Sex and Religion

New materials from HAIN

2010-05-24T02:11:00.000-07:00

Keeping the Faith Alive : A Slimbook on Responding to the Challenges Posed by the Catholic Church Hierarchy on Reproductive Health. (by Giney Villar and Corazon dela Paz) aims to contribute to the work of Catholic RH advocates as they bridge the gaps between their personal faith and the work they do—through a series of exercises on real-life situations that require advocates to effectively communicate with facts, composure and with their faith in place.

Bagong Pag-asa, Bagong Buhay (comics on RH for the community). To help raise the awareness on RH at the community level, HAIN produced a comics in Filipino which covered topics on violence against women, sexually transmitted infections, and family planning methods. To complement the discussions given by the barangay health workers, it is hoped that this resource material could help the people make informed decisions about family planning and other RH concerns.

Bulong ng Panahon (Whisper of the Times), produced by Celso Espaldon of Tubig Kanlungan, is a 15-minuter educational/advocacy film discusses the link between climate change and reproductive health. It focused on the experiences of a selected community in Botolan, Zambales, and how a big calamity and the women’s reproductive health are affected and experienced. It is targeted to raise the level of awareness of women and girls in communities, policy and decision-makers, health workers and program managers.

Tungkol kay Olivia (About Olivia) is , produced by Maricar Vallido (The Forum), is a short film documentary which aims to draw attention to the very alarming maternal mortality rate in the country. The film focuses on the lives of the 11 children whose mother died while giving birth to the 11th child. The video aims to raise awareness on the status of poor urban dwellers that will result in better health and services particularly RH services for women, and establish support from the local government and other key decision and policymakers.

Health Alert Special Anniversary Issue highlights HAIN's 25 years of health advocacy.

These materials were made possible through the support of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. To request copies, please email hain@hain.org.

Puso, Puson, Pananampalataya at Pulitika

2010-05-03T23:23:00.001-07:00

With the upcoming 2010 national and local elections, candidates are being asked of their position on the issue of reproductive health. Apparently, there is a veiled threat that the Church will use the pulpit to campaign against candidates who will support reproductive health programs and services. Catholics who comprised the majority of the voting public must then be given a chance to hear other progressive voices in the Church. In an article, Fr. Joaquin Bernas, S.J. has written a thoughtful and balanced opinion on the danger of the Church’s direct interference in the elections. Other RH advocates who are also Catholics also have a stake in the issue and must make to make their voices heard so as to have an influence on the electorate in this very important issue.

The Catholics for Reproductive Health (C4RH) conducted series of fora from February to April 2010 entitled “Puso, Puson, Pananampalataya at Pulitika” or P4RH.

The objective for conducting this series is to help Catholics make an informed decision on choosing national and local leaders in the coming May 2010 elections. The forums presented a layered and multi-faceted perspective on the issue of how Catholics in good conscience can vote for candidates who are supportive of reproductive health.

The forum served as a better way of reaching out to people around the country, bringing other alternative voices and perspective on the issue. We invited speakers who could enlighten the audience to become more critical of their faith and in choosing candidates to vote. In each of the area, the set of speakers included a respected community leader who talked about the RH situation in the community. A local politician was also included to contextualize the experience of local advocates in championing reproductive health in their locality. Maricar Vallido of the Forum for Family Planning and Development presented facts and figures about how Catholics have been voting in the past elections as well as the latest survey results of how Catholics view RH as an electoral issue. Fr. Percy Bacani presented an alternative perspective from the religious sector on how Catholics can be guided by their conscience in making their decisions.

The forums were held in the cities of Davao, Cebu, Iloilo, Legaspi and Tagbilaran. The group tapped local partners in conducting these forums such as the Development of People’s Foundation (Davao), College of Social Work of the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (Cebu), Office of Student Affairs in University of the Philippines (Iloilo), Bicol Integrated Reproductive Health Alliance or BIRHA (Legaspi, Albay) and Process Foundation (Tagbilaran, Bohol).

Earlier in 2007, the group also conducted the first series of this kind of forum in Quezon City, Cebu and Davao. It was then called “Puso, Puson at Pananampalataya.” This 2010, in time for the national elections, we added another concern (Pulitika) to stress the importance of RH in Filipinos lives, hence, it should be part of the political platforms of the candidates.

Core members of the Catholics for Reproductive Health Speakout Movement consist of the Institute for International Education-Philippines, Health Action Information Network (HAIN) and The Forum for Family Planning and Development.

Filipinos defy Roman Catholic church and back birth control

2010-04-30T22:23:00.000-07:00

Seven out of 10 Filipinos in this predominately Roman Catholic country of 92 million would defy the Church and elect a president who supports birth control, an opinion poll by the Manila-based Social Weather Stations found.

In the Philippines, where more than 80 per cent of the population is Catholic, the Church still wields considerable political influence – especially when it comes to such issues as birth control.

The poll found that 68 per cent of voters agreed that “all of the legal means of family planning that a couple might choose to use should be available from the government health service”.

Before campaigning began in February for the May 10 elections, the Church managed to have killed, through political pressure, a reproductive health bill that had been before the House of Representatives for two years. The bill would have required the government to provide comprehensive family planning, including the distribution of contraceptives.

The Philippines has one of the highest birth rates in South East Asia, at about two per cent annually.

Date: Thursday, April 29, 2010
Source: The National
Author: Karl Wilson

WOMEN CHALLENGE ATIENZA ON THE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SURVEY RESULTS

2010-01-19T19:40:00.000-08:00

News about Sec. Atienza saying that 92% of Filipinos are against the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill was received by the Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines (DSWP) with a lot of questions. Elizabeth Angsioco, DSWP National Chair asserts, “Before we believe Sec. Atienza’s allegations, we want to know a number of things: 1. Is it credible? Who did the survey? Does the firm that conducted it have the credibility and objectivity that are very important in such an undertaking? Why did Atienza’s group choose this firm over those used by all politicians and organizations such as the Social Weather Station (SWS) or Pulse Asia? 2. What was the methodology used? How were respondents chosen? What were the questions asked? We would like to know whether these were leading questions or not. And, 3. Why not publish the full results?”

“We believe that Sec. Atienza’s motivation at this point is political in nature. It is election season. The RH Bill may not be passed by this Congress. However, Atienza fully knows that survey results in his City, Manila, showed a huge 86% support for RH among his constituents. He wants to come back as Mayor and needs to be in the limelight and at the same time counter the results to put him in the right side of the fence. He knows that despite the possibility of non-passage, RH is now a mainstream national electoral issue and candidates are measured by voters significantly based on their position on this. He also knows that the popular position despite his and the Catholic hierarchy’s protestations is to be supportive of RH. He knows that more and more candidates are coming out as pro-RH. These may very well explain his actions”, Angsioco added.

“If Sec. Atienza thinks that doing this increases his chances of again being elected as Manila Mayor, he should think again. We, in the DSWP have decided to only support pro-RH candidates. This is the first of our 8-point criteria for selection of candidates. We have thousands of members in Atienza’s City and they will NOT vote for him. More than this, we will campaign against him. Our members, together with the other women in Manila have had enough of the problems brought about by Atienza’s anti-women, anti-poor and anti-RH policies as exemplified by his EO 003. We will fight for our rights and will support Manila candidates who will address our needs. This is NOT Atienza,” Angsioco concluded.

The Religion, Gender and Sexuality National Conference

2009-11-16T00:11:00.001-08:00

Anchored on the theme “Reclaiming Our Bodies, Voices & Spaces”, HAIN organized the national conference on Religion, Gender and Sexuality (RGS) last November 12-13 at MMLDC in Antipolo City. About 70 reproductive health advocates graced the occasion, most of whom were training graduates of RGS workshops which HAIN has been conducting since 2005.

The Conference’s overall aim was to provide a stage for further examination of the complex relationship between reproductive health, sexuality and religion. It also provided a forum for an exchanged of each other’s experiences in program implementation and advocacy in the context of RGS.

Rep. Edcel Lagman (District 1, Albay), a staunch RH advocate and author of the RH Bill in the House of Representatives, gave the keynote address. Lagman stressed on the need to counter Church oppositions to advance RH programs in the communities and not be undermined by their issues on morality.

HAIN’s executive director, Dr. Edelina Dela Paz, and a representative from the Provincial government of Rizal gave the welcome remarks.

Resource speakers of the RGS workshops also joined and served as speakers in the plenary which included Fr. Percy Bacani, of the Missionaries of Jesus, Sr. Helen Graham of Maryknoll Sisters and Prof. Yasmin Lao of Al Mujadillah. Other resource speakers who shared about the current issues in reproductive health were Rina Jimenez David (Philippine Daily Inquirer), Ana Victoria Simon (form the office of Quezon City Vice Mayor Herbert Bautista) and Atty. Claire P. Luczon of Womenlead Foundation, Inc.

Some of the RGS fellows also presented their experiences in RH and RGS advocacy and how they have shared the learning in their respective communities. At the end of the conference, each of the delegates has shared their commitment in advancing RH advocacy amidst the continuing oppositions from some members of the religious community.

To date, HAIN has conducted 10 RGS workshops producing more that 200 fellows from different parts of the country. The RGS workshops were held to give RH advocates some tools for discernment to make informed decisions about gender and sexuality-related issues, including family planning, abortion, and homosexuality. The workshops also serve as venue for RH advocates to be able to reconcile their personal faith with their work.

With pride, we can say that many of the RGS fellows, have become champions of RH as we now become resource persons ourselves in forums and discussions on various RH and RGS issues. Many of us also engage in regional and national campaigns to push for the passage of RH bill and implementation of a comprehensive RH program. The knowledge and experience we have gained from the workshop enhanced our capacity and confidence in facilitating community educations, community organizing and in handling RH advocacy activities.

At the conference, we have reclaimed our bodies, voices and spaces. RGS fellows are now more confident to argue and defend their faith vis-à-vis RH advocacy.

The conference was made to happen with support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

Am Zygote, Hear Me Roar

2009-11-03T20:00:00.000-08:00

A new generation of anti-abortion activists pushes for laws that define personhood as beginning at conception.

Just about a year ago, volunteer pro-life activist Kristi Brown's life revolved around Amendment 48. The amendment, if passed, would have revised Colorado's state constitution to define a fertilized egg as a person, thereby outlawing abortion. While activists in other states had pursued similar initiatives, Brown (then Burton; she recently married) was the first to collect the requisite number of signatures needed for a spot on a state ballot. She worked 12-, 16-, sometimes 18-hour days and collected nearly double the 76,000 signatures she needed. In the days leading up to the vote on Nov. 4, 2008, Brown had 2,000 volunteers in 500 churches working to pass Amendment 48.

But Amendment 48 did not come anywhere near passing. Coloradans voted definitively against the measure, 73 to 27 percent. Which makes it surprising that, a year later, Brown describes herself as "very happy" with the outcome. She remembers the atmosphere at campaign headquarters on the night of the loss as optimistic, almost unfazed by a 46-point margin of defeat. "When we saw the final numbers and realized that we had lost," she explains, "the main thing going through a lot of our heads was: this is a start, and now we need to keep going. One defeat isn't going to stop anything. This isn't the end."

When you survey the landscape a year later, Brown's prediction seems spot on: despite Amendment 48's failure at the polls, it triggered a national push for personhood ballot initiatives. There are now seven state-level personhood groups gathering signatures for 2010 ballots, compared with three in 2008. New campaigns kick off regularly, many with leaders who cite Amendment 48 as their inspiration. They're working under the umbrella of a new anti-abortion- rights organization, Personhood USA, founded a year ago, the day after the Amendment 48 vote, to coordinate all the personhood activism happening across the country. Even in Colorado, there's now a 2010 initiative moving forward with full force. "We have to do it again here because Colorado was a catalyst for the country," says Gualberto Garcia Jones, director of Personhood Colorado. Brown advises the campaign but is mostly focused on finishing her law degree. "If we just gave up after one try, it would be discouraging to the rest of the country."

The idea that life begins at conception has always been at the center of anti-abortion- rights ideology but rarely pursued as a legislative goal. Instead, activists set their sights on smaller, more obtainable restrictions on abortion, such as requiring ultrasounds or parental consent for minors. The personhood amendment can be understood as a backlash to that approach. "We're saying let's get down to business," says Cal Zastrow, cofounder of Personhood USA. "We don't want restrictions. We want to abolish the murder of children, and a personhood amendment does that." The rise of personhood as a political strategy reflects a rising frustration among activists, who say the incremental approach has done little to reduce abortions in the United States.

The personhood strategy grew out of a line in Roe v. Wade, the 1973 court decision legalizing abortion, in which Justice Harry Blackmun responded to the argument of the state of Texas that a fetus is a person under the Fourteenth Amendment. "If this suggestion of personhood is established, " Blackmun wrote, "[Jane Roe's] case, of course, collapses, for the fetus' right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the amendment." So if personhood begins at conception, the thinking goes, Roe falls apart.

In the early years of the pro-life movement, this interpretation influenced the policy approach: nine versions of personhood bills (then termed human-life amendments, or HLAs) were introduced in Congress between 1973 and 1983. But only the 1983 version made it to a full floor vote, and when it failed by an 18-vote margin, the strategy largely dissipated, save for a few activists introducing similar bills in state legislatures. The large, Washington-based groups turned their attention to laws restricting access to abortion. Personhood reemerged as an issue in 2005, when activists in Mississippi pursued signatures for a ballot initiative, followed by Michigan in 2006 and Georgia in 2007. All three failed to gather enough signatures to land on a ballot. By 2008, three more states had active personhood campaigns, and Colorado became the first to land an initiative on a ballot. Now, just one year after its founding, Personhood USA has 37 state-level affiliates, seven of which are already gathering signatures for potential 2010 votes. One recent report estimates that the leading personhood groups have raised nearly $60 million in the past five years.

What caused the recent swell in personhood activism? A generational shift within the movement, experts say. "This is a transition moment," says Ziad Munson, a sociologist at Lehigh University who studies the pro-life movement. "The people leading the mainstream groups started in the 1970s as young activists and are essentially reaching retirement age. As a new generation of leaders comes into the movement, that introduces the possibility of new ideas." In studying the movement, Munson has seen a general shift in power from large groups with powerful connections in Washington, such as the National Right to Life Committee, to grassroots activists, generally younger and less inhibited about pursuing less tested methods. Or, in the case of personhood, a method tested two decades ago but largely new to a fresh generation of leaders.

Among this new generation of activists, there's a sense that the movement has sacrificed too much and gained too little with its pragmatic, incremental approach. Roe has stood for 36 years without any major changes or scaling back. "I think we're one of the most failed movements in the history of movements," says Garcia Jones. "To claim a huge success for going from 1.3 to 1.1 million abortions is ludicrous. After you fail long enough, I feel like it is pragmatic to start something new." He says it is time for the pro-life movement to start demanding exactly what it wants: human rights beginning at conception.

Younger activists have also come of age in an era of increased use of ballot initiatives. Between 1998 and 2006, the number of voter-run ballot initiatives shot up by nearly 30 percent. With more than half of ballot measures approved by voters, they are an appealing option for activists. Barack Obama's strong ground game in 2008 reinforced the notion that grassroots organizing is a force to be reckoned with. "You see Obama people who still have stickers on their car, even after he won," says Garcia Jones. "They feel a personal investment. That's what we want."

Personhood amendments are a gamble; they could take years to pass. But if they eventually do, the payoff is big: a challenge to Roe that those in the movement believe could outlaw abortion. So activists are apt to compare their mission to those of civil rights and women's suffrage, both of which endured through decades of failed attempts to change the law. "It's the moral principle that it's a person," says Zastrow. "The preborn child is just as much a human being as a middle-aged adult. So why would we compromise on its rights?"

While personhood has excited grassroots activists, the mainstream, established groups have been unenthusiastic, generally declining to support the amendments. They view personhood as an imprudent overreach that could hinder the movement's progress as a whole. Some question whether defining personhood at the state level would actually create a challenge to Roe. And, even if it did, the Supreme Court could just as well reaffirm the decision, rather than overturn it. A recent statement from the Florida Catholic Conference, which represents the state's bishops—a group that declined to support the personhood effort there—argues that "the unintended effect would very likely jeopardize current protections in state law and cause a loss of momentum."

As the senior counsel at Americans United for Life, the country's oldest pro-life group, Clarke Forsythe has repeatedly questioned the personhood strategy, promoting a more prudent approach to pro-life activism.. He, like many other pro-life leaders, finds himself torn by the amendments: supportive ideologically of declaring a fetus a person, but unsure whether that's the best approach. "Personally, I too would like one all-encompassing solution that we could focus on like a laser," Forsythe wrote in the conclusion to Politics for the Greatest Good: The Case for Prudence in the Public Square, published earlier this year. "But ... the political and social obstacles clearly prevent such a solution in the foreseeable future."

Activists admit that the lack of support from mainstream groups is a challenge. "Unity in the pro-life movement would have helped," says Brown about the 2008 Colorado effort. "There were Colorado groups that didn't actively support us. I think if other states can do better at that, it'll help them.." All the personhood ballots are still in nascent stages; signatures are not due until early to late 2010. And activists in multiple groups NEWSWEEK spoke with insisted that even if they don't pass a personhood amendment this time, they will still have made progress. Brown holds on to the same optimism she had a year ago. "You can't get discouraged, " she says. "You can't give up. Someday it is going to change. You just don't know which effort will change it."

Find this article at http://www.newsweek.com/id/220442

Date: Monday, November 02, 2009
Source: Newsweek Web Exclusive (U.S.)
Author: Sarah Kliff

Cairo to Calatrava

2009-09-08T20:54:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday, the tabloid Bulgar carried this most sordid headline: “4 Anak Nilunod ni Mommy” (4 Children Drowned by Mommy).

I’ll give a brief summary of what happened, omitting the names of the people involved. A 35-year-old woman told her husband she was taking her four children, aged 12, 6, 5 and 6 months, to the river. Two hours later, she returned alone and told her husband she had drowned all the children. The husband rushed to the river but was too late to save the children.

The woman said she had drowned the children because of poverty. Reading about the incident, I realized poverty is so much more graphic when it’s described in Tagalog: “wala na siyang maipakain”—she could not feed them anymore.

I’m going to return to this incident toward the end of my column, but I want to be very clear here that I’m not zeroing in on Calatrava. It could have been any other town in the Philippines, or some other country. My column title, “Cairo to Calatrava,” gives a broader context in which such tragedies happen....

Read more...

Source: Michael Tan, Pinoy Kasi column, Philippine Daily Inquirer, September 9, 2009

Pass the RH Bill!

2009-09-02T05:14:00.000-07:00

We urge our legislators to pass the the Reproductive Health Bill this year. The link below shows why we need a comprehensive RH program here in the Philippines.

http://likhaancente rforwomenshealth .blogspot. com

New Publication: THE TROUBLE WITH CATHOLICS IN ALLIANCE FOR THE COMMON GOOD

2009-07-20T00:03:00.000-07:00

New publication from Catholics for Choice

Executive Summary

The past four decades have witnessed a shift in the political allegiances of the Catholic hierarchy from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party. It has also seen the emergence of “prolife” Democratic elected officials who claim to represent the authentic position of the church on life issues.

Certainly, the Catholic hierarchy with its fervent antiabortion stance has found a home with the Republican Party, and vice versa. However, there is no question that when it comes to gauging the views of the Catholic electorate with respect to the issues of abortion and reproductive rights, the facts are crystal clear. A majority of Catholic voters support reproductive rights.

While select Democratic officials have tried to assert an antichoice stance in order to align themselves more closely with the church hierarchy, it cannot be forgotten that respecting the ability and capacity of both women and men to make reproductive decisions has been a longstanding tenet of the Democratic Party platform since the 1970s. Indeed, the platform in 2008 included support for strategies that seek to prevent, not prohibit abortion, including expanding the availability and affordability of contraception, improved health-care coverage and quality child care.

Unfortunately, there are some organizations that do not respect or cannot accept the support for choice among the Catholic electorate and the Democratic Party. These organizations have sought to move the party away from its prochoice position in order to win over supposedly antichoice Catholic voters by co-opting the concept of the “common good.”

Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG) is one such group. To the untrained eye, CACG may just seem like another Catholic social justice organization, focusing solely on traditional Catholic social teaching such as care of the poor, environmental sustainability and economic justice. However, a closer look reveals that a key aim of CACG is to oppose the availability of legal abortion.

As it seeks to develop a higher media profile, the antichoice beliefs of CACG become more apparent. For example, in November 2008, one CACG letter to the editor in the Washington Post in response to an article entitled “Some Abortion Foes Shifting Focus from Ban to Reduction” stated, “[Pope John Paul II’s] language about building a “culture of life” addressed the need for a broad response—legal, social, and cultural—to prevent abortion.”2 This letter did more than all the public pronouncements of Catholics in Alliance to reveal its true colors: it is at one with one of the most antichoice popes in the modern era on abortion. •

Click here to download

Pope Benedict ‘wrong’—health official

2009-03-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 11:20:00 03/22/2009

GEORGETOWN – World Health Assembly President, Guyana's Health Minister Leslie Ramsammy, on Saturday condemned Pope Benedict's call for ending condom use in the fights against AIDS, saying he was trying to sow confusion.

"The statement by the Pope is inconsistent with science, it's inconsistent with our experiences and it is not in sync with what Catholics have experienced and believe," Ramsammy told a news conference.

The Health Minister, who is regarded by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) as a leading advocate in the fight against HIV and AIDS, accused the leader of the Roman Catholic Church of attempting to "create confusion" and "impede" proven strategies in the battle against the disease.

Declaring the position by the Pope on condom use as "absolutely and unequivocally wrong," Ramsammy recommended the continued use of condoms as part of an overall strategy that included education, fidelity and monogamy.

The Health Minister said he planned to rally support among colleague health ministers of the 15-nation Caribbean Community (Caricom), which is predominantly Roman Catholic.

"Whilst I would hope that Catholics would continue to be extremely supportive of their church and the pope ... on this issue, they (should) rely on the evidence, and we need at this time to come out forcefully with the evidence to demonstrate that condoms and lifestyle matter," said Ramsammy.

Pope Benedict XVI said Tuesday on his way to Africa that condoms were not the answer in the continent's battle against HIV-AIDS, his first such public pronouncement on the delicate issue of condom use.

Gays, lesbians hear Mass at Baguio City bar

2009-03-05T04:33:00.000-08:00

By Desiree Caluza
Philippine Daily Inquirer - Northern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 07:08:00 03/05/2009

BAGUIO CITY—It was a Sunday Mass no different from what mainstream churches hold, except that the faithful, including the officiating minister, are gays and lesbians.

About 20 people gathered at a bar here one Sunday afternoon in February to attend the landmark religious service dedicated to gays and lesbians, many of whom had complained of discrimination in their churches.

“Our concern is our relationship with God. When you die, God will not ask you if you are gay; He will ask you if you did good things. Salvation does not come from anyone but from God, and we accept Christ as the head of the Church,” said Rev. Crescencio Agbayani, an openly gay pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC).

The MCC, a Quezon City-based Christian denomination, has a special ministry for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and “transgenders,” or homosexuals who cross-dress.

Its church in Baguio is the third in the country that ministers to the gay community. The first two churches are in Makati City and Quezon City.

“As long as traditional Christian churches continue to reject gays in their ministry and close the door on us, our church will keep on expanding,” said Agbayani.

Catholic Church stand

But Baguio Bishop Carlito Cenzon said the Catholic Church had never discriminated gays but it was against same-sex relationships.

“The Catholic Church does not reject gays or lesbians; they are God’s children, too. What we reject is their campaign to engage in same-sex relations and same-sex marriage. Sex is only for the married, and marriage is between a man and a woman,” Cenzon said in a text message.

William Villacampa, one of the founders of the MCC Metro Baguio, said the “gay pride Mass” at Ayuyang Bar on Gov. Pack Road in the downtown area was meant to tear down the walls of the Christian faith.

“The MCC receives flak from others every now and then, but we are not worried about these criticisms. Our church is not even an underground church; everybody is welcome. We are not afraid of rejections because in the end, only God can judge us,” Villacampa said.

Mass ceremony

At the start of the Mass, Agbayani asked the churchgoers to give the greetings of peace by kissing and hugging each other.

Just like any regular Mass held in Catholic and Protestant churches, the gay pride Mass involved opening prayers, praise songs, reading of the gospel, homily and communion.

The Mass, which took more than two hours, added testimonials from those who attended as part of the ceremony. A Bible study followed the Mass.

Julie Palaganas, spokesperson of the Baguio-based Lesbians for National Democracy, said the Mass was a breakthrough.

“We know how the Bible was used to condemn homosexuality, but I am willing to study it more to liberate myself,” she said.

The participants said they hoped the activity would lead to the establishment of a church that would regularly hold services for homosexuals.

Discrimination

Men and women who regularly attend religious services in their communities would find themselves subjects of discrimination when their fellow church members find out that they are gays and lesbians, according to Agbayani.

“There were those who experienced doors being literally shut in their faces. Others are being [accepted in these services] but are told not to engage in ‘gay practices,’” he said.

“But what is the point of being gay if you are not practicing a gay lifestyle? It is abnormal for us to court the opposite sex,” he added.

Myke Sotero, chair of the Progressive Organization of Gays in the Philippines-Baguio, said members of his group expected criticisms from the Baguio community.

