The Catholic vote is alive and here!

I’m off to the fabulous Bellevue Resort in Panglao, Bohol today with select members of the Cebu media for the official unveiling of the Bellevue Pavilion, which is an air-conditioned tent and the opening of its Marea Restaurant, the Azurea Spa. The unveiling of these facilities makes the Bellevue Resort totally complete and ready for huge conventions, which Bohol sorely lacks. Kudos to Mr. Johnny Chan, chairman of Bellevue Hotels, for investing his money in Bohol and believing that the Philippines is a great place for Filipinos to invest money… especially on tourism development projects.

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If there has been a huge group that has been busy as bees in calling for a Catholic vote it is the various pro-life groups from the various parishes of Cebu and most of the archdioceses of the nation. We already wrote that we visited Msgr. Vicente Navarra of the Bacolod Diocese a couple of weeks ago when we went to the Big Bike convention in Bacolod City. My friends, even as far away as the Parish of Vigan in Ilocos Sur are doing the same things and this is happening all over the nation.

In the National Capital Region, the White Vote Movement held a mammoth rally last Sunday, while here in Cebu, the group that calls itself Lay Initiatives for Elections (LIFE) held a 54-hour 568-kilometer round Cebu caravan called LIFE 2013 Vote Team Buhay, which ended at 3:00PM last Sunday. What my friends texted me was that they were very surprised at the outpouring of support from the parish priests in all the municipalities that they passed. Many of them hanged LIFE 2013 tarpaulins proclaiming in Binisaya, “MABUHI ANG KINABUHI… SULONG KATOLIKO KINABUHI UG PAGTOO PANALIPDAN MO!”

Buoyed by the massive turnout of Catholics in the Province of Cebu, LIFE 2013 organizers are calling all Catholics living in Metro Cebu for a prayer rally this Sunday, May 5, which starts with a Holy Mass at 4:00PM at the Metropolitan Cebu Cathedral, followed by a march with rosaries at 5:30PM to the historic Plaza Independencia. This will be followed by praise and worship and speeches from important personalities.

At 7:30PM there will be a covenant signing for Life. So those pro-life candidates should show up in this rally to sign that covenant, which in return, would get them the Catholic vote. That thousands of Catholics have already awakened to this threat of the family unit is the work of the Holy Spirit. If and when this happens, it will be the first time that the Catholic vote would play a major role in Philippine politics. The Catholic vote is alive.

While many Catholic Charismatic organizations joined the caravan last weekend, little did anyone who joined the caravan know that they all got a huge boost from a very unexpected source - Arch. Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, who came direct from the Vatican, celebrated the Holy Eucharist after the second day of the Rimini Fair of the 36th National Assembly of Catholic Charismatic Renewal where some 15,000 delegates were present.

Arch. Fisichella told the audience, “Before beginning this celebration, I bring you a greeting. Before I left this morning, I was with Pope Francis, and I told him, “Holy Father, I have to leave soon. I’m going to Rimini where there are thousands of faithful of the Charismatic Renewal: men, women and young people.” With a great smile, the Pope said, “Tell them I love them very much! Then he added, “Look, tell them that I love them very much because I was responsible for Charismatic Renewal in Argentina and that’s why I love them very much.”

This should be great news for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement here in the Philippines… that Pope Francis is also a staunch believer of what the Catholic Laity has been doing in helping the church. This encourages and motivates us to work harder to support our Catholic Church especially in these times when secularism and ugly politics is trying to destroy her and the family unit through abortifacient contraception, divorce and same sex marriage.

I know that there are many in the clergy, a few priests and even some bishops who are not happy with the Charismatic groups. If they read the message of Pope Francis, perhaps it should give them a new outlook that for the clergy to be totally effective with the new evangelization, the Catholic Church must enlist all the members of the laity through the Charismatic Renewal and this includes fighting those who threaten the church. Don’t ever forget the prayer of the Holy Spirit, which says, “Send forth your Holy Spirit and we shall renew the face of the earth.” So let us renew the face of our politics and vote only for pro-life candidates.

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