Changes in Church leadership take place; bishops reel from controversy

MANILA, Philippines - Changes in leadership highlighted the year 2011 for the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines.

On the first day of December, 61-year-old Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma assumed the presidency of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). Eleven days later, 54-year-old Luis Antonio Tagle officially became the 32nd Archbishop of Manila.

Palma, who was the vice president of the CBCP before his election as president, is expected to head the 104th CBCP Plenary Assembly slated in January. He replaced Tandag, Surigao del Sur Bishop Nereo Odchimar who finished a two-year term. Tagle succeeded retired Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales.

Prior to the Archdiocese of Manila, Tagle was the Bishop of Imus, Cavite. He was also a member of the theological body that was once headed by Pope Benedict XVI before he became Pontiff.

The country also welcomed last July Italian Archbishop Giuseppe Pinto as the new Papal Nuncio to the Philippines replacing Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams.

Tagle and Palma are expected to provide new impetus to the Church’s response to issues, particularly the likely passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, CBCP Media Office director Monsignor Pedro Quitorio III said.

“Whenever you have something fresh it is like Advent. You have so many good things to come up but we would not venture which are these… it is like coming up to fresh air,” Quitorio said. The two prelates have yet to announce their policy directions and programs of action. Quitorio believes CBCP’s toughest battle in 2011 was the one waged against the RH Bill. In its fight to have the bill junked, CBCP launched massive information campaign and used schools and the pulpit in airing its arguments against the controversial measure. From March to November alone, the CBCP took part in some 50 forums mostly in schools and in parishes. To reach out to the youth, the Church also tapped social networking sites like Facebook.

To emphasize its oneness with the young faithful, the CBCP declared 2011 as the Year of the Youth. The Church initiated several activities that highlighted the important role young Filipinos play in society. The activities also gave them the opportunity for spiritual growth.

Of the 2,000 delegates from the Philippines who attended the 26th World Youth Day (WYD) in Spain, 427 came from the CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Youth (ECY). The event took place from Aug. 16 to Aug. 21.

The CBCP also initiated a week-long National Youth Day (NYD) celebration last November with youth representatives coming from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

 Tragedy, controversy

Tragedy also marked 2011 as it saw the killing of Italian missionary Fr. Fausto “Pops” Tentorio, of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) last Oct. 17 by an unidentified gunman outside the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Arakan municipality, North Cotabato. Police have not yet established the motive for the killing but Tentorio had been a vocal defender of the rights of indigenous people.

The Catholic Church also reeled from controversy over its seven bishops’ being given expensive vehicles by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) upon instructions from then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Dragged into the controversy were Butuan Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos, Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad, Bontoc Lagawe Bishop Rodolfo Beltran, Abra Bishop Leopoldo Jaucian, Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, Zamboanga Bishop Romulo Valles, and Ilocos Sur Bishop Ernesto Salgado. The bishops later appeared in a Senate hearing to explain that what they had received from the PCSO were not expensive SUVs.

The bishops explained that they had to accept donations of sturdy vehicles so they could travel to far-flung dioceses.

In the end, PCSO chairperson Margarita Juico apologized to the bishops for the misinformation. The bishops offered to return the vehicles to the government but some members of the Senate said the prelates may keep the controversial vehicles. The Church, again, got enmeshed in another controversy, this time triggered by an art exhibit that was considered sacrilegious by some Catholic groups and individuals. The “Poleteismo” exhibit of mixed media artist Mideo Cruz at the Cultural Center of the Philippines had to be prematurely stopped after religious groups filed charges against officials of the CCP for alleged violation of Article 201 of the Revised Penal Code on obscene exhibitions and indecent shows.