God not judgmental

“I know we will be condemned, but the Bible says, ‘If one is condemned in the name of the Lord, he or she is blessed.’ We are opening our doors to … discussion [so] people will know the love of God. Our God is not judgmental. We are willing to be stoned, pero iyong dapat ang mambato sa amin ay iyong hindi nagkasala (But those who would cast the stone should be without sin),” Sotero said.

But he said they are hopeful that they would be accepted and expand their ministry even to those outside their community.

“What really hurts is that when you are gay, the traditional Christian church would tell you that you are going to hell because it is a sin to be a homosexual. They would cite the story of Sodom and Gomorrah,” Agbayani said.

“Why are these churches afraid of gays?” he asked.

Forum on Queer Theology

2009-02-15T23:15:00.000-08:00

In our pursuit to provide the moral backbone in our advocacy, BisdakPRIDE, a community based organization for the (LGBTQ) Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgender and individuals advocating for equality and respect, in partnership with LGBTQ Center of Chicago Theological Seminary will spearhead a lecture/forum on Queer Theology: Impact to Queer Communities in Third World Countries at Fr.Theodore Buttenbruch Hall, University of San Carlos Main Campus on February 27, 2009, 9:30am –11:30am.

Acting Dean of Chicago Theological Seminary and Professor of Biblical and Constructive Theology, Dr. Theodore W. Jennings Jr. will be our guest lecturer.

The Political Science, Sociology-Anthropology and Psychology departments of the University of San Carlos in Cebu City will co-sponsor the forum.

For further inquiries on the forum, youmay contact Mr. Roxanne Omega-Doron
at 09217862022; 09238720288

Muslim Feminists Confront a World of Obstacles

2008-12-15T00:35:00.000-08:00

Participants at the International Congress on Islamic Feminism held in Barcelona Spain emphasized different obstacles to their work for women's rights, including a rise in political Islam and fundamentalism, along with U.S. foreign policies.

At one point during the third gathering of the International Congress on Islamic Feminism, Arifa Mazhar grew tired of talking about religion.

"Instead of debating Islam, we should be debating culture and its impact," she burst out at a microphone during a discussion after one of the sessions. "Culture is so conservative in some tribal areas. Women can't move around; they can't work. There are a lot of social taboos and tribal traditions that oppress women and they have little to do with Islam."

And the principles of local courts and councils are so deeply entrenched that women accept them because they don't know their rights, she added.

Mazhar is the manager of gender issues for the Sungi Development Foundation, a nongovernmental group that has been working in the northwestern province of Pakistan for 15 years.

But for all her focus on culture, she knows the importance of working within an Islamic framework.

Mazhar and colleagues develop rural women's employment prospects through initiatives such as micro-credit and helping them organize collectives to talk over public health and social issues such as water supplies.

In the past few years, she says that when she and her colleagues spoke about women's rights from the human rights perspective, they were increasingly accused of participating in a Western agenda.

With the rise in religious extremism and growing antagonism among ordinary Muslims against the West--largely a response to U.S. interventionist policies abroad--secular, Western-style feminists in countries such as Pakistan are increasingly seen as U.S. agents and regarded with suspicion and distrust.

"Don't tell us how it's done in the West, we have our own culture and religion" is the common response.

"After 15 years of work we have realized that we should incorporate the egalitarian messages of the Quran into our grassroots work," Mazhar said.

Congress Gatherings Since 2005

The International Congress on Islamic Feminism was started by the Islamic Council of Catalonia (Spain) in 2005. Its founder and director is a man called Abdennur Prado, who is also the secretary of the Islamic Council of Spain. The congress is sponsored by British Council, the government of Spain, the European Institute of the Mediterranean region and the Catalonian Islamic Council.

At its third gathering in Barcelona in late October, participants confirmed what other meetings--along with other activists and scholars--have been saying about the primacy of an Islamic framework for their efforts.

The meeting also brought out appeals from some activists for a reversal of U.S. military interventions in the Middle East.

Musdah Mulia, a progressive Islamic scholar from Indonesia, received the U.S. State Department's International Women of Courage Award in 2007 at a ceremony presided over by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "When Mrs. Rice asked me what she can do to help my country, I answered, 'Just stop violence as a way of dealing with Muslim countries,'" Mulia said in an interview.

Asma Barlas, a Pakistani-born scholar on Islamic feminism, was among the most vocal about the need for a more progressive and non-patriarchal interpretation of Islam's holy book. "The Quran has been privatized by a handful of men, mostly Arabs, who decide how we should relate to God," she said while addressing the congress. Sharia religious law and fatwas are decided and issued by grand muftis or ayatollas of the Middle East countries, and all of them are men.

Historic Role for Female Scholars

Female Islamic scholars are a rare find these days, especially in Muslim societies, but it was not always so. In his independent research, scholar Mohammad Akram Nadwi has discovered 8,000 female scholars who transmitted and interpreted the hadith--the deeds and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad--and even made Islamic law as jurists throughout history.

"Muslim feminists face a dual mandate," said Barlas, "to challenge the substandard status of women living under Islamic laws and to challenge the belief spread outside of the Muslim world that Islam and Muslims are not competent to compete fully in the global movement for democracy, social justice and equality."

Souad Eddouada, a Moroccan gender scholar, echoed concerns about cultural conservatism as she discussed the difficulties of implementing Morocco's progressive 2004 family law, which was hard-fought by several national women's rights groups.

The law, influenced by progressive Quranic interpretations of gender equality and domestic harmony, instituted several significant changes. These included raising the marriage age of women to 18 and abolishing the notion of a marital obligation of obedience toward husbands, known as "ta'a" and imposed by a traditionalist view of the Sharia. Joint decision-making between spouses is encouraged in the reformed law.

"There is a lot of resistance, especially in rural areas," said Souad. "The law and its language is not relevant to every woman in the country. It is more suited to educated, urban women."

Eddouada also downplayed another sign of progress--the fact that 50 Moroccan women are taught each year to be mosque preachers--as mainly symbolic. She says the women express conservative ideas and are very much controlled by the male clergy.

Hindered by Social Resistance

Other scholars agreed that comparable progress in North African and Persian Gulf countries is hindered by social resistance, showing that grassroots work is needed to assist progressive laws and policies.

Norani Othman is a board member of Sisters in Islam, a leading Muslim women's rights group in Malaysia, where a rise in political Islam and religious fundamentalism swayed the government in 1988 to elevate Sharia religious courts and give them equal status with civil courts to handle family matters. Most Malaysian states now have Sharia-infused marital laws.

Sisters in Islam has been trying hard to reform one particular issue--polygamy- -which is allowed with restrictions to Muslims in Malaysia.

"But we have come to the wall with this issue," said Othman.

She says Islamist political forces that focus on increasing religion's role in shaping the nation-state use a campaign for full legal polygamy to expand their constituencies by attracting men who want to have more than one wife.

In response, Sisters in Islam decided it needed empirical evidence showing the negative effects of polygamy to reverse public opinion. The group is now conducting a survey and says some respondents are willing to speak publicly.

"We have eager respondents, especially among children of the first wives, who say the second marriage of their father has affected them on several levels, especially emotionally," says Othman.

Fatou Sow, a women's rights advocate from Senegal, says any important debate on outlawing polygamy is stymied by the political influence of extreme religious groups and strong local traditions.

"Local culture still gives a much higher status to married women, so women continue to agree to become second wives," she says.

Margot Badran, a U.S. scholar of Islamic history and feminism, says Muslim activists are under attack from a range of conservatives, be they religious leaders, self-appointed community spokesmen, followers of political Islam or conservative Islamist women who promote patriarchal interpretations of Islam through Quran study groups.

Othman agrees. "Most of us are small, under-funded groups trying to fight against the tide, against the traditional Islamic interpretations."

Nadira Artyk is a Brooklyn-based women's rights advocate, journalist and media consultant. She was born and raised in Uzbekistan, Central Asia.

Author: Nadira Artyk
Source: Women's eNews
Date: Tuesday, December 09, 2008

WED EX-PRIEST FAVORS FAMILY PLANNING BILL

2008-10-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

Rafael Triunfante, a married former priest, has come out in favor of the controversial reproductive health bill and criticized the Catholic Church for trying to stop its passage in Congress.

The Rome-educated Triunfante said the Churchs hard-line stance against modern birth control methods and sex education, which the bill would promote, showed a lack of compassion for the problems of married couples and the poor.

The bill, authored by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, is being debated in the House of Representatives. Influential Catholic bishops are lobbying for its rejection, saying it goes against Church doctrine.

Triunfante was ordained a priest in 1968 but he left the ministry after 11 years. Now 63, he has been married 28 years and has two children.

Both methods
One of the pioneers of the Philippine Federation of Married Priests Inc. (PFMP), Triunfante admitted having used both natural and artificial means of birth control.

He said most people wanted to plan their families but they did not have the resourcesinformatio n, services and money. This is what the bill seeks to address.

He also lamented the lack of reproductive health services for the people.

With its rigid stance against the bill, the Church may have lost a ministry of compassion, he said.

After he left the priesthood, Triunfante said he felt he had climbed down from a pedestal and was better able to feel the pulse of the people.

When youre a priest, people put you on a pedestal. People always want to serve you rather than you serve them. I knew something was wrong with this, he said.

Dialogue
Triunfante said other PFMP members were hoping the Church would at least be open to a dialogue with them on the reproductive health bill.

But the Church would not even want to listen, he said, adding that this was also how the Church treated many priests who still wanted to serve God, even though married.
We were isolated. The Church was not open, he said.
He said the PFMP, which promotes the dignity of marriage and family life, was founded in 1972 and now has a membership of over 500 couples nationwide.

Triunfante said that his open stand on the reproductive health bill was not influenced solely by his married life.
He said he believed in the theology of liberation, which teaches that knowing the issues of the people and living with them makes ministry more effective.

Triunfante said he felt frustrated and isolated from the people.

I felt like my life was not normal anymore, especially my sex life. There were realities that could not be ignored, he said.
Granted a scholarship, he studied Philosophy and Theology in Rome, where he was exposed to the Vatican Councils discourse on the celibacy of priests.

This imbibed in me the spirit of reformation, he said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer, October 13, 2008

Can Catholics support the RH bill? Yes!

2008-10-07T19:39:00.000-07:00

Can one be a Catholic and still support the Reproductive Health bill?

Growing numbers of professional and educated lay Filipino Catholics believe they can. Increasingly uneasy that the unshakeable position of the Church contradicts directly their own understandings of Philippine realities, many are actually reading the bill to see for themselves – and emerging as its supporters.

Catholic NGO workers, social workers, and social science researchers working in poor rural and urban communities overflowing with malnourished, out-of-school children and youth have particular problems with the Church position. They find it difficult to accept that poor mothers and fathers who want to avoid a fourth or fifth pregnancy or wait a few years before the next one, should be condemned for choosing reliable, contraceptive family planning methods.

One urban poor woman was asked what the Church might say about her practice of saving part of her meager earnings to buy birth control pills every month. Her reply: “Ang simbahan ba ang magpapakain sa mga anak namin?(Will the Church feed my children?)”

Then there is the deafening silence of the Church on how to respond to the thousands of poor women who undergo clandestine, unsafe abortions for lack of access to modern family planning. In 2000, 473,000 women had induced abortions, 79,000 of them winding up in hospitals from complications, and 800 leaving as corpses.

The World Health Organization estimates that this already alarming 2000 statistic may by 2008 be as high as 800,000! Yet the Church remains in denial. Its spokespersons claim that their calculations yield “only 200,000” induced abortions.

Meanwhile, desperate women eking out a meager living for four to eight children and possibly supporting an unemployed or chronically drunk husband as well, consider the prospect of another child to be unthinkable - and go for an abortion.

Safe and effective choices
The bill recognizes this reality by offering poor women safer and more effective choices for preventing unplanned or unwanted pregnancies. Because it enables women to reject the unsafe abortion route, the bill can legitimately be called anti-abortion. The Church’s position, on the other hand, poses the ultimate irony. By opposing contraceptive options for women but offering no other viable alternatives, it is in effect contributing to those 473,000 abortions.

The low priority given to women’s needs results in their appalling health status. Ten die each day, or 3,650 per year, from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes. One Filipina out of 140 faces the risk of maternal death in her lifetime. Contrast this with one in 500 for Thai women, and one in 560 for Malaysian women.

Maternal mortality rates in the Philippines are unacceptably high at 162 per 100,000 live births. The corresponding ratio for Thailand is 110 and for Malaysia 62. Skilled attendants are present at birth for 60% of Filipinas, while the comparable figures for Thai women reach 97% and Malaysian women 98 %. Buddhists and Muslims seem to do better by their women than Catholics.

Moreover, when a mother dies in labor because she has not gone for prenatal check-ups, her baby is also likely to die in the first year if not the first month of life. Surviving toddlers are similarly at risk. An estimated 10 million Filipino women incur post-partum disabilities every year owing to poor obstetric care. Class disparities come starkly to the fore as fully 96% of women with higher education receive post-natal care from a health professional, compared with only 33% of women with no education.

Comprehensive family planning services
Catholics who support the bill appreciate the accountability it demands of government in mandating as national policy specific benefits to women and families, “more particularly to the poor and needy.” Examples include mobile health care services in every Congressional district, and one emergency obstetric hospital per 500,000 population.

Midwives and skilled birth attendants must be available in every city and municipality to attend to women during childbirth in a ratio of one per 150 deliveries per year. Maternal death reviews will be conducted locally in coordination with the Department of Health and Popcom. Hospitals will handle more complex family planning procedures.

Given these and other benefits, educated Catholics feel vindicated in supporting a bill that offers women and families comprehensive health and family planning services as a matter of right and choice. Church proclamations alleging that House Bill 5043 is “anti-poor,” “anti-women,” “pro-abortion,” and “immoral” ring hollow in the face of empirical evidence to the contrary. The bill reads exactly the opposite as pro-poor, pro-women, anti-abortion, and respectful of human life.

Moreover, its provisions satisfy Catholic consciences as being compatible with the Church’s social teachings, including the sanctity of human life and the dignity of the human person, the preferential option for the poor and vulnerable, integral human development, and the primacy of conscience. In this light they urge that the Church listen to them as responsible Catholic laity who offer their Church the advantage of evidenced-based approaches to the evolving needs of 21st century Philippine society.

By ceasing its attacks on the bill, allowing it to pass, and concentrating instead on monitoring implementation, the Church will convey an important point to its uneasy, increasingly critical lay members – that despite its hierarchical structure and celibate, all-male leadership, it can still respond meaningfully to the needs and aspirations of poor women and their families. At the very least, let us hope the Church resists the temptation to “shoot the messengers” who dare to articulate alternative but realistic Catholic views.

Mary Racelis is a sociologist with INCITEGov, Pasig City.

Iglesia backs population bill but rejects ‘rhythm’ way

2008-09-16T11:00:00.000-07:00

Now this is interesting. Iglesia ni Cristo not only supports the RH Bill but even rejects the "natural" family planning methods espoused by the Catholic Church...

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:46:00 09/16/2008

MANILA, Philippines—The Iglesia ni Cristo announced Tuesday its stand on the issue of family planning, virtually expressing support for the proposed Reproductive Health Act pending at the House of Representatives.

In a statement, INC spokesperson Bro. Bienvenido C. Santiago said, “The Iglesia ni Cristo accepts modern family planning methods or the use of what others call ‘contraceptives’ as long as they are not abortifacient in nature and they do not impose prolonged abstinence from sexual intercourse among married couples.”

Santiago explained that the INC is against abortion because it is a clear violation of the fundamental commandment “Thou shall not kill.”

He clarified, however, that INC rejects the rhythm method and other so-called “natural” family planning methods because “it is really contrary to nature.”

Among other things, he said, “That method runs counter to the apostolic teaching to all married couples which states “Do not deny yourselves to each other unless you first agree to do so for a while in order to spend your time in prayer; but then resume normal marital relations’ (I Cor. 7:5).”

"Secular Rights and Monopolies of Morality: Reframing the Abortion Discourse in the Philippines"

2008-09-10T07:52:00.000-07:00

You are all invited to join a discussion entitled "Secular Rights and Monopolies of Morality: Reframing the Abortion Discourse in the Philippines" on September 17, 2008 at the UP College of Law 2-5 PM (Sta Ana Room, 3rd Floor, Malcolm Hall).

The presentation is based on Atty. Carolina Ruiz Austria's LLM Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto. Dr. Sylvia Estrada Claudio and Prof. Elizabeth Pangalangan will be the panelists/reactors.

Sign the Petition for the Passage of RH Bill

2008-08-31T19:35:00.001-07:00

Dear friends,

Greetings! The struggle for the passage of the Reproductive Bill (RH) in Congress rages on. The Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (RHAN) through our org, the Democratic Socialist Women of the Phils. (DSWP) initiated an online petition that we request you to support by attaching your signature. Please go to http://www.PetitionOnline.com/rhan2008/petition.html to do this.

We hope to gather ONE MILLION SIGNATURES to show our legislators that there is a wide support base for the bill's passage despite what the opposition says. We will present the signatures both to the House of Representatives (HOR) and Senate within September as we are waiting for the schedule of plenary deliberations in the HOR and the release of the Senate Committee on Health's report.

Please support the petition. It will not take more than 5 minutes of your time. More than 10 women die daily due to pregnancy and childbirth-related causes. The big bulk of those who die are poor women at the prime of their lives. This is simply unacceptable and must be stopped. Congress has the power to do this.

Kindly forward this mail to all your friends.

Thank you very much.

Catholics for RH Speak Out! Movement

2008-08-15T01:25:00.000-07:00

The Catholics for RH Speak Out! Movement is a fellowship of concerned Catholics empowered with the belief that the Catholic faith upholds social justice and human rights, respects freedom and self determination, promotes and practices fairness, and defends the dignity and value of individuals, of families and children, especially the poor and marginalized.

The members of the Movement also believe in reproductive health as a right and as such, we support and promote the right of every Filipino to reproductive health services, information, and education.

The prevailing circumstances to discredit the reproductive health bill, its advocates and supporters, majority of whom are Catholics, have brought forth this movement. As Catholics, we believe it is our essential duty and obligation to do what is right, fair, and just for our fellow human beings. The fundamental element of justice is that it gives every person his/her due and to what belongs to him/her by right.

Reproductive health is not anti-God, not anti-Catholic, not anti-life, not anti-constitution and not anti-poor. It is in fact pro-quality of life, believes in the essential goodness and potentials of men and women, enhances family life and personal relations, respects existing and prevailing laws and prevents loss of lives and helps improve the total health and well being.

The guiding principles of reproductive health do not run counter with the practice of the Catholic faith. It is the apostolic activity of the movement to make this known to the Catholic faithful. St. Paul defines apostolic activity as the ministry of reconciliation.

We would like to see this as an apostolic activity of Catholics who are also supporters and advocates of reproductive health and rights. It is our hope that through this Movement we are reconciling and making great efforts to be architects of peace among our Catholic brothers and sisters, bringing them into full harmony with their faith and to realize that there is no dissonance with their being Catholic and simultaneously believing in the advocacy and goals of reproductive health and rights.

Statement distributed during the press conference held at Barbara's Restaurant, Intramuros, Manila on August 14, 2008

Pro-RH Legislators: The People’s Champions

2008-08-15T01:06:00.000-07:00

The Filipino people need champions.

Champions in Congress to craft policies that respond to the needs of their constituents. We need them to address pressing issues through laws so that pro-people and pro-poor programs are implemented, rights are respected and, therefore, lives become better.

A national policy on reproductive health (RH) is one of our needs. At a time when prices of basic commodities and services are soaring amidst widespread poverty, ordinary people urgently need all the help they can get.

Wage increases, tax breaks, food and electricity-consumption subsidies are good but not enough. These initiatives are not sustainable. With the ever-increasing scarcity of resources, government will eventually not be able to adequately address the needs of the people.

Legislators have to deal with the need of our families, especially the poor to plan their lives. RH information and services are needed to enable people to make informed and intelligent decisions that will: save women’s lives, facilitate having children that parents can provide for, prepare the youth to handle responsibilities that go with having relationships, and empower men to realize and use the various options available to them in planning their families.

The existence of such urgent needs cannot be denied. In the City of Manila alone where RH services have been virtually absent for the past eight years, throngs of residents flocked to the Tondo Sports Complex last Friday to avail of free family planning information and services offered by NGOs and the City Health Department. Manila residents in poor communities acted on their need at the first opportunity offered them.

An increasing number of local government units (LGUs) are also stepping up to address this need as evidenced by the passage of RH ordinances in Aurora province, Sulu, Olongapo, and Quezon City to name a few. Moreover, there are LGUs that are presently processing their own RH ordinances.

In Congress, we have RH champions. These legislators have taken action based on the facts that:

• 10 Filipino women die daily due to pregnancy and childbirth complications;
• 3 out of 4 of these women who die are aged 15-19 years old; and
• Internationally, 99% of all women who die from such causes come from developing countries.

We, RH advocates laud the courage, determination and foresight of these legislators to work for measures that offer strategic solutions to current crises.

Like many of our people, we are one with our legislators who stand with ordinary Filipinos; with women on the issue of RH. As shown by the 2004 Pulse Asia survey:

• 86% of respondents support candidates with programs for women’s health;
• 82% supports candidates who are in favor of couples’ free choice of family planning methods;
• 82% considers candidates supportive of a law on population as worthy of their votes; and
• 83% favors candidates who support allocating funds for family planning.

We ask our legislators not to give up on our needs--not to give up on our rights.

We ask our legislators to continue being our champions until that day when all Filipinos, rich and poor, shall have the opportunities to pursue a life of quality.

Press statement of the Reproductive Health Advocacy network (RHAN), July 24, 2008

Speaker Preaches to Archbishop

2008-07-16T19:50:00.001-07:00

House Speaker Prospero Nograles is again voicing his opposition to a bishop's proposal not to give Holy Communion to lawmakers supporting the bill that will allegedly legalize abortion.

While expressing his reluctance to support proposals to legalize abortion in the country, Nograles said he does not subscribe to the stand made by a Catholic Archbishop on the issue.

"While I may agree with the Archbishop that we should not legalize abortion, I don't really agree that those who believe otherwise should be denied the right to receive the body of Christ in Holy Communion," Nograles said.

He reminded the Church that though people may vary in their beliefs "but we are all equal in the eyes of God."

"We should not get hasty in condemning others for their beliefs," Nograles said.

Nograles said that with the policy on the separation of church and state, "there must be mutual respect between and among church officials and those in government."

"We are in a democratic state. We must respect separation of church and state, especially political beliefs," Nograles said, adding that the issue of abortion is not only moral but also economic and political.

CBCP Hit Over Family Planning

2008-07-16T19:48:00.000-07:00

Advocates of family planning on Tuesday scored the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) after declaring that lawmaker-signatories of the anti-life bills pending in Congress must not be given the Holy Communion.

"If you are dictating a social policy by straining out your expertise which is religion, it is wrong. For me it is not defensible morally and legally," said Dr. Sylvia Estrada-Claudio, director of University of the Philippines'Center for Women Studies and chairperson of non-governmental organization Likhaan.

In a press briefing, Claudio insisted the bishops' act could be considered a "criminal act" since they are using religion "to intimidate elected officials from doing their jobs."

Instead, she advised the bishops to "stop threatening with things that are not even relevant."

"I don't see Jesus in their act of stigmatizing women who want to exercise their rights to inform choice and their rights to plan for their families," she added.

Claudio's statement stemmed from the pronouncement made by Pampanga Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, head of the CBCP's Episcopal Commission on Family and Life (ECFL), stating that the entire conference or the permanent council would make a unified stand on how to deal with politicians that are against the church's position on contraceptives.

Aniceto had accused proponents of the bills of allegedly using euphemisms to mask their intent, claiming that the term reproductive health actually meant abortion.

But Felipe Medalla, former director of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), said he reviewed the bill and there was nothing in it that was "close to abortion."

"There is nothing in the bill - in any form or shape - that will promote abortion. There is nothing in it that is contrary to the Constitution," he assured.

In fact, Medalla noted that if the bill is passed, abortion would be reduced because it would assist couples that want to plan the size of their families.

"There are many unsafe abortions by poor women because they have no access to family planning (methods). The burden of unmet needs falls mostly on the poor couples," he added.

Beth Angsioco, secretary general of the Reproductive Health Alliance Network, underscored the importance of having a national policy on population management especially in the face of the economic crunch presently facing the country.

According to her, 10 Filipino women die daily due to pregnancy and childbirth related complications. Three out of four of these women are aged 15 to 19 years old.

Under the bill, reproductive health products and supplies will be categorized as essential medicines and supplies and become part of the National Drug Formulary. They will be included in the regular purchase of essential medicines and supplies of all hospitals and other government health units.

The Catholic Church remains firm in its stand on asking the legislators to rethink their position.

Fr. Melvin Castro, executive secretary of CBCP-ECFL, said: "We appeal to our dear legislators to study again and rethink your position regarding this bill."

He particularly appealed to those legislators who were among the signatories in the anti-life bills in Congress such as the Reproductive Health and Population Management bills in Congress.

"Let us not anymore create legislations like this for us to address the poverty of our people because this is not the solution," he said.

Castro, meantime, also appealed to the faithful to join the church in convincing anti-life lawmakers to change their position.

"It's the responsibility of the faithful to convince the unconvinced. Hopefully through this various fora will also talk to their legislators and God willing to be able to convince them to do what is right," he said.

