Bishops, priests renew vow of celibacy

MANILA< Philippines - The 5,500 bishops and priests who attended the five-day Second National Congress of the Clergy (NCC) held at the World Trade Center in Pasay City have renewed their vow of celibacy, but the clergymen admitted that it is a long journey to conquering human temptations.

Celibacy was one of the issues discussed by Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, who has been the Preacher to the Papal Household since 1980.

He presented celibacy as a “gift” for priests to live lives close to Jesus. The NCC served as a retreat for the religious leaders.

The theme for the gathering was “Faithfulness of Christ. Faithfulness of the Priest.”

The 2nd NCC was held from Jan. 25 to Jan. 29 and came after Pope Benedict XVI declared the “Year of the Priest” June 2009 to June 2010.

The Catholic Church has repeatedly faced controversy because clergymen were reported to have engaged in sexual relations, even with minors.

Zambales Bishop Florentino Lavarias, who chairs the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on the Clergy (CBCP-ECC), said that “the gift” is always given to frail and imperfect human beings.

CBCP-Media Office director Monsignor Pedro Quitorio III explained that the priests’ “renewal is a process and there is a need to be faithful to the vocation and go through the process of renewal.”

He explained that living a priestly life could not be achieved overnight. “It is a journey from realization to conversion.”

In his homily at the closing yesterday of the 2nd NCC, Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales said: “Once anointed, the priests shout to the entire world that he already belongs completely, and for all time, to God. For the whole year, if not for a long stretch in our lifetime, the fidelity of Jesus Christ to whom and what He is will remain material for our reflection. Shifting to the fidelity of the priest, the same meditation will help us pursue the holiness that the renewal aims to achieve.”

The other topics taken up were prayer, life of the Church, life of the priest, Eucharist, and meditation where they were asked to “look into themselves, acknowledge their sins, repent and receive the gift of forgiveness,” Lavarias said.

The congress was also an opportunity for them to hear each other’s confession.

Former ambassador to Rome Henrietta de Villa, the 2nd NCC executive secretary, said that there were a total of 5,542 priests who registered. There were also some 500 to 1,000 people who volunteered and assisted in the Congress.

She reported that during their five-day operation, they spent roughly P15 million, of which about P2.4 million was utilized to pay for the “discounted price” rent for the World Trade Center (WTC).

But while she could not say how much money they collected from donations and from the registration fee, it was enough to finance the congress. She proudly reported that it has never happened that the organizers incurred a debt in a major Catholic Church event in the Philippines.

The clergy also displayed their generosity, raising a P2-million donation for Haiti, which was recently badly hit by an earthquake.

Yesterday, the more than 5,000 priests from 86 dioceses took a 1.2-kilometer walk from the WTC to the Cuneta Astrodome along Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City for the closing Eucharist.

Despite the afternoon heat, the clergy in their priestly garb smiled and waved their respective diocesan banners.

Senior Superintendent Ronald Estilles of the Southern Police District-Public Safety Battalion Office (SPD-PSDO) said that they deployed some 40 policemen to ensure the safety of the religious leaders.

Dr. Ricardo Ledesma, head of NCC II medical committee, reported that 641elderly priests, most of them over 60 years old, were treated for headaches, dizziness, physical exhaustion, weakness, hypertension, infection and some other minor ailments.