The Sexual Revolution and the Vitality of the Church

With this piece I am returning to blogging - CAP.

The roundup of blog entries on "The Deadly Fruits of the Sexual Revolution" can be seen at the Filipinos for Life website. (LINK)

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The Sexual Revolution and the Vitality of the Church

Carlos Antonio Palad

July 31, 2013

Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, one of the greatest saints in the history of the Western Church, and one of the greatest leaders of what is now known as the “Catholic Reformation”, previously known as the “Counter-Reformation”. St. Ignatius of Loyola was a soldier who, after turning devout, became a pilgrim and a hermit; in the caves of Manresa he forged the beginnings of the Spiritual Exercises, and he also became fired up with zeal to convert non-Christians to the Catholic faith. Realizing the need for study, he humbly began in his early thirties to learn grammar alongside little boys, till at length he became a student in the great University of Paris, finally receiving his Master of Arts degree at the age of 42. Alongside his studies he continued with his tremendous apostolate, converting sinners and leading the lukewarm to greater piety with his preaching and his masterful direction in the ways of prayer, despite numerous misunderstandings from Church authorities. In the face of persecution he always remained a faithful son of the Church. 

It would be interesting to know what St. Ignatius -- who suffered so much in order to learn philosophy and divinity, and who was often hounded by those who ought to have supported him -- thought of the numerous heretics of his time. He studied at the height of the Protestant Reformation, when so many learned men were abandoning the Catholic faith in order to propose various heresies. Many of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation, starting with Martin Luther himself, were doctors of divinity and stood among the intellectuals of their day. What must St. Ignatius have thought of them, who used their learning, learning they had received in the bosom of Holy Mother Church, in order to attack the Church and to draw not just their fellow doctors but also the simple and unlearned ones into the sorry vale of ecclesiastical revolt and schism? Was he angry? Was he sorrowful? I can imagine him thinking of the great revolt against the Catholic Church taking place during his time, led by many who had been educated and invested to be her defenders and promoters, and saying to himself: “What a waste. What a waste of time, of energy, of effort, only to come to this!” 

Today, we are in a similar situation. I have been asked to write about the deadly fruits of the Sexual Revolution. Many of my fellow Filipino Catholic bloggers have written this month about the deadly fruits that it has had on family life, on marital life, and on sexual life. What I will point out in my little essay is yet another fruit of the Sexual Revolution: it is the tremendous diversion of time, resources and effort that it has drawn away from the other vital works of the Church. 

I will discuss here three different species, so to speak, of this “fruit”. 

The first is the diversion of time, resources and effort from the intellectual life of the Church. Catholicism has a deep and rich theological and philosophical tradition that has been enriched from one generation to the next. This has continued even in our time, thanks be to God. Nevertheless, I cannot help but wonder at how much more enrichment might have been achieved in the last 50 years, had not many of the Catholic Church’s best minds found themselves having to spend so much time and expending so much effort, perhaps even their whole adult lives, in defending the most basic teachings of the Church on family life and sexual morality. While basic matters of liturgy and doctrine have been under attack as well, there is no denying that most of the Church’s largest battles, internal and external, in the last five decades have been those pertaining to sexual morality.

There are so many theological and philosophical questions that cry out to be answered both on the academic and popular plane. There are so many wonderful topics in Church history that can and ought to be explored. The riches of Catholic worship in its historic expressions are there for endless discussion, and the delights of deeper prayer are waiting to be disclosed to Christians living in the middle of the world. The social teaching of the Church remains a hidden treasure, with far too few to bring it into the discussions of the movers and shakers of the worlds of labor and finance. Even in the best of times the Church did not have enough teachers to bring the message of the Gospel, in all its diverse riches and aspects, to all the fields of intellectual endeavor. In all but the very best of times the Church had too few minds who could deeply engage heterodox ideologies while hewing to doctrinal purity, and who read and wrote every word in a spirit of faith. Now, with the crises arising from the Sexual Revolution and all the questions of its proponents that need to be urgently answered, this shortage has become far more disastrous. The fields of theology often end up with lay professionals for whom theology is just a discipline like any other. This shortage is as tragic as the fact that many of the best minds of the Church have had to live out many years, if not their whole lives, fighting off inane attacks and crude sophistries. Their minds were fit to communicate with angels and to teach doctors; they were not fashioned to “cast pearls before swine”, but that is what they have had to do. 

Will God reward them? I am certain that He will. My point is that in a healthier time they could have put their minds to other matters and their pens to better use, for the greater glory of God and for the greater extension of His Holy Church. 