He further revealed that members of the CBCP agreed to individually talk to the lawmakers under their own jurisdictions.

"During their last Plenary (Assembly) they have agreed that they will individually talk to their legislators. To dialogue with them and tell them that this is the church's position," Castro said.

"We pray (that they will listen). There is nothing impossible with God. I'm sure our legislators, who are men and women of good will, will listen to the voice of reason and morality in the end," added the priest.

Last Sunday, Ozamiz, Misamis Occidental Bishop Jesus Dosado in a pastoral statement said pro-abortion politicians should be denied Holy Communion.

"A Catholic politician who consistently campaign and vote for permissive abortion should be instructed on church's teachings and informed by parish priests that he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin or otherwise he will be denied the Eucharist," Dosado said. (MSN/Sunnex)

Anglicans await key ruling on women bishops

2008-07-07T23:35:00.000-07:00

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 22:15:00 07/07/2008

LONDON -- The Church of England faced a key vote Monday on whether to allow women bishops, with more than 1,000 clergy threatening to quit the Church if its General Synod goes ahead with the move.

A "yes" vote from the Church's ruling body could trigger an irrevocable schism in the worldwide Anglican Communion already embroiled in a divisive row over homosexuality.

Some 1,333 clergy have threatened to leave the Church of England if they are not given legal safeguards to set up a network of parishes that would remain under male leadership.

The General Synod is meeting in York, northern England, the second most important city in the Church after Canterbury.

Members will be asked to back a motion calling for a national code of practice to accommodate parishes which cannot accept women bishops.

John Packer, the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, also suggested the creation of three male "super-bishops" to cater for the spiritual needs of followers who do not want pastoral oversight from a woman.

Such a figure would be directly answerable to the archbishop of either Canterbury or York -- the Church of England's two most senior figures.

Packer's ideas come amid calls from a significant number of General Synod members for a delay in pressing ahead with legislation to introduce women bishops.

Colin Slee, Dean of Southwark Cathedral in London, said: "If they are asking for special treatment, which I think we can supply, then they don't need to ask for it to be written in law because that says that we are not trusted to behave decently."

The archbishops of Canterbury and York, the two most senior figures in the church, are understood to favor a compromise that would avoid an exodus of the most conservative wing, The Times newspaper said.

However, they do not want the consecration of women jettisoned altogether due to the difficulties of appeasing both sides, it added.

In his Sunday sermon, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the leader of the world's Anglicans, said Jesus was with those on both sides of the debate.

The time allocated for the debate on women bishops has been extended to 10:00 pm (2100 GMT) after 14 amendments were received to the original House of Bishops' motion, said a church spokesman.

The Church of England is the officially established Church in the country and the mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion, which has about 77 million followers.

The monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, is the Church of England's supreme governor and 26 bishops sit in the House of Lords, parliament's unelected upper chamber.

The Church says that 1.7 million people take part in its services each month, with around one million participating every Sunday.

Splits in the worldwide Anglican Communion are not new.

It has been deeply divided since the ordination by the US Episcopal Church of openly gay priest Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.

There was also opposition to the ordination of Barbara Harris as the US Church's first female bishop in 1989.

For the conservatives, such practices cast doubt on the interpretation of Christianity's sacred text, the Bible, and the fundamental tenets of faith for followers of Anglicanism.

The English Church broke off from Rome in 1534 under king Henry VIII, over its refusal to grant him a divorce from his first wife.

Solon, 11 pastors sue 7 publications for ‘porn’ content

2008-07-07T08:34:00.000-07:00

By Allison Lopez
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 17:05:00 07/07/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- A group of pastors led by Manila Representative Bienvenido Abante filed charges of grave scandal and obscene publication against seven magazines and tabloids for supposed pornographic content.

Abante and 11 other pastors of the Baptist organization Bible Mode sued the publishers of the magazines FHM, Maxim, Playboy Philippines, Playhouse, and tabloids Sagad, Hataw and Baliktaran Toro, in a joint affidavit filed at the City Prosecutor's Office around 10:30 a.m. Monday.

The complaint said the publications, from September 2007 to July 2008, showed "obscene and erotic pictures/poses that show, depict or describe nude or semi-nude bodies, sexual acts, sexual intercourse [and] private parts, with no educational, artistic value, intended to draw lust and arouse prurient interest."

Abante said they hoped to put a stop to the magazines and tabloids for the benefit of minors they said are corrupted by the publications.

The group also charged the publications for violation of Manila’s anti-pornography city ordinance no. 7780, which Abante authored when he was a councilor in 1993.

Copyright 2008 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Filipinos Test Catholic Clout; Family-Planning Policies Urged To Help Strengthen the Economy

2008-06-23T01:56:00.001-07:00

For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church has exerted its influence on the Philippines like it has in few other countries. That includes lobbying against the kind of family-planning policies that have slowed population growth elsewhere in recent decades.

But now, as rice and gasoline prices reach records and the world's population is expected to strain resources further as it swells to seven billion by 2012, population-control advocates are coming out in greater numbers here against what they see as the Vatican's efforts to hold back the country's economic potential. A number of prominent economists and big-name politicians are talking up the need for the Philippines to stop producing so many new mouths to feed on television talk shows and in the op-ed pages of the nation's newspapers. They often point out that it isn't unusual for people lining up outside churches and government offices for subsidized rice to have seven or eight children.

The Church is having none of it. Monsignor Pedro Quitorio, the spirited spokesman for the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, argues that the reason the country is poor isn't because it is overpopulated but because corruption and sloppy economic planning have made it poor.

"And poorer countries produce more children," he says, especially mostly agricultural economies, where having more children means more hands to till the soil and a better chance of family support in old age.

Growing populations can help create markets, build industries and add to a country's economic output, as long as the right policies are in place to allow that growth spurt to take place. Japan, for instance, supports about 130 million on a similar-sized land mass to the Philippines, which is home to 90 million people, most of whom are still supported by a fragile, agricultural economy.

In many ways, rapid population growth is a sort of multiplier of bad economic policy. World Bank adviser Thomas Merrick wrote in an influential paper in 2002 that "while misguided agricultural and trade policies and poor food distributions may be the key determinants of hunger, rapid population growth exacerbates bad policies, while slower growth may buy time for good ones to have an effect."

And in the Philippines, policy -- especially its failure to root out corruption and create an efficient agricultural sector -- has been bad.

The islands are a zesty blend of Spanish, Asian and American influences, 90% Catholic, and, while growing briskly in recent years, have lagged behind the so-called Asian tiger economies for decades. In the 1970s and 1980s, as its neighbors in Southeast Asia were enjoying an influx of foreign investment and other predominantly Catholic countries in South America grew more socially liberal, the Philippines labored under the economically debilitating dictatorship of late President Ferdinand Marcos. The country is still paying off the debts he took out in its name.

When the Marcos era finally came to an end with the "People Power" revolution of 1986, the Church played a pivotal role in bringing people out onto the streets to support a military coup against the Marcos regime. Ever since, progressive democrats in the Philippines have found themselves in an occasionally uneasy alliance with the Catholic Church while an agrarian reform program was left in large part uncompleted. The two sides joined forces again in 2001 to overthrow President Joseph Estrada, a scandal-tainted former movie star, replacing him with the devoutly Catholic Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Since then, the number of Filipinos has swelled to 90 million from 77 million -- with around 40% of them living on about $2 a day, a higher proportion than when Ms. Arroyo came into office. This baby boom is deepening the country's dependence on expensive, imported rice and entrenches the Philippines as the world's biggest importer of the grain, which has tripled in price since January.

Many family-planning proponents say the Philippines should learn from neighbors such as Thailand, China and Indonesia, where family-planning policies were adopted as a means of relieving poverty exacerbated by over-population. In Indonesia's case, Muslim social-welfare organizations pushed the health benefits of women having fewer children as a compelling reason to adopt a national family planning policy. China still enforces a one-child policy, even though its average population will begin to age after 2010, according to studies conducted by Robert Eastwood and Michael Lipton at the University of Sussex in England.

Elsewhere, Catholic countries in Europe and South America have become more liberal among a grass-roots demand for more family-planning options.

Filipino family-planning advocates have existed for years on the fringes of society. They include a small number of doctors, such as Jondi Flavier, who volunteer their services to a low-budget campaign to provide free vasectomies. Not many do. Many Filipino men fear the procedure will reduce their sex drive, while their wives worry that it will enable their husbands to sleep around with less risk of getting caught. Last year, 4,000 men signed up, some of whom said they couldn't afford condoms or birth-control pills, even if they could find them.

Now other, more prominent forces are talking up the benefits of planning a family instead of just letting it happen.

One convert is Mr. Estrada -- the 71-year-old former president ousted in 2001's Church-backed military coup. Recently pardoned after being convicted and jailed on corruption charges, the wily former film actor is traveling around the Philippines with his Elvis-style hair-do and jet-black pencil mustache encouraging people to use condoms. Mr. Estrada himself fathered at least 11 children by three women.

His successor, Ms. Arroyo, while a frequent visitor to the Vatican, says she is also sympathetic to the argument that the government should do more to provide adequate family-planning information. In an interview, she says that while her government is keen to give people the opportunity to plan the size of their families more effectively, it should be done in a way that doesn't trample on the Philippines' Catholic sensibilities. "It's a better argument to an ordinary Filipino family than saying if you have too many children our economic growth rates will go down," she says.

Ms. Arroyo says her cautious approach has achieved some results. Although the Philippines' population is now growing at 2.04% a year, that is down from 2.64% when she took office in 2001. Economists such as Mr. Eastwood at the University of Sussex say that this gradual decline enables parents to devote more resources to educating their children, instead of feeding them -- a useful phenomenon in a country that takes pride in training millions of people to work overseas.

Adds Ernesto Pernia, an economics professor at the University of the Philippines: "It is time for the Philippines' Catholic Church hierarchy to be more understanding and tolerant, as in other Catholic countries, so that the government is not impeded from providing strong family planning advice."

Author: JAMES HOOKWAY
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Friday, June 20, 2008

Priest in sex scandal sacked

2008-06-19T20:02:00.000-07:00

Talk about "irony"... a priest, who's supposed to be bound by a vow of celibacy, has sexual relations with a married woman and perhaps because he "abhors" artificial contraception as espoused by the Catholic Church, he got her pregnant and then forces her to have an abortion!

More than the irony of it all, this is simply reality in all its fallen glory...

Priest in sex scandal sacked

By Margaux Ortiz
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 07:02:00 06/19/2008

MANILA, Philippines—A Catholic priest from Dipolog City has been sanctioned and restricted to the convent for alleged sexual misconduct while serving in a United States parish.

Bishop Jose Manguiran of the Diocese of Dipolog has revoked the priestly offices and functions of Fr. Reynaldo M. Pardillada, 37, who is accused of having an illicit affair with a married Filipina while serving at the Epiphany Church in Cliffside Park, New Jersey.

Pardillada was last week expelled by the Archbishop of Newark after the New Jersey-based 32-year-old Filipino woman, who also happened to be from Dipolog, reported the affair to church authorities.

The woman complained of suffering emotional and physical abuse at the hands of Pardillada whom she first met as a visiting balikbayan in Dipolog in November 2005.

She said she finally summoned the courage to complain against Pardillada when he got her pregnant twice and forced her to abort the babies. She said she also suffered one miscarriage.

In an interview posted at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) website, Manguiran said he was imposing sanctions on Pardillada and restricting him to the church convent in Dipolog.

The Dipolog bishop said he has written to the Newark Archbishop apologizing for Pardillada’s conduct.

Before being transferred to the Archdiocese of Newark, Pardillada was assigned for more than a year as a “formator” at the Saint Mary’s Seminary in Gango, Ozamiz City.

Islam 'recognizes homosexuality'

2008-05-20T09:47:00.000-07:00

Abdul Khalik , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta
Fri, 03/28/2008 1:38 AM
Headlines

Source: Dino Subingsubing

Homosexuals and homosexuality are natural and created by God, thus permissible within Islam, a discussion concluded here Thursday.

Moderate Muslim scholars said there were no reasons to reject homosexuals under Islam, and that the condemnation of homosexuals and homosexuality by mainstream ulema and many other Muslims was based on narrow-minded interpretations of Islamic teachings.

Siti Musdah Mulia of the Indonesia Conference of Religions and Peace cited the Koran's al-Hujurat (49:3) that one of the blessings for human beings was that all men and women are equal, regardless of ethnicity, wealth, social positions or even sexual orientation.

"There is no difference between lesbians and nonlesbians. In the eyes of God, people are valued based on their piety," she told the discussion organized by nongovernmental organization Arus Pelangi.

"And talking about piety is God's prerogative to judge," she added.

"The essence of the religion (Islam) is to humanize humans, respect and dignify them."

Musdah said homosexuality was from God and should be considered natural, adding it was not pushed only by passion.

Mata Air magazine managing editor Soffa Ihsan said Islam's acknowledgement of heterogeneity should also include homosexuality.

He said Muslims needed to continue to embrace ijtihad (the process of making a legal decision by independent interpretation of the Koran and the Sunnah) to avoid being stuck in the old paradigm without developing open-minded interpretations.

Another speaker at the discussion, Nurofiah of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), said the dominant notion of heterogeneity was a social construction, leading to the banning of homosexuality by the majority.

"Like gender bias or patriarchy, heterogeneity bias is socially constructed. It would be totally different if the ruling group was homosexuals," she said.

Other speakers said the magnificence of Islam was that it could be blended and integrated into local culture.

"In fact, Indonesia's culture has accepted homosexuality. The homosexual group in Bugis-Makassar tradition called Bissu is respected and given a high position in the kingdom.

"Also, we know that in Ponorogo (East Java) there has been acknowledgement of homosexuality," Arus Pelangi head Rido Triawan said.

Condemnation of homosexuality was voiced by two conservative Muslim groups, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and Hizbut Thahir Indonesia (HTI).

"It's a sin. We will not consider homosexuals an enemy, but we will make them aware that what they are doing is wrong," MUI deputy chairman Amir Syarifuddin said.

Rokhmat, of the hardline HTI, several times asked homosexual participants in attendance to repent and force themselves to gradually return to the right path.

Sayings ...

2008-04-22T16:38:00.000-07:00

Theres The Rub
Sayings

By Conrado de Quiros
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:17:00 04/22/2008

The way they're going, I wouldn't be surprised if more Filipinos turned Buddhist or Islamic or downright atheist. The Catholic Church is giving them every reason to. Except for luminous exceptions like Pope John Paul II and, nearer home, Archbishop Angel Lagdameo and the Association of Major Religious Superiors, the Catholic Church seems determined to preach only the new theology that God wants to reward the wicked and punish the good.

The Church's latest disincentive to faith is the letter of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Laity to Couples for Christ seeking to "correct" what is wrong with it. What's wrong with it presumably is that it is devoting its energies to Gawad Kalinga (GK), Tony Meloto's brainchild. Still more specifically, what's wrong with it is that GK is overemphasizing social work and accepting donations from pharmaceutical companies manufacturing contraceptives.

I know Meloto, we were both scholars at the Ateneo de Manila University and worked as porters at night to pay for our room and board at the dorm. I'm convinced that if the ranks of Catholics in this country have not gotten paper-thin, it's because of people like him. He is living proof that God works in mysterious ways and prefers his tribe rather than those who claim to be "close kami ni God" [“God and I are close”] who are Vatican's lieutenants and many of this country's bishops, to convey his truth to the world. I haven't met a more resolutely Christian person. Hell, I haven't met a more resolutely sincere person.

What on earth, or heaven, is wrong with accepting donations from companies that produce contraceptives? I leave the question of abortion to the usual suspects, but contraceptives? It's not as if they are weapons of mass destruction or toxic elements that cause cancer, like cigarettes. Condoms merely prevent human substance from exploding in the wrong places. Bombs induce inhuman substance to explode in the very wrong places, like public markets and hospitals. Particularly these days when the specter of famine sweeps not just across a few lands but across the world, courtesy of a runaway population outstripping food production, you've got to wonder if the Rock, which was what Christ called the Church, hasn't become a pebble.

Why shouldn't Meloto accept money from those companies to feed and house the poor? Tony himself cries out eloquently, and not without a trace of sarcasm: "Should all Catholics who work with pharmaceuticals resign? Why is it OK for many Catholic organizations to receive money from them and not OK for GK to care for the poor...? If loving this country, serving the children, is anti-life, then I need to be enlightened again as a Catholic because I only desire to be faithful."

What I myself find galling is that the Vatican should worry about GK accepting money from companies that manufacture contraceptives and be smug about its clergy in the form of the Filipino bishops accepting money from a patently poisonous source. That poisonous source, or cholera-producing well, being Malacañang and its milking cows, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. The latter two directly engage in gambling, an activity that, completely unlike safe sex, has been known to spread disease, if of the mind. Meloto merely accepts money from pharmaceuticals that promote contraception, the bishops accept money from someone who promotes the abortion of democracy. Meloto merely accepts money from pharmaceuticals to do nothing more than feed and house the poor. The bishops accept money from a hypocritical to do everything in their power to keep her in power just so they could fatten and gladden themselves.

But the more mind-boggling thing is the charge that GK is overemphasizing social work. You would laugh, except that it hurts. Again Meloto cries out: "My pain as Catholic and as Filipino is seeing our people suffer from poverty and our country labeled as corrupt. We have not done enough for our poor countrymen. Poverty in the only Catholic country in Asia is a failure in discipleship and Christian stewardship. My dream is for the world to see that it is possible for a Catholic country to rise from poverty because we practice what we preach." That makes him more Christian than Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales. Hell, that makes him more Christian than the Pope.

How in God's name is it possible for anyone to do too much social work in this country? That is like accusing a doctor of prescribing too much medicine to someone fighting for his life. At the very least that a lay organization like Couples should somehow betray the Christian spirit by moving heaven and earth to feed the hungry and house the homeless is batty. What, they get to be more Christian by spending their time attending Mass and avoiding de-coupling while living sad, sad lives?

At the very most, that even a religious organization itself, which the clergy represents, should somehow betray its Christian teachings by plucking the hungry from the claws of hunger and the homeless from the lash of wind and rain is battier. Didn't Christ say what you do for the least of your brethren you do for him? Didn't Christ say not everyone who says, "Lord! Lord!" will enter the kingdom of God? And didn't Christ spend his time on the road with fishers and a well-known prostitute rather than in the temple with the Pharisees who were better-known prostitutes? I do not claim to know the ways of heaven, but when St. Peter goes out one day to meet Meloto who has praised his God silently by doing the most for the least of his brethren, and the bishops who have praised their God loudly by refusing to condemn the most corrupt of their "sisthren," I have a good idea whom he will send upstairs and downstairs.

Christ did say one other thing. It wasn't that the sick shall inherit the earth, it was that the meek would.

CHURCH URGED TO RETHINK STAND ON POPULATION

2008-04-22T01:39:00.000-07:00

A group of reproductive health advocates yesterday urged the government to immediately implement a stringent and long-term population program to minimize the adverse effects of the looming food crisis.

The Forum for Family Planning and Development Inc. (FFPDI) also called on the Roman Catholic clergy to rethink their opposition to artificial birth control methods.

According to the group, the expanding population will only undermine the efforts of the Arroyo administration to bring about economic development, especially in the countryside.

Population and food production are two intertwined factors. You cannot ignore the other and hope to solve the countrys woes, said Benjamin de Leon, FFPDI president.

By 2050, the Philippines would already be the 10th most populous country in the world based on the projection of the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), the group said.

2.1 percent growth

At the current 2.1 percent annual growth rate, the group said the population would have grown to at least 69 percent more from the current 80 million at the time.

Millions of Filipinos suffer from poverty due to large and unplanned families. Unless we give priority to the problem of ballooning population, every effort to counter poverty would be pointless, De Leon said.

He added, Unless the government implements a serious population program and the Church abandons its strong opposition to family planning, rice and food crises will continue to plague the country as demand for food increases.

De Leon said statistics from the Department of Agriculture showed that the national daily consumption of rice was currently at 33,000 metric tons, about 4,000 metric tons more than the countrys rice consumption a few years ago.

In only a year, he said, the countrys per capita consumption of rice rose from 103.16 kilos in 2007 to 134 kilos this year.

He said the data indicated that 21 percent of children under 5 years old would be underweight in the next few years.

Shrinking land

De Leon said that as the population increased, land devoted for food production decreased as arable and agricultural lands gave way to industrial, residential and commercial use.

He said the problem of diminishing agricultural land was further worsened by the rising demand in biofuels.

The PRB data likewise projected that by 2050, the country will have only 28 percent natural habitat, or land that has not been converted to human use, he warned.

By that time, he said, at least 296 Filipinos will have to share with each other every square kilometer of land in the country.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer
Date: Saturday, April 19, 2008
Author: Marlon Ramos

Birthrates Help Keep Filipinos in Poverty; Contraceptives, Rejected by Government, Are Unaffordable for Many in Majority-Catholic Nation

2008-04-22T01:18:00.000-07:00

Maria Susana Espinoza wanted only two children. But it was not until after the birth of her fourth child in six years that she learned any details about birth control.

"I knew it existed, but I didn't know how it works," said Espinoza, who lives with her husband and children in a squatter's hut in a vast, stinking garbage dump by Manila Bay.

She and her family belong to the fastest-growing segment of the Philippine population: very poor people with large families. There are many reasons why this country is poor, including feudal patterns of land ownership and corrupt government. But there is a compelling link between family size and poverty. It increases in lock step with the number of children, as nutrition, health, education and job prospects all decline, government statistics and many studies show.

Birth and poverty rates here are among the highest in Asia. And the Philippines, where four out of five of the country's 91 million people are Roman Catholic, also stands out in Asia for its government's rejection of modern contraception as part of family planning.

Acceding to Catholic doctrine, the government for the past five years has supported only what it calls "natural" family planning. No national government funds can be used to buy contraceptives for the poor, although anyone who can afford them is permitted to buy them. Local governments can also buy and distribute contraceptives, but many lack the money.

Distribution of donated contraceptives in the government's nationwide network of clinics ends this year, as does a contraception- commodities program paid for by the U.S. Agency for International Development. For years it has supplied most of the condoms, pills and intrauterine devices used by poor Filipinos.

"Family planning helps reduce poverty," President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said in a 2003 speech that detailed her approach to birth control. But she said then and has since insisted that the government would support only family planning methods acceptable to the Catholic Church.

Women not wanting to get pregnant, Arroyo advised, should buy a thermometer and recording charts and abstain from sex when they are outside the "infertile phases of the monthly cycle."

Arroyo, 61 and a grandmother with three grown children, said in 2003 that when she was a young mother, she took birth control pills. She said that she later confessed to a priest.

Opposition From the Catholic Church
At the Manila garbage dump, Espinoza said she has been lucky.

A nongovernmental organization with health workers who regularly visit the dump told her that an intrauterine device could prevent her from having another baby. She plans to visit a clinic this month to get an IUD.

The organization that is helping Espinoza agreed to introduce this reporter to her on condition that it not be named. The group's health workers said they fear retaliation and harassment from officials in the national and city government, as well as from the Catholic Church.

In 2005, Catholic bishops in the southern Philippines announced that they would refuse Communion to government health workers who distributed birth control devices.

In the past two weeks, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines declined repeated requests for comment on its family planning policies. The church leadership made its last major statement on birth control last fall.

"Chemical agents and mechanical gadgets that make up the cluttered display of contraceptive methods of birth control have caused serious damage in family relationships, disrupting the unity and openness that build family life by the effects that accompany the contraceptive culture which include extramarital relationships, adolescent pregnancies, and even the hideous murderous act of abortion," said Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, chairman of a bishops' commission on family life.

Aggressive Family Planning in Thailand
In recent weeks, public alarm in the Philippines over the soaring price of rice has focused attention on the fast-growing population and its dependence on rice imports.

Despite steadily increasing rice harvests, farmers here have been unable to keep pace with domestic demand. Economists here have calculated, though, that the Philippines would not need imported rice if it had managed to control population growth -- like its neighbor Thailand.

In 1970, the population of each country was about 36 million people and growing at about 3 percent a year. But with an aggressive family planning program that provides the poor with free contraceptives, Thailand has since reduced its population growth rate to 0.9 percent. In the Philippines, the rate has declined sluggishly to about 2.1 percent.

There are now about 26 million more people in the Philippines than in Thailand.

"It's a no-brainer," said Ernesto M. Pernia, professor of economics at the University of the Philippines.

The Philippines now produces 16 million metric tons of rice a year -- and needs to import 2 million tons more to meet local demand.

"If the Philippines had pursued what Thailand has done, the Philippines would be only consuming 13 metric tons of rice per annum," Pernia said. "We could be a net exporter of 3 million metric tons."

Besides increased food security, the Philippines could have lifted 3.6 million more people out of poverty if it had followed Thailand's population growth trajectory, according to Pernia's analysis.

"Even when there is widespread corruption, insurgent violence and other powerful reasons for poverty, the evidence from across Asia is that good population policy by itself contributes to significant poverty reduction," he said.

Strong Public Support for Contraception
There appears to be widespread public support in the Philippines for modern contraceptives.

Public opinion surveys in recent years have consistently found that about 90 percent of respondents supported government funding of contraceptives for people who cannot afford them.

Surveys by the government also show that poor families have significantly more unwanted pregnancies than richer families -- and much more difficulty finding affordable contraceptives.

