CBCP Monitor
Vol.Page
11 No.
37
April 2-15, 2007
CBCP Office to Hold Forum
on Church Properties
Bishop Urges Faithful
to Vote
BISHOP Dinualdo Gutierrez, DD,
Chairman of the Episcopal Commis-
sion on Social Action, Justice and
Peace called on the Filipino faithful to
actively participate in the coming mid-
term elections and select the best pos-
sible candidates.
He said suffrage is both right and
responsibility, as people’s participation
would ensure social change.
Asked about the country’s most
Bishop / P4
Bishop Condemns
Heartless Evictions
THE Auxiliary Bishop of Manila,
Most Rev. Broderick Pabillo, has
expressed concern over the au-
thorities’ fresh wave of evictions
and housing demolitions in
Metro Manila saying it would
swell the ranks of its homeless
and hungry.
The bishop’s concern came
after the Metro Manila Develop-
ment Authority (MMDA) said
that another round of squatter
evictions would spark from the
Ninoy Aquino International Air-
port (NAIA) to Malacañang,
which they called the “investors’
road”.
The next priority, according
to MMDA chairman Bayani
Fernando, are the seven major
roads in Metro Manila.
Bishop Pabillo, however,
has condemned the government’s
policy of demolishing hundreds
of squatters.
Speaking to reporters, he
described the move as “inhu-
man”.
Indonesian Missionary Laid to Rest
FATHER Fransiskus Madhu,
an Indonesian missionary
killed “for no apparent rea-
son” last Palm Sunday while
preparing to say Mass in a
remote village in Kalinga,
was laid to rest at the SVD
cemetery in Quezon City on
April 10.
The memorial Mass
gathered over a hundred
priests led by Fr. Jerome A.
Adriatico, Provincial of the
SVD Northern Province and
Bishops Leopoldo Jaucian,
SVD (Bangued), Prudencio
Padilla Andaya Jr., CICM
(Apostolic Vicariate of
Tabuk) and Honesto
Ongtioco (Cubao).
Bishops Air Concern Over
Troops in Metro
“The deployment of fully-
armed soldiers in selected vil-
lages in Metro Manila created
unnecessary anxiety in the
country,” thus said CBCP Presi-
dent Archbishop Angel N.
Lagdameo.
Lagdameo expressed con-
cern over the soldiers’ deploy-
Page 5
Pope Benedict XVI’s Easter
Page 10
Are Confessional Boxes
Page 13
Re-living the Story: the Gift
1
Message Obsolete? of Easter
www.cbcponline.net/cbcpmonitor cbcpmonitor@cbcpworld.net
Militants seek
Bishops’ help vs
CBCP Monitor ‘urban militarization’
MILITANT groups called on Catholic
bishops to intervene on what they
called as “urban militarization” per-
ceived to have intensified.
The fisherfolk
Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang
alliance
P r o ta g o n i s t o f Tr u t h , P r o m o t e r o f P e a c e Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas
(Pamalakaya) and the party list
April 2-15, 2007 Vol. 11 No. 7 Php 20.00 Anakpawis have accused soldiers of
Militant / P4
“If we have budget for in-
frastructure projects, where’s the
budget for the people? The life
of a person is more important
that’s why it should be priori-
tized,” he said.
Recently, more than 1, 000
families living along esteros
which cover at least 15 villages
stretching from UN Avenue to
Osmeña Highway have found an
ally in Pabillo, who has offered
to help them.
Many settlers along water-
ways have been made homeless
after the clearing operation car-
ried out by the authorities.
The Urban Poor Associates
(UPA), a non-government orga-
nization that helps poor families,
reported that none of the 914
families evicted from waterways
were relocated after the demoli-
© Denz Dayao / CBCPMedia
tions.
The group fear another 500
families are also on the same fate.
Fernando said the demoli-
Condemns / P4
“The Lord is risen as he has foretold, alleluia”; the parishioners of Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion in Bulakan, Bulacan were in the streets early morning of Easter Sunday to
witness the Salubong, a tradition which Filipinos practice in all parishes to dramatize the victory of Christ over death.
Easter is Time to See Witnesses with
Credible Lives, Says Lagdameo
© Indonesian Embassy
by Pinky Barrientos, FSP Saying that the essence of of the Resurrection for us in our story of salvation. He explained
Easter is in re-living its story, time is seen in a life lived in cred- that the real message of Holy
IN a Catholic country like the CBCP President and Jaro Arch- ibility. Week is not only that Jesus Christ
Philippines, the message of hope bishop Angel Lagdameo pro- “For us in our time to see the died for us, but that His rising to
and peace that come with the claimed in his Easter message Resurrection is to believe in the life has given us hope for new
Resurrection could not have been April 8 that the Resurrection of witness of credible lives through life.
more opportune at this time in the Jesus has brought us Catholics the centuries,” he said in his state- Lagdameo highlighted the
Indonesian Ambassador face of political strife heightened hope for a renewed life. ment. Gospel narrative of the four
to the Philippines Prof. Dr. by the coming midterm elections, “The gift of Easter is to see Recalling the Holy week cel- evangelists which tells of the tes-
Irzan Tanjung led the Indo- a bureaucracy tagged by interna- Jesus again, to remember what ebration which started in the cel- timony of women-disciples led
nesian community, composed tional agencies as most corrupt, He taught and did, to live and cel- ebration of Palm Sunday and cul- by Mary Magdalene, a former
mostly of Catholic mission- extrajudicial killings left unre- ebrate our resurrection in Jesus,” minated on Good Friday, sinner; that Jesus has risen from
aries and Muslim leaders. solved, and many other social ills the message said. Lagdameo stated that the real gift the dead.
In his brief remarks prior that hound the nation. Lagdameo said the meaning of Easter is the re-living of the Easter / P4
to the final funeral rites, Am-
bassador Tanjung said he was
“very saddened to learn that
Father Madhu’s precious life
ended by an act of ruthless
Anti-death Penalty Groups Cardinal Calls for
murder” as he described his
death as “unthinkable and un-
Attends Meeting on 2nd Promotion of Truth,
acceptable on the basis of hu-
manitarian cause.”
Optional Protocol Justice on Holy Week
He expressed optimism
“the Philippine government A TOTAL of 117 anti-death penalty and restor- MANILA Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal
will soon conclude the whole ative justice advocates attended the General As- Rosales is calling on the faithful to profoundly
sembly of the Coalition Against Death Penalty experience Holy Week by promoting truth and jus-
Indonesian / P4
(CADP) held last March 28 at the Ateneo de Ma- tice.
nila University in Quezon City. Reflecting first why the deteriorating and
The gathering focused on the merits and im- long-felt poverty, injustices and other social prob-
portance of the 2nd Optional Protocol to the UN
International Convention on Civil and Political
lems continue to exist is one way to finding a so-
lution, Rosales said. Pope Names New
Rights, and its Implications on the death penalty. He challenged the faithful to continue Christ’s Bishop for
Camarines Norte
Atty. Theodore Te, a noted human rights law- mission by committing themselves towards peace
yer, law professor and anti-death penalty advo- and national transformation.
ment in selected cate was the main speaker. “As we do works of mercy, let us also seek
slum areas in Te explained the provisions of the 2 nd Optional and promote truth and justice, which is the chal- POPE Benedict’s XVI’s
Metro Manila that Protocol as well as the related international agree- lenge of this year’s Alay Kapwa theme has appointed Monsignor
has provided an ments and instruments, and stressed the need to Katotohanan at Katarungan: Hamon sa Gilbert Garcera as the
unnecessary ten- new bishop of the Dio-
Anti-death / P4 Cardinal / P4
cese of Daet in
© Louie Psihoyos/CORBIS
sion among resi-
dents. Camarines Norte.
CBCP Gets into YouTube for
“Certainly He succeeds Bishop
they (military) Benjamin Almoneda,
failed to prove
they don’t have
Evangelization whose resignation from
the pastoral care of the
ulterior motives same diocese, the Pope
IN a bid to reach out to Catholic Bishops’ Con- accepted, upon having
or a hidden more faithful especially ference of the Philip- reached the age limit of
agenda so it de-
the youth, the CBCP pines (CBCP) featured, 75.
© www.youtube.com/cbcpmedia
velops fear among people,” Media Office has t h r o u g h Garcera was born in
Lagdameo said over Catholic-
turned to video-sharing w w w. y o u t u b e . c o m / Magarao, Camarines Sur
run Veritas 846 last week. at YouTube, a popular cbcpmedia, short in 1959. After attending
Archbishop Lagdameo’s re-
video blog site espe- catecheses on the Holy Catholic elementary at
marks came at the heels of Ma- cially among the youth. Week. the Naga Parochial
nila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick
As the country YouTube has be- School, he completed his
Pabillo’s call to rid the metro- marked the Holy Week, come very popular over
politan region of military per- New Bishop / P4
the Media Office of the YouTube / P4
Troops / P4

2 World News
Pope: Even Today the World Awaits the
Christian Witness of the Resurrection
VATICAN CITY, April 8,
2007—War, famine and disas-
ters: faced with all these troubles
which still afflict the world today,
particularly in Asia and Africa,
humanity needs to rediscover the
“true face of God”.
Vatican TV Releases DVD Collection
VATICAN CITY, MARCH 27,
2007—A Vatican Television
Center catalogue of DVDs in
various languages is now avail-
able by Internet.
The collection was pre-
sented to the press today by the
director of the television center,
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi,
and by the administrative direc-
tor, Roberto Romolo.
The DVDs have been made
public to mark the anniversary of
Pope John Paul II’s death (April
2, 2005) and the election of
John Billings, Founder of Natural
Family Planning Method, Dies at 89
PERTH, Australia, April 4,
2007—The Catholic doctor who
with his wife pioneered a revo-
lutionary new Church-backed
method for couples to avoid or
achieve conception died April 1
at a retirement home in the
Melbourne suburb of Richmond.
No cause of death was given
for Dr. John Billings, who was
89.
By the time of his death,
teaching centers on the Billings
Ovulation Method of natural
family planning had been estab-
Christians Accused of Proselytism: 500
Dollars to Every Muslim who Converts
JAKARTA, Indonesia, April 6,
2007—There is increased ten-
sion in Bandung, West Java, be-
tween the Islamic Division for
Anti-Proselytism Action (DAP)
and the local Pasundan Christian
Church (GKP), accused of pay-
ing local Muslims to convert to
Christianity.
The two parties met on April
4 to discuss the situation. During
the meeting, explained Suryana—
an executive member of the DAP
from the local Indonesian Ulemas
Council—the GKJ was strongly
believed to have had carried out the
proselitysm among local Muslim
residents in Cisewu in the Garut
Regency and in Pangauban in the
Bandung Regency. “They carry
out this illegal action by giving at
least five million rupiahs (500
USD), to any Muslim who has
been successfully converted to
Christianity”.
Suryana then asked the GKP
for clarification of the issue,
which will be discussed before
the police in Bandung April 10th
next, with “concrete proof” of the
charges according to the DAP.
Italian Government Leaders Join
March Against Death Penalty
Rome, April 6, 2007—Italian
opponents of the death penalty,
including several government
ministers, will demonstrate in
Rome on Easter Sunday, calling
for a worldwide moratorium on
executions.
The march, beginning at
Rome’s city hall and passing by
the Italian parliament, will end
in St. Peter’s Square. Organized
by the Radical Party with assis-
tance from lay Catholic groups,
The face of
that God who
took on all of
man’s suffering
and who on the
first day of Eas-
ter appeared to
the apostles re-
newing their
faith, making
them the bear-
ers of Good
News to all in
the world.
Pope Benedict XVI delivered
his “Urbi et Orbi” message to over
100 thousand people present in St.
Peter’s square, remembering the
crucifixion and resurrection and
evoking the open wounds and
pain of today’s world.
Benedict XVI.
The catalogue has already
been distributed in the United
States, Poland and Spain.
The DVDs are available
from eBay and Amazon.com.
The collection includes pre-
sentations (with Latin titles) on:
The Keys of the Kingdom: From
John Paul II to Benedict XVI;
John Paul II: The Pope That
Made History; The Vatican: How
the Smallest Kingdom in the
World Works; and John Paul II:
This Is My Life. (Zenit.org)
lished in more
than 100 coun-
tries and the
government of
China had offi-
cially adopted it
for population
control pur-
poses.
T h e
method was
supported by
the Church as a
morally accept-
able way for
C a t h o l i c
couples to plan
their families.
In a message read at Bill-
ings’ April 4 funeral Mass in St.
Patrick’s Cathedral in
Melbourne, Pope Benedict XVI
described the Australian medical
pioneer and researcher as a
“noble soul.”
“Having learned with sor-
row of the death of your husband
I offer my heartfelt condolences
to you and your family and to all
who mourn his passing,” the
pope said in his message to Dr.
Evelyn Billings. (CNS)
Aam a local priest from the GKP
said that the meeting concluded
without a clear commitment or
agreement from both parties.
According to Suryana, GKP
violated a clear agreement signed
two years ago with the Alliance
for Anti Proselitysm Action
(AGAP) in which they promised
not to “bring local Muslims to
Christianity”.
Since 2005 in West Java
there has been a marked increase
in violence and fundamentalist
moves against the Christian com-
munities there, above against the
so-called illegal domestic
churches, which are often forced
to close under threats because
they fail to obtain the necessary
permits to build their places of
worship. (AsiaNews)
the demonstration will urge Ital-
ian government officials to press
for a UN resolution to end capi-
tal punishment.
Prime Minister Romano
Prodi has already announced
that he will press for UN action
on a moratorium. Several min-
isters of his coalition govern-
ment will join in the Easter Sun-
day demonstration, led by jus-
tice minister Clemente Mastella.
(CWNews)
From famine to disease,
from the disaster which recently
hit the Solomon Islands, to the
conflicts and tensions existent in
many parts of the globe: Darfur,
Congo, Somalia and Zimbabwe
in Africa.
In Asia he underscored Sri
Lanka, “where a negotiated so-
lution could put an end to the dra-
matic conflict which bloodies it”,
and Afghanistan, “signed by in-
creasing instability and unrest”.
In the Middle East he spoke
of “signs of hope” in dialogue
between Israel and the Palestin-
ian Authority, while “nothing
positive, unfortunately seems to
be forthcoming in Iraq”.
The Pontiff also pointed out
the suffering Lebanon that is
Korean Bishops: “With Christ’s
Resurrection, Let us Fight Against the
Culture of Death”
SEOUL, South Korea, April 6,
2007—Pain caused by policies
on abortion and embryonic re-
search but hope for a better fu-
ture, guaranteed by our faith in
Christ’s resurrection. This is the
common denominator of the
various messages sent out by Ko-
rean bishops to their dioceses this
Easter.
Card. Nicholas Cheong Jin-
suk, Archbishop of Seoul ex-
pressed: “our great disappoint-
ment for the National Bioethics
Inquiry Commission, which de-
cided to allow the limited embry-
onic research with the cloning of
somatic cells, we urge the gov-
ernment and the academic circles
to have more concern and sup-
port for the ethically correct adult
stem cells research, instead of the
embryonic stem cells research”.
The same theme is under-
lined by Msgr. Andreas Choi
Chang-mou, Archbishop of
Kwangju, who writes “All crimes
against the dignity of life and the
life itself must be regarded as the
Hundreds Take to the Street Against
Islamic Extremism
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, April
6, 2007—Hundreds of Pakistani
human rights activists have
staged a protest calling for action
against the extremism of the
madrassah, or Islamic religious
schools, demanding the govern-
ment intervene to limit their ac-
tivities.
About 600 people took to
the streets of Islamabad demand-
ing curbs on “extremist forces”
they said were promoting “intol-
erance and violence”.
The protest was called two
weeks after female students from
the Jamia Hafsa madrassah ab-
ducted a woman they accused of
running a brothel, holding her
captive for two days. The stu-
dents seized the women accusing
her of running a brothel, contrary
to Islam. Two of her relatives
were also taken hostage in the
raid.
Despite her protests of inno-
cence, the woman was released
only after she had read out a
“public confession of immoral-
Women’s Group Receives Canonical
Status
VATICAN CITY, MARCH 26,
2007—The World Union of
Catholic Women’s Organizations
has received the status of a pub-
lic international association of the
faithful under canon law.
The Pontifical Council for
Laity made the recognition. On
Wednesday, Archbishop
Stanislaw Rylko, president of that
Vatican dicastery, celebrated the
recognition with leaders of the
organization.
Founded in 1910, the
women’ s group promotes the
presence, participation and co-
threatened by the current politi-
cal crises. Also mentioned are the
difficulties faced on a daily basis
by the Christian Communities
and their constant exodus from
the Holy Land which is the cradle
of our faith”.
At the end of his address,
Benedict XVI sent out a message
of “hope, fraternity and peace,
which each year on this Holy Day
is renewed” in over 62 lan-
guages. Among those, Mongol,
Turkish, Arabic, Hebrew, Ara-
maic, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam,
Bengalese, Burmese, Urdu, Chi-
nese, Japanese, Korean, Viet-
namese, Singhalese, Thai, Indo-
nesian, Cambodian and Philip-
pines. (AsiaNews)
infringement on the peace of hu-
man beings, and therefore we
must counter them”.
This is increasingly appar-
ent, as Msgr. John Choi Young-
soo, Archbishop of Daegu, ex-
plains that, “We should not for-
get the fact that both an embryo
and a fetus possess life in regard
to the respect for life. I invite the
faithful to initiate a beautiful and
dignified culture of life”.
The bishops of Suwon and
Incheon write, that if we do not
celebrate this beauty “we risk
defeat at the hands of that cul-
ture of death which, thanks to the
nationwide practice of abortion,
has resulted in the highest rate of
suicide and the lowest birth-rate
of the world”.
In order to counter this phe-
nomenon writes the bishop of
Pusan Msgr. Augustine Cheong
Myeng-cho, “In the belief of the
resurrection, it is a duty of the
faithful to choose a leader who
can give us a true hope”. (Jo-
seph Yun Li-sun/AsiaNews)
ity”. The day after the release the
school Imam demanded the gov-
ernment “impose Sharia law”
adding that “it will be applied
either way, even without politi-
cal support”.
The students, from the Jamia
Hafsa madrassah, seized the al-
leged brothel owner and two of
her relatives, releasing them only
when the woman had read out a
confession”. In a statement, the
Human Rights Commission of
Pakistan and a dozen non-gov-
ernmental organizations urged
people to “rise against these ex-
tremist religious bigoted forces
and secure the future of the
present and future generations”.
(AsiaNews/Agencies)
responsibility of Catholic women
in Church and society in order to
enable them to fulfill their mis-
sion of evangelization and to
work for human development.
Its membership includes al-
most 100 organizations, active in
66 countries, and represents mil-
lions of Catholic women.
President-General Karen
Hurley said, “This status honors
the tireless efforts of millions of
faithful Catholic women active in
our union at the parish, diocesan,
national and international lev-
els.” (Zenit.org)
Pope Picks Caritas
Somalia as
Recipient of Holy
Thursday
Collection
ROME, April 4, 2007—Pope
Benedict XVI has earmarked the
money to be collected during his
Mass of the Lord’s Supper on
Holy Thursday for Caritas
Somalia’s medical operations.
The Mass to be celebrated at the
Basilica of St. John Lateran in
Rome is the only papal Mass with
a collection; all the money goes
to a cause chosen by the pope.
Caritas Somalia is the local affili-
ate of Caritas Internationalis, an
international network of Catholic
relief, development and social ser-
vice agencies. Bishop Giorgio
Bertin of Djibouti, who is also the
Vatican Begins Move to High-
Definition TV
VATICAN CITY, MARCH 27,
2007—The Vatican Television
Center will begin broadcasts in
high definition and its first ven-
ture into the medium will be
Benedict XVI’s 80th birthday
Mass.
Jesuit Father Federico
Lombardi, director of the televi-
sion center, made the announce-
ment today in a press conference
from the offices of Vatican Radio.
Father Lombardi explained
that the use of this television stan-
dard aims to offer the best pos-
sible image quality. High-defini-
tion television (HDTV) is ex-
Pope Highlights
Doubt of Thomas
Says It Shed Light
on True Face of
God
VATICAN CITY, April 8, 2007—
The disbelief of Thomas was a
fortunate event that led to the dis-
covery of the true face of God,
said Benedict XVI during his Eas-
ter message.
Speaking from the balcony
of St. Peter’s Basilica today, the
Holy Father reminded the faith-
ful that after the Resurrection,
“Thomas remained doubtful and
perplexed.”
The Pope said: “When Jesus
came for a second time, he said to
him: ‘Put your finger here and see
my hands; and put out your hand
and place it in my side; do not be
faithless, but believing!’
“The apostle’s response is a
moving profession of faith: ‘My
Lord and my God!’ We too re-
new that profession of faith of
Thomas.”
The Pope said: “I have cho-
sen these words for my Easter
greetings this year, because hu-
manity today expects from Chris-
tians a renewed witness to the
resurrection of Christ; it needs to
encounter him and to know him
as true God and true man.
“We may all be tempted by
the disbelief of Thomas. Suffer-
ing, evil, injustice, death, espe-
cially when it strikes the innocent
such as children who are victims
Martyr of the First Commandment for
Beatification
BOLZANO, Italy, MARCH 26,
2007—Josef Mayr-Nusser,
known as a “martyr of the First
Commandment,” was sentenced
to death by the Nazis for refus-
ing to take an oath of allegiance
to Adolf Hitler.
Mayr-Nusser’s cause for be-
atification has been concluded at
the diocesan phase. At a Mass
marking the anniversary of
Mayr-Nusser’s death, Bishop
Manfred Scheuer, of Innsbruck,
Austria, said he was a “martyr of
the First Commandment” and “a
witness of faith, of conscience
and of love toward others.”
During World War II, Mayr-
Nusser was forcibly drafted by the
Nazis. Leaving his wife Hildegard
and newborn son Albert, Mayr-
Nusser was sent to Prussia.
After his training he was re-
quired to swear an oath to Hitler,
saying, “I swear to you, Adolf
Pope interceded for captives in Iran
VATICAN, April 9, 2007—Pope
Benedict XVI wrote to Iran’s
spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khameini, to plead for the release
of 15 captured British sailors and
marines, the Vatican has revealed.
In his letter to the Iranian Is-
lamic leader, the Holy Father
asked that the captives be released
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 11 No. 7
April 2-15, 2007
apostolic administrator of the Dio-
cese of Mogadishu, Somalia, said
in a statement April 2 that it was
comforting to know the pope had
chosen the medical dispensary in
Baidoa as the recipient. “We see
this as a sign of the Holy Father’s
concern for the people of Soma-
lia, for the poor, the voiceless, and
recognition of those who have
given their lives during these 20
years of war for the poor and for
peace,” Bishop Bertin said.
(CNS)
pected to soon replace earlier
forms of broadcasting.
“We are preparing to be
ready and the first time we will
be broadcasting a complete pro-
duction in high definition will be
on April 15, in collaboration with
the Salesian Missions,” Father
Lombardi said.
Archives of material in high
definition will also be started. In
this way, Vatican TV will be able
to offer broadcasts to stations that
already use high definition, es-
pecially in Korea, Japan, the
United States, Germany and
Italy. (Zenit.org)
of war and terrorism, of sickness
and hunger, does not all of this
put our faith to the test?”
The Holy Father continued:
“Paradoxically the disbelief of
Thomas is most valuable to us in
these cases because it helps to pu-
rify all false concepts of God and
leads us to discover his true face:
the face of a God who, in Christ,
has taken upon himself the
wounds of injured humanity.
“In fact, by his rising the
Lord has not taken away suffer-
ing and evil from the world but
has vanquished them at their
roots by the superabundance of
his grace.
“He has countered the arro-
gance of evil with the supremacy
of his love. He has left us the love
that does not fear death, as the
way to peace and joy.”
The Pope added: “United to
him and ready to offer our lives
for our brothers, let us become
apostles of peace, messengers of
a joy that does not fear pain—
the joy of the Resurrection.”
(Zenit.org)
Hitler, Führer and chancellor of
the Reich, faithfulness and cour-
age; I solemnly promise to you
and the superiors designated by
you faithfulness until death; may
God help me.”
When the day came for the
oath, Oct. 4, 1944, Mayr-Nusser
refused to swear to Hitler in the
name of God. His faith and his
conscience, he said, would not
allow it.
Knowing his wife shared his
commitment to God, Mayr-
Nusser wrote her from prison,
“You wouldn’t be my wife if you
expected something different.”
Mayr-Nusser was trans-
ferred to Danzig and put on trial.
He was condemned to death for
defiance and died from dysentery
on Feb. 24, 1945, on the way to
the concentration camp of
Dachau. He was clutching a ro-
sary and a Bible. (Zenit.org)
in time to return home for Easter,
saying that this would be “a sig-
nificant religious gesture.”
The British captives were re-
leased a few hours after the Pope’s
letter was delivered. It is not
known to what extent the papal
appeal influenced Iran’s decision.
(CWNews)
 CBCP Monitor
Vol. 11 No. 7
April 2-15, 2007 News Feature
Catechetical Formation Program
Heightens in Iligan Diocese
By Fely Nillas
THE Catechetical Formation Pro-
gram of the Diocese of Iligan is
the education arm that renders
pastoral education activities in
twenty five (25) parishes of the
diocese. Various seminars and
training workshops are con-
3
ate is done regularly to enable the
diocese to facilitate and to attend
to their needs without difficulty.
The parish catechist coordinators
gather monthly for their regular
diocesan meeting and input.
To strengthen the bond and
forge unity of all catechists in the
diocesan level a yearly general

