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Sunday, June 12, 2011

YOUTH LEADERS OF THE DIOCESE GATHER TOGETHER FOR A CONGRESS


In response to the Church’s declaration for this year as the “CBCP (Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines) Year of the Youth”, the Diocese of Catarman through the Youth Commission conducted a Diocesan Youth Congress on June 11, 2011 at Mother Francisca Hall of St. Michael Academy (SMA), Catarman, N. Samar. The participants of the Congress are the youth leaders and representatives coming from all the parishes and mission centers around Northern Samar.
To draft and finalize the Vision-Mission Statements of the Youth Ministry of the Diocese is the main objective of the Congress as it was decided during the meeting of youth leaders convened by Fr. Billy Quimbo, head of the Commission, at San Antonio, N. Samar last April 13-14, 2011. The Youth Congress, held on the Saturday before the Pentecost Sunday, is a part of this year’s Pentecost celebration. The activity began at 9 o’clock in the morning.
by Benjamin Balanquit

May They Be One: A young man’s view about RH Bill


“Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.”
-Luke 12:51

IF I WERE Pres. Aquino, maybe I also expressed my support for Reproductive Health Bill (RH Bill); if I were one of the congressmen or senators, perhaps I too am one of those who push for its passage; and if I were one of the columnists in the daily magazines, I may also have been writing in support for the RH Bill, fabricating to the best that I can words to support it and commenting on bishops and the Catholic Church who “meddles” in the State’s affairs.

I bet that one of the most serious problems that the RH Bill brought in is division, seen in the now contradictory views of some Catholics, of the Church and Government officials, and among legislators themselves, especially with regards to the “means” of addressing the problems we face. But I believe that in the end there will still be unity, which can only be achieved through the desire to give the real “good” for the Filipino people. But what then is the good? “The good”, as Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas put it “is what everyone desires”. And so therefore, “the good” will surely unite us.

Applying this principle of unity, how can we deal with the predicament on the RH Bill issue? The problem is that there is confusion as to what the real good for us Filipinos consists of. The President says, “This is the good!”, while the Church through its leaders teaches otherwise. In order to reconcile this, we recourse to another unitive principle; this states that ‘the correct and non-conflicting understanding of the good is achieved through the complete knowledge of the truth’. But what then is the truth? How can we arrive at the so-called ‘complete knowledge of the truth’? How can we be sure we are not in error? There is truth in us only when our minds conform to and stand on the actual, existing, and real. Therefore, we can say that our unity will depend solely on our complete knowledge of the truth. Let us make every effort to find this truth and so be guided by it. In my effort to arrive at this truth, I have found interesting things through listening to authoritative sources and reading various reference books. I deem it good to share it here with you.

The first thing is all about over-population, the cornerstone of the controversial RH Bill, the reason why the Bill is pushing for the wide use of contraceptives even to the extent of slicing part of the people’s taxes to finance it distribution. I have learned that ‘population increase’ is not a problem in the Philippines. In fact, there is no such thing as over-population. Researchers have found out that the world’s demographic problem is not over-population but an aging and hardly reversible decline of the number of people because of the entrance and high tolerance of the contraceptive mentality. The so-called “over-population” is no less than a misinterpretation of the abnormal concentration of people in urban areas and cities or capitals. “Over-population is the greatest myth (i.e., lie) of the twentieth century,” commented by some authors. You might be scandalized by this thing but this is the truth and we will find it whenever we seek it. A research study says that if one would gather all the peoples of the world, he can put them all together in a land mass as small as that of Texas, one of the states of America. Truly scandalizing! What is in my mind before is that the earth is already over-populated. But this was a lie, a concealment of the truth! Many people through the use of effective media have been conveying thought to me that we are overpopulated. But this has no conformity with the “real, actual, and existing”. Why tell all these lies? What do they want to happen?

