Bishop Leonardo Medroso: 7 billion people + Jesus Christ = still the best possible world

Faith and the World of 7 Billion Humans

Msgr. Leonardo Medroso DD

October 29, 2011

Just some days ago the 'Philippine Daily Inquirer’ carried a banner article on its front page anent the world population which is to hit 7 billion anytime these days. Relative to this is the account that while the number of children in the family has been reduced to 2.5, the infant mortality has substantially dropped and life expectancy has soared to 68 years. Released by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the statistic was received with differing reactions. Some take it as an alarming news for it augurs the threat of overpopulation with its concomitant problems in the area of economy, such as the equitable distribution of wealth and services, the creation of new jobs , housing and other necessary facilities; of the environment, such as the rise of carbon emissions, garbage management and proper disposals; of social concerns as migration of rural folks to the cities, the rising gap between the haves and the have-nots. Others take the UN report with optimism and a bit of a swagger for it bespeaks of man’s triumph on this earth: human spirit over dense matter, science over superstitions, knowledge over darkness and ignorance, modern technology over man’s limitations, confidence over the forces that ever threaten man’s life.

The true Christian welcomes the United Nations statistical data regarding population, for he is convinced that the report is a statement of fact. After all, Christian faith is about reality, flesh and blood truths. It is not a religion of the imagination, but of facts; it does not teach man what is apparently good, but what is really good. Reality is the locus of Christian faith for it is in reality where the man of faith meets his God. The God of the Christian is the God who listens to the cries of the poor, the God who deigned to take up the human flesh, and lived out his story with us, giving it up as a ransom for all.

Hence, reality has to be faced squarely. That man has survived and increased to a staggering number of 7 billion in spite of the negative factors that have so often threatened his survival, that his life span has expanded to almost 70, and that mortality rate of his children has plunged, is a good news. He has faithfully responded to what God has enjoined him to do with this world when He said: “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the things that move on the earth” (Gn 1:28). The report on the reduction of the number of children in the family to 2.5 is objectively a good news. But it does not stop the man of faith to probe with the question: in what way was the number of children reduced?

The man of faith believes that the world and everything in it is a creation of God. He knows that the world did not just pop out from a big explosion, for he believes in the existence of a Transcendental One who created everything out of nothing and breathed into man’s nostril the breath of life. He knows too that this Creator of his is a personal God, a God of the living. He knows that God came into this earth and declared to His creation: “Do not be concerned for your life, what you are to eat, or for your body, what you are to wear. Consider the ravens: they do not sow, they do not reap, they have neither cellar nor barn – yet God feeds them. How much more important you are than the birds. Which of you by worrying can add a moment to his life span? … Stop worrying. The unbelievers of this world are always running after these things. Your Father knows that you need such things. Seek out instead his kingship over you, and the rest will follow in turn” (Lk 12:22-25; 29-31). The man of faith therefore walks this earth with confidence and poise no matter the forces that threaten him.

It is for this reason too that the Holy Father having perceived the many fears that have hounded modern man came out with a Letter “Porta Fidei” announcing a year long celebration of Faith by 2012. He knows that man has gone astray because of these fears that he has forgotten to hope and to love. He knows that left to himself man can easily be swamped by thousand and one existential problems and death threatening events. The proclamation of the content of Faith should bring man to a personal encounter with Christ, know His ways, understand a little his plans. Or it should bring God into the consciousness of man so that he can realize that God’s hands made him and shaped him in his mother’s womb, that God’s Law is always right, governing the world in perfect harmony.

Through the celebration of the Year of Faith we are hopeful that the world alarmed by its 7 billion citizens would soon realize that God is more powerful than all our problems. The Holy Father put it this way: “To a greater extent than in the past, faith is now being subjected to a series of questions arising from a changed mentality which, especially today, limits the field of rational certainties to that of scientific and technological discoveries. Nevertheless, the Church has never been afraid of demonstrating that there cannot be any conflict between faith and genuine science, because both, albeit via different routes, tend towards the truth” (Porta Fidei).

Christ being with us this earth of 7 billion warm bodies is still our best possible world.

Life comes from God, and should be greeted with a smile.

Message of Joy and the RH Bill

Msgr. Leonardo Medroso

Bishop of Tagbilaran

It is sad to observe how the unfolding of the public discussions and formal debates of the RH Bill has degenerated into personal attacks, unprintable verbal assaults, and wanton mudslinging unheard-of in civilized society. Religious and cultural sensibilities have with abandon been disregarded and ignored, the fine things in life as painting, poetry, and music used to hurl disdainful attacks at the very core of the faith of Christians. A defence of the faith, a sort of an ‘apologia’, is in order.

Meantime, in the midst of all these negative incidents, a group of Catholic lay faithful came up with a rally of its own, the smile rally. It was meant to bring across Metro Manila the pro-life message, that is, to proclaim this message of life with a smile. Life after all brings with it joy, a message of hope, an assurance of continuity, a message of vitality. Smile is the faint response to that invitation to the call to accept life and to uphold it.

The pro-life group actually just echoes the stand made by the Catholic Church which with much confidence proclaims the Gospel of life no matter the objections of the RH Bill proponents. It is first of all based on the Church profession of faith in God as Creator. It is a belief that may not originally be its own, but inherited from the faith of the chosen people of God, the Israelites. It is the ground for its solid adherence to the respect and preservation of life. This credo immediately tells us who God is and who we are. The world is not a product of mere chance nor can it be reasonably explained by the big bang theory that proposes the existence of all things, living beings included, through mere evolutionary process. The reasonableness of faith in creation tells us that everything is ultimately dependent on the mind of God the Creator. He holds history and all peoples in His hands, the Creator of all things, the source of power, the God who provides. It is this faith in God the Creator that gives man the confidence that there is Someone who freely produced him out of sheer love. It also gives him the courage to face up life’s challenges and to take upon himself the great adventure of life, for God loves him first. Realization of the great truth that we come from God, that the universe is the product of his freedom, his knowledge, and his love, empowers man to relate with others with respect and poise, trust the other without inhibition, and love as human beings without fear what the future would bring. As Benedict the XVI aptly put it: “God is the Lord of all things because he is their Creator, and only therefore can we pray to him. For this means that freedom and love are not ineffectual ideas but rather that they are sustaining forces of reality” (Ratzinger, ‘In the Beginning,’ p. 18).