The problems the poor face in finding contraception products will increase sharply this year as the Philippine government and USAID end the distribution of donated contraceptives, according to Suneeta Mukherjee, country representative for the U.N. Population Fund. "The poor cannot afford to go somewhere and buy contraceptives," she said. "Many cannot even afford the transportation. By the time they go, they are already pregnant."

The government's plan for "contraceptive self-reliance" anticipates that market forces will make condoms and other products available in shops or that they will be given to the poor by local governments.

But Mukherjee predicted that these new sources will not keep up with demand. "Access to contraceptives will be restricted for most of those who cannot pay and for many who might be willing to pay," she wrote in a February report.

A reduction in the use of contraception -- which is now about 33 percent among women of childbearing age -- will lead to an increase in abortions, Mukherjee predicts.

Abortion is illegal here, but a 2006 study found that there were about 473,000 a year, which accounts for about a third of women with unwanted pregnancies. The study also found that 80 percent of abortions had complications requiring medical treatment.

As for the efficacy of "natural" methods to control population growth, Mukherjee said "it does not work."

At the U.S. Embassy in Manila, an official confirmed that USAID would soon end all donations of contraceptives, after having phased out the program over several years.

But this does not mean less U.S. money for family planning. The official said that USAID has increased its budget, from about $12 million to about $15 million a year, to provide technical assistance to 700 local governments and "to help the private sector to grow the market" for contraceptives.

"We are working in a devolved setting," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "I am not saying it is a perfect situation."

'I Don't Want Any More Children'
In the garbage dump on Manila Bay, Espinoza said she is nervous about getting an IUD. But she sees no alternative. "I already have so many kids I have trouble looking after them," she said.

Until her fourth child was born in October, Espinoza, 26, had time to work as a scavenger in the dump, collecting plastic bottles. On a good 10-hour day, she said, she could collect enough bottles to earn $1. Her husband sells salt and sometimes makes $4 a day.

Espinoza is the oldest of nine children and left school after fifth grade. She grew up in another Manila garbage dump, where her parents also worked as scavengers.

"I don't want any more children," she said. "Life is hard. Rice is expensive."

Source: The Washington Post
Date: Monday, April 21, 2008
Author: Blaine Harden

DepEd to launch sex education in public schools

2008-04-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

Despite persistent lobbying by the Catholic Church, the Department of Education (DepEd) is bent on teaching sex education in the public high schools.

The DepEd is awaiting the go-ahead from the Presidential Council on Values Formation (PCVF) which is currently reviewing the secondary teachers' “adolescent reproductive health manuals,” according to Education Secretary Jesli A. Lapus.

"The new draft modules which are subject to PCVF review and approval are purely health and science angles on reproductive health... They are not sex educational materials at all," Lapus told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

The DepEd furnished the Philippine Daily Inquirer with copies of the revised modules, titled "Secondary Teachers' Toolkit on Adolescent Reproductive Health" and "Patnubay sa Pagtuturo ng Araling Adolescent Reproductive Health para sa Alternative Learning System."

Lapus stressed that the revised modules were "products of nationwide multisectoral consultations."

The preparation of the 2006 manuals were jointly funded by the Australian Aid for International Development and the United Nations Fund for Population Awareness.
Asked about the sex education program's timetable, Lapus said it all depended on the PCVF. "We await the council's resolution."

The council was created on April 30, 2004, by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo under Executive Order No. 314.

The body, attached Office of the President, is tasked to "serve as the lead agency by which government may work hand in hand with civil society and the private sector in the establishment of a strong foundation for moral value formation in the government bureaucracy."

The PCVF, chaired by President Arroyo, counted "members of the clergy and ministers," among others, as those seating in the council, Lapus said.
With regards to its composition, separate checks by Inquirer Research and the DepEd communications office with the PCVF yielded negative results. /Inquirer

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer, April 1, 2008
http://archive.inquirer.net/view.php?db=1&story_id=127670

Church protest fails, QC passes sex ed law

2008-02-11T09:05:00.000-08:00

culled from ABS-CBN News

A Church-led protest outside their session hall failed to deter Quezon City councilors from approving a proposed ordinance to teach reproductive health lessons in all of the city's public high schools.

ABS-CBN News correspondent Apples Jalandoni reported that priests, nuns and other members of Catholic religious organizations picketed outside the session hall as the council voted on the proposal.

The protests was aimed at stopping the approval of the city ordinance that according to the ralliers, "violates the beliefs of the Church."

The ordinance states that all public high schools in Quezon City will teach sex education to its students, including the use of contraceptives.

The ordinance also recommended the use of artificial family planning methods.

"[It's] not good to teach adolescents about sex... it will perpetuate sex early... results may be abortion...," said Cubao Bishop Honesto Ongtioco.

After the rally, the bishop and the protesters gained entry to the session hall. They, however, found out that the council already passed the ordinance.

The councilors, meanwhile, defended the ordinance.

"It's time for family planning, because this is really a poverty issue," said Councilor Joseph Juico.

The council also said that five out of every 100 children in Quezon City are underweight and one of the reasons is successive births.

The protesters, meanwhile, said they will not be deterred. They said they will elevate their case to the Supreme Court.

Sing, O Barren One

2008-01-20T21:15:00.000-08:00

"Sing, O Barren One" is a collection of essays on biblical themes by Sister Helen Graham. The articles reflect the personal concerns and interests of Sr. Helen throughout the years as an engaged and dedicated biblical scholar. The articles are grouped into four: War and Peace, Social Justice, Biblical Women, and Church and Mission.

Sister Helen is a Maryknoll missioner and a Professor of Scriptures at the Institute for Formation and Religious Studies (IFRS) and at the Maryhill School of Theology (MST).

The book was published by the Claretian Publications. You may contact 921-3984 or email cci@calret.org for book orders.

A Matter of Justice

2007-11-27T19:52:00.001-08:00

“Family planning? Reproductive health? Doesn’t that distract us from more urgent issues of poverty and inequity?”

I hear that question quite often from both political conservatives as well as progressives. And when the issue is related to adolescents and young people, people will say: “What we need are more schools, more jobs.”

I have no quarrel with such arguments, but often, too, I think there’s an element of myopia in thinking that young people don’t need programs around reproductive and sexual health. In fact, I’d propose that tackling problems around young people’s reproductive and sexual health is itself a matter of social justice.

Let’s start with the health situation of young people. Especially in Third World settings, these are survivors, people who have hurdled the many challenges of early childhood, particularly malnutrition and infectious diseases.

We don’t often think of teenagers as vulnerable to health problems, but they are, except that the pattern of risks now changes. With males, the main risks cluster around mental health, substance abuse (which relates ultimately to mental health), accidents and sexually transmitted infections. For females, the risks are even more very clearly related to reproductive and sexual health.

The problems emerge even among those who are not yet sexually active. The onset of menstruation brings problems like iron-deficiency anemia, especially among young girls who are already disadvantaged by poverty and gender discrimination. Menstruation also means fluctuations in hormones, which, accompanied by other anatomical changes, result in endogenous infections of the reproductive tract.

For those who become sexually active, the risks now include sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV/AIDS. In the Philippines, the highest number of reported HIV infections is found in females aged 15 to 24. (In contrast, among males, the infection rates are highest in older men.) People deny these risks because they think it applies only to sex workers and to the “promiscuous,” but the reality is that many infections will take place among young girls forced into marriage because of a premarital pregnancy. Because they’re married, they downplay their risks for these STIs even if their husbands are philandering, and the chances are usually higher that they are, these young grooms often unhappy with having been forced into the marriage.

We forget, too, that in the Philippines, more than 100,000 births each year are to girls below the age of 20, each birth presenting specific risks because of the mother’s young age. The children of these young mothers also face more formidable challenges for survival, since their mothers are inexperienced, and tend to have fewer economic resources to raise the child.

These births are simplistically blamed on young people’s “promiscuity” and “raging hormones” (you’d be surprised at how many of the pregnancies occurred after only one encounter), followed of course by the couple being marched off into a shotgun wedding. Talk about jumping out of the frying pan into the fire -- the births come each year. Some of the births to girls in the 15- to 19-year-old age group are already their third or fourth.

Conservatives argue that sex education programs entice the young to have sex. They insist that sex education is best done within the family, but most Filipino families prefer silence on the issue, a silence that can bring about disastrous consequences. Talk with doctors serving in rural areas and they’ll tell you of parents bringing in a child who’s pregnant, but the parents themselves are still in denial.

We saw, too, recently, that case of a 12-year-old suicide in Davao City, with possible sexual abuse. If we had strong sexual and reproductive health programs, the girl would have been in a better position to defend herself or, if the abuse could not be prevented, to be able to look for help.

Hanging ovaries

Sexually active or not, young Filipinos need reproductive and sexual health programs. I’m not referring to those “hanging ovaries” sex education classes where the class giggles through a boring lecture with anatomical charts showing disembodied penises, uteri and ovaries. Young people need the most basic of education; many young girls and boys don’t even know the basics of sexual hygiene. They need to know bodies belong to people, in relationships, with values that will either put them at risk, or protect them, from unwanted pregnancies, from sexually transmitted infections. They need to know that sexual and reproductive health relates to other healthy practices, and that means avoiding junk foods, smoking, drinking, drugs.

We know that young people suffer from poor health because of poverty, which means limited access to information and services. But in the case of reproductive and sexual health, the converse is also true: poor reproductive health contributes to a worsening of poverty. Think of the young couple who starts having a family when they can barely support themselves. That’s an end to schooling, an end to opportunities for better jobs. In many cases, it can also mean young people being driven into new situations of risks such as sex work.

So, on one hand, often in the name of morality, we deny our young reproductive and sexual health programs. On the other hand, we exploit the young’s sexuality to sell products: our billboards, our television screens are filled with happy, healthy faces and bodies endorsing everything from cell phones to soft drinks.

Space, options

I’ve wondered if our ambivalence with young people’s sexuality reflects our fear of young people. We see them mainly in terms of raging, uncontrollable hormones, and yet shamelessly use them for entertainment, for advertising -- or for outright sale.

We talk about how young people are our future and indeed they are. But by de-sexualizing them, we convert them into mere commodities, their value perceived in market terms. Why worry about family planning, I’ve heard commentators, when we can export more Filipinos to bring in more dollars?

When we oppose sex education and family planning for the young, we also betray our own condescending views about them. We don’t want to see them as being mature enough to handle options, to make wise decisions about their bodies and their lives. The ones who will suffer the most are the ones who are young, and poor, because their lack of options will lead to new vicious cycles of powerlessness and poverty.

Ultimately, reproductive and sexual health is about young people’s rights. Denying those rights is the worst form of social injustice.

(This column is a modified version of a plenary paper I presented last month at the 4th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health, held in India.)

Source: Article by Michael L. Tan in Pinoy Kasi column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, November 28, 2007

Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.

2007-11-26T23:07:00.000-08:00

World AIDS Day is a day when people from around the world come together within a single effort. This year, the global theme of World AIDS Day is leadership within the slogan Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.

The annual UNAIDS/WHO 2006 AIDS Epidemic Update, reports on the latest developments in the global AIDS epidemic, providing the most recent estimates of the epidemic's scope and human toll and explores new trends in the epidemic's evolution.

According to the report 39.5 million people are now living with HIV. There were 4.3 million new infections in 2006 with 2.8 million (65%) of these occurring in sub-Saharan Africa and important increases in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where there are some indications that infection rates have risen by more than 50% since 2004. In 2006, 2.9 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses.

Why the theme of leadership?
Since the beginning of the epidemic, experience has clearly demonstrated that significant advances in the response to HIV have been achieved when there is strong and committed leadership. Leaders are distinguished by their action, innovation and vision; their personal example and engagement of others; and their perseverance in the face of obstacles and challenges. However, leaders are often not those in the highest offices. Leadership must be demonstrated at every level to get ahead of the disease - in families, in communities, in countries and internationally. Much of the best leadership on AIDS has been demonstrated within civil society organisations challenging the status quo. Making leadership the theme of the next two World AIDS Days will help encourage leadership on AIDS within all levels and sectors of society. We hope it will inspire and foster champions within a range of different groups and networks at local and international levels.

Leadership as a theme follows and builds on the 2006 theme of accountability. In 2006 a number of milestones were reached where accountability was particularly crucial. It was the year of the United Nations High Level Meeting on AIDS, which reviewed the progress on the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV and AIDS - an important blueprint for reaching the Millennium Development Goals on AIDS. 2006 marked the fifth year anniversary of the African Abuja Declaration. 2006 was also the year in which national targets were set, or should have been set, by governments for achieving universal access to prevention, treatment, support and care by 2010. In addition, at 2006's International AIDS Conference, “accountability “ was the buzzword throughout the global forum, reflecting the conference's theme, “Time to Deliver”.

Despite the efforts to hold leaders accountable in 2006, progress in halting HIV is falling far short of targets. Over 25 million people have died of AIDS so far, and 4.3 million people were infected with HIV in 2006. The spread of HIV is accelerating with more people infected in 2006 than in any previous year. This is despite the number of promises by world leaders to provide services to curb the rates of infection and to bring down death rates. The G8 leaders must deliver on their commitments to AIDS. In other high level meetings, governments of rich countries promised to increase the spending on development aid to 0.7 percent of their annual budget. Only a handful of countries have done so. In the Abuja Declaration, African leaders committed to allocating 15 percent of their budgets to health. This has happened in just one or two countries, with only one-third of African countries spending over 10 percent. Promises are not being kept because there is a lack of leadership at every level.

Reproductive health and religion

2007-10-31T22:11:00.000-07:00

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
By Marit Stinus-Remonde
Reproductive health and religion

Research suggests pregnancy is healthy, The Manila Times reported in one of its series of articles on abortion. But maybe not if there are too many of them. A neighbor died giving birth to her 11th child. Her jobless husband became alone raising the children, some of whom were already engaged in petty crimes. A colleague’s 40-year-old mother died from cancer. Her body was worn out after so many pregnancies and childbirths, the doctor said.

Abortions, too, kill and wreck the heart. A mother died due to abortion complications leaving her six children and husband behind. The abortion was supposed to have removed an additional financial burden from the family.

A friend had her baby aborted because her married lover didn’t want a child out of wedlock. She has never stopped mourning the loss of the baby whom she would rather have raised alone than never have had.

It is so easy to condemn women who resort to abortions. Yet, in many cases, society didn’t present them the available alternatives to abortion. True, some couples don’t think of the possible consequences of engaging in unprotected sex. They will have to live with their decisions for the rest of their lives.

Sex and procreation shouldn’t be separated, the church tells us. Old people, including old women who can no longer have children, have sex drives. Is it immoral for them to have sex? Lovers invent numerous positions to find maximum pleasure, and not all involve the ejaculation of the sperm into the vagina. Are such kinds of sex immoral? Sex is as old as the human race, and the art of giving and receiving the highest sexual pleasure has occupied the minds of men for thousands of years. Men would live their fantasies with professional lovers while sex with the wife was for the purpose of producing offspring. Fortunately, more liberal views on sex and marriage have enabled men and women to find love, exciting sex and family in marriage.

Sex is more than the act of procreation. We are, after all, human beings, not animals. While the need for sex may be purely physical and the sex drive biologically determined, sex is also a means to give and receive warmth, love and affection.

On the other hand, a sexual attraction expressed in a manner unwelcome by its object becomes a violation of the latter’s dignity and integrity. A Catholic priest who plays with the straps of the bras of 20 female high-school students during confession and pinches their armpits is obviously guilty of such violation. The Archdiocese of Cebu has staunchly defended the priest and his acts, thus revealing its poor understanding of sex and sexuality, and how these cannot be separated from the personality, integrity and dignity of the individual.

God gave man the gift of freedom. “The freedom to choose what is right and wrong. However, when one’s freedom of choice is exercised erroneously, it may result in regret, disappointment and failure. Choosing abortion present countless dangers to women.” (“Abortion vs. Freedom of Choice, Manila Times, Oct. 23, 2007).

But we don’t choose what is right and wrong. God equipped us with mind, heart and soul aside from freedom. We have the capacity to discern, to evaluate opposing information, and make up our own mind. Regret, disappointment and failure are prices worth paying for the exercise of freedom. The problem with the Roman Catholic Church and its rigid doctrine on reproductive health is that it is imposing its ways on everybody, thus taking away people’s freedom to make choices based on our own discernment and beliefs. Abortion is a last, desperate resort. Other options, while being available, are scarce and remain unaffordable to a majority of the population, in no small degree thanks to the lobbying of the Catholic Church. Information about reproductive health is deliberately being withheld. Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, in a homily some years ago, put men who undergo vasectomy, in the same moral class as drug lords.

Sexuality is complex. It is probably the most personal, private and individual aspect of a person, yet also something that is visible and open for interaction, a space where biology, politics and emotions mix in a dynamic, ever-changing combination. Thus, to address the reproductive health needs and concerns of society and the individual, we must go beyond both religious doctrine and contraceptive supply

Women Priests

2007-10-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

FROM THE STANDS

By Domini M. Torrevillas / Tuesday, October 16, 2007 / Philippine Star

This month, the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) celebrates a Decade of the Women Clergy (October 1997-October 2007). During these past ten years, it has ordained 630 women to the priesthood, whose functions are virtually the same as those of its male clergy.

One of the activities for the decade celebration was the launching of a small booklet, titled Celebrating the Gift of the Woman Priesthood. Rev. Vicky Esguerra, priest and project director, writes in the foreword that the publication documents the plight of the women clergy “from the biblico-theological interpretation and hierarchical mandates to downright emotional overtones experienced by the women priests themselves.”

The book is a must reading, writes Reverend Esguerra. “Where the Church preaches liberation from human bondage of sin and social injustice, the IFI women priests have emerged triumphantly from their silent struggles, asserting their complementary roles with their male counterparts, through the unifying grace of the Holy Spirit.”

The Most Rev. Godofredo J. David, Obispo Maximo XI of IFI, writes of the women priests’ prevailing “over the unwelcoming attitude that greeted them a decade ago and how their ministry has enriched the IFI, making the Church more responsive with the ever-growing challenge of doing mission.”

Women’s ordination was approved by the church’s Supreme Council of Bishops on Oct. 1, 1996. The first to be officially ordained in February 1997, was the Rev. Rosalina V. Rabaria, She was first assigned to the IFI church in Maayon, Capiz, as a deacon. As related by Jocelyn D. Villasor, the church in Maayon had “fallen asleep” for 20 years, and was reactivated by Deacon Rabaria. The woman priest had “a big heart, elastic patience, (was) energetic, spiritually intelligent, and most of all in her humility was able to handle her ministry.”

Parishioners were skeptical when female priests were assigned to their dioceses. Rev. Lucy Dagandan was sent to the Parish of the Holy Child in Pines, Oroquieta City. But she was able to win the hearts of her parishioners, writes Maria Lucinita T. Antawil, a member of the church, with her compassionate nature. She helped take care of the parish finances, organize barangay chapels, improve and repair the parsonage, build a native-inspired multi-purpose hall, monitor church attendance, and revive novenas and prayer meetings.

Rev. Rhea Bitacura-Loquias, ordained in 2004, moved parishioners first skeptical about having a woman priest in the Diocese of Surigao, to become more prayerful and loving.

Rev. Vicky Esguerra writes that societal viewpoints on the issue of women’s ordination has, over two millennia of discord, varied “from silent indifference to eloquent outrage.” The issue had IFI bishops and lay members split hairs over why women should not be ordained. Passages in the Scriptures were used to oppose — if not to espouse — women deacons the right to become priests. Many IFI women members thought — and some still do — that women’s place is the home — and not behind the pulpit. The national women’s organization president, Marita Medina, writes that the church women leaders “have to do their share in educating the women to fully support the ordained ministers — female and male alike.”

Two male priests — the Very Rev. Eleuterio Revollido, CoP, and the Rev. Thaddeaus Barrameda, NPO — write about the issue in the booklet. Women Aglipayanos fought with IFI Founder Gregorio Aglipay in the battlefront during the war against the American colonizers in Ilocos Norte, in 1900, and when Aglipay accepted the leadership of the newly-proclaimed IFI in 1902, it was the women of Pandacan, Manila, who led the occupation of the parish church, and, almost on the same ground, a nationalist woman named Saturnina Bunda, led the faithful of the town of Malabon, Rizal, to take over the church building. Write the two priests: “These exploits of women in the early history of the IFI were the solid bases that proved the capability of women even in the bloody war of liberation or in a nonviolent act of emancipation.” But why is it so hard for them to be accepted as servants behind the altar, they ask?

The IFI started discussing the role of women in the ordained ministry with the encouragement of her Concordat partner, the Episcopal Church in the USA (ECUSA). ECUSA’s presiding bishop, John Allin, asked the IFI Supreme Council of Bishops to study the matter. Fresh winds came with the acceptance of the first woman seminarian at St. Andrew’s Theological Seminary (SATS) in Quezon City in 1972, after which women seminarians were ordained to be deaconesses. In 1997, the first woman to be ordained was the Rev. Rosalina Rabaria of Aklan.

Ironically, women’s ordination split the ECUSA, giving rise to a separatist Episcopal Synod of America (ESA). This group, according to Revolido and Barrameda, emphasized the conservative theological idea that, “If we change the masculine imagery by which God has eternally revealed Himself to us by having a woman behind the altar, then we will feel compelled to reject the language of Lord, Father and Bridegroom. And then, we will no longer have Christianity, but a return to ancient paganism. It is certainly not just a matter of ‘women’s rights,’ but the stepping-stone to a new man-made (woman-made) religion.”

Not true, not true, write the two male priests: “Truly the decade celebration of the gift of the woman priesthood in the IFI should be seen in the complementary roles of the IFI women’s true commitment to the ministry that Christ has been giving . . . The obstacles are still formidable for the IFI women clergy but with more and more male clergy embracing them as co-equal partners in one ministry in Christ, it is a sign of maturity in the IFI.”

Visit the PhilMADE blog.

A tale of two religions

2007-10-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting article on two religions. It does not really talk about differing views on sex and sexuality but rather a story of how one person breezed through a life of diverse religious practices and eventually coming out with a firm and solid grasp of truth and reality.

An article RGS trainees would appreciate. Read on...
--------------------------------------------------------
A tale of two religions

By Pam Pastor
Inquirer
Last updated 10:13am (Mla time) 10/04/2007

MANILA, Philippines—I was 10 years old when R.E.M. released the song “Losing My Religion.”

And because this was before I discovered the magic of reading between the lines and the horrors of people not saying what they actually mean, I found the song amusing. Here was this guy whining about losing his religion while I had one too many. I remember thinking about giving him one of mine to make both our lives easier.

Yes, I grew up with two religions. My dad’s side of the family is Catholic while my maternal grandparents head a Born Again Christian church.

Confusing religious path

Here is the very brief summary of my confusing religious path—Catholic baptism as a baby, Born Again baptism officiated by my grandfather when I was around 8 years old, then my Catholic confirmation in sixth grade.

Growing up, some Sundays meant going to Mass, lining up for communion and afterwards visiting the toy store across the church. Some Sundays meant singing in the church band and listening to my grandfather talk about God and the wondrous things He’s done.

On Sundays, my Religion class required me to reflect on the priest’s homily but there were times when I had to rely on the newspaper to tell me what the Gospel was; during those weeks I went to the other church.

For eleven years—from prep to high school— I also went to an all-girls Catholic school. After that I attended a Catholic university.

The Bible I used in school was different from the post-it covered pink Bible I used at home and in my grandparents’ church. The things I was taught in school religion-wise were different from what I would hear from my grandparents. These became the things I had to learn and unlearn at the snap of a finger.

A double life

In many ways, it was a double life.

The elements of my Catholic life included the sign of the cross, the rosary, the Stations of the Cross, the saints, praying to Mother Mary.

My Born Again life involved speaking in tongues, getting slain, attending Bible study nights and long praise and worship sessions.

One set of cousins had to recite memorized passages from the Bible while the other set had to stop playing at around 8 in the evening every night to pray the rosary with their mom. Some days I was one of the kids quoting the Bible; other days I would sit on my aunt’s bed, my thumb and forefinger moving from one rosary bead to the next.

When I was in high school, I missed World Youth Day and the Pope’s visit because I was attending a faith convention in Singapore with my grandparents, my mom and my brother. When I went back to class, my classmates had a lot of stories to tell about the Pope mobile, about the people they met and how they stood in the heat for hours. But I had a story of my own. At the faith convention, a speaker from the US asked me to stand up in front of the packed auditorium because he had a prophecy about me. I stood there, a mere girl in a pink suit and watched as he declared my future as a woman of God.

Fervent beliefs

In reality, I should have grown up really confused. But my family’s two different sets of beliefs only helped strengthen my faith in the existence and power of God. My family taught me to believe. Not just that, their fervent belief in their own religions taught me the importance of being open-minded and respecting the principles other people live by.

And while they might not realize it, their beliefs are alike. The truth is, Born Again or Catholic, the people I love believe in the same things. The ideas are the same—love and respect God, love and respect the people around you, live a good life, forgive, do not hurt the people around you.

And while it might have been simpler to grow up with just one religion, with just one kind of Sunday, without having to switch from mode A to B in a split second, my double life taught me a lot about faith and respect.

I wouldn’t trade those lessons for anything in the world.