As what I have stated earlier, in the Philippine context the real problem is not that there are many of us Filipinos but rather many of us are poor. But friends, can we blame our number as the root cause of poverty. If you say yes, your opinion conforms to the findings and studies of the experts, the demographers. Their studies show that there is no direct connection between population and poverty. But what really is the cause of the poverty? In my opinion, it is moral decadence, the failure of governance, the corruption of public funds by “public servants” themselves, and the poor education hardly accessible for all, as the most proximate causes of national crises, especially poverty. I am happy that Pres. Aquino chose his political motto, “Kung walang kurap, walang mahirap.” It tells us something true, especially about the evil of corruption. But if we look at the real score, is not the RH Bill a form of corruption too, a kind of moral corruption? (Note: This premise will be treated on the next paragraph) And moral corruption is more serious than the commonly known corruption of public funds itself, because the latter is only one of the many outward manifestations of the former. To our beloved Pres. Aquino, instead of supporting the RH Bill which depopulates, please capitalize from our population.

PENTECOST PROCESSION: A JOURNEY WITH CHRIST

WE CATHOLICS do a lot of processions. And we used to do even more. How can we forget the May Flower processions and all the beautiful sagalas with their handsome escorts?. We also have special procession on Palm Sunday and Holy Thursday. Here in the diocese, the procession everyone will never forget is the Pentecost precession held on the eve of the Pentecost before all the activities begin.

More or less four thousand delegates joined in an approximately four-kilometer long procession around the town of Catarman. This is one of the longest if not the longest procession ever recorded in the Diocese of Catarman. Servers led the procession carrying the beautifully engraved and cleverly designed symbol of this diocesan gathering—the Pentecost Cross. First used in Palapag three years ago, the cross was designed by a well-renowned artist, Msgr. Gaspar D. Balerite, HP, SThD, and was magnificently carved and engraved by a wood artist at Allen N. Samar. The cross has been the symbol of the gathering for several years already and will hopefully continue to be the emblem of this one of a kind gathering.

Altering its usual processional route, the host parish guided the pilgrims into a much longer processional way just to accommodate all the faithful in this lengthy procession.


Perhaps people may be surprised about this well attended procession. Others, especially non Church goers, may be stunned that this kind of procession is a lot more different from the procession coming up the isle with servers carrying candles followed by the reader and the priest. However, what most of the delegates of this gathering may be unaware of is that procession is really only the continuation of a much greater procession. The real entrance procession begins in their homes, in their respective parishes as they get ready to come to the Pentecost celebration and attend and participate in the activities especially in the Holy Mass.

All processions are reminders that life is a journey. Processions are reminders that we Christians have chosen to journey with Jesus from slavery in sin to the Promised Land, from death to new life. Our individual journeys here are parts of a much larger procession, in the gathering of God's people joining around God's great table to give thanks.

by JA Berbon
Photo by: Chan

THOUSANDS JOIN THE PENTECOST PILGRIMAGE

LIFE alone is a journey and we all have to embark on it. But when it arrives to religious pilgrimages, we need to be very distinct. Indeed, our journey as believers has a wonderful importance which can carry peace and solace to our lives as Christians. Some may possibly think of visiting several holy shrines and religious areas throughout the world for them to deepen their faith and their spiritual point of view. Others may go into pilgrimages not only for spiritual purposes but also to give ample possibilities to discover the nearby culture and background effectively. However, the faithful of the Diocese of Catarman, need not go overseas or go far beyond the borders of the province of Northern Samar if they yearn to strengthen their faith and their spiritual bond with the Lord, because every Pentecost is a pilgrimage.

Priests, Religious and Lay faithful from the four Vicariates of the Diocese of Catarman went into pilgrimage as they gather and journey together, town after town, to proceed to Catarman for the fifteenth (15th) Pentecost Celebration.

Following the arrival of the participants from the Island Towns, the Vicariate of Allen launched the pilgrimage at San Isidro proceeding to Victoria then fetching the pilgrims of Allen, Lavezares, Rosario, and Bobon, respectively. Similarly, the Vicariates of Gamay and Laoang, also done the same way, fetching the participants of the towns they pass by as they proceed to the venue of the said celebration. As the pilgrimage was approaching to its destination, Catarman, hundreds of vehicles convoyed for this diocesan gathering.

Pilgrims of more or less four thousand flooded the Sacred Heart Plaza with enthusiasm and eagerness to play a part in the gathering of the faithful to celebrate and commemorate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles.

by P. Managuite


PILGRIMS FLOOD CATARMAN PLAZA TO CELEBRATE PENTECOST 2011


PILGRIMS FLOOD CATARMAN PLAZA TO CELEBRATE PENTECOST 2011

The Sacred Heart Plaza of Catarman was flooded by pilgrims from different parishes and mission centers who attended the 15th Pentecost Celebration, June 11-12, 2011. This year’s celebration had the theme, “Batan-on: Pinakusog san Espiritu Santo Tikadto san Pagbag-o san Kristohanon nga Katilingban”.

