For the record: Catholic Pastoral Letters on the RH Bill, December 15 to 16, 2012

1) The Pastoral Letter of the CBCP on the RH Bill: 

Contraception is Corruption! (Signed by Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan.)

The same letter, in Filipino:

Ang Kontrasepsyon Ay Katiwalian CBCP Pastoral Statement

2) Pastoral Letter of Bishop Ramon Villena of the Diocese of Bayombong: 

We Believe in God, We Believe in Life, We Believe in Miracles.

3) Pastoral Letter of Abp. Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle on the RH Bill (after the 2nd voting). "Pahayag sa Simbanggabi, Dec. 16, 2012..."

CAP commentary: This is a different and later statement from Cardinal Tagle's statement of December 12, 2012 (See this: Statement of His Eminence, Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, on the RH bill)

In the interests of fairness and accuracy, this statement by Cardinal Tagle -- which mentions the RH bill only in passing -- does not directly tell Congressmen and Senators to vote versus the RH bill. Instead, it simply tells them to "accept Jesus with joy", and reminds them that it is the Word and Wisdom of Jesus that is necessary to form consciences.

Tagle Statement

4) The Pastoral Letter that Archbishop Socrates Villegas penned specifically for his Archdiocese:

PRAISE AND REBUKE

TO BE READ IN ALL MASSES IN THE ARCHDIOCESE OF LINGAYEN DAGUPAN AT THE START OF THE HOMILY ON DECEMBER 16, 2012.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

On the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, our congressmen voted on second reading the Reproductive Health Bill. The goal is to rush the passage of the Bill before the start of the Congress Christmas break. The same seems to be the goal of our senators.

I am very pleased to issue this public commendation to our representatives in Congress namely Congresswoman Gina de Venecia, Congresswoman Rachel Arenas and Congressman Leopoldo Bataoil for voting against the Reproductive Health Bill. They are our heroic and exemplary representatives in Congress. They voted to stand up for life. They voted to stand up for morality and decency. They voted as God loving government officials. We commend them for their courageous conviction and encourage you my dear Catholic faithful to support them with your prayers and make known to them your appreciation for their fidelity to our cherished Filipino Catholic values.

The Reproductive Health Bill, if passed into law in its present form, will put the moral fibre of our nation at risk. As I have said in the past, a contraceptive mentality is the mother of an abortion mentality. The wide and free accessibility of contraceptives, even to the youth, will result in the destruction of family life and in greater violence against women.

The Church is your mother protecting you from harm. If passed into law in its present form, it will not take long for the supporters of the Bill to see the irreparable harm they will bequeath to the younger generation. Those who mislead the young invoke divine punishment on themselves. Let us leave to the young a legacy of decency and morality not promiscuity and moral corruption.

+SOCRATES B. VILLEGAS

Archbishop of Lingayen Dagupan

5) The Pastoral Letter of Bishop Leo Drona:
An Open Letter to the Congressmen of the Four Districts of Laguna

Statement of His Eminence, Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, on the RH bill

Statement of the Archdiocese of Manila

The vote in favour of the RH Bill in Congress is unfortunate and tragic. But we do not take it as a defeat of truth – for truth shall prevail, especially the truth about human life, marriage and the family. We thank and commend the Representatives of Congress, the Church people, organizations and citizens who worked hard and tirelessly in a variety of ways to expose the flaws of the RH bill, to form consciences and to contribute to the search for the common good. This vote leads us to further commit the Church, specifically the Archdiocese of Manila to the service of the poor, of the family, of women, of infants and children. We will work harder to promote the sanctity of human life and of the human person, the integral education of the youth, the access of the poor to social and medical services, the preservation of the true meaning of marriage, and stewardship of creation. We call on all Filipinos to work towards healing, and journey together humbly and justly as children of God.

+ LUIS ANTONIO G. CARDINAL TAGLE

Archbishop of Manila

12 December 2012


Source of image

UPDATED: Cardinal Tagle and 15 bishops: don't rush the passage of the RH bill. (Full text of the actual declaration.)

Statement of the Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Manila

In their pre-Christmas gathering held on December 4, 2012, the bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Manila reflected on the discussions on the RH Bill in Congress yesterday, December 3, 2012. We are appealing to the Honorable Representatives to give ample time to the deliberations and discernment and not to unduly rush them. We also appeal to them to conduct the deliberation and decision with transparency through nominal voting and respect for the diversity of views. 

 + Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle Archbishop of Manila
 + Gabriel V. Reyes Bishop of Antipolo
 + Honesto F. Ongtioco Bishop of Cubao
 + Deogracias S. Iñiguez Bishop of Kalookan
 + Jose F. Oliveros Bishop of Malolos
 + Antonio R. Tobias Bishop of Novaliches
 + Jesse E. Mercado Bishop of Parañaque
 + Mylo Hubert C. Vergara Bishop of Pasig
 + Leo M. Drona Bishop of San Pablo
 + Leopoldo S. Tumulak Bishop of the Military Ordinariate
 + Pedro D. Arigo Vicar Apostolic Puerto Princesa
 + Edgardo S. Juanich Vicar Apostolic of Taytay
 + Francisco M. de Leon Auxiliary Bishop of Antipolo
 + Bernardino C. Cortez Auxiliary Bishop of Manila
 + Broderick S. Pabillo Auxiliary Bishop of Manila
 Fr. George A. Morales Diocesan Administrator of Imus

***

From CBCP News:

Cardinal Tagle: Don’t rush RH bill

MANILA, Dec. 4, 2012— The head of Manila’s Roman Catholic Church has joined calls for lawmakers not to rush the passage of the reproductive health (RH) bill.

In a statement, Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle and 15 other bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Manila said that there is a need to discuss the proposed legislation thoroughly.

“We are appealing to the Honorable Representatives to give ample time to deliberations and discernment and not to unduly rush them,” part of the statement reads.

In their pre-Christmas gathering held on Tuesday the bishops reflected on the discussions on the population control measure in Congress yesterday.

Antipolo Bishop Gabriel Reyes said they agree that the bill will promote harm than its supposed benefits to the country.

“They should not hurry up the bill because it is the future of Filipinos that is at stake here,” said Reyes who also chairs the CBCP’s Episcopal Commission on Family and Life (ECFL)

Transparency 

The church leaders also called for transparency if the controversial measure will be put into a vote.

“We are appealing to them to conduct the deliberation and decision with transparency through nominal voting and respect for the diversity of views,” they said.

According to Reyes, the people have the right to know the position of their respective representatives on the RH bill.

And if the lawmakers would continue with the “viva voce” scheme of voting, he said it only means the issue will affect their election chances next year.

“They know that they will have a problem in the coming elections if they voted for RH bill because there are so many people who are against it,” he said.

Among the signatories of the statement are Bishops Honesto Ongtioco of Cubao, Deogracias Iñiguez of Kalookan, Jose Oliveros of Malolos, Antonio Tobias of Novaliches, and Jesse Mercado of Parañaque.

Bishops Mylo Hubert Vergara of Pasig, Leo Drona of San Pablo, Leopoldo Tumulak of the Military Ordinariate, Pedro Arigo of Puerto Princesa, Edgardo Juanich of Taytay also signed the statement.

Auxiliary Bishops Francisco De Leon of Antipolo and Broderick Pabillo and Bernardino Cortez of Manila and Fr. George Morales, Diocesan Administrator of Imus also joined Cardinal Tagle’s appeal.

Earlier, the ECFL called on lawmakers to make known their position on the RH bill instead of hiding under the cloak of “ayes” or nays”.

Last August, lawmakers in Congress had voted to end the plenary debates on the measure through the viva voce vote. 

Denial 

Reyes belied a newspaper report quoting a member of the House majority that he attended a supposed meeting between lawmakers and some bishops on the RH bill.

The bishop also denied giving inputs to the “substitute bill” of the HB 4244.

He said Speaker Feliciano Belmonte could attest that he was not part of any meeting on the measure.

“This is a malicious misrepresentation by the anonymous member of the House majority,” Reyes said. (CBCPNews)

Former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban: the RH bill erodes the right to life

From an article written by former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban in honor of the enthronement of Msgr. Luis Antonio Tagle as Archbishop of Manila (emphases mine):

So, he (Tagle -- CAP) exclaimed, “…when we pray, we are transformed, we see differently. A child, especially the unborn, is no longer seen as a burden but a gift, the youth are not a problem but a promise, women are not objects but persons, laborers are not machines but partners, the poor, the differently abled are not nuisance but our jewels, and creation is not an object of manipulation but a sign of God’s sustaining love.” 

Clarity of mission. How well indeed he articulates the theology of faith, life, marriage and social reforms; so simply worded, but so deeply meant; so humbly said, but so loftily aimed; so directed at old problems but so transforming with new solutions. I do not think he will be a fire and brimstone orator; he is more effective with his soft eloquence; he speaks from the heart. 

I think he will be firm on social issues, like the right to life that is being eroded by the Reproductive Health bill; or the sanctity of marriage that is being vilified by a creeping divorce mentality.

