights in the Philippines among others.
The duties of the clergy do not end in the
sacraments they are to perform but goes deep
into tending to the needs of God’s flock to
further their growth into the Catholic faith.
(Niceforo Balbedina)
Year of the Clergy and Consecrated Persons B3
Religious
Brothers
(Lifted from the Acts and Decrees of the
Second Plenary Council of the Philippines,
par 494-506)
9. Religious brothers
For probably most Filipinos knowledge
regarding religious life is limited to
Religious Sisters and Priests. A Significant
segment of Filipino Religious is usually
overlooked. And this is a pity. For their
life and work have, both in hidden and
spectacular ways, enriched the Church’s
life. These are the Religious Brothers.
Religious Brothers are not ordained
and just like Women Religious they give
witness that it is charism and vows and
not ordination which define the essence
of religious consecration. Brothers serve
the Church as carpenters and University
presidents; as mechanics and as medical
doctors; as teachers and as technicians; as
counselors and as community development
workers. . . Some Brothers belong to
exclusively lay religious congregations.
Others work in mixed congregations,
where there are lay and clerical religious.
In both types of congregations Brothers
exercise responsibility and leadership.
Yet there are thousands of religious
Sisters and ordained religious but
extremely few Brothers. And their numbers
are not increasing. Furthermore they are
often overlooked or taken for granted by
the laity, parish priests and bishops and
even by their fellow religious. Would this
perhaps be due to a bias towards clericalism
in our Church and culture? Brothers are
considered by some as called to an inferior
vocation: as persons whose vocation it is to
assist the priest or as persons lacking the
necessary qualifications for ordination.
The increased use of the title “Brother”—
previously a title more or less exclusively
used by religious brothers but now widely
used by those who have not really opted
for the lay religious vocation (e.g. members
of the Cursillo or charismatic renewal;
diocesan and religious seminarians)—also
blurs the identity of the religious Brother
in the eyes of many.
Yet the vocation to be a Religious Brother
is also a gracious and mysterious gift of God,
valid in itself and likewise transformative
of the person who consecrates himself
as a Brother to the love and service of
God. Brothers give public witness to the
baptismal commitment to serve Christ
in our neighbor. They manifest how
individual gifts (such as teaching, manual
work, nursing, research, farming) can be
placed at the disposal of the Church in the
task of re-evangelization. Brothers affirm
by their choice of lay religious life that
many are the ways other than by ordination
or matrimony that the Lord calls mature
men to serve the Kingdom of God. Thus
it is of great concern to the Church, and a
serious challenge to all of us her members,
to find ways to promote and encourage
the vocation of religious Brothers. It is a
charism urgently needed by the Church
and which undoubtedly the Spirit bestows
on every ecclesial community to enrich the
work of re-evangelization with yet another
of his transforming gifts.
10. Communities of Wandering
Prophets
In the early churches, evangelization
was mainly carried out by Christians who
followed the life-style of the prophet from
Nazareth. Communities of wandering
prophets carried the good news from one
place to another. This prophetic impetus
was a constant factor in the history of
the church. Religious communities have
often been the privileged place where
sparks of prophetism reappeared within
a church which was constantly threatened
by the immobility of powerful institutions.
Today in the Philippines church, we
see prophetism manifested in the way
the vows challenge religious to commit
themselves to a more radical discipleship
in response to current needs in both
church and society.
First, the call of today’s religious has
increasingly been interpreted in terms of
the need to be present among the poor
and Tribal Filipinos through “preferential
option for the poor.” Living deeply their
total and radical consecration to God
through service to suffering humanity,
they should be aware that this apostolate
sometimes has the tendency to polarize
or that those committed to it can become
subservient to ideology. We need to keep
in mind the words of Pope John Paul II,
“The transformation of the world and the
building up of the Christian kingdom of
justice and peace can only be effected grace
and the power of God’s love in us. Only
love can transform hearts, and without
love there can be no adequate reform of
structures in society.
Secondly, religious should be a prophetic
sign of community life in a society in which
a participatory democracy is constantly
threatened by the divisions caused by
political strife and economic inequality.
The church, with its BECs and religious
communities, could be a laboratory in
which we show forth what society could be.
11. Spiritualities: Contemplatives
and Contemplatives in Action
The growth of many contemplative
communities in recent years is a significant
enrichment, at a radical level, for the
Philippine Church. The venerable tradition
of monastic life has as its main task to
render to the Divine Majesty a service
at once simple and noble, within the
monastic confines. Contemplatives devote
themselves entirely to divine worship in
a life that is hidden, spent in prayer and
penance, while lawfully taking up some
apostolate or work of Christian charity as
part of their charism.
That contemplative life involves
withdrawal and enclosure must not be
seen as an escape from the world. It is,
in fact, a withdrawing into the heart of
the church and hence a way of deeper
solidarity with humanity in its joy and
hope, grief and anguish. Thus no matter
how urgent may be the needs of the active
apostolate, such communities will always
have a distinguished part to play in Christ’s
Church, where “all the parts do not have
the same function.” For their very being
offers God a choice sacrifice of praise for
the sake of humanity.
As they seek God before all things and
only Him, the members of communities
engaged in different kinds of apostolic
work combine contemplation with
apostolic love. Apostolic and charitable
activity is of the very nature of their
religious life. “For this reason, the entire
religious life of the members should be
imbued with an apostolic spirit, and all
their apostolic activity with a religious
spirit.” For this they must have a deep
prayer life. They must rely on prayer and
act on the conviction that God alone can
change the human heart. They must throw
into their efforts all that they are and
have, their whole persons, communities,
institutions, and resources. It is from
faith and experience that they will learn
how to respond most appropriately to
new needs arising from new situations.
Inwardly strengthened and renewed by
prayer and the sacraments, they are able
to make apostolic action itself a form of
union with God. The service of the Gospel
in faith and justice then becomes a joining
of their action with Christ’s salvific action
in history. Thus contemplation flows into
action regularly, and they realize the ideal
of being contemplatives in action.
12. Conclusion
Since Vatican II the renewal of religious
life in the Philippines has been in terms
of both quality of life (being) and new
commitments in the apostolate (action).
As we face the 21st century, we have
cause to believe that more and more
religious are discerning better the
demands of discipleship and accepting
their implications more authentically if
not more radically. Passion for justice,
compassion and identification with the
poor, radical openness to God’s word
and resolute commitment to his will,
the refusal to rest comfortably on laurels
of the past, the restlessness for a better
tomorrow – if these are reliable indications
and provided that Christ remains central,
then our church is taking giant steps in its
pilgrimage into the kingdom.
Increasingly we find religious living
on the cutting edge, as they were meant
to be. They are moving out of the places
of power, into areas characterized by
powerlessness. One finds them more and
more present where the needs of the poor
and the suffering place great demands on
Christian imagination and creativity in
following Christ.
The more religious live their vows as a
radical discipleship and as a sharing in
the folly of the Cross, the clearer will other
Christians see them as signs of faith, hope
and love. In the often contradictory and
depressing world that is Philippine society,
the prophetic witness of consecration
in religious life can serve to remind
Christians continually of a love that bears
hope: the love of the Lord who calls us unto
himself for the building of his Kingdom
and makes all things possible.
B4 FEATURES
Harden not your hearts!
By Sr. Elizabeth Carranza
CLIMATE change has become a
heavy cross for Mother Earth. It
has long been discussed but we’re
not getting any closer to solving it.
Instead, the trajectory of change is
nearing irreversible levels.
With a wind speed of 315 kph,
typhoon Yolanda wiped out the
Visayas when the global temperature
rise was .8 ̊C. At 1.5 ̊C rise the wind
speed could be almost doubled. Say
600 kph. With such a speed one
could be in Manila from Legaspi
which is 600 km away in just an
hour! No structure would be left
untoppled with such a strong
typhoon.
During the Paris Agreement in 2015
countries agreed to pursue serious
efforts to keep the temperature
rise below1.5 ̊C, strengthen climate
action through national plans
and mitigation measures and
mobilize financial resources for the
developing world to cope with the
impacts. However, the response
to this goal is all voluntary and no
country is yet taking it seriously.
Thousands of scientists say that
going beyond 1.5 C̊ is catastrophic and
would mean ‘game over’ for Earth if
it continues to be ‘business as usual.’
Climate Action Tracker Consortium
which tracks 32 countries covering
around 80% of global emissions,
with the Carbon Tracker in London,
Potsdam Institute for Climate
Impact Research in Germany and
Yale University in New Haven,
Connecticut, warned the world in
April 2017 that “if carbon emissions
would continue to rise beyond 2020,
or even remain level, the Paris goals
would be almost unattainable.” They
call year 2020 ‘the climate turning
EASTERN SUNDAY, the greatest
solemnity in the liturgical year, is
often associated with many displays
of popular piety: these are all cultic
expressions which proclaim the new
and glorious condition of the risen
Christ, and the divine power released
from his triumph over sin and death.
The Risen Christ meets his
Mother
149. Popular piety intuits
a constancy in the relationship
between Christ and his mother: in
suffering and death and in the joy
of the resurrection.
The liturgical affirmation that
God replenished the Blessed Virgin
Mary with joy in the resurrection
of her Son, has been translated and
represented, so as to speak, in the
pious exercise of the meeting of the
Risen Christ with His Mother: on
Easter morning two processions,
one bearing the image of Our Lady
of Dolours, the other that of the
Risen Christ, meet each other so as
to show that Our Lady was the first,
and full participant in the mystery
of the Lord’s resurrection.
What has already been said in
relation to the processions of “the
dead Christ” also applies to this
pious exercise: the observance
of the pious exercise should not
acquire greater importance than
the liturgical celebration of Easter
Sunday nor occasion inappropriate
mixing of liturgical expressions with
those of popular piety.
Blessing of the Family Table
150. The Easter liturgy is
permeated by a sense of newness:
nature has been renewed, since
Easter coincides with Spring in the
Northern hemisphere; fire and water
have been renewed; Christian hearts
have been renewed through the
Sacrament of Penance, and, where
possible, through administration
of the Sacraments of Christian
initiation; the Eucharist is renewed,
A Holy Week Eco-Reflection
point.’
The urgency of the issue is
manifested around the world
through greater intensity of
typhoons, extreme changes in
precipitation patterns, warmer
average temperature, accelerated
sea level rise and intense dry spells;
all causing continued environmental
devastation, collapse of critical
ecosystems, loss of biodiversity,
and increasing number of people
and communities whose lives are
gravely affected with their loved
ones, homes and livelihoods lost.
Those gravely affected did not create
the conditions they are into, yet are
bearing the brunt of the damage,
while fossil industries largely
responsible remain unaccountable
and continue to profit from the
non-stop burning of fossil fuels
at the expense of the planet and
the people, especially the poor. To
meaningfully address this crisis,
those responsible must be held
accountable by exacting climate
justice.
The major key to combat climate
change is through concerted efforts
anchored on grassroots actions and
systemic change. Pope Francis, in
his encyclical Laudato Si’, strongly
addresses the issue of climate
change and urgently appeals to
all people of goodwill “for a new
dialogue about how we are shaping
the future of our planet.” (LS 14).
He also calls everyone to ecological
conversion and change in lifestyle
and reiterates that “the urgent
challenge to protect our common
home includes a concern to bring
the whole human family together
to seek a sustainable and integral
development.” (LS 13). He further
stresses the need “to hear both the
cry of the earth and the cry of the
poor.” (LS 49)
Easter Sunday
An excerpt from the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy
PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
Catholics welcome the Easter with the traditional “Salubong”, a re-enactment of the Biblical account of the Risen Jesus Christ reuniting with Mother Mary, after
the Easter Vigil around midnight at the San Agustin Church in Intramuros, Manila, April 16, 2017. ROY LAGARDE
so as to speak: these are signs and
sign-realities of the new life begun
by Christ in the resurrection.
Among the pious exercises
connected with Easter Sunday,
mention must be made of the
traditional blessing of eggs, the
symbol of life, and the blessing of
the family table; this latter, which
is a daily habit in many Christian
families that should be encouraged,
is particularly important on Easter
Sunday: the head of the household
or some other member of the
household, blesses the festive meal
with Easter water which is brought
by the faithful from the Easter Vigil.
Church people at climate change rally in Manila. CARITAS PHILIPPINES
The Philippines is one of the most
vulnerable countries to the impacts
of climate change. Yolanda has
etched that in our consciousness.
Many communities in our country
continue to face its serious impacts
due to the lack of progress to avert
it. It is the right of every Filipino
to have a healthy environment and
a balanced ecology. We need to
demand for this right.
In the Philippine local churches,
Visit to the Mother of the Risen
Christ
151. At the conclusion of the
Easter Vigil, or following the Second
Vespers of Easter, a short pious
exercise is kept in many places:
flowers are blessed and distributed
to the faithful as a sign of Easter
joy. Some are brought to the image
of Our Lady of Dolours, which is
then crowned, as the Regina Coeli is
sung. The faithful, having associated
themselves with the sorrows of the
Blessed Virgin in the Lord’s Passion
and Death, now rejoice with her in
His resurrection.
While this pious exercise should
March 19 - April 1, 2018 Vol. 22 No. 6
despite Laudato Si’, the urgency
of the climate issue is still not
internalized. In some parishes, it is
not even talked about. In schools,
the potential is there to influence
people but efforts are minimal.
Among NGOs and POs, there are
many initiatives and efforts but not
unified. In the sphere of media, the
potential to influence people is also
great but also not maximized.
The window of time to act is now
not be incorporated into the
liturgical action, it is completely
in harmony with the content of the
Paschal Mystery and is a further
example of the manner in which
popular piety grasps the Blessed
Virgin Mary’s association with the
saving work of her Son.
Eastertide  convey a living understanding to
The Annual Blessing of Family
Homes
152. The annual blessing of
families takes places in their homes
during Eastertide—or at other times
of the year. This pastoral practice
is highly recommended to parish
CBCP Monitor
very narrow. We can’t simply sit
waiting for what would happen in
the next 2 or 3 years. We are dying
together. We have to rise and work
together, putting all our intentions
and energies into concrete actions.
Responding more radically and
collectively to the call to care for
and restore our Common Home is
unequivocally URGENT. “If today
you listen to his voice, harden not
your hearts.” (Hebrew 3:15)
priests and to their assistant priests
since it is greatly appreciated by
the faithful and affords a precious
occasion to recollect God’s constant
presence among Christian families.
It is also an opportunity to invite
the faithful to live according to the
Gospel, and to exhort parents and
children to preserve and promote
the mystery of being “a domestic
church”.
The Via Lucis
153. A pious exercise called
the Via Lucis has developed and
spread to many regions in recent
years. Following the model of the
Via Crucis, the faithful process
while meditating on the various
appearances of Jesus—from his
Resurrection to his Ascension—in
which he showed his glory to the
disciples who awaited the coming
of the Holy Spirit (cf. John 14, 26;
16, 13-15; Lk 24, 49), strengthened
their faith, brought to completion his
teaching on the Kingdom and more
closely defined the sacramental and
hierarchical structure of the Church.
Through the Via Lucis, the faithful
recall the central event of the faith—
the resurrection of Christ—and their
discipleship in virtue of Baptism, the
paschal sacrament by which they
have passed from the darkness of sin
to the bright radiance of the light of
grace (cf. Col 1, 13; Ef 5, 8).
For centuries the Via Crucis
involved the faithful in the first
moment of the Easter event, namely
the Passion, and helped to fixed
its most important aspects in their
consciousness. Analogously, the Via
Lucis, when celebrated in fidelity
to the Gospel text, can effectively
the faithful of the second moment of
the Pascal event, namely the Lord’s
Resurrection.
The Via Lucis is potentially an
excellent pedagogy of the faith,
since “per crucem ad lucem”. Using
Easter/ B7
CBCP Monitor March 19 - April 1, 2018 Vol. 22 No. 6 STATEMENTS B5

