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o experience excruciating pain and suffering for as i wrote in the previous column nothing and no one matures to perfections without pain or something analogous to pain fernando r capalla d d archbishop of davao president catholic bishops conference september 4 2005 posted by abp fernando r capalla 11 36 am friday august 12 2005 answers to questions on jueteng cbcp president answers media questions on archbishop cruz s involvement in jueteng q personally how do you see abp oscar cruz s involvement in the crusade against jueteng frc abp fernando r capalla i wholeheartedly support abp cruz s crusade against jueteng he is pointing out one of the ills of society and that is part of his duties as a priest in calling our attention to the evils of jueteng abp cruz is meeting a need in the church the need for us bishops to fulfill our prophetic role as pastors q while many people support him there are also others who criticize him for purportedly being too involved in the issue as indicated by his regular appearance in televised senate investigations and media interviews frc too involved what he is doing fighting the evil in jueteng is in accordance with church teachings how he does it in other words how he conducts his fight is his personal responsibility abp cruz is a righteous man guided by his conscience conscience is higher than the pope it is a matter between you and god so how can anyone judge whether or not abp cruz is already being too involved as you say q if abp cruz s cause is all that worthy why is he the only bishop fighting it frc jueteng or illegal gambling is only one of the problems in our society even if all of us 90 or so active bishops were assigned one evil to fight each still we would have our hands full fighting our individual battles in addition to our responsibilities in our respective dioceses i for example have my hands full with peace building concerns and the plight of coconut farmers plus my duties in the archdiocese of davao some of us may be occupied with problems of oppressed farm workers in their dioceses some may be concerned with giving land to the landless and in many cases in our far flung barrios even the lack of clean water and electricity would be the concern of the bishops and although all of us bishops would be doing our part in forming future priests some of us are called upon to focus more on that work these are but a few issues that bishops deal with we may not all be that interesting to media and most of us are quiet workers who really would rather not be known or talked about but rest assured that we are waging our own wars against problems that plague our people and expending our energies to remain true to our calling in building god s kingdom so you ask me my personal opinion about a brother bishop s jueteng crusade we are participating in different ways by addressing the situations for instance that lead people to trust luck more than hard work why do people not mind losing a few pesos each day in the hope of winning easy money one day educating our people in the faith forming their conscience and instilling in them sound values and attitudes this occupies us as pastors and if we persevere in doing this by the grace of god we will finally enjoy a society without jueteng sgd fernando r capalla d d archbishop of davao president catholic bishops conference of the philippines august 12 2005 posted by abp fernando r capalla 9 16 am sunday august 07 2005 the inside story on hindsight q a on the making of the pastoral statement of 10 july 2005 a on august 10 the historic cbcp pastoral statement entitled restoring trust a plea for moral values in philippine politics issued july 10 2005 will have been one month old yet the controversial statement continues to draw varied reactions from the public some view it as a pro gma move others laud it as a masterstroke coming from the country s spiritual leaders what really went on during its drafting how did 85 bishops coming from various places and persuasions findally decide on what to say as a body cbcp president archbishop fernando r capalla takes us behind the scenes as he answers questions from media q the cbcp pastoral statement of july 10 2005 was a much awaited document in view of the country s political situation then can you tell us something about the public s reaction to that statement a in my 30 years as bishop and active member of the catholic bishops conference of the philippines i have never seen a cbcp pastoral statement so closely scrutinized and analyzed widely disseminated profusely lauded and commented on as that one a cross section of society rich and poor government and non government personalities professional and non professional christians and muslims religious and non religious even the left leaning bayan kmm karapatan cnl have registered their reactions mostly positive to that 3 page document it s nearly a month now and headlines are focusing on different issues but we are still receiving kudos for it q some quarters claim that the document although it contains nothing new and to some it was even a disappointment was historic do you agree with this a in a way yes actually the main content of the statement is nothing really new they have been part of the ordinary teaching of the church for many many years in fact our conference has already issued in the not too distant past a pastoral letter entitled church and politics what made this recent episcopal document apparently historic and memorable was the occasion that motivated it as bishops we were confronted by the recent political crisis and the social turmoil it was and still is generating the entire nation was expecting the bishops to speak out and the pressures were mounting as our statement was being awaited q we understand there were 85 bishops present then a good number if we may say so how did you manage under so much clamor from the public to pull it together a yes almost all active bishops were there with the exception of a few who had previous commitments it is not possible or necessary to retrace step by step how i presided over the assembly of 85 bishops and led them through serious discussions towards a consensus it was a long process that started at 5 o clock in the afternoon before the plenary assembly opened the permanent council and the chairmen of the different commissions met then to review important matters taken in the previous general assembly and to finalize the agenda for the present plenary when 12 council members and 30 chairmen had gathered i suggested that since the times were abnormal we dispense with the minutes of the previous meeting as well as with the plenary agenda and start discussing the present situation instead they all agreed q you mean the bishops were really aware that issuing a statement then was of paramount concern even if they had been on closed retreat for days a of course all of us were aware of what was happening outside we knew too that time was of the essence and that we had to make a statement before anarchy could erupt in the streets even days before the assembly i had been hounded by media already demanding both my personal opinion and a cbcp statement on the political situation we were so concerned that we had to make a change in our evening schedule with so many items on the agenda omitted we even agreed to advance the session on the political situation from saturday to thursday so i assigned archbishop quevedo and archbishop