A former Filipino anti-Catholic on young Filipino anti-Catholic netizens

From Pepe Alas' article on the appointment of Msgr. Luis Antonio Tagle as the Archbishop-elect of Manila: A famous theologian will be Manila's next Archbishop:

Catholic theologians such as the new Manila Archbishop should deftly explain that the Church’s stand against the RH Bill is not solely rooted in faith and morals alone. In the end, it all boils down to logic. And this is one of the first challenges that the latest Prince-Cardinal should tackle. 

Speaking of logic… 

Many young Filipino “intellectuals” today who love to make a punching bag out of the local Catholic Church claim to be “lovers” of ideologies and “champions” of liberalism. And that the Church is “out of logic”. They love to “philosophize” and display the many witty quips that they learn from tomes of books they claim to have read. They proclaim themselves as “the new Rizals”. They claim a hatred for mediocrity and “religious superstition”, clamoring for a more intelligent and “freethinking” Filipino. But many of them do all this for the mere heck of it, and not for the purpose of a better society. And now we have social networking. Through these new media they rant and multiply and increase, and they spend hours upon hours in front of their PCs than they do with their pet lizards because they could not get a real job nor could they maintain contact with physical friends (but to them, the words “contact” and “physical” could mean something else). Unfortunately, these kids, for all their intellectual hogwash, have already revealed their characters and self-worth by the choice of words that they use in various online forums. Wittingly or unwittingly, what these bunch of “sucks-to-be-you” kids are doing will only lead this country to anarchy. If they ever win, within a decade or two we will certainly have a transsexual president who will legitimize pole dancing as a school subject. I dare say all of this because I used to think like them — been there, done that. I’ve mingled with so many of these book-toting crybabies back in the 90s. And just thinking about it makes me supersick. 

What these “lemme-give-y’all-an-iota-of-my-superb-brain” jactanciosos claim to know about the Catholic Church is so superficial to say the least. All I can say is this: looking back at my brief anti-Catholic self, I just couldn’t believe how stupid I was (a long story that I’ll share one day). 

I’m glad that I dealt a lot with logic whenever I flip a page out of a dusty book. Gracias a Dios por este regalo de sabiduría. 

So here’s hoping that Manila’s new archbishop will also tackle the increasing number of “pseudo intellectuals” from elsewhere. Not for the Church’s sake actually, but for these proud but hapless kids’.

Remarkably enough, the author of these lines began his return to Catholicism from agnosticism as he struggled against the temptation of aborting his second child. As he relates in a blog post he made more than two years ago:

I was brought back to the Catholic fold last 2003 due mainly to personal researches about my country’s Spanish past. Along the way, I was able to discover and realize the leyenda negra (black legend) being hurled against the Spanish clergy. Ironically, I ended up defending the Spanish friars against everyone attacking them although I was still an atheist! Little by little, my “reconversion” was on its way. I soon became an agnostic. And one September night of that year, as I was pondering whether to have my wife abort our second child or not, God gave me a sign. 

You see, 2003 was the worst and arguably one of the best and memorable years of my life. I was jobless, disowned by my folks and various relatives, living in a decrepit bodega, penniless, you name it. It was during this year when I did nothing but read, write, ponder, steal books, ponder some more, dream. And since I was (surprisingly) having difficulty in getting employed, I thought that having another baby was too much (I was already then an agnostic during this time). I was goading my wife for days to give up the baby. I was giving her horrible scenarios of what might happen to us if she doesn’t accept abortion as a solution: poverty, poverty, and lotsa poverty. Finally, I was able to make her say yes. We planned of going to Quiapò to buy an infamous pill (Cytotec) to kill the fetus. 

I admit, however, that I felt uncertain and very afraid of doing it. So before committing the crime, I prayed to God for the very first time in years. While walking desolately along Chino Roces Avenue one night on my way home, I muttered, “Lord, if you are indeed real, show me a sign —any sign— that you disapprove of this abortion”. 

The sign came that very night. Upon arriving home, I talked again to my wife (without telling her that I prayed). I told her that we have to abort the fetus soon, the next day, while the it is not yet in human form (an infamous argument by “pro-choice” advocates). Quietly, she agreed. And as we slept together, I thought of my prayer – I had no idea what kind of sign I would receive… if God were ever real. After a few minutes, we drifted to sleep. 

But moments later, my wife woke me up. I was surprised — she was crying! In between sobs, she said she’d rather not have an abortion. She said she’s willing to face anything —EVERYTHING— just to keep the baby. I embraced her, and broke into tears as well. 

It was no coincidence or anything like that. It couldn’t have been any clearer: that was the sign I’ve been waiting for… 

GOD IS REAL. 