Liberating the poor, the oppressed and

the persecuted is an integral part of the
Church’s mission
Address of Pope Francis to International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC), held in Rome on March 6-8, 2018
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I offer you a warm welcome you on
the occasion of this Plenary Council
of the International Catholic Migra-
tion Commission. I thank Cardinal
Njue, your President, for his greeting
and his brief overview of your work.
Following Saint John Paul II, who
himself echoed the words of Blessed
Paul VI, I would like to reaffirm
that the cause of this organization
of which you are part is the cause
of Christ Himself (cf. Address to
Members of the ICMC, 12 November
2001: Insegnamenti XXIV, 2 [2001],
712). This fact has not changed over
time; on the contrary, your com-
mitment has deepened in response
to the inhumane living conditions
experienced by millions of our
migrant and refugee brothers and
sisters in various parts of the world.
Just as He did at the time of Israel’s
enslavement in Egypt, so too the
Lord hears their cry and sees their
sufferings (cf. Ex 3:7). Today as in
the past, liberating the poor, the op-
pressed and the persecuted is an in-
tegral part of the mission entrusted
by God to the Church. The work of
your Commission represents a tan-
gible expression of this important
missionary commitment. Much has
changed since your establishment in
1951. Needs have grown ever more
complex, tools for responding ever
more sophisticated, and your service
increasingly professional. Thanks be
to God, none of these changes has
lessened the Commission’s fidelity
to its mission.
The Lord sent Moses into the
midst of his oppressed people, to dry
their tears and restore their hope (cf.
Ex 3:16-17). In its more than sixty-
five years of work, the Commission
has distinguished itself in carrying
out in the Church’s name a multifac-
eted work of assistance to migrants
and refugees in a variety of situa-
tions of great need. The multiple
projects initiated on five continents
represent exemplary instances of
the four verbs—welcome, defend,
promote and integrate—by which I
wished to characterize the Church’s
pastoral response in the face of con-
temporary migration (cf. Message
for the 2018 World Day of Migrants
and Refugees, 15 August 2017).
It is my hope that this work will
continue to inspire local Churches
to do all they can for persons forced
to leave their home countries and
who, all too often, become victims
of dishonesty, violence and abuse of
every sort. Thanks to the invaluable
experience accumulated over many
years of work, the Commission is
able to offer expert assistance to
Bishops’ Conferences and Dioceses
that seek to respond more effectively
to this epochal challenge.
“Come, I will send you to Pharaoh
that you may bring forth my people,
the sons of Israel, out of Egypt” (Ex
3:10). With these words, the Lord Pope Francis greets International Catholic Migration Commission Council members: “Today as in the past, liberating the poor, the oppressed and the persecuted
sent Moses to Pharaoh, to convince is an integral part of the mission entrusted by God to the Church.” STEFANO SCIRATO/ICMC
him to set his people free. In order
to set free those who today are op- represent a privileged forum for witness before the entire world to sign of shared global responsibility,
pressed, rejected and enslaved, it implementing such dialogue. Here the Church’s pastoral concern for concrete engagement follows from
is essential to promote open and too the Commission has been in our migrant and refugee brothers the words already codified in the
sincere dialogue with government the forefront, offering a valued and and sisters. aforementioned two agreements.
leaders, a dialogue that takes into competent contribution to the devel- The work is not over. Together we Yet the Commission’s commitment
account people’s actual experiences, opment of much-needed new ways must encourage countries to coor- goes even further. I ask the Holy
sufferings and aspirations, in order for the international community dinate more suitable and effective Spirit to continue to enlighten all of
to remind everyone once more of his to respond with foresight to these responses to the challenges posed you, as you carry out your vital mis-
or her responsibilities. The process- phenomena typical our time. by issues of migration; and we can sion of showing forth God’s merciful
es set in motion by the international I am pleased that the many Epis- do this on the basis of the essential love to our migrant brothers and
community for a global agreement copal Conferences represented principles of the Church’s social sisters. I assure you of my prayers;
on refugees, and another for safe, here are moving in this direction, teaching. We must likewise com- and I ask you, please, not to forget
orderly and regulated migration, with a common intent that bears mit ourselves to ensuring that, as a to pray for me.

Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan
Circular 2018-5
RE: Ministry of Mercy
March 12, 2018
Reverend Fathers:
In order to respond pastorally to the
serious problem of drug abuse and
the alarming cases of extra judicial
killings related to the drug problem
in the past two years, we constituted
last year an archdiocesan MINIS-
TRY OF MERCY to extend pastoral
assistance to the affected families
Ministry of Mercy
including those orphaned by the
killings.
By the grace of God, we are
prompted to move forward to a
wider and more focused program
to attend to the various pastoral as-
pects of the socio-pastoral problem
of drug dependence, sale and abuse.
The Ministry of Mercy will now
have three interrelated components
namely, Education and Prevention
Advocacy (EPA), Community and
Family based Rehabilitation of drug
dependents (CFR) and the Ministry
of Compassion to the families of EJK
victims (MC-EJK).
The Ministry of Mercy will be
under the Ministry of Social Action
(MISA) in the spirit of our Synod.
There will be a Seminar Training
Program for the Ministers of Mercy
to be held on April 5, 2018, Thurs-
day, from 8:00am until4:00 pm at
the Lay Formation Center, Bonuan
Gueset, Dagupan City.
Each parish must DILIGENTLY
and PRUDENTLY choose THREE
lay leaders who can be assigned to
each of the three component teams
of the ministry, that is, Education
and Prevention Advocacy (EPA),
Community and Family Based Re-
hab (CFR) and Ministry of Compas-
sion to the families of EJK victims
(MC-EJK). Please refrain from
sending just anyone available. The
diligent selection will insure the
stability of this important pastoral
ministry.
After a general introduction to
open the seminar, the parish Minis-
ters of Mercy will be divided imme-
diately into three workshop groups
each with a competent resource
person trainer to equip them for
their particular tasks.
I plead with you to prepare for
this post Easter training seminar.
We have a duty from the Lord to
take care of the least of our brethren
and we will be judged at the sunset
of life by what we did to the least of
our brethren. Thank you.
Sincerely yours,
+SOCRATES B. VILLEGAS
Archbishop of Lingayen Dagupan

Bust that Philippine Mining Act!

