VOLUME 20, NUMBER 3, JANUARY 26, 2016

IN THIS ISSUE:
Group helps deaf IEC
pilgrims evangelize, A2
IEC proves Church is
for all - priest, A3
Priest to faithful: Pray
for IEC, A3

2nd day of the

51st International
Eucharistic Congress:
A synthesis, A7

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma blesses one of the statues of Jesus inside the Eukaristia Garden, located inside the Archbishops Residence in Cebu City, Jan. 25, 2016. With its iconic features, including a
14-meter monolithic structure called the The Cross Tower, the Eukaristia Garden is the citys newest landmark and a memorable feature of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress. ROY LAGARDE

Cardinal Zen: Pray for Chinas

persecuted Christians
By Rommel Lopez

JOSEPH Cardinal
Zen Ze-kiun, SDB,
appealed to delegates of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress to
remember in their
prayers the persecuted Christians,
especially those in
his homeland, China.
Reflecting on the catechesis presented by Archbishop
Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte,
OFM, DD, on the congress
theme Christ in You, Our
Hope of Glory, Cardinal
Zen says it is fortunate that
the IEC delegates heard
about the message, the
mission to proclaim and
witness the suffering.
Zen noted that when
the faithful at the Opening

Mass prayed for the persecuted Christians in the

Middle East and in African
countries, he asked that the
Christians of China be also
remembered.
They [Chinese Christians] are still in deep waters, in burning fire, a terrible reality.
The Bishop emeritus of
Hong Kong said his presence in the international
gathering is to show how
our martyrs in China in
recent history give splendid
witness to Jesus. He alluded to the fact that he was
called to give a testimony
during the morning session
of the second day of the IEC.
Witnesses par excellence
But who most deserve to
be called witnesses, the witness to the truth that Christ
is our hope of glory? I think
they are the witnesses par

excellence, the martyrs.

They [Chinese Christians] believe in Him as
their redeemer, the One
who died on the Cross, who
renews His supreme sacrifice on the Cross in the
Eucharist, the one who gives
the fullness of His Spirit,
and so introduced us into an
abundant life, a life of love
and of glory.
The outspoken critic of
the Communist government of China said Chinese
Christians continue to suffer
religious persecutions in the
mainland.
He recalled how the
atheist regime introduced
into the educational system
an indoctrination to communist ideology, training
children to have an eventual disdain of religion, and
particularly of the Church.
But he said there is a
hope that even though the
Church in China became a

silent church, fortunately,

the silence is not immediately complete.
Awakened people
He recalled how the regime thought that the indoctrination was complete,
a meeting among the teachers, students and principals
was called to denounce the
foreign missionaries and the
papal nuncio as imperialists and so demand their
expulsion from the country.
When the assembly was
asked to raise their hands
in approval, a young priest,
who camouflaged as a representative of one of the
Salesian schools, calmly
stood up and declared It
is not allowed for us to declare ourselves against the
Church, against the Pope,
against the successor of St.
Peter, against who represents Christ in our Church,
he shared.

He said the whole assembly was shocked at the

public display of the priests
faith but it also awakened
the people.
That lonely voice caused
the shock, he said.
The cardinal added that
the priest and his confreres
disappeared that day. He
said the priests died in prison.
He also recalled the big
persecution of Sept. 8, 1955
in Shanghai where more
than a thousand Christians
among them the late Bishop
Ignatius Kung Pin-Mei and
hundreds of priests were
rounded up and arrested
for refusing to cooperate
with the Communist government and be under the
government-approved Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association.
False accusations
During the public trial,

Pray, A2

Marini: Christians are called Radcliffe: Im not pro-gay marriage

to constant conversion
CEBU City, Jan. 24,
2016--We need to be
like St. Paul and convert
our lives, directing it to
witness to Gods love and
presence.
This was the message
during the Mass celebrating the Solemnity of the
Conversion of St. Paul on
the second day of the 51st
International Eucharistic
Congress (IEC), given by
Archbishop Piero Marini,
president of the Pontifical
Committee on International Eucharistic Congresses.
The life of St. Paul has
something to say to each
of us for we, too, are called
to constant conversion to
the love of Jesus Christ,
he said.
Apostle to the Gentiles
The prelate emphasized
the conversion of the
Apostle to the Gentiles
and the mission of Catholics to live a life of faith.

Marini stressed to the

faithful gathered at the
packed IEC Pavilion that
the faithful need to follow
the apostles example of
having a constant conversion that leads to witnessing.
He noted how the saint
turned his life of sin to a
life of Christ by discovering the real person of
Christ.
Marini recounted how
St. Paul spent time getting to know Christ by
studying the Scriptures,
which soon led him to a
life of mission.
He spent years deepening His faith by studying
the Scriptures and became a tireless missionary
throughout the Mediterranean, he said.
The former master of
Pontifical liturgical celebrations said the life of
the apostle encourages the
faithful to a life channeling
Christ into the world, a
life fully responsive to the

love and sacrifice of Jesus

Christ, a life of full surrender to Gods will.
Free prisoner of love
As a free prisoner of
the love of Christ, St. Paul
wanted to be closely conformed to His Law: [He
said] I bear in my body the
death of Jesus, so that in
my body the life of Jesus
may also be revealed,
echoed Marini.
With Apostle Paul, may
we, too, [may] be able
to say: the life I will live
is not my own, Christ is
living in me. It is a life of
faith in the Son of God
who loves me and gave
Himself for me, added
the prelate.
Marini was formerly in
charge of the Liturgical
Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff. For twenty years, he had been by
the side of Popes John
Paul II and Benedict XVI.
(Chrixy Paguirigan /
CBCPNews)

CEBU City, Jan. 25, 2016 Fr.

Timothy Radcliffe, O.P. continues to generate buzz even if he
has retired as master-general
of the 800-year-old Dominican
Order. This is partly because
of the controversial preachers
calls for the Church to be more
welcoming of gay people.
As one of the headline speakers of the 51st International
Eucharistic Congress (IEC), he

probably didnt imagine that the

IEC would be where he could
clarify his much-discussed position on the issue.
One with the Church
Journalists asked the 70-year
old British Dominican, if he supported gay marriage. Radcliffe
said the Churchs position was
also his.
In fact, my position on gay

marriage is the Churchs. People

like to try to find scandal. They
love to be shocked. Some people
are never so happy as when they
are shocked, Radcliffe told reporters following his concurrent
session on The Christian Virtue
of Hope at the IEC Pavilion.
If you look at what I said, I
never approved of gay marriage.
I only said the community must
Marriage, A2

Catholic nuns pose in front of a sign promoting the 51st International Eucharistic Congress in Cebu City, Jan. 25, 2016. ROY LAGARDE

A2 NEWS

January 26, 2016 Vol. 20, No. 3

Group helps deaf IEC pilgrims evangelize

CEBU City, Jan. 25, 2016
Proclaim the Good
News. Use words when
necessary, runs a quoted attributed to St. Francis of Assisi.
But in the case of Filipino and foreign volunteers interpreting for
aurally challenged delegates to the ongoing 51st
International Eucharistic
Congress (IEC) in Cebu
City, not even verbal
language was needed:
They let their hands do
what their mouths and
tongues cant.
Terry OMeara, an interpreter for the International Catholic Foundation of the Service of Deaf
Person (ICF), pointed
out the hearing-impaired
persons ICF caters to are
now able to go out and be
agents for Christ.
Empowering
...This is empowering
them to be missionaries themselves so I am
thrilled for that opportunity, she explained.
Its the most beautiful
part about being here
with the deaf community. to allow deaf people
that wish to be part of
this not only to participate, but to be agents

CBCP Monitor

Marian devotees IEC

wish: More conversions
CEBU City, Jan. 25, 2016
Marian devotee Sally
Pepito has committed to
praying for more conversions on the next few
days of the ongoing 51st
International Eucharistic
Congress (IEC) in Cebu.
With this IEC, I pray
that many more people
will get converted, the
54-year old mother of
four told CBCP News in
an interview.
Herself a convert, Pepito said at her age she
was no longer interested
in praying for her own
intentions, but for others, especially when their
salvation is concerned.
Whenever Im inside
the adoration chapel, I
ask God that more people
will be saved, she said.

