Cebu to host CBCP plenary assembly

MANILA, Philippines – For the first time in 71 years, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ (CBCP) plenary assembly will be held in Cebu.

The assembly, to be attended by 131 bishops including 37 retired, will be held before the start of the 51st International Eucharist Congress (IEC).

The eight-day IEC will also take place in Cebu.

CBCP president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas will preside over the assembly, which is held twice a year, in January and July.

CBCP secretary general Fr. Marvin Mejia told CBCPNews that aside from listening to the reports of all the CBCP commissions and offices, the bishops would address a host of social issues.

Mejia did not elaborate on the social concerns that would be discussed during the plenary. One possible agenda is the May national elections.

Formed to deal with wartime contingencies, the CBCP was first known as Catholic Welfare Organization (CWO), whose first chairman was the late Archbishop Gabriel Reyes of Cebu.

In 1968, the CWO became CBCP to better coordinate the Church apostolate in the country.