Quagmire
Some Catholic bishops “flunked” President BenIgno Aquino for “failing to curb poverty” even as economic growth outstripped other Asian countries. ” Growth has not trickled down to the poor,” scoffed -National Secretariat for Social Action’s Bishop Broderick Pabillo “In a scale of ten, I’d give Aquino a grade of three.”
All citizens have the right to speak.. Did Pabilo grade for all bishops in 16 archdioceses and 72 dioceses? Some maybe? “Who made me a judge or a divider over you?”, the Master replied when pestered to rule on a squabble.
Tell the truth in July’s State of the Nation message, urged Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma . Rising GDP data is a mystery “amid hunger besetting a larger population”.. He urged President Benigno Aquino to “tell the truth in the State of the Nation message, come July,
Is this a slur by imputation?. That’s not the Palma we respect. National Statistical Coordination Board, World Bank to Standard and Poor have not fudged data Quod grati asseritur, gratis negatur. “What is freely asserted can be freely denied.”
Church critics admit Aquino heeds the commandment: “Thou shalt not steal.” In contrast, a former president is being tried for plunder. A Supreme Court chief justice was impeached for muddling tax returns. PNoy hasn’t curbed pork barrel excesses.. Today’s Ombudsman has backbone..
By implementing the Framework Agreement between government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Aquino is turning swords into ploughshares. A Conditional Cash Transfer program benefits 3.8 million of the poorest families Still, the number of poor hasn’t budged. Over half a million women seek underground abortionists due to patchy family planning services.
So, what’s causing the static? Among others, the bishops of Lipa and Bacolod blacklisted candidates who backed the Reproductive Health bill . “Team Patay” instead coasted to decisive wins. These prelates clustered contra-RH bill legislators in “Team Buhay”. They were whipped.
“The Catholic Church would not be alive because Team Patay lost,” wrote Davao Ateneo’s Fr Joel Tabora. ““Nor would it be dead if Team Patay won. The church is diminished if bishops reduce it to a political party. Over-identification of the Church with particular political parties is historically inimical to the Church’s mission”
In the poll’s aftermath, some pastors found themselves without a flock. “The sheep did not heed them …A stranger they will not follow”, said the Good Shepherd. “They will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
Electioneering prelates are bogged in a quagmire and still don’t know it. That is pathetic. Instead, they inflict “flunking grades on those who, in equal good conscience, supported the law. That is tragic.
See this controversy in the context of the G8 Summit. Eight industrialized nations will gather in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, June 17 to 18, to forge ways of meeting critical problems. Since 1976, this is the 38th meeting of the G8 nations, namely;: : Canada , France , Germany , Italy , Japan , Russia , UK and the US.
Enniskillen is painting fake storefronts on closed-down businesses”, Irish Times reports. Imelda Marcos would mask slums by flimsy walls whenever VIPs visited. “No one is fooled,” says Phil Flanagan, former owner of a papered-over butcher shop. “It is like when your mother-in-law is coming to visit and you give the house a tidy up.”
It’s not all sham. World Bank boosted this year’s funding for child nutrition from $230m to $600m And European Union pledged an extra $500m for related projects.. “Stunting has become the most prevalent nutritional challenge in developing nations. Worldwide, 165 million children are affected. ( In Philippine kindergarten and primary classes, 562,262 pupils are “severely wasted.) ”
“An international preferential option for the poor should be part of G8 summit conversation” , wrote heads of national Catholic conferences of bishops from eight countries. “Your focus on agriculture and nutrition.. is timely. In a world that made great strides in improving food production and distribution.
The bishops, among others. include: France ’s André Cardinal Vingt-Trois,, Leo Jun Ikenaga, S.J., Archbishop of Osaka; US Cardinal Timothy Dolan. Improve nutrition, reduce hunger and poverty, and strengthen just taxes, trade and transparency policies, they urged.
“As a human family we are only as healthy as our weakest members,” they pointed out.. ( Still ) far too many of God’s children go to bed hungry Lack of nutrition is a tragedy that has lifelong consequences… By asking first how a given policy will affect the poor and vulnerable, you help assure the common good of all is served.
“Man is not in charge”, said the Bishop of Rome . “Today, money is in charge, money rules…God did not give the task of caring for the earth to money, but to us…. Instead, men and women are sacrificed to idols of consumption …
“A culture of waste. has become the common mentality that infects everyone”, Pope Francis noted. Human life is no longer perceived as a primary value to be respected , especially if poor or disabled, if not yet useful, such as the unborn child and the elderly.
“Our grandparents were very careful not to throw away any leftover food,” the pope said. “Everyone ( should ) reflect on the problem of thrown away and wasted food. Identify ways so saving food” becomes “a vehicle of solidarity” with the needy.