I am certain that many who have researched, written or anthologized in defense of Catholic teachings on human life and the sexual morality would have preferred to spend that time on other precious tasks. I am one of them: when I look back at the amount of time I spent on the “Catholic Position on the RH Bill” blog, I wish that I instead had that time to perfect my knowledge of Classical Philosophy and to write out the treatise on Theodicy I have been thinking about since I was an undergrad. This is not to say that I and many other pro-lifers did what we accomplished out of a burdensome sense of duty. We did all of that out of our generosity and love (albeit imperfect) for the Church and for our fellow men. Nevertheless I am sure that many of us dreamt of spending all that time and effort not in defenses and counter-attacks, but in building up the edifice of the Church in other ways.

The second species of this “fruit” of the Sexual Revolution inside the Church is the waste and corruption of so much missionary love and talent. Many of the strongest enemies of Church doctrine today, especially on matters relating to family, human life, and sexuality, are drawn from those religious institutes and educational establishments that were created to give her the best and brightest defenders possible. Their purpose has been overthrown and now, as the saying goes, corruptio optimi pessima. When I read about elderly priests and nuns spending their last remaining years continuing to preach heresies that are so dated, so ‘60’s , heresies usually linked to the Sexual Revolution, I marvel at how they could have come to this. Many of them did not start out this way. Many of them entered the religious life before Vatican II, and surely imagined that they will spend their lives extending the reign of Christ the King in an ever more visible way over fields far and near, in city and forest, among pagans and Christians, the nominal and the devout. Instead, in defense of the passions unleashed by the Sexual Revolution they have spent their lives tearing down that upon which they had set out to build. In their wake are numerous broken religious congregations, stripped of vocations and reduced to staffing empty seminaries where only the birds sing. 

The third “species” of the fruit that I describe in this article is the loss of vitality that could have been dedicated to other apostolic works. Many reproach the Church for allegedly spending too much time on sexual topics – “why”, they ask, “does the Church spend so much time trying to correct sexual expressions instead of helping the poor”? This reproach is as about as sensible as reproaching a nation for casting aside everything else in order to throw back a military invasion. Of course the Church has to “cast aside” so many other things to defend chastity, purity, fidelity and the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman! Of course the Church has to defend the normative character of heterosexuality!  Without these things being accepted by her own flock the Church cannot preach sanctity, and even the sacraments of the living become useless! What most people of our time simply do not understand is that the Church has no other choice but to defend the consistency of her doctrinal teaching through the past two millennia. Otherwise she forfeits the right to be seen as who she claims to be: the one true Church founded by Christ, for whom there can be no straying in doctrine and no error in anything essential to salvation from the Ascension until the Second Coming. Pope Francis, a spiritual son of Saint Ignatius whom so many would like to baselessly claim as a secret supporter of the Sexual Revolution, had this to say in his first encyclical, Lumen Fidei, no. 48: “Since faith is one, it must be professed in all its purity and integrity. Precisely because all the articles of faith are interconnected, to deny one of them, even of those that seem least important, is tantamount to distorting the whole. Each period of history can find this or that point of faith easier or harder to accept: hence the need for vigilance in ensuring that the deposit of faith is passed on in its entirety (cf. 1 Tim 6:20) and that all aspects of the profession of faith are duly emphasized. Indeed, inasmuch as the unity of faith is the unity of the Church, to subtract something from the faith is to subtract something from the veracity of communion…” (Emphases mine.)

Yes, the Church really should be spending more time on other apostolic tasks: adding splendor and depth to her worship, sending missionaries to the ends of the world to peacefully proclaim Christ as the sole Way of salvation, as He Himself said; doing more to improve the lot of the people, believer and unbeliever alike, in the name of justice and charity; doing more to catechize the faithful, doing more to ensure that those already churched are not satisfied to be mediocre Christians, but will want to be saints of mystical prayer. However, I would like to ask the critics this question: don't you think the Church can devote more time and effort to these things if she didn’t have to spend so much of her time fending off those who would like her to change her teachings to fit the passing moods of the times?

Mark my words: the Church stands and falls on purity. The Church seeks to unite man with God, and as Christ Himself said, it is the pure of heart that shall see God. This is not to say that the Church should only consist of holy men and women with chastity untouched; many of the Church’s most loyal sons and daughters live their lives struggling to be chaste. I am one of them, and I will not be ashamed to admit that I have had my falls and failures in this regard. However, for us, our personal weaknesses are not a reason to reject the Church’s teachings. It is we who adjust to the Church and not the Church that should adjust to us, because if our weaknesses are the measure of the Church, then it is a Church that we do not need. We cling to the Church precisely because her teachings challenge us and she is worth clinging to only to the extent that she challenges us to transcend our weaknesses and reach out to God above the vicissitudes of culture. 

