Pope to lead Vigil for All Nascent Human Life

The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, will lead and celebrate a worldwide "Vigil for All Nascent Human Life" on November 27, 2010, eve of the First Sunday of Advent at the St. Peter's Basilica. He is requesting "all diocesan bishops (and their equivalent) of every particular church preside in analogous celebrations involving the faithful in their respective parishes, religious communities, associations and movements."

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has laid down their plan for the said vigil, giving four options namely:

• Full Option One: Evening Prayer, Rosary and Benediction
• Full Option Two: Marian Procession, Rosary, Evening Prayer and Benediction
• Simplified Option One: Evening Prayer and Benediction (no Rosary)
• Simplified Option Two: Marian Procession, Rosary and Benediction (no Evening Prayer)

Worship guides are available for download at the USCCB's Website page on Pro-Life Activities.

The Catholic Bishop's Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has yet to announce the plan for November 27. As of this writing, CBCPnews has reported the prayer vigil on November 20 led by the Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas as a prelude to the Vigil for All Nascent Human Life.

17th Asia-Pacific Congress on Faith, Life and Family

Tip from Veritatem facientes in caritate and The Pinoy Catholic

MANILA, Nov. 1, 2010—Human Life International (HLI) for Asia and Oceania is holding its 17th Asia-Pacific Congress on Faith, Life and Family, at the Dusit Hotel, Makati City on Nov. 6-8.

The congress will be preceded by a three-day international pro-life training for clergy, religious and lay leaders of Asia and Oceania on Nov. 3-5.

Ligaya Acosta, executive director of HLI-Asia/Oceania said that the congress is timely and urgent in the face of “massive attacks on the church and the much more aggressive push for the passage of the RH bill.”

“I pray that our clergy, religious and lay leaders will take this opportunity to know much more about the global agenda, and the many deceptions [and] subtle attacks against life and family,” she said.

Resource speakers during the pro-life training for clergy, religious and lay will be Dr. Brian Clowes, Dr. Ligaya Acosta, Atty. Jo Imbong, Fr. Francis Lucas, Fr. Melvin Castro and Archbishop Paciano Aniceto.

Dr. Brian Clowes is the director for research and training of Human Life International in its USA central office.

He will speak on two topics during the pre congress. On November 4, Clowes will talk on “How dissenters plan to remake the Catholic Church to their own image” and on November 3, he will speak on the topic, “Winning pro-life debate.”

Clowes will again speak on the congress proper. Other speakers include Raymond de Souza, an international Catholic apologist and program host of EWTN; and Dr. Rene Bullecer, Executive director of Human Life International, Philippines.

CBCP president and Tandag Bishop Nereo Odchimar will give an inspirational message to the participants during the congress while Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal will deliver the keynote address.

The closing mass on November 8 will be presided by Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales.

A press conference will be held on November 6 at 9-10:30 am.

Participants will be required to pay a registration fee of P2,500 for the pre-congress training while those attending the congress proper will pay a registration fee of P3,700. (CBCPNews)

Humanae Vitae

It is in fact justly observed that a conjugal act imposed upon one's partner without regard for his or her condition and lawful desires is not a true act of love, and therefore denies an exigency of right moral order in the relationships between husband and wife. Likewise, if they consider the matter, they must admit that an act of mutual love, which is detrimental to the faculty of propagating life, which God the Creator of all, has implanted in it according to special laws, is in contradiction to both the divine plan, according to whose norm matrimony has been instituted, and the will of the Author of human life. To use this divine gift destroying, even if only partially, its meaning and its purpose is to contradict the nature both of man and of woman and of their most intimate relationship, and therefore it is to contradict also the plan of God and His will. On the other hand, to make use of the gift of conjugal love while respecting the laws of the generative process means to acknowledge oneself not to be the arbiter of the sources of human life, but rather the minister of the design established by the Creator. In fact, just as man does not have unlimited dominion over his body in general, so also, with particular reason, he has no such dominion over his generative faculties as such, because of their intrinsic ordination towards raising up life, of which God is the principle. "Human life is sacred," Pope John XXIII recalled; "from its very inception it reveals the creating hand of God.

...