Nalzaro: Dismissal of Fr. Ejares' Case

2007-10-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

Opinion / Sexual Harrassment

Saturday, October 06, 2007 / Sunstar Cebu
Nalzaro: Dismissal of Fr. Ejares’ cases
By Bobby Nalzaro / Saksi

I AM a Roman Catholic, although I would be ashamed to claim I'm a devoted one. I seldom attend mass but I often go to church and pray alone. For me, faith is not measured by how often you go to church and attend mass. It is not about reading and memorizing the verses of the Bible. It’s about how you practice your faith and your personal relation with God.

When I was in first year college at the Ateneo de Zamboanga, I almost entered the seminary when my seminarian-classmates recruited me. But because I was already working in radio at that time, it did not happen.

Unsaon naungo naman ko sa radyo. I was a working student then.

Still, knowing my nature, I doubt if I could have stayed longer in the seminary and became a priest had I relented. With all the temptations outside, especially in matters of love and romance, I would have walked away. I was a lover boy at that time.

Joining the priesthood needs determination. It is a personal conviction and a vocation. As they say, many are called but only few are chosen. And being a Catholic, I don't want Church leaders to commit sins because we look up to them being our moral guardians.

But what is so special with priests? The Cebu City Prosecutor's Office, in its resolution on the Fr. Ben Ejares case, described priests as not ordinary human beings but as the “alter ego of Jesus Christ,” especially when they perform sacraments.

I don't know where the prosecutors anchored that argument, which they used in dismissing the case for acts of lasciviousness and sexual harassment filed by female students of the Abellana National School against the priest. It's not even in the Bible passage (John 20:220) quoted by the investigating prosecutor.

The students complained that Ejares, one of the priests who graced a Life in the Spirit seminar sponsored by the Oasis of Love last year, touched them and toyed with their bra straps during confession. He also uttered green jokes.

Prosecutors dismissed the cases, however, saying these did not fall under the crime of acts of lasciviousness and sexual harassment. They added that, based on evidence gathered, Ejares should have been charged with unjust vexation because there was no lewd intent on his part. But that case can no longer be filed because the period for doing so has already lapsed.

But why did the prosecutors not give weight to the testimony of the complainants? The students would not have complained had their rights not been violated. What Ejares did to them was an insult on their persons being minors.

And why didn’t the prosecutors take into consideration the students’ agonizing and shameful experience? Are they saying that the students lied and that Ejares’ version is more believable because he is the alter ego of Christ? And who said that there was no lewd intent? Is touching the sensitive parts of the girls’ bodies not lewd?

Adding insult to injury was the part of the resolution that said that what Ejares did was just part of a “routine” and a “habit” in the conduct of confession. Does this mean that in the conduct of a religious activity we will just allow ourselves to be exploited by church authorities because they are Christ’s alter ego?

It was not Jesus’ hands that touched the students’ bodies but the hands of Satan. The prosecutors who cleared Ejares have no concern for women and minors. What if the victims were their daughters? Unsa kahay ilang buhaton no?

Pinoys say kin, health, religion spell happiness

2007-10-10T11:59:00.000-07:00

Pinoys say kin, health, religion spell happiness
10/09/2007 09:53 AM

For Filipinos, family, health and religion are the three (3) most valuable sources of happiness. Sex, on the other hand, ranked low as a source of happiness, but was voted as a significant factor in the list of things giving Filipinos the most satisfaction.

A recent study conducted by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) showed that Filipinos regard the family as the most important source of happiness, giving it a score of 9.45 in a scale of 10.

Health was identified as the second most important source of happiness, with a score of 8.95, and religion placed third at 8.59.

"The most important sources of happiness are family, health, and religion, in that order. Other important sources of happiness include friends, financial security, education, work and love life... Noteworthy is the fact that family is clearly the number one source," NSCB said in its study "Measuring Progress of Philippine Society: Gross National Product or Gross National Happiness."

The study was conducted by the NSCB to find out which things or factors are the most important sources of happiness for Filipinos, as well as the level of happiness Filipinos actually derive from them.

In its study, NSCB showed that Filipinos consider their sex lives – ranking only 14th – as among the least important sources of happiness in their lives, along with community and volunteer work (15th), cultural activities (16th), and politics (17th).

But while Filipinos give low priority to sex as a source of happiness, the study revealed that 72.6 percent of those polled enjoy their sex lives, and ranked sex as one of the major factors giving them the highest level of happiness.

"Quite surprising is that sex is not an important source of happiness! In fact, it is among the five least important! Could it be that the respondents were just too shy to reveal their true feelings about sex? Or time to shift stories away from the birds and the bees?" the NSCB said.

"Sex life is not considered important, but, boy, 72.6 percent of enjoyment of sex is not bad, if work could only give 71 percent, leisure and sports, 70. 0 percent, financial security, 68.8 percent and cultural activities, 66.6 percent! And yes, climate change could be an inconvenient truth, but the respondents will take sex anytime over the environment," it added.

The study was based on a non-random poll of 167 respondents. The NSCB conducted two pilot tests of the questionnaires which list 15 possible sources of happiness.

The study ranked the following factors: family, friends, religion, love life, health, education, sex life, work, leisure and sports, community and volunteer work, technological know-how, income and financial security, cultural activities, environment, economy, government, and politics. - GMANews.TV

CBCP hits the P1-B Condom Fund

2007-10-10T11:54:00.000-07:00

By Evelyn Macairan / Monday, October 8, 2007 / Philippine Star

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has called on legislators to spend on projects that would alleviate poverty and provide free education to poor children, instead of spending P1 billion for the purchase of contraceptives, CBCP president and Jaro, Iloilo Archbishop Angel Lagdameo said in a statement Saturday.

“We hope it is not true that Congress plans to appropriate P1 billion for the purchase of condoms, birth control pills and other ‘reproductive health’ products to control population growth. It if is true, we categorically object to it and instead strongly recommend that the one billion pesos be directly appropriated for hunger and poverty alleviation projects, as well as for free education of extremely poor children.”

He said using abortifacent and contraceptive pills are against nature and God’s teachings. The Church teaches that using these items is wrong because they destroy the fruitfulness of human reproductive capacities.

For the CBCP, the natural family planning method is the only morally acceptable way to practice responsible parenthood.

The CBCP also debunked the census data released by the United Nations, which reported that the population growth rate in the country is 2.36 percent. Based on the National Statistics Office (NSO), the rate has only been pegged at 1.99 percent.

Lagadameo added, “We exhort our clergy to proactively preach the doctrine of the Church on principled population control. We strongly encourage and support our legislators in Congress and the Senate who promote the moral teachings on life, family and population

Bishop thankful for USAID’s exit from contraception program

2007-10-10T11:48:00.000-07:00

Bishop thankful for USAID’s exit from contraception program
10/10/2007 12:30 AM

San Fernando Archbishop Paciano Aniceto on Tuesday said he was thankful that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has decided to stop giving free contraceptives to the Philippines.

“Praise the Lord! ... Because by promoting contraception you do not eliminate poverty by weakening and killing the poor," Aniceto, who chairs the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life (ECFL) of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said in a statement on the CBCP Web site, Tuesday night.

Aniceto said the use of contraceptives “is immoral," and a part of a massive depopulation agenda of some political leaders.

He said contraception won’t solve the country’s economic woes unless the government comes out with “real serious economic management and proper economic planning of our country."

The USAID said it had already stopped giving free condoms since 2004. The agency plans to cut the rest of its donation of other birth control products next year.

USAID said its phaseout is in line with the government’s promotion of natural family planning.

Earlier, the CBCP denounced a plan at the House of Representatives to purchase P1 billion worth condoms, pills and other “reproductive health products" to control population growth.

The Church called on legislators to instead spend the huge amount on projects that would alleviate poverty and provide free education to poor children. - GMANews.TV

More related articles in the PhilMADE blog.

Prelate: Sex education better taught in classroom than on TV

2007-10-06T01:05:00.000-07:00

10/04/2007 12:07 AM / GMANews.tv

Sex education belongs more to the classrooms than on television, a senior Catholic archbishop reminded teachers Wednesday night.

Nueva Caceres Archbishop Leonardo Legazpi, OP issued the reminder as he admitted some teachers fail to implement this policy properly.

“The problem is when sex education becomes too visual and may end with unintended results," Legazpi said in an interview on Church-run Radio Veritas.

The excerpts of interview were posted on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Web site (www.cbcpnews.com).

“It would be easier if sex education is discussed in a classroom atmosphere rather than on television, which has a wide audience from various age groups," Legazpi said.

Even then, he said sex education should always be in the context of family education.

In underscoring the need for sex education in the classroom instead of on television, Legazpi said television is too far-reaching a medium and could do more harm than good.

“You wouldn’t exactly know who’s watching or listening and the possibility exists it would do more harm than good," he said.

On the other hand, he said the Church continues to do its share through the “Pre-Cana" conferences it hosts for people preparing to get married. - GMANews.TV

Rescuing Morality

2007-10-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

Opinion / Dr. A.G. Romualdez / Health News and Views

Rescuing Morality
Malaya / 2 October

Last Saturday, a group of women’s rights advocates launched a publication entitled "Imposing Misery: The Impact of Manila’s Contraceptive Ban on Women and Families". Linangan ng Kababaihan (Likhaan) is based in Quezon City and is a non-governmental organization devoted to the promotion of women’s reproductive rights.

The Reproductive Health, Rights and Ethics Center for Studies and Training (ReproCen) is a multidisciplinary, multi-professional academic entity based in the UP College of Medicine devoted to the study of social, ethical and legal aspects of gender and reproductive health issues. The Center for Reproductive Rights based in New York City collaborated with their two Philippine counterparts to produce a remarkable document that hopefully will convince people that the atrocities committed by the Manila city administration from 1998 to 2007 should never again be repeated.

The publication confirms the fact that whenever extremist religious beliefs are allowed to dominate public policy, the burden of suffering falls mainly on the poor who are in fact already disadvantaged in so many other ways. For nine years, the city government actually imposed a ban on all methods of "artificial contraception" throughout the city but particularly in the slums whose inhabitants were completely dependent on government for family planning information and supplies.

By issuing Executive Order Number 003, the then mayor of Manila, Jose L. Atienza, coerced city health officials and frontline workers into denying their poor constituents any access to effective family planning methods. While pretending to recognize that "natural family planning" (a method requiring abstinence from sex during a woman’s fertile period) was a religiously acceptable practice for the purpose of spacing births and limiting family size, the city government did not have a systematic program to promote even this method – one which is extremely difficult to implement in urban poor communities whose residents are less educated than members of higher income groups.

But the city government at that time was not satisfied with merely withholding information and services on family planning; it actively promoted antiquated and discredited notions that accentuated the misery of poor city dwellers. During visits to these poor neighborhoods, it is reported that the mayor distributed monetary rewards to mothers who had produced the most number of children, promoting the absurd idea that big populations translate into more workers to further enhance the economy.

What is worse is that non-governmental organizations that attempted to fill in the void left by City Hall’s abandonment of family planning were in fact driven out of the city by a number of coercive means including harassment and intimidation. Even the national government was kept out of the picture by preventing any contact between the Department of Health and the city’s health units. Attempts by the DOH family planning program to share what was left of donated contraceptive supplies were rejected by cowed city health workers who were not even allowed to cooperate in surveys and other demographic exercises conducted by national agencies.

The medieval thinking on which the mayor’s executive order was based is illustrated by the fourth operative paragraph of the issuance:

"That the various activities geared on moral rejuvenation shall be encouraged to equip its people against amoral influences brought about by the excesses of modernization."

"Imposing Misery" is actually an indictment of the lack of a firm national reproductive health policy that created an environment allowing one man to impose his narrow view of morality on the country’s largest and still most important city.

The different tales of woe told by the poor women in the document revolve around a recurring theme where women, deprived of access to services and information about family planning, continued to get pregnant, despite being informed of the dangers of multiple unwanted pregnancies. Allowing such a situation is not just amoral, it is downright immoral.

"Imposing Misery" illustrates the urgent need not just for population advocates but for all those who profess concern for the poor to rescue morality from the hands of narrow-minded, unthinking and heartless religious fundamentalists who believe that non-procreative sex is the gravest of sins that should be prevented at the cost of human suffering and even death. Such people are convinced that lying, cheating and stealing is justified provided it is done in the name of their distorted moral sense.

The Appropriations Act of 2007 contains an allocation of P180 million for "artificial family planning supplies." Of this amount, P30 million has been released for the operation of the Department of Health’s family planning office. The balance of 150 million is to be released through DOH to local governments in need of family planning supplies based on conditions and guidelines approved by Malacañang. Optimists among population management advocates think that this will happen sometime soon. There are pessimists, however, who believe that the releases will be delayed past the December 20 deadline for the obligation of budget allocations so that they can actually be spent for intended purposes. There are now 79 days left.

Bantay RH in Manila

2007-10-05T09:17:00.000-07:00

Two (2) opposing news on Former Manila Mayor Lito Atienza's acts re: RH issues during his term. Read on....
----------------------

Family-planning advocates plan to sue Lito Atienza
Sunday Times / 30 September

FAMILY planning advocates in the Philippines said Saturday they are readying a legal suit against a member of President Gloria Arroyo’s cabinet for his opposition to artificial contraception.

The groups said they will sue Environment Secretary Lito Atienza for removing all contraceptives from city clinics when he was mayor of Manila, the capital city.

The suit aims to “hold [Atienza] liable for acts which caused injury to women,” said Elizabeth Pangalangan, executive director of the Reproductive Health, Rights and Ethics Centre, a social research and study group attached to the University of the Philippines.

Her group and other organizations presented testimony on how Atienza, three-time mayor of Manila and a devout Catholic, introduced a policy in 2000 banning city government clinics from issuing contraceptives or informing people how to use or obtain them.

Pangalangan said the groups were looking at either administrative charges or a civil suit, but said the details would be revealed later.

Atienza finished his third term as Manila mayor on June 30, but was later appointed Environment Secretary by Arroyo, also a devout Catholic.

The Catholic Church, dominant in the Philippines, frowns on artificial birth control.

Pangalangan said they had wanted to file a suit for years, but had difficulty finding women to testify against Atienza due to fear of his position.
--AFP

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pro-life groups bat for Atienza on birth control issue

Monday, October 1, 2007 / Philippine Star

Pro-life Philippines founder and chairwoman Sister Pilar Versoza expressed her support for former Manila mayor Lito Atienza after family planning advocates threatened to sue him for banning artificial contraception in the city.

“Pro-life Philippines, like the Church, is not against family planning. However we advocate the natural way of planning which are already scientifically proven to be accurate and safe,” Versoza said, adding that Atienza, a devout Catholic “shares the same view.”

Family planning advocates said Saturday that they are planning to file a tort case against Atienza to hold him liable for an executive order he issued that allegedly “caused injury to women.”

The order reportedly deprived many Manila women the chance to avail of artificial family planning methods. The family planning advocates said Atienza’s order violates the Philippine government’s obligations under national and international law, as well as rights of Manila residents – particularly the right of spouses to found a family in accordance with their personal religious convictions.

Lawyer Jo Imbong, executive secretary for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines legal office, said Atienza’s constituents “should actually be thankful to (him) for teaching them authentic health program.”

In a statement, the pro-life groups cited studies showing that although artificial contraceptives are legal, they may also cause adverse effects in women.

“In some cases, birth control pills were proven to be a contributing factor in breast cancer, especially if used for a prolonged period. Progestin, the second artificial hormone in birth control pills, can have serious cardiovascular effects,” they said.

The pro-life groups added that intrauterine devices are suspected to cause ovarian cysts and vaginal infections.

“Lito Atienza was being a man of God when he prevented access to contraceptives in Manila. In my opinion, (he) is just protecting the health of the women and is doing a preventive act in the commitment of other criminal acts like concubinage and adultery,” former Bulacan congressman Willie Villarama said.

Villarama is a member of the board of trustees for the Buhay party-list group.

Atienza, after serving for nine years as Manila mayor, stepped down earlier this year. He was appointed environment and natural resources secretary by President Arroyo last August.

The pro-life groups noted that Atienza formed and personally runs an orphanage called “Home for the Angels,” which became a temporary home for over 200 unwanted babies.

Evangelical Catholics

2007-09-05T07:09:00.000-07:00

PINOY KASI
Evangelical Catholics

By Michael Tan
Inquirer
Last updated 00:55am (Mla time) 09/05/2007

Much has been said about the “crab mentality” in the split within the Couples for Christ (CfC). I wouldn’t throw out this angle, but I worry that the focus on alleged jealousy could become self-defeating, not just for CfC but for the NGO sector in general. Already, I’m getting “You see, I told you so!” feedback from Filipino-Americans who have always been reluctant to support local organizations because they are said to be prone to in-fighting and corruption.

My take here is that we are dealing with two groups that have big differences in the interpretation of what it means to be a Catholic organization. On one hand, we have Tony Meloto and Gawad Kalinga, who have worked, in his own words, on “the Filipino values of integrity, honesty and bayanihan” to mobilize communities around housing, health and livelihood projects. Meloto’s approach has come into conflict with what we can call “evangelical Catholics,” represented by Frank Padilla and his breakaway restoration movement.

Padilla says Gawad Kalinga has moved away from the CfC’s original mission, if not run counter to the Catholic Church’s teachings. One example they’ve been citing is Gawad Kalinga’s acceptance of money from corporations that are in favor of “population control.” Although he didn’t name the corporations, I think Padilla was referring to Pfizer, which is supporting Meloto’s health projects. Pfizer produces the injectable contraceptive, Depo Provera.

Padilla seems especially strident in his opposition to family planning, given the way his group is called: CfC FFFL (Foundation for Family and Life). Meloto has been civil in his response, saying that he subscribes to the Catholic Church’s pro-life teachings, his statements suggesting a wider definition of life to include homeless children and families living in slums.

Defending Catholicism

With the majority of Filipinos claiming to be Catholics, it is important that we understand what’s going on in the Church’s corridors of power, both in the Vatican and in organizations.

I got the term “evangelical Catholicism” from an article in the Aug. 31, 2007 issue of the National Catholic Reporter (NCR), a liberal American Catholic periodical. The article, “The Triumph of Evangelical Catholicism,” was written by Fr. John L. Allen. There was no mention of the Philippines in the article, but I was struck by how the description of evangelical Catholicism resonated with the CfC controversy.

Allen proposes in his article that “beginning with the election of Pope John Paul II in 1978, Catholicism has become a steadily more evangelical Church.” During John Paul’s papacy, the head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith was the ever vigilant and ever orthodox Josef Cardinal Ratzinger. The cardinal is now Pope Benedict XVI.

Allen wrote his article in the light of two events, both occurring within three days in early July. The first was Pope Benedict’s allowing priests to celebrate the Latin Mass without permission of the local bishop. The second was a declaration from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which states that the Church of Christ “subsists in” Catholicism.

These two moves by the Vatican are, for Allen, “robust assertions” of an evangelical impulse, with three major objectives: accenting the authority of the Pope and the bishops, patrolling doctrinal borders and asserting the exclusivity of Catholicism as the way to salvation.

Allen’s term is new, but these evangelical Catholics have been around for many years, reacting mainly against what they see as a dangerous global drift toward secularism, and to what the Pope has called “the dictatorship of relativism.” They worry especially about the latter, which suggests a situational ethics that calls for more understanding of the circumstances which might lead to “sin,” for example when a person steals out of desperate poverty. They also oppose the view that all religions are equally valid, thus the recent insistence on the use of the word “subsists,” which according to Allen, is a way of saying the “true Church of Christ endures” in Catholicism alone.

Evangelical Catholics see doctrinal purity as a response to a secular and pluralistic world. In 1997, Pope John Paul II issued a document, “Ad Tuendam Fidem,” setting penalties for dissent from “definitive teachings.” Such teachings make no claims of divine revelation, but are there by “logical necessity,” meaning they have to remain simply because they have been taught by the Catholic Church over the centuries. Ratzinger at that time cited the ban on women priests, the ban on euthanasia and the immorality of prostitution and fornication as examples where there could be no compromise. Today, we see that absolute stand taken by local evangelical Catholics against contraception.

Evangelical Catholics are still a minority, but are “undeniably dynamic,” according to Allen. To be sure, there are variations, too, in how hard-line they can be. In the United States, an entire town, Ave Maria, is being built as an evangelical Catholic community by Tom Monaghan, who made his fortune on the Domino’s pizza chain. I watched him in a recent CNN interview clarifying that the community would not require that residents be Catholics. He also backed down on a previous plan to forbid the sale of contraceptives in Ave Maria, after he was told such a ban would be illegal.

Witness

There’s more then to this CfC battle than meets the eye. Padilla and his restoration movement is only one of the more recent manifestations of evangelical Catholic energy. Over the past few years they have been vocal in trying to get the government to follow a conservative Catholic line in suppressing family planning efforts.

I admire the way Gawad Kalinga has taken on a social development agenda, and I can only hope Meloto and his followers prove that Catholicism can be advanced, too, by taking up our share of social responsibilities in a pluralistic society.

The socially engaged Catholic is not unique. A strong “humanist Buddhist” movement has emerged in Taiwan and spread throughout Southeast Asia. One group, Tzu Chi, recently moved all the residents of an urban slum area in Jakarta into a housing project they had built, complete with schools -- and a mosque. Like Meloto and Gawad Kalinga, humanist Buddhists have sometimes been criticized as having diluted their religiosity, but they explain that Buddhism has to go beyond prayers.

I couldn’t help thinking, too, of how the Filipino diaspora includes quite a number of Catholic priests sent out as missionaries to all the corners of the world. It would be interesting to see if they pursue a path of aggressive evangelism through preaching and claiming to being the only true religion, or instead choose to bear witness to Christ by serving people and communities.

MDG Music Video (Tayo Tayo Rin)

2007-08-29T14:33:00.001-07:00

Talking about sex and religion is relevant and necessary as we relentlessly advocate in a country such as ours, [claiming to be "80% Catholic"] national and local policies providing universal access to RH care and services; and other Gender and Population Development issues and concerns. All these are part of the so-called MDGs (Millenium Development Goals). However, the recent MDG Midterm Review showed the country lagging behind achieving the said targets.

In lieu thereof, posting the MDG Music Video in this blog for the benefit of RGS trainees and all its other visitors might prove fruitful. =)

The Church and the State

2007-08-26T23:15:00.000-07:00

Encouraging news for RH/PopDev advocates...

Reproductive health bill tries to address Church concerns

By Christian V. Esguerra
Inquirer
Last updated 11:20pm (Mla time) 08/26/2007

MANILA, Philippines--There’s some bad news and good news for the Catholic Church and pro-life advocates.

An administration lawmaker has resurrected a piece of a legislation previously criticized for allegedly trying to control population growth in the country.

Mindful of the dispproving views of the Catholic hierarchy, Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin said her Reproductive Health Care Act, omitted contentious issues that led to the demise of similar bills in the 13th Congress.

Gone was the provision which encouraged couples to stop at two children in exchange for a government scholarship and other benefits, according to the lawmaker.

Garin’s bill made optional sex education and the provision of artificial family planning methods such as the use of pills, intrauterine devices (IUDs), and Depo Provera injectables. Many of these techniques were described as abortifacients by pro-life advocates.

“I hope this (new bill) will now be acceptable to the Church,” Garin told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) in an interview. “We excluded the contentious provisions so there should be no problems.”

Garin, a physician, said her bill was centered on educating the public on reproductive health and allowing couples to choose between natural and artificial family planning methods.

“The point here is to educate people on what method is most suitable for them,” she said.

The information-dissemination approach was not exactly new in the protracted debate between pro-life and pro-choice advocates.

In the government’s previous “Ligtas Buntis” program, the Department of Health went around the country to educate the public on reproductive health. But government health workers were criticized for allegedly selling only the idea of artificial methods.

“That’s because they’re easier to teach than the natural method,” one former health worker told the Inquirer newspaper.

Garin initiated the debate on an effective reproductive health measure by delivering a five-page privilege speech.

“My dear colleagues, I am very much aware of the differing views on reproductive health,” she said. “However, I believe it is the responsibility of Congress to discuss and debate the matter in plenary. Only through a comprehensive and deliberate discussion can we determine the truth, and achieve a consensus on such an urgent matter for our people.”

The lawmaker cited several studies which drew a correlation between poverty and family size, an old formula consistently debunked by the Church and pro-life advocates.

During interpellation, one male lawmaker suggested that Congress do some “preparatory work” to deal with “stumbling blocks” to the new measure. He proposed a series of dialogues with the Catholic Church and President Macapagal-Arroyo to ensure that the bill would be passed this time.

He expressed fears that Ms Arroyo, an avowedly devout Catholic, would eventually succumb to pressure from the Church.

Garin shot down the proposal, maintaining that the House of Representatives was independent from the executive branch.

REBEL WITHOUT A CLUE
Sex, lies and the Catholic Church

By Patricia Evangelista
Inquirer
Last updated 02:35am (Mla time) 08/26/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- There was an old woman of great virtue, she had 26 children and didn’t know what to do. She dressed them and schooled them and fed them their bread, bellowed at them soundly and put them to bed.

In a newspaper article, Christine Herrera reported that Gloria Junio first gave birth at 15 and popped out a bouncing Junio baby little more than once a year. She was, between births, pregnant for the majority of 20 years, alongside some of her daughters. Three children died young, one child after falling off the dinner table. She has forgotten some names, is uncertain who is still living, and now has a grand total of 96 known grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

This year, the country’s population hit the astounding total of 88 million, and is expected to reach 94 million in 2010. Gloria Junio’s story is just one of many. Population estimates from the Philippine Minimum National Social Data show that this country’s population is a population of young people. With an unemployment rate of 7.4 percent, the ballooning birthrate renders null any of the much-trumpeted economic gains claimed by the government. The need to address the issue of overpopulation seems ridiculously obvious.