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, whose life is one great hymn to the power of repentance to transform a sinner into a beacon of light, knew this more than most. He would not have become a great saint if he had not allowed himself to be challenged by the holiness of Christ and his saints. He would not have become the founder of the Society of Jesus had he settled for his weaknesses and demanded that the Church tell him that this was “okay”. Today we look to his example; may this inspire us in our fight for the culture of life. Saint Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us. 

The Spirit of the Season

(This post will stay on top of the blog until January 6, 2013, except on December 12, 2012. Newer posts below)

 A reminder to all about the fact that every life is a gift.

World Youth Alliance on the Passage of the RH Bill

From the website of World Youth Alliance Int'l: 

Philippine Reproductive Health Bill Passed on Third and Final Reading

December 18, 2012

Philippine Reproductive Health Bill Passed on Third and Final Reading in Congress and Senate

On December 17, after almost 14 years of discussion and debate, the reproductive health bill (the RH bill) was passed during its third and final reading in the House of Representatives, with a vote of 133 in favor and 79 against, and in the Senate, with a vote of 13 in favor and 8 against. Philippine President Benigno Aquino had designated passing the RH bill an urgent matter and called on Congress to vote on it before Christmas, prompting late-night congressional sessions that led to the passage of the bill. The bicameral conference committee is now set to consolidate the two versions of the bill, and then both chambers of Congress will need to ratify the consolidated version before it goes before the President for his final signature.

The World Youth Alliance laments the passage of the RH bill. For over four years, WYA has opposed the bill because it relies on the false premise that a government-run population management program is necessary for development.  It also lacks adequate protections for freedom of conscience, pays inadequate attention to maternal and child health, and does not reaffirm commitment to protecting the unborn.  The bill does not properly address the needs of Filipinos, who want measures to address sustainable development concerns that fully respect their cultures, religious beliefs, and values while promoting the health of mothers and children.

As the bill takes effect and is implemented over the coming years, we will continue to work with those legislators and advocates who fought against the measure to push for long-term solutions that actually respect the rights of conscience of Filipino health care workers and that stimulate the innovation needed for sustainable development in the Philippines.   We will push for increased skilled birth attendants so that every mother has access to care during childbirth and maternal mortality drastically decreases.  We will push for increased access to education so that every young person can be equipped with the knowledge and skills to recognize his or her own potential and to contribute to the development of our society and our economy.  We will push for freedom of conscience for all Filipinos, allowing all to act according to the dictates of their own consciences and not to the commands of the government.

We call on young people in the Philippines to join us in this fight.  We call on young people to be aware about issues related to the RH bill—population, development, and women’s health—and to continue to work together to safeguard our local communities from any threats to family and to human dignity. The passage of the bill and the years of debate leading up to it have shown us that our values and priorities as Filipinos continue to be threatened on different fronts. Young people must take a more vigilant and active role in monitoring the implementation of the bill in the next few years and in directing its impact on society, aiming to prevent the violation of dignity that the bill’s provisions threaten to do.

The World Youth Alliance would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people, especially the legislators, who selflessly devoted their time, talent and treasure to fighting a bill that does not adequately provide for the needs of Filipinos. The journey is not over, as we continue to work toward improving the health and education opportunities of Filipinos. We invite you to join us at WYA as we aim to improve the lives of our fellow Filipinos—and people around the world—through promoting the dignity of the human person and through educating youth about positive solutions to the problems facing our world, such as sustainable development, maternal and child health, and access to education and employment.

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World Youth Alliance's statement on the passage of the RH bill on second reading can be found here: Philippine Reproductive Health Bill Passed on Second Reading in Congress

"If we fall from grace, we have only ourselves to blame..."

Form the Philippine Star:

RH bill passage: A humbling moment!
Bobit S. Avila (December 20, 2012)

I look at the passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill in both legislative houses in the Senate and Congress last Monday as a watershed in Philippine history as it gives us a not-so-true-picture of the kind of people who represent the Filipino people in the Legislature. I have always looked at these people as nothing but greedy politicians who feed on the poverty of our people, blaming even the poor for having too many children, but never blaming themselves for feasting in the pork paid for by the taxpayers of this country. They call our overseas Filipino workers (OFW) as heroes, but even in honoring the OFW, they mostly get lip service from our politicians.

I look at this RH incident as a “humbling moment” especially for the Catholic Church and the realization that we Filipinos despite the millions that troop to the Feast of the Nazarene in Quiapo or during the Sinulog Week in Cebu City have become mere Catholics in name. I spent a huge part of Tuesday afternoon before the Blessed Sacrament, asking our Lord, “O Lord, have thou forsaken our nation?” I’m sure that God himself was disappointed and I can only ask the Lord to forgive our Congressmen and Senators for they know not what they do!