Benedict XVI: We Are No ducted regularly by vicariate for

Longer Alone Says Christ
Overcame Our Solitude
VATICAN CITY, April 8,
2007—The resurrection of
Christ overcame not only
death, but also the solitude
that every person experi-
ences, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope made these
comments during the three-
hour Easter Vigil Mass held
Saturday night in St. Peter’s
Basilica, which was filled to
capacity.
During the vigil, the
Holy Father administered the
sacraments of baptism and
confirmation to six catechu-
mens from four countries:
China, Japan, Cuba and
Cameroon. He also baptized
two Chinese children.
In his homily, Benedict
XVI said that the Church
could consider that on Easter,
Christ says to each one of the
faithful: “I arose and now I
am still with you.
“My hand upholds you.
Wherever you may fall, you
will always fall into my
hands.
“I am present even at the
door of death. Where no one
can accompany you further,
and where you can bring noth-
ing, even there I am waiting
for you, and for you I will
change darkness into light.”
To the candidates for
baptism, the Holy Father said
that what is new about the
sacrament is that “our life
now belongs to Christ, and no
longer to ourselves.”
“As a result,” he said,
“we are never alone, even in
death, but are always with the
one who lives forever.”
Responding to God’s Love, Vital Aim
of John Paul II’s Live
VATICAN CITY, April 2,
2007—At midday today in the
basilica of St. John Lateran, the
closing session was held of the
Benedict XVI said that
the joy of the Easter vigil is
that “we are free.”
The Pope continued: “In
the resurrection of Jesus, love
has been shown to be stron-
ger than death, stronger than
evil.
“Love made Christ de-
scend, and love is also the
power by which he ascends.
The power by which he
brings us with him.
“In union with his love,
borne aloft on the wings of
love, as persons of love, let
us descend with him into the
world’s darkness, knowing
that in this way we will also
rise up with him.”
The Holy Father encour-
aged the faithful to ask the
Lord to “show us that love is
stronger than hatred, that love
is stronger than death.”
“Descend into the dark-
ness and the abyss of our
modern age,” continued
Benedict XVI’s prayer, “and
take by the hand those who
await you. Bring them to the
light!”
The Holy Father added:
“In my own dark nights, be
with me to bring me forth!
Help me, help all of us, to
descend with you into the
darkness of all those people
who are still waiting for you,
who out of the depths cry
unto you!
“Help us to bring them
your light! Help us to say the
“yes” of love, the love that
makes us descend with you
and, in so doing, also to rise
with you.” (Zenit)
the catechists to upgrade their
assembly and Christmas fellow-
ship is held. Last year’s fellow-
knowledge and catechetical ship was graced by the presence
skills. Primarily, spiritual forma-
tion is also provided. The volun-
of the bishop, Most Rev. Elenito
Galido, DD. He presided the Eu-
teer catechists from different par-
ishes, most of whom are peasant
charistic celebration with the
Catechetical director, Fr.
women and ordinary housewives, Diomedes F. Cabiles, and other
now total one thousand and two diocesan clergy.
hundred fifty (1,250) more or less. The catechists of the diocese
They are involved in catechetical strive to make the observance of The annual general assembly of Catechists in Iligan.
instructions, pre-sacramental the catechetical month every
seminars, liturgical preparations, September more fruitful and tions in their program. Providen- ishes, gave him the opportunity
and other analogous roles not only meaningful, not only for them- tially, it is also during the Sun- to see the need of the diocese to
in their respective chapels and selves, but also for the recipients days of September that the sec- “recruit more catechists and train
church communities, but also in of their catechesis. Some vicari- ond collection from the parishes them professionally”. As a result,
the school, both elementary and ates hold various activities, like goes to the Catechetical Fund of the diocese is sending volunteer
high school. poster-making contests, slogan the Diocese. catechists to the DOPIM Summer
As the number of catechists contests, adult catechesis, sports- The frequent visits of Institute this coming April 2007
increased, a gathering by vicari- fest and other creative presenta- Bishop Galido to different par- until May 2007.
In the Montagnard Region, Easter Mass is Used to Deny Religious Freedom
The Kontum diocese which was visited by days of great holiday, but we have to ask per-
the Holy See delegation to Vietnam in March— mission from the local authority. They are bar-
stretches across the provinces of Kontum and ons of the land; they lay down the law and
Gia Lai: it’s a rural area, in the central high oppress the poor”.
planes, with a population of about 1.6 million, An elderly woman 72 years old remem-
300 thousand of which are Catholics. Half of bers: “When I was young, I never witnessed
the population—the Montagnard—is made up such a sight. Government meddling in reli-
of ethnic minorities such as the Ba Na, Xô gious organizations has increased. The local
Naêng, Gia Rai, EÂ- Neâ, Gieâ-Trieâng, government holds all the power in their hands.
M’Noâng, Cô Ho, Braâu and Rô Maêm. Most If they permit the priest to say mass, the priest
of them live well below the poverty line, with can say mass. If not, we have no right to go to
less than a dollar a day. church”.
Since March 30, 2007, the local govern- “Vietnam’s law on religious freedom is es-
by Nguyen Van Tranh ment of one district of Kon Tum Province has sential”, explains Catholic lawyer Phuong to
sent letter to Bishop Michel Hoâng Duc Oanh AsiaNews. “Based on the law, all Vietnamese
KONTUM, VIETNAM, April 7, 2007—With of Kon Tum Diocese, stating that they accepted have rights to practice their chosen faith. But
the pretext of allowing some villages to cel- for some hamlets to organize Easter Mass on many local governments are unaware of the
ebrate Easter Mass, provincial authorities Sunday. But in reality, the content of the pa- laws in existence. Their dealings with Catho-
from Kontum, in central Vietnam, on the bor- per is to ban religious activities of Catholics lics are dictated by the laws of the jungle. The
der with Laos and Cambodia, are attempting in the Diocese. local governments still produce propaganda
to control and limit Catholic activities, par- Even though Vietnamese law affirms that which portrays the Catholic Church as a hos-
ticularly focusing on the region’s ethnic mi- every person has the right of religious free- tile force. They are always suspect of Catho-
norities, thus violating national legislation on dom, the reality is far removed. One young lics’ activities. So, they react accordingly, vio-
religious freedom. man told AsiaNews “Easter and Christmas are lating the rights of the people”. (AsiaNews)
Calling the Media's Bluff Coverage of Religious Topics
By Father John Flynn "Commentators who take
phrases out of context in a mis-
ROME, April 8, 2007—Media leading extrapolation are exer-
and religion often have an un-
easy relationship. It's not that
cising their trade dishonestly,"
Cardinal Bertone said.
journalists ignore religious top-
ics, it's just that quality cover-
The cardinal also found
fault with all the attention given
age is frequently lacking. Car- to the Discover Channel docu-
dinal Tarcisio Bertone, the mentary "The Lost Tomb of
Vatican secretary of state, re- Jesus." He said that the public-
cently called certain discrepan- ity given to such specious argu-
cies to the media's attention. ments weakens the faith of
© Denz Dayao / CBCPMedia

diocesan investigation into the

life, virtues and fame of sanctity
of Servant of God John Paul II,
the first step in the process of be-
atification of the late pontiff who
died on April 2, 2005.
The diocesan phase was
closed by Cardinal Camillo
Ruini, His Holiness' vicar general
for the diocese of Rome, with an
address focussing upon the por-
trayal of the spiritual qualities of
John Paul II. "At the beginning,
at the center and at the peak of
such a portrait," said the cardi-
nal, "we cannot but put Karol
Wojtyla's personal relationship
with God. A relationship that was
already strong, intimate and pro-
found in his boyhood, and that
never ceased to develop and
grow stronger, producing fruits
in all dimensions of his life.
"Here, we are in the pres-
ence of the Mystery," he added.
"In the first place the mystery of
the preferential love with which
God the Father loved this Polish
boy, united him to Himself and
then maintained this union; not
saving him from the trials of life
- on the contrary, associating him
ever and anew to the cross of His
Son - but also giving him the
courage to love the cross, and the
spiritual intelligence to see,
through the cross, the face of the
Father.
"In the certainty of being
loved by God and in the joy of
returning this love, Karol Wojtyla
found the meaning, unity and aim
of his own life. All those who
knew him, from near or only from
afar, were struck by the richness
of his humanity, by his complete
fulfillment as a man. But even
more illuminating and important
is the fact that such fullness of
humanity coincided, in the end,
with his relationship with God, in
other words with his sanctity."
The opening session of the
diocesan investigation took place
in the same basilica on June 28
2005, less than three months af-
ter John Paul II's death, thanks
to the fact that Benedict XVI
waived the normal waiting pe-
riod of five years after the death
of a Servant of God.
The diocesan investigation
over, the acts and documents will
now pass to the Congregation for
the Causes of Saints, where all
the material will be studied.
(VIS)
During an interview with a
French magazine, the cardinal
criticized how the press covers
the Catholic Church, Reuters re-
ported March 31. Often, he
stated, the media concentrate on
controversial subjects such as
sex and abortion, while ignoring
charitable work carried out by
thousands of Catholic groups
around the world.
"The Church's messages are
subject to a type of manipulation
and falsification by some West-
ern media," said Cardinal
Bertone.
The cardinal also said that
Benedict XVI's Regensburg ad-
dress last September was falsely
reported, with undue attention
given to a quote by the Pope of
what a Byzantine emperor said
about Muslims. The speech was
really a discussion of the role
God plays in society.
Malaybalay Holds Recollection for
Parents of Clergy
A RECOLLECTION for parents
of the Diocesan Priests of
Malaybalay was held on Febru-
ary 22-23 at the Diocesan Forma-
tion Center. Forty-two parents
people.
The documentary, which
aired March 4, is a case in point
of how media reports can give a
false impression of the facts.
James Cameron, the film's direc-
tor, said there was solid statisti-
cal evidence that the ossuary
found in a Jerusalem suburb in
1980 may have contained the
bones of Jesus and other family
members, the Associated Press
reported Feb. 26.
The extensive attention
given by the media to the docu-
mentary was soon scrutinized.
The Washington Post reported
Feb. 28 that Biblical archaeolo-
gist William Dever said of the
hype surrounding the documen-
tary: "I just think it's a shame the
way this story is being hyped
and manipulated."
"It's a publicity stunt, and it
will make these guys very rich,
but the practice stopped when
their sons entered theology.
On February 23, the parents
were treated to a free medical
check-up, organized by Fr. Arnold
and it will upset millions of in-
nocent people because they
don't know enough to separate
fact from fiction."
Doubtful assumptions
The allegedly solid statisti-
cal evidence behind the docu-
mentary came under scrutiny by
Carl Bialik, who writes a col-
umn on statistics for the Wall
Street Journal. In an article dated
March 9, Bialik looked at the
claim that finding a tomb with
the names of Jesus and other
CBCP Office to hold Forum on
Church Properties
THE Episcopal Commission
on Mutual Relations between
Bishops and Religious
(ECMR) of the Catholic Bish-
ops’ Conference of the Philip-
family members was so statisti-
cally unlikely that it was proof
that it was really the tomb of
Jesus.
The documentary's statisti-
cal claims were based on work
by a University of Toronto stat-
istician, Andrey Feuerverger.
His work supposedly showed
that there is just a one-in-600
chance that the names on the
tomb would have come together
in a family that didn't belong to
Jesus of Nazareth.
But, Bialik pointed out, this
Media / P11
There are several Reli-
gious congregations whose
convents, schools and apos-
tolic buildings are built on
Church lands.

Pope’s Prayer
Intention for April
VATICAN CITY, April 1, 2007—Pope
Benedict XVI’s general prayer intention
for April is: “That, allowing himself to
be enlightened and guided by the Holy
Spirit, every Christian may answer enthu-
siastically and faithfully to the universal
call to sanctity.”
His mission intention is: “That the
number of priestly and religious vocations
may grow in North America and the coun-
tries of the Pacific Ocean, in order to give
an adequate answer to the pastoral and
missionary needs of those populations.”
(VIS)
came for the recollection which
was directed by Bishop Honesto
Ch. Pacana, SJ, DD, who also
gave an input on the Lord’s Prayer
and the Holy Family.
A short program was held for
the parents in the evening of Feb.
22. The college and pre-college
seminarians participated with pre-
sentations that brought laughter
into the hearts of the priests’ par-
ents. The clergy also performed
to the delight of everyone.
The two-day recollection was
also a homecoming for the par-
ents who met again after many
years. They used to come for the
yearly recollection given for par-
ents when their sons were still col-
lege and pre-college seminarians,
Yee, who asked Mr. Roman
Ozaeta, CEO of the Bukidnon
Sugar Milling Company to send
his medical team. Three doctors
came to render the medical check-
up. The team also checked the
post prandial blood sugar of the
parents, which was done to free
them from the burden of fasting.
The event was a brainchild of
Fr. Penoy Beruan, President of the
Malaybalay Young Clergy (priests
less than five years in the minis-
try) during their January meeting
early this year. The proposed ac-
tivity immediately got the support
of the senior priests when pre-
sented during the Clergy meeting
last February 5-6. (Fr. Jojo
Tianero)
pines (CBCP) is organizing a
half-day conference on the
topic of Perpetual use of
Church Properties by Reli-
gious on April 28, 2007 at
Mother Ignacia Spirituality
Center of the Religious of the
Virgin Mary in Quezon City.
The conference is being
organized as a response to the
queries of various Religious
Congregations with regards to
the use of properties of the
Church.
The forum seeks to clarify
some problematic issues aris-
ing from the perpetual use of
Church lands and buildings
granted to some Religious con-
gregations by some dioceses.
The CBCP Judicial Vicar,
Archbishop Oscar Cruz, DD,
will talk on the topic “Use of
Church’s Properties,” while
CBCP legal counsel, Atty.
Sabino Padilla, Jr. will expound
on “The Validity of Grants of
the Perpetual Use of Church’s
Properties to the Religious.”
The event is open to anyone
interested to be enlightened on
the said topics Conference starts
at 8:30 am and ends at 12:30 pm.
Participants will be asked to
share P100.00 upon registration
to defray expenses. Snacks will
be provided. For seat reservation
and additional information,
please call 524-6006. (Pinky
Barrientos, FSP)

4 News
Bishop: Holy Week Not Simply a Vacation Time
A CATHOLIC prelate called on
the faithful not to consider Holy
Week as mere “vacation period”
as he warned against the “secu-
larization” of Holy Week viewed
by many as a time for vacation
and respite from the metropoli-
tan activities.
San Jose, Mindoro Apos-
tolic Vicar-Emeritus Vicente
Manuel said many may have for-
gotten their sense of the sacred
that characterizes Holy Week as
they would rather spend time in
beaches and hometowns.
He said commercialism has
crept into the celebration of the
Holy Week, which may have
stemmed out of the lack of un-
Indonesian / from p1
investigation on this senseless
murder.” He described the late
SVD missionary as one who had
“full dedication, motivation and
loyalty” as he served “all the
people he fondly loved and cared
for.”
He concluded by quoting
Luke 23:43 “Father, forgive them
for they know not what they’re
doing” as he expressed his sym-
pathies to Fr. Madhu’s family and
relatives in Indonesia and the
country’s Society of the Divine
Word as he extended his gratitude
to the congregation for the fu-
neral arrangements.
Apostolic Vicariate of Tabuk
Bishop Prudencio Andaya,
CICM said the Palm Sunday
murder at a public school in
Barangay Mabungtot, Labuagan,
Easter / from p1
“This Gospel detail shows
that sinners are also objects of the
Resurrection news and can be
channels through whom the
Good News will spread,” said
Lagdameo.
In a separate message, Ma-
nila Archbishop Gaudencio Car-
dinal Rosales emphasized peace
and unity, the fruits of Easter,
saying that, “in Christ there
should never be any division, nor
competition, but one vision of
pursuing the love of God and the
good of every human in the level
ground of helping and inspiring
everyone to share in the King-
dom of one Father of all.”
Rosales opined that through
his Paschal Mystery, Jesus has
“perfected all human experience
YouTube / from p1
recent months with users running
to several millions a day.
“The launching was timed
for the Holy Week being the
most appropriate time to issue
short catecheses on the liturgi-
cal significance of the celebra-
tions which have been most
misunderstood,” said CBCP
Media Director Msgr. Pedro
Quitorio.
The CBCP’s Lenten reflec-
tion can also be found by search-
ing tag links such as “cbcp” or
“holy week” at the YouTube site
which will be embedded at the
four main websites of the CBCP.
The Vblog has gained
popularity among young people
since the last couple of years,
which, according to reports, at-
tracts millions of people world-
wide, who produce and watch
video blogs daily.
Quitorio, also the v-presi-
dent for administration of the
Anti-death / from p1
work for the ratification of the
protocol by the Senate to abso-
lutely abolish the capital punish-
ment.
Karen Gomez-Dumpit, di-
rector of the Government Link-
ages Office of the Commission
on Human Rights, also gave an
update on the status of the proto-
col.
She reported that President
Arroyo has already signed an
agreement but the Presidential
Legislative Liaison Office
(PLLO) still refuses to transmit
it to the Senate for unknown rea-
sons.
Karen suggested that as pro-
life advocates, we must exert pres-
Troops / from p1
sonnel who allegedly harass
militant leaders and their sym-
pathizers.
Bishop Pabillo said he had
already submitted a formal re-
port to Manila Archbishop
Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales. In
a separate interview Pabillo said
it is imperative to assess the sol-
diers’ accomplishments in Metro
Manila’s depressed areas.
Lagdameo said the CBCP
backs the Archdiocese of Manila
derstanding and catechesis of
the Paschal mystery.
Bishop Manuel said tradi-
tional Holy Week celebrations
for many have become cultural,
if not some tourist attractions,
bereft of spiritual meaning.
Catholics, he said, should
not limit their Holy Week by
simply becoming an observer to
the celebrations and rituals with-
out receiving the sacraments,
such as going to confession and
the Eucharist and other liturgi-
cal activities.
“I think the reason for all of
these is because of many
people’s lack of understanding
of their faith,” said Manuel.
Kalinga “shattered all of us.”
He further added “children,
men and women of the village
gathered around the improvised
altar, witnessed the incident,” as
the missionary waited for a lan-
tern commonly used in areas
without electricity.
“Initial investigations re-
vealed Fr. Fransis never had any
argument with anybody before
the incident nor did he preach
anything against the sensitivities
of the barrio folks, for he was
another victim of sheer criminal-
ity” Bishop Andaya said.
He acknowledged efforts of
the local police and military au-
thorities to arrest the suspect,
appealing to the immediate rela-
tives to facilitate the immediate
surrender.
over difficult means—slavery,
poverty, ignorance and oppres-
sion;” and made himself “a
model and a source of hope in
human stories of liberation and
salvation.”
“Jesus Christ is the only
way and model for humans to
save and develop self into a per-
son who is fully human, fit for
God’s Kingdom, and able to ac-
cept that what is good for him is
also good for others,” said
Rosales.
As the solemn atmosphere
of Holy Week has been replaced
by the joyful atmosphere of Eas-
ter, election “campaigners are
back on trail pursuing their per-
sonal projects, [and] those who
reflected and prayed come back
CBCPWorld, a church-backed
Internet service provider (ISP)
that offers Internet access which
filters pornography sites, said
Vblogs that are short, fast and
easy are attuned to the psyche
of today’s youth.
The CBCP’s YouTube ac-
count, he said, is intended for the
young faithful today that are
more inclined to listen to the
contents delivered by the latest
technology “rather than the age-
old-sermon.”
“It seemed a good way to
reach our target audience,” he
said.
However, it’s a lot more
than that. The CBCP Media Of-
fice is in the service of the Epis-
copal Conference and it wants
its content to be seen every-
where, not just on YouTube.
After the Holy Week,
Quitorio said other contents in-
cluding advocacies in environ-
sure on the executive or ask the
Senate to take a pro-active stance
by passing a resolution urging the
Executive Department to transmit
the said agreement.
Anita Van de Haar-Conjin,
Deputy Head of the Mission of
the Royal Netherlands Embassy
also assured their continuing
commitment to support efforts
that will totally abolish the death
penalty in our country.
The participants in the as-
sembly resolved to be more pro-
active in its advocacy against the
plan by some congressional can-
didates to re-impose the death
penalty for certain crimes.
(CBCPNews)
in expressing concern over the
militarization of society and the
allegations of harassment
charged against the government
forces.
“For now, we are against
militarization of any kind (espe-
cially) at this time of elections
until the government comes up
with a valid reason for the de-
ployment of soldiers in some
barangays,” said Lagdameo.
Lagdameo said he may call
In Catholic Church’s tradi-
tion, the Paschal Triduum is cel-
ebrated from the afternoon of
Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday.
Bishop Manuel added Holy
Week has two important mes-
sages for us: Christ’s death lib-
erates us from sin; by His resur-
rection Jesus opens for us the
way to new life. “This new life,
above all, restores us to the life
of grace.”
“People must attend Church
activities because that’s the eth-
ics of our faith. If Christ did not
suffer, die and live again… our
faith has no sense,” he said.
He underscored the need for
people to consider the Holy
“We condemn the killing as
savage and inhuman and we are
deeply hurt as taking someone
else’s life is utterly un-Christian
as our hearts cry out for justice
for an innocent man,” he added.
He asked the congregation
composed of missionary priests,
nuns, seminarians and lay lead-
ers “if it could happen to an or-
dained minister, how much more
to a lay person and why is
Kalinga (Province) so basked
with bloodshed throughout this
decade?”
He said the province re-
ceived another blow when a gu-
bernatorial candidate was mur-
dered while beginning his speech
at a political campaign rally.
“Killings after killings and per-
haps we’ve been too silent for a
to work with some hope even
over an unwelcoming future,”
according to Rosales.
The observance of the Holy
Week celebrations brought halt
at least temporarily to a politi-
cal campaign frenzy that has en-
gulfed the nation since the cam-
paign period started last Febru-
ary 3.
Church officials called on
the faithful to spend their Holy
Week celebrations meaningfully
by reflecting on the mystery of
the Cross and what it meant to
the lives of Christians.
Holy week celebrations in
the country have, in some cases,
been characterized by commer-
cialism and performing religious
practices that others say bor -
ment, gambling, politics, social
justice and other social issues
will be loaded on the video blog.
“This again is an answer of
the CBCP Media Office to the
call of the Holy Father ‘to make
the internet as a new forum for
proclaiming the Gospel,’” he
said.
This is the first time the
CBCP has used YouTube but not
its first foray into high tech
means of evangelization.
Last year, several prelates
have started creating their own
blogs to expand their reach to
the faithful.
Lingayen-Dagupan Arch-
bishop Oscar Cruz, who is one
of the first bishops to have a
blog, said he started blogging
since 2004 not just by follow-
ing the call of the late Pope John
Paul II to tap the Internet as its
new form of evangelization but
to also to forward the truth on
Cardinal / from p1
Sambayanan tungo sa
Pagkakaisa at Kabanalan,” he
said.
As Holy Week will be cel-
ebrated in parishes across the
country and the faithful contem-
plate on Christ’s passion, death
and resurrection, the Church of-
ficial also urged the lay faithful
to help alleviate the suffering of
others.
“In sharing, remember that
no one is poor that he has nothing
to give and no one is so rich that
he has nothing to receive,” he said.
“Share your time, talent and
treasure. Whenever we see people
hungry, thirsty, homeless, sick and
oppressed, it is our duty to act.”
for a meeting of CBCP officials
to discuss the concerns from
various sectors and take corre-
sponding action on the matter.
“We will still see what we
can do because it needs a thor-
ough discussion. We are now
gathering information on the
matter. We are checking with our
members— bishops in Luzon,
Visayas and Mindanao—if they
were able to monitor similar in-
cidents,” Lagdameo said.
Week as a time for reflection on
the “passion, death and resurrec-
tion” of Jesus Christ.
“Let’s make Holy Week sa-
cred. This is the foundation of
our faith and therefore let’s give
it utmost importance,” said
Manuel.
The 68-year old prelate also
urged priests to double their ef-
forts in preserving and proclaim-
ing the essence of the Holy
Week in a clear unambiguous
manner.
He encouraged the priests
to be energetic in their pursuit
of pastoral contacts with their
parishioners. (CBCPNews)
long time and afraid to speak out
against crimes,” Bishop Andaya
added.
A townmate of the late Fr.
Madhu from Flores, Indonesia,
Fr. Levi Meme, said there are 30
Indonesian priests from their
congregation doing various
chores in the Philippines. Meme,
assigned to the Philippines for the
past 17 years, said he knew Fr.
Madhu, aged 31, as “very kind
and quiet person.”
Fr. Adriatico, head of the
SVD Northern Province said in
an interview before the memorial
Mass he has not received any
update from the local police and
military authorities about the
possible motives and arrest of the
suspects responsible for the mur-
der. (Melo Acuña)
dered on fanaticism.
To a growing number of
people nowadays, the obser-
vance of Holy Week has been
reduced to spending time in the
beach, or going off a mountain
escapade.
The Church also frowns on
traditional practices such as flag-
ellations and crucifixions per-
formed by devotees on Good Fri-
day, saying those practices bor-
dered on superstitious beliefs and
done only to promote tourism.
“The traditional Holy week
celebrations for many [have] be-
come cultural, if not tourist at-
tractions, bereft of spiritual
meaning,” according to the San
Jose, Mindoro Apostolic Vicar-
Emeritus Vicente Manuel, SVD.
dated “socio-moral issues.”
Aside from Cruz, other
prelates that already have their
blog include CBCP president
Angel Lagdameo, CBCP Vice-
President Antonio Ledesma,
Davao Archbishop Fernando
Capalla, Cotabato Archbishop
Orlando Quevedo, Dipolog
Bishop Jose Manguiran and
Tagbilaran Bishop Leonardo
Medroso.
The bishops’ media office
has currently an Internet facil-
ity that supplies broadband sat-
ellite connectivity to about 100
schools nationwide.
It also designs and hosts
websites, publishes magazines
(Impact Magazine and CBCP
Monitor), produces video docu-
mentaries, conducts trainings to
church workers on information
technology and maintains a ra-
dio program at Radyo Veritas.
(CBCPNews)
He cited the “Alay Kapwa”
program of the Church as one op-
portunity for people to collec-
tively reach out to others, espe-
cially the deprived.
Rosales said “love offering”
would be used to support Caritas
Manila’s social services and de-
velopment programs.
Alay Kapwa is a venue for
social evangelization and con-
crete resource mobilization of the
Catholic Church in the Philip-
pine.
“Hopefully, this opportunity
will enable us to open our hearts
and minds towards genuine ac-
ceptance, particularly the poor,”
he said. (CBCPNews)
Militant groups earlier
sought the bishops’ assistance to
stop the “militarization” of met-
ropolitan Manila and other ur-
ban communities.
The fishermen from the
Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang
Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas
(Pamalakaya) and the party-list
Anakpawis also urged the prel-
ates to call for a national multi-
sector inquiry on “urban milita-
rization. (CBCPNews)
Condemns / from p1
tions are part of an operation
to forestall the influx of
squatters in the metropolitan.
“If we do not act now, we
can never stop this people
from coming back,” the
MMDA chairman said.
But the prelate insisted
that squatters also deserve
humane treatment.
Though he is not totally
against demolitions, the au-
thorities, he said, should do
it in a proper and legal way.
“Kahit na mahihirap
iyan, kahit na ang kanilang
tirahan ay hindi dapat
tirahan, mga tao iyan. Yung
nakakalungkot, mahirap na
yung tao, pinapahirapan
pa,” said Pabillo.
New Bishop / from p1
seminary training at the Holy
Rosary Seminary in Naga City.
At 24, he was ordained a priest
at the Naga Metropolitan Cathe-
dral.
The bishop-elect hold a
masters degree in Theology at
the Ateneo de Manila University
and a doctorate in Organiza-
tional Planning and Develop-
ment at Southeast Asia Interdis-
ciplinary Institute (SAIDI) in
Antipolo City.
He has served as the assis-
tant parish priest in the Naga
Metropolitan Cathedral. For 15
years he was rector of the
Caceres Archdiocesan
Catechetical Ministry, and there-
after headed the Caceres Com-
Bishop / from p1
pressing problems, Bishop
Gutierrez said “chronic lies” and
“rampant injustice” are the most
prevalent.
“Cheating during elections,
graft and corrupt practices are
glaring examples of lies and in-
justice,” the 68 year-old bishop
added.
He challenged everyone to
consider a “paradigm shift”
from being passive citizens to an
enlightened and dynamic citi-
zenry and stakeholders of social
transformation.
He said this could be
achieved if and when voters
would go all out for candidates
committed to common good,
honest and competent for the
positions they seek.
He called on the faithful to
actively participate in voters’
education, cleansing of voters
lists in their respective areas and
do poll watching to ensure the
people will prevails.
The National Secretariat of
Social Action, Justice and Peace
(NASSA), in a separate state-
ment released to the media in
Manila today, called on Filipino
voters to actively support can-
didates considered “vigorous
defenders of truth and justice,”
and learn from the lessons of
past political exercises.
“The previous elections
were a failure, if not a disaster.
We have failed to elect honest
Militant / from p1
harassing activists and urban
poor residents in Metro Manila.
The groups urged for “di-
vine intervention” of the Catho-
lic Bishops’ Conference of the
Philippines (CBCP) to facilitate
the pullout of military forces re-
portedly deployed in 27 urban
poor barangays in Metro Ma-
nila.
In a joint statement,
Pamalakaya and Anakpawis
urged CBCP head Archbishop
Angel Lagdameo to issue a pas-
toral statement “condemning the
presence of government troops
in Metro Manila and strongly
suggest removal in urban poor
communities.”
“We appeal for spiritual and
moral intervention of the
CBCP,” said Pamalakaya na-
tional chair and Anakpawis
nominee Fernando Hicap.
The militants also sought a
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 11 No. 7
April 2-15, 2007
© Roy Lagarde / CBCPMedia
He urged the govern-
ment to take seriously into
account the basic needs of
the people especially the
poor.
The Catholic Bishops’
Conference of the Philippines
(CBCP) recently issued a pas-
toral statement on the nation’s
housing problems.
The bishops called for a
stop of uncaring evictions
and demolitions and asked
that laws be observed in the
proper processes of eviction.
“We cannot afford to be
indifferent and complacent
in front of this grave injus-
tice,” the CBCP said. (Roy
Lagarde)
mission on Communications.
He also was vice-rector of
the Peñafrancia Minor Basilica,
administrative director of Radio
Veritas Asia and for three years
the assistant secretary general of
the Catholic Bishops’ Confer-
ence of the Philippines (CBCP).
Since 2004, he has been the
national director of the Pontifi-
cal Missionary Societies, and a
member of the Supreme Com-
mittee of “Pontificie Opere
Missionarie” in the Vatican.
As of press time, no date has
been set for his ordination as
Bishop, or for his installation as
the new bishop of the Diocese
of Daet in Camarines Norte.
(CBCPNews)
and principled leaders, and in-
stead found ourselves saddled
with ambitious and abusive poli-
ticians who were only too will-
ing to trample our moral prin-
ciples in exchange for wealth
and power,” the statement
added.
Politicians ought to run “for
the right reasons, lead with up-
right intentions, and end corrup-
tion, bribery, intimidation and
other activities that block the
conduct of an honest and cred-
ible election.”
“Our indifference to our
own failures caused politicians
to completely abandon the good-
ness in them” with most people
losing faith in truth, justice, soli-
darity and equality, among oth-
ers,” the statement added.
NASSA called on the people
to help candidates come up with
realistic platforms—“the kind
which promotes responsive de-
velopment considerate of the
welfare of the poor.”
“For this reason,
Sambayanan must study, discuss,
discern, pray over the candidates
and make a collective decision
based on the truth reflected in the
Gospel,” NASSA added.
NASSA earlier sought ac-
creditation from Commission on
Elections (Comelec) to do a
quick count but approved
Namfrel’s petition instead.
(CBCPNews)
church-led national inquiry on
urban militarization especially
in the provinces of Bulacan,
Nueva Ecija, and Tarlac.
The groups also monitored
military deployment in several
cities and urban towns in South-
ern Tagalog, Bicol, Cagayan
Valley, Cebu, Central and East-
ern Visayas.
Anakpawis secretary gen-
eral Cherry Clemente claimed
that government officials were
evading the issue of urban mili-
tarization and military involve-
ment in partisan politics in
Metro Manila.
The leader said they have
witnesses that would testify
against military officials harass-
ing urban leaders and sympa-
thizers including residents of
urban poor barangays in Manila,
Caloocan and Quezon City.
(CBCPNews)
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 11 No. 7
April 2-15, 2007 Feature 5
7 QUESTIONS for
Bishop Luis Antonio G. TTagle,
agle, DD
“Five years of endlessly saying, Domi-
nus est!” Those were the words ex-
pressed by His Excellency Luis Anto-
nio G. Tagle, DD, bishop of Imus, in
an interview by Rev. Miguel
Concepcion III, (a deacon from the
diocese of Imus), on the occasion of
his fifth Episcopal anniversary on De-
cember 12, 2006. Bishop Chito (as he
is endearingly called) was installed as
third bishop of Imus on December 12,
2001. In this interview, the bishop talks about the implemen-
tation of the Diocesan Pastoral Priorities for Evangelization
(DPP-E) in the diocese, considering it as “the unifying and
interpretive key of service.” As bishop and main protagonist
of the DPP-E, Bishop Tagle describes his concerns as mainly
“to inspire, to motivate, to encourage, to bring together, to
push, to caution, to sacrifice, to pray, to pray…”