THE Philippine Mining Act of 1995 was born
out of global pressure from international
markets to open up the Philippines’ mineral
resources, particularly the growing demand
of China for industrial and metallic minerals.
That said, the overall framework for “manag-
ing” the Philippine mineral resources is to
further liberalize the sector. Agents of capital
and apologists alike made sure of that and
paved the way to the passage of the Philip-
pine Mining Act! It was ruled unconstitu-
tional after seven years of deliberation of the
La Bugal-B’laan Case but the MGB together
with the mining companies were quick to ap-
peal the decision of the High Tribunal. Just
as President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo issued
her revitalization order and the Supreme
Court reversed its decision later that year,
it paved the way to the liberalization of the
mining industry.
Even with the passage of the Philippine
Mining Act, mining disasters were happening
left and right: In 1996, Marinduque especially
its Makulapnit River and Boac River as well
as the west side of the island were devas-
tated by mining spillage and an estimated
22,500 people from five (5) barangays near
the river were affected, while large tracts of
biodiversity died off as a result. According to
MGB Officials, Marcopper owns the mine site
and wants to mine the site again rather than
ensure rehabilitation and reparation for the
victims. Even as the Philippine Mining Act
was already enacted and there are “so-called
provisions” in the law on environmental pro-
tection but victims of the Marcopper disaster
have yet to receive justice.
In 2005, Lafeyatte Mining Corporation’s
Rapu-rapu Island mine site was the new
poster boy for mining disaster. The mine site
had cyanide spills that caused massive fish
kills, among others. It has become the MGB’s
poster project to portray the ‘feasibility’ of
mine rehabilitation but as of this date, the
mine site does not bear any resemblance to
a rehabilitated mining area. Similar to this
is the case of the Canatuan Mining project
of TVI Resources in Zamboanga del Norte.
Communities in both projects continue to
fear spills from tailings ponds as it will heavily
impact their livelihood and the community
in general.
Seventeen (17) years since the passage of
the Philippine Mining Act, the mine tailings
pond of Philex Pacdal Mines in Benguet
leaked about 20 Million MT of mine tailings
in Balog and Agno Rivers affecting the San
Roque Dam which supplies water to agri-
cultural irrigation and power generation for
the province.
The case of Manicani Island, in Guiuan,
Eastern Samar is a fairly recent one. The
island is part of the Guiuan Protected Sea-
scape/Landscape under the National In-
tegrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS)
Act, and yet, despite the Philippine Mining
Act’s provision on rehabilitation (Section 71)
Hinatuan Mining Corporation—a subsidiary
of Nickel Asia Corporation—has yet to start
the rehabilitation of mined sites even with
the expiration of its Mineral Production
Sharing Agreement (MPSA) last October
27, 2017. The adjoining island, Homonhon
is home to several endangered species and
declared a historical site but minerals map
from the MGB shows that the entire island
is covered by mining permits, exploration
permits, and applications for exploration.
One can only wonder why the Municipality
of Guiuan whose islands host several endan-
gered species and whose marine waters are
covered by the Guiuan protected seascape
and landscape was not included in the Samar
Island National Park.
Let us also not forget the Tampakan Cop-
per and Gold Project—potentially, among
the world’s largest copper open pit mines,
with an estimated mine site cover of 10,000
hectares according to Asuenco, will affect
Mal River, Mindanao’s biggest river system,
and 5 other rivers. Furthermore, the mining
permit (called FTAA/Financial or Technical
Assistance Agreement) largely covers the
ancestral domain of the B’laans whose lives
and culture are threatened. Its projected en-
vironmental impact according to BankTrack,
will affect 935 hectares including old growth
Rainforest, and produce waste rock of 2.6
Billion tons of 300 meters high and area
coverage of 500 hectares.
The performance of mining corporations
under the regime of the Philippine Mining
Act in the context of job generation, revenue
from taxes, and contribution to the country’s
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is dismal:
Data from the Mines and Geosciences Bu-
reau (MGB) present tell-tale signs that jobs
generated from the mining sector (mining
and quarrying combined) are nothing but
miniscule—in 2003—0.7% and declined to
0.5% as of July 2017 vis-à-vis Philippine total
employment. This means the mining sector
is indeed technology-intensive, thus labor-
saving! Furthermore, the mining sector’s
contribution to GDP for the above-mentioned
years reveal a meager 0.6% to 0.7% annually.
Total taxes (Taxes, Fees and Royalties from
Mining) paid by mining corporation in 2016
was valued at P33,465.1 Million, in the first
half of the year 2017 was only P 2,005.5 Mil-
lion. Meanwhile, it boasted an export value
of $2,317 Million in 2016.
We need an alternative mining law that
will REALLY protect the rights, culture,
lives, and livelihood of Indigenous Peoples,
as well as benefit our country, manage our
natural resources, compel mining companies
to rehabilitate mined sites, and penalize the
entire top management of erring mining
corporations. It’s time we bust that Philippine
Mining Act! Pass the Alternative Minerals
Management Bill NOW!
PHLIPPINE MISEREOR PARTNERSHIP
INC. (PMPI)
March 9, 2018
B6 REFLECTIONS
Jesus’ death: a victory over Priests: called to
the forces of darkness become what they offer
Passion Sunday of Year B (Mark 14:1-15:47)
March 25, 2018
By Msgr. Lope C. Robredillo, SThD
FROM THE 1980s to the 1990s,
the country of El Salvador has been
described as a land full of violence
against the poor. During these
years, thousands of Salvadorans,
including farmers, teachers, elderly,
and children were killed, not
sparing the innocent. Among the
victims of the regime was a certain
Christian named Oscar Romero,
an archbishop. In the exercise of
his prophetic ministry, his mouth
was unstoppable; it gave voice
to the cry against the violence to
the poor. He was the outspoken
critic of the regime. Treated as an
Enemy of the State, he was brutally
murdered on March 24, 1980, while
celebrating the Holy Mass. That his
death occurred during a Eucharistic
celebration has much symbolic
value, because it imitated the body
and blood of Jesus which he was
consecrating, themselves signs of
God’s love for the poor, even as
Archbishop Romero died defending
their cause.
But apart from its symbolic
value, the death of Oscar Romero
is a concretization of what, in the
theology of the Gospel of Mark,
the death of Christ means for us.
Although Jesus was treated by his
enemies as a criminal, and died
like one, yet he gave up his life as
the faithful Servant of Yahweh.
In the Old Testament, the figure
How do we come to believe that
Jesus rose from the dead?
Easter Sunday of Year B (John 20:1-9)
April 1, 2018
By Msgr. Lope C. Robredillo, SThD
CONTRARY TO WHAT many people
assume, statements of faith are not,
in Christianity, of the same weight.
The belief that Mary appeared in
Fatima is not of the same value as the
belief in her Immaculate Conception.
In Roman Catholic theology, there
is what theologians call hierarchy
of truths. Some truths belong to
the core of Christianity, some are
more important than others. One
would not be excommunicated if
he denied that St Anthony of Padua
preached to the fish, but this cannot
be said of a Catholic who refuses to
believe in the resurrection of Jesus.
For the belief in the resurrection is
central to Christian faith. The core
of the earliest kerygma contains this
belief: “we believe in him who raised
Jesus our Lord from the dead, the
Jesus who was handed over to death
for our sins, and raised up for our
justification” (Rom 4:24b-25). This
is the Christ event that we celebrate
today. It is so central that Paul can
assert: “if Christ was not raised, our
preaching is void of content and your
faith is empty, too…. if Christ was
not raised, your faith is worthless”
(1 Cor 15: 14-17).
of the Servant of God is described
in Isaianic four songs (Isa 42:1-4;
49:1-7; 50:4-9, 52:13-53:12) which
attempt to give sense, meaning
and purpose to Israel’s historical
experience of exile in Babylon.
The author probably hoped that
in identifying themselves with the
Servant of Yahweh so described, the
people of Israel would find meaning
in their seemingly senseless history,
painful and humiliating as it was.
The 1st Reading is part of the third
song which portrays the Servant who
does not refuse the divine vocation
to bring the message of liberation
to God’s people. Though people do
not accept him, yet he persists in
obeying God, willingly submitting to
insults and beatings: “I gave my back
to those who beat me, my cheeks to
those who plucked my beard; my
face I did not shield from buffets and
spitting” (Isa 50:5-6). He has great
confidence not in his own power
but in the power of God who called
him (v 7).
The Church takes the Servant of
God in Isaiah to refer to Jesus who,
according to the 2nd Reading (Phil
2:6-11), was obedient to the Father’s
will. Like the suffering Servant, he
accepted the task of proclaiming
the gospel to the poor, taking up
their cause, and of liberating men
from sin. His faithfulness to the
task was proven by his acceptance
But how do we come to believe
that Jesus rose from death? If we
look for evidence that Jesus rose
from the dead, people might be
inclined to point to the empty tomb.
Of course, in today’s Gospel (John
20:1-9), it is assumed that Jesus
rose from the dead because, when
Peter entered the tomb, all he saw
was the piece of cloth. The Beloved
Disciple also saw the burial clothes
and believed that Jesus rose (John
20:7-8). John Chrysostom puts
the argument thus: “If anyone had
removed the body, he would not
have stripped it first; nor would he
have taken the trouble to remove
and roll up the soudarion [the piece
of cloth that covers the head] and
put it in a place by itself.” That he
left the burial clothes indicates that
Jesus did not intend to use them
again.
But the empty tomb is not an
indisputable evidence of Jesus’
resurrection. John himself allows
for a different interpretation in
the case of Mary Magdalene who
thought that some people could have
taken away the lifeless body of Jesus:
“Sir, if you are the one who carried
of his death on the cross, a shameful
and humiliating death, even as the
Servant of Yahweh, though harshly
treated, submitted and opened
not his mouth, like a lamb led to
the slaughter (Isa 53:7). Because
of his faithfulness, God proved
him right, and glorified him (Phil
2:11). His death is therefore not his
defeat. In Mark’s understanding, the
battle with Satan that began in the
temptation story (Mark 1:13) ended
with the victory of Jesus who, in his
crucifixion, was acknowledged as the
Son of God (Mark 15:39). Hence,
those who mocked him, derided
him, and crucified him were proven
wrong. For this reason, Jesus’ loud
cry before he died on the cross (Mark
15:37) should be interpreted as a cry
of victory over his enemies.
It is, of course, not difficult for us,
as Christians, to see in the death of
Jesus an example to follow (cf 1 Pet
2:21-25). And Archbishop Romero
was one of those who understood
the exemplary meaning of Jesus’
death. Like the Eucharist which he
celebrated (1 Cor 11:26), his death
was a proclamation of the death of
the Lord. But what is relevant to us
is the view that even though Romero
died, his death did not mean the
triumph of the government which
had a hand in the assassination
to silence him. The Salvadoran
Victory / B7
him off, tell me where you have laid
him” (John 20:13). The argument
that the disciples themselves stole
the body occurs in Matthew 28:13-
15. Some rationalists have explained
that Jesus merely swooned on the
cross and subsequently extricated
himself from the burial clothes.
Strictly speaking, what the empty
tomb proves is simply that Jesus
was not there.
For the early Christians, what
was decisive for the faith was not
the empty tomb; rather, it was the
appearances of the risen Lord. In
the New Testament, the risen Lord
appeared many times: to Mary
Magdalene (John 20:11-18), to the
two disciples on the road to Emmaus
(Luke 24:13-31), to Peter (1 Cor
15:5), to Paul (1 Cor 15:5-7), to the
women (Matthew 28:9-10), to seven
disciples (John 21:1-14), to more
than 500 (1 Cor 15:6), among others.
Of course, the appearances cannot
be proven; but they were a reality for
those who were previously prepared
to believe. Nonetheless, the skeptic
may be at a loss to account for
the radical transformation of the
Believe / B7
March 19 - April 1, 2018 Vol. 22 No. 6
Holy Thursday, The Lord’s Supper, Year B (John 13:1-15)
March 29, 2018
By Fr. Sal Putzu, SDB
WHEN Jesus Christ came as the
promised Messiah, he brought to
completion all the prophecies
and promises of old. And at the
last Passover Meal he celebrated in
earthly life, he actualized in advance
what all the previous Passovers had
foreshadowed and symbolized –
the liberation of the whole of
mankind from the slavery to
the Devil. In the bread and the
wine that he handed to his “special
disciples” as their spiritual food
and drink, he made his person and
his saving sacrifice present for all
generations to come.
No other meal is more
sacred and satisfying than
the Eucharist that Jesus
instituted at the Last Supper.
No other sacrifice is more
fruitful than the one that is
made present every time the
Eucharist is celebrated. No
other Communion is more
perfect on earth than the
one that is achieved when
a believer receives Christ’s
body and blood properly
disposed. No other perfect
identification is attained on
earth than the one that takes
place between Christ, the
Eternal Priest, and the priest
who offers the Eucharistic
sacrifice in obedience to the
Lord’s command.
That identification is full of
meaning and challenges. From
the moment of their sacramental
ordination, all priests are not just
commanded and empowered to
offer the Eucharistic sacrifice. They
are also commissioned and
expected to BECOME what they
celebrate and offer—a LIVING
EUCHARIST, just as Jesus is.
No greater love
than this
Good Friday, Year B (John 18:1-19:42)
March 30, 2018
By Fr. Sal Putzu, SDB
WE are fond of measuring
everything. We measure distances in
meters or yards; we measure weights
in kilograms or pounds; we measure
electricity in watts and the frequency
of magnetic bands in hertzes. We
have even learned how to measure
the intelligence of a person in order
to determine his/her IQ . . . . But can
we measure love?
Lovers may think, for a time,
that love can be measured by the
number of kisses they exchange, or
the number of times they see or text
each other. But eventually they come
to realize the inadequacy of such
“units of measure,” for the depth
and width of genuine love go far,
far beyond what can be expressed or
measured in kisses or various types
of “love messages.”
A sure way to measure the
genuineness of love and its intensity
was given by Jesus Christ when
he said: “There is no greater
love than this: to lay down
one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn
15:13). This essentially means that
we can measure the intensity and
genuineness of a person’s love by
the amount of sacrifice he/she is
prepared to make for the beloved.
When we see people going to work
very early in the morning and coming
back dead tired in the evening, day
in, day out, even though sometimes
they may not feel to be in the best
shape, we know what genuine love
is. Their sacrifices are the measure
of their love for the other members
of their families. Those parents who
do overtime to earn a little more in
order to pay for the tuition of their
children are surely proving their
CBCP Monitor
The Eucharist is
“THANKSGIVING”—
thanksgiving to God for the gifts of
Creation and of His Providence, and
most of all for the gift of salvation in
Jesus Christ. Hence, the life of the
priest—of any priest—must be a life
of thanksgiving.
The Eucharist is “SELF-
GIVING”—the self-giving of Christ
as the divine Victim to the Father in
expiation for the sins of mankind,
and the self-giving of Christ to
all believers as food and drink of
eternal life. Hence, the life of the
priest—of any priest—must be a
life of total self-giving to God
and to His people. A priest no
longer belongs to himself. He has