At this point, it is time for the Catholic Church to get its act together. In this spiritual battle, we have encountered priests and even Bishops who send confusing signals to the Laity about the RH bill. Perhaps the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) should seriously consider ways to strengthen our Catholic faith, and openly support the recent moves to create the Catholic Vote Movement so politicians will take notice.

Meanwhile, allow me to take a post RH bill comment from Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas, Archbishop of Lingayen, Dagupan who said “The Reproductive Health bill has been passed by the Senate and Congress through a majority vote. They might have won through the tyranny of numbers but it does not mean that they are right. It is only a matter of time and then we will see more violations of “Thou shall not kill” and “Thou shall not commit adultery” among our families, our youth and children. If the President will sign this into law, he will give us a moral time bomb wrapped as a gift to celebrate Christmas. This law will open more doors to abortion and more crimes against women.” We are recording these arguments for future use.

At this point, allow me to congratulate the brave Senators and Congressmen and women who fought long and hard and more importantly, kept the faith and voted against the RH bill. They have fought a good fight, but history will judge their actions whether they are right and we are wrong. One thing is sure… Filipinos nowadays are no longer as religious as they were 25 years ago and if we fall from grace, we only have ourselves to blame.

The Greatest Commandment taught by our Lord Jesus Christ is to Love God with all your heart, your strength and your soul… and your neighbor as thyself. But the approval of the RH bill has tipped the scales away from God, whom we should love first, but greed, lust for power and materialism have overcome the people’s Representatives and I’m sure there are many Filipinos out there who are just as disappointed as we are.

In an article by Michael Voris, entitled “Suicide by Heresy” emailed to me, Voris says “When a heresy is left unchecked… people’s minds are poisoned. When their minds are poisoned… they actually lose the ability to perceive the truth any longer and they begin to live a lie.” I used this quote because in order to have this bill passed, the pro-RH Congressmen and their supporters used all kinds of squid tactics and even outright falsehood just to have this bill passed and it saddens me that their venom succeeded.

Where do we go from here? Divorce? Enough already! Even the Liberal Party issued a statement thanking the Senators and Congressmen “for engaging each other to forge a law that truly reflects the will of the people they represent. We thank an active citizenry that engaged our legislators in discourse as regards the merits of the bill. Through it all, the Liberal Party stood firm in its bedrock principles.” It makes you wonder what those bedrock principles are… the lying, the cheating even during the Congressional vote?

How far will the Liberal Party go in its pursuit to keep its power? In Cebu City, the Liberal Party isn’t really a huge party as it has to rely on the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) of Rep. Tomas Osmeña. In the Province of Cebu, it is the One Cebu Party that is dominant. But the Liberal Party has something up their sleeves… they can count on the Office of the Ombudsman to suspend Governor Gwen F. Garcia. Hmmm, no wonder the LP’s are not even campaigning in Cebu… not only will they get rid of Gov. Gwen courtesy of the Ombudsman… they also have the PCOS machine!

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For email responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mo-pzcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.

Two recent statements by Bishop Gabriel Reyes on the RH bill and the Culture of Life (Updated)

(Update 15/11/12: I've uploaded an image of the ECFL statement on the revised RH bill)

Originally posted Nov. 12, 2012: 

Bishop Gabriel Reyes, Ordinary of the Diocese of Antipolo, is the current head of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life (ECFL).

1. Statement of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life on the revised RH bill, November 6, 2012 (LINK)

A picture of the same statement, courtesy of Pro-Life Philippines: 

2. Lecture on the Blessed Virgin Mary in connection with the Culture of Life and the Culture of Death, June 21, 2012:

Mary and the Culture of Life and the Culture of Death

By Most Rev. Gabriel V. Reyes, D.D., Bishop of Antipolo

Culture of Life

Before talking about Mary in connection with the culture of life and the culture of death, let me review with you the meaning of the culture of life. in short, the culture of life is a way of thinking, a way of living that is in accordance with the Gospel of Life. To explain the gospel of life, I will depend much on the encyclical letter of Blessed John Paul II, "Evangelium Vitae" the Gospel of Life.

Basically the Gospel of Life teaches that human life has to be respected, promoted, and protected because of the human person. According to Vatican II, "man is the only creature on earth which God willed for its own sake." Because of the transcendent dignity of man "he is the subject of rights which no one may violate – no individual, group, class, nation or state." ("Centesimus Annus", 44) Human rights are rights inherent in every person and prior to any Constitution and State Legislation. The right to life is a primary right of the human person.

The dignity of the human person is based on my things.

First, man has been crated in the image and likeness of God. He is an image of God through his intellect and will. "You have made him little less than a god and crown him with glory and honor. (Ps. 8:5) The glory of God shines on the face of man.