What is the DPP-E all Bayan. The members of this

about? community are alagad ni
Kristo - who learn, who love
The DPP-E is the realiza- and follow Him. And because
tion of the vision of the Dio- they follow Christ, the com-

© Denz Dayao / CBCP Media

cese of Imus that was laid
down during the Diocesan
Pastoral Assembly (DPA) in
1999. All these are the fruit
and blossoming of prayer, re-
search, dialogue and discern-
ing and seeking God’s will. I
am happy, I would say, be-
cause the DPP-E is not an end
munity is a Church of the
Poor - with the poor and
voice of the poor. A true
Christian community ought
to be involved in the renewal
of society because faith in
Christ is a light that should
permeate every nook and
cranny in the world. This is

“A Renewed Witness to the

in itself. The process of listen-
ing to the promptings of the
Holy Spirit and to the call of
the times and attempts to re-
spond to these continue.
the DPP-E. May it flourish in
our times!
What are your personal

What are the key points

towards its implementa-
tion?
We have the DPP-E to-
day that continues to listen
and respond at the same time.
And because of this, it will
always be timely. One who
constantly listens and re-
sponds always discovers
something new. Recently, we
have appointed Fr. Sharkey
Brown as full-time Episcopal
Vicar for Pastoral Concerns.
The five (5) areas of the
apostolate and the twenty-two
(22) ministries are all under
the charge of priests, religious
and lay members and are im-
mersed in their work now.
Formation programs are un-
derway in parishes, vicariates
and even in the diocesan level.
experiences and those
of people have under-
gone the formation?
I am awed and at times
I am reduced to tears when
people who had undergone
DPP-E formation whisper
and tell me: “I have under-
gone the formation. Now, am
trying very hard to be a new
person.” I see the hand of the
Holy Spirit who digs the in-
nermost recesses of people
for them to become a new
creation. They really are se-
rious in their formation.
“Bishop, I will seek to re-
align and renew my priori-
ties and values in life for
them to be attuned to the
DPP-E. This is going to be
the rule of my life.” What
else could I say but “Thank
you!” And my heart whis-
pers: “Praise to You, Lord!”
Resurrection of Christ”
Pope Benedict XVI’s Easter Message “Urbi et Orbi”
Dear brothers and sisters
throughout the world, Men and
women of good will!
Christ is risen! Peace to you!
Today we celebrate the great
mystery, the foundation of Chris-
tian faith and hope: Jesus of
Nazareth, the Crucified One, has
risen from the dead on the third
day according to the Scriptures.
We listen today with renewed
emotion to the announcement
proclaimed by the angels on the
dawn of the first day after the
Sabbath, to Mary of Magdala and
to the women at the sepulcher:
“Why do you search among the
April 4, 2007
disappointments of many of our
contemporaries, with him we can
also rediscover with renewed
conviction, faith in Christ dead
and risen for us. This faith,
handed down through the centu-
ries by the successors of the
Apostles, continues on because
the Risen Lord dies no more. He
lives in the Church and guides it
firmly towards the fulfillment of
his eternal design of salvation.
We may all be tempted by
the disbelief of Thomas. Suffer-
ing, evil, injustice, death, espe-
cially when it strikes the innocent
such as children who are victims
of war and terrorism, of sickness
tarian situation. In Kinshasa, in
the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, the violence and looting
of the past weeks raises fears for
the future of the Congolese
democratic process and the re-
construction of the country. In
Somalia, the renewed fighting
has driven away the prospect of
peace and worsened a regional
crisis, especially with regard to
the displacement of populations
and the traffic of arms. Zimba-
bwe is in the grip of a grievous
crisis and for this reason the bish-
ops of that country in a recent
document indicated prayer and a
shared commitment for the com-
that blessed land which is the
cradle of our faith. I affection-
ately renew to these populations
the expression of my spiritual
closeness.
Dear brothers and sisters,
through the wounds of the Risen
Christ we can see the evils which
afflict humanity with the eyes of
hope. In fact, by his rising the
Lord has not taken away suffer-
ing and evil from the world but
has vanquished them at their
roots by the superabundance of
his grace. He has countered the
arrogance of evil with the su-
premacy of his love. He has left
us the love that does not fear

7
These are not
merely activities but
a continuous listen-
ing in order to be
able to respond.
What is the “sell-
ing point” of this
program among
the people of
Cavite? QUESTIONS
In my dealings with our
brethren who had undergone
formation and are now im-
mersed in the DPP-E, what
awaken their sentiments are
the following: (a) they have
heard the resonant voice of
God calling them into it (for
most, the DPP-E has become
a religious experience); (b) the
pull of and attraction to mis-
sion in a radically changing
Cavite, especially among the
poor (mission is like a mag-
net that they can’t turn their
backs to); and (c) the joy that
service brings, even if it is a
silent and discreet manner of
serving (there is nothing at par
with the depth of the peace
that comes from selfless ser-
vice).
After various formation
programs, activities, etc.,
it seems that the DPP-E
is not merely a list of pro-
grams and activities.
Anything more about
Since the inception
of the DPP-E, my
belief that goodness
overflows in the
hearts of people has
become stronger
than before. We
only need to
awaken them, to let
it flow and set the
pace and give direc-
tion to it.
To date, what areas, di-
rections or aspects in
the continuance of this
project have to be given
more attention or to be
improved?
There are lots of steps to
be taken. There are difficult
roads to traverse and to
straighten. There are hills to
be made plain. What are
these? In my observation,
there are aspects that need to
be given more attention so
that the DPP-E could con-
tinue and bear fruit. One is for
us to always go back to our
religious experience as the
root of the DPP-E. These are
some of the challenges that I
foresee.
On a personal note,
where do you get the
strength and courage to
face and continue this
challenging endeavor?
dead for one who is alive? He is
not here, he is risen!” (Luke 24:5-
6).
It is not difficult to imagine
the feelings of these women at
that moment: feelings of sadness
and dismay at the death of their
Lord, feelings of disbelief and
amazement before a fact too as-
tonishing to be true. But the tomb
was open and empty: the body
was no longer there. Peter and
John, having been informed of
this by the women, ran to the sep-
ulcher and found that they were
right. The faith of the Apostles
in Jesus, the expected Messiah,
had been submitted to a severe
trial by the scandal of the cross.
At his arrest, his condemnation
and death, they were dispersed.
Now they are together again, per-
plexed and bewildered. But the
Risen One himself comes in re-
sponse to their thirst for greater
certainty. This encounter was not
a dream or an illusion or a sub-
jective imagination; it was a real
experience, even if unexpected,
and all the more striking for that
reason. “Jesus came and stood
among them and said to them,
‘peace be with you!’” (John
20:19).
At these words their faith,
which was almost spent within
them, was re-kindled. The
Apostles told Thomas who had
been absent from that first extraor-
dinary encounter: Yes, the Lord
has fulfilled all that he foretold;
and hunger, does not all of this
put our faith to the test? Para-
doxically the disbelief of Thomas
is most valuable to us in these
cases because it helps to purify
all false concepts of God and
leads us to discover his true face:
the face of a God who, in Christ,
has taken upon himself the
wounds of injured humanity.
Thomas has received from the
Lord, and has in turn transmitted
to the Church, the gift of a faith
put to the test by the passion and
death of Jesus and confirmed by
meeting him risen. His faith was
almost dead but was born again
thanks to his touching the
wounds of Christ, those wounds
that the Risen One did not hide
but showed, and continues to
point out to us in the trials and
sufferings of every human being.
“By his wounds you have
been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). This
is the message Peter addressed to
the early converts. Those wounds
that, in the beginning were an
obstacle for Thomas’s faith, be-
ing a sign of Jesus’ apparent fail-
ure, those same wounds have be-
come in his encounter with the
Risen One, signs of a victorious
love. These wounds that Christ
has received for love of us help
us to understand who God is and
to repeat: “My Lord and my
God!” Only a God who loves us
to the extent of taking upon him-
self our wounds and our pain,
especially innocent suffering, is
mon good as the only way for-
ward.
Likewise the population of
East Timor stands in need of rec-
onciliation and peace as it pre-
pares to hold important elections.
Elsewhere too, peace is sorely
needed: in Sri Lanka only a ne-
gotiated solution can put an end
to the conflict that causes so
much bloodshed; Afghanistan is
marked by growing unrest and
instability. In the Middle East, be-
sides some signs of hope in the
dialogue between Israel and the
Palestinian authority, nothing
positive comes from Iraq, torn
apart by continual slaughter as
the civil population flees. In
Lebanon the paralysis of the
country’s political institutions
threatens the role that the coun-
try is called to play in the Middle
East and puts its future seriously
in jeopardy. Finally, I cannot for-
get the difficulties faced daily by
the Christian communities and
the exodus of Christians from
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death, as the way to peace and
joy. “Even as I have loved you—
he said to his disciples before his
death—so you must also love one
another” (cf. John 13:34).
Brothers and sisters in faith,
who are listening to me from ev-
ery part of the world! Christ is
risen and he is alive among us. It
is he who is the hope of a better
future. As we say with Thomas:
“My Lord and my God!”, may
we hear again in our hearts the
beautiful yet demanding words of
the Lord: “If any one serves me,
he must follow me; and where I
am, there shall my servant be
also; if any one serves me, the
Father will honor him” (John
12:26). United to him and ready
to offer our lives for our brothers
(cf. 1 John 3:16), let us become
apostles of peace, messengers of
a joy that does not fear pain - the
joy of the Resurrection. May
Mary, Mother of the Risen Christ,
obtain for us this Easter gift.
Happy Easter to you all.
s e!
elea
R
New

DPP-E?
You said it right. As I
have said, the DPP-E is not
merely a line-up of activities.
It is about listening to God’s
vision, to the dream of Cavite
and responding to both
through and by faith.
Personhood, lifestyle, and in-
volvement are the living mea-
sures and signs of DPP-E’s
penetration among the people.
True, there ought to be activi-
ties and corresponding work
but hopefully all these would
spring from a right and whole-
some sense of personhood,
lifestyle, and involvement.
If we talk about DPP-E,
we cannot help it but go back
and return to the vision of be-
coming a true Christian com-
munity that is maka-Diyos:
maka-Tao, maka-Buhay,
maka-Kalikasan at maka-
The image that constantly
inspires and pushes me to ac-
tion can be found in Matthew
28:8. The women who were
told by the angels of the news
that Jesus is risen hurried out
of the place of death, yes, they
were afraid but they were so
filled with joy and rushed back
to where their brothers were.
I feel that this is the way my
being bishop in the context of
the DPP-E is: rushing out of
the place of the dead to pro-
claim life, a mixture of trepi-
dation and joy while on the
run. And to every turn, corner
and street, there is Jesus, the
Risen One and proclaiming:
“It is the Lord!” Five years of
endlessly and repeatedly ex-
claiming, “Dominus est!”
“Ang Panginoon Iyon!” “It is
the Lord!” It is not I. Those
five years is Jesus!
he is truly risen and we have seen
and touched him! Thomas how-
ever remained doubtful and per-
plexed. When Jesus came for a
second time, eight days later in the
Upper Room, he said to him: “put
your finger here and see my
hands; and put out your hand and
place it in my side; do not be faith-
less, but believing!” The Apostle’s
response is a moving profession
of faith: “My Lord and my God!”
(John 20:27-28).
“My Lord and my God!” We
too renew that profession of faith
of Thomas. I have chosen these
words for my Easter greetings
this year, because humanity to-
day expects from Christians a re-
newed witness to the resurrection
of Christ; it needs to encounter
him and to know him as true God
and true man. If we can recog-
nize in this Apostle the doubts
and uncertainties of so many
Christians today, the fears and
worthy of faith.
How many wounds, how
much suffering there is in the
world! Natural calamities and hu-
man tragedies that cause innu-
merable victims and enormous
material destruction are not lack-
ing. My thoughts go to recent
events in Madagascar, in the
Solomon Islands, in Latin
America and in other regions of
the world. I am thinking of the
scourge of hunger, of incurable
diseases, of terrorism and kid-
napping of people, of the thou-
sand faces of violence which
some people attempt to justify in
the name of religion, of contempt
for life, of the violation of human
rights and the exploitation of per-
sons. I look with apprehension at
the conditions prevailing in sev-
eral regions of Africa. In Darfur,
and in the neighboring countries
there is a catastrophic, and sadly
to say underestimated, humani-
Abp. Oscar V. Cruz, JCD, DD
1. Marriage Tribunal Ministry
2. Guide Documents on
Parish, Vicariate and
Diocesan Administrative/
Pastoral Concerns
3. Canon 290 CIC in the
Service of Truth, Justice
and Charity
4. Annotations on Rotal
Jurisprudence on Canon
1097, 1098, 1102
5. Annotations on Rotal
Jurisprudence on Canon
1103
6. Annotations on Rotal
Jurisprudence on Canon
1095
7. Annotations on Rotal
Jurisprudence on Canon
1101
8. Evidence in Marriage Nullity
Cases
9. Impediments to Canonical
Marriage
10. Markers
11. Penal Process for
Dismissal from the Clerical
State
12. Provincial Council,
Diocesan Synod, Pastoral
Assembly
13. CBCP Guidelines on
Sexual Abuse and
Misconduct: A Critique
14. Board of Conciliation and
Arbitration
15. Viewpoints at the Onset of
the New Millennium
16. Media in our Midst
17. Administration of the
Temporal Goods of the
Church
18. Curia Management
19. Clergy Compensation
20. Gambling in the Republic
21. Call of the Laity
22. Primer on Gambling
23. The Bihop's Staff

