A Filipino bishop has been elected as a member of the Twelfth Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops at the conclusion of the 12th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Word of God held at the Vatican October 16-25.
Imus bishop Luis Antonio G. Tagle, a prominent theologian, who also served as an expert at the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for Asia in 1998, was one of the 12 members elected by the assembly to make up the post-synodal council. Three additional members were appointed by the Pope.
Tagle was one of the four bishops elected as delegates to the synod by members of Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) during their plenary meeting last July. The three other prelates were Bishops Arturo Bastes, Broderick Pabillo and Pablo David.
Archbishop Orlando Quevedo who also participated at the synod was appointed by the Pope in his capacity as secretary general of the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences.
Post-synodal Council
The 15 members of the post-synodal council are the following: Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; Cardinal Francis Eugene George O.M.I., archbishop of Chicago and president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga S.D.B., archbishop of Tegucigalpa and president of the Episcopal Conference of Honduras; Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, archbishop of Cape Coast , Ghana , and president of the Association of West African Episcopal Conferences; Cardinal Marc Ouellet P.S.S., archbishop of Quebec , Canada; Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun S.D.B., bishop of Hong Kong, China; Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer, archbishop of Sao Paulo, Brazil; Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity; Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa, president of the Episcopal Conference of the Democratic Republic of Congo; Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil S.D.B. of Guwahati, India; Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, Ireland; Archbishop Mark Benedict Coleridge of Canberra-Goulburn, Australia; Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture; Bishop Florentin Crihalmeanu of Cluj-Gherla, Romania; and Bishop Luis Antonio G. Tagle of Imus, Philippines.
Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, announced the names of the council members during the Twenty-Second General Congregation. He likewise revealed that as the participants conclude their work each one will be presented with a facsimile of the Bodmer Papyrus XIV-XV (gospels of Luke and John handwritten in Greek) by the Holy Father.
Post-synodal document
A document called Apostolic Exhortation is usually drafted by the pope at the end of each synod considering the various propositions presented by the synodal Fathers. The post-synodal Council and the General Secretary are involved in the process leading to the publication of the post-synodal document.
First established by Pope Paul VI in 1965, the Synod of Bishops aimed to keep alive the spirit of collegiality provoked by the 2nd Vatican Council.
Since it begun in 1967, there have been 12 Ordinary General Assemblies of the Synod of Bishops held; seven Special Assemblies; two Extraordinary General Assemblies in 1969 and 1985, and a Particular Synod for the Netherlands in 1980.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
LAIKO petitions lawmakers to junk repro health bill
DISSENTING voices to the passage of the controversial reproductive health bill have reached a crescendo with the signing of a petition against it by members of LAIKO during its regional conference held recently in Iloilo City.
Representatives of various lay organizations and movements all over the country who participated in the LAIKO regional conference signed up a petition asking legislators to junk the RH bill that is currently being debated in Congress.
Dr. Dolores Octaviano, an internist and endocrinologist working at St. Paul’s Hospital in Iloilo City delivered a fiery speech to Laiko participants during the conference lambasting pro-choice lawmakers for their insensitivity to the needs of their constituents.
“I hope these legislators will realize that they should not lord it over the people who have elected them… If they legislate laws that go against their identity of being a legislator then they have no business passing the law,” said Octaviano.
An active member of the Jaro Archdiocesan Commission on Family and Life since 2005, Octaviano, also a member of Human Life International, has recently been elected in charge of the Visayas area for family and life advocacy.
She said lawmakers should discern well and see if their decision is in accordance with the will of God.
“Legislators should legislate laws that are for the good of the people. If the law they want to pass will do a lot of havoc to the people they promise to serve, then whom are they serving?” Octaviano asked.
Awareness campaign
Octaviano goes around giving talks to schools, both private and public. She also gives talks to different organizations making them aware of the side effects of the reproductive health bill.
Being a medical doctor, Octaviano knows whereof she speaks. In one of her awareness campaign, she said she got shocked from the reaction of a woman from the audience.
“The bill has been here for the past 40 years but we never heard any doctor talk about the side effects. You are the first physician who talked about [its] side effects,” the woman told her.
When asked if she talks with the doctors regarding her advocacy, Octaviano said she tries to approach one doctor at a time. She said she tries to be prudent in approaching doctors on this subject since not all medical practitioners believe in her advocacy.
Octaviano said she started talking with one obstetrician about it. Now, more obstetricians she talked with have stopped ligating their patients.
Although ligation is a national program of government, Octaviano is not sure if the practice is observed in all hospitals.
But she talked of one instance when a doctor tried to force her helper to sign a document that would allow the physician to ligate her.
“One time after doing my rounds in one hospital, I saw this doctor running after a pregnant woman, saying ‘have yourself ligated.’ So I scolded the doctor,” said Octaviano.
She said St. Paul Hospital, being a Catholic institution does not allow this practice but other hospitals do, whether public or private.
When asked if patients are given options, she said, “I don’t know of other patients but those who were not informed, they are made to believe as if this should be the case. They give you a scenario [that] it’s almost impossible to say no.”
But there are also sensible doctors who sit down with their patients and advise them to think of their options, Octaviano said.
Representatives of various lay organizations and movements all over the country who participated in the LAIKO regional conference signed up a petition asking legislators to junk the RH bill that is currently being debated in Congress.
Dr. Dolores Octaviano, an internist and endocrinologist working at St. Paul’s Hospital in Iloilo City delivered a fiery speech to Laiko participants during the conference lambasting pro-choice lawmakers for their insensitivity to the needs of their constituents.
“I hope these legislators will realize that they should not lord it over the people who have elected them… If they legislate laws that go against their identity of being a legislator then they have no business passing the law,” said Octaviano.
An active member of the Jaro Archdiocesan Commission on Family and Life since 2005, Octaviano, also a member of Human Life International, has recently been elected in charge of the Visayas area for family and life advocacy.
She said lawmakers should discern well and see if their decision is in accordance with the will of God.
“Legislators should legislate laws that are for the good of the people. If the law they want to pass will do a lot of havoc to the people they promise to serve, then whom are they serving?” Octaviano asked.
Awareness campaign
Octaviano goes around giving talks to schools, both private and public. She also gives talks to different organizations making them aware of the side effects of the reproductive health bill.
Being a medical doctor, Octaviano knows whereof she speaks. In one of her awareness campaign, she said she got shocked from the reaction of a woman from the audience.
“The bill has been here for the past 40 years but we never heard any doctor talk about the side effects. You are the first physician who talked about [its] side effects,” the woman told her.
When asked if she talks with the doctors regarding her advocacy, Octaviano said she tries to approach one doctor at a time. She said she tries to be prudent in approaching doctors on this subject since not all medical practitioners believe in her advocacy.
Octaviano said she started talking with one obstetrician about it. Now, more obstetricians she talked with have stopped ligating their patients.
Although ligation is a national program of government, Octaviano is not sure if the practice is observed in all hospitals.
But she talked of one instance when a doctor tried to force her helper to sign a document that would allow the physician to ligate her.
“One time after doing my rounds in one hospital, I saw this doctor running after a pregnant woman, saying ‘have yourself ligated.’ So I scolded the doctor,” said Octaviano.
She said St. Paul Hospital, being a Catholic institution does not allow this practice but other hospitals do, whether public or private.
When asked if patients are given options, she said, “I don’t know of other patients but those who were not informed, they are made to believe as if this should be the case. They give you a scenario [that] it’s almost impossible to say no.”
But there are also sensible doctors who sit down with their patients and advise them to think of their options, Octaviano said.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
LAIKO tackles good governance in regional conference
A REGIONAL conference delving on the role of the laity in effecting change in governance culminated the week-long celebration of the National Laity Week.
Dr. Linda Tacorda, National president of the Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas said the two-day regional conference scheduled in Iloilo City was a first in the history of the organization.
The implementing lay arm of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) as Laiko is called, tackled the issue of good governance—a problem that for so long has been hounding the country because of unabated corruption in different agencies of government.
Hoping that this gathering would lead participants to become more aware of their role in the Church, Tacorda noted that the conference came at a time when the issue of graft and corruption is keenly felt and experienced at various levels of government.
“The theme touches on a very relevant issue that is the need of our present times. It becomes a very attractive, interesting and thought provoking issue for many. That’s why we took the opportunity to bring together the different movements, [and] organizations [in the Church] to come together and see what we can do as lay people,” Tacorda said.
The conference was anchored on the theme “The Laity: Primary Agents of Change Towards Honesty and Integrity for Good Governance.”
Reflecting on the theme, Tacorda said, “I want to provoke our audience today. Do we have to [get] a priest to run as governor? Is there no prepared lay person to take the job and change the way we do and run our government? I don’t think a priest should leave his ministry and be suspended from his ministerial duties to run [for] government [office.] That’s the role of the laity, [to run for government office],” she explained.
Tacorda believed the present state of government presents a big challenge to the laity.
“That’s a very obvious challenge to the participants. It is really a call for us as lay people. Why do we have this kind of government? Where are we? Ninety nine percent of the Church [is composed of lay people],” Tacorda said.
When asked if she thinks the laity is not doing its job, she replied, “It seems the laity is not doing properly its role.”
Tacorda said she sees the need for a reintegration of Christian principles in the various professions the laity is involved in.
“Like this issue now on reproductive health. Where are our Catholic doctors, our Catholic nurses, our Catholic legislators?” she asked.
Among the guest speakers in the two-day conference was Pampanga governor “Among” Ed Panlilio who electrified the audience with the sharing of his own experience of battling corruption and effecting change in his province widely known as the “jueteng” capital in the country.
Dr. Linda Tacorda, National president of the Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas said the two-day regional conference scheduled in Iloilo City was a first in the history of the organization.
The implementing lay arm of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) as Laiko is called, tackled the issue of good governance—a problem that for so long has been hounding the country because of unabated corruption in different agencies of government.
Hoping that this gathering would lead participants to become more aware of their role in the Church, Tacorda noted that the conference came at a time when the issue of graft and corruption is keenly felt and experienced at various levels of government.
“The theme touches on a very relevant issue that is the need of our present times. It becomes a very attractive, interesting and thought provoking issue for many. That’s why we took the opportunity to bring together the different movements, [and] organizations [in the Church] to come together and see what we can do as lay people,” Tacorda said.
The conference was anchored on the theme “The Laity: Primary Agents of Change Towards Honesty and Integrity for Good Governance.”
Reflecting on the theme, Tacorda said, “I want to provoke our audience today. Do we have to [get] a priest to run as governor? Is there no prepared lay person to take the job and change the way we do and run our government? I don’t think a priest should leave his ministry and be suspended from his ministerial duties to run [for] government [office.] That’s the role of the laity, [to run for government office],” she explained.
Tacorda believed the present state of government presents a big challenge to the laity.
“That’s a very obvious challenge to the participants. It is really a call for us as lay people. Why do we have this kind of government? Where are we? Ninety nine percent of the Church [is composed of lay people],” Tacorda said.
When asked if she thinks the laity is not doing its job, she replied, “It seems the laity is not doing properly its role.”
Tacorda said she sees the need for a reintegration of Christian principles in the various professions the laity is involved in.
“Like this issue now on reproductive health. Where are our Catholic doctors, our Catholic nurses, our Catholic legislators?” she asked.
Among the guest speakers in the two-day conference was Pampanga governor “Among” Ed Panlilio who electrified the audience with the sharing of his own experience of battling corruption and effecting change in his province widely known as the “jueteng” capital in the country.
Friday, October 3, 2008
CBCP head stresses role of laity in governance
JARO archbishop and CBCP president Angel N. Lagdameo underscored the role of the laity in the transformation of society at the opening Mass of the LAIKO regional conference on September 29 at St. Anne Parish in Molo, Iloilo.
Speaking before the participants and parishioners Lagdameo stressed on what the laity can do to bring about change in oneself and in others, especially on the issue of governance and leadership, challenging everyone present while quoting the Vatican document “Apostolicam Actuositatem”.
“Since, in our times, new problems are arising and very serious errors are circulating which tend to undermine the foundations of religion, the moral order, and human society itself, this sacred synod earnestly exhorts the laity—each according to his own gifts of intelligence and learning—to be more diligent in doing what they can explain, defend, and properly apply Christian principles to the problem of our era in accordance with the mind of the Church.”
The Jaro archbishop also called on the people to look up at St. Lorenzo Ruiz and Blessed Pedro Calungsod as models especially in living their lives according to Christian faith and principles.
“St. Lorenzo together with Blessed Pedro Calungsod, both of them have become models of the Filipino laity in their radical service of the faith,” said Lagdameo.
Also quoting best-selling author Stephen Covey, the prelate urged the laity to be responsible, to develop a sense of mission, to set priorities, promote interpersonal relationships, to develop emphatic communication, effective teamwork and nurture self-renewal and continuous improvement.
The Eucharistic celebration that kicked off the conference was led by Jaro Archbishop and CBCP president Angel Lagdameo. Antipolo Bishop and Chairman of Episcopal Commission on the Laity Gabriel Reyes, Digos Bishop Guillermo Afable, Kalibo Bishop Romeo Lazo and clergy from the Archdiocese and neighboring dioceses concelebrated.
The regional conference tackled the role of the laity in promoting good governance encapsulated in the theme “The Laity; Primary Agents of Change Towards Honesty and Integrity for Good Governance.”
The conference which carried the slogan “Laiko goes regional” was the culminating activity of the National Laity week and was held at Arevalo, Iloilo from September 29 to October 1.
Speaking before the participants and parishioners Lagdameo stressed on what the laity can do to bring about change in oneself and in others, especially on the issue of governance and leadership, challenging everyone present while quoting the Vatican document “Apostolicam Actuositatem”.
“Since, in our times, new problems are arising and very serious errors are circulating which tend to undermine the foundations of religion, the moral order, and human society itself, this sacred synod earnestly exhorts the laity—each according to his own gifts of intelligence and learning—to be more diligent in doing what they can explain, defend, and properly apply Christian principles to the problem of our era in accordance with the mind of the Church.”
The Jaro archbishop also called on the people to look up at St. Lorenzo Ruiz and Blessed Pedro Calungsod as models especially in living their lives according to Christian faith and principles.
“St. Lorenzo together with Blessed Pedro Calungsod, both of them have become models of the Filipino laity in their radical service of the faith,” said Lagdameo.
Also quoting best-selling author Stephen Covey, the prelate urged the laity to be responsible, to develop a sense of mission, to set priorities, promote interpersonal relationships, to develop emphatic communication, effective teamwork and nurture self-renewal and continuous improvement.
The Eucharistic celebration that kicked off the conference was led by Jaro Archbishop and CBCP president Angel Lagdameo. Antipolo Bishop and Chairman of Episcopal Commission on the Laity Gabriel Reyes, Digos Bishop Guillermo Afable, Kalibo Bishop Romeo Lazo and clergy from the Archdiocese and neighboring dioceses concelebrated.
The regional conference tackled the role of the laity in promoting good governance encapsulated in the theme “The Laity; Primary Agents of Change Towards Honesty and Integrity for Good Governance.”
The conference which carried the slogan “Laiko goes regional” was the culminating activity of the National Laity week and was held at Arevalo, Iloilo from September 29 to October 1.
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