Second, he has been redeemed by Christ, the Son of God, through His suffering and death. Furthermore, Vatican II says: "By his incarnation the Son of God has united himself in some fashion with every human being." This saving event reveals to humanity not only the boundless love of God who "so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (Jn. 3:16) but also the incomparable value of every human person (Evangelium Vitae, 2).

Third, man is called to share in God's own life, in divine life. "Man is called to a fullness of life which far exceeds the dimension of his earthly existence, because it consists in sharing the very life of God. The loftiness of this supernatural vocation reveals the greatness and inestimable value of human life even in its temporal phase. (EV, 2). Through the redemption wrought by Christ, God shared his divine life with man making him his son.

"We see here a clear affirmation of the primacy of man over things; these are made subject to him and entrusted to his responsible care, whereas for no reason can he be made subject to other men and almost reduced to the level of a thing." (EV, 34)

Life is not only God's gift to man but is also a sacred reality entrusted to man. He has to take care of it and protect it. He has to bring it to perfection through love and through the gift of himself to God and to his brothers and sisters.

On the pro-life principles embedded in the Philippine Constitution

The Sanctity of Family and Life Natural Law Thinking in the Constitution

On being an orthodox Catholic

From an Atenean of the old school:

It needs courage to be Catholic

By Minyong Ordoñez

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Sunday, August 26th, 2012

It’s not easy to be a doctrinal Catholic today, one who adheres to the official teaching of the magisterium of the church. It’s easier to be a relativist, the obey/disobey type, depending on one’s pleasure and convenience.

A myriad of forms of independent thinking are peddled today in the public square of our pluralistic society. Media churns out messages and ideas, uncensored for intellectuality or banality. Desktops and laptops empower the youth to think and speak in personalistic terms.

Social issues interpreted by the State to legislate laws run in conflict with the Church’s doctrines, i.e. birth control, divorce, same-sex marriage, etc. When the debates ensue, the thin line between the separation of Church and State becomes thinner and thinner, to the point of intellectual and emotional violence.

Metro Manila is not the Philippines, and MM's overcrowding does not make the Philippines overcrowded too

From the Letters to the Editor section of the PDI:

MM overcrowded but PH not overpopulated

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Monday, August 13th, 2012

“We are not poor because we are plenty; rather we are plenty because we are poor.”

Women do not beget children on their own. So it is unfortunate that throughout the raging controversy over the Reproductive Health bill, no one seems to be paying attention to Filipino men, especially the poor. Virtually all arguments from both sides seem to focus on the protection of women and children alone. But we must get to the root of the problem. Why do husbands continue to force themselves on their wives despite their inability to support large families?

Based on experience from working with the poor, it is due to our individual and collective greed and lust. Our poor menfolk, whom nature designed to be providers for their families, lose their sense of dignity and turn “predatory” when they are jobless or woefully underpaid. Their depressed condition is exacerbated by the vulgarization of sexuality in all forms of mass media.

The RH bill is therefore not a real and lasting solution because it only addresses the symptom of overpopulation among the poor. The end does not justify the means, especially if it is harmful and immoral. Rather, the true and real solution is to promote morality, specifically the virtues of charity and chastity, the values of caring and sharing to overcome greed, and the values of purity and modesty to overcome lust. The late US President Ronald Reagan said it so eloquently, “Economic growth is the best contraceptive.” Metro Manila is overcrowded, but the Philippines is not overpopulated. This is only because we have failed dismally to develop our agricultural sector and provinces, which could have sustained rural families instead of driving them to become illegal settlers in Metro Manila. They are not poor because they are plenty; rather they are plenty because they are poor. Make our poor rich and they will have less time and energy for irresponsible parenthood. Then our rich will only become wealthier because better-paid workers are more productive workers, and they are also more affluent consumers who possess higher purchasing power to buy products and services sold by the rich.

No to Reproductive Health. Yes to Reproductive Wealth, where wealth begets more wealth because the rich help the poor and the poor help themselves through various forms of profit-sharing—not forcible land reform or mandatory wages. Workers who are part-owners will drive revenues, cut costs and conserve cash on their own. And how can we acquire the virtues of charity and chastity? Through personal discipline and self-control (not birth control), and most of all through prayer and sacrifice, because the virtues of charity and generosity, chastity and self-control are fruits of God the Holy Spirit.

Of course, all this must start with the nation’s top leadership. Enough of self-centered leadership. We demand God-centered leadership because we deserve God-centered leadership. Nothing more. Nothing less. P-Noy says “Kayo ang boss ko,” but let us remind him, “ngunit ang Diyos ang boss nating lahat!”

