DAGUPAN CITY , Philippines – The leadership of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) yesterday called on priests, nuns and the faithful not be afraid and to continue teaching “even if the government is hostile” and “even if the trolls are unrelenting.”
CBCP president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas made this call during the opening of the second synod of the archdiocese, which was held after 32 years.
“We must teach even if they kill us and if they kill us, our message will echo even more because the best way to teach is through martyrdom,” Villegas said in his homily in a mass held at the St. John the Evangelist Metropolitan Cathedral.
“We must teach even if our voices get hoarse. We must teach even if they threaten us,” he added.
The Catholic church has criticized the Duterte government’s war against drugs marked by hundreds of cases of summary killings.
In response, President Duterte and the trolls supporting him threw profanity-laced tirades against the priests, nuns and other critics.
But Villegas urged the religious and the faithful not to be afraid and not to get tired of teaching as it is a service to the Lord.
“Our mission is not to fill up our chapels and churches with active parishioners. Our mission is to fill the dark world with the light of Christ,” he said.
“The challenge is not inside this cathedral but in the streets and sidewalks, our seas and rivers, in our factories and markets, in our stores and munisipios,” he added.
A group of Filipino Catholics overseas launched a worldwide novena amid the crises happening in the Philippines.
In a report from CBCP News, organizers invited the faithful to pray and entrust the Philippines to the Virgin Mary. The church will be celebrating her Feast of Nativity on Sept. 8.
“It is to our Blessed Mother that we turn to in this time when our nation is in the midst of crises, especially with the ongoing siege in Marawi, the drug related killings, the renewed attempt to pass a divorce bill in Congress and the push by health authorities to approve dangerous contraceptives for use among our countrymen,” said Fr. Rolando Arjonillo of the group Catholics Striving for Holiness.
Villegas also thanked the religious for joining the synod as it is also taking part in the history of the church in Pangasinan.
“We remember with pride Bishop Miguel Garcia, Bishop of Segovia, who convoked the synod of Calasiao in 1773. We are standing on the shoulders of Archbishop Federico Limon, who celebrated the first synod at Lingayen-Dagupan in 1985,” he said.
“Future generations of Catholics remember what we are doing right now with gratitude and be able to say with pride we are Catholics from Pangasinan and we are proud of our forefathers, in their time they gave their best to keep Pangasinan always faithful.” – With Kurt dela Peña