Right after the program, the customary Pentecost Liturgy began through the Exposition and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament as well as the Penitential Rite and Individual Confessions. The occasion had been a moment of grace and conversion and of the outpouring of the Spirit’s gift of love, peace and joy. And at about 12:30 in the morning of June 12, already Pentecost Sunday, the Catarman clergy and other visiting priests joined the main celebrant Most Rev. Emmanuel C. Trance, DD in celebrating the Eucharist. Though tired and drowsy, the vigilant pilgrims continued to participate in the liturgy with unabated vigor and enthusiasm. Once again, the fire of the Spirit was set aflamed in the hearts of the worshipping crowd. Veni, Creator Spiritus! Qui diceris Paraclitus. (Come, Holy Spirit, Creator come! Thou who art called Paraclete).

by R. M. Manook

PLEASE PASS CHARITY BILL 143 INSTEAD

(A reflection on the apostolate of Fr. Anton Pascual,

Guest Speaker of Pentecost 2011 Celebration of the Diocese of Catarman)

BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES in the name of the Lord! (Mt 21:9) The 15th Pentecost Celebration of the Diocese of Catarman is graced by the presence of an opportune and excellent speaker in the person of Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual of the Archdiocese of Manila. He is currently serving as Minister in the Ministry for Social Services of the Archdiocese, Vice-President of the Catholic run radio Radio Veritas, and Executive Director of Caritas Manila, then known as Catholic Charities, the lead Catholic agency for social services and development of the Archdiocese established by the late Rufino Cardinal Santos on October 1953.

Fr. Pascual’s being the Director of Caritas Manila is not a matter of chance because he knows by heart that his vocation is nothing but Charity (the Latin of “caritas”) through serving the “least, last, and lost” of the society. Charity, the perfection of love, is the true love, the Christian understanding of love. This charity is the motive force that enables him to sustain his apostolate and to persevere in his ministry; it also enables him to see the glorious Christ behind the lowly appearance of the poor, the weak, and the oppressed.

St. Vincent de Paul, founder of the Congregation of the Missions and Ladies of Charity and is known to be the Patron of the Poor, has always insisted on his members on valuing and serving the poor: the poor for him are our real masters. He said that we must serve them in the same way that we may serve kings. That means enduring the sacrifices and humbling ourselves in order to show and communicate to them the love in which the Lord has loved us. But who then are the poor? Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta said that they are “the ones who seek the tenderness of God”, those who hunger and thirst for love. Indeed, all of us are poor because all of us are in dire need of love. We channel this need through various expressions especially in our religiosity as well as in interpersonal relations, some even deviantly ended up doing social evils. But our real need is the need for love wither we admit or not. In his encyclical Redemptor Hominis (Redeemer of Man), Blessed Pope John Paul II powerfully puts it: “Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it.”

The abovementioned words from the renowned saint and blessed of the Church confirms the essential role of the apostolate of charity. Is not charity the concrete answer to our problems today, both physical and moral? All of us need love: all of us experience poverty. Jesus gives us the direction, “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.” (John 15:12) The love that Jesus has for us must be the same measure in loving our neighbors. Love must even be the distinguishing feature of all Christian community: “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)

I believe that there should be more Caritas in the Philippines. Let it find its place in all dioceses, in all provinces, towns and barangays, in Congress, and indeed in our hearts. Juan de la Cruz need not buy condoms and other contraceptives of various colors, flavors, shapes, and sizes. He needs love concretized in action, the love made flesh in the hands of every individual Filipino. The legislators for Juan should not pass the legalization of divorce either, but the strengthening of families instead. What do we prefer, destruction of marriage or the fortification of families? What should we choose, fostering fidelity and love between partners or a seasonal ‘rigodon’ of couples because we judged them unfit? Love alone fits, love alone unites.

This is my final words: God created us in love, preserves us in love, and will confirm us in love. Therefore, our very being is love: we need to give and receive it to fully experience living. Love is our apostolate. If we forget love and recourse to other things, either as means or as an end, we will never attain the joy and meaning of life.

by E. S. Ponce


 
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