—WILLY ARCILLA,

willyarcilla@yahoo.com

Doctor and former contraceptive user turned pro-life advocate: the edifying example of Dr. Dolores Octaviano

Published by Manila Times on July 1, 2012:

Doctor for Life

EWTN CATHOLIC LIVES 

Editor’s note: Every Wednesday (5:30 p.m.), Saturday (10:30 p.m.) and Sunday (10:30 a.m.) the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) Global Catholic Network features the program “Catholic Lives Asia.” It is hosted by Chi Chi Robles, who interviews a guest whose inspiring life story is an example of how a Catholic should live.

Spirituality Times offers a retelling of the televised interview story for the printed page. Today’s life story is that of Dr. Dolores “Dolly” Octaviano, an endocrinologist of Iloilo City who is also a champion for life. The show appears in TV stations of the Catholic Media Network.

AN endocrinologist, Dr. Dolores “Dolly” Octaviano holds clinic hours in many hospitals in Iloilo City.

“I am the 9th of 10 children. My mother was a housewife, my father a farmer. If we had the foreign family planning program then, I would not be here, ” Dr. Octaviano shares.

Now parents of four, Dr. Octaviano and her husband, a former seaman, are deeply involved in the prolife movement. 

“Initially I was not really all that prolife. I was a nominal Catholic. I even used the pill and had a ligation. But the grace of God touched me,” Dr. Octaviano confesses, and adds, “God’s grace will touch any life he chooses and he gave me the grace to recognize that being a Catholic is a defense of Jesus, it’s a defense of everything noble in us.”

How's this for real change and development?

Challenging the birth control mentality

Teaching Purity 

Changing World 

By DR. BERNARDO M. VILLEGAS 

May 17, 2012 


MANILA, Philippines — The birth control mentality deeply encrusted in the controversial RH Bill is increasingly out of synch with numerous pronouncements of international economists, business strategists, and foreign investors who are heaping praises on the Philippines for having a large, young, and growing population. The alarming voices from population control advocates, who used to categorically state that the Philippine population has already breached the 100-million mark, have been at least temporarily silenced by the revelation that the 2010 Census of Population and Housing by the National Statistics Office (NSO) placed the 2010 population at only 92.34 million, with the growth rate slowing down to an annual average of 1.9% during the 2000-2010 period from 2.34% in 1990-2000. Neomalthusians should be relieved that the Philippine population will not double in the next 30 years and will plateau at about 145 to 150 million some time before the middle of the present century. Given the high probability that Philippine GDP can grow at an average of 7% to 9% during the next 20 years, a population of some 150 million, mostly young Filipinos and Filipinas, will be a great advantage in a global village of predominantly aging countries in the developed world, including our Northeast Asian neighbors such as Japan, South Korea, and China. At 150 million people by mid-century the Philippines will have the population density of resource-poor but highly developed South Korea today.

Four articles by Dr. Jesus Estanislao on the family

Development for the family

Family Governance

Development of the family

Special Role of the Family

Strengthening the culture of life

Better posted here late than never!

THE RH BILL: LOSING THE SENSE OF THE SACREDNESS OF LIFE

Posted on: February 24, 2011 by BCBP EDITOR

The Reproductive Health Bill now in Congress has been the subject of discussions, heated arguments and lengthy position papers for many months. As BCBP members and concerned citizens, we must make it a point to know more about this piece of proposed legislation and how it would affect our lives, our faith, our families, our children and their future.

This Bill is, in the view of our faith, is a prime example of the “conspiracy against life” that is subtly encroaching on the sanctity of life in today’s milieu. This conspiracy takes the form of a “culture of death” and damages us not only in our personal, family, and community relations, but also distorts relations between peoples and nations. It is in direct opposition to the Culture of Life.

For a more detailed discussion of the various aspects of the Culture of Life, the Culture of Death, and other burning issues of the times (contraception, abortion, euthanasia, bioethics, health care, and sexuality concerns), read Evangelizing Presence: Caring for Life, a BCBP publication, authored by Nancy Russell Catan (BCBP Portal Editor), Fr. Pasquale T. Giordano, SJ, and Mitos Rivera. It is available at the BCBP National Office. Some of the salient features of the Culture of Death vs the Culture of Life are summarized in the following paragraphs.

The basic feature of this Culture of Death is the noticeable absence of God in a growing secular lifestyle, influenced by a flood of distorted and hedonistic values where pleasure is maximized and pain is minimized. Having and hoarding become more important than “being”. Sexuality is depersonalized and exploited. The so-called right of women to decide whether or not to kill their unborn child due to various reasons usually in support of their personal life-style is highlighted and the right of the unborn to its God-given life is being ignored.