6 Opinion
Editorial
Reasons for the Season
DELIVERING a homily on a Good Friday or
discoursing through the Siete Palabras is not
wanting of concrete realities to connect with. In
fact, enumerating the social ills prevailing in this
country may take longer than a sluggish locution of
the paschal mystery at the start of the triduum.
Perhaps it won’t be implausible to construe that the
reason why the Filipino is more endeared with the
santo entiero than with the risen Lord is because
this is historically his habitual milieu.
Apart from the salubong and, perhaps the Easter
eggs, it should be harder to connect the theological
treasures of Easter amid the seemingly routinary
affliction that people experience day after day—a
kind of affliction enough to push a man, deranged
or not, to hostage his very own preschoolers.
But, of course, Easter is not about all that. It is all
about Christ liberating man from sin and death.
Candidates for
“sainthood”
WITH the PAGCOR’s $20 billion Las Vegas
inspired project of gambling complex in the heart
of Metro-Manila, the endearing vision and edifying
mission of the PAGCOR operators make them
nothing less than strong candidates for sainthood—
if they mean what they say and say what they mean.
Time and again, especially on the occasion of the
mega gambling plan, they sing the same noble and
ennobling song as a cathedral choir. Fleecing
With its already actual multi-billion peso rake-in
every quarter of the year by fleecing the pockets of
the poor and rich gamblers alike, the government
gambling operators insistently and repeatedly sing
the same sacred mantra to justify their dubious
profession and deodorize the vice they promote:
• They plainly wish to promote community
welfare.
• They only want to serve the poor and the sick.
• They merely intend to give work to the jobless.
• They basically work for the sake of tourism.
• They simply desire to fund church projects.
It must be true that they throw some pesos here and
there to this and that social venture. But truth to
say, it is not really known where most of the
gambling earnings go. It could not be denied that
they have charitable projects now and then. But all
these are eventually meant to sanitize their
operations that create addicts that destroy families
that make crooks out of certain individuals.
And as they brag that PAGCOR funds church
projects, it will do well for its operators to publish
their list of churchmen payees—with their full
names, amounts given, when exactly and what for.
It is of public knowledge that since January 2004,
the CBCP as a whole denounced corporate or
syndicated gambling, be this legal or illegal, and
formally prohibited churches and churchmen,
dioceses and parishes, to receive, much more to ask
funds from such gambling institutions precisely like
PAGCOR.
As to PAGCOR’s Las Vegas dream envisioned to
rise on a reclamation area of Manila bay, the same
PAGCOR operators said with glee and pride that it
would be some kind of an “entertainment city”. This
is an attempt to hide the obvious, to put cosmetics
to something odious. They keep on using “gaming”
when they mean downright gambling. Now they
have adopted the word “entertainment” when
gambling remains the heart and soul of the project.
The naked truth is PAGCOR in effect means toxic
greed and virulent avarice. It is vice, pure and simple.
ISSN 1908-2940
CBCP Monitor
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Melo M. Acuña Rowena T. Dalanon
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Corruption
Killings
Poverty
Hunger
Easter in our midst!
Bp. Leonardo Y. Medroso, JCD, DD
Tidbits
LIKE the pealing of the parish Church
bells that pierces the silence of the early
dawn of Easter Sunday, the voice of the
Christian soul renewed by the refreshing
grace of Holy Week breaks out with the
great proclamation of hope: “Christ is
risen; Christ is truly risen.”
This message of Easter, however, is
not just a doctrine that emulates the spirit
of man, neither is it a mere story of a past
happening. It is a celebration of today, a
breaking of the news that Christ is truly
risen today. In the liturgy of the blessing
of the new fire during the Easter Vigil, I
was suddenly struck by the rite of inscrib-
ing some symbols into the Paschal
Candle. In it was to be etched the year
2007, but over and below it are the giant
Greek letters of ALPHA and OMEGA,
the symbol of the resurrected Christ. He
is the Beginning and the End of every-
thing, Jesus Christ who is yesterday, to-
day, and forever. Christ the resurrected
is contemporary. His resurrection was not
Semana Santa Celebrations
A Vanishing Tradition?
NOTHING compares with the pomp and
ceremony of the Filipino Semana Santa
among all religious celebrations in the
Philippines. While foreigners, even dedi-
cated Catholics, observe that our Folk Ca-
tholicism like the Quiapo procession of the
Black Nazarene or the actual crucifixion
of penitents borders on fanaticism, I would
rather look at the Semana Santa celebra-
tions as a family spirituality-enriching
mechanism. These are gospel-based devo-
tions handed down from generation to
generation—retreats and recollections, the
visita iglesia, the pabasa ng pasyon, and
the processions on Holy Wednesday and
Good Friday. I will never exchange our
early Easter Sunday salubong of the Risen
Christ and His grieving Mother for the cel-
ebration of the Easter egg hunt—a West-
ern festival now also celebrated by rich
Filipino kids with their expat friends in
exclusive subdivisions.
Note this particular Filipino cus-
tom—prominent families of the parish
possess and keep in their homes the im-
ages of the saints as heirlooms. All the
following images each belonging to one
family line up in their well-lighted and
decorated carrozas for the Good Friday
procession. They include the S a n t o
Peace Entierro, Virgen Dolorosa, San Pedro
with his bundle of keys and a cock stand-
ing beside him, Santa Veronica with her
handkerchief with the head of the suffer-
ing Chirst emblazoned in blood, Santa
Maria Magdalena carrying a goblet of
perfume, and many others garbed in
gilded and colorful attire. While the spec-
tacle excites the senses of the observers,
children become inquisitive about who
these representations are—thus the first
introduction to Bible History. These cel-
ebrations are now the reasons for people
working in the cities to rush during the
Layout by Blue Flame
Holy Week to their hometowns to meet
relatives, friends and old acquaintances.
Let us hope that the day will still be far
away when most well-salaried urban
dwellers of the Philippines choose to
spend Holy Week not in Semana Santa
Christ is risen, Christ is
truly risen!
just an event of the past: it is a current
occurrence whose message of hope is di-
rected to the modern Filipino.
This then is the joy of Easter, the joy
that is the fruit of an experience of the
triumph of Christ over death and over
all the negative incidents that endlessly
impinge on the spirit of man. The resur-
rection of our Lord strongly affirms that
life is stronger than death, that love is
more potent than hatred, that good is
mightier than evil. Resurrection brings
home the bliss of Easter: “We are free:
we are free to be good; we are free to
love; we are free to live.” The Holy Fa-
ther, Pope Benedict the XVI, spoke of
this freedom in his Easter Vigil message
when he said: “In the resurrection of
Jesus, love has been shown to be stron-
ger than death, stronger than evil. Love
made Christ descend, and love is also the
power by which he ascends. The power
by which he brings us with him. In union
with his love, borne aloft on the wings
Jose B. Lugay
liturgical celebrations but vacationing in
tourist spots in the Philippines like visit-
ing Europeans and Americans do now.
Do you realize that our Semana Santa
practices are not only family evangeliza-
tion activities but are occasions for bond-
ing of family members? The world-re-
nowned Filipino hospitality could have
been developed during these Holy Week
as well as Christmas celebrations. It is in
these occasions when the long-awaited
relatives must enjoy well-loved Filipino
Easter Sunday and Christmas Holiday
recipes. These family get-togethers could
also be the reasons for the Filipinos’ tight-
knit family relationships—cousins, grand-
aunts, uncles, grandparents on both sides
of the family tree—relationship that en-
genders the proverbial Filipino family kin-
ship contributory to the formation of the
Basic Ecclesial Community, PCP II’s ba-
sic model of Church in the Philippines!
In Christian countries of the First
World, that is, the most economically pro-
gressive countries like Europe, United
States, United Kingdom and Canada, Holy
Week is celebrated as vacation time by
most workers away from the drudgery of
routine factory or office work; time to go
to places where one could unwind and re-
lax—in a beach resort or a tour of a new
place for enjoyment like Las Vegas, the
world’s capital for gambling casinos. In a
not too distant scenario, the Pagcor City,
Las Vegas style will have constructed a
gambling casino, in an 800 hectare re-
claimed area in Roxas Boulevard. (Spon-
sored and passed by one of our Senators,
now running for re-election!) This is a big
temptation for Filipinos to get away from
their traditional Semana Santa family re-
union.
The disappearance of this Filipino tra-
dition is not long in coming when the
country’s economy progressively im-
proves, and people find jobs easily. When
wages are more than sufficient to support
a family’s daily needs, and there is extra
income, it will be spent on consumables,
luxury goods and accessories according to
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 11 No. 7
April 2-15, 2007
of love, as persons of love, let us de-
scend with him into the world’s dark-
ness, knowing that in this way we will
also rise up with him.”
It is along this faith of the resurrec-
tion that the Church wants us to take up
our life again with all its precariousness
and complexities. In the growing poverty
of our people, the corruptions and differ-
ing crimes in society, the politics of com-
promises and shady transactions, the vio-
lence committed to the weak and the de-
fenseless, the trafficking of women, the
sexual abuses of minors, the spiritual
emptiness and the weak moral fiber of our
leaders, in all these the children of the
resurrection should not grow faint and
withdraw. On the contrary they should be
there in the thick of all this mess, deeply
engrossed in the great work of reshaping
the face of the Philippines. With much
love, compassion and determination they
sure will make a difference.
Happy Easter!
Laiko Lampstand
Laiko
the fashion and trend of the times. With
the present state of poverty and hunger of
a big number of urban and rural families,
we are still far from this scenario.
The predictions of an improved
economy with the help of the remittances
of overseas workers, the building of
bridges, airports and superhighways in
five identified Super Regions is happen-
ing now. How does the state of the
economy equate with the Semana Santa
celebration? My thesis is that old Filipino
traditions of religiosity will gradually dis-
appear as the economy becomes more pro-
gressive. (Look at the empty Catholic
churches in Europe!). As more people are
employed in high-tech jobs and as more
call centers and business process
outsourcing companies employ young IT-
savvy graduates to man these companies,
the Philippines’ progress will lead to eco-
nomic sufficiency. As the high-tech busi-
nesses proliferate globally, there will be a
rise in patronage of the high-touch ser-
vices like swimming in our beaches, surf-
ing along our shores facing the Pacific
ocean, scuba-diving in our islands of rich
biodiversity, body-massage in spas, and
others. These will become the preferred
destinations of our present Semana Santa
devotees rather than spending Holy Week
for the religious and liturgical celebrations
of our present Semana Santa tradition.
Isn’t this in fact happening now—led by
our Justices of the High Court who will
work (kono) in Baguio during the Holy
Week?
If we want the tradition to continue
and not lose the holiness of the Semana
Santa celebration, there is a need to edu-
cate and catechize our young people, prob-
ably by including this in our catechetical
teachings, the religious practices and their
significance in forming our values as
neighbor-loving, self-sacrificing Filipi-
nos, emulating the suffering Christ. These
are mirrored in the traits of our overseas
workers especially our healthcare work-
ers which are known without equal in the
world of patient care.
 CBCP Monitor
Vol. 11 No. 7
April 2-15, 2007
Oscar V. Cruz, DD
Vie ws and P
iews oints
Points
IT is not a secret that our country as a whole
is undergoing its own long, sad and painful
passion.
There is much poverty and sickness in
the land. The vices of drug and gambling con-
tinue to even more impoverish a good num-
ber of Filipinos. Families are separated by
the exodus of fathers and mothers to find
work abroad. The Philippines is now first in
the whole of Asia when it comes to graft and
corruption. And at the top of all our social
pains and tears, killings continue to increase
in number as a matter of course—notwith-
standing international censures.
A Saint for April: Blessed Margaret of Castello, O.P.
Rejected by People but
Beloved of God
IN our society, where medical testing can be
done to assure that only children without de-
fects are born, those who are born with handi-
caps are often regarded as “tragic” oversights.
In this light, the “unwanted” of the world have
a patron saint in a medieval woman who was
born a crippled, blind and hunchbacked
dwarf.
Blessed Margaret of Castello was born
in the fourteenth century in Metola, Italy to
noble parents who wanted a son. When the
news was brought to the new mother that her
newborn daughter was a blind, hunchbacked
dwarf, both parents were horrified. Little
Margaret was kept in a secluded section of
the family castle in the hopes that her exist-
ence would be kept secret. However, when
she was about six years old, she accidentally
made her presence known to a guest. Deter-
mined to keep her out of the public eye, her
father had a room without a door built onto
the wall of the parish church and walled Mar-
garet inside this room. Here she lived until
she was sixteen, never allowed to come out.
Her food and other necessities were passed
in to her through a window.
Rev. Euly B. Belizar, SThD
By the Roadside
Roadside
IN the parish of St. Barnabas in Woodlawn,
the Bronx, New York City where I stayed for
a year and a half there was a big, tall tree
right behind the rectory. I asked the sacristan
what kind of tree it was. “I think that’s a dog
tree, Father,” came the answer. I would some-
times watch it from a window in the dead of
New York winter because of its proximity and
I was somehow in dread it could hit my room
if it fell during a storm. I say “dead of win-
ter” because in my eyes it died when it lost
its leaves in the fall of 2003 and got symboli-
cally buried in the many snowstorms of bit-
ter 2003 winter. It was like a human skeleton
pleading in vain with its multiple hands to
the heavens.
Then on April of 2004, months before I
left the parish for the Philippines, I was sur-
prised one morning to find it looking pleas-
antly different. It had buds all over its
branches. Then tiny leaves appeared; a few
more days and weeks went by and the buds
became flowers and the tiny leaves grew into
larger, sturdier green ones. Mother Nature’s
message to me seemed very clear: Death in
winter had given way to life in the spring.
I remember looking for signs in the
people passing by the tree that they noticed
what I was seeing; nothing of the sort hap-
pened. They simply went about their busi-
ness. Maybe, I told myself, only someone
from the tropics like me, someone from a
country without the four seasons, could ap-
preciate the message. It was still cold and I
didn’t feel that spring had sprung yet. But to
me Mother Nature preached wordlessly and
flawlessly the Paschal Mystery. Death is over-
come by life. He who said, “I am the Way,
the Truth and the Life” (Jn 14:6) has proven
his words with one definitive act: HE IS
RISEN FROM THE DEAD.
It was also around this same spring of
2004 that I read from a daily newspaper about
a Filipino migrant family in New York City
Melo M. Acuña
Issues and Concerns
I received a text message early Holy Monday
morning about the death of Fr. Fransiskus
Madhu, SVD, 31 years old in Mabungtot,
Labuagan, Kalinga late Sunday afternoon.
Having been told Fr. Fransis was a confrere
from the SVD Northern Province, I immedi-
ately called his superior, Fr. Jerome Adriatico
to confirm the report. He did and gave some
other details.
Easter Monday, over a hundred priests
said farewell to the late missionary at the
Christ the King Seminary in Cubao. No less
than the Indonesian Ambassador to the Phil-
ippines Prof. Dr. Irzan Tanjung led nearly a
hundred of his compatriots to the memorial
service. Religious songs in English, Latin at
Bahasa filled the church as priests and nuns
from various congregations and laymen at-
tended the final rites.
The killing was described senseless for
the missionary was shot to death for no ap-
parent reason. However, no arrests have been
made to date.
There are over 30 Indonesian SVD mis-
Opinion
Finding Reasons to
say, “Happy Easter!”
And there is the forthcoming May 2007
Elections. Depending on how we act and be-
have as a people, the said supposedly demo-
cratic exercise can become a blessing or a
curse for our dear country. While some people
look at the elections with much optimism,
there are not few Filipinos who harbor fear
and apprehension about the lying, cheating
and stealing that might accompany the said
elections—as what happened in 2004 which
continue to haunt and disturb us as a people.
But the truth of the matter is that all of
us can make a difference if our country will
simply continue undergoing its painful and
Sr. Mary Pilar Verzosa, RGS
When Margaret was seventeen years old,
her parents heard of a shrine in Citta di
Castello, Italy, where many sick people were
cured. They made a pilgrimage to the shrine
so that she could pray for healing. When that
failed, the heartless parents abandoned her.
Left to herself, Margaret befriended the
beggars, only to become one herself. She
joined the Mantellate, the first unmarried
woman to become a Dominican Tertiary. She
devoted herself to tending the sick and the
dying, as well as prisoners in the city jail.
How does Margaret’s story apply to our
times? Her parents wanted a boy, and if not a
boy, at least a perfect girl. In the eyes of the
world, she was useless, and what right do
useless people have to live? Blessed Marga-
ret helped innumerable others by her life and
her good deeds, finding holiness by uniting
her sufferings to Christ’s. And now, some 670
years after her death, she teaches us valuable
lessons, by her very being.
She lived a life of hope and faith, prac-
ticing heroic charity, though little was shown
her in return. She came from a home where
she was deprived, not because her parents had
Death Gives Up the
Risen One
whose mother was working with the UN con-
tingent in Iraq. The UN Headquarters where
she worked was bombed and, hours later, the
family was officially informed that their
mother was among the dead. Naturally ev-
eryone in the family was devastated. Stung
by grief, still the family prepared for their
mother’s funeral. Silently I joined them in
prayer.
Then, in the middle of this pall of grief
and gloom, they received a phone call. The
voice sounded so familiar they could not be-
lieve their ears. It was their mother. It turned
out that she was mistakenly reported dead.
From grief the family erupted into shouts and
screams of joy. The father said to the media
that it was as if his wife rose from the dead.
Unknown to them, I again celebrated with
the family because, in a real sense, they ex-
perienced a share of Easter.
The Filipino mother didn’t actually die.
On the other hand, what we celebrate during
Easter is the real GOOD NEWS, one which
nothing will ever be better. We express it
when we respond to the priest’s invitation at
Mass, “Let us proclaim the mystery of faith”,
by saying: “Christ has died, Christ is risen
and Christ will come again.” That is the dif-
ference. Christ truly died. Many witnesses,
including the lives of countless martyrs and
saints, testify to us that Christ is truly risen.
Our faith also teaches that Christ will come
again—first in his Word; second, in the sac-
raments; third, in our neighbors especially the
poor and the needy as well as in those who
suffer; fourth, at the end of time.
A couple in Borongan comes to the first
Mass on a daily basis. The husband always
gets to bring the image of Our Lady to her
shrine for the parish communal morning
prayers. Husband and wife had been praying
for their eldest child who had sacrificed so
much to pass the bar examinations. She called
her mother to check the internet for the re-
Parallelisms
sionaries in the country. Despite the tragic
incident, the foreign missionaries I talked
with said while they grieve their confrere’s
death, they will continue with their work in
far-flung areas.
Nearly ten years ago in Cambodia, a
young Jesuit seminarian Bro. Richie Fran-
cisco laid down his life to save innocent chil-
dren from harm’s way after a mentally-de-
ranged man lobbed a grenade at a school com-
pound. He met a violent death but surely of-
fered himself for others.
Both were missionaries assigned to foreign
lands. They left their countries to serve and in
the end died in the course of serving their fel-
lowmen. They did touch others’ lives and may
have provided inspiration for more vocations.
***
Zimbabwe’s Catholic Bishops Confer-
ence, in a pastoral statement said “Oppres-
sion is sin and cannot be compromised with.
It must overcome. God takes sides with the
oppressed.” This has direct reference to their
head of state President Robert Mugabe whose
shameful social passion—or we too as a
people will rise just as Christ left his tomb
and rose back to life in glory and triumph.
On the occasion of glorious resurrec-
tion of Christ from death to life, with ar-
dent prayers and fervent please, allow me
to invite each one of you to rise from self-
pity to self-reliance, from simply blaming
evil to actually doing good—and from al-
lowing vicious individuals to rule our lives
to eventually putting upright persons in
public offices. By so doing, we have all
the reason to say to one another: Happy
Easter!
Love Lif
Lov Lifee
no wealth, but because they valued their ma-
terial wealth and status more than their spiri-
tual treasures. Deprived of all human com-
panionship, Margaret learned to embrace her
Lord in solitude. Instead of becoming bitter,
she forgave her parents for their ill treatment
of her and treated others as well as she could.
Her cheerfulness stemmed from her convic-
tion that God loves each person infinitely, for
He has made each person in His own image
and likeness. This same cheerfulness won the
hearts of the poor of Castello, and they took
her into their homes for as long as their purses
could afford. She passed from house to house
in this way, “a homeless beggar being practi-
cally adopted by the poor of a city”
(Bonniwell, 1955).
She died on April 13, 1320 at the age of
33. More than 200 miracles have been cred-
ited to her intercession after her death. She
was beatified on October 19, 1609. Thus the
daughter that nobody wanted is one of the
glories of the Church. She is the Patroness of
Pro-Life Philippines. The Blessed Margaret
Movement is at Sto. Domingo Church,
Quezon Ave., Q.C.
sults of the bar before Holy Week. The mother
saw her child’s name among those who
passed. She was very ecstatic. So was the
whole parish which felt justified to celebrate
with the family since they were the principal
sponsors of our 2007 Easter celebrations.
But, after giving congratulations where
they were due, I reminded the family and all
parishioners that, while it was only right to
celebrate with the family their daughter’s
passing the bar, we have a far better reason
to rejoice. Christ has conquered for us two of
the most vicious and formidable enemies of
our humanity: sin and death.
If anyone passes the bar, he triumphs
over a huge but not an ultimate challenge; if
someone wins the lotto he wins only over
want and penury. Easter, in contrast, has made
us win with Christ the victory against the two
ultimate enemies—sin and death. Peter says
how this comes into play: “To him all the
prophets testify, saying that everyone who
believes in him has forgiveness of sins
through his name”(Acts 10:43). Through the
Risen Jesus we have the certainty of obtain-
ing forgiveness because his resurrection
means his work and self-sacrifice has been
approved by the Father. The theologian Ed-
ward Schillebeeckx once said in his book
Jesus that Christ’s death is a sharing in our
experience of helplessness and failure. His
resurrection means the Father has approved
of his mission. Failure had become triumph.
Moreover, all of us baptized Christians
are impacted. “Are you not aware that we who
were baptized into Christ were baptized into
his death? We were indeed buried with him
through baptism into death, so that just as
Christ was raised from the dead by the glory
of the Father, we too might live in newness of
life (Rom 6:3-4). St. Paul continues in his let-
ter to the Colossians: “You were buried with
him in baptism, in which you were also raised
Roadside / P14
government has been described as “racist,
corrupt and lawless.”
Are there candidates for national and
local positions ably supported by illegal gam-
bling and drug syndicates? Wasn’t there an
expose made by then ISAFP chief Brig. Gen-
eral Victor Corpus that drug syndicates have
penetrated Philippine institutions. There’s no
doubt about illegal gambling syndicates fund-
ing their respective bets as jueteng has made
its strong resurgence in the provinces.
With the killings in various parts of the
country, reports of corrupt practices of people
in power and subservience to “suggestions”
from powerful countries, can we say we’re a
few notches ahead of Zimbabwe?
***
This corner requests our readers to pray
for the repose of the souls of Rev. Msgr.
Gregorio Salvatus, former Vicar General of
the Diocese of Lucena and Rector of St.
Ferdinand cathedral and Mrs. Violeta
Mogato, mother of Reuters correspondent
Manny Mogato.
7
Teresa R. Tunay, OCDS
…and tha
thatt ’s the tr uth!
truth!
Light From the
Empty Tomb
“May mga penitensya pa ba sa Pilipinas?” emailed a friend,
an Ateneo graduate, living abroad for many years now. As a
child she used to gawk at them in her hometown in Pampanga.
She commented that these “masochistic flagellants” reflect a
pervasive sense of worthlessness that infects the national con-
sciousness which in turn keeps the country in stagnation. This
friend (who has a yen for psychoanalysis) thinks Filipinos are
“used to suffering” and enjoy being victims, thus they have
endured centuries of injustice to their own detriment. She
sees poverty and ignorance as the main culprits in the country’s
state of affairs and thinks the solution lies in educating the
people and eradicating graft and corruption. Of course, I
emailed her a piece of my mind as well. It follows:
I observe that the flagellants come from the lower socio-
economic echelons and would not be in a position to analyze
their penchant for blood-letting in the same way an Atenean
probably would. Yes, they looked at the forsaken Jesus and
probably identified with the man on the cross but—I would
venture a guess—not out of a deep sense of victimhood as a
people. Their horizon is within arm’s reach, or baranggay-wide
in some cases, and they wouldn’t be bothered by history, let
alone link their present condition to a past of indignities the
colonizers subjected their great great great grandparents to.
As a growing girl and later on as mainstream media per-
son I myself had been privileged to get acquainted with a hand-
ful of them. That’s practically all I’m basing my observations
on—person to person contact. Most, if not all of them, live a
notch above or below poverty line. They can barely make
both ends meet but they can always persuade Aling Belay at
the corner sari-sari store to spare them a bottle of “lapad” or
“quatro cantos” (read “ Marka Dimonyo ”) at the end of each
harrowing day. And for them every godforsaken day is har-
rowing. When you are poor and ignorant, it is hard to believe
you have any choice.
But their self-immolation is a choice, their choice—
Vatican pronouncements notwithstanding. They flagellate
themselves because it’s a panata, a vow to be honored year
after year as their way of expressing remorse for their sins.
They are happy that way. They may feel worthless in their
sinfulness but not hopeless in their blood-letting. Being
whipped and nailed on the cross is for them reliving the pasyon
ni Hesus—peculiar, perhaps, but it is their imitation of Christ.
These Holy Week “masochists” are by no means the sole
barometer of our national spiritual climate. It would be myo-
pic—not to mention unjust—to say that Filipinos bear in their
collective psyche the “sense of worthlessness that has made
them endure centuries of injustice … and that keeps the coun-
try in a perpetual state of stagnation.”
Let me ask you: How many flagellants do we have every
year? Hundreds? How many get “crucified”? Two? Three?
For every penitent bleeding himself clean during semana santa,
how many pleasure-seekers troop to the beaches oblivious of
the pasyon? If we have “masochists”, we also have “hedo-
nists” by the thousands; is it a feeling of worthlessness that
drives them to escape the dour Holy Week spirit? For every
dozen who choose holiday over holy week, how many hun-
dreds of thousands of Filipinos stay put in the city—flocking
to the churches for the Seven Last Words, going on a visita
iglesia with families and friends, attending the Easter vigil
vibrating with anticipation, as though awaiting the very birth
of Christ itself? Can you honestly say that we as a people
have in our core this “sense of worthlessness”? Is progress
elusive because we are “used to suffering”?
Gotcha!
As a people, we are where we are—and no president or
Poncio Pilato can save us—not because we are used to suffer-
ing but because we are afraid to suffer for Christ ’s sake! Sa
totoo lang, tita, we run away from the Cross! Those who are
already suffering from poverty and ignorance are caught in a
rut because those who are in a position to help them out are
unwilling to suffer with them. Our concept and practice of
charity even tends to perpetuate the status quo when do-
gooders help the poor to placate their conscience while the
poor use their poverty as an excuse for their slothfulness.
That’s the real picture: rich and poor alike, educated or not,
refuse to walk the extra mile to unite and improve things for
the country! People are too comfortable in their own little
worlds to bother looking at the big picture, much as less to
work towards building the Kingdom of God !
So you see, even though poverty and ignorance is our
problem, it is a mistake to think that money and education
alone can liberate us from these twin evils. We still find in all
economic levels people who are never satisfied with the money
they are making—they feel impoverished if they cannot have
more, more, more. We have more and supposedly better
schools now than our grandfathers who were raised on caton
ever did, and yet we still encounter soul-searing ignorance
even among our Ph Ds.
Thanks to Lea Salonga and Manny Pacquiao, our masses
can now proclaim they are “proud to be Pinoy”—we’ve come
a long way from “feeling worthless,” haven’t we?—and yet
our flagellants have remained with us for centuries now, like
indelible footprints of a bygone era. And in our collective
ignorance we blame anything but ourselves for the moribund
state our country is in.
We are in the dark and we do not know it. The solution to
the problem of poverty and ignorance is not a flawless politi-
cal system, a better economy or even more education. What
we need is: illumination. Illumination to dispel the darkness
of ignorance and to enable us to see the divine behind our
material poverty. We need illumination from the empty tomb
to see our own sins before those of others.
Easter is upon us. We say Allelujah! to the Risen Christ
but do we really believe in Him? Believe in Him enough to
want to make ourselves channels of His light and love? We
say “Peace be with you!” but are we willing to wage war on
our inner demons, to mean what we mouth in order to spread
the peace of Christ all over our land?
In this “only Christian nation in Asia ,” there are poor
people among the moneyed, ignorant ones among the
schooled, and greedy ones from rich and poor alike. Which
reminds me of Jeremiah 6:13-14, For from the least to the
greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain, and from
prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have treated
the wound of my people carelessly, saying ‘Peace, peace’,
when there is no peace.
Peace will come upon our land when the illuminati—those
to whom more is given—take up their Cross, follow their
Master, and bring the light of the Risen Christ to the people
not by the words they are saying but by the life they are liv-
ing. It may appear that hoi polloi are still in flagellation mode,
stuck on the level of the pasyon, but the true illuminati know
in their hearts that whatever is happening is the best that can
happen at the moment, for nothing escapes the compassionate
eye of God. And that’s the truth.
 CBCP Monitor
8 CBCP Commissions Vol. 11 No. 7
April 2-15, 2007

Alay Kapwa 2007 Theme:

“Katotohanan at Katarungan:
Hamon sa Sambayanan”
THE Alay Kapwa (AK) theme
for 2007, Katotohanan at
Katarungan: Hamon sa
Sambayanan tungo sa
Pagkakaisa at Kabanalan
(Truth and Justice: A Challenge
to Society towards Unity and
Holiness) once again challenges
Filipinos, particularly Chris-
tians, to live a life grounded on
the virtues of truth and justice,
amid widespread dishonesty and
political bickering.
Katotohanan at
Katarungan are the two virtues
which God wants us to have; the
very virtues which we seem to
have lost in an age where per-
sonal and familial concerns take
precedence over societal and
national interest. Hamon sa
Sambayanan tungo sa
Pagkakaisa at Kabanalan re-
flects the challenge and vision
which we aim to realize by our
defense of truth and justice, and
by our promotion of reflective
and credible election.
As a people of God, we
must denounce all things that go
against the path of moral and re-
sponsive development. God’s
words through the Prophet
Amos must resonate in us: “Woe
to those who turn judgment to
wormwood and cast justice to
the ground! They hate him who
reproves at the gate and abhor
him who speaks the truth”
(Amos 5: 7, 10).
In this coming election, our
“Woe to those who turn judgment to wormwood and cast justice
to the ground! They hate him who reproves at the gate and abhor him
who speaks the truth” (Amos 5: 7, 10)
faith in truth, justice, solidarity,
equality, decency and respect for
others.
This year, however, the
Church, through its Alay Kapwa
Program, dares us, the
Sambayanan, to stand up and
commit ourselves to work for
truth and justice, and invites us
to condemn the lies and injus-
tices that undermine the com-
mon good. One concrete step to
respond to this challenge is to
encourage competent, respon-
sible and God-fearing citizens to
run for election.
As a people of God, we
should help politicians come up
with realistic platforms—the
kind which promotes responsive
genuine freedom, which our an- development that is considerate
cestors fought and died for. of the welfare of the poor. We
The previous elections were must likewise ensure that the
a failure, if not a disaster. We people who get elected are vig-
have failed to elect honest and orous defender of truth and jus-
principled leaders, and instead tice, and possess a moral cour-
found ourselves saddled with age to dispense with temptations
ambitious and abusive politi- of wealth and power. For this
cians who were only too willing reason, Sambayanan must study,
to trample our moral principles discuss, discern, pray over the
in exchange for wealth and candidates and make a collective
power. decision based on the truth re-
Our indifference to our own flected in the Gospel.
failures has caused politicians to On the other hand, the poli-
completely abandon the good- ticians also belong to the
ness in them; and whereupon Sambayanan and must likewise
we, the Sambayanan, also lost strive to adhere and exemplify
NASSA’s Partnership
with BECs on the Roll
LAST year several archdio-
ceses and dioceses gained
momentum with their re-
spective projects in partner-
ship with NASSA. In the ca-
pability-building aspect, the
beneficiaries belonging to
Basic Ecclesial Communi-
ties (BECs) strengthened
their project implementation
and at the same time en-
hanced their participation in
the virtues of truth and justice. the social action apostolate.
The Church challenges them to Armed with innovative
run for the right reasons, lead knowledge on community
with upright intentions, and put organizing and livelihood
a stop to corruption, bribery, in- management, they were able
timidation and all other activi- to share to other parishes the
ties that hinder the promotion of newly-acquired understand-
honest and credible election. ing, gaining additional im-
The Hamon sa pact and interests to other
Sambayanan is a shallow call if communities.
we don’t seek moral and spiri- The Diocesan Social
tual change—a transformation Action Centers (DSACs) of
of the heart, mind and spirit. Antipolo, Borongan,
“Woe to you scribes and Phari- Libmanan, Palo, Talibon and
sees, you frauds! You cleanse the Tuguegarao have recently
outside of cup and dish, and conducted the diocesan-level
leave the inside filled with loot trainings on Basic Orienta-
and lust! Blind Pharisees! First tion Seminar on Social Ac-
cleanse the inside of the cup so tion Work (BOSSAW) and
that its outside may be clean” Rural Entrepreneurship,
(Matthew 23, 25 – 26). Microfinance and Project/
In the light of the coming Business Management.
election, AK calls upon the Inputs in these activities
people of God, the Sambayanan, provided an avenue for the
to renew their faith, lead a life BECs and their respective
of integrity and uprightness and Parish Social Action Centers
commit themselves to the build- (PSACs) to effectively man-
ing of a just and holy society. age the designed community
Let us take the words of projects. The activities also
God and allow the truth to guide became a venue for the cre-
us, as we participate in the com- ation of trainors, which will
ing election: “Everyone who subsequently re-echo the
practices evil hates the trainings. Composed of five
light;…But he who acts in truth teams for every diocese, the
comes into the light, to make trainors’ pool re-echoed the
clear that his deeds are done in BOSSAW seminar in the pi-
God ” (John 3, 20 – 21). lot parishes while at the same
time accommodated commu-
nities outside the BEC-based
program. Thus, BEC mem-
bers have learned to articu-
late problems that confront
them such as the high cost of
manufactured drugs, effects
of intensive chemical-based
farming, and lack of capital
for livelihood opportunities.
The training on health
care program provided them
basic techniques on herbal
medicine preparation.
Tanglad Kalabo (lemon-
grass-based), instant salabat
(ginger-based tea), and natu-
© Denz Dayao / CBCPMedia
ral ointment are just some of
the herbal concoctions they
have produced as an alterna-
tive to commercial drugs. At
present, their produce is just
enough for community con-
sumption, but through sus-
tained efforts and effective
marketing plan, the commu-
nity expects to sell their
products to the neighboring
villages, and even towns, in
the near future. And this is
where the importance of
SAC Botika (drugstores)
comes in. Botika sa Parokya
(parish pharmacy) and
Botika sa Barangay (village
pharmacy) dispense medi-
cines at very low prices and
provide free consultation for
poor families.
At the forefront of these
initiatives is the diocesan
health desk, established to
monitor the diocesan and
BEC-based healthcare pro-
grams.
For the sustainable ag-
riculture program, the semi-
nar on Bio-Intensive Gar-
dening (BIG), comple-
mented by exposure visits to
trial farms, was able to con-
vey the significance of or-
ganic farming technology
using indigenous and biode-
gradable materials. The trial
farms generate enthusiasm
from BEC-farmers to de-
velop their own organic hy-
brid rice seeds. In Talibon
alone, every parish-benefi-
ciary was able to develop in
their parish seed banks an
average of 25 high quality
varieties of rice seeds. It was
also remarkable that the par-
ticipants were enticed to de-
velop their own garden at
home after attending the
seminar. At present, these
home-gardens are now pro-
viding ample vegetable sup-
plies for domestic consump-
tion.
In terms of livelihood
assistance, the second phase
of NASSA’s microfinance
project is now being imple-
mented. The pilot communi-
ties used the money to sup-
port minimal capital for
home-based businesses like
rice trading and livestock
production.

sense of truth and justice will

once again be put to test, as we
elect a new set of leaders to run NASSA Extends Peacebuilding
the country. We, the electorates,
are challenged to perform our Initiatives at the Regional and
civic and moral duty to vote for
people who are morally upright, Local Level
and who can give us the true and
TO bring about authentic In a keynote presenta-
and lasting peace, one must tion by Dr. Jaco Cilliers of
fortify collaboration at the UNDP, several causes of
local and international front, conflicts and their implica-

Witnessing to Truth and Justice,

the Challenge we Must Face
“Before the world was made, He chose us, chose us in Christ, to be holy and spot-
less, and to live through love in his presence” (Eph. 1:3-4).
“He has let us know the mystery of his
purpose, the hidden plan he so kindly
made in Christ from the beginning to act
upon when the times had run their course
to the end; that he would bring everything
together under Christ, as head, everything
on earth” (Eph. 1:9-10).
St. Paul teaches us that God’s plan
of salvation has this goal: one, holy soci-
ety.
One, holy society is taken up by our
2007 Alay Kapwa (AK) Evangelization
Campaign when it proposes this theme:
“Katotohanan at Katarungan: Hamon sa
Sambayanan Tungo sa Pagkakaisa at
Kabanalan”. Building a society which is
one and holy requires witnessing to truth
and justice. Witnessing to truth and jus-
tice is the challenge we must face.
Philippine society today is in crisis.
Two radical causes are chronic lies and
rampant injustices. Cheating during elec-
tions, graft and corrupt practices are glar-
ing examples of lies and injustices.
The Catechism for Filipino Catholics
(CFC) teaches us that “lying plants seeds
of division and mistrust in the minds of
others, and thus weakens the whole net-
work of social relationships which con-
stitute the community” (#1233).
Injustices on the other hand destroy
harmony: between individuals; between
the state and its citizens; between states;
and between a state and the community
as well as enhance services
at the grassroots level. This
is how NASSA, together
with 93 other Caritas orga-
nizations from Asia, sees its
peacebuilding initiatives to
take off—by laying down
the foundations of
peacebuilding, along with
other peacekeeping mea-
of nations (cf. Blessed John XXIII, Pacem in sures at the grassroots or
Terris, passim). community level.
To promote truth and justice in our soci- During the Caritas Asia
ety and, consequently, to facilitate the build- Peace Forum titled, "Peace-
ing of one and holy Philippine society means making: Promoting Social
to follow Jesus Christ who is “the Way, the Harmony" held on 26-28
Truth and the Light” (Jn14:6). And obey his June 2006, 93 delegates
will for us “to hunger and thirst for what is coming from the seven re-
right” (Mt.5:6). gions of Caritas
CFC states “that Christ calls all Chris- Internationalis, namely: Af-
tians not only to a personal conversion of rica, Asia, Europe, Latin
mind and heart. He also calls us to social re- America, Middle East,
sponsibility, to work for the renewal of our North America and Oceania
communities through love, justice, peace and gathered together to pro-
freedom” (#1135). mote approaches of peace-
In concrete, AK 2007 specifically chal- making at the community
lenges all believers in God, to have a para- level, as a way of creating
digm shift from an unenlightened and pas- social harmony, share good
sive member of Philippine society to an en- practices, assess the works
lightened and active participant of social of Caritas peace teams and
transformation. trainings, and plan for the
This means: (1) vote into office candi- upcoming Caritas
dates who are committed to the common Internationalis General As-
good, honest and competent; (2) monitor the sembly in 2007.
performance of elected officials through NASSA Country Pro-
lifestyle check and performance chart; (3) gram Head, Eleazar Gomez,
participate in the electoral processes—politi- May Mary, Mother of Social Justice, together with Msgr. Elmer
cal education, cleansing of voters lists, poll accompany us in our mission of building Abacahin, Social Action Di-
watching, vote count, among others; (4) cam- a Philippine society which is united and rector of the Archdiocese of
paign against charter change through a con- morally upright. Cagayan De Oro, repre-
stituent assembly; (5) safeguard the nation- sented NASSA in said activ-
alist and ecology—friendly provisions of the Dinualdo D. Gutierrez, D.D. ity, and shared NASSA’s ex-
1987 Philippine Constitution. Chair, CBCP-ECSA-JP perience on networking
Tough challenges all. But God is with us. National Director, NASSA-JP with other peace groups.
tions were discussed, among
which are the challenges for
peacebuilding efforts during
sustained periods of con-
flicts, the complexity and
dynamics which exacerbate
conflict, as well as the vari-
ous relational and structural
considerations. The presen-
tation also outlined the im-
portance of building strate-
gic partnerships and of
crafting long-term
peacebuilding programs.
To stress the vital role
of religion in peacekeeping
initiatives, a panel discus-
sion on “Conflicts in
Today’s World: The Role of
Caritas and The Church,”
was conducted, which also
enabled the participants to
appreciate peace processes
in regional contexts and
share experiences on Caritas
and Church initiatives.
A workshop session ex-
plored and discussed issues
on (1) Peacebuilding in
emergencies and in social
development work; (2) ad-
vocacies for peace and rec-
onciliation; and (3) net-
working in peacebuilding.
The exposure visit in
dioceses where
peacebuilding programs are
being implemented enabled
the participants to craft a
plan of action which could
sustain and enhance already
existing programs and ser-
vices at the local, national
and international level.
 CBCP Monitor
Vol. 11 No. 7
April 2-15, 2007 Diocese
Prelature structure. Pastoral en-
counters with the Bishop and sec-
tors became a regular part of each
Parish annual schedule. Partici-
pation, transparency, solidarity
and subsidiarity, had always been
the principle and policy behind
all activities and gatherings. This
thrust of the Prelature may have
caused the suspicion of people
outside and inside the Catholic
Church. However, PCP II has
vindicated the Prelature when it
declared thirteen years after that
“the Church of the Philippines
must strive to be a Church of the
Poor.”
The fourth Conference was
held in 1997 with the theme:
“Munting Sambayanang
Kristiyano: Bagong Anyo ng
Pagiging Simbahan”. This theme
brought the awareness of a
Church composed of people from
the base. They were the small
groups of Christians where faith
in the Lord was lived in reality.
Sharing of time, talents and trea-
sures became more meaningful.
The Cathedral of the Prelature of Infant a
Caring for one’s neighbor became
to the pastoral and spiritual part-
nership of the clergy and the lay
faithful, a healthy sense of the
Church is being promoted. Min-
istries in the area of Family and
life, youth, social development,
Catholic education, liturgy, in-
digenous peoples, and catechesis
are being developed and im-
proved. The celebration of the
Sacraments is faithfully kept in
various parishes and communi-
ties in spite of travel difficulties.
Vicariates regularly meet quar-
terly to review and assess their
pastoral programs and deepen
their communion as local com-
munities. The bishop is normally
present during these quarterly
meetings.
The Calamity
Infanta was hit by a devas-
tating typhoon in November 29,
2004, fifteen months after the as-
sumption of Bishop Tirona as
bishop of the prelature. The Si-
erra Madre mountains crumbled
to the base. Most rivers, streams
and creeks overflowed and rag-
9
included in the liturgy especially
on Sundays. In short, awareness
for vocation promotion is in high
gear in the various levels of the
Prelature’s life and institutions.
2. Catechesis and Formation
of Catechists. For many years the
catechists are the faithful partners
of the bishop and the clergy in
the work of evangelization. With
the increase in the number of
children in public schools, the
need to train more volunteer cat-
echists becomes a priority in the
Prelature. A Catechetical Institute
has been opened to respond to
this need. Building a strong
catechetical program and in-
creasing the number of catechists
is a big challenge for the
Prelature. Poverty and economic
factors slow down the promotion
and recruitment for new cat-
echists. Most young and capable
ladies are working in the fields
or are fully occupied in making
a living for their families. The
Bishop is confident to reverse the
tide and see a gradual growth in
interest in the work of catechesis.