And so a few months later, a very handsome José Mario Guillermo II P. Alas —Momay— was born. And my stupid fear of poverty-ridden-days-ahead was just that: plain stupid. Because now our kids are four, and we’ve never been better than before!

The New Archbishop of Manila and the RH Bill

The Catholic Position on the RH Bill congratulates His Excellency, Luis Antonio G. Tagle DD, Bishop of Imus, on his appointment to the See of Manila as its 32nd Archbishop by His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI. 

On this occasion, it is important to recall that the Archbishop-elect has spoken out repeatedly versus the RH bill. This blog's posts on Archbishop-elect Tagle's statements versus the bill can be found here. 

The CBCP for Life Youtube channel has all of Archbishop-elect Tagle's videos versus the RH bill in one page: The Word Exposed - RH Bill Series. 

"The Word Exposed - Questions of Faith" TV show tackles the RH Bill once more

(UPDATE October 13, 2011: All of Msgr. Tagle's videos on "The Word Exposed" versus the RH Bill can now be found in chronological order at this page: The Word Exposed - RH Bill Series.)

For the first three parts of this series, see this post: Bishop Tagle and Fr. Alfonso on the RH Bill

Part 4:



Part 5:

Bishop Tagle on the Gift of Family and Life

The Gift of Family and Life

HOMILY OF IMUS CAVITE BISHOP LUIS ANTONIO TAGLE

THANKSGIVING MASS FOR THE GIFT OF FAMILY & LIFE, MANILA CATHEDRAL, MARCH 23, 2011

Your Eminences, Your Excellencies, our beloved priests and religious, our Honorable members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, our beloved lay people, the valiant lay people.

We are gathered for this Eucharistic celebration in thanksgiving to God for the gift of life and for the energy that has been given to us to promote and defend life.

We also want to pray, we have to pray because the forces against life are always present. Let us not delude ourselves that we have only one enemy, that life has only one enemy. There are many faces of those that are against life, so we have to pray. And in this thanksgiving mass, we want to strengthen our resolve to work together to defend God’s precious gift of life. And since it is Lent, a holy season when we are invited to reflect on the meaning of the life, Jesus’ has won for us, through His Paschal Mystery, let us allow the readings for today to help us develop a spirituality. I repeat, a spirituality towards the defense of life.

That is one contribution that Christians should make in this whole debate and I’m challenging all of us here to check ourselves, to reposes the right spirit in our defense of life. Are we coming from a deep commitment to God? Or are we coming from other agenda which in the end might prove to be counter life. Humanda po tayong lahat, maganda ang sasabihin ng mga pagbasa, at sana maging bukas tayong lahat para magpasuri sa mga pagbasa tungkol sa hinahanap ng Salita ng Diyos sa mga nagiging propeta para sa buhay. Prophets of life, prophets for life, how do we distinguish them? What makes someone a prophet of life and a prophet for life?

In the first reading, from the prophet Jeremiah, we see the sorry state, the miserable state of a prophet, he goes around proclaiming God’s word, and what does he gets? The people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem were conniving against him, they were plotting against him. They were carefully noting his words. They wanted to eliminate him, the destiny of every prophet. And Jeremiah knows it. He knows the evil forces that were plotting against him. The one sent by God, the God of life, the God who wants to restore life. And what is the response of Jeremiah? He breaks into a prayer. He turns to God, the God who calls him, and his prayer in the whole book, you may want to look the book of Jeremiah, the prayer of the prophet Jeremiah is simple, very open, you can see the humility of this prophet, he talks to God openly. He tells God, heed O Lord and listen to what my adversaries say, should good be repaid with evil. Sa tagalog maganda, Diyos, ano ba? Naririnig mo ba yung kanilang pinagbubulong-bulungan? Nagbubulung-bulungan sila sa kanilang mga caucus, naririnig mo ba o Diyos? Hindi nila pinaririnig sa amin, naririnig mo ba o Diyos? Naririnig ng Diyos.

And Jeremiah reminds God in his prayer, remember, I stood before you, to speak in their behalf, to turn away your raft from them. Jeremiah was very clear about his role, he was not there only to speak to people on behalf of God, he was there to speak to God on behalf of the people, so that God’s raft may be turned away from the people. The prayer of Jeremiah, so open to God, and in his prayer he’s role gets clarified for him.