Just recently, in Olongapo City, councilor John Carlos de los Reyes was disturbed by the Reproductive Health Code’s policy statement, a portion of which reads that “Unmet family planning needs due to shortage of supplies may contribute to the looming surge in the city’s population in the near future.” He claims that “We are poor not because we are many, but because only a few wittingly or unwittingly deprive our kababayan of opportunities to prosper,” as if a few million more mouths to feed will make it easier to spread around “opportunities to prosper.”

In 2003, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines successfully blocked legislation that would have authorized the use of national funds for condoms and other contraceptive supplies. In 2006, the government backed off from its trial run of a sex education program in two areas of Metro Manila. The bishops objected that the introduction of sex education into public schools would encourage teenagers to try premarital sex rather than remain abstinent.

The argument is interesting. A teenager’s choice to have sex is not made because a teacher dangles a condom in front of students and runs down the colorful menu of possible sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Blame it on raging hormones, on television, on the alignment of the stars, or simply on choice. At the risk of excommunication, it has to be said: People do have sex before marriage, and have done so long before MTV and the World Wide Web. They will continue to do so long after this generation goes geriatric. To preach abstinence in a vacuum is not only ineffective, it is irresponsible.

The 2003 National and Demographic and Health Survey shows that the problem revolves around lack of information and access to family planning services. Sex education is not sexy; when done correctly, it is clinical, scientific and brutally honest. It explains what can happen after the wham, bam, and thank you ma’am, and what to do to prevent repercussions if the choice is to be made. Sources also say that nurses in government health clinics in Manila teach that condoms have holes in them, a myth that has also been articulated by Vatican spokesmen.

It would be wonderful if all conversations about birds and bees and what happens when watering pots meet flowers can happen between parents and children. That is rarely the case in a country where most of the parents, themselves poor and without access to correct sex education, cannot reliably transmit information. Information about sex comes from whispered conversations between friends, and it is easier to say yes to the boy who promises eternal love if there is no mention of STDs or condoms. Even with media taking up the responsibility of educating the public, the average Pinoy teenager cannot afford to buy condoms, much less the latest issue of Cosmopolitan.

Studies conducted by the UP Population Institute and the Alan Guttmacher Institute states that 473,400 cases of induced abortion were recorded in 2000. The Department of Health has put complications related to abortion as the fourth leading cause of maternal deaths in the country. Ninety-one percent of the recorded cases are of married women, and it is reasonable to assume that there are thousands more cases of young girls who bleed in dark rooms because of fear and ignorance, and more cases of fetuses found in the college toilets. Perhaps with better education programs, and greater access to contraception, none of these would have been necessary.

A bill (introduced in the 13th Congress) “providing for reproductive health care structures and appropriating funds” still sits in the back burner. According to Rep. Fergenel Biron of the fourth district of Iloilo, many of the representatives who initially supported the bill pulled out in fear of a Catholic backlash.

There are several concessions that must be made by a modern democratic country. Foremost is the right of an individual to choices he believes are beneficial to himself. It is that right that protects a leftist from being tortured because of his ideology, the same right that enshrines the value of the ballot box, and the same right that permits the publication of this column today. For the Catholic Church to claim it is immoral for a gay man to copulate with another is fair, but when the government tosses a homosexual man into jail because of that claim is to violate the principle of pluralism by which the government stands. The same goes for a man’s, or, in most cases, a woman’s, sovereignty over her body—it is her temple, not the Church’s.

That the Church continues to campaign against contraception should not be held against the priests, it is their right. It is the government that must take responsibility for allowing that Catholic lobby to decide against the welfare of the people. At the moment, the DOH has put reproductive health and population issues at “low priority,” while a P180-million budget for artificial family planning is still being delayed.

The saying goes that in a democracy, the voice of the people is the voice of God. Vox Populi, Vox Dei. According to a United Nations survey, in the Philippines, two out of five women who want to use contraceptives don’t have access. The 2006 Family Planning Survey reveals that the unmet needs for contraception remain high, with one in six women wanting but not able to practice family planning. The 2003 National Demographic and Health Survey shows that the problem of overpopulation revolves around lack of information and access to family planning services.

In a situation where the voice from above clashes against the voice of the people, even God has to learn how to compromise.

Church's Gain in Population Policy is Women's Loss

2007-08-15T08:06:00.000-07:00

Jaileen Jimeno, PCIJ

DATU PAGLAS, MAGUINDANAO — Prayers echo from the minaret of a mosque through a vast banana plantation. Owned by a company called La Frutera, the 1,000-hectare land used to be a “killing field.” At the time, men in the area wound up either as members of secessionist groups or in the middle of a “rido” or clan war.

But since 1997, when La Frutera set up shop in this town, men have ditched their guns to help grow the Cavendish bananas the firm exports. Benefiting from the peace that has taken over the land, many of them now own houses, and most of those houses have TV sets. Those among the men who are married also practice family planning.

“Parang tao rin ang saging, pag masyadong marami, maliliit lang ang bunga (Bananas are like people, when there’s too much, the fruits are tiny),” says a farm supervisor, in explaining why they limit the number of “hands” in each plant.

La Frutera runs a family planning-education program for its 2,000 employees, 95 percent of whom are Muslim men. As a result, the community it calls home has become a pocket of hope in Maguindanao, which is one of the country’s poorest provinces and where many girls are still being married off at an early age and giving birth at home. In 2005, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) placed the province’s maternal mortality rate at 300 per 100,000 births.

In Muslim Mindanao, family planning was endorsed by the Assembly of Darul Iftah (Religious Leaders Assembly) on November 23, 2003. The assembly produced a document that said, “Islam has encouraged its people to increase and populate the earth with the proviso that their quality should not be compromised.” Stressing the principle of non-coercion, responsible parenthood, and informed choice, the assembly adopted family planning as a method to birth spacing. It also endorsed all methods of contraception.

Muslims make up five to nine percent of the Philippines’ population of about 88.7 million people, who are all covered by a Constitution that guarantees freedom of faith and the separation of church and state, among other things. But since 2002, Filipinos of all faiths have been subjected to a national family planning policy that pushes only natural methods — a policy that echoes the beliefs espoused by the Roman Catholic Church, which claims some 80 percent of the country’s population as its followers.

The government, of course, stresses that those who want to use artificial contraceptives are free to do so. Health Secretary Francisco Duque says, though, that it is up to local government units to procure such supplies for their constituents. Those who are short on funds “can go to the USAID (US Agency for International Development),” which, he says, has a supply that is “good up to the end of 2008.”

The USAID has been providing contraceptive supplies to the Philippines since the 1970s. But it has been scaling down its donation in recent years; by the end of next year, it will shut down the program completely. A recent study by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that the country needs at least $2 million a year to fund its contraceptives requirement to plug the vacuum the USAID would leave behind.

Cash - Strapped Local Governments

For sure, some local government officials, especially those in the poorest regions, know they need to provide their constituents a good range of family planning methods. But many of them apparently do not have enough resources. Dr. Junice Melgar, head of the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Linangan ng Kababaihan or Likhaan, says that in one forum, a provincial governor complained about the DOH’s lack of support in this arena. The DOH officials present, however, could only repeat Malacañang’s line of giving natural family planning a chance.

This, say observers, has been a tremendous setback for the poorest provinces mostly in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, where the highest “unmet needs” in family planning have been recorded.

Mary Catherine Sumapal, who mans La Frutera’s health clinic, recalls that when Datu Paglas was a killing field, girls would usually be married off by the time they were 13. They would then proceed to have children almost every year. “It was common then to see ‘do-re-mi’ children,” she says.

But now Sumapal says that with the Muslim religious leaders’ edict and La Frutera’s family planning program, which was launched early this year, there is at least a bigger chance for their workers to have planned pregnancies. In fact, the program’s first year supply of contraceptives worth P200,000 is now in the pipeline.

Rose Sira, La Frutera’s personnel department head, says the family planning program will help ensure that each farm worker’s child has health coverage. The company’s health service covers a maximum number of four children per worker. Sira adds, “The workers know that if they just keep on having wives or children, and they get sick, they spend a lot of time away from work, and they lose income.”

In a sense, La Frutera itself is already the most effective family planning tool in the province. As more heads of the family and young people begin to have financial independence, many are reluctant to be weighed in by raising a big family; young people delay marriage in favor of an education and a career.

Nevertheless, Ustadz Abdulwahid Sumaoang still counsels farm workers on family planning, especially the men, who have grown accustomed to a culture of having more than two or three wives, with their number of children often unplanned. He often tells them, “If you are God-fearing, you will plan your family.”

A Muslim professor, Sumaoang has been La Frutera’s values consultant since 2003. He says that he often had to mediate in couples’ fights, mostly because the men did not secure their wives’ permission before getting a second or third wife, as stated in the Holy Qur’an. Some also strayed from the Islamic ideals of choosing “widows and orphans” as second or third wife. “They have forgotten that it is a responsibility, an effort to provide sustenance to a disadvantaged woman,” he says.

Sumaoang says that Muslims also place emphasis on natural family planning. But he says that since this method is not 100-percent foolproof, they have made artificial contraceptives available should couples have the need for it.

La Frutera clinic’s records show that two percent of its clients have chosen natural family planning. The rest rely on artificial methods.

This may well reflect the general attitude toward family planning nationwide. In a Pulse Asia survey conducted just before the May 14 polls, 92 percent of the respondents said it is important to control and plan one’s family. Nearly nine in 10 also said the government should allocate funds for family planning measures other than natural methods.

Ateneo Drops Population Management Course

But advocates of natural family planning have become stronger in recent years, having clinched seats in various levels in government since Gloria Macapagal Arroyo became president. Recently, their influence has been felt even in schools like the Ateneo de Manila University, which is run by the Jesuits, who are considered to be mavericks among the Catholic orders.

This year, the Ateneo would have offered an MBA in Health, with emphasis on strategic population research management. But pro-life and several similarly aligned groups protested, saying that “as a Catholic university, the Ateneo should not be receiving funding support from an organization that openly espouses abortion, population control, and reproductive health.” Ateneo has dropped the course.

Dr. Napoleon Juanillo, program director of Ateneo’s Leadership and Managerial Excellence in Health Systems, says that being a “transplant” from Cornell University, he was surprised at the level of discourse on the issue of population in the country. “It’s pushing us back to the medieval period,” he says. “It is an affront to science, on the rights of women.”

He says the course, which was to receive a $250,000 funding from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, would have elevated the discourse on population management to a “more intelligent, scientific level.” Yet while he expresses disappointment over the scrapping of the course, Juanillo says he takes his hat off to the Catholic Church and pro-life groups like the Alliance for the Family Foundation Inc. (ALFI) for having “a good war tactic.”

ALFI wrote letters to Ateneo officials and demanded that the course be pulled out. Says Juanillo: “They merely did what they had to do, since it is part of their advocacy.”

He admits that the university was unprepared for the negative reaction to the course. In the end, he says, the university was left all alone carrying the flag. He says NGOs should have backed the school, adding, “This is a wake-up call to the RH (reproductive health) groups. They should fight and join the sphere. The NGOs did not do their job.”

That may be because they were busy trying to convince local and national officials to fund family planning measures other than the natural methods. As some NGO workers tell it, they would rather not have a repeat of what happened to Manila under Mayor Joselito ‘Lito’ Atienza, who ended a nine-year run in City Hall just recently and is now the environment secretary.

Atienza banned contraceptives in Manila from 2000 to May 2007. Women interviewed earlier this year by Likhaan, the Reproductive Health, Rights and Ethics Center for Studies and Training (ReproCen), and Center for Reproductive Rights told tales of financial, physical, and emotional difficulties when contraceptives totally disappeared from Manila’s health centers.

Some of the 67 women interviewed for the NGOs’ study said they wanted to have two to three children, but ended up with more than double their ideal number of offspring when contraceptives and ligation at government-funded facilities were banned. All of them belonged to the poorest bracket of society, where a P35 packet of pills is an unbearable monthly burden.

Women, Doctors Tell Tales of Woe

One 32-year-old mother of seven said she had wanted just three children. She wanted to be ligated after her fifth pregnancy. But the public hospital she went to would not perform the procedure, citing Atienza’s Executive Order 003, which was already in effect. In language, that EO pushed for natural family planning, but in practice, it worked against any artificial method.

Then there was a 36-year-old mother of eight who had dreamed of having only two children. She said that she was unable to get her regular supply of pills. She wanted to undergo tubal ligation after her fourth child, but the public hospital near her home no longer offered the service. By then, she said, her family’s daily meals were already consisting of just three sachets of coffee and a few pieces of pandesal for breakfast, rice and soy sauce for lunch, and bread for dinner.

Officials of the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital also observed many high-risk cases among women patients, because of “anemia, too-frequent deliveries, very short spacing, and sometimes no spacing at all,” said the NGOs’ study.

An official at another government hospital told the NGO interviewers that the ban resulted in many unwanted pregnancies, prompting a greater “tendency to have an abortion.” One hospital director, in fact, said that abortion complications, including deaths, were “the second largest cause of admissions in his hospital, and a leading cause (of admission) in most hospitals.”

Other women interviewed post-Atienza told of marital spats, physical and verbal abuse, and being abandoned by their partner because of their refusal to have sex to avoid getting pregnant.

Government health workers agree with those from NGOs that Atienza’s EO 003 should be revoked. But they say that with the national government policy on family planning similar to Atienza’s, a legal victory is unlikely.

Big Population an Economic Plus?

Indeed, Jose Sandejas, President Arroyo’s consultant on family matters, downplays the report by Likhaan and company. “There are studies by people who have an agenda to push,” he says, “so you really have to look at who funded it.”

He adds that there are groups in Manila’s slums promoting natural family planning “and they will be the ones to tell you most men are responsible, even in the slums.” He argues that the urban population growth will go down even without contraception. Urbanization, he says, will leave couples naturally wanting smaller families because of the higher cost of living, as compared to living in the provinces.

Sandejas, however, would rather focus on the positive effects of keeping the population growth robust even though 2006 figures show this may be causing a downtrend in major education indicators like elementary enrolment and survival rate in schools.

“Even if you are not able to educate them as well you would like,” he says, “in the end their capability to quickly learn skills in the health services, in construction, as seamen, is going to save the Philippines.” Sandejas says that even the current generation, “where we have low levels of education, our overseas Filipino workers are saving us at this time.”

It’s a line that could well upset people like medical anthropologist Michael L. Tan, who writes a popular column for the Philippine Daily Inquirer. In a 2003 column on Arroyo’s policies, he observed the president, being an economist, should know better than “arguing that a large population is good for the economy because it means more consumers, more business, even more workers to export.”

“There is just no way government or the private sector can cope with the demands for jobs, housing, health, education and other social services, not with the present rate of population growth,” Tan added. “As for exporting Filipinos as caregivers to the world, I find it terribly immoral that we can think of producing children mainly because we see them as possible exports to bring in dollars later, even as we export their parents today.”

Interestingly, Arroyo’s stance is nowhere near that of Ed Panlilio, a Catholic priest who is the new governor of the president’s home province, Pampanga. According to Panlilio, he will pursue the family planning program already in place at the capitol, and that includes providing artificial contraceptives to those who ask for it.

“As governor and a public official,” he says, “the reality is I cannot impose my Catholic stand on the issue. Otherwise, I will be violating the human rights of my constituents.”

Panlilio says he will ask health workers to offer the whole range of family planning options to couples so they can practice a method based on the dictates of their conscience. He admits this may make him a target of attacks by Catholic hardliners. But he says he is confident Church leaders will understand the position he has taken.

“Nobody should dictate the choices couples should take,” says Panlilio, “not even the Pope, not even the president.”

New face of hope for HIV and AIDS

2007-08-08T08:15:00.000-07:00

By Jocelyn Uy
The Philippine Daily Inquirer

Last updated 07:48am (Mla time) 08/08/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- This man of God found life and love despite a dreaded malady.

South African Reverend Christo Greyling was a hopeful 23-year-old seminarian who was to marry his girlfriend in six months when he tested positive for HIV, a retrovirus that can lead to the deadly acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

It was 1987, and South Africa, which then registered a less than one-percent prevalence of HIV, had yet to acknowledge the creeping epidemic.

Greyling thought he had lost not only Liesl, the love of his life, but also his dream of becoming a pastor who would inspire people with more than the usual songs and sermons.

But 19 years later, he is alive, happily married, and a father of two healthy daughters --Anika and Mia.

He is also the new face of hope for HIV/AIDS victims, who continue to suffer in silence.

“God has an excellent sense of humor. Indeed, I turned out to be a kind of reverend different from [what I wanted to be]. I am an HIV-positive reverend,” said the 43-year-old pastor during a dialogue Tuesday with various government agencies, churches and media groups in Quezon City.

Greyling and his wife are in the country for the four-day launch of an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign of the World Vision Development Foundation-Philippines.

The program taps Philippine churches and faith-based organizations in starting community-based HIV programs to help avert a “hidden and growing” incidence of AIDS and HIV in the country.

Read the rest of the article here.

The Population Question, Again

2007-08-01T11:05:00.000-07:00

By Bishop Teodoro Bacani Jr.
Manila Standard Today/ July 31, 2007

IT is reported that the Philippine population is now nearing the 89 million mark. The very mention of our population numbers triggers thoughts about our “population problem.” This in turn leads our thoughts to the conflicting position of the Church and many concerned people in the business and political world regarding the proper approach and solution to this concern.

For all the talk in the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines about “critical collaboration,” the population question is one area where the CBCP has not been able to, precisely, collaborate critically with the government in approaching, assessing and solving the “problem.” In fact, in this matter, the CBCP and the government have long had an adversarial relationship, dating back to the Marcos times. I am one of those who believe that there can be some kind of collaboration between the CBCP and the government in this matter.

Here, what I want to do is state clearly what is non-negotiable and what is negotiable in the positions taken by the CBCP. Then, I want to suggest how there can be some sort of limited but helpful collaboration between the CBCP and the government.

The non-negotiables: (1) The Church teaches that direct abortion, direct sterilization and direct contraception are wrong in themselves and should not be resorted to. Hence, there is no way that it will say yes to the promotion of these immoral practices. (2) The Church believes that the decision regarding the number of children the couple should have lies with husband and wife themselves. Hence, the Church will object to any coercive type of birth control. (3) The Church considers truthfulness a basic moral consideration in any activity. Hence, the Church cannot accept and propagate deceptive information and will demand that full and truthful information be given regarding birth control methods.

These are the only non-negotiable points regarding the Church’s position on birth control.

It is not the official Catholic position that there is no population problem in our country. It is not the official Catholic position that we should not decelerate our population growth rate. A good Catholic may hold the position that there is a mismatch between our population growth rate and our resources to meet the needs of our growing population. A good Catholic may hold that we should slow down our population growth rate to a manageable level.

Again, while the Church advocates only natural family planning in order to implement a responsible parenthood program, the Church does not reject as immoral any method of birth control that is not directly abortifacient, sterilizing or contraceptive.

So, in what ways can the Church and the government collaborate? Personally, I think it will be a waste of time for the Church and the government to try to come to a consensus that there is indeed a population problem, and that our population growth rate should be curbed. Within the Church itself, that question has not been settled. And I believe that it need not be settled in order to achieve effective collaboration.

But the Church and the government can still collaborate toward improving our economic and social condition as a people. They should agree on promoting responsible parenthood. They should agree to project this message together: “Couples should bring into the world only the children whom they can raise up as good human beings.” There will be no objection from the Church to this message, which expresses part of the meaning of responsible parenthood according to Catholic teaching. If all couples get this message and put it into practice, we will arrive at the optimal population growth rate.

In addition, the government can offer to subsidize (without strings attached) the natural family planning program of the Church. Again, there are no insurmountable obstacles for the Church to receive such assistance for a thoroughly moral natural family planning program.

It will be more difficult to effect collaboration if the Church should be asked to take part in government programs of birth control. Bishops have some reservations about being co-opted and being made a part of a government population control program with morally objectionable components from their point of view.

With such beginnings, the Church and government may later on develop other forms of collaboration beneficial to our people.

Can the Catholic church but insurance for Sex Abuse?

2007-07-16T22:49:00.000-07:00

Insurance for Sex AbuseA policy tailor-made for the Catholic Church.
By Michelle Tsai
Posted Monday, July 16, 2007, at 6:43 PM ET

Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahoney. Click image to expand. Cardinal Roger Mahony
Over the weekend the Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay $660 million to settle lawsuits from hundreds of sex-abuse victims. About $250 million will come out of the diocese bank account; $60 million will come from other religious orders and another $123 million from litigation with orders that chose to sit out the deal. Insurance companies will pay the remaining $227 million. Hold on—can churches buy insurance for sex abuse?

Yes. Like any business, churches, synagogues, and other religious organizations purchase insurance to protect themselves from lawsuits, like discrimination claims or negligence charges against officers. Since the spike in sex-abuse lawsuits in the mid-1980s, churches have also had the option to take out extra liability policies for damages related to sexual misconduct. These policies don't come cheap, and they protect just the institutions, for the most part. Insurers will mount a legal defense for accused individuals, but the support extends only so far: Perpetrators are on their own if they're found guilty or choose to settle out of court.

But insurance companies created these abuse-specific policies only after the lawsuits of the mid-80s forced them to make large payouts. Until then, general liability policies didn't specifically rule out sex abuse, so churches that needed to pay damages argued that insurers should pay. Thus, even though sex-abuse insurance is available today, many of the big payouts actually come from the churches' general policies, since the abuse happened decades ago. (The Los Angeles settlement probably came out of these general policies.)

According to GuideOne, a major insurer for Protestant churches, most of its clients choose $100,000 of coverage for sex abuse. That might cost a small church with one pastor as little as $100 a year. A much larger church that also runs, say, a day-care center, might pay $6,000 to have $1 million in coverage. Religious organizations buying a lot of coverage may need to prove that they're taking precautions to lower the risk of sex abuse. GuideOne, for instance, requires some churches to conduct criminal background checks on employees, to allow volunteers to work with kids only after they've completed six months of service with the church, and to make sure that no child is ever left alone with just one adult. The policy won't cover everything. Insurers may put a limit on how much they will pay in aggregate, or for each case. (Recently, three major Protestant insurers reported that they receive 260 reports of child abuse every year.)

Partly because of rising insurance costs, a small number of churches are foregoing the coverage. More than half of Catholic dioceses buy their insurance from Catholic Mutual, which operates a self-insurance fund for the Catholic Church in North America. No matter who forks over the money for damages, awards today are so large that some dioceses are facing bankruptcy.

Authoritative Meaning as Intentional (by Karol)

2007-07-15T19:50:00.000-07:00

"I don't know what you mean by "glory,"'Alice said.Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. Of course you don't -- till I tell you. I meant there's a nice knock-down argument for you! But "glory" doesn't mean "a nice knock-down argument,Alice objected. When I use a word, Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less. The question is,' said Alice, `whether you CAN make words mean so many different things.'`The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, `which is to be master - - that's all."(Lewis Caroll, Through the Looking Glass)

Poor substitutes-
always imprecise,
clumsy symbols
that serve us well.

What would we be without it,
when in it,
through it and around it,
we make our places,
arrange ourselves and others,
look inward, reach out,
find comfort, give comfort,
divide and unite,
and try to make sense.

Feeble as are our attempts are,
some often get carried away.

Mesmerized by our creation,
what fed imagination
can also end up containing it.

An insidious despot without an army,
with authority to proclaim the rules
utters not to include
but to exclude -
passing it off as tradition,
invoking it an act of inclusion.

RGS Batch Crispina

2007-07-11T22:31:00.000-07:00

The 8th RGS workshop participants, Batch Crispina! Remember who Crispina is? She is one of the girls in the movie Magdalene Sisters that we show during RGS workshops. She's the one who shouted "You're not a son of God..." Ever wonder why this group picked up the name Crispina?

When roles roll and rollick

2007-07-11T22:25:00.000-07:00

A yebrows met en masse at the Vatican City when former British Prime Minister Tony Blair received Holy Communion from Pope Benedict XVI, an indication of his newfound Catholic faith. But more stunning are his plans of applying as a permanent ordained deacon! He discussed this possibility of being an ordained minister with a priest in a neighboring parish in his headquarters in Chequers, Canon Timothy Russ. This revelation would soon be contained in a book written by Garry O' Connor.

So, what we have here is a politician wanting to become an ordained minister and here in the Philippines, we have an ordained minister who is now a governor of a province in the north. The Catholic News of Singapore in its June 24 issue even put the news article about Blair's intentions and Fr. Ed Panlilio's victory next to each other. My good friend Fr. Johnson Fernandez, editor of the said news magazine, must be feeling naughty! In fact, however, it would seem that governor-elect Father Panlilio inspired some popular clerics worldwide that the Archbishop of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, is running for president in 2008 in Paraguay. Despite the strong prohibitions of the Vatican, Bishop Lugo's ears are glued wide open to the popular call of the Paraguayans. Again, the saga of former Salesian priest, Jean Paul Aristide who became president of Haiti, would soon repeat itself in history.