The Prelature of Infanta

By Fr. Mario O. Establecida
WHEN Fr. Patrick Shanley, OCD
(later to become the first Bishop)
took charge of the most aban-
doned parish in Monsignor
Versoza’s diocese of Lipa (now
Archdiocese of Lipa), he was
given a narrow dogleg strip of
mountain territory from Infanta
to Casiguran, 180 meandering
miles along the East Coast of
Luzon. This territory, to be
known later by the name of the
Prelature “Nullius” of Infanta,
was canonically erected in April
25, 1950.
The Catholic faith was
brought to the area during the
early years of the Spanish occu-
pation in the 16th century.
Augustinians and Franciscans
built churches and founded com-
munities. However, due to the
isolation of the area, lay people
were left mostly to themselves.
Geographical Location
The Prelature of Infanta is
made up of five island towns in
the Polillo group, three coastal
towns of the Province of Quezon,
and eight towns of the Province
of Aurora. The area is hemmed
in on one side by the rugged Si-
erra Madre Mountains to the
West and to the East by the vast
Pacific Ocean. To reach the far-
thest northern town, Dilasag,
from Infanta (which is in the
lects are Bicolano, Cebuano,
Hiligaynon and Chabacano.
Bishops-prelates of Infanta
Most Rev. Rufino G. Santos,
DD was apostolic administrator
of the prelature from September
5, 1950 to July 10, 1951. Patrick
H. Shanley, OCD, DD became
the first bishop of Infanta and
served the prelature from July 11,
1951 to September 12, 1960. Jo-
seph M. Flanery, OCD served
was apostolic administrator from
September 12, 1960 to June 22,
1961. Julio Xavier Labayen,
OCD, DD was apostolic admin-
istrator from June 23, 1961 to
July 15, 1966. He became prel-
ate ordinary of Infanta from July
26, 1966 to August 27, 2003.
Rolando J. Tria Tirona, OCD, DD
took over as prelate on August
27, 2003 until the present date.
The Carmelite Fathers
The Discalced Carmelite Fa-
thers of Washington, D.C. Prov-
ince, U.S.A., mostly composed
of Americans and some Irish, ar-
rived in 1947 and started their
mission in the Prelature. They
built churches, conventos and
schools in four centers of the
mission area: Infanta, Polillo,
Baler and Casiguran. The priests
also started the formation of the
Confraternity of Christian Doc-
a real experience. Community
problems were given attention and
solution. Building Basic Christian
Communities became imperative
to every parish. Every program of
the Prelature should serve the
needs of the MSKs composed of
10-15 families.
dio station DZJO was put up to Prelature Pastoral Confer-
boost the community-develop- ence V was held in 2003 with the
ment program. theme: “Pagpapatuloy ng
Sambayanan ng mga Dukha.”
Pastoral Conferences Sustainability of the Church of
Under the leadership of the Poor was now its concern.
Bishop Labayen, Pastoral Con- This was held in view of the im-
ferences were held almost every minent retirement of Bishop
five years in order to set direc- Labayen and expectation of a
tion for the whole Prelature. new bishop to lead the Prelature.
Prelature Pastoral Conference I All the existing programs and
was held in 1973 with the theme: plans were to be turned over to
“Ano ang Sambayanang the new bishop for his continua-
Kristiyano?” The theme evoked tion and enhancement.
among the faithful the awareness
of belonging to a Christian com- Carmelite Tradition
munity, and their relationships Bishop Labayen formally
with God, neighbor, society and retired in August 2003 upon the
all created things. This relation- assumption into office of the new
ship entails responsibility. The Bishop Rolando J. Tria Tirona,
conference was echoed through OCD. The Holy Father appointed
seminars held in every parish and another Carmelite to the
in every barangay. These were Prelature, that made many happy
held in spite of a scary atmo- so that religious traditions started
sphere created by Martial Law by the Carmelites maybe contin-
under the Marcos regime. ued and safeguarded.
“...the enthusiasm and dedication of
both the clergy and the lay faithful in
the work of evangelization and
pastoral formation contribute to a
ing mudflows with logs and for-
est debris destroyed houses,
trees, ricefields, plants and every-
thing. The towns of Infanta, Gen-
eral Nakar and Dingalan were
submerged in the floodwaters.
The floods brought misery and
more poverty to the people of the
Prelature.
But there is life after the ca-
lamity. Various individuals, dio-
ceses in the Philippines, groups,
friends, government agencies,
partners in other countries,
kababayans abroad, and many
others, sent assistance during the
times of crisis. The Social Ac-
tion was revitalized in each par-
ish. Relief and Rehabilitation
work was coordinated by the
Prelature Social Action Center.
Thrusts of the Prelature
Bishop Tirona has laid down
three thrusts which he feels
should be given more emphasis
in the Prelature of Infanta.
1. Vocations. Given the vast
expanse of territory that covers
the Prelature of Infanta and the
growing number of Catholic
population, together with the
dearth of local clergy, with only
25 priests active in the Prelature;
The basis for this optimism is the
growing active participation of
the lay in the small Christian
communities. The clergy has
taken the challenge of the bishop
to heighten our catechetical pro-
gram and to recruit more cat-
echists.
3. Socio-economic develop-
ment among Parishes and MSK
members. Promoting a Church
of the Poor does not mean a
Church of misery or a Church
adverse to human development.
Studies have shown that major-
ity of small Christian community
members (MSK members) are
poor, if not extremely poor. The
Church has an obligation to pro-
mote a decent and dignified way
of life for all people. This is all
the more true for its members.
For this reason, the Prelature has
encouraged the priests and the
faithful, especially members of
small Christian communities to
look for ways and means to help
alleviate if not eradicate poverty
in their midst. While working for
the promotion of true human de-
velopment, the Prelature rejects
globalization without a soul.
Aside from the three thrusts
set for the Prelature, there are ex-
isting programs that project op-
timistic outlook for the Prelature.
The on-going formation program
called “Yapak ng Panginoon” or
Footstep of the Lord, prepares the
ground for good and informed
lay leaders and pastoral workers.
This program is conducted for
the entire Prelature or done in the
Vicariate level. The goal is to fos-
ter a pastoral spirituality rooted

positive assessment on the future of

South), one has to travel by land
and sea, at least 2 days. The dif-
ferent parishes are geographi-
cally isolated due to inadequate
road connections.
There are only two roads
that connect this vast mission
field, Baler-Manila and Infanta-
Manila spiraling up and over Si-
erra Madre mountains unto Ma-
nila via the central plains of
Luzon and the Southern Tagalog
region. Given these geographical
difficulties, the Prelature of
Infanta, nevertheless, strives to
become a living witness in build-
ing the Church of the Poor.
While the majority are Ta-
galog, there is a fair sprinkling
of other ethnic groups in the
Prelature: Dumagats or Aetas, the
aboriginal people of the Philip-
pines, called Negritoes (“little
blacks”) by the Spaniards, small
in size, dark-complexioned,
wearing G-strings; the Ilongots
of Indonesian stock, light in color
with black hair flowing over their
shoulders, and clothed like
Negritoes. They live in the moun-
tains, wandering from place to
place. They do little planting,
subsist on wild boar, use spear or
bow and arrow and sleep on
rough bamboo platform raised
above ground. Some of them
have settled down to form com-
munities. Nowadays, through the
assistance of the Prelature’s In-
digenous Peoples Apostolate
they have become aware of many
things, and they prefer to be
called “Agta” which means
“Tao” or human being. Tagalog
is the most widely spoken lan-
guage. Other spoken Filipino dia-
IMPORTANT FACTS
Bishop …...........……………. 1
Bishop-Emeritus ………......… 1
Priest s:
Diocesan ………...........….. 32
Public Association:
Alagad ni Maria …..........…. 12
Franciscans of our Lady …... 1
Sisters ……………………. 34
Diocesan Division:
Regions …………............…. 2
Vicariates .............…………. 4
trine in order to teach basic cat-
echism to children and the youth
especially in public elementary
schools. They were able to reach
out to the parents through the
schools they built, most of which
were named after the Blessed
Virgin Mary. They also initiated
the organization of different re-
ligious devotions like the Legion
of Mary, Sodality of our Lady,
Puso ni Hesus, which were
mostly for women, while Holy
Name Society was for men.
Other organizations followed
like Catholic Women’s League,
Knights of the Altar and
Apostleship of Prayer. They also
held classes in Cursillos in Chris-
tianity which was in vogue dur-
ing those years.
Bishop Julio Xavier
Labayen, OCD took over from
Fr. Joseph M. Flanery, OCD, as
Apostolic Administrator in 1960.
Upon his assumption as Prelate
Ordinary, he started implement-
ing the resolutions and decrees
of Vatican II. At the start, his pro-
gram of government was basi-
cally summarized in what he
dubbed as “Five Pointed Star”:
Catechetics, Catholic Schools,
Liturgy, Vocations Promotion
and Catholic Action. Many pro-
grams evolved later due to par-
ticipation of many lay people
energized by the Lay Formation
Program “Yapak ng Panginoon”.
Following the development
decade of the 60’s, the Prelature
attempted to respond to the chal-
lenge of community-building
through socio-economic projects
like the Green Revolution and
cooperatives. A one-kilowatt ra-
Parishes ……………........... 18
Chapels/Visitas/Missions 255
Catholic Schools:
College …………...........……. 2
Highschool ………….......…. 10
Primary/Elementary …….....… 3
Seminaries …………………… 1
Catechetical Center ………… 1
Pre-schools ………………… 6
Population ………….... 454,855
Catholics …………….. 395,725
Area …………… 7,189 sq. kms.
the Prelature.”
The necessity for more lay
leaders was a felt need. “Yapak
ng Panginoon” Formation Pro-
gram was developed in order to
generate more lay leaders. Sub-
sequent seminars that lasted for
three weeks were held for key lay
leaders. Mini-Yapak seminars
which lasted from 3-7 days were
held for parish and barangay
leaders. The modules consisted
of Self-discovery, Salvation His-
tory, Church, Sacraments, Lay
leadership, etc. The process in-
volved faith-reflection, commu-
nity building, cultural-liturgical
activities, process of building
Basic Christian Communities,
conscientization, and evangeliza-
tion with strong emphasis on
faith-prayer. Longer prayer time
was actually spent in front of the
Blessed Sacrament bringing to
the Lord the struggles of the poor.
The second Pastoral Confer-
ence was held in 1978 with the
theme: “Sambayanan ng mga
Dukha”. This theme heightened
the awareness of the faithful on
the call for the Church to be one
with the majority of the people.
The Church cannot be an island
in a sea of poverty. It has to be a
Church of the Poor. The confer-
ence was also echoed down to the
level of every barangay by teams
of priests and lay leaders.
Prelature Pastoral Confer-
ence III was held in 1983 with
the theme: “Pakikinig sa Tinig ng
mga nasa ibaba”. Most of the
people of the Prelature are poor.
A survey made throughout the
territory revealed that 87% of the
people lived below poverty line.
The Church cannot be indiffer-
ent to the situation. “Pahayag”
or Mission Statement of the
Prelature of Infanta was a happy
result of the Pastoral Conference.
Sectors of the marginalized farm-
ers, fisherfolks, youth, women’s
groups, etc., were organized in
order to be heard at all levels,
through the barangays, through
the Parish Councils and the
Bishop Rolando J. Tria
Tirona, OCD formally assumed
the office on August 27, 2003.
Since he was “in vibes” with the
Prelature even before he was
named bishop, he promised to
continue the programs of his pre-
decessor.
At the outset, in his almost
three years of ministry in the
Prelature of Infanta, Bishop
Tirona said “he has been blessed
in countless ways”. Given the
hard and difficult situation of the
Prelature, being one of the poor-
est and isolated ecclesiastical ter-
ritories in the Philippines; still,
the Catholic faith remains ener-
getic and flourishing. Undoubt-
edly, the sacrifices and dedication
of the pioneering Discalced
Carmelite missionaries prepared
the ground for a vigorous Catho-
lic faith and paved the way for
the propagation of Catholic com-
munities. He is thankful also to
the crucial contributions and sac-
rifices of the early Filipino dioc-
esan priests, who, ministering in
extreme poverty and trying cir-
cumstances, sustained what the
early missionaries had planted,
and further promoted the growth
of Catholic communities and par-
ishes.
To date, the Prelature has a
concrete vision/ mission state-
ment in line with the call of
Vatican II’s Church of the Poor.
Since the able leadership of
Bishop Emeritus Julio Xavier
Labayen, OCD, the Prelature has
a sure footing in pastoral and
spiritual orientations. The growth
of countless small Christian com-
munities locally called Munting
Sambayanang Kristiano (MSKs)
attests to the active participation
of the lay faithful in ecclesial life
and ministry.
Though the Prelature is
hampered to fuller development
due to lack of priests, this is com-
pensated by the active participa-
tion of trained lay leaders and
MSK pastoral workers. Thanks
it is imperative to embark vigor-
ously on vocation promotion and
quality seminary formation. Cur-
rently, there are two vocation pro-
moters assigned in the two prov-
inces, Aurora and Quezon; cov-
ering the Prelature of Infanta.
The Prelature maintains a
College seminary in San Luis,
Aurora Province, where there are
four seminarians at present. The
seminarians are divided into two
programs: the formation year or
introductory year and the College
proper programs. The seminarians
study in the Mt. Carmel College
in Baler. They take accessory
courses in Philosophy and Chris-
tian doctrine in the seminary.
The Theology Seminary is in
St. Joseph House of Formation
in Metro Manila. The seminar-
ians study at the Mary Hill Theo-
logical Seminary run by the Con-
gregation of the Immaculate
Heart of Mary Fathers (CICM).
The St. Joseph House of Forma-
tion also accepts seminarians
from other dioceses. To date,
there are eleven theological semi-
narians of which, three belong to
the Prelature of Infanta. There are
two Priest-Formators assigned in
this house of formation.
Bishop Tirona is very opti-
mistic that with the help of God
the inflow of candidates for the
seminary will continue to grow.
He based this on the number of
young boys who have applied to
take the entrance examination for
the college seminary. Another
reason for such optimism is the
dedication of the vocation direc-
tors in the work of vocations pro-
motion despite their busy sched-
ules in their respective parishes.
The Prelature Catholic schools
also participate in vocations pro-
motion through Vocation Clubs.
The Small Christian Communi-
ties or local MSKs are also made
aware of their roles in the pro-
motion of vocations to the priest-
hood and the religious life. Par-
ishes have prayers for vocations
in Jesus who went about doing
good to people. The participation
of the Prelature in national
Church events also provides a
greater perspective and arena for
pastoral deepening and strategic
improvement.
Faithful to its mission to in-
cline itself towards the poor and
the marginalized, the Prelature
has revived its Social Action
Center (SAC) which exercises
the diakonia role of the local
Church vis a vis the poor. The
SAC orients itself to the MSKs,
especially in helping their socio-
economic life and in eradicating
poverty. Moreover, the Prelature
has a strong and effective pro-
gram in support of the indigenous
people, specifically the Agtas ,
who are in the mainstream of pas-
toral orientation and programs.
The Prelature has a full time
priest, Fr. Pete Montallana, who
lives and works with the Agtas.
Future Outlook of the
Prelature
Creative liturgical celebra-
tions enliven the participation of
the faithful, especially the youth.
The liturgical celebrations pro-
mote a deep sense of prayer and
an appreciation of being a
Church. The Eucharist always
remains central to the celebration
in every parish and small Chris-
tian community. Devotion to the
Blessed Mother is also a major
characteristic of every parish and
communities that is cause for a
bright future for the Prelature of
Infanta. When the mother of a
family is loved and held in es-
teem, that family is sure to grow
happy and healthy.
Finally, the enthusiasm and
dedication of both the clergy and
the lay faithful in the work of
evangelization and pastoral for-
mation contribute to a positive
assessment on the future of the
Prelature.
These are some pastoral re-
alities that one can observe and
experience in the Prelature of
Infanta that paint a bright future
for the Church in spite of seem-
ingly insurmountable problems
in the areas of economics, cul-
ture, ecology and of territorial
conditions.
 CBCP Monitor
10 Updates Vol. 11 No. 7
April 2-15, 2007

The most noteworthy differ- of spiritual direction—puts the

ence between the present c. 964
and cc.908-910 of the old Code
of Canon Law of 1917 is the dis-
appearance of the prohibition of
hearing the confession of women
woman penitent and the confes-
sor in such a degree of intimacy
that, given man’s fallen nature,
cannot but be an occasion of
unnecessary temptation. It is

Are Confessional
outside the confessional in ordi-
nary circumstances (cf. CIC 17:
c.910, §1 and c.909, §1). Far
from relaxing the norms of pru-
not specious to surmise that the
unfortunate cases of violations
of priestly celibacy could not
have started—save for a few

Boxes Obsolete? dence in this regard, what the

present canon intended to do is
to remove the apparent discrimi-
nation against women in the
by Fr. Jaime B. Achacoso, J.C.D. tenor of the aforementioned can-
ons of the old Codex, leaving it
to the mature judgment of the
I belong to a suburban parish south of Manila, although what confessor to observe those norms
I’m about to ask has been observed also by my relatives residing in the most opportune way.
in other parts of the Metropolis. I’m referring to the lack of use, In fact, an authentic inter-
if not absence altogether of a confessional box in the church that pretation by the Pontifical Coun-
I go to habitually. Our priest does not have a schedule of confes- cil for the Interpretation of Leg-
sions to begin with, preferring that we just ask for him when we islative Texts, in a Response
want to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. When we do so, dated 7.VII.1998, significantly
he normally prefers to just hear our confession in his office. Be- widened the scope of the norm
exceptions—in any other situ-
ation but that presented pre-
cisely by sacramental confes-
sion or spiritual direction,
which are normally the only oc-
casions when a priest in his
right senses would be in a pri-
vate and intimate conversation
with a woman. Hence the norm
of prudence—born of centuries
of experience—prescribing the
use of the confessional with a
fixed grille, in a visible place
in the church or oratory. (It is
interesting to note that in the re-

© Dennis B. Dayao / CBCPMedia

ing old enough to be his mother, I really don’t mind very much, of c.964, §2. Indeed, if up to that vision of the Code, the norm
but my teen-age granddaughter feels absolutely uncomfortable moment the norm had always prohibiting the confession of
with the arrangement and I tend to agree with her. When I been understood in terms of the women outside the confessional
brought this matter up with my son, her Dad, he said I was Pre- right of the penitent to demand had been re-introduced. A peti-
Vatican and too conservative. What does Church Law really say the use of a confessional with tion to delete it in 1981 was re-
about this? grille, this Response positively jected, giving the reason that
declared a similar right of the such was the mind of Paul VI.
confessor to demand the use of Thus the norm remained in the
a confessional with grille for the different schemata of the new
administration of the sacrament Code, up to the final Schema of
This issue is neither pre- nor the only place, but rather the most it more effective. This gave rise in the English translation of the of penance in a specific case. 1982. Unfortunately, it disap-
post-Vatican, but rather belongs apt for the sacred character of the to the construction of the so- canon. Its greatest novelty lies in The underlying value being pro- peared after the final revision.
to the wisdom of the Church’s sacrament, which is at the same called reconciliation room in the normative faculty that the tected, of course, is the integrity Cf. Communicationes, 15
long pastoral experience, formal- time an ecclesial action. Thus, a churches—especially in Europe Code confers on the Episcopal and honor of the confessor, ,1983, p.207)
ized in norms that have found sacred place—a church or ora- and the U.S.—and the disappear- Conferences in this respect—a who—on the other hand—
their way in the two codifications tory (§1)—is the most adequate ance in many places of the tradi- faculty, however, which is bound should be mindful of what is laid Conclusion
of Canon Law in the 20th Cen- place for its celebration. But tional seat for the sacrament of up with the universal norm that down in c.277, §2: Clerics are
tury. nothing impedes the administra- penance: the confessional. confessionals with a fixed grille to conduct themselves with due After all the foregoing, it is
tion of this sacrament in other In the Philippines, the between penitent and confessor prudence in associating with clear that the practice of hearing
The Proper Place for the places if there is a just cause CBCP has established that—sub- are always located in an open persons whose company could confessions—of women or oth-
Sacrament of Penance (§3)—e.g., the sick in hospitals, ject to the provision of c.964, area so that the faithful who wish endanger their obligation to ob- erwise—in another seat other
the elderly or handicapped in §2—a reconciliation room may to make use of them may do so serve continence or could cause than the indicated confessional
The Code of Canon Law es- their homes, or any faithful who be used, upon request of the peni- freely. scandal for the faithful. with a fixed grille in the church
tablishes the norms for the may need the sacrament in a mo- tent, as an alternative to the con- A well-known canonist sums After all, one cannot help but or oratory is not only not the most
present question in the following ment away from an oratory or fessional, provided that it is lo- up the rationale behind this type wonder why the norm prohibit- prudent one, but even infringes
terms: church. cated in a visible place (e.g., with of confessional as follows: a) it ing the confession of women out- on the right of the faithful to re-
Can. 964 — §1. The proper Likewise, nothing impedes a glass pane). (Cf. W.C.Paguio, safeguards the necessary discre- side the confessional under ordi- main anonymous when ap-
place for hearing sacramental the competent authority—the Notes on Sacraments and tion and reserve; b) it guarantees nary circumstance ever got into proaching the sacrament of pen-
confessions is a church or ora- Episcopal Conference according Sacramentals: According to the the right of the penitent to con- the juridic system of the Church. ance.
tory. §2. The conference of bish- to §2—from allowing the instal- Revised Code of Canon Law (2nd fess his sins without necessarily Even if the specific laws against Furthermore, not having a
ops is to issue norms concerning lation of a confessional in another Ed.), Vol. I, Manila (1991), revealing his personal identity; c) it have been abrogated, in favor regular schedule for the celebra-
the confessional, seeing to it that place, or indeed the establish- p.204.) it facilitates the understanding of of a more general formula—i.e., tion of this sacrament runs
confessionals with a fixed grille ment of another seat for the ad- the sacramental character of the not precisely focusing on counter to the right of the faith-
between penitent and confessor ministration of the sacrament. In The Proper Seat for the Sac- act; d) it protects the right of ev- women—the criterion remains: ful to have abundant access to the
are always located in an open fact, the Sacred Congregation for rament of Penance: Confes- ery faithful (both penitent and confessors should avoid a situa- sacraments, while at the same
area so that the faithful who wish the Doctrine of the Faith—in the sional with a fixed grille confessor) to defend his integrity tion that could endanger their ob- time increasing the chances pre-
to make use of them may do so Ordo Paenitentiae (2.XII.1973), and honor against the slightest ligation to observe continence or cisely of their having to ask the
freely. §3. Confessions are not n.38—authorized the Episcopal Can. 964, §2 deals with the danger of suspicion. (Cf. VV.AA., cause scandal for the faithful. priest for confession at a time
to be heard outside the confes- Conferences to determine the seat for the administration of the Manual de Derecho Canónico, The situation of sacramen- when it may be less than conve-
sional without a just cause. proper place for the ordinary ad- sacrament—Ad sedem 2nd ed., Pamplona, 1991, p.528). tal confession—and one might nient for the priest to go to the
Proper place does not mean ministration of the sacrament of confessionalem quod attinet—al- This last point bears closer exami- add, even to a greater extent indicated seat, which is the con-
penance, with the end of making though this nuance may be lost nation. due to the longer exposure, that fessional.

Masses for Non-Catholic Officials Origin and Use of the

and More on Distributing Paschal Candle
Communion to Concelebrants (Professor of Liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum University in Rome, Fr. Ed-
ward McNamara answers the question of E.L. of Fresno, California, USA.)

