Tag Archives: Jesus

[People] The First Christmas. By Fr. Shay Cullen

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The First Christmas
by Fr. Shay Cullen

When I was growing up, Christmas was a lovely childhood story of the baby Jesus born in a clean looking stable surrounded by his loving parents in clean robes, singing angels, adoring shepherds, kings holding gifts and harmless adoring animals. Yet in reality, it was a hard, cold, miserable time for this impoverished couple, who were like refugees and soon became such, with almost nothing in the world as they fled the killer King Herod to Egypt. They were most likely overwhelmed by the cold bitter weather and hunger like the refugees from the conflict in Syria today, fleeing the cruel “King” Assad. They have only hovels and nowhere else to live. No singing angels for them.

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In the Philippines, hundreds of thousands are suffering deprivation like that of Jesus and his parents as they struggle to survive in the ruins caused by the greatest typhoon ever to hit the Philippines. It will be a tough and hungry Christmas for them who still survive under plastic sheets and with relief handouts. With the wind, rains and devastation came another storm – human exploitation and trafficking of the victims and orphaned children.

In the evacuation centers that I visit with a Preda relief team, we see posters showing the photos of 3 to 15 year-olds mysteriously gone missing, most likely stolen and sold. Five children were rescued from traffickers by government social workers. A team of foreigners were bringing the children to Manila for so called “good jobs” but likely for sexual exploitation.

Reggie is a teenage boy whose village was wiped out, flattened by that storm named Haiyan (Yolanda in the Philippines). He and five others were offered jobs on a big fishing boat by a rich merchant. They took the chance and they worked for weeks on the fishing boat and were then dropped off on land, unpaid and abandoned. They lost their dignity and wages. Reggie lost his freedom too. He was found wandering the Manila streets and imprisoned with youth accused of crimes. That’s where we found him and got him freed. He will have a happier Christmas at Preda but over a million will not.

For many true Christians, Christmas is the most important feast of the year. It celebrates the inalienable rights and dignity of all humans. Jesus of Nazareth brought these rights into the world, lived them and taught them. His birth, life, and death were a turning point in the history of the world. The human rights of the poor, the oppressed, the victims of violations, the landless, and the hungry were proclaimed in his sermon on the mount.

The rights of children were established when he said that children were the most important in the Kingdom of God, whoever accepts them accepts Him. He introduced a new era but it has taken two thousand years for these rights to be truly respected, implemented, and defended. Christmas is the time to re-establish these values and rights in our hearts and minds, in our families and society.

Christmas is time too for family reunions, sharing of gifts, symbols of life and friendship. It is a time for renewing bonds and strengthening our spiritual values, and reflecting on the mystery of life.

Easter is equally important, it celebrates the triumph of good over evil, life over death, the weak over the powerful, death and resurrection; it also has the painful story of the suffering, torture and execution of Jesus of Nazareth, a good and loving man, Son of God, Son of Man, friend to all, Messiah of the downtrodden and the oppressed. That is a painful, but powerfully inspiring story.

Yet the Christmas story of His birth, the outcast family, poor and homeless, a child born in a cave or a hovel with animals and impoverished peasants, is for many people, more special. It celebrates caring and love, friendship and family. It’s inspiring too that in such poverty, God brought about the birth of a great spiritual leader and teacher and prophet destined to challenge the ruling elites, defy the oppressors of the poor and bring values into the world that would change it and turn it inside out.

Jesus from Nazareth, a child from nowhere, became the greatest teacher the world has never forgotten despite many trying to deny, ignore and quash those values and rights. We must defend them to the end. Each of us can rediscover this great truth and experience the meaning of Christmas by renewing our faith and finding our spiritual strength to act to save the exploited, the abused and the hungry.

I thank all the good people who have supported the work at the Preda center here in Olongapo city and have donated generously to the appeal for the survivors of the typhoon whom we are helping by bringing relief directly to them. May all have a blessed and holy Christmas.

See photos on http://www.preda.org, photo gallery
Email: shaycullen@preda.org
Donations for Preda/ typhoon victims.
COLUMBAN FATHERS c/o St.Columban‘s, Widney Manor Road, Solihull B93 9AB.
or Columban Fathers, Dalgan Park, Navan, Co. Meath

or send donations to Preda Ireland:
Permanent TSB, Dun Laoghaire ,Co. Dublin, Ireland
account number 87930352, sorting code 990604,
swift code IBPSIE2D, IBAN IE251PBS99060487930352

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[People] The lost orphans of Yolanda. By Fr. Shay Cullen

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The lost orphans of Yolanda
By Fr. Shay Cullen
November 12,2013

Besides the thousands that have been killed, injured, and made homeless by the most devastating typhoon known to humankind, the orphaned children are the most vulnerable. Their towns and villages and homes are no more and their parents are dead. They are threatened by malnutrition, kidnapping, and abduction. Horrible as this prospect is, it has been a deadly reality in times of natural disasters. These children need our special attention and direct intervention to save them from child traffickers and pedophiles. Under the pretext of saving the children, traffickers can abduct them and sell them as “brides” to pedophiles or earn hundreds of thousands of pounds or euros by providing these children for illegal adoption and even worse, sexual abuse and exploitation.

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The Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has called for urgent vigilance by aid workers to this form of child trafficking in the areas devastated by the most powerful typhoon in history to hit land. Called Haiyan or by its local name “Yolanda”, it has devastated and flattened entire towns, villages, and killed scores of people in the central Philippines and their children will be known as the lost children of Yolanda. Driven by winds up to 315 kilometers an hour, brutal ordeal will scar the people of the Visayan region for a generation. We too will be judged by how we responded or when we did not.

The television reports show the extent of the devastation and the hardship, hunger and homelessness will last many months. The approaching of yet another rain storm, a tropical depression named “Zoraida” will be lashing the country by the time you read this or will be leaving more destruction to a country already reeling in shock.

As many as ten thousand and more people could have been killed. No one could predict that it would be such a killer cyclone and now the people have nothing. They are totally dependent on the generosity of donors and the ability of the government to deliver relief aid in the shortest time possible. A time will come when they will be able to pick up the strength and recover and become self-sufficient and self-reliant. But now as in all disasters, help is needed and we are called up to provide it and give back and share with those that need it most.

There are problems getting the relief to the people as roads and bridges have collapsed or buried under landslides. Bodies are decomposing under the rubble, some have been buried in mass graves. This will go on for several weeks more as rescuers and aid workers reach the remote villages

But this tragic event brings with it another kind of danger, the danger to the homeless, lost and orphaned children. With as many as fifteen thousand dead, many children will be orphaned, vulnerable to malnutrition and the worst of all, vulnerable to abduction, kidnapping, and trafficking into illegal adoptions or sexual exploitation.

Many people don’t want to read or think about such harsh and painful realities but it happens and we have to do all we can to prevent this. Preda children’s charity is appealing for donations and help to send trained social workers into the devastated area to provide a child feeding station and help find and protect these lost, homeless, abandoned children before they are abducted.

With such challenges before us, we have to summon up the spiritual strength to meet them and overcome them. The Filipino people are a very resilient people and suffer up to twenty typhoons a year and one or two strong earthquakes. Sitting on the pacific ring of fire, it is expected and when there is no exploding volcano to cope with, there are plenty of other natural disasters.

In the past 44 years that I have been a missionary in the Philippines with the people who are poor and needy, I have come through many natural disaster, super storms, floods, landslides, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and rivers of volcanic mud and “lahar” destroying all before them.

The Filipino people have shown the remarkable spiritual strength and resilience and are capable of coping with a sense of humor and smiling at cameras and even laughing at their own predicament. Not this time though, it’s harder than ever before. Yet their will to live and survive is the driving strength of the Filipino people and they do it with courage and resourcefulness and are a people who get on with the task of recovering, rebuilding and planting and harvesting year after year.

These are a people who live in hope and have a great ability to overcome all kinds of disasters and hardship. The people need food, water and shelter. The children need protection, nutrition and the good will of the world community. All need help to get them through this most terrible time in their lives. They believe in a loving God who lives in all people of faith, love and good will and this eternal force of goodness will reach out to the needy through the love of others.

Donations for the orphans of Yolanda to Fr. Cullen, St. Columban‘s, Widney Manor Road, Solihull B93 9AB or Dalgan Park Navan, Co. Meath or any TSB bank Preda – Ireland, sort code 990 604, account number 30001836. (Email shaycullen@preda.org)

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[People] The living and the dead By Fr. Shay Cullen

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The living and the dead
By Fr. Shay Cullen

In the Philippines, death is accepted as a part of living, to be coped with as inevitable, postponed if possible; grief is short lived but memories are for life. The cemetery on All Saints’ Day is a thriving celebration of life and family. On November 1st, there are gatherings around the family tomb with prayers being said, rosaries recited, thousands of lighted candles flickering and lighting up the gloom and casing all in silhouettes. Plastic flowers, picnics, singing and card games long into the night until dawn. They all pack up and go home when the vigil is done.

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The rich live and die separate, apart from common humanity in life and in death. They have medium sized enclosed tombs to massive mausoleums, the poor have a simple cross or a white painted tomb, the size of a coffin made of cement blocks. It is the time when we are called to remember the living and the dead. Dying is the painful end of living.

I have been in private cemeteries where peace and quiet reigned. I was surrounded by headstones, each summed up the life and death of people in a few short words as if they had never done anything in their entire lives. It was a lonely, sad and very solemn and reverential place, invoking what we fear most – death, and what unknown fate that awaits us beyond that final moment, if anything.
Yet the dead live on in our consciousness, in our memories and on a headstone, a marker with words lies, perhaps declaring to all the world, that they loved and were well loved, even if none of it is true.

The good people who died and who were loving and lovable true friends, parents, brothers or sisters, a hero perhaps, we can grieve for them, and recall the lost love, the once happy smiling face, the warm embrace that we can feel no more.

The great loss taken away by death are the days of fun and happiness that many shared together and were snatched away by untimely, tragic, painful, sudden or prolonged dying. It continues to wrench our hearts with the pain of loss and the reality that we too must die.

When we visit the grave side, we recall the missed opportunities to forgive, to ask forgiveness, to reconcile and make peace, to tell someone we loved them but were somehow blocked. We regret the time we did not go to them and hold their hand and care and help them. Death takes away all chances to make amends.

If we have cared and helped them, did our duty, loved them and supported them, then we have no regrets, we can smile and be content, be at peace with ourselves and them and smile knowing we were true and faithful to them. Their death holds no regrets for us.
If we failed them, we can repent and weep for them and for ourselves. Death is real, but we try to make it unreal, to gloss over the painful truth that one day we too will die and be no more, or will we?

Then we will ask how we lived, what can we leave behind? We can ask was it a life lived for ourselves or for others. Have we served or been served, have given or have taken, to have kept or to have shared. Did we love and were we loved?

Life for most is precious, something to cling to, marvel at, rejoice in and enjoy to the full, sustain and protect and prolong it. To live a good life helping others is the most worthwhile of all and then we are always ready and content to face death.

For most people, it is much better to be, than not to be. So the wretched of the earth, the poorest of the poor, the so-called worthless outcasts, branded as burdens of society, living out impoverished painful lives still want to live. They have hope of better days to come.
The irresponsible and unrepentant rich can suffer from the thought of impending death and a guilty conscience after a selfish life with little help given to others in need. They too can repent and give back to the needy and make this a better world before they leave it.

It is compassion, love, and forgiveness of a heavenly Father that formed the heart of the message of Jesus of Nazareth. We can never know what the afterlife is, but if we believe, let it be based on a loving relationship with eternal goodness. Contact shaycullen@preda.org, Write Preda center, Upper Kalaklan, Olongapo City.

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[People] The greatest storm By Fr. Shay Cullen

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The greatest storm
By Fr. Shay Cullen

The rains would not stop even after the winds had died down. Rachel was terrified for her children and herself. Juanito, her husband had gone looking for food. The typhoon blew wild and wickedly across the Philippines leaving behind rising flood waters, mangled huts and shacks, and toppled mango trees. Even sturdy coconut trees had crashed to the ground, defiant yet overwhelmed by a force never before encountered.

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Rachel, alone in her small, one-roomed bamboo and grass-roofed shack embraced her three terrified children who were crying in fear and she prayed to be spared. Her fear was heightened by the darkness and the running water, now a few feet from the hut and was rising fast. In a moment, instinct won out, she decided to run for it.

The lightning flashed and a bolt of searing lighting lit the sky for an instant through the rain and she saw a familiar landmark, the outline of a hill, high ground, and hope. Rachel abandoned her few belongings, the treasured cooking pot, the metal wok, and the thermos flask; once proud possessions but now they were of no value to her in the face of imminent death. Wealth and property become burdens on our final journey to the casket and the grave; this could be our greatest storm.

Rachel had no time or capacity for such philosophical thoughts; survival was what drove her to escape to dry land like thousands of others. She gathered up her children, Miguel and Juan Jr., clinging to her rain soaked dress and baby Ester in her arms and left the hut to wade through the rising waters.

She stumbled and staggered for half an hour keeping the children above water and splashed through the flooded rice fields. Mercifully, in the next flash of lightning, she saw a large building surrounded by hills. The lightning followed by a clap of thunder caused her to scream and the children to cry, she cried out “Jesus help us, help us”.

And help appeared. A flashlight showed the rescuers the way and soon strong arms snatched Miguel from the water that was almost up to his neck and another grabbed Juan Jr. and they waded towards the tall building and to safety on the high-ground.

Soon they were dried off, wrapped in blankets and sitting near a fire in a big warehouse, eating cooked rice and dried fish. It was salvation and happiness. Then even greater joy when she saw Juanito, her husband in the same shelter, his leg was broken, but he was alive. They hugged and were one family again.

Rachel’s story is one of thousands of the people saved but there many more who are not and they are buried in landslides, drowned in flood waters or perish of disease and malnutrition.

The frequency and ferocity of the storms hitting Asia, north and south, is a new phenomenon. It is surely the result of the climate change that the scientists had predicted, the experts foretold, that scientific evidence confirmed. It’s clear that human activity is causing it. There is no escaping the fact that the earth is warming with the gasses unleashed by irresponsible industry and human energy waste and non-stop burning of fossil fuels.

The rising gasses are trapped by the atmosphere and they blanket the planet raising its temperature. The oceans and lakes are evaporating; the atmosphere is loaded with moisture as never before and the clouds are carried inland to unleash their deadly load.

The traumatic disturbance of the planet, where all things are connected and interdependent, is evidence of our failure to protect the balance of creation, to control our greed, unsustainable consumerism and the pursuit of wealth.

When the typhoon passed and the rains ceased and the sun shone, I went to the newly constructed children’s home for sexually abused and trafficked girls. It was unoccupied as the storm hit and will remain so for a while. The children are safe in their present building closer to the city.

The rice fields through which the likes of Rachel escaped were still underwater. But I could not reach the new building, the access road within five hundred meters of it had been washed away. The government had failed to dredge the silt from the river and it quickly burst its banks.

The small stream had become a raging torrent and overwhelmed the embankment, eroded the soil, and brought down part of the perimeter safety wall. The small bridge was clogged up with many logs that had come down from the hills with the waters, evidence of rampant illegal logging in the Subic hills.

This too is causing landslides, erosion and forest destruction that brings death and loss to thousands over the years. The loss of forest is a factor in global warming. Typhoons are increasing in this beautiful yet tragic land. But we have to do more to protect God’s creation and save the planet and the people like Rachel and her family.

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[People] A Mission in Life By Fr. Shay Cullen

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A Mission in Life
By Fr. Shay Cullen

We have to have a mission in life, to make it meaningful,with purpose and to live more fully.The mission can be to accomplish any good work,motivated by a spiritual value of compassion, love of justice, care of others,empathy and solidarity with the sick, the oppressed and lonely. These inner convictions and commitments can be the driving force of mission.

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It can be caring for our family, helping the local community,dedicating ourselves to prayer,helping the poor in anyway we can or even going out to change the world and to help others without seeking to enrich ourselves or to gain from it.The more selfless and pure our motivation the better. Unable to be engaged personally on a mission to serve and directly save others many find a mission in sharing their surplus wealth in close partnership with a chosen mission or charitable work.

A mission in life is it own reward because it takes us out of ourselves toward others and it is a life of sharing and a life lived for others where we can find happiness, friendship and fulfillment. There is no better way to live as Jesus of Nazareth showed us. No greater love can anyone have,than to lay down their life for a friend.

I have been on mission with the Columban Missionary Society for almost 44 years. The Columbans made my mission possible from the beginning by sending me to the Philippines.Then the Holy Spirit took over and guided me the way I should go.

The latest chapter in my mission story happened a short while ago.I went with Preda social workers to get another youth named Miguel our of dehumanized prisons and to find his mother. His father had left them years before.

We got him out with a court order from the dirty infested prison cell ,a den of iniquity where innocent kids are treated like criminals.The minors are held pending an investigation of some allegation made against them, usually with little evidence to support it, It takes weeks or months in the Philippine system to have a child brought brought before a court. Meanwhile in the overcrowded cells the child is abused, molested, starved and even beaten by other inmates or cruel guards.

While the Preda social workers can save up to a hundred minors every year (some as young as 13) thousands more could be jailed and no one will know or help them. We have to change the system and get the juvenile justice law that forbids the jailing of minors under 15 be respected and implemented by the authorities.Those over 15 cannot be jailed unless the act was with discernment.But many are framed up. Changing that system is one mission I am on but it could take a life time.

Its in the Jail where we are called upon to look for Jesus of Nazareth to see him present among the poor ,the hungry naked and the unjustly imprisoned . On the day of Judgement St.Mathew tells us Jesus will call us to himself. `Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’Matthew 25:31-46 Then we will ask when did we do all that to you Lord? and he will answer, “so long as you did it to the poorest of my brothers and sisters you did it to me”. Its a powerful passage where Jesus identifies himself with the poorest of the poor ,the hungry,sick, lonely abandoned and unjustly imprisoned.

So from the jail I went to Paranaque in Metro Manila where there are millions of men women and malnourished sickly children living in the most unhygienic slums imaginable. I walked into a quagmire of filth, misery among the dwellers of the slums.Perverse poverty reigned supreme.

Its was not the first time that I visited a slum one of many.This was just a bit worse that the rest. They are the result of the great social equality in most modern societies where the wealth never trickles down to the poor. Where an estimated two percent owns or controls 70 percent of the national wealth. The revelations of many politicians stealing billions of pesos supports the point.

A great divide exists between rich and poor like that between Lazarus at the gate of the rich man Dives. Not even the crumbs that fell from his table could Lazarus get. The only creatures who had compassion were the kind dogs that licked his sores to try and heal him. What a condemnation of the irresponsible greedy rich. The children of the poor have to beg or steal to eat and then they go to jail.

To get to the shacks and shanties where Miguel mother lived we crossed a river thick smelly and as black as tar with the pollution nothing could exist there.Plastic bags and human waste floated there as the slums have no sewerage or toilets. The foot bridge was rickety, dangerous and made by the people themselves with scraps like their shacks and hovels.

They met. Miguel’s mother embraced her lost son in tears and something good and beautiful entered their impoverished world.

I looked up into the distance at the towering condominiums and skyscrapers of the super rich and wondered if there was a Zacchaeus among them who would have a change of heart and give back to the poor. End

(email : shaycullen@preda.org , http://www.preda.org)

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[Statement] On the Commemoration of the 28th Anniversary of the Disappearance of Fr. Rudy Romano, CSsR- Archbishop Jose Palma

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Archdiocesan Statement
On the Commemoration of the 28th Anniversary of the Disappearance of Fr. Rudy Romano, CSsR
July 11, 2013

My dear Brothers and Sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ,

The Fourth Diocesan Synod of Cebu in 1986 declared, “Option for the poor is a Christian option. Defending the human dignity of the poor and their hope for a human future is not a luxury of the Church. It is its duty” (Cebu Synod 4, The Servant Church, #6).

Similarly, our Holy Father Pope Francis, said that the Year of Faith should be “less preoccupied by non-essential rituals but more focused on our being agents of God’s mercy to the poor, the suffering and those alienated from the Church because the mercy of God is always victorious!”

He also expressed his wish, “Ah, how I would like a Church that is poor and that is for the poor.”

Our Holy Father would be happy to know that in the 1980’s, this was realized in the life and advocacy of Fr. Rudy Romano and other church people. Fr. Rudy and other church people defended the rights of the poor and the oppressed, “even when doing so meant alienation or persecution from the rich and powerful” (PCP II, 131).

The Archdiocese of Cebu notes that in 1986, the City Government of Cebu installed a marker at Tisa, Labangon, Cebu City to mark the place “where Fr. Rudy Romano, a Redemptorist Father and human rights fighter was abducted by armed men of the deposed Marcos Regime on July 11, 1985.”

Likewise, the Cebu Provincial Government in 1987, passed a resolution “Adopting Fr. Rudy Romano as a Son of the Province of Cebu” since even if he was from Samar, “prior to his disappearance, Fr. Romano contributed much in terms of promoting human rights, rendering concrete assistance and social service to less-privileged Cebuanos and in making Cebu a strong bastion of the people’s successful fight for freedom and justice during the dark years of the deposed dictatorship.”

The abduction and disappearance of Fr. Rudy and a student leader, Levi Ybañez, 28 years ago have not been resolved. Meanwhile, until today, the poor peasants, fisherfolks, workers, urban poor and other marginalized sectors continue to strive for their human dignity to be upheld.

We are called to follow Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who “lay down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). Fr. Rudy showed us how to be advocates for social renewal. He showed us how to be like Jesus, who loved the poor, lived and died for the salvation of all.

Non nobis Domine,
+JOSE S. PALMA, D.D.
Archbishop of Cebu

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[People] Celebrating the positive power of fair trade by Fr. Shay Cullen

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Celebrating the positive power of fair trade
Fr. Shay Cullen

325-fr-shay-cullenThere are hundreds of thousands of good people around the world trying to make a difference in the lives of the poor and exploited people of this planet. They are working to see that the poor rise above subsistence living and have a dignified human and prosperous life. These good people are deeply concerned about the lives of the poor, the exploited and trafficked children, and they want to save the environment from poisonous chemicals and destruction and reverse the damaging effects of climate change.

These are the enlightened customers of Fair Trade who use their shopping money to make a positive and meaningful difference in the lives of thousands of poor villagers in Africa and Asia. These are the customers of Fair Trade products and by using their consumer power and choose to buy a Fair Trade product they can bring about justice, respect and happiness in the lives of those who have less in life.

This time of the year, we celebrate these life-enhancing values and the good people who make it happen. We recently celebrated Fair Trade Week and now in May, the World Fair Trade Day. What we are celebrating is the fact that millions of people around the world are involved one way or the other in producing, trading and consuming foods and products that are produced under strict rules and criteria so that only good comes from it.

I can tell you a lot about the benefits of Fair Trade in the lives of the poor because I have made Preda Fair Trade an important part of my missionary work in the Philippines for the past forty years. Juanito was a trained bag maker in a local commercial factory but was fired out after he asked for higher pay for his high skills. He then had to live with his poor family scavenging on a smokey mountain of garbage, eating throwaway food until the social workers of Preda Fair Trade found him and offered to set him up in a small bag sewing enterprise. He got a Preda sewing machine and orders for school back packs. He got a good pay and benefits, medical insurance and help to build a house from the Preda development assistance fund.

At Preda Fair Trade for example, fair and just payments are made on time to the producers, and social benefits such as educational assistance, medical insurance and profit sharing bonus payments are made. Then customers and World Shops get high quality Preda products like healthy chemical free dried mangos and drinks and other fairly traded products.

The customers and World Shop managers and volunteers selling fairly traded products are happy to be getting great quality food. Preda dried mangos are produced in a way that gives the customers the satisfaction of a right conscience. They are happy in the knowledge that they are doing the right thing and glad to pay a few more pence or cents knowing that the exploitation of women and children is totally banned and eliminated in the production of the goods that they purchase.

They are part of the Preda social action that saves women and children from the evil forms of trade like sex slavery and human trafficking. When they ask for and buy the Preda products, they help to free children from subhuman prisons.

In the Philippines, I set out to implement, through Fair Trade, the spiritual and social teaching of Jesus of Nazareth to help bring about a more just society. In the past years, a strong nationwide band of dedicated Filipinos have worked ceaselessly, many risking and losing their lives, to change it. Positive economic change and social improvement has come slowly. Too slowly and much more has yet to come.

Fair Trade has been one of the ways that has greatly lessened the dire hunger and want in many homes and villages. But poverty and injustice is not over. The rich are getting richer. Yet for all those hundreds of small mango farmers and producers in Preda Fair Trade, I have seen the joy and happiness of the small mango farmers when they get paid a higher price for the mango fruits from Preda Fair Trade and get a bonus after harvest. You can see it in their smiles and shining eyes. Then some pay debts, others use the higher earnings and bonuses to start a small piggery, a village store or a chicken raising project. Fair Trade is a realistic way to help people to help themselves grow out of poverty. There is much to celebrate and much more to do. Contact shaycullen@preda.org, P.O. Box 68 Olongapo City, 2200 Philippines.

(Fr. Shay’s columns are published in The Manila Times, in publications in Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, and on-line.)

Need Help? Contact: predainfo@preda.org (please do not send email to predair@info.com.ph or preda@info.com.ph as that email is no longer the official email address of Preda)

Privacy Policy: We will never share, sell, or rent individual personal information with anyone without your advance permission or unless ordered by a court of law. Information submitted to us is only available to employees managing this information for purposes of contacting you or sending you emails based on your request for information and to contracted service providers for purposes of providing services relating to our communications with you.

Physical Address: CONTACT US: PREDA Foundation, Inc. P.O Box 68 Olongapo City 2200 Preda Main Center Upper Kalaklan, Subic Bay Olongapo City 2200 Philippines

E-mail: shaycullen@preda.org, emmanueldrewery@preda.org

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[People] Rediscovering the heart of faith – Service by Fr. Shay Cullen

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REDISCOVERING THE HEART OF FAITH – SERVICE
Fr. Shay Cullen

325-fr-shay-cullenWhen he bent down on his knees in the youth detention jail in Rome last Holy Thursday, washed and kissed the feet of the juvenile prisoners and also a mother and child and a Muslim, Pope Francis sent a message to Catholic Church leaders and to the world. It seems to say, change is here, we have to leave behind the pomposity, clerical child abuse and domination wherever it may be, and be humble servants of the poor and the wretched and give them dignity, justice and hope.

“To wash your feet, this is a symbol, a sign that I am at your service. But it also means that we have to help each other”. He then showed understanding of youthful impetuosity and their quickness to anger.

“It was normal to get mad at others, but let it be, let it be. If that person asks you a favor, do it. Let’s help each other. I do it with my heart because it is my duty as priest and as Bishop; I have to be at your service. It’s a duty that comes from my heart because I love doing this, because this is what the Lord taught me”.

He was of course imitating Jesus of Nazareth who washed the feet of his disciples as would a humble servant. Jesus was a charismatic leader with a passion for justice, equality and sought a spiritual and social revolution. How could the future leaders of the church be credible and teach, guide and expect others to follow moral principles and behavior, if they themselves did not teach by example. That is what Jesus was saying by his actions. Pope Francis seems to be repeating that message.

Blessed are the poor, Jesus said, theirs is the kingdom of God. This is what Pope Francis was saying also in a symbolic way. He sees a Church where humility has been replaced with arrogance and pomp, and privilege has replaced compassion and justice. He knows that abusive priests were allowed by some irresponsible Bishops to continue to abuse children with impunity. He knows that despite past apologies to victims by the previous Popes, church structures have not changed sufficiently to restore the trust and confidence of Catholics in the Church as a reliable, open, transparent, credible institution. Mitered heads may soon roll. Since his installation several years ago, my Bishop has never visited the homes for the juveniles in conflict with the law or the homes for the sexually abuse victims. It’s time to change.

Jesus challenged the religious authorities and infuriated them. Then they plotted his downfall and had him convicted as a political rebel and given the death penalty. They accused him of trying to be a King when in fact that was what he totally repudiated. That is the cruel drama that we reenacted last Holy week. Pope Francis will be walking on a few precious toes before long.

Jesus gave us the example of that special challenging love that drives a person to care for the stranger, and to help the poorest and most exploited and abused of society.

We can clearly see the message of Pope Francis when he was on his knees before the prisoners. He established by his words and action the rights, dignity and the fact that they should have a place in the world. He seems to be signaling to all Catholics to be a servant, a helper and to realize that being a follower of Jesus of Nazareth has duties and obligations that go far beyond attending mass and church ceremonies. This is what Pope Francis said of his mission today.

“I would like it to go out to every house and every family, especially where the suffering is greatest, in hospitals, in prisons. Most of all, I would like it to enter every heart, for it is there that God wants to sow this Good News: Jesus is risen, there is hope for you, you are no longer in the power of sin, of evil! Love has triumphed, mercy has been victorious!”

Well, it’s going to be a troubling future for many a traditional conservative cleric if the Pope expects the clergy to do as he does and skip the scarlet robes, gold braided vestments and privileges and live outside the gilded palaces in small apartments like the Pope himself. Next, he might expect them to take public transport like he did as Bishop and Cardinal in Buenos Aires or even more challenging, to imitate Jesus of Nazareth. http://www.preda.org

Email: shaycullen@preda.org (Fr. Shay’s columns are published in The Manila Times, in publications in Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, and on-line.)

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[In the news] Lawmakers: Pinays still poor, abused -PhilStar.com

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Lawmakers: Pinays still poor, abused
By Paolo Romero, The Philippine Star
March 9, 2013

philstar-logo-white1MANILA, Philippines – Women lawmakers yesterday called on fellow Filipino women to assert their rights, saying many of them remain hungry, poor and abused under the Aquino administration.

Gabriela party-list Representatives Luzviminda Ilagan and Emmerenciana de Jesus issued the statement as their group marked International Women’s Day with protests nationwide to decry what they said was the unabated attacks on women’s economic and political rights.

“The situation of Filipino women has never been more burdened with poverty. The assault on our rights has gone from bad to worse under the policy direction of the Aquino administration,” Ilagan said.

“More women are going hungry, are without jobs or livelihood and are being deprived of much needed healthcare services,” she said. “Women do not feel even a pinch of the economic growth that President Aquino claims to have achieved for this country.”

Read full article @www.philstar.com

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[Statement] What one Government gives, another Government takes away

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What one Government gives, another Government takes away

(Statement of Bishops and Priests of the National Clergy Discernment Group and the Visayas Clergy Discernment Group on the Barangay Luz, Cebu City Demolition)
October 17, 2012

Demolition in Barangay Luz, Cebu City Photo by Visayan Clergy Discernment Group

“To do all we can with what strength we have, however, is the task which keeps the good servant of Jesus Christ always at work: ‘The love of Christ urges us on’ (2 Cor 5:14)” [Deus caritas est, 35].

With these words of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, we, bishops and priests of the Visayas Clergy Discernment Group and the National Clergy Discernment Group, give our full support to the legitimate and just cause of the families of 32 households facing demolition in Barangay Luz, Cebu City who are heirs of land given to them in the 1950’s by the government of President Magsaysay through Proclamation 394 on March 15, 1957. The barangay was then named by the people after his wife Luz Banzon Magsaysay.

More than 50 years later, another government takes away their land, through some technicality, as decided by the Supreme Court.

The Cebu City Council refuses to act on the Executive’s proposal for on-site relocation. The reason – the Council is dominated by the opposing political party. The usual trapo politicking results in more suffering for the people.

The judge who implemented the Supreme Court decision is now in a bind. The first nine families whose houses got demolished and he got evicted are told that their designated relocation lots are in fact already owned by other families. So, the evicted families are left to live under tents next to their own inherited land – ironic!

We hear them crying out, like Jesus on the Cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46) and we respond with collective voice in asking the Supreme Court to order the RTC of Cebu to postpone further demolitions until all the requirements of relocation are adequately in place; preferably that the heirs hold on to the land given to them by President Ramon Magsaysay.

Secondly, the bishops and priests of the NCDG urge the Executive and Legislative branches of the Cebu City LGU to lay aside partisan politics, and serve the people.

May the day won’t come that we would have to ask the Lord: “…When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and we would not help you?” And may we would not have to hear the Lord reply: “I tell you, whenever you refused to help one of these least important ones, you refused to help me. And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting” (Mt. 25:44-46).

SIGNED BY 86 PRIESTS FROM DIFFERENT DIOCESES IN THE COUNTRY AND SUBMITTED TO THE SUPREME COURT ON OCTOBER 17, 2012.

In behalf of the NCDG and VCDG,

Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, D.D. (SGD).
Auxiliary Bishop of Jaro
Tel. No. (033) 3291625

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[Statement] Stop demolition in Barangay Luz, uphold the poor’s right to shelter -Cebu Solidarity with the Urban Poor

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Stop demolition in Barangay Luz, uphold the poor’s right to shelter

The Cebu Solidarity with the Urban Poor appeals to Cebu City Councilor Nida Cabrera who is also the Homeowners’ Association President of one of the sitios with households to be demolished on September 24, 2012, to dialogue with the affected households.

The 32 households have expressed that they are willing to sit down with the Homeowners Associations of Sitios Nangka, Lubi and Mabuhay in Barangay Luz, Cebu City so that their differences can be ironed out; and a peaceful resolution to the land/housing program problem will be settled through dialogue.

The Solidarity reiterates that all demolitions of dwellings of poor families can never be peaceful. Rendering our brothers and sisters homeless is always violent. Violation of the right to shelter of poor families is always violent.

We pray that all of us in the community will see in our poor brothers and sisters, the face of our Lord Jesus Christ who said, “Whatever you did for the least of my brothers and sisters, you did it for me. (Matthew 25:40)”

Jesus was born in a manger because there was no more room in the inn. Through demolitions, we are sending Jesus once more into the manger.

For reference:

FR. VICENTE DAYAO
Spokesperson
Cebu Solidarity with the Urban Poor
Tel. No. 262-1140
Email: cebusolidarityurbanpoor@yahoo.com

Cebu Solidarity with the Urban Poor
A solidarity of concerned individuals and organizations opposing Cebu urban poor demolitions

PRESS STATEMENT
September 21, 2012

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[Statement] Justice for Marilou Valle, the 100th victim of extra-judicial killing under Pnoy administration! -TFUC

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Justice for Marilou Valle, the 100th victim of extra-judicial killing under Pnoy administration!
July 26, 2012

One day before the State of the Nation Address of President Benigno S. Aquino III, a woman servant-leader in an urban poor community was shot dead by well-known killers in the area. Marilou “Malou” Bacani Valle, 43, elected President of KADAMAY Barangay 105 and resident of Sitio Damayan, Smokey Mountain II, Tondo, Manila died instantly due to three gunshot wounds she sustained in the left cheek, below her lower lip and on her lower right shoulder. The suspects was identified by witnesses as members of barangay tanod. The victim’s son Jomar de Jesus embraced his dying mother while cursing at the assailant who trained his gun at him, forcing him to flee for his life, and the bullet missed him. The crime which happened between 5:27 to 5:34 in the afternoon of July 22 in front of the victim’s house was witnessed by relatives and neighbors.

Right after the killing, the suspects went to the house of Malou’s elder brother Jerry Bacani and fired several shots. Jerry Bacani and son Ninoy Bacani were hit in the leg and foot respectively. Neighbors brought them to a nearby public hospital.

Prior to this incident, Malou filed cases of grave threat, gun-toting and child abuse before a Manila City Hall court on the third week of March against Raffy Tejas, Benjamin Tejas, Sonny Tejas and Conchita Tejas, wife of Raffy. The cases were triggered by the illegal entry of the Tejases into the house of Malou and the gun threat against her and her children Marjorie de Jesus, Jomar de Jesus and George de Jesus, Jr., all minors, on March 4.

On that day the Tejases confronted Malou for distributing leaflets to the community opposing the demolition and relocation plan and urging an on-site development.

On one hand, Malou had been a respected leader in the community. Residents sought her advice on whatever problem they may have, including the matter of residency in the area. She used to conduct social services for the community along with the local people’s organization called Samahan sa Sitio Damayang Nananambakan (SSDN)-KADAMAY, a local chapter of KADAMAY-NCR, an urban poor organization in the National Capital Region where Malou’s husband George de Jesus Sr. is an active member. She also used to help the churches whenever the latter conducted services or other activities in and for the community. The Department of Social Work and Development (DSWD) tapped her services particularly in its 4Ps program (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) which gives cash to selected poor families. The National Housing Authority (NHA) also made use of Malou’s services.

On the other hand, the killers are well-known hoodlums in the community whom the people fear. It is believed that they are responsible for the many killings in the area. But they never got apprehended due to their strong connections with the authorities. According to the people, Barangay 105 Council designated them as Barangay Tanod (community guards) legitimizing their carrying of guns and being coddled by some police officers assigned in Tondo Precinct 1.

Her body lies in state temporarily at the Permanent Housing near Brgy 105 in Tondo Manila. People were threatened by the killers, in fact, a certain bishop who wanted to pay his respects to the dead was warned by a concerned community leader not to go because the situation was “still hot”, and that there is the likelihood that a grenade may be lobbed by the suspects during the wake.

We call on THE AQUINO administration to end impunity for human rights violations and all forms of political repression against the people and push for immediate action against the local authorities who may be involved in this heinous crime.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Fr. Charly Ricafort, MI
Chairperson

Fr. Rico Ponce, O‘Carm
Vice Chairperson

Sr. Maureen Catabian, RGS
Secretary

Fr.Melvin A. Ordanez, SMM
Treasurer

Bro. Ciriaco Santiago, CSsR
Auditor

Board Members

Sr. Victoria Chrisiley Lao, CMSSTCJ

Fr. Tito Maratas, MSC

Sr. Marissa Gallardo, MSM

Sr. Ester Maria Alunan, OSA

Sr. Odilia Bulayungan, OSB

Fr. Eugene Cañete, MJ

Sr. Fely Solatorio, MSM
Amrsp Board Liaison

Sr. Ma. Teresita Bravo, SFIC

Fr. Baltazar A. Obico, OFM

#5 14th Street, Brgy. Damayang Lagi, New Manila, Quezon City, Philippines
Tel # (02) 448-5963 Email: tfucmp@yahoo.com

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[From the web] Krus ng Sierra Madre -savesierramadre.ph

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Krus ng Sierra Madre

savesierramadre.ph

Ang Krus ng Sierra Madre ay gawa sa mga pinagsama-samang drift woods ng punong mulawin na hinanap sa kabundukan ng Ingrid-Angelo na bahagi ng Sierra Madre sa Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija

Sinasagisag ng Krus na ito ang mga nasira at sinirang mga puno sa kabundukan. Sa kabilang dako ang krus ding ito ay sumasagisag ng pag-asa at tagumpay sa pagharap sa hamon na ipagtanggol ang nalalabi pang buhay at dangal ng kabundukan ng Sierra Madre.

Nabuo ang krus na ito sa pamamagitan ng pagtutulungan ng ilang katutubong Ifugao.

Ang Layunin ng Paglalakbay na ito ay ang mga sumusunod:
· Pukawin ang kamalayan ng mga mamamayan sa patuloy na nararanasang epekto ng pagkasira ng Sierra Madre dulot ng talamak na pagtotroso at pagmimina.

· Maibaba sa puso ng mga mamamayan ang diwang makakalikasan na nagpapahiwatig ng ating pagkakaugnay sa lahat ng may buhay at sa pagiging ISA ng lahat ng nilkha.

· Mahimok ang aktibong pakikiisa at pakikisangkot ng mga mamayan sa pangangalaga at pagtatanggol sa Sierra Madre na nagbubukal sa sa ating likas na pagiging Ka-manlilikha ng Dakilang Lumikha.

· Mapasigla ang pagsasabuhay ng mga mamayan sa misteryo ng Pagkakatawang tao, Pagpapakasakit at Muling Pagkabuhay ni Jesus sa pamamagitan ng pagpapatuloy ng Kanyang Misyon na padaluyin ang Pag-ibig at buhay ng Diyos sa sanilkha.

Read full article @ http://savesierramadre.ph/news/2012/04/krus-ng-sierra-madre/

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[People] Can We Believe and Achieve the Resurrection? by Fr. Shay Cullen

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Can We Believe and Achieve the Resurrection?
by Fr. Shay Cullen

Christians have celebrated the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, we have recalled the dramatic events in that life of one who brought into the world the unconditional, self- sacrificing love that makes us so human and so divine. When we love others like the Good Samaritan, generous, self-giving to a stranger, to a victim, the way Jesus himself did, risking all for the dignity and the rights of others, we can hope for eternal life.

Perhaps we don’t have to risk all as he did confronting the corruption and the hypocrisy of the elite and the religious authorities, who executed him, but by living a life for others and not ourselves as he taught. If we can, then perhaps evolve to a higher spiritual level and experience our own resurrection.

We may reach that level of goodness and spiritual maturity that will enable us to cross successfully to the life of eternal goodness beyond the grave and as Jesus did and we could overcome death and live forever. That is the dream of all people of faith; to unite with the God of eternal love and gain eternity. Death that ends in nothingness is difficult to accept and contemplate but the faith and belief in life hereafter and in the Resurrection is what gives us hope and the strength to live an unselfish life.

But let’s not make seeking eternity the reason for doing good, we can become selfish, seeking our own personal happiness in eternity when we ought to help others without seeking any reward. What will be will be. If we thought about it getting eternity for our selves too much, it can be self-defeating.

It’s not such a great leap of faith to believe in the resurrection, millions do. Believing is one thing but achieving it is another. Therein is the real challenge to live a worthy and noble life of virtue and service for others. Jesus set a high standard and we got to share and bear to achieve that standard. Many true Christians quietly follow the example of Jesus and share humbly their worldly goods without seeking reward and praise and glorification. They are in solidarity with the poor, and promote justice and love in the world and quietly help others. They are on the road to eternal life.

In this world there are “resurrections” too. I have seen them. When the abused and brutalized children find safety and protection, love, care inspiration and affirmation, they can rise from the depths of despair and hopelessness and live again. I witness this daily as the victims of sexual abuse, brutality and neglect, those long suffering unjust incarceration in filthy rat infested jails are freed and given support and respect, they rise from the dead as it were. Spiritual death is the result of the deprivation of love and friendship.

Jessica was 14, a beautiful looking child, although disabled, she was trying her best to make a place for herself in this world. She went to school and did her best to endure the teases and jeers.

She is a child that suffered from polio and had a disability with walking and speech and was vulnerable and defenseless when she was set upon by the rapists and abusers. As a polio victim for which there was no help whatsoever, she was neglected, and left as a freak by her family and could not go to school for fear of being jeered by the other children. She had a normal intelligence but was unable to grow and develop. When she was first abused by a gang of rapists, she became like a living dead. She was unable to speak, to look at anyone, and she hardly ate. She was a living skeleton, malnourished and had no will to live. She was dead, one could say.

When she was found by Preda social workers she asked for help and was given refuge and shelter at the Preda Girls’ Home. The gang rape was the most traumatic thing in her life and her parents ignored it. They feared retaliation from the families of the boys who were rich and powerful.

Jessica recounted all to the therapists and found the love and attention and care she longed for in the family of the Girls’ home and began to awake from the dead. Soon she was smiling, joining the play and going to school. She was strong enough to file criminal charges against her abusers and never looked back. Today she is a healthy happy child resurrected and living again.
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Physical Address:

Contact Fr. Shay Cullen at the Preda Center, Upper Kalaklan, Olongapo City, Philippines. e-mail: preda@info.com.ph, newsletters@preda.org

(Fr. Shay’s columns are published in The Manila Times,
in publications in Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, and on-line.)
http://www.preda.org/en/news/fr-shays-articles/can-we-believe-and-achieve-the-resurrection/

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[Statement] “Everyone Especially the Government Should Be Concerned With the Welfare of the Poor” -Visayas Clergy Discernment Group

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“Everyone Especially the Government Should Be Concerned With the Welfare of the Poor”
A Lenten Message

We, the bishops and clergy of the Visayas Clergy Discernment Group are one with Pope Benedict XVI in his Lenten message to be “concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works” (Heb 10:24).

This Lenten Season, the Holy Father invites us to reflect on the heart of Christian life which is charity. “Being concerned” means being responsible for our brothers and sisters and not being indifferent to their plight. The true followers of Christ hold the griefs and sufferings of the poor as their own (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 1).

In the context of the Philippine society, we witness the miserable situation of a sizeable number of our people who are hungry, jobless and homeless. The unabated oil price increases result to the skyrocketing price of basic commodities, which in turn, add a heavier burden to our already suffering people.

Pope Benedict XVI also exhorted in his Lenten message that we must not remain silent before evil.

With the resurrection of Jesus Christ, He conquered sin, death and the law. His resurrection spells hope and total salvation, the salvation of the whole person.

A challenging implication of this is that God chose to partner with us in his project of salvation. Since salvation is both a gift and a task, we have to struggle untiringly for the salvation of all.

In this light, we echo Pope Benedict XVI’s exhortation in Caritas in Veritate that governments must safeguard and value the human person who is the source, the focus and the aim of all economic and social life (cf. Caritas in Veritate,
25).

Independent research institutions, however, have recently reported that oil companies have overpriced the pump price of oil by 8%-43%. In addition, the government is said to have benefited from the unregulated oil price increases as it earned revenues of P48 billion pesos annually or a total of P239.6 B in the last five years due to the 12% VAT on oil.

We thus call on the Aquino Government to manifest that it is indeed concerned with the well-being of the Filipino people by taking steps to alleviate their sufferings such as: regulating the oil industry so that oil companies will be stopped from overpricing the price of oil; removing the VAT on oil; and instituting price control over basic commodities.

May Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection inspire all of us to work for a transformed world: a new heaven and a new earth where there is no more hunger, injustice, oil price hike, exorbitant taxes, skyrocketing prices of basic commodities, graft and corruption, unfair labor practice, land monopoly, profit-orientedness and insatiable greed; where all people enjoy the fullness of life, truth, justice and genuine peace.

As Christ lives,

BISHOP GERARDO ALMINAZA, D.D.
Auxiliary Bishop of Jaro/ Head Convenor of the Visayas Clergy Discernment Group (VCDG)
Tel. No. (033) 3291625

VISAYAS CLERGY DISCERNMENT GROUP
E-Mail Address: visayasclergydiscernment@yahoo.com

[People] Helping Others is Our Path to Happiness by Fr. Shay Cullen

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Helping Others is Our Path to Happiness
(Fr. Shay’s columns are published in The Manila Times,
in publications in Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, and on-line.)
http://www.preda.org/en/news/fr-shays-articles/helping-others-is-our-path-to-happiness/

What brings out the crowds to cheer on a hero, a liberator, a Messiah like Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and the greatest of all, Jesus of Nazareth, and many more. All but one of the above was executed or assassinated and all were brutalized and jailed unjustly for their beliefs and mission. They had a common goal to bring justice, freedom and truth to the world held captive by tyranny and evil.

These great people of our generation, despite their human frailties, Jesus excepted, gave their lives for others without counting the cost. They are inspiring leaders that lived out the deepest values that makes us so human and dignified human persons. For believers, Jesus is divine but he humbled himself to be fully human like the rest of us and shared our human condition and came to redeem it.

We admire them in varying degrees because they are what we would all wish and aspire to be, but cannot find that same courage and bravery in ourselves. And yet they are liberators of our spirits and of all who are captive to fear and insecurity because they have stood non-violently against tyranny and oppression.

They took a stand to defend the helpless, the victims of poverty, cruelty violence, hatred, bigotry and torture and they suffered the same themselves. They took a stand for us. They knew from experience what they were standing against and what they were ready to live and die for. We cheer for them because they represent our highest aspirations, yet we frequently fail to stand up for ourselves and our neighbors.

As always happens when the tyrant and oppressors or their agents of violence arrive with guns, sticks, knives and swords, the messiahs are left in the open alone, deserted, betrayed. Then the cheers, hosannas, and euphoria die away and they are led to the gallows, the firing squad or the crucifix to pay for their bravery and self-sacrifice. Then fear triumphs and the once euphoric followers flee and hide. It is then that a great silence descends as a voice is choked off, a vision is mocked and trampled upon, and tyranny seems to triumph.

But then when we see the same today in an equally cruel and selfish world. Are we not disgusted to see so many ignore the poor, the hungry, the abused child and turn away? That is the hour for us to decide on whose side we are really on, the liberator or the oppressor? Can we overcome fear and speak out or do we fear pain and punishment so much that we would allow a neighbor, a friend to suffer and die, children to be abused and we do and say nothing, but deplore and denounce it in others? That is a betrayal of our faith. To believe in justice but not to help victims is hypocrisy.
There are many thousands of great and good people doing heroic things everyday to alleviate the hurt of others. They are involved in charities, they volunteer to help the downtrodden and the needy wherever they find them. We are challenged to go and join them, find a way to end our apathy and complacently and our selfish indulgent ways.

We need to ask how can I help? Everyone can help ease the hardship of another and that means more than to the needy than we can understand. If we suffered like them, we would understand pain. Just to see that there are others far worse off than we ourselves are the start. We only need to count our blessings and appreciate what we have when others have so little to be motivated to help.

If we are healthy, we can help the sick, if we are rich we can share with the poor, if we have strength we can lift up the fallen and the weak, if we have faith we can move mountains of apathy. That’s what Jesus of Nazareth did and those who followed him.

Giving our lives for others is the highest form of love that Jesus of Nazareth practiced and other great heroes. We can’t reach those heights perhaps, but we can start to help people in small ways and then we can be small heroes. You’ll be happier for it and so will they. END
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Message of Solidarity to HRonlinePH -Most Rev. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D. (VCDG)

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Message of Solidarity
Most Rev. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D.
Jaro Auxiliary Bishop and VCDG Head Convenor
March 30, 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters of the HRonlinePH team,

On behalf of the Visayas Clergy Discernment Group, I would like to greet you on the First Anniversary of the HRonlinePH on March 30, 2012. We appreciate the valuable contribution of your website to the principles of truth, justice, human rights and the common good.

The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (CSDC) recognizes that the rapid means of communication offered by information technology makes it possible to establish relationships between people who are separated by great distances and are unknown to each other. At the same time, despite the advances in technology, there persist stark inequalities stoked by various forms of exploitation, oppression and corruption (cf. CSDC, 192).

The Pontifical Council for Social Communications thus exhorts for a commitment to the common good and for the realization of justice, to close the gap between the informationrich and the information-poor in today’s world (cf. The Church and Internet, 12). We are pleased that the HRonlinePH publishes online the news and press releases on issues concerning the marginalized sectors in our society.

May Jesus, the perfect communicator and prophet who announced the Kingdom of justice, peace and love be your guide. May Mary, our Mother, help us communicate with joy and courage as we work for the fulfillment of human rights and the common good.

As Christ lives,

BISHOP GERARDO ALMINAZA, D.D.
Auxiliary Bishop of Jaro/
Head Convenor of the Visayas Clergy Discernment Group (VCDG)

VISAYAS CLERGY DISCERNMENT GROUP
E-Mai l Address: vi sayasclergydi scernment@yahoo.com
“Information Technology Must Promote the Common Good”

[Press Release] Visayas Clergy, Bishops’ Lenten Message: Aquino Government Should be Concerned with the Poor’s Welfare

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Visayas Clergy, Bishops’ Lenten Message: Aquino Government Should be Concerned with the Poor’s Welfare

Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, head convenor of the Visayas Clergy Discernment Group (VCDG), in a Lenten Message, called on the Aquino Government to show its concern for the poor Filipinos by taking steps to address the unabated oil price increases.

Quoting Pope Benedict XVI’s Lenten message to be “concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works,” Bishop Alminaza said that “being concerned means being responsible for our brothers and sisters and not being indifferent to their plight.”

The priests and bishops of the VCDG said that in the Philippine society where many are hungry, jobless and homeless, the occurrence of the “unabated oil price increases result to the skyrocketing price of basic commodities, which in turn, add a heavier burden to our already suffering people.”

As Pope Benedict XVI exhorted in his Lenten message that Christians must not remain silent before evil, Bishop Alminaza said that we share in God’s work of salvation; therefore, we have to struggle untiringly for the total salvation of all.

Bishop Alminaza is concerned of reports that oil companies have overpriced the pump price of diesel by 8%-43%;  and that the government is said to have benefited from the unregulated oil price increases as it earned revenues of P48 billion pesos annually or a total of P239.6 B in the last five years due to the 12% VAT on oil.

Quoting Pope Benedict XVI’s Caritas in Veritate,  VCDG said that governments must safeguard and value the human person who is the source, the focus and the aim of all economic and social life.

VCDG is urging the Aquino Government “to manifest that it is indeed concerned with the well-being of the Filipino people by taking steps to alleviate their sufferings such as: regulating the oil industry so that oil companies will be stopped from overpricing the price of oil; removing the VAT on oil; and instituting price control over basic commodities.”

VCDG  hopes that Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection inspire all people “to work for a transformed world: a new heaven and a new earth where all people enjoy the fullness of life, truth, justice and genuine peace.”

For reference:

BISHOP GERARDO ALMINAZA, D.D.
Auxiliary Bishop of Jaro/ Head Convenor of the Visayas Clergy Discernment Group (VCDG)
Tel. No. (033) 3291625

VISAYAS CLERGY DISCERNMENT GROUP
E-Mail Address: visayasclergydiscernment@yahoo.com

Press Release
March 20, 2012

[People] Clerical Abuse of Children Must Rooted Out by Fr. Shay Cullen

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Clerical Abuse of Children Must Rooted Out
by Fr. Shay Cullen

The conference recently held at the Vatican’s Gregorian University brought together cardinals, bishops, priests from over 100 countries and the heads of thirty-three religious orders to tackle the sexual abuse of children by catholic priests. Marie Collins from Ireland, abused at 13, by a priest was the only victim of clerical abuse allowed to speak.

Revelations of widespread child sexual abuse and their cover-up by bishops in the United States and Europe in recent years have brought shame and disgrace on several dioceses and led to the resignation of bishops in Ireland and elsewhere. It is now recognized that the issue of clerical child sexual abuse was grossly mishandled for decades if not generations, with a policy of cover up, secrecy, denial, and private payoffs. The failure of church authorities to act on behalf of the victims and report the offenders to the civil authorities allowed them to abuse children repeatedly.

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle told the Vatican conference that clerical child abuse was a problem in the Philippines and in Asia too. The Archbishop said that in Asia this is due to a “culture of shame that holds dearly one’s humanity, honor and dignity,” A children’s rights defender told this column, “The Archbishop is correct, this is a false and warped sense of honor and has no dignity or humanity at all. There is no honor, dignity or humanitarian care in ignoring a child’s cry for help having being raped”.

A culture of fear and silence still reigns in the hearts of many Catholics. Some wrongly believe that reporting child sexual abuse committed by a member of the clergy is in someway a betrayal of the Church or their faith and would be the cause for greater scandal.

Catholics don’t report child abuse for fear of being ostracized by the community and criticized for supposedly bringing shame to the Church. This is a attitude that has been cultivated by some church leaders to contain the scandals. It is utterly wrong and immoral. It’s a false compassion, brotherhood or father-son relationship that protects a clerical child abuser. When the evidence is strong and clear so must be the action to save the child and bring the alleged abuser to justice.

The church leadership is now reluctantly and ashamedly admitting that it has failed to do so in many cases. For most victims it is too little too late. Nothing can compensate for the years of hurt and abuse. Many children are damaged for life others are filled with loathing and hatred towards men, the church and priests. Some have written to this column to say so.

The children at the Preda home for abused girls tell horrific stories of abuse by their own fathers and the live-in partners of their mother. They hate and are traumatized because of what was done to them. Helping them recover is a challenging task for the psychologists, therapists and counselors. But they do heal and make a new life.

Pope Benedict, has called for “profound renewal” and “a vigorous culture of effective safeguarding and victim support”. That is not before it’s time. In the Preda children’s home there are 57 victims, the youngest 6 years old recovering from rape and abuse. There are 36 ongoing cases against child abusers.

Jesus had harsh words for child abusers. “…if anyone should cause one of these little ones to lose faith in me it would be better a millstone be tied about his neck and he be drowned in the deep sea”. Matthew 18:6-7. However repentance, public confession, and doing penance behind bars would be acceptable. Bishops should pursue this option when the evidence of guilt is strong.

Nowadays, with the public outrage we don’t need to be told that child abuse is a grave, wrong and criminal offense. It must be reported to the authorities at once and the victims brought to a child care center where they can be protected, healed and helped. The Preda hotline for reporting child abuse is 0063-917-532-4453.

US archbishop Stephen Rossetti told the Vatican conference; “It is time to pro-actively and aggressively root out this evil from our society. You and I must begin this task by exorcising it from our own midst, Child molesters must know they have no safe sanctuary in the Church,” he said.

(Fr. Shay’s columns are published in The Manila Times,
in publications in Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, and on-line.)
http://www.preda.org/en/news/fr-shays-articles/clerical-abuse-of-children-must-rooted-out/

[Statement] A statement on the Corona impeachment proceedings by Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, D.D.

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A STATEMENT ON THE CORONA IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS
by Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, D.D.

Auxiliary Bishop of Jaro and Visayas Clergy Discernment Group (VCDG) Head Convenor
February 21, 2012


In Mark 4:22, Jesus said, “Whatever is hidden away will be brought out into the open; and whatever is covered up will be uncovered.”

This year, the Church celebrates the Year of Faith with the motto: Living truth in charity. I am praying with the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI for truth to be held supreme… “Since God is love, truth is expressed in charity, and charity in turn reveals the truth.”

Likewise, the Holy Father reaffirmed the need for a profound conviction of the truth of God’s revelation in His Son Jesus Christ, because “if there is no truth, we have no compass and do not know where to go.” Life can be rich and beautiful only if there is truth. This conviction for truth makes it possible for the Church to re-evangelize humankind today.

Thus, I am praying that the Philippine Senate as an impeachment court against Chief Justice Renato Corona will unravel the “truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

I am praying that the impeachment court exhaust all available means to ferret out the whole truth.

Furthermore, I am praying that the court remain vigilant and prevent any attempt to suppress, hide or dilute the whole truth.

I am praying that the senator-judges, as elected servants, look at the truth from the point of view of the sovereign people of the Philippines, their Boss. Therefore, I am praying that they become aware of any personal, political or other vested interests that might becloud their lenses as jurists.

I am praying that the final verdict would always be for the Common Good, never for the benefit of just a few.

I am praying that the final verdict is reached as early as possible. Therefore, if there is enough evidence to warrant a fair, just and loving decision, I pray that this final verdict be pronounced the soonest possible.

I am praying that after giving a swift, objective, and pro-people decision on the impeachment proceedings, the senator-judges and the members of the House of Representatives, as an act of charity, return immediately to their respective legislative houses so that the many bills that are for the Common Good are passed after sufficient study, and with reasonable speed.

May the Holy Spirit of Wisdom, Justice and Love guide us. May Mary, our mother and all the saints support us.

In the Holy Spirit,

BISHOP GERARDO ALMINAZA, D.D. (SIGNED)
Auxiliary Bishop of Jaro/ Head Convenor of the Visayas Clergy Discernment Group (VCDG)
Tel. No. (033) 3291625

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