Filipino and foreign volunteers translate words of the Mass for hearing-impaired delegates of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC). ANGIE DE SILVA

of that catechesis, she

explained.
Inspiring, joyful experience
Unbelievably beautiful. Very inspiring and
so joyful. Its a great
privilege to be here. Its
wonderful, exclaimed
OMeara after leadinZ

Proof of OMearas
dedication is the fact that
she has been doing this
for some 30 years now.
Her movement, ICF, is
a communion of people
from various countries
united by Holy Spirit
out of the conviction
that hearing impaired
individuals are called to

the fullness of life in the

Church.
Pastoral care
It aims to push for the
religious formation and
pastoral care of, with, and
by deaf people within the
Catholic community.
The foundation, moreover, offers supports to

chaplains, pastoral workers, and catechists, and

seeks ways to share the
wealth of their vocation
with other members of
Christs Body and society
to achieve a fuller expression of Eucharistic communion. (Raymond
A. Sebastin / CBCP
News)

Embrace your humanity, faithful told

CEBU City, Jan. 25, 2016 A
Catholic priest facilitating one
of the concurrent sessions of the
ongoing 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) at the
Waterfront Hotel in Cebu City
on Monday reminded delegates
not to downplay their humanity
as if it is a fault but to be unapologetic about it like Christ.
Dont say I am only human.
That is the best thing about
you, stressed Fr. Francis Moloney in his talk dubbed The
Word of God, Jesus Christ, and
the Eucharist: Christian Hope in
the Secularizing World.
According to him, people who
tend to excuse themselves for
being only human are actually
guilty of manifesting animallike responses.
Sublime humanity
He pointed out this cannot
be the attitude of someone who
attempts to put on the values
taught by Jesus Christ given that
God Himself became human.
In his nearly hour-long reflection, the Salesian stressed
that being human is essentially

An IEC delegate receives the sacrament of Reconciliation at the IEC Pavilion, Jan. 25, 2016.
ROY LAGARDE

a journey towards divinity, or

what he called deification.
Moreover, he said when people regularly sin they fail to
respond to the presence of
that which is sublime in their

humanity.
He added that selfishness,
arrogance, jealousy, pride, overindulgence in basic urges do not
make humans human but the
opposite.

Potential Jesuses
The priest went on to lament
that many Catholics opt not to
identify with Jesus humanity,
considering that He is very
much like us, except in sin.
It was as a human that He
loved, He hoped, He sang, He
danced, He prayed, He interacted with other humans in
creative ways, and He suffered,
he said.
Moloney recalled that acts
commonly taken for granted
like loving, hoping, singing,
dancing, praying, interaction,
and suffering among many
others are things humans
share with Jesus, and that in
a way humans are potential
Jesuses.
We are irrevocably marked
by the Divine. We yearn for our
Divine home for which we are
created, he explained.
You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are
restless until they rest in you,
the Salesian added, borrowing
the words of St. Augustine.
(Raymond A. Sebastin /
CBCP News)

Pray, A1

the bishop was accused of all sorts

of crimes. When the bishop was
asked to confess his sins, with his
hands tied behind his back, the
bishop shouted into the microphone Long live Christ the King.
Zen said there was from the crowd
some timid voice which was then
joined by the entire crowd shouting: Long live Christ the King!
Long live our bishop!
It was certainly the courage
coming from the Holy Spirit, he
said.
Kung Pin-Mei was eventually
created cardinal in pectore by
St. John Paul II in 1979. A pope
declares a cardinal in pectore,
Latin for in the heart, to protect
the nominated cardinal and his
congregation if they are in a hostile
situation. Kung Pin-Mei learned of
his appointment in 1998 during a
private meeting with the Pope in
Vatican City in 1988, and his membership in the College of Cardinals
made public in 1991. The cardinal
died in exile in the Stamford, Con-

Deepening of faith
According to her, IEC
will enable her to do precisely this as well as to
pursue what she considers
to be the deepening of
my faith in Jesus Christ,
calling the event the peak
of my experience.
As a member of the
World Apostolate of Fatima (WAF), she regularly
visits the Blessed Sacrament.
We have overnight
vigils once a month. We
must devote time to the
Blessed Sacrament at
least 15 minutes a day. As
part of our First Saturday
devotions, we are also
required to spend time
before the Blessed Sacrament, shared Pepito.
Jesus within ones
reach
According to her, being inside the adoration
chapel facing the exposed
host is one of those treasured moments she feels
the Lord actually present.
Its like Jesus is just
within my reach, she
noted.
Pepito, a secretary to
the president of the University of Cebu, described
her own conversion as a
180-degree turn.
I was a non-practicing
Catholic before. I got really converted in 2005.
At first, I had so many
illnesses. I was so sickly
before I got into this organization, she explained.
IEC volunteer
When I got into this

54-year old Marian devotee Sally

Pepito of Basak, Mandaue City,
volunteers at the ongoing 51 st
International Eucharistic Congress
(IEC) in Cebu to be able to deepen
her faith in the Lord and to pray
for more conversions. RAYMOND A.
SEBASTIN

into this org in 2005 I have

already forgotten about my
sickness. Its as if nothing
happened, like everything
is back to normal. There
must have been a miracle
somehow, but only God
knows, she added.
Pepito and fellow WAF
members were tasked
to serve as collectors for
the opening Mass of the
IEC as well as other IEC
Masses henceforth.
I contribute whatever
I can. We are mobilizing
the WAF as collectors.
In all events of IEC here
in Cebu we take charge
in the collection during
Mass, she said.
Rare privilege
For middle-age Catholics like her, attending
the religious gathering
is something she cannot afford to miss since
she never knows for sure
when it will happen again
in Cebu.
We are very privileged
that for the first time we
are able to experience this
kind of event. But this
would be the first and last
time that I would attend
the IEC. The last IEC held
in the Philippines was in
1937. And that was 79
years ago. I dont think
I will be able to reach 79
more years, she said.
Pepito, meanwhile,
called on fellow Cebuanos
to share their time and
energy for the success of
the IEC and to grab the
opportunity it presents to
be better Catholics.
We have to get involved in whatever activities in our parish and in
our organizations, she
said. (Raymond A. Sebastin / CBCP News)

Marriage, A1

necticut in 2000.
Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma
said Zen reminds us that faith is a
gift and it has many dimensions.
Listening to him makes me
feel how privileged we are that
we can practice our faith, without
the threat of martyrdom because
martyrdom is very real to some
people, he said.
Fr. Jose Quilongquilong, SJ a
member of the International Theological Commission, reflecting on
the testimony of the cardinal, said
that to simply proclaim the faith is
not enough. It is to be lived out,
he said.
Cardinal Zen showed through
his testimony how the Chinese
Christians continue to live out the
faith in the midst of the continuing
persecution.
Need for gratitude
Palma, the chairman of the National IEC Committee, noted that
some Filipinos may take practicing the faith for granted, noting

how easy Mass is available. We

have so many opportunities yet it
is also true that we become very
complacent, we can take things for
granted.
People should be truly grateful, should be truly happy for this
privilege and should really live out
this privilege, he said.
Zen said the belief that the
Church is the communion of the
faithful, the Mystical Body of
Christ, unites the faithful spiritually and should encourage believers to support one another through
prayer.
Our prayers especially our adoration of the Eucharistic Lord will
give hope to these our brothers and
sisters and after the cross there is
the resurrection, after the tribulations, there will be glory and joy
eternal, he said.
In an earlier press briefing, Palma lamented how some Christians
were unable to register for the IEC
due their communist government
denying their applications to travel.

be open to gay people as Pope Francis

said, as my own cardinal-archbishop in
England (Vincent Nichols) says, he said.
We must be open to welcome anybody but I never said I believe in gay
marriage. But you see some people like
to sniff out (a person) and usually its
their own invention, added Radcliffe.
8th centenary
Radcliffes profile is again rising in
the Church, after Pope Francis appointed him consultor to the Pontifical
Council for Justice and Peace in March
last year. In England, where the Dominicans are known as the Blackfriars, he is
the director of the Las Casas Institute,
a research center named after Bartolome de las Casas, who fought Spanish
colonizers in behalf of oppressed native
Americans in the 16th century.
The Dominicans are celebratingthe
eight centenary of their foundation this
year, and the Vatican has proclaimed a
jubilee to mark the historic occasion. As
Dominican master-general from 19922001, Radcliffe travelled extensively,
and helped obtain NGO status for his

order at the United Nations.

What disappoints Radcliffe, who has
been criticized for celebrating Masses
for Londons gay community, on how
gay people are treated?
Greatest sign of hope
I think people always want to know
what theyre doing in bed. Whats in it
for me to go around asking what theyre
doing in bed? I dont do that, he said.
Everybodys on their journey and
Pope Francis said, who am I to judge?
So I think all we do is we help people as
they journey towards God, each person
in their own way. I must be a help, I
mustnt be a hindrance.
In his IEC talk, Radcliffe said hope
could be found in children. Teaching
the young is one of the greatest signs of
hope, he said.
He also lamented efforts to curb
population, citing the problems brought
by aging societies. According to him,
however, the bigger problem is the
growing inequality between the rich
and the poor. (Felipe Francisco /
CBCP News)

CBCP Monitor

NEWS A3

January 26, 2016 Vol. 20, No. 3

IEC proves Church is for all priest Calungsod musical

goes to IEC

An estimated 12,000 delegates are gathered in Cebu City for the 51st Eucharistic International Congress (IEC), Jan. 25, 2016. MARIA TAN

CEBU City, Jan. 25, 2016 A Catholic

priest-theologian taking part in the
ongoing 51st International Eucharistic
Congress (IEC) said on Sunday, Jan.
24, that the religious gathering proves
that the Catholic Church is a Church
for all people.
These people are coming from all over.
It is a manifestation of the universality of
the Church, and how the Eucharist really
brings us together in a very concrete manner, Fr. Gerard Francisco P. Timoner III,
O.P., told CBCP News in an interview.
The prior provincial of the Philippine

Dominicans was commenting on the

droves of local and foreign pilgrims
from at least 71 countries who braved
the afternoon heat to attend the IEC
opening Mass presided over by Yangon
Archbishop Charles Maung Cardinal
Bo at Cebu Citys Plaza Independencia.
And of course it [Eucharist] is the
presence of Christ, he added.
Timoner, a member of the current International Theological Commission (ITC),
went on to point out that the Eucharist
cannot be a point of division given that it
is a celebration of the unity of the Church.