(Through Zenit, Fr. Edward McNamara,
p rofessor of liturgy at the Regina
Apostolorum University, answers the masses
for non-catholic officials.)
Q: I recently read in our parish bulletin
that a Mass was being offered for the "Inten-
tions of ---" (name omitted here, but published
in the bulletin), a person who is still alive and
who holds a high-profile public office. The
individual is Christian but not Catholic and
has signed laws or has taken positions which
support abortion rights, embryonic stem-cell
research and same-sex unions. May a Mass
be offered by a priest, publicly, for the inten-
tions of a living non-Catholic (or one whose
welfare as well as the gifts of wisdom, Q: Can you explain the ori- tecost).
justice and prudence so that the com- gin of the paschal candle and From around the 12th cen-
mon good may be served. how long after Easter is it to be tury the custom began of inscrib-
Similar petitions are made on lit during Mass? Is it to be ing the current year on the
other occasions such as the interces- brought out into the sanctuary candle as well as the dates of the
sions on Good Friday, and may be in- and lit also during weddings and principal movable feasts. The
cluded in the prayer of the faithful at funerals throughout the year, as candle hence grew in size so as
all Masses. They are also frequent in is done in one parish I visited?— to merit the attribution of pillar
the intercessions of morning prayer E.L., Fresno, California mentioned in the “Exultet. ”
and evening prayer in the Liturgy of A: The origin of the paschal There are cases of candles
the Hours. candle is uncertain. The most weighing about 300 pounds. The
This form of prayer reflects more likely origin is that it derived procession foreseen in the
our intentions for the ruler and not so from the Lucernarium, the present rite requires much more
much the ruler's intentions. This form evening office with which early moderate dimensions.
of prayer may be offered no matter Christians began the vigil for The paschal candle is usu-
what the religious faith and personal every Sunday and especially that ally blessed at the beginning of
© Roy Lagarde / CBCPMedia

"intentions" oppose our Church teaching?) If
so, should it be? We certainly should be pray-
ing for this person's conversion—of both their
faith and their positions—but I think offering
a Mass for their intentions could lead the faith-
ful to further confusion, and possibly may be
scandalous. -- M.B., Brookfield, Connecticut
A: I think that some distinctions might
be in order. Parish bulletins are not graced
with magisterial authority, much less with in-
fallibility, but all the same they should strive
to be precise in their terminology. In this
sense, Mass may be offered for public offi-
cials but not necessarily for their intentions.
As our reader points out, a public
official's intentions may be contrary to
Church teaching, and he or she might even
intend to persecute the Church to some de-
gree or other.
Catholics cannot therefore offer blanket
prayers for the intentions of such officials in
the same way that we can pray for the inten-
tions of the Pope or bishop.
At the same time, the Church has always
encouraged praying for public officials even
through they might not be Christians and even
when they persecute the Church. St. Peter tells
the first Christians to honor the emperor (1
Peter 2:17) in virtue of his authority -- but
not because of his moral qualities, which in
the case of Nero were singularly lacking.
In later epochs there were specific
prayers during the Mass for the emperor and
even specific votive Mass formulas "for the
King." In some eighth- and ninth-century
monasteries it was a custom to pray a daily
Mass for the king and kingdom.
Today's missal contains Masses for the
nation, state and city, for public officials, for
Congress and for a country's king or princi-
pal governing authority.
The formulas for such Masses usually
plead for the monarch or ruler's health and
and public moral stature of the people
we pray for may be.
Of course, as we believe in the
power of prayer, we do trust that God
will assist the ruler in making wise,
just and coherent decisions, and also
to become a better person.
From another point of view, a
ruler of any faith could ask his people
to pray for a pressing public need, and in this
sense Catholics could pray for his intentions.
Likewise a Catholic ruler, as may any
Catholic, can request that a Mass be cel-
ebrated for his or her private intentions. In
this case, just like any prayer, God will only
respond to a sincere and humble heart.
Follow-up question on Communion and
Concelebrants
"I have a real problem with the idea of
'intinction.' At the Last Supper, 'Then he took
a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them say-
ing, "Drink from it, all of you"' (Matthew
26:27). In Luke and Mark, the evidence is
clearly on the taking of the cup and the shar-
ing and drinking of the wine ... not the dip-
ping of the bread in the wine. In the Eucha-
ristic prayers we intone, 'Take and drink this
all of you' ... the key words there are 'take'
and 'drink.' These are verbal commands."
Drinking from the chalice is preferred
whenever feasible. But I do not think that we
should apply the biblical text as referring to
precise details of the ritual, which developed
over the centuries.
Otherwise we would end up question-
ing the legitimacy of centuries-old customs
such as the Western practice of Communion
under one kind alone or the custom of some
Eastern Churches of Communion under both
species together, using a spoon.
Rather, we should trust the interpretation
of the Church which allows for intinction as
a practical solution for communicating large
numbers of concelebrants or when space, or
of Easter.
In turn, this rite is probably
inspired by the Jewish custom of
lighting a lamp at the conclusion
of the Sabbath. The rite there-
fore has its roots in the very be-
ginning of Christianity.
In the Lucernarium rite the
light destined to dispel the dark-
the number of chalices available, is limited. ness of night was offered to
Finally an Eastern deacon sent me an Christ as the splendor of the Fa-
interesting comment on the role of the dea- ther and indefectible light. This
con in presenting the chalice and hosts to Sunday rite was logically carried
priests during concelebrations: out with greater solemnity dur-
"The GIRM paragraphs 242 and 246 also ing the Easter Vigil.
should be read within the context of long- There is clear evidence that
standing rulings and practices of the Church this solemn rite began no later
as early as the Canons of the Council of than the second half of the fourth
Nicaea (A.D. 325), ratified also at Trent: century. For example, the use of
"Canon XVIII: It has come to the knowl- singing a hymn in praise of the
edge of the holy and great Synod that, in some candle and the Easter mystery is
districts and cities, the deacons administer the mentioned as an established cus-
Eucharist to the presbyters, whereas neither tom in a letter of St. Jerome,
canon nor custom permits that they who have written in 384 to Presidio, a dea-
no right to offer should give the Body of con from Piacenza, Italy.
Christ to them that do offer. And this also has Sts. Ambrose and August-
been made known, that certain deacons now ine are also known to have com-
touch the Eucharist even before the bishops. posed such Easter proclama-
Let all such practices be utterly done away, tions. The poetic and solemn text
and let the deacons remain within their own of the “Exultet,” or Easter proc-
bounds, knowing that they are the ministers lamation now in use, originated
of the bishop and the inferiors of the presby- in the fifth century but its author
ters. Let them receive the Eucharist accord- is unknown.
ing to their order, after the presbyters, and let The use of the candle has
either the bishop or the presbyter administer varied over the centuries. Ini-
to them. Furthermore, let not the deacons sit tially it was broken up after the
among the presbyters, for that is contrary to Easter Vigil and its fragments
canon and order. And if, after this decree, any given to the faithful. This was
one shall refuse to obey, let him be deposed later transferred to the follow-
from the diaconate." ing Sunday; but from the 10th
While not every detail mentioned in century the use prevailed of
Canon 18 would apply to the present Roman keeping it in a place of honor
rite, the fundamental principles remain the near the Gospel until the feast
same even today. of the Ascension (now until Pen-
the Easter Vigil ceremonies and
is placed on a special candlestick
near the altar or ambo.
During the ceremony, five
grains of incense representing
Christ’s wounds are inserted in
the form of a cross. An alpha
above the cross and an omega
below (the first and last letters
of the Greek alphabet) indicate
that Christ is the beginning and
end of all. The current year is
traced on the four sides of the
cross.
The candle remains in the
presbytery during the 50 days of
Easter season and is lit for all li-
turgical offices. After Pentecost
it is left next to the baptismal
font.
Throughout the year it is lit
during all baptisms and funeral
services; the candle is placed
next to the casket during the fu-
neral Mass. In this way it sym-
bolizes baptism as a death and
resurrection in Christ, and also
testifies to Christian certainty in
the resurrection of the dead as
well as to the fact that all are
alive in the risen Christ.
The paschal candle may
also be lit for some devotional
practices, such as the fairly com-
mon custom of the faithful re-
newing their baptismal promises
on concluding retreats and spiri-
tual exercises.
Finally, while venerable le-
gitimate customs might exist in
some places, I am unaware of
any official liturgical role for the
paschal candle during the cel-
ebration of matrimony. (Zenit)
 CBCP Monitor
Vol. 11 No. 7
April 2-15, 2007 Social Concern 11
YOU don’t have to be a Mannu
Pacquiao to raise the sagging
Filipino Spirit. All you need to
do is be a member of a founda-
Criteria for Pro-active
tion formed five years ago in
time for the Catholic Church’s Leadership Guidelines in
Jubilee Year.
One member simply pays Choosing Candidates for
the right taxes on time and moni-
tors how they’re spent in her Election Positions
community.
A second one patrols the
streets of Obando as a volunteer By Bro. Manuel V. de Leon, FMS
village watcher.
A third, a firefighter, did his
share in a more dramatic fashion.
He helped save children trapped 1. Honesty and Personal Integrity—The leader speaks
in a burning Quezon City build- the truth. He is transparent in doing business of gov-
ing and lost his life in the pro- ernment. He does not engage nor tolerate graft and cor-
ruption in his scope of influence.

© Dennis B. Dayao / CBCPMedia

cess.
These acts of heroism, big or
small, were their way of return-
ing favor for the benefits they
reaped from their membership in
Sagip Ka 2000 Foundation.
With a token contribution of
at least P200 yearly, members get
substantial hospitalization and
burial benefits.
It’s one concrete way of up-
lifting the Filipino spirit, espe-
cially that of the poor, say Bro.
Manuel V. de Leon, FMS head
of the Marist Brothers of the Phil-
ippines and the group’s founding
president. “It means a lot when
people don’t have to worry so
much about money when he gets
sick or when a relatives die,” he
told the Inquirer. “It brings back
their dignity.”
The foundation has around
17,000 members scattered
around the country, farmers,
tribesmen and fisher folk.
There are also soldiers, po-
licemen, teachers, office work-
ers, students,small businessmen
and priests.
The requirement is not at all
Herculeen, according to Bro.
Manny. One simply has to live
by the group’s core principles
centered on bringing back dig-
nity among Filipinos.
They’re spelled out in a 15-
point advice encouraging mem-
bers to go back to basic principles,
such as honest labor, respect for
the human person, orderliness,
beauty, truth and fairness.
In more concrete terms, Bro.
Manny says, they’re urged to as-
sist a neighbor in need, clean
their backyard, vote for deserv-
ing politicians, reject any form of
violence, and develop personal
relationship with God.
In essence, Sagip Ka pro-
motes values expected of any
well-meaning individual, he ex-
plains.
Bro. Manny got the idea dur-
ing a renewal trip to the Vatican
in 1999. Walking down a street
leading to St. Peter’s Square, he
chanced upon a nice shirt bear-
ing a print of a Michelangelo
painting. When he decided
Small Acts of Heroism can
Bring Back Dignity of
Filipino
By Sagip Ka 2000 Foundation
against buying it, the Italian
vendor shouted at him: “Filipi-
nos, no good!”
How it began
“It hit me hard”, he recalls,
“I kept asking myself if Filipinos
were really ‘no good’ in the eyes
of foreigners.”
The following year, he orga-
nized Sagip Ka whose theoreti-
cal backbone was his dissertation
at the University of the Philip-
pines in 1998 on the “influence
of family, school, and society on
student values.
Members can avail of two
benefit packages shouldered
largely by the insurance premi-
ums collected from individual
contributions, Bro Manny says.
Medical, death assistance
For the first package, which
is for members aged between 5
and 75 years old, a yearly contri-
bution of P200 is equivalent to
an ambulance service worth
P1,000 and medical reimburse-
ment worth P3,000.
If member dies of natural
cause, the beneficiary gets a
maximum P10,000 burial assis-
tance. Death due to an accident
means P15,000.
The second package, avail-
able to those within 5-to-65 age
bracket, raises the amounts of
benefits with only an additional
P800 annual contribution.
Contagious Values
A member needing a heart
bypass or kidney transplant, for
instance, can receive P50,000
inclusive of a P1,200 daily hos-
pitalization assistance. Death
benefit assistance is raised up to
a maximum of P25,000.
At least 3,500 members
have received assistance, mostly
in the form of hospital benefits,
from the second package, Bro.
Manny says.
The values the group has
been trying to promote have
been contagious, he says.
In Marikina, there are
around 200 volunteers devoted to
clean the streets with a very mini-
mal salary from the local govern-
ment. Their main objective is
cleanliness and orderliness.
Teaching in the mountains
In Antipolo; a government
employee spends her weekends
teaching Dumagat children in the
2. Hard Working and Service-oriented—A hands-on pub-
lic servant willing to reach out to the constituency be-
yond the call of duty.
3. Non-Violent and Peace Loving—He does not keep
private army or goons to protect his interests. He trusts
his people and his clear conscience to protect him from
harm in the exercise of his duties.
4. Inspires Unity and Cooperation—The leader does not
have dictatorial tendencies. He is able to listen to ev-
eryone through participatory management. He draws
cooperation by not discriminating others even his own
political adversaries.
5. Protects the environment—He does not exploit the
environment and natural resources through illegal
means. He has concrete programs on solid waste man-
agement, re-forestation, preservation of clean air and
water, etc.
6. Concern for the welfare of the disadvantage—He gives
priority to quality education and equal protection of
mountains of Sierra Madre. the poor, marginalized and deprived members of soci-
One pilot came up with a ety especially the children, women and elderly.
new way of producing organic
fertilizer and is now teaching it 7. Respects the Rule of Law—He applies the laws with-
among farmers in his community. out fear or favor.
In Bro. Manny’s case, he has
built two machines: a mechani- 8. Promotes National Interests—He is an advocate of
cal shredder for organic waste Filipino Excellence. He is defender of fair trade in an
and a compactor for residuals environment of liberalization and globalization. He is
garbage in an effort to reduce a patron of the Arts and Culture. He supports sports
the volume of solid waste at activities, preservation of historical heritage and the
Marist School in Marikina City national patrimony.
where he was a President for 15
years. 9. God Fearing and Family Oriented—He does not vio-
Elsewhere, someone is prob- late the original 10 Commandments. He is always faith-
ably walking an old lady across ful and loving to his family.
a busy street. Or a vendor is
chasing after a buyer who has (Bro. Manuel V. de Leon, FMS is the President of Marist School,
forgotten his change. Marikina and Founding President of Sagip Ka 2000 Foundation, Inc.,
at Sagip Ka 2000 Foundation, Inc., #50 Champagnat Avenue, Marikina
Multiply these simple acts of Heights, Marikina City. Contact Nos.: (02)942-4656 / (083)552-5994 /
heroism, says Bro. Manny, and the 0920-952652, Website: www.sagipka2000.org)
Filipino will get back his dignity.

Media / from p3
calculation is based upon many
assumptions. There are differ-
ences of opinion on how the in-
scriptions on the tomb should be
interpreted. Choosing interpreta-
tions different from those of the
documentary severely weakens
the statistical proof that it was the
tomb of Jesus, he said.
In addition to problems with
the interpretation of the names,
there is also only partial evidence
regarding the frequency of these
names in the population at the
time. Ivo Dinov, assistant profes-
sor of statistics at the University
of California, Los Angeles, told
Bialik: "I wouldn't be comfort-
able coming up with a number
like this, because the general au-
dience will not understand that it
is very, very subjective."
The documentary's alleged
revelations form part of a pattern
about media coverage leading up
to Easter, explained Charlotte
Allen, an editor at Beliefnet, in
an opinion article the Los Ange-
les Times published March 4.
"All these 'revelations' are
part of a continuing cottage indus-
try of constructing alternative ver-
sions of Christianity to the one we
already have," commented Allen.
Often the newly discovered "gos-
pels" or other documents respond
to a need by persons or groups to
find an alternative doctrinal form
that fits in with their personal
ideas of how Christianity should
be, she added.
"People who find notions of
sin, salvation, atonement and an
afterlife incredible or distasteful
can banish them from their per-
sonal cosmologies by finding an
ancient document where they are
absent," noted Allen.
Further revelations
As if on cue, a headline in
the the London-based Times
newspaper reported March 21
that "Jesus was no miracle
worker."
The article reported on the
content of the book written by
Benjamin Iscariot, with Jeffery
Archer and Francis Molony, en-
titled "The Gospel According to
Judas." Times readers were as-
sured that the book was "pub-
lished with Vatican approval,"
and that it showed "Jesus did not
turn water into wine, nor did he
calm the storm on the Sea of
Galilee or walk on water."
As the Guardian newspaper
pointed out in its March 21 re-
port on the book, Archer is bet-
ter known for writing novels, and
recently served a prison term for
perjury. Moreover, the article
made it clear that the Vatican did
not support the book.
Speaking at the book's
launch, Father Stepen Pisano,
rector of the Pontifical Biblical
Institute, said that his participa-
tion in the event did not mean
"the institute, the Vatican or the
Pope endorses this book."
More was to come as Easter
approached. On April 3, just in
time for Passover, the New York
Times published an article argu-
ing that there is no archaeologi-
cal evidence for the exodus of
Jews led by Moses from Egypt.
Zahi Hawass, Egypt's chief ar-
chaeologist, reportedly said that
the story of the Exodus is "a
myth."
The context of the story by
the New York Times was curious.
Hawass was leading a group on
a tour of a newly discovered fort
in northern Sinai, and his com-
ment on the Exodus came as a
result of a reporter's question on
the subject.
This remark, seemingly
made in passing while present-
ing archaeological findings of a
different nature, then became the
basis for a 900-word article in the
New York Times. Moreover, the
article was notable for not includ-
ing any contrasting opinion or
reaction regarding the historical
veracity of the Exodus.
Presenting the news
Questions over media cov-
erage also arise in the way events
are presented and interpreted. An
interesting case in point was how
newspapers reported protests in
Turkey to the Pope's visit last
November.
A Nov. 27 report by a Span-
ish Web site that examines me-
dia coverage of the Church "La
Iglesia en la Prensa" (The Press
in the Church), looked at the dif-
ference in newspaper headlines
in Spain and Italy.
During the visit, groups hos-
tile to the Catholic Church and
the presence of Benedict XVI
organized a protest march. The
Spanish papers highlighted the
hostility to the Pope and the pres-
ence of thousands of protesters.
By contrast, the Italian press
headlines noted that the number
of protesters was much lower
number than the forecast num-
bers.
Reports in the days previous
to the protest spoke of up to a
million people who would take
to the streets. Only around 15 to
20 thousand actually turned up.
The Spanish newspaper titles,
nevertheless, deliberately ig-
nored the failure of the protest.
The lesson here, as the Cat-
echism of the Catholic Church
says, is that "users should prac-
tice moderation and discipline in
their approach to the mass me-
dia" (No. 2496). Those who
make use of the mass media, it
continues, "will want to form
enlightened and correct con-
sciences the more easily to resist
unwholesome influences."
The Catechism rightly warns
the faithful to guard against pas-
sivity regarding the media, and
recommends being "vigilant con-
sumers of what is said or shown."
Given the recent behavior of the
media regarding religion in the
news, this is a wise recommen-
dation for modern times. (Zenit)

12
Reject Evil, Choose the Good (Is. 1:16-17a)
A Pastoral Statement on the Forthcoming
Elections to the Catholic Faithful of Pampanga
and to all People of Good Will
AS we enter Holy Week to com-
memorate the passion, death and
resurrection of our Lord Jesus
Christ, allow us—your pastors—
to invite you to a communal ex-
amination of conscience over the
serious problem of corruption in
our country in general, and, in
our beloved province of
Pampanga, in particular. To be
able to do this, let us begin, not
by pointing an accusing finger on
anybody, but by humbly admit-
ting our own part in this social
sin, “in what we have done, and
what we have failed to do.” Let
us feel genuine sorrow in our
hearts either for having engaged
actively in corrupt social prac-
tices, or for having tolerated them
through our sheer inaction, indif-
ference, or cynicism. Let us try
to do concrete penance, not just
individually but also collectively,
with a sincere resolve to make up
for our actions and omissions
through which we may have con-
tributed to the aggravation of the
social and moral disease that is
afflicting the Pampanga society.
The prophet Isaiah once
called the whole Israelite nation
to conversion, not by merely put-
ting on sackcloth and ashes, or
by merely engaging in ritual pi-
ety. Rather, he said, “Put away
your corruption from before my
eyes; reject evil, choose the good,
seek what is right…” (Isaiah
1:16-17a). He went back to the
most basic kind of election—the
choice for good against evil, the
choice for right against wrong,
the choice for truth against false-
hood. This is the same kind of
choice that the Lord is also ask-
ing of us Capampangans, as we
are again preparing for elec-
tions—one of the most precious
expressions of democracy, but
also one of the most flawed ex-
ercises in the political affairs of
our country.
Too often have we heard
such cynical expressions as “Let
us leave politics to
politicians...We have no choice
anyway...That is none of our
business.” If election is about
choosing, how can we exercise
it meaningfully if we say “We
have no choice?” If Christian life
is about choosing the good at all
cost, how can we say just choose
the “lesser evil”? Reject evil,
choose the good!
Dearly beloved brothers
and sisters, allow us, your shep-
herds, to open our hearts to you
about corruption, jueteng, and
the forthcoming elections. For-
give us for having kept quiet for
a long time now, and for per-
haps giving you the impression
that we have become indiffer-
ent about the moral decay that
is eating up our beloved prov-
ince of Pampanga. This state-
ment is in response to your
clamor for us to speak up and
make our stand clear with re-
gard to the social cancer that is
eroding the moral fiber of the
Capampangan society.
Our invitation to a collective
discernment cannot be timelier
than now that we are again pre-
paring for elections. In the light
of current developments in Phil-
ippine politics, it is for very ob-
vious reasons that the nation’s at-
tention is focused on Pampanga
because of well-based claims that
now, more than ever, money is
again becoming the very bone of
contention over Capampangan
politics. We speak of money, ei-
ther from jueteng or from ques-
tionable quarrying activities. The
shady patrons who are engaged
in illegal and immoral business
and who have all the money to
spend on elections are bound to
take control over politics and
governance if we do not do any-
thing to expose and put a stop to
their underhanded and manipu-
lative practices.
Over the issue of jueteng,
we can only reiterate the pasto-
ral statement released by the
CBCP in March 2003, in which
the Catholic bishops called for
a total eradication of the said il-
legal numbers game, referring to
it as “a moral and social cancer.”
In that important pastoral exhor-
tation, the CBCP characterized
jueteng as “an insidious subcul-
ture of immense corruption that
involves a shadowy network of
powerful financiers, protectors,
and lords,” and “…destroys
moral values such as industry
and hard work, accountability
and honesty, integrity and jus-
tice.” We are particularly
alarmed about the way this ille-
gal gambling activity has—of
late—been merely camouflaged
by the legal small town lottery
(STL), making it easier for the
former to carry on with its op-
eration under the very noses of
local government officials and
law enforcers of the province. In
the context of the forthcoming
elections, we have reason to be
seriously worried that money
from jueteng will again serve as
a decisive factor for the victory
of certain candidates.
Over the issue of question-
able quarrying, we likewise echo
the statement of the CBCP on
January 29, 2006, over the ill ef-
fects of indiscriminate mining
activities that do not abide by
basic environmental laws and
regulations, and which are sus-
piciously tolerated by govern-
ment agencies that are supposed
to be responsible for their moni-
toring. Our parish communities,
especially those located in the
vicinity of major quarry sites
have reason to be worried for
their safety especially during the
rainy seasons, knowing how lo-
cal government leaders have kept
quiet about the absence of such
safety measures. Furthermore,
serious allegations of corruption
involving millions of funds gen-
erated from quarrying activities
in the province have yet to be
accounted for by the people in-
volved. Such allegations inevita-
bly raise the issue about the pos-
sibility that the provincial gov-
ernment is being deprived of the
much-needed revenues that
could be used for projects that
will benefit the people. Again, in
the context of the forthcoming
elections, we have reason to be
seriously worried that money
from questionable quarrying may
also serve as a decisive factor for
the victory of certain candidates.
As citizens of this country,
we call on the faithful to actively
participate in the forthcoming
electoral exercise, either through
partisan or non-partisan forms of
political involvement. It is the
duty of our Catholic laity, in par-
ticular, to exert all efforts possible
so that qualified, capable, hon-
est, and God-fearing candi-
dates—who can be instrumental
in effecting change in politics
towards good governance—are
elected into office. It is also the
duty of our Catholic laity, in col-
laboration with the religious and
the clergy, to take an active part
in the PPC-RV—initiated activi-
ties such as the education of vot-
ers towards a more discerning
exercise of their right to vote, as
well as in the guarding of votes
on all levels of counting and can-
vassing, from the precinct to the
municipal, to the provincial, up
to the national levels. To insist
Statements
upon the seriousness of this task,
we recall the recent CBCP pas-
toral statement (January 28,
2007) that said, “Many of our
current political problems, which
have hindered fuller economic
development and social justice,
especially for the poor, can be
traced to unresolved questions
concerning the conduct of past
elections. As a nation, we cannot
afford yet another controversial
electoral exercise that further ag-
gravates social distrust and hope-
lessness.”
As leaders of the Church, we
challenge all candidates running
for any government position in
Pampanga to categorically and
truthfully declare in public that
they have not been—and will
never be—involved
JUETENG AND OTHER
FORMS OF ILLEGAL GAM-
BLING, INDISCRIMINATE
AND CORRUPT QUARRY-
ING, VOTE-BUYING, ANY
FORM OF CHEATING IN THE
ELECTIONS, EXORBITANT
CAMPAIGNING, VIOLENCE
& EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILL-
INGS, ILLEGAL DRUG BUSI-
NESS.
We call on all voters, espe-
cially the Catholic faithful, to re-
ject any candidate who cannot
truthfully and resolutely make
any of the declarations listed
above. We remind the faithful of
their baptismal promise to reject
evil, greater or lesser, and to
choose the good at all times. We
urge them also to remain vigilant
even after election, over corrupt,
immoral, and illegal practices in
governance. We urge the laity to
encourage and support decent,
upright, qualified, and capable
alternative candidates and to
come up with multi-sectoral or-
ganizations and movements for
good governance. We call espe-
cially on our youth to celebrate
our Easter hope by rejecting
cynicism and indifference, and
by redirecting their energies to-
wards the renewal of society.
Dear brothers and sisters, we
are a people of God whose
Lenten task is to turn our backs
from our sinful ways in order to
face our Risen Lord. We invite
our faithful, the voters and can-
didates to join all Christians in
making the journey to Calvary
where our Lord reigns on the
throne of the Cross with love and
forgiveness. May this love satu-
rate our activities and purify our
politics from hatreds and divi-
sions. For it is only through our
conversion that we can bring
about a new province built on
justice and love. As we celebrate
our traditional Easter Salubong’s
reenactment of the removal of the
black veil of sorrow from the
Blessed Mother in her encounter
with her Risen Son, we pray that
the shroud of sinfulness that en-
velops our province be also taken
away to give us a glimpse of the
restored dignity of our people
and our leaders redeemed by a
God of love.
Through the intercession of
Virgen delos Remedios and Saint
Joseph, we ask the Risen Lord to
heal our province through the
moral vision and power of the
Gospel. May the Servant-King-
ship of the Risen Christ, not the
lure of power and wealth, lead
and transform our beloved
Pampanga.
Issued here in the City of San
Fernando, Pampanga, this 31st of
March 2007.
Most Rev. Paciano B. Aniceto, DD
Archbishop of San Fernando,
Pampanga
© Roy Lagarde / CBCPMedia
"The Priest is the Instrument of this
Merciful Love of God"
Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI to the Course on
the Internal Forum Promoted by the Apostolic Penitentiary
March 16, 2007
Your Eminence,
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and
in the priesthood,
I welcome you today and address my cor-
dial greeting to each one of you, participants in
the Course on the Internal Forum organized by
the Apostolic Penitentiary.
In the first place I greet Cardinal James
Francis Stafford, Major Penitentiary, who I
thank for the kind words he addressed to me,
Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, Regent of the Peni-
tentiary, and all those present.
Today's meeting also offers me the oppor-
tunity to reflect together with you on the im-
portance in our day of the Sacrament of Pen-
ance and to repeat the necessity for priests to
prepare themselves to administer it with devo-
in tion and fidelity to the praise of God and for the
sanctification of the Christian people, as they
promise to their Bishop on the day of their
priestly ordination.
In fact, it is one of the qualifying duties of
the special ministry that they are called to exer-
cise "in persona Christi". With the gestures and
sacramental words the priest above all makes
God's love visible, which was revealed fully in
Christ.
In the administration of the Sacrament of
Pardon and of Reconciliation, the priest—as the
Catechism of the Catholic Church recalls -- acts
as "the sign and the instrument of God's merci-
ful love for the sinner" (n. 1465). What takes
place in this Sacrament, therefore, is especially
a mystery of love, a work of the merciful love
of the Lord.
"God is love" (I Jn 4:16): in this simple
affirmation the Evangelist John has enclosed the
revelation of the entire mystery of the Triune
God. And in meeting with Nicodemus, Jesus,
foretelling his passion and death on the Cross,
affirms: "For God so loved the world that he
gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him
should not perish but have eternal life" (Jn 3:16).
We all need to draw from the inexhaustible
fountain of divine love, which is totally mani-
fested to us in the mystery of the Cross, in order
to find authentic peace with God, with ourselves
and with our neighbor. Only from this spiritual
source is it possible to draw the indispensable
interior energy to overcome the evil and sin in
the ceaseless battle that marks our earthly pil-
grimage toward the heavenly homeland.
The contemporary world continues to
present contradictions so clearly outlined by the
Fathers of the Second Vatican Council (cf.
Gaudium et Spes, nn. 4-10): we see a humanity
that would like to be self-sufficient, where more
than a few consider it almost possible to do
without God in order to live well; and yet how
many seem sadly condemned to face the dra-
matic situations of an empty existence, how
much violence there still is on the earth, how
much solitude weighs on the soul of the human-
ity of the communications era!
In a word, it seems that today there is even
loss of the "sense of sin", but in compensation
the "guilt complex" has increased.
Who can free the heart of humankind from
this yoke of death if not the One who by dying
overcame for ever the power of evil with the
omnipotence of divine love?
As St Paul reminded the Christians of
Ephesus: "God, who is rich in mercy, out of the
great love with which he loved us, even when
we were dead through our trespasses, made us
alive together with Christ" (Eph 2:4).
The priest in the Sacrament of Confession
is the instrument of this merciful love of God,
CBCP Monitor
Vol. 11 No. 7
April 2-15, 2007
© Denz Dayao / CBCPMedia
whom he invokes in the formula of the absolu-
tion of sins: "God, the Father of mercies, through
the death and Resurrection of his Son, has rec-
onciled the world to himself and sent the Holy
Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins;
through the ministry of the Church, may God
grant you pardon and peace".
The New Testament speaks on every page
of God's love and mercy, which are made vis-
ible in Christ. Jesus, in fact, who "receives sin-
ners and eats with them" (Lk 15:2), and with
authority affirms: "Man, your sins are forgiven
you" (Lk 5:20), says: "Those who are well have
no need of a physician, but those who are sick
do; I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance" (Lk 5:31-32).
The duty of the priest and the confessor is
primarily this: to bring every person to experi-
ence the love of Christ, encountering him on
the path of their own lives as Paul met him on
the road to Damascus. We know the impas-
sioned declaration of the Apostle to the Gen-
tiles after that meeting which changed his life:
"[he] loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal
2:20).
This is his personal experience on the way
to Damascus: the Lord Jesus loved Paul and
gave himself for him. And in Confession this is
also our way, our way to Damascus, our expe-
rience: Jesus has loved me and has given him-
self for me.
May every person have this same spiritual
experience and, as the Servant of God John Paul
II said, rediscover "Christ as mysterium pietatis,
the one in whom God shows us his compas-
sionate heart and reconciles us fully with him-
self. It is this face of Christ that must be redis-
covered through the Sacrament of Penance"
(John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte, n. 37).
The priest, minister of the Sacrament of
Reconciliation, must always consider it his duty
to make transpire, in words and in drawing near
to the penitent, the merciful love of God. Like
the father in the parable of the prodigal son, to
welcome the penitent sinner, to help him rise
again from sin, to encourage him to amend him-
self, never making pacts with evil but always
taking up again the way of evangelical perfec-
tion. May this beautiful experience of the prodi-
gal son, who finds the fullness of divine mercy
in the father, be the experience of whoever con-
fesses in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Dear brothers, all this means that the priest
engaged in the ministry of the Sacrament of Pen-
ance is himself motivated by a constant tend-
ing to holiness. The Catechism of the Catholic
Church aims high in this demand when it af-
firms: "The confessor... should have a proven
knowledge of Christian behaviour, experience
of human affairs, respect and sensitivity toward
the one who has fallen; he must love the truth,
be faithful to the Magisterium of the Church,
and lead the penitent with patience toward heal-
ing and full maturity. He must pray and do pen-
ance for his penitent, entrusting him to the
Lord's mercy" (n. 1466).
To be able to fulfill this important mission,
always interiorly united to the Lord, the priest
must be faithful to the Church's Magisterium
concerning moral doctrine, aware that the law
of good and evil is not determined by the situa-
tion, but by God.
I ask the Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy, to
sustain the ministry of priest confessors and to
help every Christian community to understand
ever more the value and importance of the Sac-
rament of Penance for the spiritual growth of
every one of the faithful. To you present here
and to the people dear to you, I impart my Bless-
ing with affection.
 CBCP Monitor
Vol. 11 No. 7
April 2-15, 2007
Re-living the Story: the Gift of Easter
“The Lord is Risen as he has Foretold. Alleluia.”
IT is with that message that we
climax the celebration of Holy
Week which started with Palm
Sunday, leading to the Last Sup-
per in Holy Thursday, with the
night vigil, and Visita Iglesia,
then the Stations of the Cross
and its Veneration on Good Fri-
day. A lot of people listened and
reflected on the Seven Last
Words of Jesus from the Cross.
The real message of Holy Week
is not only that Jesus Christ died
for us, but that Jesus Christ also
gave us hope for new life by ris-
ing to life from the dead. And
so: “The Lord is risen as he has
foretold. Alleluia.”
All four Gospels narrate the
event of the Resurrection with
their respective nuances, indi-
cating the individual author’s re-
Statements 13
Happy Easter!
Peace be with you!
was intended to THE last rites of the Holy Week slavery, poverty, ignorance and faithful disciples by reuniting
dispel the fear of have just been celebrated and oppression; making himself and Himself in love with them again.
the women: “Do Christianity has been ushered to his Pasch a model and a source Easter recalls to us that in
not be afraid. I the joyful Season of Easter. Vaca- of hope in human stories of lib- Christ there should never be any
know that you are tioners return home, campaigners eration and salvation. division, nor competition, but
looking for Jesus are back on trail pursuing their Jesus Christ is the only way one vision of pursuing the love
who was cruci- personal projects, those who re- and model for humans to save of God and the good of every hu-
fied. He is not flected and prayed come back to and develop self into a person man in the level ground of help-
here. He has been work with some hope even over who is fully human, fit for God’s ing and inspiring everyone to
raised, as he said. an unwelcoming future. Kingdom, and able to accept that share in the Kingdom of one Fa-
Come and see the Empathizing with Christ’s what is good for him is also good ther of all.
place where he passion, death and resurrection for others. For Christ Jesus Happy Eas-
lay” (Mt. 28/5-6). (which for the Christian is the Peace be with you! This is ter really means “Peace be with
Matthew empha- Paschal Mystery) surely means the true Christian greeting, be- you!”
sizes the role of more than just a long weekend! cause it was Jesus Christ’s testi-
seeing in believ- For in His Paschal-crossing epi- mony to love. After the Resurrec- +GAUDENCIO B. CARDINAL
ing and in dispel- sode, Jesus summarized and per- tion, Jesus has triumphed over ROSALES, D.D.
ling doubt. That is fected all human crossings (ex- all, including his enemies, by for- Archbishop of Manila
what happened to perience) over difficult means— giving them, and over his un- Easter 2007
the women. That
is what happened
also to the other