Worth emulating, however, with the good priest is what every winning or losing politician should do — that is to reconcile with his political opponents. Father Panlilio had been doing unity visits and talks with his Vice Gov. Joseller Guiao, vice gubernatorial candidate of losing aspirant Lilia Pineda, with Lubao Mayor Dennis Pineda and Sta. Rita Mayor Yolanda Pineda of the Pineda clan in Pampanga. And last Thursday, Among Ed was lunching with his kabalen, Mrs. Gloria Arroyo. Father Panlilio must be feeling too much weight already bringing around his bullet vest. It's time to take it off.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is coming up with guidelines on the proper attire inside the church especially during liturgical celebrations. Of course, initially, some Catholics are howling over some "drastic" measures such as the banning of blue jeans and pants for women. As we were discussing its merits and demerits in one night out we had, a feisty middle-aged lady blurted out, "How about you priests leading the pack….how about wearing your black polo with clerical collars and that white thing on it or just wearing your cassocks all the time." And oh boy, she was gazing at my collarless black and red printed shirt! She had a mouthful but she was right. Somebody has to roll the ball.

Then there is that news from the Vatican that efforts should be made by all parishes to celebrate at least once a week a Latin Mass! If the authors of this decree think that this would be an airtight solution to the exodus of many Catholics to other Christian evangelical groups, then not only a second but a deeper thought should be employed by these church strategists because definitely it wouldn't work. But if conservative liturgists would insist on a Puritanistic recoil of a church perceived to have gone too liberal and ultra-modern, then again, some deeper thought is in order. The universality of the church should not be compromised by such moves from the hierarchy such as discriminatory impositions like impractical dress codes and Masses said in a dead language. Are we retracing the medieval times when the poor and un-attired are relegated to the back pews or even outside the church doors, while the nobles in their proper royal attires are singing the Kyrie Eleison in Gregorian chants, while the marginalized are mumbling their own personal prayers and intentions. The church has gained much in its ecumenical efforts to adopt and relate not only to its faithful members but also to its counterparts in the world of religion, these conservative outlooks and discriminatory impositions may just antagonize the efforts of greater unity in the church.

Source: http://www.tribune.net.ph/commentary/20070701com3.html

Alienating the Faithful?

2007-07-08T17:46:00.000-07:00

Pope approves wider use of old Latin Mass

Inquirer
Last updated 06:27am (Mla time) 07/09/2007

VATICAN CITY -- In a major gesture to traditional, conservative Roman Catholics, Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday authorized the wider use of the old Latin Mass, dismissing fears that its revival could divide the Church or dilute the reforms of the Second Vatican Council that made standard worship in the languages of Catholics around the world.

Benedict stressed that he was not negating Vatican II by removing restrictions on celebrating the old rite, known as the Tridentine Mass. In it, the priest faces away from the congregation and prays, sometimes in a whisper, in Latin, a language unfamiliar to most of the world’s one billion Roman Catholics.

The Pope’s decision nevertheless overruled the objections of liberal-minded Catholics and angered Jews because the Tridentine rite contains a prayer for their conversion.

Benedict issued a document authorizing parish priests to celebrate the Tridentine Mass if a “stable group of faithful” requests it. Currently, the local bishop must approve such requests -- an obstacle that supporters of the rite say has greatly limited its availability.

But the Pope said that the change could both heal rifts with traditionalist groups that favor the Latin Mass as well as reconnect the Church with a 1,500-year-old form of worship that faded since the Second Vatican Council, which ended in 1965.

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us, too, and it cannot be, all of a sudden, entirely forbidden or even considered harmful,” he wrote.

Reaching out

In reviving the rite, Benedict was reaching out to the followers of an excommunicated ultratraditionalist, the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who split with the Vatican over Vatican II, particularly the introduction of the New Mass celebrated in the vernacular.

The Vatican excommunicated Lefebvre in 1988 after he consecrated four bishops without Rome’s consent. The bishops were excommunicated as well.

Benedict has been eager to reconcile with Lefebvre’s group, the Society of St. Pius X, which has demanded freer use of the old Mass as a precondition for normalizing relations. The group’s other precondition is the removal of the excommunication decrees.

The current head of the society, Bishop Bernard Fellay, welcomed Benedict’s document in a statement. He said he hoped “that the favorable climate established by the new dispositions of the Holy See” would eventually allow other doctrinal disputes that emerged from Vatican II to be discussed, including ecumenism, religious liberty and the sharing of power with bishops.

Benedict has made no secret of his affinity for the Tridentine rite and has long said the faithful should have greater access to it.

But more liberal Catholics have suggested that in liberalizing the use of a rite that symbolized the pre-Vatican II Church, Benedict was sending a strong message that Vatican II was not the “break from the past” that some view it as being.

Benedict’s document also angered Jews, since the Tridentine rite contains a prayer on Good Friday of Easter Week calling for the conversion of Jews. The Anti-Defamation League called the move a “body blow to Catholic-Jewish relations,” the Jewish news agency JTA reported.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center urged Benedict to publicly point out that such phrases “are now entirely contrary to the teaching of the Church.”

In addition to Jewish concerns, bishops in France and liberal-minded clergy and faithful elsewhere had expressed concerns that allowing freer use of the Tridentine liturgy would imply a negation of Vatican II and create divisions in parishes since two different liturgies would be celebrated.

In gentle but firm language, the Pope acknowledged in an accompanying letter to bishops the depth of opposition to the change, voiced in recent months by European bishops and Jewish groups.

“This fear is unfounded,” he said even as he proposed, in fact, a review after three years to determine “if truly serious difficulties come to light.”

Benedict said the New Mass remained the “normal” form of Mass while the Tridentine version was an “extraordinary” one that would probably only be sought by a few Catholics.

The document “doesn’t impose any return to the past, it doesn’t mean any weakening of the authority of the council nor the authority and responsibility of bishops,” Vatican spokesperson Rev. Federico Lombardi said.

Divisions seen

But Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, the head of the French Episcopal Conference, warned that the move would create divisions.

“There will be resistance from both sides,” to the new decision, Ricard told Le Monde. “For some, asking for a Mass in Latin will seem like a standard aimed at testing the priests’ loyalty to the Pope,” Ricard warned.

The liberal lay Church group, We Are Church, said that the move represented a step back from Vatican II and could set an even more conservative direction for the Church. It warned of a “new split within many parishes, diocese and finally the entire Roman Catholic Church.”

“It is to be feared that while it appears to only be about the old Mass, in reality it is an attempt to set the Catholic Church on a new old course,” the group said.

Ricard said the move did not mean the entire Church was becoming more fundamentalist.

“Just because you have in a family a cousin who is a bit different, whom you tolerate and accept, doesn’t mean that the whole family adopts his positions or his way of life,” he said. Reports from Associated Press and New York Times News Service

2007 AIDS Candlelight in the Philippines

2007-05-31T00:58:00.000-07:00

The Philippines held its 24th International AIDS Candlelight Memorial (IACM) last Friday, 25 May, 6:00-9:00 pm, at the Unibersidad de Manila, City of Manila.

The IACM is one of the largest and oldest grassroots mobilization campaigns for AIDS awareness in the world. It occurs every year in May and is meant to remember those who have died of AIDS and honour all those who have been affected by it. It is likewise an opportunity to raise community awareness towards decreasing stigma and discrimination related to AIDS, educate people about AIDS, create community dialogues and influence policy makers about prevention, treatment care and support.

This year's commemoration, under the global theme of "Leading the Way to a World Without AIDS", were jointly organized by the Department of Health - NCR, radio station DZMM and the Girls, Women and HIV/AIDS Network (GWHAN).

The program:
I. Invocation - Lunduyan Foundation
II. Welcome remarks - Mayor Lito Atienza (Representative)
III. Acknowledgment of participants and guests - Masters of Ceremony (from DWRR)
IV. Key Message - Sec. Francisco Duque (Representative)
V. Lotus Ceremony (ceremonial unfolding of the AIDS memorial quilts) - Pinoy Plus Association
VI. Inspirational Songs while forming human red ribbon - Arnie and Jeffrey Hidalgo (ABS-CBN artist)
VII. Lighting of candles - Sec. Duque's Representative with affected family member
VIII. Offering of flowers of love - Sec. Duque's Representative with affected family member
IX. Prayer - Parish Priest of Quiapo Church
X. Message from person living with HIV - representative from Babae Plus
XI. Releasing of white balloons - Sec. Duque's Representative

Snapshots:

:

Young Brazilian Catholics disagree with Vatican views on sex

2007-05-06T20:01:00.000-07:00

Source: Agence France-Presse
Last updated 08:24am (Mla time) 05/06/2007

BRASILIA--When Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Brazil this week, he will visit a major Roman Catholic country whose young believers disagree with the Vatican's views on condoms and pre-marital sex, a poll showed Saturday.

While 96 percent of young Catholics back the use of condoms to prevent pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases, only three percent oppose it, according to the Ibope Institute survey.

Read more here.

Catholic church decides limbo does not exist

2007-04-22T21:38:00.000-07:00

In a long-awaited document, the Church’s International Theological Commission said limbo reflected an “unduly restrictive view of salvation,” according to the US-based Catholic News Service, which obtained a copy yesterday.

The thumbs-down verdict on limbo had been expected for years and the document, called “The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptised,” was seen as most likely to be final since limbo was never formally part of Church doctrine.

Pope Benedict XVI authorised the publication of the document.

According to the CNS report, the 41-page document says the theologians advising the Pope concluded that since God is merciful he “wants all human beings to be saved.”

It says grace has priority over sin, and the exclusion of innocent babies from heaven does not seem to reflect Christ’s special love for children, CNS, which is owned by the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference, quoted the document as saying.

Limbo, which comes from the Latin word meaning ‘border’ or ‘edge’, was considered by medieval theologians to be a place reserved for the unbaptised dead, including good people who lived before the coming of Christ.

“Our conclusion is that the many factors that we have considered give serious theological and liturgical grounds for hope that unbaptised infants who die will be saved and enjoy the beatific vision (of God),” the document said.

The Church teaches that baptism removes original sin which stained all souls since the fall from grace in the Garden of Eden.

Source: http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2007/04/21/story30943.asp

Point to Ponder

2007-04-07T05:25:00.000-07:00

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness. -- Dalai Lama

Happy Easter RGS people!!!

JUST A LITTLE KINDNESS…

2007-03-20T19:33:00.000-07:00

Is anybody happier because you passed his way?
Does anyone remember that you spoke to him today?
This day is almost over and its toiling time is through;
Is there anyone to utter now a friendly word for you?

Can you say tonight in passing with the day that slipped so fast,
that you helped a single person, of the many that you passed?
Is a single heart rejoicing over what you did or said?
Does one whose hopes were fading,

Now with courage look ahead?
Did you waste the day or lose it? Was it well or poorly spent?
Did you leave a trail of kindness or a scar of discontent?
Acts of love and kindness never die.

But in the lives of others multiply!
There are many people around you who are lonely and longing for love
And just waiting for you to make the first move!

(Thoughts on kindness. The poems/sayings were from a powerpoint presentationprepared in honor of Francesco Moldavian, a Romanian missionary who has passedaway.)

Catholic Voices

2007-02-28T01:57:00.000-08:00

One very warm February afternoon which according to Pag-Asa, registered at an all time high of 36 degrees, and just a week after Valentine’s Day, the Balay Kalinaw, a Vigan inspired house built to better catch a breeze in warm climes, could barely offer a cool refuge to the gathering crowd of eager listeners.

Yet people were lining up to listen to three people speak about timely (and timeless) topics Puso, Puson at Pananampalataya, (literally Heart, Navel and Worship/Faith).

Danton Remoto, a well known Jesuit educated literary figure and an outspoken gay man, Dr. Margarita Holmes, perhaps the most popular and beloved straight talking psychiatrist and sex therapist in the country, and Sr. Helen Graham, a Mary Knoll Roan Catholic nun and unlikely yet familiar face on Debate, faced an audience of over fifty people that somehow fit into a small function room which was expected to accommodate a maximum of thirty.

Yet if it wasn’t the topic that titillated, more probable was the fact that these three speakers already have between them, a sizeable following. Despite the relatively short notice of the forum, people braved the heat and word spread about the forum.

Read more about the discussions in the forum...

Puso, Puson, at Pananampalataya

2007-02-07T01:41:00.001-08:00

A forum on religion, reproductive health, sexuality and spirituality entitled, “Puso, Puson, at Pananampalataya will be held on February 19, 2007, (a Monday), from 1:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Balay Kalinaw (Seminar Room B), UP Diliman, Quezon City.

Dr. Margarita Holmes and Mr. Danton Remoto will be present at the forum to discuss and share with us their insights on the topic.

This forum is a collaborative project of the Leadership Development Program for Mobilizing Reproductive Health (LDM), Health Action Information Network (HAIN), PLCPD, WomenLead and HASIK with funding from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

Should you be interested to attend, please confirm your attendance to Ms. Bicbic Chua (LDM) at 3764432 or 09217772927 or Ms. Tere Godito (HAIN) at 952-6312, 9526409.

A guide to working with faith-based organisations in the response to HIV and AIDS

2007-01-30T18:08:00.000-08:00

Scaling up effective partnerships: A guide to working with faith-based organisations in the response to HIV and AIDS.

The resource is intended to provide background information and case studies, counteract myths, and give practical guidance to people who want to collaborate with faith-based organisations on joint projects related to HIV and AIDS.

The guide reviews the relevant teachings and structures of five of the major world religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Examples of current responses, potential obstacles, terminology and case studies are intended to give practical advice for initiating or expanding collaboration at local and national levels.The need for the guide was highlighted in a number of workshops and studies over the past two years that identified lack of information and misinformation as major factors inhibiting scaling up existing faith-based projects and developing joint initiatives.

The guide has been produced by Church World Service, Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, Norwegian Church Aid, UNAIDS, and World Conference of Religions for Peace.

To download or order, click the link below:
http://www.e-alliance.ch/hiv_faith_guide.jsp#download
http://www.e-alliance.ch/hiv_faith_guide.jsp#order

NFP, Informed Choice and Women's Rights: Dreaming about a Filipino Women's Vote

2007-01-18T00:25:00.000-08:00

Natural Family Planning is safe and if done properly, can be effective. But the method isn't for everyone, just as the pill is not the choice of all women (although the National Health Demographic Survey of 2003 still reflects it is THE most popular modern method). Condom use in the age of HIV AIDS and STDs should be more common but in the Philippines, condom use is one of the lowest in the world.

Last December, at the National Population Congress, the Department of Health and POPCOM dropped what is actually a bombshell: They launched a movement to promote NFP and are devoting more efforts to NFP to the exclusion of other methods, instead of giving Filipinos the benefit of making their own informed choices.

Read more....

Severe pandemics’ a challenge for Asean leaders, says UNAIDS

2007-01-15T19:20:00.000-08:00

The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) yesterday agreed to intensify the campaign against HIV-AIDS during a special session at the Shangri-la's Mactan Resort and Spa.

Dr. Peter Piot, UNAIDS executive director and United Nations undersecretary general, reported before the leaders that in Asia, "the most severe epidemics are in the Asean region" with over 1.5 million people living with HIV.

"The most worrying fact for Asean countries is that Aids affects the most productive sections of your population - the workforce which is the powerhouse of economic development of the region," Piot said. Based on the 2005 yearend figures from Global Report, Thailand has the most number of people, at 580,000, living with HIV among the Asean nations.

Myanmar follows, with 360,000. Third is Vietnam with 260,000.

Aids is among the leading cause of premature deaths among people 25 years old and younger. "At this time of great opportunity, with over 99 percent of Asean's people still uninfected, you can set an example of hope for the world by putting in place a response that halts the epidemic not just for the short term, but for the long term future as well, so that there is no resurgence in the epidemic," Piot said.

The Asean countries must increase their collaboration efforts to prevent the spread of the disease through increased awareness and education.

The leaders also agreed more funds are needed for a full-scale campaign and treatment. The Asean is increasingly vulnerable to Aids because of its growing attraction as a worldwide travel destination.

The leaders emphasized the need for people in the region to share experience and knowledge about the disease and its prevention.

Yesterday was the second Asean special session on HIV-AIDS. The first was held in Brunei in 2001.
Today, leaders of 16 nations from South Korea to Singapore are expected to agree to boost Asia's energy efficiency and combat climate change by seeking new fuel sources, particularly biofuels.

The Cebu Goals on East Asian Energy Security is to be signed tomorrow by the heads of government at the East Asia Summit, which brings together the 10-member Asean and their six dialogue partners - Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

he plan aims to help countries reduce their dependence on conventional fuels through intensified energy efficiency programs, expansion of renewable energy systems and biofuel production and utilization, according to a draft copy of the agreement obtained by The Associated Press. The accord does not say what types of biofuels might be emphasized and does not give specific details of the kinds of energy efficiency programs being considered.

But some ASEAN countries such as Malaysia have started working to commercially produce alternative fuels such as biodiesel, comprising mainly palm oil, and ethanol made from the sap of nipah trees. The blueprint provides no timeframe for these goals, which underscore increasing efforts by Asean in recent years to enhanceenergy cooperation and alleviate the impact of high oil prices.

The energy security agreement also encourages countries to explore possible modes of fuel stockpiling through regional arrangements, and urges oil-rich nations to channel petroleum profits toward equity investments and low-interest loan facilities for other developing countries.

Asean comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. (MBG/With AP)

Happy HolidAzE! :-P

2006-12-24T22:22:00.000-08:00

http://www.geocities.com/karolruiza/karolxmas.gif
http://www.geocities.com/karolruiza/kraolxmas.gif" border="0" alt="" />

RH and FP through Religious Orgs

2006-12-13T05:46:00.000-08:00

Pathfinder International is pleased to announce the publication of Advancing Reproductive Health and Family Planning through Religious Leaders and Faith-Based Organizations.

This report describes how Pathfinder has engaged the support of religious leaders through training and sensitization, to spread knowledge and acceptance of family planning.

Download here...
http://phishare.org/files/4374_FBO_final.pdf

Voices on the Church's Condom Policy

2006-12-11T06:54:00.000-08:00

PRO-CHURCH POLICY

"The truth is not in condoms or clean needles. These are lies, lies perpetrated often for political reasons on the part of public officials…by some health care professionals who believe they have nothing else to offer persons with AIDS…lies told by often well-meaning counselors."
Cardinal John O'Connor, accusing health care professionals of dishonesty in promoting condoms ["Pope Condemns Bias Against Victims of AIDS," Washington Post, November 16, 1989].

"Every condom sold sends the buyer to acquire the AIDS virus."
Fr. Gerald Magera Iga, in a campaign urging condom sellers in Uganda to burn up their stocks [Comtex newswire, January 25, 1999].

"Parents must reject the promotion of so-called 'safe sex' or 'safer sex,' a dangerous and immoral policy based on the deluded theory that the condom can provide adequate protection against AIDS."
Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo and Bishop Elio Sgreccia of the Pontifical Council for the Family ["The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality," Origins, February 1, 1996].

"Using a condom to protect oneself against HIV amounts to playing Russian roulette."
Fr. Jacques Suaudeau, of the Vatican Council for the Family, in the Catholic journal Medicina e Morale [Our Sunday Visitor, Nov. 2, 1997].

"Use of this product is harmful to health."
Condom warning label suggested by Mexico City Archbishop Norberto Rivera Carrera [La Jornada (Mexico), August 29, 1997].

"[W]idespread and indiscriminate promotion of condoms [is] an immoral and misguided weapon in our battle against HIV-AIDS. …[C]ondoms may even be one of the main reasons for the spread of HIV-AIDS."

From the text of a statement issued by the bishops of South Africa following their semiannual meeting, where they considered a change in their official condoms policy in response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic [Karen DeYoung, "AIDS challenges religious leaders,"
Washington Post, August 13, 2001].

CON-CHURCH POLICY

"When priests preach against using contraception, they are committing a serious mistake which is costing human lives. We do not ask the church to promote contraception, but merely to stop banning its use."
UNAIDS Director Peter Piot, shortly after the recent United Nations' AIDS meeting ["Church's stand against contraception costs lives," Agence France Presse, June 29, 2001].

"Death control is the issue, not birth control. The African bishops should speak this truth not to save the soul of Catholicism, nor to redeem a generation of lost Catholics—although they would—but simply to save the lives of the people with whom they have been entrusted by God."
Novelist and former Catholic priest James Carroll ["Dismantling the Church's Structure of Death," Boston Globe, July 24, 2001].

"I challenge the Vatican to redefine its attitude to condoms. The current Roman Catholic theology is one that favors death rather than life."
Gunnar Staalseth, a member of the Nobel Peace Prize committee and a bishop in Norway's Lutheran church, following a meeting with Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations ["Nobel committee member criticizes pope over AIDS," Reuters, August 21, 2001].

"The Catholic church ... opposes contraception but most Catholics in the world use it, so the Catholic church is stuck and wrong on these questions. But lots and lots of Catholics ignore the Catholic church's teaching, including lots of good priests and nuns who are in favor of condoms being made available."
Claire Short, the UK's minister for international development, speaking about the church being a "burden" in the effort against AIDS in Africa [Sue McGregor, "HIV/AIDS-Claire Short interview," BBC News, July 17, 2000].

"The current Roman Catholic theology is one that favors death rather than life. [The Vatican's] 'better-dead-than-condomed' position has not been blessed by any of the world's religions or by common sense. It is flat-earth embarrassing."
Theologian Daniel C. Maguire on the Vatican's opposition to the use of condoms in HIV/AIDS prevention programs ["Vaticanology," Religious Consultation Report, November 2000].

"The "changeless doctrine" keeps coming back in many absurd ways. For instance, the danger of AIDS cannot be averted by using condoms…even by a married couple when one has AIDS.... The condom is more evil than death by AIDS."
Gary Wills [Papal Sin: Structures of Deceit. New York: Doubleday, 2000].

"If a husband violates his marital vows and sleeps with other women, he must make sure that he does not transmit the virus to his wife, else he would be violating the principle of justice. This is where the principle of 'lesser evil' comes in."
American Jesuit theologian Fr. James Keenan, addressing a media forum in the Philippines ["Catholic theologian endorses condom use to prevent transmission of HIV," The Advocate, August 10, 2001].

"Many competent doctors state that a viable condom is today the sole means of prevention. In this respect, it is necessary. The condom is thus understandable for cases in which a person who already engages in sexual activity needs to avoid a serious risk, just as we insist that this is not a substitute for an adult sexual education."
AIDS statement from the French Conference of Catholic Bishops ["French Catholic Bishops Stray from Teaching on Condoms," Catholic World Report, February 12, 1996].

"The use of a condom can be seen not as a means to prevent the 'transmission of life' leading to pregnancy, but rather as a means to prevent the 'transmission of death' to another."
Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg, South Africa, on the need to change the church's policy on condoms in the fact of the AIDS epidemic ["Condoms for Catholics?" Newsweek, July 20, 2001].

Palipat-lipat, Pasalin-salin - A Musical on AIDS

2006-12-11T04:27:00.000-08:00

Kilalanin natin si Nerissa, OFW at HIV Positive

Kinayang iwan ang pang-aabuso ng asawa, ngunit hindi kinayang mag-
ungkat sa nakaraan ng kanyang karelasyong seaman. Nagbabala ang
bestfriend na si Demetrio na mang-ingat sa sakit at gumamit ng
proteksyon. Ngunit mas nangibabaw ang mga pangako ng seaman ng
maalwang bukas.

Nahulog ang loob ni Nerissa.
Naging HIV-Positive sya.

Inilahad ang kanyang kalagayan sa kanyang anak at mga kaibigan, at
muling nabigyan ng pag-asa.

Nagpapahiwatig ang Paglipat-Lipat Pasalin-Salin na huwag mag-
atubiling i-prioridad ang pagpapahalaga sa dignidad at sa sariling
kalusugan at kapakanan.

Sundan natin ang paglalakbay ni Nerissa
At sabay-sabay tayong
Matuwa't malungkot,
Masaktan at maghilom.

"Isang pamilya tayo, sa pakikipaglabang ito!
Kung sugat mo ay sugat ko, sa tuwa rin magsasalo!"
=================================================

Ang Palipat-lipat, Pasalin-salin ay isang Musical na lilibot sa
pitong syudad na pinondohan ng UNICEF at Panibagong Paraan/WorldBank.
Ito ay mapapanood sa Dec. 16, 3:00 ng hapon sa UP Film Center.

Ito ay isa lamang sa mga proyekto ng CREATIVE COLLECTIVE CENTER, INC.
Tumawag sa CCCI: Tel . 925 8066/ 0919- 647 7777 para sa iba pang
impormasyon.

Light a candle and get a dollar for AIDS!

2006-12-01T17:56:00.000-08:00

In remembrance of World AIDS Day on December 1st, Bristol-Myers Squibb is donating a dollar to AIDS research every time someone goes to their website and moves the match to the candle and lights it. Please forward this to your friends to spread the word.

Visit: https://www.lighttounite.org

Check this out!