We cannot particularize it because

its universal. It is for all, he explained.
According to the priest from Bicol,
the Real Presence of Jesus is what St.
Thomas of Aquinas calls reality as a
Sacrament.
But the reality, the grace itself, is
communion, he noted.
Timoner pointed out that the grace
of the Eucharist is impeded if there is
division as well as fractures that run
across families, communities, and the
society. (Raymond A. Sebastin /
CBCP News)

Priest to faithful: Pray for IEC

TACLOBAN City, Jan. 25,
2016 As the 51st International Eucharistic Congress
commenced on Sunday, Jan.
24, a professor-priest in a
seminary in the Archdiocese
of Palo calls on the faithful to
pray for its success.
Fr. Ivo Velasquez urged
the people to also remember
in their prayers the fruits of
the IEC.
In his homily at the iconic
Sto. Nio Church this city this
morning, the youthful priest
talked about the essence of
understanding the substance
of the Eucharist, which the
people should learn to live by.
Christ with us
In the Eucharist, Christ is
truly with us, he said referring to the Holy Host and
the Wine.
These are not symbols of
the Lord, but Christ Himself
present, stressed Velasquez.
He added this is why Catholics should not take the Holy
Mass for granted.
The Holy Mass, being the
highest form of prayer, cannot just be substituted by
any prayer said outside the
structural church, according
to Velasquez.
We come to church not to
listen to opinions but to listen
to Gods word, he added.
Chosen

Nuns meditate before the Blessed Sacrament at the IEC chapel, Jan. 25, 2016.

Velasquez underscored
the inclusion of every baptized Christian in the Body
of Christ.
We are here as a church,
a community of Gods people
coming together not by our
own choice or by our own
selection but by Gods will,
he stressed.
Velasquez, who is also spiritual director and formator
of several faith groups in the
archdiocese, expounded on
the role that each person undertakes in the Church.
We are all chosen to be
part of the Church and each

ROY LAGARDE

one of us plays a part, especially in spreading the Word

of God, he stated.
More than the structure
It is not this structure that
constitutes the Church which
could be destroyed but all of
us gathered here, he spoke
reiterating the message of
Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle
at the celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of the Diocese of
Palo held at the then typhoonwrecked Palo Metropolitan
Cathedral in November 2013.
This fact, he said, is best
understood by regular par-

ticipation in the Holy Mass

and in understanding more
deeply the significance of the
Holy Eucharist in mans life.
In the Archdiocese of Palo,
the clergy are attending the
IEC in two batches, according
to Fr. Ric Marpa, Chancellor
of the Archdiocese of Palo.
Church workers and volunteers have also registered
to be participants in the said
gathering, which Marpa described as another worthwhile experience among
Catholics. (Eileen Nazareno-Ballesteros / CBCP
News)

Singing for the Eucharistic King

CEBU City, Jan. 25, 2016 Who else is
a more prominent, eminent audience
than the King Himself? The Coro de
San Jacinto, which sang at the Opening
Mass presided over by the Papal legate
Cardinal Charles Maung Bo in Plaza
Independencia on Sunday, Jan. 24, sang
their hearts out as the Mass chorale.
The chorale director, Fr. Ranhilio Aquino, considered it a blessing to be chosen
to sing for the Mass and said it is an opportunity to serve, grow, and express.
Its a part of [the] formation serving the Lord in liturgy and promoting
culture through music, said Aquino.
An honor
For the choir, it is a humbling opportunity to be chosen to
serve the Lord on a grand scale.
We feel great, we feel honored, but
more importantly its a prayerful moment for us to be able to sing in honor
of the Eucharistic King, added Aquino.
Every one of the singers spared
no time in preparing for the congress, training for an entire year
We knew this about one year ago,
so we have been preparing since that
time, the songs are in a sense not
completely new, because much of

The Coro de San Jacinto sings during the IEC Opening Mass at Plaza Independencia, Jan. 24, 2016. MARIA TAN

this comes from the Popes Mass

last year. This choir took part in the
Papal Grand Choir, he explained.
Not just a choir, a family
A description on the Coro de San Jacinto Facebook page says that upon finding their place as a choir for the Lord,
they also found themselves a family.
We rehearse at least once a week,
each of us taking time out of professional and family engagements to bond
together. We are not only a band of
performers; we are members of a truly

MANDAUE CITY
COLLEGE
Dr. Paulus Mariae L. Caete
President

large family, reads the description.

The Coro de San Jacinto has performed
around the world, from local to international, from Batac City, Laoag City,
Baguio City, Tacloban City, and Davao
City to the UST Auditorium, San Beda
College, and even at the Supreme Court.
Overseas they have presented in
Easter Cantata at St. Johns Cathedral, Kuala Lumpur; at the University
Chorale Festival of the University of
Macau; Busan City, South Korea;
and in Rome at St. Peters Basilica.
(Chrixy Paguirigan / CBCP News)

Daughters of CharitySt. Louise De Marillac

Educational System

The Teen Saint Pedro cast during dress rehearsals at the IEC Pavilion, Jan. 9, 2016
EMER GUINGON

CEBU City, Jan. 25, 2016

Performing again after a
long hiatus, the cast of the
hit musical Teen Saint Pedro
(TSP) wowed International
Eucharistic Congress (IEC)
delegates with a performance
on Jan. 25 and will again do
so on Jan. 26, 7:00 p.m. at the
Cebu Waterfront hotel.
By Gods graces and blessings, we can share TSP again,
said Chris Fernandez, a member of the musicals technical
team.
IEC pressure
This is the first performance after Tito Bobs passing
[in October 2014], so this is
quite exciting and emotional.
Exciting because it is done in
with international exposure.
[Imagine, IEC!]Makisig
[Morales] flew in from Australia just for this, explained
Fernandez, who is a leader
of Couples for Christ and a
member of the singing group
29 A.D.
He admitted the cast and
crew feel the pressure of performing for the IEC delegates.
Fernandez said those who
may have seen the show before can expect something
new from the TSPs IEC run,

especially under the creative

styling of a new director in the
person of Dr. Jerry Respeto.
According to Tricia Mae
Barretto, who plays a villager
and a catechist in the play, TSP
now is so much better, super
enhanced now.
Respeto added new choreography and gave the cast
theater workshops to prepare
for their Cebu run.
God is our director
According to TSP producer
Aileen Serrano, wife of the
late Bob Serrano, the shows
creator and last director, the
show continues even with
the passing of the man who
started it all.
[We are] missing Bob but
we know Bob always said:
God is our director, explained Serrano in an interview with CBCP News.
The Jan. 25, Monday run
was for the paying public while
the Jan. 26, Tuesday show will
be for IEC delegates. TSP is a
musical on the life and death
of the Philippines second
saint, St. Pedro Calungsod, a
young catechist who died on
mission in what is modernday Guam. (Nirvaana Ella
Delacruz / CBCP News)

A4 OPINION

January 26, 2016 Vol. 20, No. 3

CBCP Monitor

EDITORIAL

SEIZING the euphoria of the Opening Mass of the 51st

International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) officiated by
the Papal legate, Charles Maung Cardinal Bo, at the
Plaza Independencia, Cebu City last Sunday, Jan. 24,
the series of conferences on the second day opened
with an hour-long catechism by the Most Rev. Miguel
Cabrejos Vidarte, OFM, DD, Archbishop of Trujillo,
Peru. Reflecting on Col. 1:24-29, the Peruvian Archbishop Pope Francis call to build not only a Church
with open doors, but one which goes out, calls, chooses,
and sends
In the world of business, there is the traditional Market Behavior Theory X which says that people simply go
to the market. The longer the store hours, the more the
sales. In recent times, a new paradigm has revolutionized
the world of business. Market Behavior Theory Y insists
that the market should go to the people. This is the business philosophy behind fastfood delivery system.
Keeping abreast of this paradigm shift, the call of Pope
Francis, reiterated by Archbishop Vidarte, to have not
only a Church with open doors, but one which goes out
to the peripheries is, in fact, life-changing, a tall order
for all of us in Church: lay faithful, religious, priests,
and bishops.
The Most Rev. Piero Marini succinctly stressed, One
is not born a Christian. One becomes a Christian. This
insight buttressed Cardinal Bos earlier statement, the
Mass of the devotee ends in an hour. The Mass of the
disciple is unending.

The Eucharist in the Churchs

dialogue with cultures
WHILE Asia is home to a wide variety of cultures, values,
and traditions, there are cultural elements that are common among them: close family ties, filial reverence, family meals, sacredness of Gods word (deposited in sacred
writings), hospitality, and leadership exercised as service
and readiness to sacrifice, among others. In the concrete
context of Asia, the Eucharist is a potent starting point for
the mission of reaching out to its many peoples, as well
as the goal to aspire for in the same mission. The Asian
people will have no difficulty seeing in the Eucharistic
celebration the values they hold dear in common.
The Eucharist as meal very clearly upholds family relationship and hospitality so highly valued by most Asian
people. It will be fruitful to present the Eucharist as the
family meal where God gathers his children together to
feed them with his Word and with the Body of his Son,
a meal where the children are able to thank and praise
their Father for his immense love for them, where they
can confidently express their needs, where they are in the
company of their brothers and sisters, and many others
who constitute their extended family.
The Eucharist as sacrifice can be very meaningful for
most Asians considering how they usually perceive leadership, e.g. the leadership exercised by parents toward
their children, of elder brothers and sisters toward their
younger siblings, of village heads toward their constituents, by the host of a feast towards his/her guests. It is a
leadership that is exercised in service and with readiness
to sacrifice for the sake of ones charge. Among poor families in the Philippines, it is not uncommon for parents to
let their children eat first before they do, if there is hardly
enough food on the table, to be sure that no one among
the children goes hungry. Nor is it uncommon that an
elder brother or sister gives way to the younger siblings
for the opportunity to go to school if the family does not
have enough resources to send all children to school. Or
the eldest may never get married, choose to work all his
or her life, to send all siblings to school.
The Eucharist will mean much for most Asians because
it expresses many of the cultural values that they treasure
very dearly. The Eucharist, celebrated well as both meal
and sacrifice, is the best way to proclaim the Good news
of Gods offer of salvation through the sacrifice of his
Son to the point of self-sacrificing death, of Gods invitation to make us all part of his family, of Gods unending
desire to enrich us all by his life-giving Word and Body
broken and shared that we may live. The Eucharist too
is the best way to motivate a spirit and consciousness of
mission in view of sharing the same richness, meaning
and life to others.
-- Excerpts from the theological and pastoral
reflection in preparation for the 51st International Eucharistic Congress.

Monitor
CBCP

ILLUSTRATION BY BLADIMER USI

IEC fires opening salvo

Living Mission

Fr. James H. Kroeger, MM

Eucharist and
Evangelization

Eucharistic Congress Reflection

ALLOW me to begin by narrating a personal experience, because it has helped
shape my views on the interrelationship
between the Eucharist and the Churchs
mission of evangelization.
A Bangladeshi Beggar. During
the Lenten season some few years ago,
while I was a visiting professor in Dhaka,
Bangladesh, I had a graced moment,
a defining experience in my missionary awareness and perspective. It has
remained seared in my consciousness
and has forced me to ask many foundational questions about mission and my
own faith commitment. It involves a
Bangladeshi beggar woman.
I saw her on the road, in front of the
large walled compound of a wealthy
family dwelling. I could not clearly see
her face, as she was several hundred
feet ahead of me. Her tattered clothes
covered a malnourished body; she was
alone, although other beggars were walking ahead of her on the road. I was proceeding along the same path, leisurely
taking a late afternoon walk.
Suddenly a luxury car approached with
its horn blowing. The driver probably
wanted the beggars to disperse and also
wanted the gate of the compound opened
by the servants. The woman appeared
startled as the car turned sharply in
front of her and the gate swung open.

Within seconds two large dogs emerged

from the compound and jumped at the
woman, knocking her to the ground. She
screamed and cried both from fear and
the pain caused by the dogs nipping at
her. I stood frozen, horrified at the sight.
A well-dressed madam promptly
emerged from the chauffeur-driven car.
She ordered the driver to bring the car
into the compound; the dogs were called
to return inside; the servants were commanded to close and lock the gate. And,
the beggar woman? She was left alone
on the groundoutside the gate. I stood
helpless, gazing at this appalling scene.
Only the other frightened beggars
came to the aid of the woman. Only they
showed mercy and compassion. I stood
at a distance and wept at this scene of
crucifixion. I admitted to being a guilty
bystander. My fears and inadequacies
left me paralyzed. I had not one taka
coin in my pocket to give; I could not
offer one word of consolation in the Bengali language which I did not speak; I did
not approach the woman for fear of misinterpretation that a foreign man would
touch a Bengali woman in public in this
strictly Islamic culture. I simply wept in
solidarity. I wept long and hard. And,
in succeeding years, I have frequently returned to that scene and prayed to God:
Do not let me forget that experience.

The evangelizing bird

Allow it to shape my life, my mission,

my faith vision. Permit it to remain a
defining moment in understanding my
mission vocation.
Personal Reflection. This experience of the Bangladeshi beggar-woman
(each of you could supply additional
experiences) forces us to look closely at
the large scale of suffering in the contemporary world. Christians are called to embrace the world and suffering humanity.
Human brokenness becomes a clear point
of insertion for reflection on the meaning
of Eucharist and evangelization.
Saint John Paul II wrote some penetrating words in Mane Nobiscum Domine (28) for the Year of the Eucharist
(2004-2005). After recounting several
examples of human suffering, he notes:
We cannot delude ourselves: by our
mutual love and, in particular, by our
concern for those in need we will be
recognized as true followers of Christ
(cf. Jn 13:35; Mt 25:31-46). This will be
the criterion by which the authenticity of
our Eucharistic celebrations is judged.
In his Ecclesia de Eucharistia (20)
the same pope notes that the Eucharist
increases, rather than lessens, our
sense of responsibility for the world today. He further challenges Christians
by quoting the poignant words of Saint
Living Mission, A7

And Thats The Truth

Teresa R. Tunay, OCDS

FIFTEEN years ago, I taught

a bird how to pray. Now in
the spirit of the New Evangelization, I wonder if teaching a bird how to pray is
evangelization of some kind.
Assisting me in that endeavor
were my nieces, Katarina
and Florence, aged 5 and 6,
who were then vacationing
with us. That time we had a
mynahyes, a black talking
bird which wed had at home
for a couple of months. I had
no idea of its gender but I had
named it LILYa name I
would have wanted for myself
because its an acronym for
Lord, I Love You. Wanting
to see if it was time to teach
Lily to talk I asked the two
little girls to come have fun,
to stand with me near Lilys
cage and alternately say to it
Lord, I love you!

The girls complied with

gusto, exchanging declarations. After the seventh time
it was uttered, a third voice
joined themthe mynahs:
Lord, I love you! Lord, I love
you! Lord, I love you! Allelujah, we were overjoyed to
hear Lilys first words! And for
the rest of the girls stay, the
mynahs ejaculations would
be the chief source of the girls
giggly entertainment.
But, long after the girls had
gone back home, the bird still
wouldnt be stopped! It would
in its little girl voice declare
its love for the Lord on its
own, without any prompting
from me whatsoever. Do birds
have free willId museor
was it because this mynah just
couldnt help talking?
Consider this: There were
times Id be too lazy to get up

Candidly Speaking

for my daily 6 a.m. Mass; then

Id hear Lord Just one
gentle word from the bird,
Lord but it would prick
my conscience and spur my
lazy bones to action. Ok, ok,
You win! Id talk back, and
the bird would burst into a triumphant Lord, I love you!
over and over again when Id
get up.
Id heard a mynah (owned
by a socialite) greet guests
with Wow, sexy! or Kumain ka na? and another
(in a seminary garden) say
Panget! to all passersby,
but Id never heard one that
said Lord, I love you! So
you understand why I would
be so proud of my accomplishment that Id prompt
my bird to speak whenever
wed have guestsyeah, like
a proud mama urging her

daughter to play the piano

for the guests. The thing
ismy mynah wouldnt be
coaxed against its will, it
seemed. Without prompting
it would repeat several times
to the carpenters repairing
our kitchen: Lord, I love
you! Of course, it excited the
workersA praying bird!
and the whole time theyd be
hammering away, the mynah
would be tirelessly adoring
the Lord. Same with our
60-year old laundry woman
who exclaimed upon hearing
the bird: Nungka sa buong
lintek na buhay ko ako nakarinig ng ibong kumakausap sa Diyos! Milagro yan!
(Never in my blasted life have
I ever heard a bird talking to
God! Thats a miracle!)
And so family and friends
And Thats the Truth, A7

Lets be Eucharistic souls

Fr. Roy Cimagala

PROTAGONIST OF TRUTH, PROMOTER OF PEACE

Pedro Quitorio

Ronalyn Regino

Editor-in-Chief

Design Artist

Nirvaana E. Delacruz

Gloria Fernando

Associate Editor

Marketing Supervisor

Roy Lagarde

Mercedita Juanite

Kris Bayos

Marcelita Dominguez

News Editor

Features Editor

Circulation Manager

Comptroller

This special issue of the CBCP Monitor is published daily

for the 51st International Eucharistic Congress by Areopagus
Communications, Inc. with editorial and business offices at
Ground Flr., Holy Face of Jesus Center & Convent, 1111
F. R. Hidalgo Street, Quiapo, Manila. Editorial: (632) 4042182. Business: (632) 404-1612.; ISSN 1908-2940

THATS right. For us to be truly human,

to be a real person who is both grounded
and oriented properly, we need to be Eucharistic in mind and heart, because the
sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is where
we have our most precious treasure, our
everything, our light, our purification,
our salvation.
Thats where we have Christ not only
in real presence, as in the
Blessed Sacrament, nor as spiritual
food, as in the Holy Communion but
primarily as our savior who continues
to offer His life on the cross for us, as in
the Holy Mass.
We need to be theological in our thinking to capture this
reality and live in accordance to it not
only from time to time but rather all

the time and everywhere, whatever our

situation is.
We have to overcome the very common
phenomenon of treating the
Holy Eucharist as just a special part of
our life that we may attend
to in some special moments of the
day or on Sundays and on holy days of
obligation only.
If we believe that God is everything to
us, then we have to believe also that Christ,
the Son of God who became man, is also
everything to us. Thats why He said He is
the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one
goes to the Father except through me.
Now, if we believe in Christ as everything to us, then it follows that we have
to believe in the Holy Eucharist also
as everything to us, since it is the Holy

Eucharist where the whole redemptive

life of Christ is summarized and sacramentalized, that is to say, made present
to us through time.
With the Holy Eucharist, we become
contemporaries of Christ in His most
supreme act of salvific love for us. But,
alas, how many of us realize this, and
among those of us who do, how many
have the skill to turn this realization into
a living reality?
We need to do a lot of catechizing and
discussion if only to air out the many
possibilities and practical considerations
we can have to make the Holy Eucharist
everything to us not only in theory and
aspiration, but also in practice in our
daily grind.
Candidly Speaking, A7

CBCP Monitor

By the Roadside
Fr. Eutiquio Euly Belizar, Jr. SThD

Jesus suffered
Jan. 24, 2016, three-thirty
in the afternoon saw me with
other priests and delegates
from our diocese, the Diocese
of Borongan, and many other
clergymen, religious and lay
faithful from different congregations, dioceses, and nations
barely making it through a sea
of humanity trying to enter
the grounds of Cebu Citys
Plaza de la Independencia.
We all seemed involved in a
determined, collective effort
to force our way in with no
one succeeding. The Eucharist
was to be celebrated there at
four o clock in the afternoon,
with the papal legate, Cardinal
Charles Maung Bo, presiding.
We could hear the commentator/emcee announcing the
start of the procession and
the liturgical music ushering
in the celebrant and concelebrating bishops and priests
from all over the world. In the
middle of the scorching heat,
sweat, tears, and frustration
I remember wondering in
whispers and later loudly why
no one was managing the now
gently, now firmly pushing,
pulling, jostling crowds. After
some time, the priests in our
company grappled with the
question of whether or not
to give up trying to reach our
designated place and simply
resign ourselves to staying
where we were, to wait it
out till the Mass ended. We
seemed stuck.
Jesus died
People were hardly moving

OPINION

January 26, 2016 Vol. 20, No. 3

and unwilling to yield their

space. There was this lady
caught in between me and and
other priests. I could sense she
was getting suffocated and I
tried to give her some space to
breathe and walk past so many
bodies as determined as she
was but seemingly taller than
she. For a moment I wished I
was home and just witnessing
the event on live television.
I was in awe of the size and
number of the faithful around
us. But it also felt like I was
in a place no different from a
crowded marketplace or a rock
concert of some celebrity or
two. We were miles and miles
far from being who we ought
to bea community. Later in
Cardinal Bos homily, we all
heard what could have been
a prognosis: devotion to the
Eucharist can last only an hour
but a disciples Eucharist is
never ending. It is brought to
the streets of real life where
behavior and character is
shaped by Jesus self-gift on
the Cross.
Jesus is risen
Like a heaven-sent angel,
an Extraordinary Minister
of Holy Communion saw my
clerical, official clergy wrist
band and asked me to follow
him. In what seemed a suspended time and space walk,
we finally made it to a line
of vacant reserved seats for
priests. As if this minor miracle was not enough, we were
in no time wearing our albs
and stoles and were properly
seated at the precise moment

The Bread of Life

Starting with a bang: the IEC as

concrete paschal mystery in Cebu

the Cardinal presider greeted

the vast and multi-layered,
multi-racial congregation
for the start of the Mass. His
greetings in Cebuano and
Tagalog phrases and clauses
were received with a mixture
of surprise and delight by the
largely Filipino audience. But
the cardinal soon made everyone know he did not come
to merely showcase a church
mans sense of humor and
charm. Although he extolled
us to high heavens with the
observation that in some parts
of the world
Catholic presence means
Filipino presence, he also
truthfully pointed to the inconsistency of our profession
of faith at Mass with the poverty of our masses, the injustices
in our society, and the wounds
we have inflicted on our environment. He challenged us
into going beyond the usual
way we treat the Eucharistan
impersonal obligation that
yields little pleasure in our collective lives marked by already
many thankless choresinto
rediscovering the real Eucharist God has intended it to be.
That the Eucharist is the
Bread of Life we think we
know well but seldom live
by. That it is also the bread of
mission in which Jesus who
calls us and breaks bread
with us sends us to proclaim
the kingdom is a constant
reminder needing fulfillment.
That it is also the bread of justice being partaken of by Jew
and Gentile alike, by an equal
among equals, should goad us

into working for the inclusion

of the poor in the distribution
of this worlds goods. That the
Eucharist is also the bread of
compassion for the worlds
marginalized, the teeming
suffering humanity, the victims of violence and war is a
motive for our involvement in
efforts to build a just society.
That the Eucharist is also
the bread of reconciliation is
seen in the Lords exhortation that we leave our gift at
the altar if we remember that
our brother has something
against us and seek reconciliation with him. The audience
was soon served notice it was
in the presence of a prophet,
someone who comforts the
afflicted and afflicts the comfortable. Since the Eucharist
is Jesus the Son of God who
brought Himself down from
heaven to be our food and life,
we must bear in mind that in
doing so He brought heaven
with Him down to where our
common home is, namely
our earth where we live and
work and take vacations in.
It follows then that we must
also bring the Eucharist as
bread of mission, bread of
life, bread of justice, bread
of compassion and bread of
reconciliation down to the
streets of life so that Gods
presence may be also seen
and felt there.
Sometimes what seems
most familiar is in most need
of our understanding. But
real progress happens when
we succeed in making it what
it seems.

P.O.G.I. (Presence Of God Inside)

Fr. Alan Gozo Bondoc, SVD

IT is obvious from my bodily figure that

I love eating. It is my simple enjoyment
to eat, besides I give joy and smiles to
those who prepared and served the food
when I eat a lot. As Andrew Zimmern of
Bizarre Foods would say it, If it looks
good, eat it.
We eat to live. However, eating without balanced nutrition could lead to an
unhealthy life which may result in early
death. We have to know what we eat;
every kind of food we take in has an effect
on our body. Food affects our health; it
either weakens or strengthens our body.
In the Gospel passage from John 6:5158, Jesus is offering a different kind
of food for us. One that will definitely
strengthen and nourish us not only our
physical body but our soul. He is giving
us bread, bread that gives life. Because

the bread He is referring to is Himself:

I am the living bread.
It would be an understatement to say
that this living bread, if we choose to take
and eat it, will have a good effect on our
soul. This living bread will lead us to a
holy life. It will not cause us death but
will give us life eternal.
Jesus wants us to be one with Him by
taking His body. We become what we eat.
Receiving the Body of Jesus in the Communion is making Him part of our selves.
It is in the Communion that we are transformed and become Alter Cristus, meaning Another Christ. Therefore, receiving
the Body of Christ gives us greater responsibility because when we become Another
Christ, it only means that we should act like
Him and we should emulate Him.
Taking the Body of Christ, the Bread

Along the Way

Fr. Amado L. Picardal, CSsR, SThD

EVER since the early period

of the Church, the Eucharist
has always been the celebration of the local Christian
community. The Eucharist
was celebrated by the community whose members lived
in communion--they were
united by the bond of common faith and they were of
one heart and mind. They
knew one another, they considered each other as brothers
and sisters in the faith, they
shared with each other their
goods. They were a community of friends and disciples
in the Lord. The Eucharist
was the celebration of their
unity with the risen Lord and
with one another--they were
indeed one bread, one body.
The link between the Eucharist and the community is
essential. It is the celebration
of the Christian community
- it celebrates the unity and
fellowship of the Christian
community. Participation
in the Eucharistic body of
the Lord is at the same time,
fellowship with the Body of
Christ in the Church. The
Eucharist presupposes an
existing community. It is only
after the community that has
been formed, that the members can come together and
sit at the table of the Lord to
celebrate his paschal mystery and thus deepen their
community experience. In

the context of the liturgical

celebration, it means that
they should celebrate as a
community to which each one
is not a total stranger but a
member who can experience
a certain sense of belonging.
The Eucharist celebrates the
koinonia that is already lived
in the community--the unity
of mind and heart, the unity
in faith, the sharing of goods,
etc. The Eucharist becomes
an empty ritual if this communio is not experienced
and concretely lived in the
community.
Yet through the centuries,
as membership of the Church
grew and as she expanded
all over the world, the sense
of community was no longer
felt by ordinary members
except in the religious communities that emerged. The
model of the Church as one
huge society and institution
became more dominant. The
Eucharist was detached from
the community. An individualistic understanding of the
Eucharist prevailed. With the
de-emphasis of the communitarian nature of the Eucharist,
a priest can celebrate the Eucharist privately on his own.
For the ordinary Catholic, the
Eucharist becomes a private
devotion. One goes to Mass as
an individual to celebrate and
deepen his or her relationship solely with Christ. The

of Life, allows Jesus to increase in us, as

we decrease in ourselves.
The Bread of Life signifies Jesus
sacrificial love for us because He gives
Himself fully to us in Holy Communion.
Communion is a calling to be with God.
Remember, we have a prayer before
Communion: Lord, I am not worthy to
receive You, but only say the Word and I
shall be healed. Communion means an
invitation to those who have lost their
way. It means healing to those who are
wounded by sin. It means transformation to become holy just as God is holy.
In the Holy Communion we do not
receive mere bread but Jesus Himself.
When we take and receive the Body of
Jesus, we allow Him to permeate us and
come into our lives, enter our hearts.
Let Jesus become your life.