© Denz Dayao / CBCPMedia

flection with insight on the his- disciples. They

toric event. All four evange-
lists—Mark, Matthew, Luke and
John—narrate that it was the
women-disciples of Jesus, led by
Mary Magdalene, a former sin-
ner, who bravely came to the
tomb and found Jesus was no
longer there.
This Gospel detail shows
that sinners are also objects of
the Resurrection news and can
be channels through whom the
Good News will spread. It was
through the witness of women
that the male-disciples of Jesus
came to know about the Resur-
rection. Mary Magdalene and
the other women were the ones
instructed: “Go tell his disciples
and Peter that he is going ahead
of you to Galilee, there you will
see him” (Mk. 16/17). St. Mark
includes the initial and logical
reaction of the women. Faced
with an extraordinary and unex-
pected event, it was natural for
them to doubt and not to imme-
diately act. In St. Luke’s and St.
John’s accounts that was also the
initial reaction of the apostles:
one of disbelief and wonderment
(Lk. 24/41, Jn. 20/9).
The Resurrection account in
the Gospel of St. Matthew em-
phasizes one detail to solve
doubt and unbelief. The appear-
ance of an angel at the tomb,
while frightening to the soldiers,
Easter Message From Jerusalem:
were told “not to
be afraid” (Mt.
28/10). They
were told to see,
to look at the
empty tomb. For,
somehow, to see
is to believe. This
is told in particular about the
“beloved disciple” who reached
the tomb ahead of St. Peter: “He
saw and believed” (Jn. 20/8).
But here, seeing can also mean
seeing not only with the eyes,
but also with the open mind. And
for us in our time to see the res-
urrection is to believe in the wit-
ness of credible lives down
through the centuries.
The Resurrected Jesus him-
self removed the disciples’
doubt and disbelief, “by open-
ing their minds to understand the
scriptures” (Lk. 24/45). He told
them to remember: “Remember
how he told you, while he was
still in Galilee, that the Son of
Man must be handed over to sin-
ners, and be crucified and on the
third day rise again” (Lk. 24/6).
And they remembered. Seeing
the empty tomb, they remem-
bered. The Easter Celebration
followed by six weeks called
“post Easter” is one long season
of remembering of the Church.
The season includes the many
apparitions of the Risen Lord to
EASTER VIGIL
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Saint Peter’s Basilica
strengthen the Christian com- Holy Saturday, 7 April 2007
munity with the significance of
Easter for life.
The gift of Easter is what Dear Brothers and Sisters!
Christ gives to whomever he ap- From ancient times the liturgy of Easter day
pears “Peace be with you” (Jn. has begun with the words: Resurrexi et adhuc
20/21), the peace which enables tecum sum—I arose, and am still with you; you
even a doubting Thomas to be- have set your hand upon me. The liturgy sees
lieve and say “My Lord and my these as the first words spoken by the Son to
God” (Jn. 20/28). The gift of the Father after his resurrection, after his return
Easter is what the disciples then from the night of death into the world of the
received, and the whole Church living. The hand of the Father upheld him even
now receives: “Receive the Holy on that night, and thus he could rise again.
Spirit,” (Jn. 20/22). The gift of These words are taken from Psalm 138,
Easter is in being able to say where originally they had a different meaning.
once more to God “Yes, Lord, That Psalm is a song of wonder at God’s om-
you know that I love you” (Jn. nipotence and omnipresence, a hymn of trust
21/15) and to say also to one an- in the God who never allows us to fall from his
other “Yes, and I love you too.” hands. And his hands are good hands. The
The gift of Easter is to see Psalmist imagines himself journeying to the far-
Jesus again, to remember what thest reaches of the cosmos—and what happens
He taught and did, to live and cel- to him? “If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
ebrate our resurrection in Jesus. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I
Yes, indeed, the Lord is take the wings of the morning and dwell in the
risen as he has foretold. Alleluia. uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand
shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold
+ANGEL N. LAGDAMEO me. If I say, ‘Let only darkness cover me’…,
Archbishop of Jaro even the darkness is not dark to you…; for dark-
CBCP President ness is as light with you” (Ps 138[139]:8-12).
April 8, 2007 On Easter day the Church tells us that Jesus
Christ made that journey to the ends of the uni-
verse for our sake. In the Letter to the Ephesians
we read that he descended to the depths of the
earth, and that the one who descended is also
the one who has risen far above the heavens,
we are never alone, even in death, but are al-
ways with the One who lives for ever. In Bap-
tism, in the company of Christ, we have already
made that cosmic journey to the very abyss of
death. At his side and, indeed, drawn up in his
love, we are freed from fear. He enfolds us and
carries us wherever we may go – he who is Life
itself.
Let us return once more to the night of Holy
Saturday. In the Creed we say about Christ’s
journey that he “descended into hell.” What
happened then? Since we have no knowledge
of the world of death, we can only imagine his
triumph over death with the help of images
which remain very inadequate. Yet, inadequate
as they are, they can help us to understand some-
thing of the mystery. The liturgy applies to Jesus’
descent into the night of death the words of
Psalm 23[24]: “Lift up your heads, O gates; be
lifted up, O ancient doors!” The gates of death
are closed, no one can return from there. There
is no key for those iron doors. But Christ has
the key. His Cross opens wide the gates of
death, the stern doors. They are barred no longer.
His Cross, his radical love, is the key that opens
them. The love of the One who, though God,
became man in order to die—this love has the
power to open those doors. This love is stron-
ger than death. The Easter icons of the Oriental
Church show how Christ enters the world of
the dead. He is clothed with light, for God is
light. “The night is bright as the day, the dark-

“We Reach for the Power of the

that he might fill all things (cf. 4:9ff.). The vi- ness is as light” (cf. Ps 138[139]12). Entering
sion of the Psalm thus became reality. In the the world of the dead, Jesus bears the stigmata,
impenetrable gloom of death Christ came like the signs of his passion: his wounds, his suffer-

Resurrection"
SISTERS and brothers here and in all the world,
we greet you in the name of our Risen Lord and
ask God to fill you with the joy and the strength of
the resurrection.
Having opposed early Christians and, indeed,
sought to bring many of them to trial for their faith,
St. Paul was suddenly challenged by our Blessed
Lord as he journeyed to Damascus. Within a short
time he became a powerful messenger for Jesus.
Reading his various epistles we see he has much to
say on many aspects of the Christian faith.
The statement he sets before the Philippians is
regarded by many people as the most powerful: "All
I want is to know Christ and the power of his resur-
rection and to share his sufferings."
In this short sentence he links the cross and
the Resurrection. The sufferings he had to face for
his faith lead him to become conscious of the power
of the Resurrection given to those who truly be-
lieve, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Yet again, recent months have shown us much
of the hardships and sufferings people have to en-
dure, not least in this land. Much of this burden has
arisen from man's inhumanity to men together with
the deprivation of basic human dignity and rights,
all caused by the siege imposed upon us.
Our Blessed Lord challenges all of us; if we
are to be his disciples we must take up our cross
and follow him. In the midst of sufferings, we reach
for the power of the Resurrection and the power of
the Spirit that enables us to take away the oppres-
sions that are imposed upon us.
]So, as we celebrate the joy of Easter we must
examine carefully where we stand in relation to
God. Many of us need to abandon the selfish in-
stinct within us. If we truly seek the power of the
Resurrection in our lives, then we must disregard
any idea we might have of self-sufficiency or
worldly hopes that hide from our eyes the things of
heaven and of the Spirit.
If we believe in the Resurrection, we must af-
firm that our security is with God and in the power
of the Resurrection. Again St. Paul reminds us when
writing to the Corinthians: "But we hold this trea-
sure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power
may be of God and not from us" (2 Corinthians
4:7).
Despite our weakness and despite the unjust
circumstances imposed upon us, the power of God
can free us if we come to understand the logic of
the Spirit in us and if we behave accordingly.
On the first Good Friday, the disciples of Jesus
doubtlessly felt shattered. However, gradually their
faith was restored as they became conscious of their
Risen Lord. Their own personal darkness of fear
and uncertainty was suddenly illuminated by the
light of Jesus' resurrection.
So, as we celebrate the Resurrection we must
be more diligent in searching for the light and in
using it to build a better tomorrow for all of us,
Palestinians or Israelis, Muslims, Jews, Christians
and Druzes. We search for the light that comes from
God, illuminates all creation, guides every true be-
liever in his search to find God's freedom for all,
together with his peace and justice.
As we greet our sisters and brothers across the
world, we wish them the joy of Easter and the power
of the Risen Lord in their daily lives. While con-
scious of the care and concern shown by many of
you, we again ask for your particular prayers for this
land, that God will guide all its governors and show
them the path of justice and equality among all.
Pray for the newly formed Unity Government
of the Palestinians together with the Israeli Gov-
ernment and the Arab Initiative, to work to remove
fear and all oppression, the walls, the barriers and
the prisons, so that hearts become full of trust and
all can enjoy the same freedom and the same dig-
nity.
Then we would ask that you make a particular
effort to encourage your particular nation to stop
the embargo imposed upon us and to restore its aid
to the Palestinians. Many vital areas of community
are in a desperate plight as a result of the withhold-
ing of this aid, not least [among them, areas of]
justice, economy, medicine and education, etc. …
As all Christians across the world celebrate
Easter together we wish everyone, at home and
abroad, that joy which our Blessed Lord's resur-
rection brings. We ask God to bestow upon all the
joy and the power of the resurrection so that the
words of Jesus become real as he said: "I came so
that they might have life and have it more abun-
dantly" (John 10:10).
Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!
May you experience a happy and holy Easter!
Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem
• Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem
• Patriarch Michel Sabbah, R.C. Latin
• Patriarch Torkom I Manooghian, Armenian Or-
thodox
• Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, Custos of
the Holy Land
• Archbishop Anba Abraham, Coptic Orthodox
• Archbishop Swerios Malki Murad, Syrian-Ortho-
dox
• Archbishop Abouna Mattias, Ethiopian Orthodox
• Archbishop Paul Sayyah, Maronite
• Bishop Suheil Dawani, Anglican
• Bishop Munib Younan, Lutheran
• Bishop Pierre Malki, Syrian-Catholic
• Archbishop Georges Michel Bakar, Greek Catho-
lic
• Father Rafael Minassian, Armenian Catholic
light—the night became as bright as day and
the darkness became as light. And so the Church
can rightly consider these words of thanksgiv-
ing and trust as words spoken by the Risen Lord
to his Father: “Yes, I have journeyed to the ut-
termost depths of the earth, to the abyss of death,
and brought them light; now I have risen and I
am upheld for ever by your hands.” But these
words of the Risen Christ to the Father have
also become words which the Lord speaks to
us: “I arose and now I am still with you,” he
says to each of us. My hand upholds you. Wher-
ever you may fall, you will always fall into my
hands. I am present even at the door of death.
Where no one can accompany you further, and
where you can bring nothing, even there I am
waiting for you, and for you I will change dark-
ness into light.
These words of the Psalm, read as a dia-
logue between the Risen Christ and ourselves,
also explain what takes place at Baptism. Bap-
tism is more than a bath, a purification. It is
more than becoming part of a community. It is
a new birth. A new beginning in life. The pas-
sage of the Letter to the Romans which we have
just read says, in words filled with mystery, that
in Baptism we have been “grafted” onto Christ
by likeness to his death. In Baptism we give
ourselves over to Christ – he takes us unto him-
self, so that we no longer live for ourselves, but
through him, with him and in him; so that we
live with him and thus for others. In Baptism
we surrender ourselves, we place our lives in
his hands, and so we can say with Saint Paul,
“It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives
in me.” If we offer ourselves in this way, if we
accept, as it were, the death of our very selves,
this means that the frontier between death and
life is no longer absolute. On either side of death
we are with Christ and so, from that moment
forward, death is no longer a real boundary. Paul
tells us this very clearly in his Letter to the
Philippians: “For me to live is Christ. To be with
him (by dying) is gain. Yet if I remain in this
life, I can still labor fruitfully. And so I am hard
pressed between these two things. To depart—
by being executed—and to be with Christ; that
is far better. But to remain in this life is more
necessary on your account” (cf. 1:21ff.). On
both sides of the frontier of death, Paul is with
Christ—there is no longer a real difference. Yes,
it is true: “Behind and before you besiege me,
your hand ever laid upon me” (Ps 138 [139]:
5). To the Romans Paul wrote: “No one … lives
to himself and no one dies to himself…
Whether we live or whether we die, we are the
Lord’s” (Rom 14:7ff.).
Dear candidates for Baptism, this is what
is new about Baptism: our life now belongs to
Christ, and no longer to ourselves. As a result
ing, have become power: they are love that con-
quers death. He meets Adam and all the men
and women waiting in the night of death. As
we look at them, we can hear an echo of the
prayer of Jonah: “Out of the belly of Sheol I
cried, and you heard my voice” (Jn 2:2). In the
incarnation, the Son of God became one with
human beings—with Adam. But only at this mo-
ment, when he accomplishes the supreme act
of love by descending into the night of death,
does he bring the journey of the incarnation to
its completion. By his death he now clasps the
hand of Adam, of every man and woman who
awaits him, and brings them to the light.
But we may ask: what is the meaning of all
this imagery? What was truly new in what hap-
pened on account of Christ? The human soul
was created immortal—what exactly did Christ
bring that was new? The soul is indeed immor-
tal, because man in a unique way remains in
God’s memory and love, even after his fall. But
his own powers are insufficient to lift him up to
God. We lack the wings needed to carry us to
those heights. And yet, nothing else can satisfy
man eternally, except being with God. An eter-
nity without this union with God would be a
punishment. Man cannot attain those heights on
his own, yet he yearns for them. “Out of the
depths I cry to you…” Only the Risen Christ
can bring us to complete union with God, to the
place where our own powers are unable to bring
us. Truly Christ puts the lost sheep upon his
shoulders and carries it home. Clinging to his
Body we have life, and in communion with his
Body we reach the very heart of God. Only thus
is death conquered, we are set free and our life
is hope.
This is the joy of the Easter Vigil: we are
free. In the resurrection of Jesus, love has been
shown to be stronger than death, stronger than
evil. Love made Christ descend, and love is also
the power by which he ascends. The power by
which he brings us with him. In union with his
love, borne aloft on the wings of love, as per-
sons of love, let us descend with him into the
world’s darkness, knowing that in this way we
will also rise up with him. On this night, then,
let us pray: Lord, show us that love is stronger
than hatred, that love is stronger than death.
Descend into the darkness and the abyss of our
modern age, and take by the hand those who
await you. Bring them to the light! In my own
dark nights, be with me to bring me forth! Help
me, help all of us, to descend with you into the
darkness of all those people who are still wait-
ing for you, who out of the depths cry unto you!
Help us to bring them your light! Help us to
say the “yes” of love, the love that makes us
descend with you and, in so doing, also to rise
with you. Amen!
 CBCP Monitor
14 Reflections Vol. 11 No. 7
April 2-15, 2007

And given the complicated

conditions of our life today, we

Platelets
have to be shrewdly prudent. We
need to have the prudence of the
spirit, never of the flesh, no mat-
ter how attractive the latter tries
to make itself up.
Right now, with the elections by John Jay C. Magpusao, OSC
coming, we need to be very dis-
cerning in choosing our leaders.
If we truly live the spirit of Eas-
MY Novice brothers Rowel, Platelets or thromb-
ter, then we have to choose lead-
ers who are clearly pro-life, not Jayson, J’Neil, and I were ocytes are the smallest par-
treated for a special dinner ticles in the blood that play
pro-death nor anti-life.
We may have varying opin- at Teriyaki Boy Restaurant in a crucial part in clotting. It
SM City Baguio by Dra. is through the formation of
ions—valid and with their advan-

© Denz Dayao / CBCPMedia

tages and disadvantages—with Milagros B. Restua, a Car- blood clots that our bodies
diologist in Baguio General are able to arrest bleeding.
respect to purely political, eco-
nomic and social issues. In these Hospital and Medical Cen- No wonder that one of the
ter, after we donated blood primary requests of the doc-
issues, we have to learn to dia-
logue civilly, respecting one for her relative. There are tors that would somehow
really great consolations in rattle the family of a dengue
another’s opinions.
But when it comes to mat- giving blood and saving patient is looking for blood
lives. And ours that evening donors to obtain platelet
ters of faith and morals, like what
the life issues are all about, then was just simple yet expen- concentrate for transfusion.

Easter is Clearly Pro-life

By Fr. Roy Cimagala
HAPPY Easter to all! Christ is
truly risen, never to die again. We
are now a new creation. Alleluia,
hosanna, praise the Lord! Sin and
death have been conquered by
Christ’s cross.
We have reason to be happy
and hopeful, no matter how dark
our earthly situations may be. We
have to remember, though, that
our own resurrection in Christ
always has to pass through the
cross, through suffering.
Our death is not forever. Our
pain and sorrow here are emptied
of their sting. With Christ’s res-
urrection, we have hope of the
kind that does not defraud, to live
on and conquer evil. Sadness
should not stay with us for long.
All this translates to the truth
that Easter is the celebration of
our new, redeemed life in Christ
in the Spirit. It’s not just human
life—biological, physical, pro-
fessional, social, etc. It is super-
YOUR Philippines is stripped
naked by the logger’s teeth; raped
by the treasure diggers, leaving
her a prostitute by the blistering
embrace of a foreign hand.
My Philippines is gifted
with its mountain peaks, sur ging
reverently to the heaven, beaded
by trees, blanketed by forest;
veiled by the clouds. Upon its
natural life, the life really meant
for us. Let’s be more conscious
of this wonderful albeit demand-
ing truth.
This is the life that can con-
tend with any situation in our
earthly affairs. It has the capac-
ity to go beyond death, beyond
sin. It has tremendously healing,
strengthening and purifying
powers.
For this to happen, we have
to follow Christ. Of course, not
only in the physical or emotional
sense. We follow him through
faith, hope and charity, super-
natural virtues that connect us vi-
tally with him.
We follow him when we
cling to his teaching, now the
doctrine also of his Church.
When we assimilate his teaching
and make it our own, we unite
ourselves with his will. We will
be in the same wavelength with
him.
Your Philippines
and My Philippines
sive and satisfying one! No, To note, blood, regardless of
we should try to choose what pro-
motes life over death, what fa- it’s not that. It just so hap- the blood type, is usually
pened that Dra. Restua is re- hard to find in times of emer-
vors true good over attractive
evil, doing this always with char- ally a nice and generous per- gency! But lots of prayers
son. We never expected that and efforts always help. Just
ity.
we would be treated so spe- believe.
Anti-life politicians, simply
cial by her on that occasion. Thinking about the very
We follow him when we put, are those who are for con-
traception, divorce, abortion, While waiting for the essential role platelets do to
avail ourselves of the sacraments, appetizing Japanese foods our bodies makes me further
his continuing presence and ac- same-sex unions, immoral fam-
ily planning methods, etc. We that Dra. Restua ordered her- appreciate with an immense
tion. Christ continues to live on. self for us (we never had any awe, the greatness and bril-
Precisely he resurrected. Death have to expose them.
Since many of these anti-life idea what to order because liance of God in His designs.
has no dominion over him. And strange names were in the Hemostasis, the process
though he already sits in the right politicians usually crow that they
are actually for life, then we have menu!), we had a nice chat by which bleeding is
hand of his father, he makes him- with her (we’re good at stopped, in my reflection, is
self easily available to us. He, in to examine whether they follow
Christ truly. Thus we have to see that!), from seminary life to synonymous to one of the
fact wants to enter our life. bits of her life to medical is- most important parts of our
We follow him when we how closely they follow Christ’s
doctrine, his sacraments, and his sues. big life. The stages of blood
make ourselves active and living We touched about the clot formation tell me about
members of his Church, allow- Church.
We have to be wary of poli- cases of Dengue here in family, friendship, brother-
ing ourselves to be governed pas- Baguio since a resident phy- hood, and community.
torally by his ministers, the clergy ticians’ and ideologues’ charm-
ing ways. We have to assess their sician had just texted her, be- Whenever a blood ves-
and the hierarchy, from the Pope ing a consultant, about such sel is injured and the blood
down to the last priest and dea- views and positions according to
the sure touchstones of prudence. a case in one of their patients leaks, platelets automatically
con. Christ leads us through in the hospital. come to the rescue by stick-
them. This is, of course, a very
delicate task. It should be done “Baguio is really getting ing fast together to the area
We need to have the neces- hotter nowadays. The sur- of injury (Adhesion). They
sary dispositions to achieve all with utmost respect for freedom
and in utmost charity. This is be- vival of the mosquito carrier then collect themselves into
these requirements for following of Dengue is an indication of one mass, thereby partly
Christ. We need to be humble, cause the truth can only be prop-
erly affirmed and defended in this. Baguio before is zero on plugging the hole in the ves-
docile and obedient, completely Dengue cases because of its sel wall (Aggregation).
free and responsible which charity.
cold climate but now it has Since our blood also con-
should go together always. become alarming,” Dra tains other clotting factors,
Restua related. platelets also react with them
Dengue Fever or to form a mesh of a certain
Breakbone Fever (because substance, creating a net that
of the pain it gives to all the
large joints, particularly
those of the knees, hips, and
back, which makes motion
traps other cells, to plug the
gap completely. A homog-
enous mass results from this
collection. They are differ-
difficult, if not impossible) is ent components united into
an acute tropical disease
caused by a virus infection
transmitted by the infective
one assemblage (Viscous
Metamorphosis). Result:
BLEEDING STOPPED!
© Ken Ilio / www.myislandsphilippines.net

shade, rests a home, a sweet
home for its local dwellers.
Your Philippine land is
turned into haciendas by few
multi-nationals. Its plants are
mono-cultured, its products
turned into agri-business, its
choicest fruits are served on the
foreign plate.
My Philippine land is to be
shared; made into mini-farms by
the Filipinos; its plants multi-cul-
tured, its products, the means of
livelihood, its choicest fruits
serve the native mouth.
Your Philippine mountain,
in the years ahead will desert
their position, to invade the riv-
ers, mangrove and seas, render-
ing the fishing nets useless, leav-
ing man’s mouth gaping-empty.
By Bp. Jose Manguiran
My Philippines must be
cared forget rid of nature’s rap-
ers whether illegal or legal. Get
them to put on their pants, chase
them out of this sacred land, less
they plunge mankind into the
empty kettle.
female mosquitoes Aedes
aegypti, Aedes albopictus,
or Aedes polynesiensis.
Aedes mosquitoes are con-
sidered “day biters” with two
peaks of biting activities, one
at dawn before sunrise and
another at dusk after sunset.
Bleeding tendencies,
from the nose and gums, is
one of Dengue Fever’s signs
and symptoms. Spontaneous
bleeding, however, is one of
its danger signs. That’s why
My dream will come true: any race lies not in the gathering Dengue Fever is also known
only when I take pride of what is of possessions made by others as Hemorrhagic Fever. This
my own and not of others; only but by producing something condition happens because
when I can think with my own through his creative mind. Crude in cases of Dengue Fever, the
mind without the intervening might be his creations but these normal number of platelets is
grasp of foreigners. will move toward excellence, decreased.
For the value of man, as in with his dignity exalted.
With God’s loving
grace, I am not yet afflicted
with Dengue and I continu-
ously pray to be spared away
from such sickness. But in
my life (same as yours, I be-
lieve), I have been injured
many times. Despite this, I
am so blessed to have my
family, friends, and brothers
in my community who are
my platelets.
(Nov. John Jay C. Magpusao,
OSC, is a Novice of the Order of
St. Camillus—Philippine Prov-
ince. Their Novitiate is in Baguio
City. The Order is a congregation
of religious priests and brothers
who dedicate their life in the ser-
vice to the sick. Please visit
www.orderofsaintcamillus.org.)

Bo Sanchez
Make Enjoying Life a Master Skill
I’m IN TAGAYTAY NOW
AND LIFE IS GLORIOUS
UP HERE.
I was able to borrow
from a friend her pretty house
that sits right on the ridge—
with a porch overlooking the
breathtaking Taal lake and
Taal Volcano.
It’s early morning, and
the view is majestic. I
breathe this all in as I sit on a
nice wooden chair, in front of
a tiny table—where my cof-
fee cup rests. Not a styropor
or plastic cup, mind you. But
china. So that it makes nice
“clinging” sounds when you
swirl your teaspoon around.
Actually, I’m not a cof-
fee drinker.
But the entire scene “de-
manded” that I drink one.
While I do this, I read a
good, fat book.
Ahhh.
Why is life soooooo
good?
Life is beautiful.
If there’s one thing that
defines me, it’s this line: I
know how to get a kick out
of life. Enjoying life is my
master skill. I’m able to
squeeze every drop of joy and
blessing from the simplest,
most ordinary experiences of
each day. (Even the most
painful ones! But that’s an-
other chapter…)
Actually, I don’t need the
Taal lake to make me happy.
I don’t need the wooden
chair or the tiny table or the cof-
fee cup.
I don’t need the good, fat
book.
I just need to be me—and
I’m happy with me! I actually
like my company!
Some people are very “iffy”
about their happiness. “If I get a
new job, then I’ll be happy,” or
“If I get married, then I’ll be
happy,” or “If I get a car, then I’ll
be happy,” or “If I buy a house,
then I’ll be happy.”
They’ve got one rude awak-
ening coming up real soon.
Because the truth is, if
they’re not happy now, where
they are, they won’t be happy no
matter what happens to them.
Some people create elabo-
rate, complicated, sometimes im-
possible rules to experience hap-
piness in their lives. Like, “Un-
less everyone loves me and ac-
cepts me, I’ll never be happy.”
Pretty insane, right?
Some have other types of
complicated rules to gaining hap-
piness: “I will be happy only if
I’ll be able to buy a BMW, wear
an Armani, a Rolex watch…”
Poor creatures!
Others are such demanding
lovers that they’re doomed to al-
ways be unhappy in their rela-
tionships. They say, “I’ll be
Roadside / from p7
with him through faith in the we are yet walking on the face lotto rises only socially and eco-
power of God, who raised him
from the dead” (Col 2:12).
of this earth. There is an ethical
demand from our being Easter
nomically. A sinner who, as a
Christian, renounces sin and lives
Though we will still die people or the people of the res- self-sacrificing love rises truly
happy only if my beloved will physically the Prince of Death urrection. Says Paul: “Since you with Christ and truly begins to live
wait on me 24 hours a day, won’t be able to hold us long in have been raised up in company life everlasting. This is the kind
think of me always, serve me the grave. Why? Because we with Christ set your hearts on of resurrection Filipinos individu-
attentively, and eat, walk, have our future fully secured and what pertains to higher realms ally and as a nation need to expe-
talk, breathe for me!” anticipated in Jesus. Black Sat- where Christ is seated at God’s rience and live by. Nothing else
God have mercy on their urday did not last long; nor did it right hand. Be intent on things will raise us up from the culture
loved ones. have the last say. So will the that are above rather than on of corruption, cynicism and a
My conditions to expe- Black Saturday of our death and things of earth” (Col 3:1-2). sense of pessimism that have cast
riencing happiness are pretty the forms that death takes while A poor person who wins the a shadow of death upon the land.
simple:
If I breathe normally, I’ll
be happy.
If I feel my heart pump-
ing in my chest, I’ll be happy. MACE offers all new
If the sun shines today,
I’ll be happy—even if the sun comprehensive pr otection
protection
shines behind storm clouds!
If I’m able to smile, I’ll program eexxclusively
program
be happy.
If I’ll be able to love designed for KKCC
members and family
family..
someone in whatever small
way, I’ll be happy.
And most of all, if God
loves me, I’ll really be happy.
(When doesn’t He?) Health and accident insurance.
Haven’t you noticed? I • Insuring yourself and your family
cheat on life. Because I make from imminent risks in your lives.
my own rules to experienc- Motor Car Insurance
ing happiness, and I make • Got side swiped, accidentally bumped
them so simple, they’re your car or be bumped by or got stocked
stacked on my favor. in the middle of the road, or got malicious
I have a suggestion for damage, our coverage will protect you from
these unwanted incidents.
you. Examine your condi-
tions for happiness now. Home Protection Insurance
They may be too darn • Protecting your home and its contents from fire and
complicated, you’ll never be natural calamities.
happy in your life.
Too bad. MACE INSURANCE AGENCY, INC.
Because life is too beau- A subsidiary of the Knights of Columbus
tiful to miss out. Fraternal Association of the Philippines, Inc.
 CBCP Monitor
Vol. 11 No. 7
April 2-15, 2007 Entertainment 15
CINEMA Reviews
Title: THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
Running Time: 117 mins
Lead Cast: Will Smith, Jaden Christopher Syre Smith, Thandie
Newton, Brian Howe, James Karen, Dan Castellaneta
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Moral Assessment Technical Assessment Producers: Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal
Screenwriter: Steven Conrad
Abhorrent Poor Music: Andrea Guerra
Editor: Hughes Winborne
Disturbing Below average Cinematography: Phedon Papamichael
Acceptable Average Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Wholesome Above average Location: USA
Exemplary Excellent Technical Assessment:
Moral Assessment: ½
CINEMA Rating: For viewers of all ages
Title: PREMONITION
Running Time: 96 mins Chris Gardner (Will Smith) makes use of but a handful of
Lead Cast: Sandra Bullock, Julian McMahon, Shyann McClure, was a math whiz in high school actors. Outside of the father and
Courtney Tylor Burness, Nia Long, Marc Macaulay, Kate but never had further education. the son roles that form the es-
Nelligan, Amber Valletta, Peter Stormare Now married and with a young sence of the story, the rest of the
Director: Mennan Yapo
Producers: Ashok Armritraj, John Jashni son Christopher (Jaden Christo- actors, however, are given lim-
Screenwriter: Bill Kelly pher Syre Smith, Will’s real-life ited screen time. There is obvi-
Music: Klaus Badelt son), Chris makes a living sell- ously good chemistry between
Editor: Neil Travis ing bone-density scanning ma- the two Smiths--it seems they did
Genre: Drama/Thriller chines but even with his wife not need to act to perform--al-
Cinematography: Torsten Lippstock Linda (Thandie Newton) work- though delving deeper into their
Distributor: Tri Star Pictures ing at two jobs, they can hardly characters could have improved
Location: USA make both ends meet. Finally his the movie and turned it from
Technical Assessment: ½ frustrated wife leaves home, good to great. Director Gabriele
Moral Assessment: leaving Christ and his son to fend Muccino captures and highlights
CINEMA Rating: For viewers 14 and above
for themselves. With such heavy in a dramatic context the nuances
financial burdens and having of the father-son relationship.
only each other they are evicted The Pursuit of Happyness is
from their home and left with no definitely not Oscar material but
choice but to sleep in welfare in- it is worthy of the viewer’s time
stitutions and on the streets. But and it merits our support for its
the persevering Chris gets a break message: persevering in faith
when he impresses a high-rank- against all odds, fighting for your
ing corporate man by solving the passions and principles despite
Rubrik Cube puzzle. the personal hardships encoun-
Based on a true story, The tered. The movie’s main achieve- aters and voicing its message to the movie though it would be es-
Pursuit of Happyness is half ment is bringing the real-life the whole world. The whole fam- pecially good for fathers and sons
comedy and half drama that story of Chris Gardner to the the- ily will find an uplifting story in to see the film together.

Housewife Linda Hanson
(Sandra Bullock) seems to have
it all: a brand new, beautiful
house, a loving husband and two
lovely daughters aged ten and
six. But her world collapses sud-
denly when a police officer in-
forms her of her husband’s fatal
car accident. She goes to bed in
a state of shock only to be more
dazed when she wakes up and
sees her husband enjoying his
usual cup of coffee. The follow-
ing days of the week become
more grotesque as she witnesses
his funeral and then sees him
alive again, at home with the kids
or at the office at work. Her days
and nights are an alternation of
having her husband dead or alive.
Perplexed and distraught, she
consults a psychiatrist and a
priest and eventually concludes
it is all some kind of premoni-
tion of her husband’s death. She
tries to prevent this but can she?
A drama with elements of a
thriller and mystery thrown in,
Premonition attempts to be dif-
ferent from others in the genre by
presenting the story in a non-lin-
ear movement. The lead charac-
ter Linda Hanson (Sandra Bul-
lock) realizes that her days do not
progress sequentially from Mon-
day to Sunday but are jumbled
up with the pivotal point being
the day of her husband’s death.
Linda is perplexed and alarmed
at these inexplicable and unusual
turn of events in her life. And
the movie viewer is probably just
as confused. Though the flash
back scenes at the beginning are
clearly shown to be such, in the
rest of the film, it is with some
difficulty for one to discern
which scenes are real life and
which are visions or dreams or
whatever. Besides, there are also
inconsistencies. However, the
movie creates interest and may
keep the viewer guessing but it
does not emotionally grip or grab
him. This is a thriller with hardly
any “thrills”. Though Sandra
Bullock’s thespian talent is evi-
dent, the very passive character
of Linda Hanson limits Bullocks
acting possibilities.
Like many other thrillers,
Premonition dabbles in the super-
natural. But the weak attempts to
explain the happenings philo-
sophically does not help much in
clarifying matters for Linda. The
film shows that a beautiful house,
a stable job and a loving family
are not enough to guarantee a
happy life without faith and hope.
Thus, the need for Linda to con-
sult the priest for guidance to re-
gain her faith. The movie ends in
a note of hope. When the priest
tells Linda it is never too late to
discern what is important in life
and to fight for what one values,
Linda begins to realize the ur-
gency of what she has to do. On
the part of the husband, by say-
ing “no to extramarital relation-
ship, he restores his good relation-
ship with his wife. There is an
affirmation of life. The priest says
being alive is itself a miracle and
Linda knows this to be true for
she carries new life in her womb
at the end of the movie.
Title: TURISTAS sexy dancing, spiked exotic
Running Time: 102 mins drinks and casual sexual encoun-
Lead Cast: Josh Duhamel. Melissa George, Olivia Wilde, Desmond ters. Their one-night paradise
Askew, Beau Garrett, Max Brown, Agles Steib, Miguel Lunardi turns ugly the next day when they
Director: John Stockwell wake up to find themselves
Producers: Marc Butan, Scott Steindorff, John Stockwell, Bo Zenga robbed of everything they’ve got.
Screenwriters: Michael Arlen Ross
Music: Paul Haslinger
They hike to the nearest town on
Editor: Jeff McEvoy
foot, where a local they be-
Genre: Adventure/Thriller/Horror/Mystery friended the night before, Kiko
Cinematography: Enrique Chediak, Peter Zuccharini (Agles Steib) draws them away
Distributor: Fox Atomic from the ire of unfriendly locals
Location: Brazil and leads them through the
Technical Assessment: jungle to the relative safety of a
Moral Assessment: scenic pool with waterfalls and
CINEMA Rating: For mature viewers 18 and above hidden caves. For a while they
forget their predicament and do
not even suspect they are in for a
far worse fate. They arrive at a
remote cabin deep in the jungle ,
which turns out to be the base of
operations of Zamora (Miguel
Lunardi), a doctor who happens
to hate “gringos” and is engaged
in the very lucrative business of
harvesting the internal organs of
unsuspecting Western tourists
who get “stranded” in that side
of town. The trapped tourists are
promptly captured and caged by
Zamora’s gang of local thugs and
suddenly they are faced with the
horrors of being unwilling organ-
donors.
There is hardly anything en-
tertaining or thrilling about
Turistas, save perhaps the under-
water cave scenes that make one
marvel at the natural wonders of
the Brazilian jungle and some
suspense generated when these
caves become the setting for the
final chase and confrontation
The “turistas” referred to in find themselves marooned for the
the title of the movie are a group next eight hours. After getting
of young vacationing tourists into trouble with Brazilian fellow
composed of American brother passengers, the group decides to
and sister Alex (Josh Duhamel) pass time at a beachfront bar they
and Bea (Olivia Wilde) and Bea’s discover while exploring the
friend Amy (Beau Garrett), Aus- area. Settling down to enjoy the
tralian Pru (Melissa George) and hospitality of the locals, they all
British Finn (Desmond Askew) agree to just take it easy, forget
and Liam (Max Brown). While about catching the next bus and
on their way to their next tour party through the night., all in
stop, their bus crashes and they wild abandon, emboldened by
scenes. The plot is thin and for-
mulaic and hardly justifies the
presence of objectionable con-
tent: intense and gratuitous vio-
lence, including eye-poking with
a barbecue stick and a graphic
surgical procedure with all the
blood and gore; nudity; sugges-
tive dancing, sexual humor,
rough and crude language.
One might find a big sick
and cruel joke in the scene where
Zamora lectures his victims on
his efforts to even the equation
between globally unequal nations
while going about his gory task
of surgically separating the inter-
nal organs of the drugged and
hardly-conscious “donor” from
the rest of her body. Still, for
the purpose of some rude awak-
ening especially on the very real
issue of human organ trafficking,
which should be of great concern
for all humanitarian organiza-
tions and governments alike, this
film could be used as a discus-
sion-starter or a group reflection
piece. Everyone should be made
aware that organ-harvesting
(masquerading as organ-dona-
tion) is an evil already existing
as an illicit trade in our midst, and
that there are now cases where
“donors” sell their internal or-
gans to syndicates in order to al-
leviate their poverty or support
their vices. But one need not be
poor to be victimized by organ-
harvesters--as Turistas demon-
strates, even a rich but aimless
crowd can be easy prey. Beware.

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 CBCP Monitor
16 People, Facts & Places Vol. 11 No. 7
April 2-15, 2007

14 Out of 141 Applicants Accepted

to Malaybalay Seminary
Relic of the True F O U RT E E N
young men, mostly

Cross Finds a
just graduating
from High School,
passed the final
scrutiny for en-

Home in RP
A HOLY relic of the true cross
on which Jesus Christ is believed
to have died has found its way to
a quiet, hilltop monastery in San
Jose, Tarlac, two years after its
German custodian offered it to a
Filipino Diocesan priest.
The Relic of the True Cross
now resides at the Monasterio de
Tarlac, in a chapel named after
it, under the care of the Servants
of the Risen Christ Monastic
Community.
Fr. Ronald Thomas Cortez,
was named custodian of the Holy
Relic by Msgr. Volker Bauer,
from the Diocese of Essen in
Germany, where it had been kept
for around 1,000 years.
The relic, encased in a silver
“arqueta” or ark engraved with
Christian symbols associated with
the Crucifixion—a pair of dice,
the garment of Christ wore, a
hammer and nails, and a ladder—
is now ensconced in the altar of
the small chapel in the monastery
that has come to be known as the
Relic of the True Cross.
Closely guarded by local
police and venerated by the Fili-
pino monks seven times a day,
the relic is authenticated by the
Papal seal.
It was welcomed and en-
shrined in the chapel by apostolic
nuncio Archbishop Fernando
Filoni last January 30, 2007, in
the presence of Tarlac bishop
Florentino Cinense and several
other prelates.
Church history has it that
following his conversion to
Christianity, Emperor
Constantine ordered Saint
Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem in
about 325-326 AD, to build a
church on the site of the temple
dedicated to Venus.
Saint Helena, Constantine’s
mother, had the temple destroyed
and the Christ’s Sepulcher un-
covered. Along with the Sepul-
cher, three crosses and the
“Titulus” from Jesus’ crucifixion
were uncovered as well.
Macarius had three crosses
brought to a gravely ill woman.
At the touch of the third cross,
the woman recovered—a sign
leading to the belief that this was
the cross of Christ.
Having also found the nails
used at Christ’s crucifixion, Hel-
ena sent them on to
Constantinople. Over the years, as
Constantine was converted to
Christianity, fragments of the Cross
were distributed to churches and
monasteries in Europe.
In 2005, Father Cortez was
invited by Lutz Ruhloff, the
president of the Philippine Ger-
man Association in Oberhausen,
as guest to the 2005 World Youth
Day in Cologne.
During his visit, he met a
priest, Msgr. Volker Bauer, from
the Diocese of Essen who at that
time was the custodian of the
Relic of the True Cross. As mo-
nastic life is slowly fading in Eu-
rope, Bauer was looking for
someone to pass the relic on to.
Cortez, being a priest that be-
longed to a monastic community
in the only predominantly Catho-
lic country in Asia, was an ideal
and willing candidate.
“I didn’t really think about
what might be involved in ac-
cepting the relic. I didn’t know
what might be demanded of us.
We didn’t even have the money
to build a suitable chapel for it,”
he said. “What I did know was
that I wanted to bring it to the
Philippines and I wanted Filipi-
nos to be able to venerate the relic
of the Holy Cross in their own
A close up of t he relic, encased in a silver “arqueta” or ark engraved with Christian
symbols associated with the Crucifixion—a pair of dice, the garment of Christ wore,
a hammer and nails, and a ladder—is now ensconced in the altar of the small
chapel in the monastery that has come to be known as the Relic of the True Cross.
country.”
After several months of
seeking benefactors, Cortez re-
ceived a sizeable donation,
enough to build the small chapel
needed to enshrine the Holy
Relic.
Since the blessing, the
chapel has been open to the pub-
lic every Saturdays and Sundays
with a 10 a.m., Holy Mass.
The reliquary, however,
where the actual fragment of the
Holy Cross is kept, is closed from
public viewing and is only
opened every September 14, the
feast Day of the “Triumph of the
Holy Cross,” and coincidentally
the foundation of the Order.
(CBCPNews)
trance to the Pope
John XXIII Pre-
College Seminary
of the Diocese of
Malaybalay for the
Formation Year 2007-2008.
The first stage of this process of scrutinies is the written
psychological and IQ exams taken last September 2006. There
were originally 141 examinees, but only 38 passed. They were
invited for three sets of interview last March 2-4 at the Dioc-
esan Formation Center, Impalambong, Malaybalay City.
Only thirty were able to make it for the interviews. On
March 10, the priests who interviewed the young men met at
the Pre-College Seminary, and prayerfully went through the
final process of choosing from among the candidates those
who will be invited to enter the Pre-College Seminary for the
Diocese of Malaybalay.
Fourteen young men were chosen from the final list of
thirty. The seminary formators will finally decide who among
these 14 will really make it to the Pre-College Seminary this
June. (Fr. Jojo Tianero)
Catholic Music Store Opens in
Intramuros
THE Catholic Resource
Center unveiled its lat-
est line of music prod-
ucts, including its read-
ing materials on Sacred
Music and Ministry, and
tapes, CDs and musical
scores on Catholic mu-
sic on March 29.
Located at the 3rd floor of the Laiko building, adjacent to
the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros, Manila, the Center is be-
ing managed by Fr Carlo Marcelo with the help of three other
priests, as part of his Jubilee Ministry Foundation.
The priest is a renowned Catholic musician and songwriter
appealing of all faiths, backgrounds and ages, while carrying
the message of our Catholic Church and standing true to his
faith. Among his popular works are the Jubilee Song and the
theme songs for the World Meeting of Families, the Year of
the Rosary, and other Church events. (CBCPNews)

Markings APPOINTED. Msgr. Gil-
bert Armea Garcera by Pope
Benedict XVI as Bishop of
Daet; on April 4, 2007. Upon
his appointment, Msgr.
Garcera was the National Di-
rector of the Pontifical Mis-
sionary Societies and Execu-
tive Secretary of the Episcopal Commission on
Mission. Prior to this, he was Assistant Secre-
tary General of the Catholic Bishops’ Confer-
ence of the Philippines. Born on February 2,
1959 in Magarao, Camarines Sur, Garcera fin-
ished his theological studies at Holy Rosary
Major Seminary in Naga City. He was ordained
to the priesthood at the Naga Metropolital Ca-
thedral on May 29, 1983. He obtained his MA
in Theological Studies from Ateneo de Manila
University and doctoral degree in Organiza-
tional Planning and Development from SAIDI.
He is currently a member of the Supreme Com-
mittee of “Pontificie Opere Missionarie” in the
Vatican.
CELEBRATED. MOST
REV. JESSE E.
MERCADO, DD., 56, bishop
of Parañaque; 30th anniver-
sary of sacerdotal ordina-
tion, March 19, 2007. Born on
June 6, 1951 in Sta. Cruz, Ma-
nila, Bp. Mercado entered the
San Jose Minor Seminary in 1963. He took his
Philosophy at Ateneo de Manila University and
finished Theology at Loyola School of Theol-
ogy. He was ordained to the priesthood on
March 19, 1977. He obtained his Licentiate in
Spiritual Theology in Angelicum, Rome in
1984. Bp. Mercado was Rector of Pontificio
Collegio Filippino in Rome prior to his appoint-
ment as Auxiliary Bishop of Manila in Febru-
ary 25, 1997. He was named as first bishop of
Parañaque, when the PLM district was estab-
lished as a new diocese in December 2002.
CELEBRATED. MOST
REV. ANGELITO R.
LAMPON, OMI, DD., 57,
Vicar Apostolic of Jolo; 30th
anniversary of sacerdotal
ordination, March 26, 2007.
Born on March 1, 1950 in
Mlang, Cotabato, Bp. Lampon
was the youngest in a brood of nine. In 1966,
he entered the OMI Juniorate Seminary in
Cotabato City, and received his first vows in
1969. He completed his Philosophy studies at
the Ateneo de Manila University in 1972 and
obtained his degree in Theology from Loyola
School of Theology in 1977. He received his
perpetual vows as an Oblate in 1975, and was
ordained to the priesthood on March 26, 1977
at Mlang, Kidapawan diocese by Bishop
Federico Escaler, SJ, DD. He was OMI provin-
cial superior from 1988 to 1992; and was elected
Councilor General of the OMI General Admin-
istration for the Asia-Oceania Region in 1992.
On December 8, 1997, he was appointed as the
fifth bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Sulu
and Tawi-Tawi.
CELEBRATED. SAN JOSE DE
MINDANAO SEMINARY of the archdiocese
of Cagayan de Oro;
50t h foundation KC Fraternal President Edijer Martinez (4th from left), KC Foundation Alonso Tan (1st at the right), and KC Fraternal VP
a n n i v e r s a r y, for Fraternal Benefits Raymundo Soliman (2nd from left), pose with the national judges of the Out standing Knights of
Columbus Awards: Commissioner Rene Sarmiento (1st at left), Msgr Pedro Quitorio (3rd from left), and Justice Jose
March 19, 2007. Reyes (2nd from right). Not in picture, the fourth of the judges, Roberto Pagdanganan.
Founded by Most
Rev. James T. G.
Hayes, SJ, DD, it
was the first diocesan seminary in Northern
KC to Hold Nat’l Convention in CDO
Mindanao. First administered by the Jesuit OVER 2,000 leaders and mem- KC Fraternal President councils nationwide.
priests, the seminary was later turned over to bers of the Knights of Columbus Edijer Martinez, KC Foundation The Knights of Columbus
the Columbans and eventually to the diocesan are expected to attend their 7th President Alonso Tan, Mindanao was founded by Rev. Fr. Michael
priests. One of the first students of the semi- National Convention in Cagayan Deputy Ernesto San Juan, J. McGivney in New York Have,
nary was Most Rev. Jose Manguiran, DD, cur- de Oro city on Friday, April 20. Visayas Deputy Eduardo Laczi Connecticut in 1882.
rently the bishop of Dipolog. Since the time of The three-day convention and Luzon Deputy Rodolfo In the Philippines, the
its foundation, 13 priests have served as rectors will begin with a concelebrated Magsino will lead the awarding Knights of Columbus began to
of the seminary. The present rector is Rev. Fr. Mass to be presided by ceremonies. take roots in 1905 with the char-
Othelo “Bong” Polinar, SSJV. Malaybalay Bishop Honesto CBCP President and Jaro tering of Manila Council 1000
Pacana at the Grand Caprice Res- Archbishop Angel N. Lagdameo with American servicemen and
ESTABLISHED. IMMACULATE CON- taurant. will lead the concelebrated Mass well-known Filipinos as its first
CEPTION PARISH, Barangay Bulua, The annual state dinner will on Saturday, April 21 and address active and dedicated members.
Cagayan de Oro City; have CBCP Vice President and the K of C Assembly. F r. George Willman, SJ
from a quasi-parish Cagayan de Oro Archbishop An- Other speakers also include founded the KC Fraternal Asso-
into a regular parish; tonio Ledesma, SJ as guest Cubao Bishop Honesto Ongtioco ciation of the Philippines, Inc., in
March 19, 2007 by speaker. on the topic “Family—Sanctity of 1958 with P32,000 contributions
Most Rev. Antonio J. Among the highlights of this Marriage”, “Columbia” editor SK from 64 members for the purpose
Ledesma, SJ, DD, year ’s convention is the recogni- Tom Hickey on the “Supreme Of- of providing bereavement aid to
archbishop of tion and awarding of this year’s fice Publication”, and K of C Ad- the members’ immediate family.
Cagayan de Oro. Immaculate Conception had “unsung heroes”—the presti- ministrative Assistant Tom Feiler. Today the Knights of Co-
been a quasi-parish since December 1994. The gious “Knight of the Year” and The Knights of Columbus, lumbus stands strong with P2 bil-
pastor of the quasi-parish, Fr. Joel Lusat, was “Family of the Year” awards is one of the country’s largest lion in resources and multi-fac-
appointed as parish priest. During the same which recognize and honor mem- Catholic family fraternal service eted religious and civic programs
Eucharistic Celebration, the Archbishop also bers with exemplary service to organizations with over 200,000 aimed at helping society and the
ordained Deacon a seminarian, NICOLAS the community. members from nearly 2,000 Church. (Roy Lagarde)
BASADRE, who had been serving the parish
until his ordination.
Impact Magazine is
PERPETUAL PROFESSION
OF VOWS, of the following
now on its 41st year,
sisters of the Religious of the ever faithful to its
Vir gin Mary (RVM): S. Ma mission of social
Bibiana Bao, S. Ma. Annaliza
Dagasuan, S. Ma. Rachel Emila, S. Ma Dolores
transformation in the
Ferrandiz, S. Ma. Ester Fortutidore Tete, S. Ma. Philippines and in Asia.
Bernardita Humbid, S. Ma. Adriana Kofi, S.
Ma.Cynthia Micabalo, S. Ma. Rosviminda
Ochoa, S. Ma.Lidgardis Martha, Oranya, S. Ma.
Grab a
Paschalia Ratuwalu, S. Ma. Diosdada Salvan;
on March 26, 2007 at the Our Lady of the As- copy now!
sumption Chapel in Quezon City.
EDITORIAL & BUSINESS OFFICES:
PASSED TO ETERNAL REWARD. Rev. Fr. P.O. Box 2481, Manila, Philippines
3/F CBCP Bldg., 470 Gen. Luna St.,
Mario Magdaleno Cruz, Archdiocese of Ma- Intramuros, Manila, Philippines
nila, March 15, 2007; Fr. Pedro Sasil Baricuatro, Tel (632) 404-2182 • Telefax (632)
Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro, March 10, 404-1612
2007 . Visit our website at
www.impactmagazine.net