been “consecrated”—made sacred—
and offered up to God for ever.
And God sends him to his brethren
that he may be the “sacrament”
of Christ’s total self-giving to his
brethren.
The Eucharist is “LIFE-
GIVING”—a source of life that
flows from the sacrifice of the Cross
and enlivens all the souls that it
touches, heals, and renews with
its fresh stream. The priest—any
priest—is, likewise, called and
sent to be a bearer, in the power
of the Spirit, of the supernatural
life earned by Christ, the
Eternal Priest, on the altar of
the Cross. A priest must give life,
even at the cost of his own mortal
life, in imitation of Christ.
This should give us some idea
of the greatness of the nature
and mission of the Catholic
priest. We should pray that each
of them may always be mindful
of such greatness and live it out
not just when he is at the altar,
but every moment of his life.
love for them. Those who renounce
going out with friends in order to
stay with their elderly parents who
are confined to a wheelchair or need
constant attention, surely show how
deep and sincere their love for their
parents is . . .
And there are even some who,
literally, give their life for the
person(s) they love. We all know
of parents, and especially mothers,
who have given their life for their
children. We know of thousands of
soldiers who have given their lives
for their country. Several years
ago we heard of the hundreds of
American firefighters who lost their
lives in their effort to rescue the
victims of the World Trade Center.
We admire them all. This is the
utmost, for there is nothing more
one can give after having offered
one’s life.
Jesus Christ belongs to this
category of heroes, but he has
outranked them all in at least
two ways. First of all, he offered
his life not just for many or
even thousands of people, but
for all human beings of all
generations, from the very first
who lived on earth to the very last
who will see the end of the world.
And considering that his love is
absolutely “personalized” we can
conclude that no one “has loved unto
death” as many people as Jesus did.
But there is more –
something no one else has ever
done: Jesus loved intensely and
gave his life on the cross even
for his own enemies! He offered
his life for the salvation even of those
Love / B7
CBCP Monitor
The northernmost province of Batanes
By Msgr. Bernie Pantin
After a number of years waiting,
we were finally able to make it to
the northernmost province of the
Philippines, Batanes. The exorbitant
fare going to Batanes was what kept
us from going there. One time we
planned to go only to find out that
it was cheaper to go to Guam than
to Batanes. So we opted to go to the
former. I got the opportunity when
The Cathedral of Batanes is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception which is the patron of the Prelature
of Batanes. But the church is named after Sto. Domingo. The Dominicans were the ones who evangelized
Batanes, hence most of the saints in the island are Dominican saints.
I read one day a promo fare to this
fabled islands. Hence three months
before, I already secured our tickets
which was half the usual price.
The bishop of Batanes, whom I
regularly now see at the CBCP was
very much eager that we visit him
there. In fact I already mentioned
it to him a few years back and told
me anytime I could go there. The
week before we were supposed
to leave, two successive typhoons
visited the place. The effects of
the typhoon was in fact still felt in
Manila when we left. It was still
raining and the skies were dark.
Although not bumpy, we were flying
just above the clouds all the time we
flew from Manila to Batanes. Rain
Magisterium / B2
by a logical relationship.
4. Moved therefore by this need,
and after careful deliberation, we
have decided to overcome this
lacuna in the universal law in the
following way: c.750 of the Code of
Canon Law will now consist of two
paragraphs; the first will present the
text of the existing canon; the second
will contain a new text. Thus c.750,
in its complete form, will read:
Canon 750, §1. Those things are
to be believed by divine and catholic
faith which are contained in the
word of God as it has been written or
handed down by tradition, that is, in
the single deposit of faith entrusted
to the Church, and which are at the
same time proposed as divinely
revealed either by the solemn
Magisterium of the Church, or by its
ordinary and universal Magisterium,
which in fact is manifested by the
common adherence of Christ’s
faithful under the guidance of
the sacred Magisterium. All are
therefore bound to avoid any
contrary doctrines.
§2. Furthermore, each and
everything set forth definitively
by the Magisterium of the Church
regarding teaching on faith and
morals must be firmly accepted
and held, namely those things
required for the holy keeping and
faithful exposition of the deposit of
faith; therefore, anyone who rejects
propositions which are to be held
definitively sets himself against the
teaching of the Catholic Church.
Canon 1371, n.1 of the Code of
Canon Law, consequently, will
receive an appropriate reference to
c.750, §2, so that it will now read:
Canon 1371. The following are to
be punished with a just penalty:
Believe / B6
disciples without the reality of the
appearances. That Paul transformed
from a Number One persecutor
of the Church to an apostle to
the Gentiles cannot be explained
unless one is prepared to believe
that Jesus truly appeared to him.
Of course, there are skeptics and
skeptics, and they will always try to
explain the appearances in various
ways other than what is said in the
New Testament. In times past, it
was argued that they were merely
projections of the disciples who were
convinced that he was alive.
March 19 - April 1, 2018 Vol. 22 No. 6
stopped when we arrived in Basco.
Fr. Roger, the oeconomus and the
parish priest of Basco was there to
meet us together with Rev. Billy. We
were billeted at the bishop’s house
which was just across the parish
convent. The bishop’s car was at
our disposal for the whole trip. They
were thinking that we would still rest
after breakfast but then we told our
hosts that we were already ready
and excited to explore Batanes. So
after breakfast Fr. Roger who also
was our driver gave us a tour. Our
first stop was at the Mt. Carmel
chapel at Tukon which was made of
stone like the typical houses of the
Ivatans. From there we proceeded to
the Fundacion Pacita. This was the
former workplace of the artist Pacita
Abad which has been converted to
a boutique hotel. There are several
artworks of Pacita displayed in the
building. We had some coffee over
there as we enjoyed the scenery
around. This house is the poster
display at the Manila domestic
airport. At the garden there are
statues of the parents of Abad. Was
told they are also buried there. The
Abad children among them Butch
1° a person who, apart from the
case mentioned in c.1364, §1, teaches
a doctrine condemned by the Roman
Pontiff, or by an Ecumenical Council,
or obstinately rejects the teachings
mentioned in c.750, §2 or in c.752
and, when warned by the Apostolic
See or by the Ordinary, does not
retract;
2° a person who in any other way
does not obey the lawful command
or prohibition of the Apostolic See
or the Ordinary or Superior and,
after being warned, persists in
disobedience.
Infallibility of ordinary and
universal magisterium
It is fitting to note that almost all
infallible teachings in the field of
morality are contained not in solemn
definitions (so called definitive
acts or definitively proposed in
the language of the Professio fidei
and in the CIC), but precisely in
the teachings of the ordinary and
universal Magisterium. This has
led some to think that there were
no infallible teachings in the field
of morality, inasmuch as, in fact,
there were no texts in which such
infallibility was explicitly claimed.
This assertion failed to recognize,
however, that the ordinary and
universal Magisterium, which by
nature does not adopt such solemn
expressions, is precisely the normal
way in which the infallibility of the
Church is exercised.
As Pope John Paul II affirmed
in an address of 15.X.1988, “The
Magisterium (...) includes the
charism of infallibility, which is
present not only in the solemn
definitions of the Roman Pontiff
and the Ecumenical Councils, but
Of course, one will easily believe
if, in the same manner as of old,
Jesus continues to appear to the
believers of today. Unfortunately,
however, this is not the case. Hence,
the question: since Jesus no longer
appears to us as he did in the early
Church, how then are we to believe
that he rose from the dead? Whence
comes the faith in the resurrection?
If we are to provide the answer from
the readings today, the Easter faith
comes from the testimony of the
first witnesses: “We are witnesses
to all that [Jesus] did in the land of
Valugan Beach
Abad the present budget secretary
is the twelfth child, Pacita the artist,
being the fourth.
From the Fundacion we passed by
the Dipnaysupuan Japanese tunnel.
One could stand along the corridors
of the tunnel which leads to a 32
flight of steps going down. From the
foot of the steps one could already
see some light at the other end.
Before reaching it, Ronnie noticed
a yellow snake curled along the side.
Next stop was the Valugan boulder
beach. It was explained to us that
Basco lighthouse
also in the ordinary and universal
Magisterium, which can be
considered the usual expression of
the infallibility of the Church.”
Practically all concrete and
absolute moral norms that are
under debate today (e.g., abortion,
contraception, homosexual acts,
premarital relations, euthanasia,
divorce, masturbation), have been
taught by the ordinary and universal
Magisterium and are hence infallible.
Reach of “religious respect
(obsequium) of intellect and
will”
This religious submission means
more than the usual obedience
required for the legitimate
command of the hierarchical
authority of the Church.
Specifically, it means:
a. The ordinary response will
be a sincere adherence not only of
the will but also of the intelligence.
In an exceptional case, a teaching
might not be intellectually
convincing. Then the first duty is
to doubt oneself, giving credibility
to the Magisterium. This does not
mean that one must stop working
on research and presenting the
authorities—in a private way—
one’s own reasons and the possible
formulations that one might
suggest as being better suited for
expressing the truth.
b. In any case, religious submission
implies the obligation to avoid every
dissent; the only thing admissible
is to suspend or withhold assent.
If dissent is made publicly and
obstinately, opportune sanctions
would be in order (c.1371).
the Jews and in Jerusalem. They
killed him, finally hanging him on
a tree, only to have God raise him
up on the third day and grant that
he be seen, not by all, but only by
such witnesses as had been chosen
beforehand by God—by us who ate
and drank with him after he rose
from the dead” (Acts 10:39-41).
All this, of course, is a matter of
faith. The appearances were not
proofs to compel faith or to dispel
doubt, but were more of assurances
to those who believe in him that he
was alive.
the big round stones came from
the nearby Mt. Iraya which last
erupted in 400 AD. We noticed also
the unique boats that they have in
Batanes which were like the sampan.
It has no outrigger but twice as wide
The shelter in Mahatao Idjang
than the ordinary outrigger boats.
Mostly made of fiber glass.
Our last stop before lunch was
the rolling hills of Vayang, the Naidi
hills and the Basco lighthouse.
In the afternoon, our trip was
to the southern part of the island
of Batan. We stopped first at the
Easter / B4
the metaphor of a journey, the Via
Lucis moves from the experience of
suffering, which in God’s plan is part
of life, to the hope of arriving at man’s
true end: liberation, joy and peace
which are essentially paschal values.
The Via Lucis is a potential
stimulus for the restoration of a
“culture of life” which is open to the
hope and certitude offered by faith,
in a society often characterized by
a “culture of death”, despair and
nihilism.
Devotion to the Divine Mercy
154. In connection with the octave
of Easter, recent years have witnessed
the development and diffusion of a
special devotion to the Divine Mercy
based on the writings of Sr. Faustina
Kowalska who was canonized 30
Victory / B6
government did not become a
showcase of justice with the murder
of the Archbishop. Rather, like
Jesus’, his death can be seen as part
of the fulfillment of God’s plan to
liberate the people of El Salvador,
especially the poor, from misery.
His death was an act of liberation
itself. It brought light to the plight of
the poor. It made clear how evil the
regime was. It had a saving value for
the people of El Salvador. Therefore,
he was not really defeated, nor was
Love / B6
who hated him during his earthly
life, those who did not have peace till
they wrested from Pilate his death
sentence by crucifixion; those who
insulted him while he was agonizing
on the cross. He offered his life also
for the millions of others who, over
the centuries, would betray or reject
him, insult and profane him in the
Blessed Eucharist . . .
Amazingly, he knew and
endured in advance the most
bitter taste of every drop of
their hatred! And yet, in spite of
all this, he still loved them tenderly
and offered his life for each of them
as for the dearest friend.
This is what brought St. Paul (one
of the beneficiaries of Christ’s love
for his enemies) to exclaim: “It
is precisely in this that God
proves His love for us: that
while we were still sinners (i.e.,
FEATURE B7
Chawa Viewdeck where one has a
view of the West Philippine Sea and
the mountainside were the waves
were wildly splashing the sides of
the cliffs below. Passing by the
town of Mahatao, we went east up
to the popularly known Marlboro
country, the rolling hills of Racuh
a Payawan. Stayed there for almost
an hour savoring the view of the
hills and the sea. Then we passed
by Imnajbu, the Our Lady of the
Miraculous Medal Shrine in Itbud,
Uyugan. Took pictures of typical
Ivatan houses in Itbud. Then we
went to the town of Uyugan. San
Antonino de Florencia Parish. Our
driver and guide this time was Fr.
Billy who was the parish priest of
Uyugan. What surprised us the
most was that the convent, although
no one was there was just left wide
open. Fr. Billy explained that it is the
usual practice in Batanes. Homes
are never locked. There are very rare
cases of theft in the island. From
there we took the road around the
island which brought us to the next
town of Ivana, passing by first the
Honesty Store. (Visit: https://
beachanatic.blogspot.com/)
April 2000. It concentrates on the
mercy poured forth in Christ’s death
and resurrection, fount of the Holy
Spirit who forgives sins and restores
joy at having been redeemed. Since
the liturgy of the Second Sunday of
Easter or Divine Mercy Sunday—
as it is now called—is the natural
locus in which to express man’s
acceptance of the Redeemer’s mercy,
the faithful should be taught to
understand this devotion in the light
of the liturgical celebrations of these
Easter days. Indeed, “the paschal
Christ is the definitive incarnation of
mercy, his living sign which is both
historico-salvific and eschatological.
At the same time, the Easter liturgy
places the words of the psalm on
our lips: “I shall sing forever of the
Lord’s mercy” (Ps 89[88] 2)”(158).
he silenced. Indeed, like the Servant
of Yahweh, one can assume that
Romero has already been crowned
with victory in heaven, for he was
obedient to his vocation to proclaim
the gospel of liberation to the poor.
Our analogy, to be sure, has its
limits, because, for one thing, unlike
Christ’s, Romero’s death has no
eschatological significance. Still, it
somehow gives us an idea how the
death of Jesus was a victory over the
forces of darkness.
God’s enemies), Christ died for
us” (Rom 5:8).
Indeed, there has never been, nor
will there ever be on earth a greater
love than that of Jesus Christ, who
“Though he was in the form of
God, he did not deem equality
with God something to be
grasped at. Rather, he emptied
himself and took the form of a
slave . . . . And it was thus that
he humbled himself, obediently
accepting even death, death on
a cross!” (Phil 2:6-8)
Applying this universal truth
to himself, Paul wrote the
vibrant sentence: “The Son
of God loved me and gave
himself for me!” (Gal 2:20)—a
memorable, unforgettable
statement which each of us
should make his/her own and
sign with tears of grateful love.
B8 ENTERTAINMENT March 19 - April 1, 2018 Vol. 22 No. 6 CBCP Monitor

Buhay San Miguel Brothers Matias

The Post Lolo Kiko Bladimer Usi

irection: Steven Spielberg; Producers: Steven Spielberg,

Cast: Meryll Streep, Tom Hanks; Kristie Macosko Krieger;

Bob Odenkirk;
Story and Screenplay: Liz
Hannah, Josh Singer;
Cinematography: Janusz
Kiminski;
Editing: Michael Kahn, Sarah
Broshar;
Music: John Williams;
Buhay Parokya
Genre: Drama;
Location: USA; FIND 3 MISSING THINGS:
Distributor: 20th Century Fox; 1. ST. JOSEPH
Running Time: 136 minutes.
2. MARY MAGDALENE
Technical assessment: 3. JOHN THE BAPTIST
Moral assessment:
CINEMA rating: V14

The Post talks about the will become timeless in the

true story of the Pentagon
papers involving the US
government’s knowledge of
things but were not revealing
to the public. A few years after
the Vietnam War, former
military analyst Danuek
Ellberg (Rhys) leaks some
confidential documents to
the reporters of the New
York Times. Katherine
Graham (Streep), the new
publisher and owner of The
Washington Post arranges
for its stock market launch
in order to strengthen its
financial health. However, she
faces a group of chauvinistic
men who feel she is not
fit for the job. McNamara
(Greenwood), her friend and
the Secretary of Defense,
complains that another
newspaper, The Times, has
been writing negative stories
about him and one of her
editors discovers Ellberg as
the source of the materials.
Bradlee (Hanks), the Post’s
editor-in-chief, decides to
match Time’s scoops sets up
a team of Post reporters to
weed through the documents
they also get from Ellberg.
The paper’s management
agonizes whether to come out
with the story or not as it is
either a choice between social
responsibilities or a possible
repercussion from the Nixon
government. Graham decides
to run the story and inspires
papers across America to
support their expose.
It is undeniably a very
timely movie given the
government-media climate
in most parts of the world
– the Philippines included.
Hence this is a movie that
years to come given the
brilliant choice of focus of
Spielberg. The direction
takes us between the realism
and drama. For instance,
we see the intensive effort
in gathering facts and
publishing a story on time
during those days on the one
hand and the inner conflict of
the people at the crossroads
of running a story or not.
The real strength of the
movie is in the formidable
performances of its leads—
subdued, enthralling and
passionate. Streep’s acting
is almost musical. Spielberg
masterfully paces the
narrative with quick history
and immersing drama. The
movie is a tightly articulated
account of the Pentagon
Papers and the struggle for
integrity and truth.
In a time where fake news
proliferates unceremoniously
and the public naïve about the
manipulation and deceit of
media – whether mainstream,
social or alternative, The Post
offers a reminder that truth
is the underlying foundation
of journalism. The movie’s
theme heavily centers on
the struggles of print media
for freedom of the press. A
struggle still fought to this day
if media is to remain faithful
to its obligation to keep,the
government in check and
serve to the public unbiased
and relevant information.
The movie should be
understood as a reminder
not only for government to
respect media’s purpose and
task but also for media itself
to remember what they are
here for.

Tomb Raider

DIRECTOR: Roar Uthaug
LEAD CAST: Alicia Vikander,
Dominic West, Walten
Goggins, Daniel Wu
SCREENWRITER: Geneva
Robertson-Dworet, Alastair
Siddons
PRODUCER: Graham King
EDITOR: Stuart Baird, Tom
Harrison-Read, Michael
Tronick
MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Junkie
XL
Defying the wishes of her fa-
ther Lord Richard (Dominic
West), Lara Croft (Alicia Vi-
kander) does not destroy his
records tracing the location
of Queen Himiko’s tomb in a
remote island in Japan. The
mythical queen is believed to
have power over death and
life, and Lord Richard in his
journal claims the queen is
his link to the other world
GENRE: Action, Adventure,
where finally he can reunite
Fantasy
with his wife, Lara’s mother
CINEMATOGRAPHER: who passed away. Lara uses
George Richmond the journal to track her father,
DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros. gone missing for seven years
LOCATION: South Africa, and presumed dead. With Lu
England Ren (Daniel Wu), son of the
RUNNING TIME: 118 minutes boat owner who disappeared
with Lara’s father, they sail
Technical assessment: to the island. A turbulent
Moral assessment: storm sinks their boat and
CINEMA rating: V13 they find themselves captive
MTRCB rating: PG in the camp where Math-
ias Vogel (Walton Goggins)
leads a sinister mission to
retrieve Himiko’s remains on
orders of a spurious organi-
zation. Getting hold of Lord
Richard’s journal from Lara,
Vogel’s mission becomes as
good as accomplished. But
Lara gets in the way, and
she won’t stop till she finds
her father.
You don’t need to know the
video game nor the 2001 and
2003 movie series with An-
gelina Jolie to appreciate this
latest release. The movie is
about a father-daughter rela-
tionship, and Vikander (best
actress for The Danish Girl)
brings both vulnerability and
daring to Lara’s abandoned
daughter and conflicted heir-
ess. But Dominic West’s Lord
Richard and Goggin’s Vogel
are awkward and feigned.
The plot is thin and linear,
and the movie resorts to a
series of flashbacks to deepen
the story, using them all too
frequently that the story be-
comes contrived. But give
it to Lara Croft—the strong,
singular woman surrounded
by all men—for the amaz-
ing show of stunts and fist-
fights. We braced ourselves
for special effects true to the
tradition of the Tomb Raider
franchise, but found none
save for some rotating rocks,
explosions here and there,
and a location set that shows a
few shots of the island but for
the most part are in the façade
of a temple or inside it. The
death-defying scenes would
have been breathtaking, but
they’re stretched all too long
they make the suspense evap-
orate, like the sequence where
Lara dashes into the forest or
is washed down the river and
gets trapped in a rusty plane
suspended in a ravine. So we
found ourselves not rooting
for Lara Croft at all. There’s
foreshadowing of more of
Kristin Scott Thomas’ Ana
Miller if there is a sequel, but
we’re not excited for the next
instalment given what we’ve
seen.
The movie is a father-
daughter relationship story
and the harrowing choice
between family and serv-
ing the greater good to save
mankind and, choosing to
sacrifice oneself to save the
world, the father finds himself
circling back to the nucleus
of that relationship that he
holds dear: I gave up my life
so that you, my daughter,
might live. The poignant
message is complicated by
opportunistic attempts to
use what is evidently harmful
(Himiko’s remains or what
she represents) for evil ends.
The movie is benign, it does
not corrupt, but neither does
it inspire.
 THE CROSS
A Supplement Publication of the Order of the Knights of Columbus and KCFAPI
CBCP Monitor Vol. 22, No. 6 March 19 - April 1, 2018

Knights of Columbus:
A People of Life and For Life

The Philippine Jurisdictions during the series of Walk for Life around the country.

