Church intensifies faith renewal

The influential Catholic Church will work on intensifying personal faith nationwide as the world celebrates the Year of the Great Jubilee 2000, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said yesterday.

"Because this is the Year of the Great Jubilee 2000, there will be an intensification of personal faith renewal all over the Philippines," said CBCP president Archbishop Orlando Quevedo over the weekend.

The Church's agenda for this year also focuses on social justice and the family.

Expressing concern over what the Church claims are "anti-family" proposals, the CBCP also pledged to prioritize family renewal to block pending congressional bills that would legalize abortion, divorce and same-sex marriages.

"Traditional Church concerns regarding the family will be prominent," Quevedo said in an interview at the CBCP offices in Intramuros, Manila.

In line with its theme of renewal, the CBCP vowed to pursue its active participation in the political and economic life of the nation.

"Church renewal... of a new way of being (the) Church will be the great overall concern. Integrating the Jubilee themes of renewal and the... concern for integratal renewal in the political, economic, cultural and spiritual spheres will be the task of the CBCP," he said.

Emphasis, Quevedo said, will be given by dioceses on the social justice issues of land and agrarian reform, environmental concerns related to pollution, logging, mining and fishing; indigenous people and their ancestral domain, and the question on foreign debt.

He pointed out that these are closely related to the Jubilee themes. "Because of political and economic developments, the CBCP stance of `critical solidarity' will be rather stretched on the `critical' side. However, the CBCP will try its very best to help government listen to the people."

Quevedo said various dioceses have already scheduled pilgrimages to designated shrines, churches and cathedrals as part of its program for renewal of faith.

These pilgrimages will be preceded and accompanied by intensive teachings on the meaning of renewal in the light of the Jubilee tradition, he added.

The renewal of the family, the issue of women in Church and society, and solving problems related to children will be given priority in the Church's program.

Moreover, he said, because of the current legislative developments about abortion, divorce and same-sex marriages, traditional Church concerns regarding the family will be prominent.

In many dioceses, the Basic Ecclesial Community (BEC) will get a second and third look because of the general movement of pastoral renewal.

Quevedo said more and more dioceses will experiment with the organizing of BECs as a new way of being Church.

A Spanish colony for more 300 years, the Philippines is Asia's only predominantly Catholic country with the Church playing an influential role in the political and cultural life of the nation.

In recent months, the Church has been severely critical of the policies of President Estrada, including his proposal to amend the 1987 Constitution. --