The Eucharist and

Community
Eucharist is celebrated among
strangers without a sense of
community and communion.
To speak of the Eucharist
as a community celebration is
empty and meaningless in the
absence of a genuine Christian community. Thus, the
role of the priest is not just to
preside over the Eucharistic
celebration, he has to form a
genuine Christian community
according to PCP II:
Hence, we can appropriately call ordained ministers
as servant-leaders of the community. They are in charge of
the community. They are to
build up the Christian community. Their task extends
by right also to the formation
of a genuine Christian community. (PCP II, 518)
There is, therefore, a need
for renewed emphasis on
the communitarian nature
of the Eucharist. This can
only happen when everyone-clergy, religious and lay-actively participate in the
process of forming the parish
into a genuine community
where the members experience communion with each
other. This is very difficult
in large parishes where the
members live in anonymity.
The parish should then be
formed as a community of
communities--a communion
of communions, as St. John
Paul II envisioned in Ecclesia

in Asia. This vision of the parish has also been promoted by

the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines which
declared 2017 as the Year of
the Parish as Community of
Communities. This means
building up the parish as a
network of small Christian
communities or Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs).
The National Eucharistic
Congress in 1987 declared
that BECs can help restore
the sense of community that
is important for a more meaningful celebration of the Eucharist:
To understand the Eucharist there is a need to regain
the sense of community which
has largely been lost due to
the highly spiritualized and
privatized notion of the sacrament. The BEC is the most
concrete means to regain
the community spirit among
Catholics... The BECs are the
most fundamental expression
of a truly Eucharistic community.
There is, therefore, a need
form and strengthen BECs in
the various local communities, villages, and neighborhoods within the parish. In
the BECs the members know
each other, they experience a
sense of belonging and connectedness. They regard each
other as kapuso (one heart),
Along the Way, A7

A5

Thinking Upstream
Fr. Ferdinand T.
Hernando, MB,STL

From Fish to Flesh:

The EucharisticEconomic Challenge
ONE of the most dramatic Biblical scenes that continue to amaze believers was the call of the first disciples (Lk 5:1-11). Dramaticbecause of the contrast
between night and morning, darkness and daylight.
That early morning should be seen through the prism
of Peters nightly work and sacrifice. But it was even
more dramatic, nay a masterstrokebecause the catch
of fish happened against the backdrop of Peters empty
boat. Thus, the dynamic shift was so powerful and
inevitablefrom darkness to light, from emptiness
to fullness!
The fisherman meets the carpenter
Peter, ever the veteran fisherman, must have
seen his empty boat as a symbol of failure, or he
must have consoled himself and simply shrugged
his shoulders and thought of the very ordinary,
and therefore, quite acceptable fact in fishingthat
sometimes there was plenty of fish, and at other
times, there was hardly any. Indeed, it is just the
reality of fishing.
Something similar can be said of carpentry: sometimes, theres plenty of work to do, sometimes nobody
hires carpenters! As a carpenter Himself, Jesus must
have experienced those times when work was demanding. But then again, the reality of His trade must have
taught him what it was to feel when at times there was
little work to do, little earning to expect, and even nothing to eat.
When Jesus entered into the picture, He could have
simply told Peter, Come on, Peter, thats life! But
then, Jesus had something greater in mind for Peter.
Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for
a catch (Lk 5:4).
Did Peter ever have a hint that Jesus, the carpenter,
had something much greater up His sleeve? If he did
not have the faintest idea of the divine power of Jesus,
Peter must have protested at the back of his mind,
What has this carpenter to do with fishing? Just as
intuitively, he could have muttered things like Come
on, since when has a carpenter been known to be an
expert in fishing?
This gives us a clue about the kind of priority Jesus
gives to the fishing trade. A vast body of water teeming with life, freshness, and energy, the Lake of Galilee
served as the right context for His evangelizing mission.
It was thus a strategic move for Jesus to walk by the
coastal areas of Galilee, whether in Capernaum or Gennesaret, or down south in Tiberias, considering how fast
His message and works would spread around the rustic
Galilean province via the maritime route. At once His
fame began to spread throughout the region of Galilee
(Mk 1:28).
Go away from me vs. Do not be afraid
The great catch of fish prompted Peter to think beyond
the categories of human experience and connect the
event to a divine cause. Thus, Jesus was no longer the
carpenter of Nazareth (Mk 6:3), but Lord. Go away
from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man (Lk 5:8). The
contrast to Lordship is sinfulness. Here is the Lord of
creation and history revealing Himself to a sinful fisherman. The insight is inescapable: the sense of unworthiness indicates that Jesus is, in fact, getting too close for
comfort. Such uneasiness reflects the divine invitation to
transcend perspectives of human work (the carpenter)
or origin (Nazareth).
Here is a powerful shift from the economics of having
nothing to the experience of having Someone, who is
our everything. The spotlight now throws into sharper
focus from the catch of fish to meeting God in flesh. Jesus
comes to us in our poverty and reverses it to a divine
encounter. If Jesus reveals Himself to us in our poverty,
then, we should find Him, too, in our poverty. We all are
afraid of poverty. But it is Jesus who will calm our fears
by empowering us with a new sense of mission: from
fish to flesh. Do not be afraid; from now on you will be
catching people (Lk 5:10).
True food, true drink
Another heartwarming scene in Scripture is the multiplication of loaves in the Gospel of John. Jesus took
the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed
them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much
as they wanted (Jn 6:11).
Undeniably, the action has Eucharistic overtones. It
was an anticipation of the great liturgical movement of
self-giving love: Then he took a loaf of bread, and when
he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them
(Lk 22:19).
I am the bread of life (Jn 6:35), Jesus solemnly
declares. For my flesh is true food and my blood true
drink (Jn 6:55), he continues. We all are afraid of
hunger. The economic phenomenon of each one having
access to bread and fish is the greatest equalizer.
The Eucharistic-Economic Challenge
But Jesus had to start with our little contribution
There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and
two fish (Jn 6:9). Our willingness to give, give up,
and give away what little we have is the key to the
revelation and celebration of the Eucharist. But it is
Jesus who will fill our empty stomach by empowering us with a new sense of direction, meaning, and
purpose. Today, we may no longer find ourselves
wandering in the desert of the Sinai peninsula, nor in
the grasslands of Galilee, but there are still millions
of people wallowing in poverty, whether in urban
centers or in coastal areas, all over the world, worrying about what to eat.
But Jesus is with us in the Eucharist
The Eucharistic mission to share is at the same time an
economic challenge. If the Eucharist does not transform
our hearts, how could it ever transform our situation
from poverty to communion?
We receive the Eucharist. We must become Eucharist.

A6 FEATURES

January 26, 2016 Vol. 20, No. 3

CBCP Monitor

The Catholic Church In The Philippines:

A BRIEF HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
(2nd of a series)

NATIVE CLERGY. Catholicism had taken permanent root in the Philippines

as the religion of the people
by the eighteenth century, if
not earlier. However, it had
one serious weakness: the retarded development of the native clergy. The unsatisfactory
results of early experiments
in Latin America had made
the Spanish missionaries in
the Philippines extremely
cautious in admitting native
candidates to the priesthood.
Apparently, only in the late
seventeenth century were native Filipinos ordained. A proposal of Gianbattista Sidotti, a
member of Cardinal Charles
de Tournons entourage, to
erect a regional seminary in
Manila for the whole of East
Asia was sharply rejected by
the crown (1712).
Bishops became increasingly eager for a diocesan
clergy completely under their
jurisdiction when conflicts
over parish appointments
continuedconflicts between
the bishops and the religious
orders on the one hand, and
the bishops and the government on the other. Since very
few secular priests came to
the Philippines from Spain,
this meant ordaining large
numbers of native men. Archbishop Sancho de Santa Justa
y Rufina of Manila (1767-1787)
threatened to take away their
parishes from the religious
who refused to submit to
episcopal visitation; he also
ordained natives even when
they lacked the necessary
aptitude and training. The
results proved disastrous,
confirming the prevailing
opinion that natives, even if
admitted to the priesthood,
were incapable of assuming
its full responsibilities. Some
improvement in formation
and an increase in vocations
occurred after the arrival of
the Vincentians (1862), who
took charge of diocesan seminaries. Even so, the departure
of a large proportion of Spanish clergy after the transfer of

sovereignty from Spain to the

United States (1898) left over
700 parishes vacant.
RELIGIOUS CLERGY.
The privileges of the Patronato Real conferred by the
Holy See on the Spanish
crown were a mixed blessing;
they promoted constructive collaboration between
the Church and the colonial
government, but it also led
to friction. The focus of difficulty was the religious parish
priest and the extent to which
he was subject to episcopal
visitation and control. The
conflict gave rise to series of
crises that began as early as
the administration of Bishop
Salazar (1581-1594). In 1744
the Holy See ruled that religious parish priests were
subject to the jurisdiction of
the ordinary in all matters
pertaining to their parish duties (in officio officiando) and
to their religious superiors in
their personal conduct.
With the advent of the revolutionary era in Europe and
the loss of Spains American
colonies, the terms of the
problem in the Philippines
changed. It became widely
believed in official circles
that the presence of the religious in the parishes was
a political necessity, not so
much because they were religious as because they were
Spaniards and could be relied
upon to keep the population
loyal. This seems to have
been one factor behind the
thinking related to the royal
decree of 1862 transferring
the Mindanao missions from
the Augustinian Recollects
to the newly returned Jesuits
(they had been expelled in
1768) and giving the former
an equivalent number of
parishes in Manila and Cavite,
which were consequently
taken away from the native
clergy. The result was mount-