THE Order of the Knights of
Columbus, founded by the
Venerable Servant of God
Fr. Michael J. McGivney,
is the premier advocate of
life. The Order continuously
ensures that each member is
committed to defend the right
to life of every individual. The
Knights of Columbus in the
Philippines have conducted
its “Walk for Life” initiative
around the country headed
by its different jurisdictions.
M I N D A N A O
JURISDICTION – Acting
State Deputy Cesar V. Dangazo
made a powerful stand about
the sacredness of life last
February 24, 2018. During the
Walk for Life conducted at the
Mindanao Jurisdiction, Bro.
Dangazo emphasized that,
“the sacredness of life is not
just an advocacy but rather
a cause that every member
of the Knights of Columbus
must adhere so that future
generations may also do so.
This is not a coincidence
only specially for what is
happening now in our country,
but the jurisdiction does this
every year regardless who
runs the government, system
of government we have and
the government program
they are implementing in
order to remind everybody
that life is sacred. K of C
Mindanao leads different
sectors in the jurisdiction to
have Omnipotens Indicium
- powerful statement during
the activity. The event
culminated with a Holy Mass
in St. Augustine Cathedral.
Other groups who walked
with us include Social
Action Center, Couples for
Christ, Catholic Women’s
League, Youth for Christ and
others under the Diocese of
Cagayan de Oro. Walk of life
is simultaneously done in the
country. (RMWaga)
The jurisdiction also held
their Walk for Life at the
Archdiocese of Davao last
March 17 and the Diocese of
Marbel last March 18, 2018.
VISAYAS JURISDICTION
- The Visayas Jurisdiction
through the initiative of its
State Deputy Anthony P.
Nazario held its Walk for Life
at the Diocese of Borongan
with its bishop, Most Rev.
Crispin Varquez, D.D. last
March 3, 2018 around
their town. The event was
Knights / C3

RENEWAL OF MARRIAGE VOWS – The Luzon North Jurisdiction led by its State Deputy and Supreme Director Jose C. Reyes, Jr. RENEWAL OF OBLIGATION – K of C Members from the Fourth Degree Assembly ACN 2483 after their renewal of obligation last February
initiated the event to show the Order’s advocacy in promoting the sanctity of Marriage Life. The Holy Mass and renewal was presided 25, 2018 held at St. Joseph the Worker Parish Pastoral Building, Sasa, Davao City with KCFAPI Board of Trustee Jacinto S. Pancha.
by Rev. Msgr. Pedro C. Quitorio III.
C2 March 19 - April 1, Vol 22, No. 6 THE CROSS
Ramoncito A. Ocampo Jose C. Reyes, Jr.

President’s Chairman’s Message

Message
Easter Message

HOLY WEEK has been given to us by Jesus went to Gethsemani to pray. So Easter Sunday when Jesus came back to
“A love that’s growing cold” God to reflect on the life of Jesus here intense was His agony, His sweat broke life again. This is His second coming.
on earth. It starts on Palm Sunday when out in drops of blood while the three This is the story of Jesus that we should
Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, hailed as a slept soundly. At the designated hour, keep replaying in our minds, especially
King but destined to die in order to save the Roman soldiers came to arrest and during Holy Week. Thinking of the life of
“With the prevalent inequity, unfairness and injustice due to us and all of mankind. He gathered his bring Him to court, where Peter denied Jesus on earth often will enable us to see
people’s earthly desire to wealth, fame and power, most of apostles, and after sending away Judas being a follower of Jesus. After being how our life is like that of Jesus – the joy
people’s love is growing cold.” Iscariot, the traitor, they had their Last scourged severely, Pilate presented the of success, the sadness of betrayal, the
Supper on Holy Thursday. On this bruised and bleeding Christ to arouse pain of physical and emotional suffering,
AS they say the only thing constant is change. We may have occasion, Jesus instituted the Holy their sympathy, but the mob still shouted and death. The humility, obedience,
changed for the better or its opposite, but such changes Eucharist in memory of Him. This gave “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” So Pontius endurance, and the forgiving heart of
whether good or bad does not happen overnight. It must have the apostles and their successors the Pilate pronounced the death sentence. Jesus should inspire us to be like Him,
discriminating factors for a change to occur. power to celebrate Mass until the end On Good Friday, Jesus was crucified, and hope that like Him, we will be taken
We were conceived because of love, thus our ability to of time. died and was buried. up to heaven to dwell with Him forever.
love is innately within us. Yet, how gruelling it is that due to Together with Peter, James and John, But the joy of Easter is yet to come on Rejoice, brothers and sisters! Rejoice!
unfavorable circumstances our ability to love had gone cold or
is growing cold. That because of the harsh reality our parents Ma. Theresa G. Curia
overly protected us when we were young, suddenly knock us
unconscious.
For a change, isn’t it an overwhelming feeling that once in Curia Settings
your life you had done something worth sacrificing for? With all
our shortcomings not to mention how irate we get when stuck
in traffic or how long the queue is in our favorite restaurant. Lent, Ashes and Tears
In this season of Lent, let us fill our hearts with humility and
tranquility. Let it be a season of commemorating Christ’s
sacrifice in saving humanity. LENT is here again. Either we I think that this is true for The process is slow, and need Lent to remind me that
Mother Teresa once said “There is no greater sickness in love it or are indifferent to it. everyone, whether we are this needs repetition of the only doing God’s will makes
the world today than the lack of love”. Our ability to love and Not that I love it, but today, class A or B, or C, or D. Part moments of soul searching, a long lasting impact in the
spread the love is what matters in making changes happen no I like to enter into its spirit of our spiritual DNA seems to and listening and the waiting world, and it is the only thing
matter how insignificant you think it is. Let the love that once and into what the Church be for us to be naturally weak, and a lot of political will. So that gives meaning to being
was flaming continue its glow from generation to generation. offers us to do during the 40- imperfect. How often do we our spiritual guides usually alive. And I also need Lent to
Would you rather want your love to grow cold, when in day preparation for Easter. I ask ourselves: Why do I do the tell us to be open to the grace. make sense of the loneliness
fact there are a lot of people needing that love to be shared in hope that every year we can things which I do not like or Repeat again next year. That and pain that go with doing
order for them to identify and feel love in the first place? A love internalize one of the many which I know are not perfect? is why the liturgical cycle is God’s will. I am a witness that
growing cold because of human mistakes needs to be saved. facets and layers of meanings We are definitely a work repeated year, after year, after following the Lord is not a
It does not necessarily mean you needed someone for you to of this beautiful season. The in progress. One moment year. Just as we brush our smooth glide on eagle’s wings
attain this. Rather, it would mean various things—adapting same is true for all the other we are good and upright; the teeth to remove the bacteria always.
positively to change, being optimistic and everything about liturgical seasons and feasts. next moment we are grumpy, in our mouth daily, so does our Hence the tears.
positive thinking. To prepare for this piece, I impatient, arrogant, and even soul need the annual spring During Lent I remember
In my previous write-up, I did mention 90% of our reaction read a few articles written by cruel. Many, many times our cleaning. how Jesus sweated blood at
can be handled well internally—literally within us. How much Fr. Ron Rohlheiser, an OMI words and ideas do not match This is why I am very happy the Garden while at prayer.
more in dealing with the world’s negativities? Cheer up, and priest theologian, about Lent. our actions and attitudes. to belong to a church where Then I am consoled that as
embrace the Lenten Season with a humble heart and be at Please check his website for But thanks be to our Mother we are all sinners; yet we I cry buckets of tears in fear,
peace with the Lord. very inspiring short reflection Church, there is Lent to tell us: have each other to inspire us frustration, anger, remorse,
Vivat Jesus! on various spiritual topics. Pause, reflect, take stock, make to be better. I am happy and grief, there is someone who
Now you know that he is one an inventory of your lives. Set humbled that we are reminded grieves with me. My tears
Arsenio Isidro G. Yap of my sources of ideas. Usually, your eyes on the mark again; that we are ashes so that we are pains of confusion, of
I pick out a few of his thoughts regain the vision and the focus. can really surrender and tell not understanding the
A Brother’s Insight and reflect on them, or go off
on my own musings.
This is a good time to be able
to say again: Not my will but
our God: Not my will but
yours be done in our life.
complications of life and of
my work, misunderstanding
Some of the points I got yours be done, O Lord. Now Many times, my troubles with colleagues, or obsessions
from his Lenten articles are is always an appropriate time, and complications in life, even with results. They are pains
the following: Not my will but especially in Lent to do this. my sins and failures come of motherhood and family
yours be done, Ashes, Tears. However, this realization because I put my plans and life, domestic and social
Lent is ushered in by will never come if we go on my will ahead of what the Lord relationships. They are tears
our tradition of having our with our life of always running, wants from me. Many times, of being frustrated and of
Servers in the Mass foreheads signed with ashes. rushing, getting sleepless, I do not keep silent nor listen. remorse that I find myself
“Remember that you are dust workaholics, obsessed with I have no time to listen to falling again and again, failing
IT’S quite confusing on the different methods by which a and unto dust you will return” results, no Sunday rest, no what the Spirit tells me. Once over and over again. My only
mass is carried or celebrated. Go to different churches and is actually very powerful to time for family life, no bonding an idea strikes me as good, I consolation is that eventually
you’ll notice what I’m saying. Come to think of it, it should all make anybody who believes nor intimate moments with immediately order others to my tears lead me to a prayerful
be relatively the same wherever you are in whatever church to pause and realize that the people we love. make them happen. And either surrender and say: “Into your
you’re in? But there are some differences for whatever reason. everything has a limit. Life, Perhaps if we could fight I regret my decision or the way hands, I commend my spirit”.
In some cases, it’s already a bad practice rather than just a natural resources, wealth, for moments of being devoid I push others to their limits I wish that in the future, before
difference. fame, power, human abilities, of gadgets, schedules, smart because I want what I want any plan is conceived, before
The role of the Commentator is the most important among dreams, health — all these phones, addictions and just to happen. It is good to really it is finalized and executed, I
servers in the Mass next to the priest. He is in charge of have a shelf life, an expiration be alone we might actually feel be able to say: not my will but would be able to say: “Not my
making the mass as orderly as possible by giving instructions date. Hence, one day all these liberated and open to many Yours be done O God. Many will but yours be done”. And
and cues at the right moment. He announces when to stand, will turn into ashes with us. realizations. We need sacred times what we say is: Sorry even: “Lord, what do you want
sit or kneel but unfortunately in some churches there seems While there is time, while moments in our lives. If we Lord, not Your will but mine me to do?”
to be no commentator to give those basic instructions even we are alive in our present do not give time for quiet and will be done. Crying enables me to feel
though there is someone standing there in front. It’s either situation and before we turn silence, these Lenten thoughts What is bad for me is that how the pains of the world
he does not know when to give those instructions or is being into ashes, Lent reminds will not occur to us nor will I do not only miss these are present in my heart too.
restrained by some churches from doing so. us that we must know our they work. moments of listening before That pain unites me with the
It’s understandable in some churches if he is instructed not priorities. The good news is this: I do any action. I don’t think I sufferings of the world. And
to do so but in others they should do so. If a priest tells the One of our main goals as eventually God’s grace will have the moments of “What do as I face and feel my pains and
congregation to stand up, it is a cue to the commentator to disciples of the Lord is to make take over and we will become you want me to do Lord”. And my tears, I am invited to accept
give the succeeding commands even in churches where they sure we order our desires less inconsistent, more sadly, even after the action them for the sake of other
are instructed not to do so. towards God. But as we live matured, more in communion is done, I do not also spend people who are overburdened
The commentator could make a difference on how well through the daily struggles of with the Master. The bad news time to review whether what in life. My tears are then
or how bad a mass can be celebrated by a priest. They are life, however, we see how often is that this does not happen I did conformed to what God absorbed into the water and
like directors of a play. They give instruction or cues at the we miss the mark. We just overnight, miraculously, wants me to do. Seldom do I blood shed in Gethsemane and
right time so that all participants can do their part properly. cannot be consistently faithful instantly. Not even after a feel- also say: “Did I feel the world Calvary.
Verbally or by eye signal he motions the choir to sing, the to the teachings of Jesus, good retreat or with the best with love?” Then my tears and pains
lectors to come forward and read the readings, the offertory not even in our good desires, intentions, or even after a good I need Lent to remind me find meaning. Then I can start
procession to begin and so on. He coordinates with the priest intentions, resolutions. And Lenten liturgical experience. that to ashes I will return. I again. I am humbled.
on what to do next by looking at him and waits for his signal.
The Lector is another important server in the Mass. He Karlo Serviento
reads the readings. The idea I believe is that he must plainly
read the readings with his lips while the congregation reads
the missalette with their eyes. But a lot of lectors are like Pondering the Words
public speakers or declaimers, they look to the left, to the
right, pauses and try very hard to get your attention and make
an eye contact. They are readers not speakers. Some obviously The Light has Conquered
A Brother’s Insight / C3