Faith in creation is reasonable. The argument that the existence of order, harmony, and beauty of the universe demands and calls for the existence of a creative Mind and Reason that causes the existence of the former may not be a conclusive one for modern thinkers due to some shortcomings, but creation is still a better alternative. As Benedict XVI argued that today, as in the time of Aristotle, the reasonableness of the universe provides us with access to God’s Reason: ‘God himself shines through the reasonableness of his creation’ and ‘in the Bible is and continues to be true enlightenment which has given the world to human reason and not to exploitation by human beings, because it opened reason to God’s truth and love’ (cf. Ibid., p. 17).

For those who believe in God’s intervention in the world, they may look into the creation story in the Book of Genesis. For Christians, however, the normative scriptural account is John’s Gospel that says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was God... All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made” (1: 1,3). God is a Creator. Man is a creature.

The pro-life group in its campaign to spread out smile to all is actually proclaiming that profound reality of the Catholic Faith on life. Life comes from God; it has to be respected; it has to be celebrated; it has to be greeted with a smile.

Bishop Leonardo Medroso versus the RH Bill: The Church respects the State's autonomy but cannot be indifferent to immoral laws

Bishop Leonardo Medroso of Tagbilaran has written this year a number of articles versus the RH Bill. However, these have gained very little attention, and I myself saw these only over the past weekend. Here is his article explaining why the Church is duty-bound to raise its voice versus the RH Bill. His other articles versus the RH Bill are:

Morality, the Holy Spirit, and the Catholic Church (June 9, 2011)

Voice of the Laity and the RH Bill (June 3, 2011)

Voice of Theology and the RH Bill (May 20, 2011)

RH Bill and Christian Family Life (May 14, 2011)
Holy Week, CBCP and the RH Bill (April 15, 2011)

Voice of the Church and the RH Bill
Msgr. Leonardo Medroso
Roman Catholic Bishop of Tagbilaran, Bohol.
Originally posted on the bishop's blog on May 26, 2011

The voice of the teaching Church, strongly opposing the RH Bill and warning the people of its effects to morality, can be heard loud and clear in the issuance of the January 2011 Pastoral Letter of CBCP entitled: "Choosing Life; Rejecting RH Bill.” In so doing it passed a definitive judgment on the Reproductive Health Bill and its subsequent amended versions. The main reason for its rejection is: it is morally unacceptable.

The Church speaks from the standpoint of morality. This is after all where her competence lies. It is part of the Church’s mission “to pass moral judgments even in matters related to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man or the salvation of souls requires it. The means, the only means, she may use are those which are in accord with the Gospel and the welfare of all men according to the diversity of times and circumstances” (CCC 2245). The Church, in order to be the genuine expert of humanity and authoritative in its assessment of man, has to listen and contemplate on the Words of God out of whom man exists, acts, and has his being – the be-all and end-all of humanity. Aside from the Bible and the Sacred Tradition, the Church has to dig deep into the study of philosophy to know man's nature and life through and through from the standpoint of natural knowledge. When, therefore, the Church made its stand against the RH Bill it was not meant to be disrespectful to the State. It was rather to state that she has to be listened to, for she has much to say about man and God given authority to talk about his integral welfare; to declare its stand and state the reasons for its posture. Hence, the pronouncements that it made regarding the RH Bill should be understood on this context.

The State has a legitimate existence of its own. The Church is aware of this reality. It acknowledges autonomy of the State to pursue its temporal purposes; it respects the sovereignty of the nation in the ordering of the temporal goods and services in the just and equitable distribution to each individual citizen and family; it collaborates in the noble task of the State government in putting up an environment of peace and justice so that the complex interactions of the different rights of the citizens may be harmonious and peaceful; it supports the State in its pursuit for developmental goals and economic growth. Hence the Church accepts the autonomy of the State to legislate laws that are according to the requirements of the common good, provisions that would respect and protect the fundamental rights of the human person, legislations that would dispense human services that are in consonance with the dignity of the persons and the natural law. Dispensation of justice to all is the legitimate ambit of the State. In fact it is its duty to promote public order, a modicum of peace and justice, a humane environment, in which individuals, families, and small communities can interact with one another, and thereby wholesomely flourish and grow.

If that is so, then why does the Church now oppose the attempt to make the RH Bill or its amended version into a law of the land?

The answer is the content of the RH Bill which is perceived by the Church as morally wrong. It is on this ground that the Church made its verdict. It states: “ 1) We object to the non-consideration of moral principles, the bedrock of law, in legislative discussions of bills that are intended for the good of individuals and for the common good; 2) We are against the anti-life, anti-natal and contraceptive mentality that is reflected in media and in some proposed legislative bills; 3) We object strongly to efforts at railroading the passage of the RH Bill; 4) We denounce the over-all trajectory of the RH Bill towards population control; 5) We denounce the use of public funds for contraceptives and sterilization; 6) We condemn compulsory sex education that would effectively let parents abdicate their primary role of educating their own children, especially in an area of life – sexuality – which is a sacred gift of God.”