ing disaffection among the

native priests thus deprived
or threatened with removal.
Naturally, the Filipino priests
assailed the government policy; among their active leaders
and spokesmen were Fathers
Gmez, Burgos, and Zamora,
who were executed by the
government for alleged complicity in a mutiny of native
garrison troops in Cavite
(1872).
The deaths of these Filipino priests gave a powerful
impetus to the emergence of
Filipino nationalism by sensitizing Filipinos to injustices by
the Spanish colonial government. The movement began
as an initiative for colonial
reforms led by Dr. Jos Rizal
(1862-1896); after Rizals arrest and execution for treason,
it developed into a separatist
movement. The ensuing revolution (1896-1898), which was
markedly anti-friar, though
usually not anticlerical or
anti-Catholic, was cut short by
the intervention of the United
States, which demanded cession of the Philippines at the
conclusion of the SpanishAmerican War.
SEPARATION OF
CHURCH AND STATE.
The change of sovereignty
ended the Patronato system.
The United States policy
of Church-State separation
was extended to the Philippines, but interpreted in a
manner much less favorable
to the Church. Thus, a system of nonsectarian public
education was established
that failed to take into account that the overwhelming
majority of Filipinos were
Catholics. In addition, there
was the strong influence of
hundreds of American public-school teachers, most of
whom were Protestants. They
were popularly known as the
Thomasites; a group of 540

ROY LAGARDE

FINANCIAL SUPPORT.
The considerable funds required for the support of
these schools, hospitals, and
charitable works came from
pious donations and legacies,
called obras pas; they were
often invested in the galleon
trade or in large agricultural
estates, the so-called friar
lands. These operations often
tainted the Church as being
involved with commercialism. At the same time, the
friar lands were leased to
tenant cultivators for development and administration,
an arrangement that led to
frequent conflicts of interest
and a deepening resentment
of the Church as landlord.
This background must be
borne in mind for a balanced
understanding of the anticlerical reaction that developed in
the latter nineteenth century
among a people deeply and
sincerely Catholic.

Bishops became
increasingly eager
for a diocesan clergy
completely under
their jurisdiction
when conflicts over
parish appointments
continuedconflicts
between the bishops
and the religious
orders on the one
hand, and the bishops
and the government
on the other.
arrived in 1901 aboard the
U.S.S. Thomas and many others followed. The professed
neutralism in religious matters of the state university,
founded in 1911, was copied
by other privately founded
nonsectarian universities,
resulting in the undermining
of religious belief among the
educated class.
SCHISM. One consequence of the revolutionary
upheaval was the formation
by Gregorio Aglipay, a Filipino
secular priest, of a schismatic
church along nationalist lines,
the Philippine Independent
Church or Iglesia Filipina Independiente (1902). Initially
it drew a considerable following; however, it soon broke up
into factions, some of which
rapidly deserted Catholicism
in doctrine as well as in discipline. The Supreme Court
(1906-1907) also restored to
the Catholic Church much of
the property that had been
taken over by the Aglipayans.
The largest Trinitarian faction

was received into full communion by the Protestant Episcopal Church (United States),
established in the Philippines
since the beginning of the
century.
PROTESTANT MISSIONS. Protestant denominations sent mission personnel to the Philippines almost
as soon as the transfer of sovereignty was effected. In 1901
Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, and United Brethren
groups, along with societies
such as the Christian Missionary Alliance, the YMCA, and
the American Bible Society,
formed an Evangelical Union
to coordinate their activities. A denomination of local
origin with an evangelical orientation, the Iglesia ni Cristo,
was founded in 1914.
CHURCH RESPONSE.
The normal life of the Catholic
Church suffered disastrously
during the years following
1898; in several respects
it would be decades before
a condition approximating
normalcy would again be
reached. From 1898 to 1900
there were almost no resident
bishops; diocesan priests
remained in very short supply and some had defected to
the Aglipayans; seminaries
were closed in 1898 and did
not reopen until 1904. From
1898 to 1903 the total number
of friars decreased over 75%
from 1,013 to 246. In a word,
the Church was in chaos.
The true beginnings of the
reorganization of the Church
began with the persistent
efforts of Monsignor Guidi
through his negotiations with
the American government
and the Filipino clergy. Leo
XIII, in his apostolic letter
Quae mari sinico (1902) reorganized the hierarchy, created four new dioceses, and
strongly recommended to the

Philippine hierarchy the formation of a native clergy. The

first official Provincial Council
of Manila was convened in
1907 with the goals of reviving the faith of the Filipinos,
restoring the local Church,
and inspiring in the clergy a
spirit of apostolic zeal.
Meanwhile, the severe
shortage of priests and religious was met in part by new,
non-Spanish missionary congregations of women and
men from Europe, Australia,
and America. For example,
male missionary societies
that responded to the pressing needs in the 1905-1941
period are: Irish Redemptorists (1905), Mill Hill Missionaries (1906), ScheutCICM (1907), Sacred Heart
Missionaries and Divine
Word Society (1908), LaSalle
Brothers (1911), Oblates of
Saint Joseph (1915), Maryknoll Missioners (1926), Columban Missioners (1929),
Society of Saint Paul (1935),
Quebec-PME Society (1937),
and Oblates-OMI (1939).
Many dedicated female religious came as missionaries to the Philippines, often
working in partnership with
the societies just mentioned.
By the mid-1920s, the situation was taking a turn for
the better; some significant
factors in the survival and resurgence of the Church were:
the revitalization of Catholic
education, growth of Filipino diocesan and religious
vocations, a more educated
laity, Church involvement in
social questions and the labor
movement, and the involvement of Catholics in national
life. The celebration of the
XXXIII International Eucharistic Congress in Manila
(1937) focused the attention
of the Christian world on the
Philippines and deeply inspired thousands of Filipino
Catholics.

Manufactured by

FOOD INTERNATIONAL, INC.

CBCP Monitor

FEATURES A7

January 26, 2016 Vol. 20, No. 3

2nd day of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress

A SYNTHESIS

Thousands of 51st International Eucharistic (IEC) delegates brave the heat to attend the IEC Opening Mass at the Plaza Independencia, Jan. 24, 2016. OAR

By Teresa Tunay
THE days first catechesis was
given by Most. Rev. Miguel
Cabrejos Vidarte, OFM, DD,
Metropolitan Archbishop of
the Archdiocese of Trujillo,
First Vice-President of the
Peruvian Episcopal Conference, Member of the Pontifical Commission for Latin
America; and Chancellor and
founder of the Catholic University of Trujillo.
Titled Christ in you, our
Hope of Glory, Archbishop
Vidartes reflection revolved
around Colossians 1:23-29.
He said deacons or ministers
must consider themselves
servants; they cannot separate
the Gospel from the Church or
the Church from the Gospel.
Their divine vocation imposes
on them the responsibility of
spreading the Gospel so that
it may reach everyone. They
must proclaim, announce, and
spread the Gospel of Christ
here and now in the time and
space in which we live. It must
reach pagans, all nations, all
peoples, respecting idiosyncrasies, and the diversity of
their cultures. Its goal is the
perfection of every believer
in Christ, otherwise it will not
reach its full realization.
Evangelization is a long
process, warned the Archbishop from Peru, and through

exhortation corrects and admonishes with all the wisdom

necessary to avoid negative
results; teaching without discernment can lead to error.
The teaching and exhortation
is not limited to a small group
but for everyone. We must
not go to exclusive groups,
we must overcome all limitations. The Gospel must be proclaimed to the entire worldto
make known the presence of
Jesus Christ, he said.
Abp. Vidarte asked, Do we
deploy our human energies in
favor of human beings, especially the most needy? Do we
lower ourselves, to descend
from our position and approach others, especially the
neediest? Do we deploy our
human energies in favor of our
particular diocese and society
or do we enclose ourselves?
To make all peoples disciples
is the official responsibility
entrusted to the Church.
The purpose of evangelization is to make everyone
perfect in Christ, a perfection
that does not mean a utopia
for some but rather refers to a
moral order, a discharge from
evil, and is directed to the interior renewal of all believers
whom the Gospel reaches and
who put their hope in Christ.
In conclusion, the Peruvian
prelate emphasized that the
proclamation of the Gospel

is not for the weak but for

one who is sustained by the
power of Christ. The power of
evangelization is possible only
when supported by Christ, to
the extent by which we know
Christ through the Gospel.
And this must be the only
definitive argument of every
believer who realizes the
Gospel is the responsibility of
the apostle.
The universality of the
Church through the peoples
evangelization finds growth
and strength in the Eucharist.
Abp. Vidarte reminded, We
all know the formula: This is
my body, this is my blood
This is Me! The blood of
Christ is the blood poured out
for many!
The second speaker, His
Eminence Joseph Cardinal
Zen, SDB, DD, narrated
the experiences of the martyrs in China when he was
a young man, when the
trip from his birthplace
Shanghai to Hong Kong
took three days by sea. In
1948, something happened:
slowly but surely a curtain
separated that part of the
world from our Church,
he said. The atheist regime
took as its priority control
of the faithful. It produced
teachers and students who
were supposed to criticize
the teachers in the Churchs