THE CROSS
WE are now entering the Holy Week or
the so-called Semana Santa. This is a
week of a rich devotion, tradition and
A Supplement Publication of the culture especially among the Filipinos.
Order of the Knights of Columbus and KCFAPI According to some theologians, this is
the week of week and the center of all
Editorial Board
the liturgical seasons in which we are
Jose C. Reyes, Jr. remembering the passion, death and
Chairman triumph of Christ over death. Hence,
with all the massive acts we have during
Ramoncito A. Ocampo these days, its mere focus is the cross of
President our Lord Jesus Christ, the cross of love
Ma. Theresa G. Curia
and salvation.
Executive Vice President “I give you a new commandment, that
you love one another.” (Jn 13:34), these
Msgr. Pedro C. Quitorio III are the words Jesus spoke before the
Spiritual Director apostles during that Thursday night in
which He instituted the Eucharist with
Mary Magdalene G. Flores
His apostles, the start of the Paschal
Editor-in-Chief
Triduum, wherein the lamb will be
Erwin John B. Mallari, Jerome P. De Guzman, Juan Karlo Serviento offered for the salvation of many. It was
Contributors that night when Jesus’ passion started.
After all the adversities He was about
to face, He remained firm in His faith
with the Father, being totally submissive
to His will. As Jesus was being tied by
the soldiers, He is also tying His hands
to each one of us that we may not be
under the influence of sin. Every slap
and scourge they had made to the
Savior is an exchange of hug from Him
to mankind that we might be protected
through the desolations of life. With
the heavy weight of the cross, comes
His strong shoulder that will carry us in
times when the world gets rough. Each
nail cast on His arms and feet served as
a strong bond between God and man
that will never diminish until the end of
time. The blood and water that flowed
from His body is a spring that cleansed
all our iniquities and adversaries. It
was a Friday afternoon when the words
of the prophet were fulfilled; the King
that triumphantly entered Jerusalem,
was slain and descended to the world
of the dead that they may have eternal
life. Then, a quiet Saturday followed in
which in the great silence, there was a
hope that prepared every creation to the
exuberant joy of the heavens as Jesus
was raised from the dead on the dawn
of Easter Sunday wherein the light of the
Resurrection conquered the darkness of
death.
During these days, Mary is also present
and she is also suffering. As the passion
of her Son started, hers too began. She
also carried the cross of pain as she saw
how her Son is suffering regardless of
the Love He has shown and given to
humanity. On the crucifixion site, she
was also crucified as her heart felt the
extreme sorrow as His Son hung on the
cross. Her heart was really feeling the
pierce of the lance. Imagine how painful
it is to see a mother suffering in pain and
vice versa, a mother seeing her Son slowly
Pondering the Words / C3
THE CROSS March 19 - April 1, Vol 22, No. 6 C3

The Knights of Columbus is committed to Catholic values and leading by example
By Supreme Knight
Carl A. Anderson
LAST MONTH, I shared some
thoughts on the tremendous
growth of the Knights of
Columbus Insurance
program since the year 2000:
Our insurance in force has
grown from $40 billion to
nearly $110 billion, and our
assets under management
are up from $8.5 billion to
nearly $25 billion.
We can all be proud of
this long-term, superior
performance that, year after
year, extends greater financial
protection to the families of
our brother Knights.
I am also especially proud
that once again this year
we were selected as one of
the World’s Most Ethical
Companies by the Ethisphere
Institute.
We are one of only 135
companies named from 23
countries — and we are one
of only three honorees in the
life insurance category.
An ethics of fraternity
This is the fifth consecutive
year that the Knights
of Columbus has been so
honored.
This designation recognizes
that the Knights of Columbus
continues to show “exemplary
leadership” in such areas as
“improving culture, leading
authentically and committing
to transparency.”
At the Knights of Columbus,
we share the Ethisphere
Institute’s commitment
to “continually raising the
standards of corporate
behavior” and to “values-
based leadership.”
And I am particularly
grateful to have personally
been named by Ethisphere
as one of the “100 Most
Influential People in Business
Ethics” in 2014 and 2015.
As I have often said, we
will not sacrifice our ethics in
order to chase profits. On the
contrary, we believe a values-
based, ethical strategy in both
marketing and investments
is the best way to achieve
sustainability and to remain
competitive in a free-market
economy.
We are proud that the
Knights of Columbus way of
doing business is both ethical
and successful. We maintain
a decades-long tradition
of superior performance
in operations and on the
balance sheet.
Our designation by the
Ethisphere Institute came
soon after the release of
the 2018 Edelman Trust
Barometer, which found that
the United States is enduring
the worst collapse in trust
ever recorded in the 18-year
history of the survey.
Most significantly, the
survey found a 30-point
decline in trust in
government. The trust index
ranked the United States
lowest of all the 28 nations
surveyed.
The report stated: “In a
year marked by turbulence
at home and abroad, trust
in institutions in the United
States crashed, posting the
steepest, most dramatic
decline the Trust Barometer
has ever measured.”
It continued, “It is no
exaggeration to state that
the U.S. has reached a point
of crisis that should provoke
every leader, in government,
business, or civil sector, into
urgent action. Inertia is not an
option, and neither is silence.
The public’s confidence in
the traditional structures of
American leadership is now
fully undermined and has challenge that we will not of the most patriotic actions
been replaced with a strong turn away from. we can take today.
sense of fear, uncertainty and We will continue in our Some may say that the
disillusionment.” mission to maintain a values we cherish are
Its conclusion was strong, successful business becoming increasingly
perhaps most interesting: model based upon an ethics outdated. I would ask them
“Today, business and NGOs of fraternity. And we will to remember the words of
are viewed equally as the continue to promote our Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.:
institutions holding the most values of charity, unity “It is always the right time to
hope for our respondents.” and fraternity as the best do the right thing.”
This places a very special foundation to rebuild trust in Today, we have a unique
responsibility upon the our social and governmental opportunity to bring our
Knights of Columbus as the institutions. Catholic values into both the
greatest Catholic business In fact, working to return marketplace and the public
and fraternal organization these values to the center of square.
in the world. And it is a our national life may be one Vivat Jesus!

