Debt Relief, Climate and Recovery Aid Needed, Say Africa Catholic Bishops (tags)
African Catholic Bishops called for an overhaul of the financial system to address health, climate, food and other challenges the region faces.
African Catholic Bishops: Marrakesh Meetings Should Act on “True Jubilee of Hope in Africa (tags)
World leaders attending the annual IMF, G20 and World Bank meetings should promote urgent debt relief, aid and lending policies to address the interlinked crises African countries face, noted a body that represents African Catholic Bishops.
African Bishops Call for Debt Relief and Aid to Address Multiple Crises (tags)
G7 and African finance leaders should work together to remove the heavy burdens of debts in Africa, Catholic bishops and other faith leaders from the region said in Accra, Ghana, at the end of a two-day meeting.
Development Group Says Debt Relief Can Provide Quick-Recovery Aid to Caribbean (tags)
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) joins other religious and development groups in their call for debt relief for hurricane-battered Caribbean islands.
Mindanao Bishops, MILF: pursue peace process, call for ceasefire (tags)
The Mindanao Bishops and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) reiterated their commitment to pursue the realm of peace, justice, solidarity and development as well as the peaceful resolution of the Mindanao conflict and Bangsamoro problem through the ongoing peace process between the government and MILF. “The MILF and the Bishops reiterate unwavering moral commitment to pursue the path to peace, solidarity, justice and development in Mindanao, and resolve and support to the continuation of the peace process between the MILF and the government until its successful conclusion is achieved,” stated in their Joint Communique’ issued after their peace dialogue held at the Archbishop’s Residence in Davao City on August 14, 2008.
No to military offensive in Mindanao (tags)
Bishops from the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) yesterday cautioned the Arroyo government on engaging in an all-out military offensive against the Muslim rebels and bandits in Mindanao, saying such action could have repercussions on the “peace-building” efforts of the inter-religious groups in the region. “Conflicts cannot be resolved simply by military might. Conflicts can be solved by mutual understanding,” CBCP president Angel Lagdameo said during the 12th Asia Pacific Policy Forum on the “Role of Youth in Peace Building” held yesterday at the Australian Embassy at RCBC Plaza in Makati City. The event was attended by Australian officials led by Ambassador Rod Smith, student leaders, CBCP president Lagdameo, CBCP chairman on Inter-Religious dialog Antonio Ledesma, members of academe and non-government organizations.
AGRARIAN REFORM 29 bishops urge Congress to extend CARP (tags)
Twenty-nine Catholic prelates, including Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales and Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, have asked the House of Representatives to immediately extend through legislation the 20-year-old Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). The CARP expires on June 10 this year.
U.S. Catholic Bishops “See No Evil” in the War Party (tags)
The Bush-Cheney Gang has been running the country into the ground the last seven years, while creating a framework for a fascist police state. It has also slaughtered 1.2 million Iraqis and sent 3,867 of our finest sons and daughters to a early grave in an illegal and immoral war. But, you wouldn’t know it from any of the results of the annual conference of U.S. Catholic Bishops. To them, abortion is the greatest evil facing Mankind! Go figure!
Chicago Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Wins Award for Most Ridiculous Statement of Day (tags)
Rumors that the Catholic Bishops Were Finally Getting their Act Together Apparently Exaggerated
CBCP slams conduct of midterm elections (tags)
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) expressed dismay yesterday over the conduct of the May 14 midterm elections, saying the challenge of credible, honest, meaningful and peaceful polls remains. CBCP president Archbishop Angel Lagdameo lamented that “vote-buying and other anomalies have already become systematic and even cultural.” He said election watchdogs, including the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), said the problem no longer lies in the voters but the voting system itself and the irresponsibility of some election officials.
Bishops: 'Power politics' behind Jalosjos commutation (tags)
Despite Malacañang’s repeated denials, Catholic bishops suspect politics was behind President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s decision to commute the sentence of convicted rapist and former Zamboanga del Norte congressman Romeo Jalosjos. Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care (ECPPC) executive director Rodolfo Diamante said the act also shows the “bias" of the administration towards known political allies. “Obviously it’s political because how come Jalosjos was given that privilege and denied the others who are more deserving," Diamante said in a statement posted on the CBCP website (www.cbcponline.net).
Statement of the Ecumenical Bishops Forum (tags)
The Ecumenical Bishops Forum (EBF), the fellowship of bishops from the United Church of Christ (UCCP), United Methodist (UMC), Episcopal Church in the Philippines (ECP), Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) and the Roman Catholic Churches in the Philippines lament the deployment of elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in urban areas in the country. It is another nail hammered on the flailing limbs of freedom in this country. There is no justification for their presence in these areas at this time. The AFP is called to defend this country from aggression and armed rebellion. The police force should suffice for preserving the peace in our communities. No country claiming to be democratic alows its soldiers to roam around communities in full battle gear. No country claiming to be free allows its soldiers to engage in partisan politics. Even civic functions which military officials claim soldiers perform in these communities are best left in the hands of other government agencies and other non-government organizations.
My Letter to William Cardinal Keeler (tags)
The RC Bishops in the U.S. are against abortion. Most of the RC laity is against it, too. They get the message from the Bishops on that issue. Yet, these same Bishops, and the Pope, too, are also, on moral grounds, against the war in Iraq. Nevertheless, that idea, strangely, hasn’t gotten down to most of the faithful. William Hughes asks Cardinal William Keeler why.
December 17 Mass Rally in Manila:Unresolved issues justify protest, say bishops (tags)
AJLPP -USA and Philippine news sources reported today that the December 17 prayer rally in Manila will push through. AN “escalation of crises” that the leaders of the country’s Roman Catholic Church can no longer take sitting down prompted the Church to spearhead tomorrow’s planned huge prayer rally at Manila’s Rizal Park. News reports also confirmed that top officials of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines yesterday rebuffed calls from administration stalwarts for them to abandon the rally at the Quirino Grandstand in the wake of the decision by Ms Arroyo’s allies to scrap plans to convene a constituent assembly. The CBCP secretary general, Msgr. Juanito Figura, said the CBCP could no longer ignore the escalating problems facing the country, including the questions surrounding President Macapagal-Arroyo’s disputed victory in the 2004 elections. Figura specifically cited the “Garci” tapes, which set off the election controversy, the P728-million fertilizer fund scam and the so-called Mayuga report on the alleged involvement of military officials in election fraud as among the issues unresolved to this day. “The Church cannot play blind, deaf and mute to the sufferings that these issues have brought,” Figura said in a press conference.
The Rev. Billy Graham is No Phil Berrigan! (tags)
The Rev. Billy Graham was in Baltimore recently doing his religious revival thing. For years, he was a crony of warmongering presidents, like Richard M. Nixon. Rev. Graham’s preaching never attracted me. However, the life work of the late Phil Berrigan, an ex-Josephite priest, had a profound influence on me, and others. Berrigan spoke the truth to power. He relentlessly took on the War Party and spent 11 of his 79 years in prison for his protest actions.
Pope a War Criminal and Hypocrite for Bush (tags)
The torment of the Pope - or else a grand act of hypocrisy - can be seen in the pope's focus on the Culture of Death: Modernity. He opposed birth control, abortion, homosexuality and women in the church because he (Unlike anyone we know of on the left or right) understood that these were band-aids
Episcopal Bishops Won't Halt Gay Ordination