legazpi to compose the drafting committee with the help of bishop tagle and bishop odchimar before the formal opening of the plenary assembly the first draft of the statement was ready it is true that the statement had to go through four drafts through all these there were important moments that led to that eventful afternoon of july 10 when these 85 bishops spoke with one voice to a nation anxiously looking for immediate guidance i m referring to the press conference when the cbcp finally came out in public with a stand when we opened the session hall to over a hundred media people who would convey our statement to millions of our countrymen here and abroad i am of the firm conviction that god s gentle spirit was at work in the minds and hearts of my brother bishops during those days q how did the bishops prepare for that session were they armed with data from research a we must not forget that we are priests first and foremost although the burning issue at hand was political we do not approach it the way politicians or ordinary lay people do and it s not fair for the public or anyone to pressure us into making a political stand so i must say for the record that i attribute the success of our deliberation to the 3 day holy retreat that preceded our plenary assembly cbcp s 91st which was held at the pius xii catholic center those were three grace filled days with the lord it was such a precious time when we bishops could all be together devoting ourselves to daily mass liturgy of the hours prayed in common meditative talks on the eucharist and daily holy hour before the blessed sacrament the retreat prepared and strengthened us we listened to experts three jesuit priests spoke to us fr jose magadia on the state of the economy fr joaquin bernas on the legal aspects of the burning issues and fr daniel huang on the moral choices contrary to later reports we did not invite any other resource persons q would you say the bishops were adequately informed prior to the deliberations a some of us were better informed about the political situation than the others but i cannot claim that the information we had was absolutely true as you may observe much is clouded or distorted in media coverage the bishops had their own personal observations to begin with and by text messaging from friends and other contacts outside many bishops were further updated on some aspects of the political crisis during our deliberation the observations of the bishops from the countryside also proved to be an invaluable addition to our existing knowledge if you will notice our fellow filipinos outside of the key cities are hardly heard from in media so we depended on the bishops to convey to us what their people felt about the prevailing situation then we had an open forum which also helped us to deepen our understanding of the situation by the afternoon of july 8 eve of the plenary assembly we were ready to reflect and discuss what we must do q shortly after the cbcp statement was released certain news items also said that the statement was watered down due to the tongue lashing that the bishops got from the apostolic nuncio archbishop antonio franco could the bishops have taken a stronger stand for or against pgma had the papal nuncio not intervened a allow me to correct that false assumption banking on a so called expose that the papal nuncio had given the bishops a tongue lashing before the assembly began many news reports claimed that the nuncio s speech influenced the bishops to take a soft stand on the political question this is not true the papal nuncio s address which was the first item in the opening ceremony was simply a confirmation and an additional reminder on the roles of the bishops and laity in political affairs as contained in conciliar and papal documents the reference to the holy father pope benedict xvi was not even in the nuncio s address it was in the short version of the statement by archbishop legazpi i saw the need of putting it in the final draft thus i privately requested cardinal vidal to make a motion to that effect which was accepted q so the statement was purely the product of the bishops deliberation was it really that agonizing as the news reports said we d be interested to know how 85 bishops finally agreed on one statement a well that statement underwent close scrutiny to say the least it is also of great importance to note for historical reasons that the draft which went into a third version was finely dissected line by line and paragraph by paragraph by the assembly of 85 bishops we had to be careful in our choice of words for obvious reasons for instance the choice between the verbal expressions cannot demand her resignation and do not demand her resignation took some time to agree on so with options demanded by the gospel and options that are not against the gospel in general the process was smooth and orderly contrary to media reports we did not agonize on the deliberations because all along we were very much aware that we were addressing the issues and the crises from who we are and we are bishops pastors moral guides q if you had to be that careful did that mean back breaking seriousness a of course there were lighter moments during our sessions too human as we are the bishops knew how to handle difficult or delicate situations with serenity and a sense of humor during coffee breaks and mealtimes we had many opportunities to update one another to talk about other things than the gospel or politics we would laugh and tell jokes even but the most enjoyable moment was the dinner with the nuncio in his residence he gamely acted as our emcee and we interspersed our meal with singing by groups according to age bracket the 40s 50s 60s and 70s even our 83 year old bishop mondejar contributed a number it was fun a refreshing evening for all of us q that s nice but let s go back to the assembly hall it s a fact that prior to the plenary assembly some bishops had been openly anti gma did this not adversely affect the process how did you handle those bishops considering that you yourself have been viewed by media as being pro gma a media for all its power to gather and disseminate information can only come up with part of the truth as the wise would say don t believe everything you read in the papers some bishops may have causes to fight and if they find friends in the media who will support them well and good if bishops seem very vocal about being anti gma or anti administration as the news say they must have very good reasons for taking their stand so let s listen to them but no i did not find the need to handle them because in the assembly hall where all of us gather we come as bishops pastors not mere voters and when we speak of truth we mean gospel truth that s the bottom line no matter our political color once we are asked by circumstances to speak as one we do not forget that we are pastors men consecrated to proclaim the truth and the truth we proclaim is the truth of christ q do you mean to say that those bishops did not even care to air their side and you too did not find the need to defend your own stand a as i said we listen to everybody in fact a bishop counted 120 interventions all in all those bishops naturally spoke up and so did the others practically unknown to media but who had very relevant inputs which i surmise contributed vitally to the completion of the picture i told you earlier that i attribute the success of our assembly to our three day closed retreat it did u...