It is when its
darkest that God
promises to us
a new way wed
never anticipated.
We all live through
crises, but God
remains with us in
such moments.
schools and the missions.
There was great repression
and arbitrary expulsion of
foreign missions, and those
who opposed the regime
were detained and falsely
accused of various crimes.
The fate of the martyrs
in China was in accordance
with the message and the
mission to proclaim and witness. Drawing a parallel between the situation in China
then and the difficulties in
the Churchs missions today, Cardinal Zen stressed
the necessity to pray for the
perseverance of ministries
in African countries and in

Catholics can experience

that sense of community
and communion. The
celebration of the Eucharist will truly become
more meaningful.
The lack of priests,
however, has made it
impossible to celebrate
the Eucharist in the
BECs every Sunday.
The next best thing is
to have a monthly or

bi-monthly BEC Masses

in the local communities. The members
of the BECs who are
not far from the parish
church to participate
in the scheduled BECsponsored Masses on
Sundays. Even if the Eucharist is not frequently
celebrated as it should
be in the BECs, the
Masses in these com-

munities are truly the

celebration of the communitys life of communion. When the Mass is
celebrated in the parish
church on Sundays and
other big events like
the fiesta, Christmas,
Easter, and Pentecost,
it is celebrated not by
anonymous individuals
but by a community of
communities.

And Thats the Truth, A4

and strangers would be amused.

But why would the bird make one
exception? No matter how hard
I tried to prompt it, it remained
tight-lipped. That was the day
a Protestant cousin visited us.
I was eager to have her hear my
praying bird, because she likes
talking (and arguing) about religion but, nada. The bird wouldnt
make a sound the whole time
despite my prodding, not even
a respectful Tao po! (which
it had learned on its own), or
a fierce Woof, woof! or a shy
Meeeow! which it had picked
up from my dog and my cat.
When my cousin left, I confronted the bird: You embar-

rassed me. Why were you so

quiet when your chatter was
most needed? Then it broke
its silence, repeating Lord, I
love you! several times. I reprimanded it, You should have said
that and calmed down my cousin
when she was trying to nit pick
about Catholic confession and
celibacy! But as I suspected,
this mynah must have had a will
of its own. Well, my speculations
notwithstanding, that incident
has remained a mystery to me.
One morning I missed Lilys
holy noise. I found it wounded
and stiff, dead in its cage. I was
sad but thankful that in its short
life Lily reminded me about the

love God has for me, or the love

I do not have for Him. But most
of all, Lilys avian interjections
would haunt me when due to
working too late at night Id be
too lazy to get up for the Eucharist in the morning. Sometimes,
I even want to do an unusual
portrait of the bird to match this
story I like to recall. Most of the
time, the Holy Spirit is depicted
in art and literature as a white
dove, but who can stop the Holy
Spirit from choosing to come in
the form of a black mynah? If
God would talk through an ass,
why not through a bird? Mysteries are best embraced, not
scrutinized. And thats the truth.

Living Mission, A4

John Chysostom: Do
you wish to honor the
body of Christ? Do not
ignore him when he is
naked. Do not pay him
homage in the temple
clad in silk, only then
to neglect him outside
where he is cold and
ill-clad. He who said:
This is my body is the
same who said: You
saw me hungry and you
gave me no food, and
Whatever you did to the
least of my brothers you
did also to me. What
good is it if the Eucharistic table is overloaded
with golden chalices
when your brother is

so our hope is in remaining,

abiding, not running away.
To remain is a sign of trust
in the Lord who remains in
us. We abide in the Church
because God abides in us.
The first way we express hope
is in remaining.
The second way we express
hope is in the celebration
of the Eucharist, Rev. Fr.
Radcliffe said, recalling how
they celebrated Mass in the
middle of a war in Syria. It
is when its darkest that God
promises to us a new way
wed never anticipated. We all
live through crises, but God
remains with us in such moments. Praying and singing
express human hope and take
away barriers that separate
human beings.
The third way we express
hope is by doing good deeds
for their own sake. Do good
things just because theyre
good to do. It is said that God
is the protagonist of history so
we trust and hope in God by
doing what is right, he said.
The fourth way we show
our hope according to him is
by teaching, thinking, trying
to understand. Teaching the
young is one of the greatest signs of hope. Thinking,
especially in the middle of
crises, expresses our hope
that in the end everything
will make sense.

Candidly Speaking, A4

Along the Way, A5

kapamilya (family), kaibigan (friends). They share

with each other their
time, talents and treasure.
They share the Word
of God. They pray and
worship together. They
care for each other and
serve those who are in
need. The BECs have a
sense of connectedness
to each other. Through
the BECs the ordinary

China as well. He ended his

speech with in a tone of hope,
saying that we believe in the
communion of saints, in the
power of our prayers, especially in our adoration of the
Eucharist, and that after the
Cross is the resurrection, after
tribulations, joy.
Rev. Fr. Timothy Radcliffe,
OP, Grand Chancellor of the
Pontifical University of St.
Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum,
Rome, and former Master of
the Order of Preachers, opened
the afternoon session of Jan. 25
by expounding on The Christian Virtue of Hope.
Rev. Fr. Radcliffe acknowledged humanitys desperate
need of hope today in the
midst of violence from Nigeria to Mindanao, chaos in
the Middle East, the widening
gap between the rich and the
poor. How can we hope?, he
asked then continued, If you
want to learn about hope, go
to the hardest places. He said
he gets to learn about hope
from Filipinos who, despite
their country being called the
disaster capital of the world,
continue hoping.
Spicing up his preaching
with very interesting accounts of his experiences in
conflicted countries (Iraq,
Syria, Iran, Ruwanda, etc.)
he said Our hope is the God
who remains with us. And

dying of hunger? Start

by satisfying his hunger and then with what
is left you may adorn
the altar as well.
Genuine evangelization
and authentic Eucharist
mean embracing a broken world and crucified
humanity. Christians
need an ongoing transformation to the paschal
view of life. Thus, John
Paul II (MND 24) can
boldly assert that the
Eucharist is the principle and plan of mission.
Concluding Reflection. This presentation
began with the narration
of a personal experi-

ence of an encounter
between a missionary
and a Bangladeshi beggar-woman. This defining experience has
produced much depth
reflection on the nature of the Eucharist
and missionary evangelization. This missionary remains filled
with gratitude for that
God-given experience of
grace. More reflection
needs to be given to the
wealth of insights that
can still emerge from
viewing mission and
evangelization through
the optic of the Eucharist
and the paschal mystery.

Finally, relying on Gods

grace, this missionary
looks forward to meeting that Muslim Bangladeshi beggar-woman
once again in the resurrected life with Christ
the Lord in heaven.
Because she so deeply
shared the paschal mystery while here on earth,
I am most confident she
will be there!
(James H. Kroeger,
MM has recently published Asias Dynamic
Local Churches: Serving Dialogue and Mission and Becoming Missionary Disciples).

At the moment, many of

the believers still consider
the Eucharist as too special as to leave it only in
some secluded if very holy,
solemn places, where it
is, of course, adored and
exalted. But it largely remains there. Its spirit, its
effects hardly are brought
out to the world.
We need to correct this
predicament. Thats why
we have to deepen our
knowledge of this sacrament, and more than
that, to cultivate a greater
love, a sharper hunger and
thirst for it. And that is not
enough. We need to bring
the Eucharist everywhere,
we need to bear witness to
it consistently.
This is a big challenge
that all of us face and,
therefore, also have the
responsibility to do something about it. Its good
that Cebu is hosting the
51st International Eucha-

ristic Congress so that we

have enough reason to
study the relevant doctrine while cultivating
the relevant attitudes and
practices.
One main obstacle in
this regard is the common
thought that the Eucharist
is hardly relevant to our
daily practical affairs of
the real world. This is like
saying that Christ has a
limited relevance in our
life or that He has nothing
or nothing much to say
about most of our mundane affairs.
The main thing to correct here is the way we
think. We have to be more
theological in our thinking, inputting the truths of
our faith and giving them
a priority over all the other
inputs that come from our
common sense, and our
knowledge derived from
the sciences and arts, from
economics, politics, busi-

ness, etc.
We need to refer everything to God, and to
do this, we need to refer
everything through the
Holy Eucharist which is
precisely the living Christ
made present in the
Blessed Sacrament, made
our food in the Holy Communion, and made our
true and ultimate Savior
in the Holy Mass.
In other words, we need
to do a better, deeper and
wider inculturation of
the Holy Eucharist in our
system, both individually
and collectively, both personally and socially. Lets
hope that we can be more
conscious of this need,
and start to develop the
necessary attitudes and
the appropriate skills and
virtues.
The net effect should be
that we become more and
more Eucharistic in all
aspects of our life!

January 26, 2016 Vol. 20, No. 3

CBCP Monitor

SKY ORTIGAS

A8