This is the modern tragedy: the eclipse of the sense of God and man, and the resulting distortions wherein society refuses to accept and care for any life – the sick, the aged, the dysfunctional, the weak – that interferes with its “progress”. We are gradually but inexorably losing the sense of the sacred in our society.

Life as designed by God is always “a good”. It is the seed of an existence that transcends the very limits of time, for God himself has planted eternity in the human heart. Human life has always been sacred to God, and to proclaim Christianity is to proclaim life.

Therefore as a “people for life” we need to view life in its deeper meaning, and to look for God’s living image in every person, in the unborn person as well as in the birthed. By seeing Christ in every person we meet, we can experience a God-given, everyday – or we could say, an every-person – epiphany! This is the Culture of Life.

It is this Culture of Life that promotes and enables us and others to live in dignity and fullness of life. It is in embracing the Culture of Life that helps us build our families as the basic life unit of community and society. It is in strengthening this Culture of Life in our families that the integrity and sanctity of the family as the domestic church, the basic unit of Christian life and cornerstone of society, is truly realized.

Let us ask ourselves and answer sincerely and honestly from our hearts: Who am I, who are we, to arrogate ourselves equal to God by legislating whether a God-created, God-given life should live or die? The future of our society depends on the rediscovery of the innate human and moral values that promote and strengthen the Culture of Life. At the same time we need to fight against those values that promote the influence of the Culture of Death.

For all the Church haters out there

This was originally posted on this blog on May 29, 2011 at 8:04 PM. Newer articles below.

For all the Church haters, unfreethinkers, glib soundbite-repeaters, pilosopos and fashionably anti-clerical university kiddos and coffee-shop philosophizers out there. You think that the Church is utterly useless, eh? Please explain this article to me. (Try taking a look at THIS POST as well.)

Church operating 117,000 centers for AIDS patients worldwide

Vatican City, May 27, 2011 / 03:07 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care reported that the Catholic Church is currently running 117,000 centers to care for AIDS patients throughout the world.

Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski told L’Osservatore Romano that in the past 30 years, more than 60 million people have contracted HIV, mostly in Africa. He spoke to the Vatican paper on the eve of a congress on the treatment and prevention of HIV and AIDS.

The conference is taking place May 27-28. It was organized by the Good Samaritan Foundation, instituted by Blessed John Paul II in 2004 and entrusted to the Pontifical Council for Health Care.

He underscored the testimony of “numerous health care workers and volunteers who, in their courageous care for the sick … have themselves contracted the infection.”

He also highlighted the work by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta and the late Cardinal John Joseph O’Connor of New York, “who promoted numerous heath care centers for AIDS victims” and “many treatment and assistance programs in the United States and in other poor countries.”

The congress is intended to respond to the questions of “many bishops who contact our dicastery in order to receive constant help, with material assistance but above all with information on the latest advances in science in the fight against this disease,” Archbishop Zimowski said.

The objectives of the congress include the improvement of pastoral and health care for AIDS victims and the encouragement of the developed world to show solidarity with poor countries, “as too many people die without access to the treatment they need, especially antiretrovirals” currently available only in developed countries.

In 2008, then-president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, reported that 27 percent of institutions around the world caringfor AIDS patients are Catholic; 44 percent are governmental; 11 percent are operated by NGOs; and 8 percent are run by other religious confessions.

The RH bill: a divisive, unnecessary and distracting cause.

Issue is not the RH Bill but good governance

Philippine Daily Inquirer

7:28 pm | Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

THROUGH THE years, the Philippine Daily Inquirer has admirably chronicled the highs and lows of our country, as well as the successes and travails of our fellow Filipinos. Its frank account of the latest news (seen through the eyes of a Filipino), and the incisive opinions of its columnists helped shape the opinion of our policy-makers and of the public itself. Indeed, I for one admit that I look forward to grabbing my copy of PDI every morning, half-expecting a new controversy to wail about, or some trivial news to lighten my day. There is some good-natured, naughty aptness to the moniker attached to PDI by readers as The Philippine Daily Intriguer. I do my best to read up on the latest opinions of Solita Monsod, retired Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban and former UP College of Law dean Raul Pangalangan, among others. It is difficult to imagine a weekday without PDI.

Lately, PDI has been more and more vocal about the public’s frustration with corruption, anomalies and injustice. Our awareness has been the keener for that. PDI must speak out by all means because unless it does, we Filipinos will forget, ignore and neglect democratic governance in this country. Pity a populace that gropes for the truth, that labored under past governments that cared little for its welfare, that has been deceived by its leaders for too long.

I sincerely hope for an end to the self-pity to which our people have been accustomed. We cannot complain and wail endlessly, surely, without hoping that our government will wage a war for good governance. It makes little sense for our leaders to express vexation or disappointment at the recent turn of events, or find endless justifications for the present state of governance. This is precisely why the present administration should reconsider its view that anti-corruption and governance laws are already in place, and as such, there is no need to enact new laws addressing the two maladies.

The inconvenient truth is that the same laws have allowed public officials and bureaucrats to evade responsibility or go scot-free to the embarrassment of our nation. The same laws continue to provide the basis for bureaucrats to protect and favor certain vested interests with impunity. The same laws, in other words, have failed to promote transparent and accountable government since time immemorial.

If good governance was the battle cry in the last elections, let that be the focus of the government’s energies in the coming years. That is why all the attention on the so-called Reproductive Health (RH) Bill, among others, is counterproductive. The RH Bill should not be an issue that this government should be dying for. The fight for good governance is the one big issue we—government, citizens, the private sector and civil society—should all be discussing in public forums. Rather than divide us, it will certainly unite us as no other issue has been able to do.

I just hope that PDI is with me on this.

—ROMEO C. SANTOS,

rrcs_law@yahoo.com

Manny Pacquiao on Prayer and Family Planning

His most extensive comments so far regarding the RH bill:



To the RH bill supporters out all: Manny Paqcuiao's no idiot at all!

Glorify God in your bodies

Yet another "better late than never" post :)

The contraceptive mindset: the inability to say "no".

Not openly against the RH Bill, but the message is quite relevant. - CAP


'Hindi umaayaw'
By "Petrufied"

If you listen to AM radio, you must've already heard the advertisement for vitamins that uses the title of this post as a tagline, and you know that their image model is no other than Robin Padilla. The whole point of the ad is to say that Robin can do all that he does (and even be locked up in jail) because he never backs out, or if you take the tagline literally, he doesn't say no. And he doesn't have to say no to anything because his vitamins give him the energy to do it all! Hooray!

I get the point of not wanting to back out of anything--especially when it comes to work. The ad is talking to people in blue collar jobs and appealing to their yearning to easily put in more hours at work so they can have more income to bring home. In that case, not backing out is a good thing.

I brought this up because I want to focus on something quite the opposite, which is being able to say No. It's ridiculous to go, I never say No. Sure, that's obvious when it comes to things that can get you in trouble, land you in jail, etc., however, there are also other less obvious things that merit saying no to; and because we are thinking people, we should know when these occasions are.

Have you ever heard anyone say: "You can afford it, why not?" or "It's your right to do what you want," and other phrases of the same line of thought? In this get-everything-you-want-NOW kind of world, that seems to be the dominant philosophy. Dominant, though, doesn't necessarily equate to "good for you," and no matter how much of a right you have to drown yourself in junk food, junk media, or junk philosophies, you realize sooner or later that you are not happy drowning in the same after a while. All this yes-ing can get tiring; worse, you come out of it not learning anything at all.

That's one of the things I find wanting in a contraceptive mindset. It's all yes-ing without stopping to think about what's good for anybody, let alone what's good for the self. People can go on harping about their rights as if there's such a thing as rights without responsibility, but it doesn't change the fact that each one of us needs to learn to say No, too.

I find it puzzling how some people applaud the Japanese for their great self-mastery and selflessness, and then trumpet their support for some bill that teaches the Filipinos to throw to the winds those very same virtues. My think: why is self-mastery considered noble when you're in a crisis of Ondoy proportions, but not very valuable in the bedroom?

It's the same virtue: if you can say No in the privacy of your home--say No to lazing around, say No to your vices (you know what those are), say No to putting off spring cleaning to another day, say No to comforts (chocolate?) once in a while--then you will be able to say No when you step outside: hold back that rage when an impudent taxi driver cuts you on the road, avoid succumbing to a BIG SALE that you don't need to be in, call a rain check when your friends are not being prudent about their time and yours....

You may be thinking: how KJ naman to have to say No to so many things! But keep in mind that every No to one thing is a Yes to something else, and something better for that matter. You say No to laziness, you say Yes to accomplishing things. A No to one more bar of chocolate is a Yes to good health, and perhaps to sharing that extra bar with someone else, too. No to the BIG SALE means Yes to saving up for a style piece that you'll get more wear out of later on.

And of course, every well-thought-out No is a brick in that house called character, which constantly needs fortifying, given the fickleness of our "open-minded" world. You gotta learn to say No conscientiously. You gotta think well and hard before you give your Yes to anything. That's good character. That's self-mastery.

...besides, whoever takes "hindi umaayaw" as a compliment better brush up on colloquial Filipino--isn't that the description right next to "Utu-uto"?

A young man's powerful testimony to chastity

This fine young man is E.J. Aguila of the Live Pure Movement and CFC-YFL.

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".