'People should rely on women's strength to preserve families'

MANILA, Philippines - With pending legislative bills that “threaten” the family, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma said recently that people should rely on the strength of women to preserve families.

CBCPNews, the official news service provider of the CBCP, yesterday reported that modern-day families are facing many challenges such as the efforts to legalize divorce and homosexual partnerships, aside from the Reproductive Health bill.

Speaking before a conference on Women in Nation Building in the Catholic Church last Feb. 1, with a hundred women in attendance, Palma said the current situation calls for a heroic response from society, especially from women.

“We are aware (that) at no other period in our history has the family been confronted with so many challenges – challenge of the institution of marriage and conjugal procreation being questioned, the rising cost of rearing and education of children, in some places stigmatizing women who devote themselves solely to the care of the home, of husband and children,” Palma said.

He also praised the innate qualities of women that equip them “to persevere even in extreme conditions” and mentioned their indispensable role to devote themselves to nurturing life and the home. “Motherhood is a key element to a woman’s identity, the woman who embraces it plays a special role in nation-building. Through motherhood, she contributes to the nation’s strength through the basic unit, the family,” the CBCP president said.

He said, “Obviously, women can do more and would like to do more. They need to be given every opportunity to help transform the nation and the world. This is where your vocation as Catholic women comes in, for you are not only citizens of the state; you are, foremost, citizens of the Kingdom of God.

“Above all, you are Catholic Christians… proudly proclaim it. We must delight in upholding it and by the witness of each one of us, we must allow others to see that we try to live faithful lives,” the Cebu prelate said.

Part of that faithfulness is the effort that Christian women exert in understanding and living the teachings of the Catholic Church with regard issues pertaining to the culture of life – specifically that of protecting human life at any stage, preserving the institution of marriage and of the family, he added.

Among those who attended the conference were representatives from the Good Citizenship Movement, Mother Earth, Christian Family Movement, East Asian Pastoral Institute, Martha’s Vineyard, and Philippine Alliance Against Pornography.