If we go to chapters later, the 20th chapter, you see Jeremiah in his prayer again, struggling with God. I don’t know how many of us pray to God this way, Jeremiah even said, God, you fooled me, and in exasperation he said, and I allowed myself be fooled by You. Because you were stronger than I was, and looked at what was happened to me, because I spoke your word, he even curse the day that he was born because of the suffering that he undergoes. For the sake of the Word of God and for the sake of the people. And he tells God openly, I want to retreat, I want to give up. No more. Ayaw ko na. But then he says, when I discovered Your Word, I devow your Word, and whenever I try to runaway, I feel Your Word like a fire burning within me. A fire flaming my bones, I cannot run away. I maybe subjected to suffering but I’m committed to Your Word. Your Word is in me, Your Word is in my bones. I cannot escape Your Word. This is the commitment that every person who defends life must have and it has a clear source, not any self seeking, not any agenda for my sake. Jeremiah the prophet only had one reason, I am consumed by the flame of the Word of God, burning in my bones. Even before the adversaries could burn them. He was already burning within him with the fire of the Word of God. That type of prophet is an assailable, that type of prophet is beyond all compromises and pride because the source of fire is burning within spirituality.

So I’m inviting all of us to turn to Jeremiah, to turn to his sufferings and to marvel at how such a person stipped in ridicule and adversity could sustain his prophetic role in the purity of his commitment to the Word of God.

This is fulfilled in the prophet who is much greater than Jeremiah, because He is the Son of God, Jesus. In the Gospel, Jesus plainly tell His disciples of His destiny. They were going to Jerusalem where we would be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes who were condemned Him to death.

He would be handed over to the Gentiles. He will be mocked, he will be scourged, he will be crucified. But on the third day, he will rise from the dead. But Jesus interprets the meaning of his sufferings at the end of this passage, He says the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to hive His life as a ransom for the many.

The death of Jesus was not a case of other people claiming His life. For Jesus, His death was really an act of service. He will serve even if it means giving My whole life. My last breath will be my last act of service. And so nobody takes His life away from Him. I give my life as a ransom for the many. Life is always a gift. God gives life and no one should take away life. Life as a gift should continue being a gift.

The moment life is taken away, we destroy the very nature of life as gift. And Jesus says so, even His dying in the Gospel of John, he says, no one takes my life away from me, I lay it down freely. I give my life as a gift and no one should take it away. There is only one interpretation on the death of Christ that matters to us according to the Gospel, His death has been faced by Jesus as the ultimate giving of Himself in the form of service. Again, this is part of our spirituality. We will be offering our lives for life, we will be offering our lives for the sanctity of life. But let it be fueled by the spirit of Christ, just like Jeremiah, only one motive, loving service. That makes the fight for life redemptive. Loving service, if I do not give my life out of service, then I am actually claiming the lives of others, misusing the lives of other. It is only in that purity of intention that we find in Jeremiah and in Jesus were life is truly served.

But my dear brothers and sisters, we have to be warned because in the middle of the Gospel for today, we find the sons of Zebedee, James and John, Jesus has 3 closest friends among the 12, Peter, James and John. And in the Gospel, we find the mother, the mother of James and John, approaching Jesus with a request, command that this 2 sons of mine will seat one at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom. They missed the point, and this is the warning to all of us. We might missed the point.

Katatapos pa lang ng napaka-dramatic na pagpapaliwanag ni Jesus, wa effect. At mga kaibigan pa, mga kaibigan, the closest, pati naman yung nanay naki-alam pa, yung nanay ni John and James, expert sa lobby, mahusay maglobby. Pero yung mga nagla-lobby nay an, sometimes they think what they are talking about, but they missed the point. They could not understand this new kingdom, this kingdom of life that will come when life is given as a gift. In their minds, life is preserved only through prestige, power, positions, and for that life they will sacrifice other lives. This is the history of humanity which Christianity wants to counter. The end to sacrificing lives is by the spirituality of life given as gift and service. And so Jesus, patiently turned to them, ask them, can u drink of the cup that I will drink of and can you be baptized in the baptism that I will undergo, meaning are you ready to undergo my life giving death. For it is only in life given in service this life promoted. 

Two figures, Jeremiah, Jesus, life threatened but they took the threat and transformed the threat into love, service and life is nit threatened anymore, life remains a gift given to others and others live because of Jesus. We hope that our defense of life will go to that deep part of ourselves, where Jesus has ford the Holy Spirit transforming us into true prophet of life, patterned after Jesus Himself. Let us pause and enter into our hearts and allow the face of Jesus to challenge us to ask us deep and disturbing questions about the spirituality of our commitment to life.

H/t to Ash Paul.

Photo is from the FB account of "Tito Robert Sfldop".

Bishop Tagle and Fr. Alfonso on the RH Bill

(UPDATE October 13, 2011: All of Msgr. Tagle's videos on "The Word Exposed" versus the RH Bill can now be found in chronological order at this page: The Word Exposed - RH Bill Series.)

Part 1:



Part 2:



Part 3: