fr. bernas answers bishop reyes & the CBCP : points out where the bishop erred on rh bill

we have been waiting for the answer of fr. bernas on the 3/4 print ad released by the CBCP and bishop reyes of antipolo. we have marked the important points made by fr. bernas. (click to read: CBCP answers fr joaquin bernas on rh bill via print ad at philippine daily inquirer)

we have a few more:

• fr. bernas is incorrect when he said this: “Third, the Church teaching on contraception is based not only on Faith or revelation but also on natural law.”  in fact the bishop admits its opposition to the rh bill is NOT based on faith or revelation, ” It is also good to point out that the church teaching regarding contraceptives is not based on Faith or revelation, although it is confirmed by our Faith.”
• fr. bernas being a catholic priest is anti rhbill but he is also a professor of law, a constitutionalist, a pinoy and a human being. he answers the bishop being all of those, each one on 20/20 vision.
• every time fr. bernas writes about the rh bill, he makes us think and reflect on our positions on the rh bill and from which we either confirm or change our positions. the point is fr. bernas always makes us think and reflect no matter what our position is on the rh bill.

CONVERSATION WITH A BISHOP
Fr. Joaquin Bernas S.J.

A couple of days ago Bishop Gabriel Reyes of Antipolo diocese, writing under the stationary of the Catholic Bishops Conference, published an ad in the Inquirer and Philippine Star, expressing his disagreement with the views of an unnamed columnist on the merits and demerits of the RH Bill.  The regular readers of my columns in the Inquirer immediately recognized that the Bishop was referring to me. I too recognized it immediately as referring to me.

Not that I object to the reference to me nor to being quoted.  In fact I welcome the bishop’s ad and take it as an invitation to dialogue.  Dialogue among Christians, high and low, is highly encouraged by the Church today.  “In the modern world, the scandal is not that Vatican officials would engage scientists who disagree with church teaching, but rather that such engagement is regarded as taboo.”

The Bishop takes exception to my statement that “the state should not prevent people from practicing responsible parenthood according to their religious beliefs nor may churchmen compel President Aquino, by whatever means, to prevent people from acting according to their religious beliefs.”  The Bishop says that he “would be happy if the (non-abortifacient contraceptives) were banned” but that the Church is only against the state promoting contraceptives and providing free contraceptives to people.

From the bishop’s ad, I gather three points for dialogue. First, the bishop says that now “anyone can buy contraceptives from drugstores or even from ‘convenient stores.’”  Second, (but this is implicit) the state should not use public money to make contraceptives freely available.  Third, the Church teaching on contraception is based not only on Faith or revelation but also on natural law.

Let’s converse about these.

First, on easy availability of contraceptives in drugstores.  The clear implication is that the world is free and anyone can buy these.  This is simply not true.  Only those who have the money can buy them.  Legislators, however, are thinking of the vast majority of poor people who need help to be able to practice responsible parenthood.

president aquino is a “bad catholic”, that makes 71% of pinoy catholics also “bad catholics”

things just got pretty nasty on this holy week of 2011 with the debate, actually bashing on the RH Bill.  not that the3re ever was baby talk among the anti and the pro,  but what is happening now has been leveled up quite a few notches higher.

president aquino has recently stated again in a speech at UP that he supports the passage of the RH Bill. aquino was pretty strong in his declaration of support for the bill. not that we did not know it, this is actually old news as far back as during the election campaign that gave aquino a landslide win over a long list of presidentiables.

the catholic church during the time of the arroyo administration has been attacking people, politicians and groups who support the RH Bill, this new attack on aquino is nothing new. in fact aquino was already threatened by a bishop of excommunication for his support of the RH Bill. the threat of excommunication is of course silly and stupid and the CBCP and bishops quickly withdrew the threat.

this is not excommunication but aquino is not being called a bad catholic. that puts aquino among 71% of all pinoy catholics in the philippines. an SWS survey puts 71% of pinoy catholics as supporting the RH Bill as well. how can the catholic church in the philippines have so many “bad catholics” among their flocks is perhaps something the vatican should look into. with such a high number of pinoy catholics as “bad catholics”, it can only mean the philippine catholic church has failed in its duty to have all its flock as “good catholics”

attacks of this sort is also not new for the catholic church. it has behaved in such a manner  before. in fact for a very long time, at least 9 years during the whole of the arroyo administration. often times, the church will go nuts on its attack on people and groups only to retract them a few days after perhaps when they realize they were acting unholy in their attacks.

aside from the attacks, the church has also used lies, distortions and silliness  in demonizing  modern methods of contraception.  they do that in forums like congress and by their speakers who go to schools where unsuspecting adolescents listen and do not have the guts or enough knowledge to question them.

with a catholic church like this one, who needs evil?

‘Bad Catholic’

In Laguna, Fr. Jerry Oblepias, diocesan director of Laguna’s Family Life Ministry, Tuesday said Mr. Aquino was a “bad Catholic” with a “conscience that is not well-formed,” in his support for the controversial RH bill.

“He is misled. What he is thinking as ways to solve poverty are the easy and lazy ways. He must face the real issue, that we are poor because of bad governance and bad economic policies,” he said.

In a speech at the University of the Philippines (Diliman) graduation rites last Sunday, the President said: “I am aware of those who are opposed to it (RH Bill) but it’s my obligation as a leader to reach out to all sectors and talk and explain this to them calmly—even if some are saying I should be excommunicated.”

Mr. Aquino said he was willing to take that risk because he believed that slowing population growth would reduce poverty in the Philippines.

The Church has made it a crusade to block the passage of the RH bill now pending in Congress, claiming that it endorses abortion.

It has for the past 10 years blocked the approval of the proposed legislation which it said advocates “abortifacients.”

Different from Cory

Oblepias noted that Mr. Aquino’s latest declaration for the RH bill was so far from his election campaign battle cry of “kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap” (where there is no corruption, there is no poverty).

“I am very sad that P-Noy apparently does not know the meaning of [excommunication]… He is really totally different from his mother (the late President Corazon Aquino),” he said in a phone interview.

Malacañang Tuesday decried as “unfair” Cruz’s calling Mr. Aquino anti-Christian.

“I think that’s an unfair judgment of the President. Just because the Palace favors couples to be given information and education (on family planning methods), it is called anti-Christian,” said deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte.

Valte reiterated that Mr. Aquino was against abortion as this was against the law.

What the President has been pushing for is that through a responsible parenthood law, couples will be given access to information about family planning methods so that they can make an informed choice, she explained.

read in full here: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20110420-332158/Clerics-bash-President-as-anti-Christian-not-like-Cory

weakness of NFP (natural family planning) is man’s weakness, that of priests, too

anti-RH Bill proponents say abstinence and discipline  for sexual partners is the way to go for avoiding unwanted pregnancies.  and that is very much needed when couples decide to use NFP  (natural family planning).  one needs to be aware and strictly follow a woman’s “safe periods” . making sure engaging in sex only during these times. that will take a lot of fiscipline and control for both partners, specially for the male partner.

and that is where the problem lie for the practice of NFP – discipline and self-control.  “special” humans like priests are supposed to be stronger. they are more disciplined and has more control than regular humans like us. theirs is founded on strong faith and belief and and many years of study and indoctrination as to what is right or wrong 24/7 while regular humans like us are just founded on a few hours of religion class in school and once a week sunday masses.

but as this report from the US shows, the clergy, catholic priests themselves lose it too with the discovery of new sex abuses by the clergy and their numbers soaring.  these numbers should are just the tip of the iceberg as most sex abuses by priests are normally hidden intentionally or unintentionally. many victims of sex abuse by priests are too traumatized to reveal them or intentionally push them  deep down into the subconscious that sometimes it takes years for the them to surface out to the conscious or never.

if priests who are supposed the masters of what is right or wrong, whose lives are dedicated to these pursuits 24/7 unable to control their urges and engage in sex apparently uncontrollably ,  how much more (or less) would regular humans like us exercise control and discipline that is needed in the use of NFP?

 

Clergy sex allegations soar in the US—study
By Karin Zeitvogel

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:34:00 04/12/2011

WASHINGTON—Allegations of sexual abuse involving the Roman Catholic clergy in the United States rose sharply last year to nearly 700 from around 400 in 2009, according to a church report Monday.

The vast majority of the allegations, 653, involved alleged abuse that occurred decades ago but whose “victims/survivors are just now finding the courage to report” them, the study said.

Thirty accusations were made by current minors, but only eight were deemed credible, said the US church’s annual report on implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

The number of victims was up sharply from 2009, when there were some 400 new allegations of clergy sex abuse in the United States.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20110412-330662/Clergy-sex-allegations-soar-in-the-USstudy

con-ass proponents are like rapists – cardinal rosales

when cardinal rosales took over as archbishop of manila, the country and most specially civil society gave a collective ho-hum. some mourned. for good reason – rosales replaced the hugely popular and well-loved cardinal jaime sin.

cardinal sin is known for his wit and intelligence and above all, his activism in philippine political and national life. he is largely credited for the beginnings of the People Power Revolution that removed ferdinand marcos in 1986.

nobody will forget that day. people were just starting to gather in EDSA, then over the radio cardinal sin asked catholics to get out of their homes and proceed to isetan in cubao, the starting point for a march towards camp crame edsa for the people to protect camp crame and camp aguinaldo. the rest is history.

that kind of involvement is something everyone knew rosales will not give. and true enough, upon his installation in the highest position in the philippine catholic church, he simply disappeared into nowhere saying nothing about what was happening to the country. all of a sudden the archdiocese of manila turned silent, the exact opposite of what it was before. not only that, he instructed priests and bishops not to meddle in political affairs.

that was rosales then, but the rosales that we hear now is very, very different.

the bishops and now being led by rosales have been very vocal about the cha-cha and con-ass, the move by arroyo supporters to change the constitution to enable a term extension that can mean arroyo will install herself as president for life of the philippines.

cardinal rosales has transformed himself. and his latest statement to describe allowing the congressmen to form themselves into a con-ass to amend the constitution : “It’s like entrusting your teenage daughter in the care of a rapist.”

that statement is just one of many signs, words said, rallies organized and movements led that is pointing to a more active involvement of catholic bishops in national issues.

welcome, cardinal rosales. i am sure cardinal sin is smiling in heaven.

Cardinal: Con-ass backers like rapists

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:13:00 12/19/2008

MANILA, Philippines—Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales has expressed what may yet be his sharpest rebuke of administration lawmakers pushing a constituent assembly (Con-ass) to amend the 1987 Constitution.

“It’s like entrusting your teenage daughter in the care of a rapist,” Rosales told reporters. “I’m sorry for the analogy, but you get the idea.”

The cardinal said it would not be prudent to allow certain members of the House of Representatives to perform the task of Charter change because of their vested interests including “political dynasties.”

He added: “[There] is a danger of extending [the term of] the present administration and those who are occupying positions [in it] down to the last office.”

But Rosales, who now holds the prelature from which the late Jaime Cardinal Sin called on the people to overthrow two presidents, indicated the Catholic hierarchy’s support for “improving the Constitution.”

read in full here: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20081219-178769/Cardinal-Con-ass-backers-like-rapists