The Gentle Warrior An INVITATION to become a

FR. GEORGE J. WILLMANN, SJ FELLOW
By James B. Reuter, SJ THE “Fr. George J. Willmann Fellows” was launched by the Knights
of Columbus Father George J. Willmann Charities, Inc. last June
CHAPTER THREE : Boot Camp 29, 1997 during the Centennial Birth Anniversary celebration of Rev.
Fr. George J. Willmann, S.J. This fund-raising campaign finances
The Priesthood same reason, namely, lack of personnel.” the theological research expenses necessary to possibly raise Fr.
WITH Father Willmann, it was the This was a characteristic mark of Willmann to the honors of the altar. Last December 7, 2015, Manila
justice approach. He would say to the George Willmann — obedience. He Archbishop Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle has officially opened
the Archdiocesan Process for the Causes of Beatification and
boy, dispassionately: “Now this is the certainly wanted the Tondo parish,
Canonization of Fr. George J. Willmann and monthly Ecclesiastical
rule…. And this is what you did….You and he always was concerned with the inquiries are being held at the Manila Metropolitan Tribunal.
broke the rule…. The penalty is this…. poverty of the Filipino farmer, but he Membership to the Fr. Willmann Fellows is open to all Knights
Okay?” The boy, invariably, would think would never act without permission. of Columbus councils, members, their families, friends and
about it and say: “Okay!” One permission which his Jesuit even to business institutions. As of August 2017, more than
And when he left the office of Father Superiors did grant was the request 1,100 individuals and 36 institutions all over the country have
Willmann, he would shake hands. from Archbishop Michael O’Dougherty already joined this fellowship. Father Willmann Fellows serve
George would smile, and the boy would for a marshall, to organize the crowd as co-sponsors in the work of spreading the good news about
smile. of spectators at the International Fr. Willmann’s life, works and holiness. Their donation is a
He came out of the office, feeling good. Eucharistic Congress which was held in lifetime subscription to the initiative of the Knights of Columbus of
He was “friends”. He was “friends” with Manila in 1937. promoting awareness on Father Willmann in order that authentic
devotion to him may be encouraged among the faithful, especially
this gentle, organized, disciplined priest. His Superiors detailed George for
those who need his intercession for God’s grace.
that job. The size of it can be gauged We therefore cordially invite you and your loved ones to join
CHAPTER FOUR from this: George arranged one million the Fr. Willmann Fellows. Aside from being an advocate in
The Knights of Columbus folding chairs, in the shape of a fan, spreading the sanctity of Father Willmann and the graces that
1. Chaplain around the altar in the Luneta, under come with it, each Fellow is entitled to receive the following items
Teaching at the Ateneo, George was “Auspiciously, about that time, the open sky. He was in charge, not as memorabilia: (1) a Certificate of Membership, (2) a lapel pin
a little restless. It was not that he did Archbishop O’Dougherty of Manila only of the physical arrangements, but and (3) a pamphlet entitled “A Quest for a Cause of Fr. George
not have enough to do. He had more spontaneously asked me to start a new of handling the crowd. This was done as J. Willmann, S.J.”. We further urge you to fervently seek Fr.
work than any normal man would dare parish in Tondo and allocated 5000 an extra-curricular activity, at the same Willmann’s intercession in all your petitions for God’s graces and
handle. But he felt that his most effective square meters of church property in time that he was Dean of Discipline at to report to the Foundation all blessings you may have received
with the intercession of Fr. Willmann.
place was not the school. This is how he Tondo for this purpose. That was about the Ateneo, Treasurer, Revisor of the
himself described it: one kilometer from the old Tondo parish whole Philippine Mission, teaching two KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS
“I asked to be relieved of my work in church. When I broached the offer to my subjects in college, and moderating FR. GEORGE J. WILLMANN CHARITIES, INC.
the Ateneo in order to help a little the Jesuit Superior, he answered that it could Catholic Action at U.P. Gen. Luna cor. Sta. Potenciana Sts., Intramuros, Manila
ghetto work with the poor of Manila. My not be accepted for lack of personnel. His blood sister, Ruth, was a nun in Tel. Nos. 527-2223 local 221 & 527-2244 (Fax)
reason for requesting this was the uneven “Another offer was received, asking Mindanao at that time — a Franciscan
distribution of spiritual attention to the me to start a farm school. The offer was Missionary of Mary, based in Oroquieta. APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP
to FATHER GEORGE J. WILLMANN, S.J. FELLOW
hundreds of thousands of poor people in made by Mr. Vicente Araneta. He said She came up to Manila at that time, and
Manila. For 2000 students at the Ateneo that the Araneta family would donate a wrote this about her brother, who was in 1. Name of Applicant (individual or institution):
de Manila, they had about 30 Jesuits and hundred thousand pesos and 50 hectares charge of everything in the Luneta. _________________________________________________
Scholastics and many laymen. Whereas of farm land for the projected new “Imagine the details! The ushers, 2. Address: _________________________________________
a single parish in Tondo had only two school and that the Jesuits would have programs, music, marching order, police Tel. Nos. ______________________________________
or three priests for perhaps a hundred absolute control of the school with only regulations, route planning, singing in 3. Office Name & Address: ______________________________
thousand parishioners. one condition, that it be named Araneta- unison, moving in lines of eight without Tel. Nos. __________________________________________
4. K of C Council Number and Location: ____________________
“I felt that the best way to help the poor Zaragoza School in memory of deceased gaps between rows — and at least a 5. Enclosure: _________________________________________
in Manila would be to work in a parish in parents. However, this project was also million people! (to be continued on [ ] Cash P ____________ [ ] PMO/check No.___________
a poor neighborhood. turned down by my Superiors for the the next issue) (Note: Please make check payable to KC Fr. George J. Willmann
Charities, Inc.)
Knights / C1
Date: ______________________________________________
participated by the different jurisdiction attended the event 17, 2018 that started at the Unborn Child were turned Signature: __________________________________________
KofC councils and other lay with the representatives from Immaculate Conception over to Rev. Fr. Aris Sison,
and religious organizations KCFAPI. The group headed Cathedral, Cubao, Quezon rector of the cathedral and
within the diocese. Meanwhile, up to Parañaque City Gym to City. In his speech, Bro. Rev. Fr. Carlos Lariosa, rector
the Diocese of Talibon held the celebrate a Holy Mass. It was Reyes stated that the Walk of the mission seminary. On Pondering the Words / C2
event last March 10, 2018. Most presided by Most Rev. Jesse E. for Life is a Celebration of the same day, a Walk for Life
Rev. Daniel Patrick Parcon, Mercado, D.D., S.T.L., bishop Love: love of life; love of was also held at the Diocese casting His last breath. With let us reflect on the Love
D.D. actively participated of the Diocese of Parañaque family; love of marriage and of Bangued, Abra led by Bro. all of these, as Jesus stayed given to us by God through
during the event. The Diocese with Rev. Msgr. Pedro C. love of country. Most Rev. Josefino Valencia. firm in faith with the Father, the incarnation of His Son in
of Tagbilaran, on the other Quitorio III, KCFAPI Spiritual Honesto F. Ongtioco, D.D., The advocacy of Life Mary’s unfathomable faith the womb of a woman named
hand will have its Walk for Life Director and other priests presided the Holy Mass with in which the Order of the also remained as she hoped Mary, the Resurrected Jesus
on March 24, 2018. from the jurisdiction. It was some concelebrants within Knights of Columbus was on what her Son said as the Christ, the lamb that was slain
LUZON SOUTH followed by a short program the jurisdiction. After the duly founded will always be fulfilment of the Scriptures, for the salvation of mankind,
JURISDICTION – Last March to instil the “Value of Life” to Mass, the walk, which was the primordial aim of every that He will be raised on the great king over all the
10, 2018, the Luzon South those who attended the event. participated by brother member and will be handed the third day. The motherly earth, the Lord of lords, the
Jurisdiction with its State LUZON NORTH knights, distinct church over from generation to love of Mary became Jesus’ God of gods who lives forever
Deputy and KCFAPI President JURISDICTION – Luzon and local organizations and generation. The Philippine strength to embrace and to and ever, Amen. The Lord has
Ramoncito A. Ocampo held its North Deputy, Supreme KCFAPI representatives, State Deputies will always be give the fullness of love to conquered! Alleluia!
Walk for Life which started at Director and KCFAPI started towards the covered the principal executor of this mankind. That is why it is not “And now, faith, hope and
Santana Grove Park Parañaque Chairman Jose C. Reyes, Jr. basketball court of Christ the advocacy and will be steadfast only Jesus who suffered, Mary love abide, these three; and
City. Brother Knights and commenced the jurisdiction’s King Mission Seminary. As in promoting the Value of Life. also does. the greatest of these if Love.”
some organizations within the Walk for Life last March a thanksgiving, icons of the (JSServiento) As we enter the holy days, (1 Cor. 13:13)
A Brother’s Insight / C2

have even attended speech
clinics. I don’t think this is
necessary. They just need to
speak clearly and audibly.
The Choir is also a major
factor in the celebration of
the Mass. They could make
the Mass lively and more
meaningful if the songs are
right and sung properly.
But such is not the case.
Some choirs are making their
stint in the mass as if they
are holding a concert. They
also tamper with the sound
system to increase the echo
so their music would sound
good. They couldn’t care less
if the voice of the priest, the
commentator and lectors
would sound bad as speaking
voices do not need too much
echo. And if a priest says a
“Canta Misa”, most of the
choirs will not be able to
follow as most of them do
not have Latin songs as part
of their repertoire. Come to
think of it, all choirs should
know all the basic Latin
songs before they could be
considered a church choir.
The Sacristans are also
committing some bad habits
which are not very obvious.
One by one, they would
leave the altar especially on
homilies. They seem to be
restless at times and tend
to move a lot rather than be
more attentive to the needs
of the priest. There are times
too that they are not properly
attired. They are only in
their round neck t-shirts.
Sacristans like these lack
the necessary discipline and
respect in the celebration of
the mass.
And of course, last but not
the least, the Lay Ministers.
In some churches they
do not join the opening
procession at the start of
the Mass. They will only
make their appearance just
before communion is to be
distributed. Are they not part
of the Mass? Are they not
required to fully participate
in the celebration of the
Mass?
All other servers of the
Mass, the Commentator,
the Lectors, the Choir, the
Sacristans and all other
servers in the Mass are in the
Mass from beginning to end.
It is only the lay ministers
who are not.
The differences by which
these mass servers conduct
themselves could be the
difference between a well
celebrated mass and a
perfunctory mass. I hope
that they could standardize
their participation in the
Mass constantly seeking on
how to refine and improve
their different roles and
not merely perform their
duties routinely, hastily and
superficially.
C4 March 19 - April 1, Vol 22, No. 6 THE CROSS

KCFC celebrates its 4th year anniversary

THE Kompass Credit and Credit Financing
Corporation (KCFC), a majority owned
company of the Knights of Columbus
Fraternal Association of the Philippines,
Inc. (KCFAPI), celebrated its 4th year
of excellent fraternal service with the
celebration of the Holy Mass presided by
KCFAPI Spiritual Director Rev. Msgr. Pedro
C. Quitorio III at the Fr. George J. Willmann
Chapel, Intramuros, Manila.
The Holy Mass was attended by the KCFC
Board of Directors led by its Chairman and
PPCRV Chairperson Rene V. Sarmiento,
Vice Chairman Arsenio Isidro G. Yap and
President Pascual C. Carbero. Also present
were its Treasurer Elmer Z. Eroles, Director
and former Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide,
Jr., Executive Vice President Ma. Theresa
G. Curia, KCFAPI officers, employees and
brother knights.
“All Christian people are mandated to
Christianize business,” Msgr. Quitorio
stated in his homily. He also said that just
like the visions of K of C’s founder, the
Venerable Fr. Michael J. McGivney, all
facets of human concerns and endeavors
are given focus.
In addition, Msgr. Quitorio emphasized
that “Not all business must operate just for
the sake of business. We are doing business
to transform and transcend business in the
way towards God.”
After the Mass, Bro. Carbero thanked
everyone for the support they have given
to KCFC for the previous and the coming
years. He also applauded KCFC Manager
Aileen D. Millan and Staff Patrick Joseph
Piniano for their hardwork within the
corporation.
An agape followed to commence the
celebration. (JSServiento) The celebration of the Holy Mass in thanksgiving of KCFC’s 4th year anniversary at the Fr. Willmann Chapel.

KCFAPI goes to Baguio

The KCFAPI employees together with Executive Vice President Ma. Theresa Curia at The Mansion, Baguio City. KAYNGCO

THE KCFAPI summer
outing was held in Baguio
City last March 3 and 4,
2018. There were a total of
45 employees who joined
the outing. Truly, we are
expecting a day to distress
and leave the busy streets
of Manila even for awhile
to relax.
We reached the
destination at a little past
6:00 AM. Our first stop
was at the villa where
we would be spending
the night. After a hearty
breakfast, we proceeded
to La Trinidad, Benguet
where we went to the
strawberry farms. On the
way back to Baguio City,
we passed by the Valley
of Colors wherein a valley
of homes are painted in
beautiful bright colours
heading to Burnham Park
where we spent an hour
of recreation. We had our
lunch at Good Taste which
was just a stone throw
away from the park.
After which, the group
proceeded to The Mansion;
a vacation house built for
our country’s president,
where our official
photographers took some
group pictures. We then
went to Mines View Park
where we took photos
with the great view. No
visit to Baguio would be
complete without going to
Good Shepherd, a convent
where they prepare and
sell goodies such as
the famous Ube Jam to
help send the Cordillera
youth to School. Then
we proceeded to the Lost
Cemetery of Negativism
in Camp John Hay
then to Our Lady of the
Atonement Cathedral or
the Baguio Cathedral to
celebrate the Holy Mass.
After the dinner, we went
back to the villa to have our
fellowship. The gentlemen
shared their experiences
while the ladies had an
early night since they did
a lot of walking and buying
stuff.
Before heading back
to Manila, we proceeded
to a small market near
the villa to buy additional
pasalubong. To commence
the day, our Executive Vice
President, Ma. Theresa
Curia, treated us to a cup
of coffee.
The KCFAPI summer
outing 2018 is milestone in
the almost 60 year history
of KCFAPI. It has built a
deep sense of friendship,
camaraderie, bonding
and new experience.
Congratulations to a job
well done for the summer
outing committee! I can’t
wait to find out where
we head to next! Have
an awesome summer
everyone! (Erwin John
B. Mallari)