30 priests stop officiating marriages
By Yolanda Sotelo-Fuertes
Northern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 01:55:00 01/08/2008
DAGUPAN CITY—Starting this month, 23 priests from the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan and seven others from other congregations will not solemnize marriages after they chose not to renew their licenses to solemnize the sacrament of matrimony.
The priests’ decision was in protest of the memorandum of the National Statistics Office (NSO) requiring all priests in the country to undergo a two-day seminar on marriage laws, said Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz.
Cruz said there were 63 priests in the archdiocese, 40 of them with licenses that have yet to expire. He said by Dec. 31 this year, the licenses of 27 priests would lapse.
“If the government insists on implementing the memorandum that requires priests to attend the seminar and undergo refresher courses on a regular basis, then time will come that there will be no more priests to solemnize marriages,” Cruz said.
In an earlier circular letter read in churches, Cruz said it was “with mixture of surprise and disgust that all the bishops received a copy of the memorandum, dated Nov. 6, 2007.”
The memorandum requires all ministers of marriage in the country to undergo an orientation seminar before the granting or renewing of the certificate of registration and authority to solemnize marriage. Each minister must pay P400-P900 for the seminar.
“Believe it or not, unless the priests undergo such orientation and refresher seminars, they will not be allowed to solemnize the sacrament of matrimony. It is as gross as that. It is with a very heavy heart that I bring to your kind attention [this] sad news,” he said.
The fee for license has also gone up from P350 to P700, he said.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has asked the NSO to cancel the orientation seminar.
Cruz gave the Inquirer a copy of the letter of CBCP president, Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, to the NSO appealing for the cancellation of the orientation seminar.
Lagdameo, in his letter, said the topics in the seminars “have long been part of the seminary curriculum.”
“In coordination with the Canon Law Society of the Philippines, which is working under the CBCP, the secretaries of Catholic parishes in the country are constantly being updated by the Diocesan Chancellors on matters related to documents that need to be fulfilled and submitted to the NSO and other government offices, particularly those pertaining to marriages, live births and deaths,” Lagdameo said.
Cruz said he did not know if the NSO had answered Lagdameo’s letter.
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