2006-12-01T06:40:00.000-08:00

25 Day Campaign Against VAW with a touch of tech!

Pope Benedict XVI on World AIDS Campaign 2006

2006-11-27T16:13:00.000-08:00

Pope Benedict XVI included the following reflection in observance of World AIDS Day within his general message at the Angelus Prayer and Blessing given in St. Peter's Square today, 26 November 2006 - the original is in Italian; I have supplied an unofficial English translation and will forward the official translation as soon as it is available:

"Ricorre il 1° dicembre prossimo la Giornata Mondiale contro l’AIDS. Auspico
vivamente che tale circostanza favorisca un’accresciuta responsabilità nella
cura della malattia, insieme all’impegno di evitare ogni discriminazione nei
confronti di quanti ne sono colpiti. Mentre invoco sui malati e sulle loro
famiglie il conforto del Signore, incoraggio le molteplici iniziative che la
Chiesa sostiene in tale campo. "

On this coming 01 December, World AIDS Day will once again be observed. I hope that this observance will promote increased responsibility for treating this disease, together with a commitment to avoid any discrimination toward those who are living with the disease. I also invoke the Lord's comfort on the sick and on their families, and I encourage the many
initiatives that the Church sponsors in this field. (Unofficial translation by Rev. R. Vitillo - official translation not yet available as of 26 November 2006)

Rev. Robert J. Vitillo
Special Advisor on HIV and AIDS
Caritas Internationalis
Centre Catholique International
Rue de Varembe 1
Case Postale 43
CH-1211 Geneva 20
SWITZERLAND
Tel. +41 22 734 4604 (office)
Tel. +41 79 811 7983 (mobile)
Fax +41 22 734 4006 (fax)
e-mail: bobvitillo@cs.com

Bishop Bloggers of the Philippines

2006-11-23T05:08:00.000-08:00

Viewpoints - By Archbishop Oscar Cruz, Archidiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan

Reflections - By Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, President, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines

Dialogues - By Archbishop Fernando Capalla, Archdiocese of Davao

Pastoral Companion - By Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro

Perspectives - By Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, Archdiocese of Cotabato

The Meaning - By Bishop Jose Manguiran, Diocese of Dipolog

Tidbits - By Bishop Leonardo Medroso, Diocese of Borongan

Manila Standard By Bishop Teodoro Bacani writes a column for a national daily.

I got this list from Global Voices.

DSWP: Empowering battered women

2006-11-22T19:02:00.000-08:00

Every day after work, Bing leaves the office with a heavy heart, hating every step that brings her closer to home. She's eager to be with her children, but at the same time dreads seeing her husband. And his mistress, whom he has brought home to live with them.

Enduring the presence of the other woman is not the most painful part for Bing, 42. What breaks her heart is seeing how the situation affects her children.

Bing has been suffering from abuse from her husband. But no matter how many times she's been physically, verbally and emotionally abused, she can't leave. Even if she's been made into a punching bag a number of times, her injuries sometimes serious enough to land her in hospital, she stays. She helped pay for the townhouse, and her salary, if they left, won't be enough to pay the rent and support her four children, three of whom are in high school. Her husband should leave, not them. So she waits. But he won't budge.

Read more...

Global Orgasm Day on December 22, 2006

2006-11-22T00:34:00.000-08:00

GlobalOrgasm.org Mission Statement

The mission of the Global Orgasm is to effect change in the energy field of the Earth through input of the largest possible surge of human energy. Now that there are two more US fleets heading for the Persian Gulf with anti- submarine equipment that can only be for use against Iran, the time to change Earth’s energy is NOW!

The intent is that the participants concentrate any thoughts during and after orgasm on peace. The combination of high- energy orgasmic energy combined with mindful intention may have a much greater effect than previous mass meditations and prayers.

Read more here.

Four Gods

2006-11-15T18:27:00.000-08:00

Most political commentaries on the recent elections in the United States focused on the victory of the liberal Democrats over the conservative Republicans. But my American friends, most of whom are, well, liberals and Democrats, have been pointing out that you can be a conservative Democrat (which many of the winners were) as well as a (sort of) liberal Republican. Which is why I thought readers might be interested in the results of a recent survey by Baylor University in Texas, where an Institute of Religion has been conducting public opinion surveys for several years now.

Baylor, incidentally, is a Baptist university. The latest survey, released in September, focused on American concepts of God, which the social scientists found to relate to political views as well.

Let's get a big picture first of the four concepts of God that came up in the surveys. As we run through the concepts, you might want to think of your own notions of God.

The researchers found that 31 percent of their respondents see God as an Authoritarian God, who influences global as well as personal events and is often angry. Not surprisingly, these are the ones who also tend to believe in the death penalty, who support the war in Iraq.

By Dr. Michael L. Tan. Published on Page A15 of the November 15, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer Read more...

Millenium Development Goals 2015

2006-11-08T05:19:00.000-08:00

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight (8) goals to be achieved by 2015 that respond to the world's main development challenges. The MDGs are drawn from the actions and targets contained in the Millennium Declaration that was adopted by 189 nations-and signed by 147 heads of state and governments (including the Philippines) during the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000.

The 8 MDGs break down into 18 quantifiable targets that are measured by 48 indicators. Click here for a full list of Goals, Targets and Indicators
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

Read more at RH Media Alliance Blog.

(Thanks to Kabandanang Russ)

Roman Inquisition

2006-11-06T17:36:00.000-08:00

For a thousand years the Catholic Church has been a refuge for gay men. Now Pope Benedict hopes to "purify" his priesthood.

JoAnn Wypijewski
November/December 2005 Issue

Unlike some Catholics of a certain age, who moan that the sex abuse scandal that burst onto the front pages almost four years ago shattered their faith in the presumed purity of priests, I didn't grow up with the notion of priests as saints. Those in my acquaintance ate too much, smoked like stacks, bet on horses, and earned our allegiance, or didn't, by the quality of their hearts. Saints, in any case, were dead, and I was vaguely aware of my own childish hubris in aspiring to be one. It was much later that I realized many of the saints weren't even saints, in the colloquial sense of the word.

Read more here.

Posted by Karol

For this priest, sex ‘a good thing,’ Church made it ‘bad’

2006-11-02T02:30:00.000-08:00

By Vincent Cabreza
Inquirer
Last updated 07:04am (Mla time) 10/25/2006

Published on page A4 of the October 23, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

BAGUIO CITY -- There are a handful of Catholic priests in the Philippines who will tell you sex is a “good thing.” A few will even admit it’s the Church’s fault for making sex “a bad thing.”

Teachers and pastors here met one of these outspoken priests last week during a training retreat sponsored by the Institute of Women’s Studies that was devoted to gender sensitivity.

Read more here.

Shared by:
Russel Aleta, PNGOC
RGS Kabandana Batch

Making HIV Prevention Work -- TAC magazine 'Equal Treatment'

2006-11-01T04:18:00.000-08:00

In recent years many treatment activists and organizations have been speaking up about the need to accelerate and scale up HIV prevention efforts alongside treatment scale up. Attached is a link to the November newsletter of the Treatment Action Campaign "Equal Treatment" which focuses on HIV prevention. This newsletter is a good example of an advocacy tool that can be produced at relatively low cost, is context - specific, and simple, clear and direct in its messaging.

http://www.tac.org.za/documents/et21.pdf

This newsletter is very well produced and forcefully presents the arguments for scaling up HIV prevention programmes and what needs to be done within the South African context. It presents the key issues in a simple but engaging manner. The newsletter has put forward a human face to HIV prevention efforts with clear evidence and data.

Please feel free to use this publication as appropriate in your advocacy efforts. We would also welcome your suggestions on how we can produce similar publications and encourage country level efforts of this nature.

With best wishes

Purnima Mane
Director, Policy Evidence and Partnerships
UNAIDS

Where Faith Abides, Employees Have Few Rights

2006-10-12T00:26:00.000-07:00

By DIANA B. HENRIQUES
October 9, 2006, New York Times

J. Jeffrey Heck, a lawyer in Mansfield, Ohio, usually sits on management’s side of the table. “The only employee cases I take are those that poke my buttons,” he said. “And this one really did.”

His client was a middle-aged novice training to become a nun in a Roman Catholic religious order in Toledo. She said she had been dismissed by the order after she became seriously ill — including a diagnosis of breast cancer.

In her complaint, the novice, Mary Rosati, said she had visited her doctor with her immediate supervisor and the mother superior. After the doctor explained her treatment options for breast cancer, the complaint continued, the mother superior announced: “We will have to let her go. I don’t think we can take care of her.”

Read more here.

Crimen Sollicitationis

2006-10-08T18:47:00.000-07:00

VATICAN CITY, Oct 2 (Reuters) - The Vatican on Monday threw its full support behind British bishops who attacked a BBC documentary alleging there had been a cover-up of child sexual abuse under a system Pope Benedict enforced in his previous job.Roman Catholic bishops from England and Wales condemned the documentary, which was aired on Sunday night, as "false and misleading". The Vatican said it would have no comment of its own for the time being but said it fully endorsed a sternly worded statement by Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham written on behalf of the British bishops.

Read more here.

Sexual Reform?

2006-10-01T23:10:00.000-07:00

The NVSH (Dutch Society for Sexual Reform) aims to contribute to the sexual emancipation of individual and social life. Our main activity is the promotion of knowledge and understanding of sexual behaviour in the widest possible sense.

Holland is the only country in the world which has an association specifically dedicated to sexual reform. We started out as a Neo-Malthusian League, which opened the first birth control clinic in the world in 1881. In 1946 the present name was adopted and a broader range of targets was formulated. Up to the sixties, a great deal of energy went into building up the organisation, which ran 60 clinics and reached a membership high of 220,000 in 1966. Also much work was put into improving the quality of contraceptives (condom, diaphragm and spermicidal jelly) and introducing the contraceptive pill.

Read more about them here.

War of Wor(l)ds

2006-09-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

"The medium is the message."

Marshall Mc Luhan, 1967

Holy man
Speaks of peace
Enlivens
deepest hate.

Erudite
Unworldly wise
seeks merely
to advise
through soulful
thought
(or as is claimed)
in scholar's tone
not to preach
upon throne
but successfully
lays the bait.

Woeful
he mourns
the chasm
Fury of the irate
Enlightenment
and reason
adorn the costume
that is Faith.

Karol R.Austria
Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Meet VAN - RGS Participant # 2

2006-09-25T05:24:00.000-07:00

Vanessa Theresa Paroni Dugenia
Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines (DSWP)
4A Maalindog St., UP Village, Diliman, Quezon City

Tel Nos: 92717-66; 92563-95
Telefax No: 43643-84
Email Address: vanessa.dugenia@gmail.com

ABOUT DSWP:
Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines (DSWP) is a national federation of 157 accredited grassroots community, and sector-based chapter organizations that promotes and advances socialist feminism in 13 regions of the country. The federation's membership is drawn from the various marginalized sectors in Philippine society. DSWP recognizes the importance of addressing both women's practical and strategic needs and this, implements programs and projects to respond to these.

We envision the DSWP as a strong, credible, self-sustaining and socialist feminist federation of grassroots and community-based women able to significantly contribute to the Filipino women's empowerment in a just, human, egalitarian, peaceful and progressive society that fully recognizes respects and promotes the rights of all its citizens.

Van is DSWP's Information Officer (IO). Her principal functions include leading the conceptualization, development, production and distribution of Information, Education and Communication (IEC) such as quarterly comics and newsletters, information pack and training handbooks for women in the informal sectors.

She directly reports to the project coordinator. Her other responsibilities include: providing documentation and research work for the various publications and/or other project components' IEC materials; designing evaluation instruments; writing/contributing to publications; writing position papers, letters, press releases and other advocacy papers; preparing project and organizational presentation materials; assisting in media monitoring activities and perform other tasks that may be necessary to achieve project and organizational objectives.

Van maintains a personal blog entitled "unleash the balderdash", which up to now I stil have to know the meaning.

PILLOW TALK on 28Sep06

2006-09-21T21:49:00.000-07:00

The Reproductive Health Advocacy Network - Youth (RHAN Youth), Philippine NGO Council on Population, Health & Welfare Inc. (PNGOC) together with the Women’s Health Care Foundation (WHCF) tied up with the Alpha Phi Omega Sorority (APO) UP Diliman Chapter with assistance from the United Nations Population Fund 6th Country Programme (UNFPA) to conduct a forum on Empowering Women for Reproductive Health entitled "PILLOW TALK".

This forum will take place on September 28, 2006 at Claro M. Recto UP Diliman Quezon City at 1PM to 5PM.

We hope that you can come and be a part of the said forum. Registration is FREE.

Thank you and we are looking forward in seeing you there.

Paolo Antonio Fernando
Philippine NGO Council on Population Health & Welfare Inc.
Email: pagf4@pngoc.com
Website: www.geocities.com/pagf4lyf

The Pope's Words - NYT September 16 2006

2006-09-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

Published: September 16, 2006

There is more than enough religious anger in the world. So it is particularly disturbing that Pope Benedict XVI has insulted Muslims, quoting a 14th-century description of Islam as “evil and inhuman.”

In the most provocative part of a speech this week on “faith and reason,” the pontiff recounted a conversation between an “erudite” Byzantine Christian emperor and a “learned” Muslim Persian circa 1391. The pope quoted the emperor saying, “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

Muslim leaders the world over have demanded apologies and threatened to recall their ambassadors from the Vatican, warning that the pope’s words dangerously reinforce a false and biased view of Islam. For many Muslims, holy war — jihad — is a spiritual struggle, and not a call to violence. And they denounce its perversion by extremists, who use jihad to justify murder and terrorism.

The Vatican issued a statement saying that Benedict meant no offense and in fact desired dialogue. But this is not the first time the pope has fomented discord between Christians and Muslims.

In 2004 when he was still the Vatican’s top theologian, he spoke out against Turkey’s joining the European Union, because Turkey, as a Muslim country was “in permanent contrast to Europe.”

A doctrinal conservative, his greatest fear appears to be the loss of a uniform Catholic identity, not exactly the best jumping-off point for tolerance or interfaith dialogue.

The world listens carefully to the words of any pope. And it is tragic and dangerous when one sows pain, either deliberately or carelessly. He needs to offer a deep and persuasive apology, demonstrating that words can also heal.

Related Articles
Pope Assails Secularism, Adding Note on Jihad (September 13, 2006)
Pope Urges Muslims to Confront Terrorism (August 21, 2005)
Pope Says Terror Mustn't Hurt Faiths' Ties (July 21, 2005)
Pope Benedict Reaches Out to Muslims (April 26, 2005)

Shared by: Kabandanang ZYM (Balik probinsiya!)

Updates and announcement from PLCPD

2006-09-15T06:15:00.000-07:00

[This notice was emailed by Ethel of PLCPD]

House Bill 5028 - Mandanas Bill

There was no discussion made on the content of the bill, nor was there any chance for the resource speakers to present their position in the hearing. Some of our champions came, namely reps Macias, Biron, Marcoleta and Lagman, ready to block the passage of HB 5028. FPOP and Likhaan were also there as resource persons.

The committee focused on the first item in the agenda, which was a local bill filed by Cong. Alan Peter Cayetano. Seeing that the discussion on the Cayetano bill is becoming lengthy, our champions decided to continue this discussion which will also delay deliberations on the mandanas bill.

However, Cong. Mandanas was allowed to make a manifestation towards the end of the hearing. He insisted that since HB 5028 was already "essentially" approved in the previous hearing and that the reason why it was opposed was only because of the title, he motioned for the committee to approve the bill as he is very willing to change the title. Rep.Marcoleta raised his objection as it wasnt true that the Mandanas bill was "essentially" approved in the previous hearing and that the title is the only questionable part of the bill. he suggested to continue to hold deliberations on the bill which was agreed upon by the Chair (Cong. Yapha). Yapha said that the committee might schedule another hearing next week.

ANTI-ABORTIVE DRUGS AND DEVICES – BUHAY Bill

The Committee on revision of laws has scheduled a hearing on the Buhay and Marcoleta bills on Sept. 20 (Wednesday), 9.30 am, Rms 9 and 10, Ramon Mitra. This will be the first public hearing on the bills but just to be sure that we won't get outvoted if there would be a motion to approve, we are going to try to mobilize our champions. The only problem is that Rep. Mayong Aguja is the only RH champion who is a member of the committee. We need to get our champions deputized so that they have voting powers as well.

Some of the rhan orgs were already invited to present their position on the bills. It is important that this bill is blocked immediately. We request your presence on this hearing.

View related Statement on HB 5028 submitted by Womenlead here

Feminist Sexual Ethics Project Public ConferenceBeyond Slavery: Overcoming Its Religious and Sexual Legacy

2006-09-09T04:43:00.000-07:00

I came across this a while back. It seems very interesting that is, if you can afford to attend it ;-) or are lucky enough to get a scholarship. Anyway, I think its not too late to express interest in joining it.

Warmest regards,

Karol

Feminist Sexual Ethics Project Public Conference
Beyond Slavery: Overcoming Its Religious and Sexual Legacy
Brandeis University
October 15-16, 2006

Many people think they know exactly what religion teaches about sexual morality, namely that everyone should abstain from premarital sex, that marriage is a sacred bond between one man and one woman, that the principal purpose of sex is procreation, and that life begins at conception. Yet the teachings of these three religions are not so simple: marriage has not always been defined as the union of one man and one woman; marriage has not always been seen as sacred; Jewish, Christian, and Muslim leaders have at times tolerated and sometimes even condoned pre- and extra-marital sex; contraception and abortion have not always and under all circumstances been prohibited.

Furthermore, it is widely believed that traditional religious teachings on sexuality promote the full dignity of all persons. Yet slavery, which found acceptance in the ancient religious texts, has frequently involved the sexual exploitation of women and girls. In the days of plantation slavery in the US, the law permitted a master to rape his slave woman, force her to endure the sexual abuse of her children, and sell her children away; meanwhile, Christian ministers who actively promoted slavery from the pulpit were able to find support for their position in the Bible itself.

The toleration of slavery in the ancient religious texts should give us pause: it reveals that the values of mutuality and consent were not central to the ethics they promoted. The idea that one person may own another person’s body is embedded in the ethics—including the sexual ethics—of all three religions. Because we know that sexuality without mutuality and consent is fertile ground for abuse, for sexual ethics, meaningful consent and mutuality are absolutely vital. For this reason, we need to transform religious sexual ethics. This transformation will benefit religious and non-religious people alike, because the ancient religious texts continue to influence not only clergy and religious practitioners but also policy makers and legislators.

At the Feminist Sexual Ethics Project, we see the legacy of slavery as the greatest obstacle to creating sexual ethics that are based on the full human dignity of all persons. We envision an ethic of sexuality rooted in freedom, mutuality, consent, responsibility, and female (as well as male) pleasure, and we are working to make that vision reality.Visit the Official Website

$2,258.16

2006-09-05T00:13:00.000-07:00

Wow! Yan na raw ang worth ng blog ng kabandana? Hmmm! Chuva!

My blog is worth $2,258.16.
How much is your blog worth?

Misuses of language relating to “HIV/AIDS or HIV and AIDS"

2006-09-01T17:47:00.000-07:00

A repost from Dr. Patrick Dixon's blog <http://aids-resources.blogspot.com/2006/04/terminology-guidelines.html> on a UN Secretariat advisory early this year.

He wrote "One of the most common misuses of language relates to 'HIV/AIDS or HIV and AIDS'. This terminology is no longer considered appropriate and in most cases the two terms should not be used together".

Old usage »» Current preferred usage
HIV/AIDS »» HIV unless specifically referring to AIDS
HIV/AIDS »» AIDS diagnosis or HIV-related disease
HIV/AIDS epidemic »» AIDS epidemic or HIV epidemic
HIV/AIDS prevalence »» HIV prevalence
HIV/AIDS prevention »» HIV prevention
HIV/AIDS testing »» HIV testing
People living with HIV/AIDS »» People living with HIV

By: Zimmbodilion Mosende
RGS Kabandana Batch (June 2006)

Apocalypse now

2006-08-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

Scientist's plea for Christian environmentalism
by Edward O. Wilson
The New Republic Post date: 08.28.06 Issue date: 09.04.06

The following is a letter from the eminent Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson, winner of the National Medal of Science and two Pulitzer Prizes, to an imagined Southern Baptist pastor--and the larger evangelical community.

Dear Pastor,
We have not met, yet I feel I know you well enough to call you a friend. First of all, we grew up in the same faith. As a boy, I, too, answered the altar call; I went under the water. Although I no longer belong to that faith, I am confident that, if we met and spoke privately of our deepest beliefs, it would be in a spirit of mutual respect and goodwill. I know we share many precepts of moral behavior. Perhaps it also matters that we are both Americans and, insofar as it might still affect civility and good manners, we are both Southerners.

I write to you now for your counsel and help. Of course, in doing so, I see no way to avoid the fundamental differences in our worldviews.

Read more here.

Shared by: Dr. Michael Tan
RGS Resource Speaker

Interactive and accurate ovulation calendar

2006-08-30T18:51:00.000-07:00

Pinpoint your ovulation.

Visualize your fertile days.

Visit Fertility Friend

By: Zimmbodilion Mosende
RGS Kabandana Batch (June 2006)

RGS' Doni in Probe Team

2006-08-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

On 30 August 2006 (Wednesday) at 11PM, the Probe Team (ABS-CBN Channel 2) will feature issues surrounding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) particularly discrimination, LGBT rights, and experiences.

Ang Ladlad's Danton Remoto and Doni Santos will be making an appearance.

Ang Ladlad is the national political network of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Filipinos which might run for party list elections in 2007.

You may visit Ladlad's website at: http://www.geocities.com/angladlad

By: Doni Santos of Ang Ladlad
RGS Kabandana Batch (June 2006)

Sex and Spirituality

2006-08-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

Philippines4Men blogged about "Why we need sex",
a post
... directed to all bible-thumpers, ultra-feminists, Maria Clara types, altar boy wannabe types, who think that sex is dirty and filthy,
... contributed by Medy Bart, and
... taken from Deekpak Chopra.

1. Sexual energy is the primal and creative energy of the universe. All things that are alive come from sexual energy. In animals and other life forms, sexual energy expresses itself as biological creativity. In humans, sexual energy can be creative at all levels - physical, emotional and spiritual. In any situation, where we feel attraction, arousal, awakening, alertness, passion, interest, inspiration, excitement, creativity, enthusiasm, in each of these situations, sexual energy is at work. When ever we feel these states of awareness, we must put our attention on the energy that we are experiencing, nourishing it with our attention, experiencing it with joy and keeping it alive in our awareness.

Read more here.

By: Zimmbodilion Mosende
RGS Kabandana Batch (June 2006)

London Prof to conduct free forum on gender

2006-08-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

GENDERING THE SPIRIT by Professor Ursula King
August 30, 2006 (10am to 1130am)
Institute of Formation and Religious Studies (IFRS)
28 Acacia Street, Cubao, Quezon City, PHILIPPINES

ADMISSION IS FREE

Ursula King, in the course of her studies in Germany, France, and England and through her extensive studies in India, has acquired an exceptionally advanced and varied academic competence which includes philosophy and sociology as well as theology.

She is a professor emeritus, senior research fellow, and associate member of the Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Bristol, and professional research associate, Center for Gender and Religions Research, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She holds honorary doctorates from Universities of Edinburgh, Oslo, and Dayton.

Professor King is an internationally recognized and widely published authority on spirituality, women, and religion, on Christian mysticism, and the French thinker and Christian mystic Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Her books include the Spirit of One Earth: Refrections on Teilhard de Chardin and Global Spirituality; Spirit of Fire: The Life and Vision of Teilhard de Chardin..

HOW TO GO TO IFRS?

Take a jeep (Cubao-Kamuning-Arayat) from Quezon City Circle (from Philcoa)
Get off at Immaculate Concepcion Church
Take a tricycle going to Acacia Street, Mandaluyong City

SEE YOU!

MARLEA PINOR MUNEZ
(+63-919) 504 0135
marleaus2@gmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/marleaus/leaders.html

Shared by:
Dr. Junice of Likhaan (Linangan ng Kababaihan, Inc.)
RGS Kabandana Batch (June 2006)

Right of Conscience Act of 2006... soon

2006-08-24T15:48:00.000-07:00

Abangan...

We will be sharing here updates about the proposed "Right of Conscience Act of 2006", a house bill (no. 5028) introduced by Rep. Hermilando I. Mandanas of the 2nd District Batangas. This bill hopes to prohibit all forms of discrimination, disqualification, coercion, disability, or liability on health care providers, institution, and payers who will decline to perform any health care services that violate their consciences.

Controversial?

Wait for the bill and our updates... read for yourself, here!

Shared by:
Moises Maya
Interfaith Partnership for Responsible Parenthood
RGS Kabandana Batch (June 2006)

Our Daily Gospel

2006-08-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

I love the net! Everything seems to be available online.

I've found the scriptural readings for the day from www.CatholicContent.com.

You can also listen to it's MP3 Podcast readings (American accent nga lang!) from www.verbumdomini.com.

It has links to very valuable reflections (www.mycatholic.com), as well!

Find these from our sidebar on the left.

The lord be with you!

Cheers!

By: ZYM - RGS Kabandana Batch (June 2006)

Support DepEd's RH Modules for High School

2006-08-19T16:55:00.000-07:00

To: THE Philippine President, Department of Education, and Congress

Realizing that despite the constant efforts of advocates, government and non-government organizations, private sectors, faith-based sectors, and the like, prevalent issues concerning the Filipino youth such as abortion, early sex, teenage pregnancy, child prostitution, child trafficking, pornography, sexual exploitation, substance abuse, violence against women and children, sexually transmitted infections and HIV still exist...

Read the entire petition here.
Support by signing up here.
View current signatures here.

Shared by: Ging Cristobal of the Lesbian Advocates Philippines (LeAP!), Inc.
RGS Kabandana Batch (June 2006)