Palma hopes lay groups to come up with names

CEBU, Philippines - After the successful one-day electoral summit last Saturday, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma hopes that the lay groups would come up with names of politicians who are worth the people’s vote in the upcoming elections.

“The bishops are not coming out with names, definitely. But we encouraged the lay people to be truly serious in their own obligation to prayerfully discern. To me, lay people coming out with names is very good,” Palma said.

Dubbed as “Summit on Credible Cebu Elections 2013: Addressing the Most Challenging Elections Issues”, it was held at the Mariners’ Court Cebu, and participated in by hundreds of people from all walks of life.

“The electoral summit is the springboard of many more similar summits or probably meetings and seminars as a continued effort towards the education of the people in the sense of discernment and evaluation of the traits and programs of the candidates,” Palma said.

Palma added that the people must understand various issues and eventually end up with their own prayerful discernment regarding candidates whom they would like to put into office.

Palma reiterated that the arena of the politics belongs to the lay people.

This the reason why the religious, the priests and the church leaders should not be in the arena but let the lay get involved because it is their domain.

Palma, who heads the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said that their support is in the general principle.

As mentioned in CBCP’s pastoral letter, they appreciate the move of the lay people to put up discernment groups and study groups to evaluate the candidates for the upcoming election.

 â€œI encourage the lay people to be truly discerning and the lay people should have a party and should be partisan. They should make good use of our values because of our faith as criteria for discernment,” Palma said.

Palma also expressed his gratitude to the many people who attended and participated in the summit.

He believes that it is a sign of bold interest on issues like election.

“It is a good sign and hopefully, this would bear fruit in the discernment process which would end up on what we consider as a wise choice for our lay people,” Palma ended.  (FREEMAN)