To justify conjugal acts made intentionally infecund, one cannot invoke as valid reasons the lesser evil, or the fact that such acts would constitute a whole together with the fecund acts already performed or to follow later, and hence would share in one and the same moral goodness. In truth, if it is sometimes licit to tolerate a lesser evil in order to avoid a greater evil or to promote a greater good,¹⁷ it is not licit, even for the gravest reasons, to do evil so that good may follow therefrom;¹⁸ that is, to make into the object of a positive act of the will something which is intrinsically disorder, and hence unworthy of the human person, even when the intention is to safeguard or promote individual, family or social well-being. Consequently it is an error to think that a conjugal act which is deliberately made infecund and so is intrinsically dishonest could be made honest and right by the ensemble of a fecund conjugal life.

....

Upright men can even better convince themselves of the solid grounds on which the teaching of the Church in this field is based, if they care to reflect upon the consequences of methods of artificial birth control. Let them consider, first of all, how wide and easy a road would thus be opened up towards conjugal infidelity and the general lowering of morality. Not much experience is needed in order to know human weakness, and to understand that men -- especially the young, who are so vulnerable on this point -- have need of encouragement to be faithful to the moral law, so that they must not be offered some easy means of eluding its observance. It is also to be feared that the man, growing used to the employment of anti-conceptive practices, may finally lose respect for the woman and, no longer caring for her physical and psychological equilibrium, may come to the point of considering her as a mere instrument of selfish enjoyment, and no longer as his respected and beloved companion.

...

Beloved and venerable brothers in the episcopate, with whom we most intimately share the solicitude of the spiritual good of the People of God, at the conclusion of this encyclical our reverent and affectionate thoughts turn to you. To all of you we extend an urgent invitation. At the head of the priests, your collaborators, and of your faithful, work ardently and incessantly for the safeguarding and the holiness of marriage, so that it may always be lived in its entire human and Christian fullness. Consider this mission as one of your most urgent responsibilities at the present time. As you know, it implies concerted pastoral action in all the fields of human activity, economic, cultural and social; for, in fact, only a simultaneous improvement in these various sectors will make it possible to render the life of parents and of children within their families not only tolerable, but easier and more joyous, to render the living together in human society more fraternal and peaceful, in faithfulness to God's design for the world.

- Pope Paul VI "Humanae Vitae"

CBCP Plenary Session Today

This can simply be just a simple coincidence but what a great joy to celebrate the first Tridentine Mass in the cathedral of Cubao at the same day when the whole bishopric of the Philippines converge to begin holding their plenary session to discuss among other things, implementation of Summorum Pontificum of the Vicar of Christ in the Philippines.

An email from Carlos Antonio Palad:

On January 26, the CBCP will begin holding its plenary session. Among other things, they will be discussing the implementation of Summorum Pontificum in the Philippines.


We pray that the discussion on the implementation will be truly in line with the thinking of Holy Mother the Church and that of the Holy Father guided by his cover letter to the bishops. I pray that they will not be influenced and be guided by the spirit of rapture.

My lord bishops, the Holy Father has clarified that the Missal of Blessed John XXIII was never abrogated and that it is perfectly lawful to celebrate Mass according to this form. May you be supportive of priests and faithful, both young and old, who are attached to this form. May you lead others to appreciate and love this extraordinary form of our Roman Rite.

Sancte Michael Archangele, ora pro nobis.

President of Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Celebrates the Traditional Mass

An excerpt from Carlos Antonio Palad's email reads:

I have the great joy of announcing to you that His Excellency, Archbishop Angel Lagdameo D.D., Archbishop of Jaro and currently President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), celebrated a Missa Cantata according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite last September 11, 2007, 7:00 PM (Manila time) at the Carmelite Monastery Church in Lipa City, Province of Batangas (located south of Manila).

St. Paul's Bookstore, CBCP Monitor

After a day's work, I sometimes pass by St. Paul's Bookstore in Gateway Mall to see what's new. I usually browse over the books and magazines to see what catches my interests. It has been a long time since I bought a book in St. Paul's, and with so many things to read, I find it hard to find time to read all the books I buy.

This evening, while browsing inside the bookstore, I found a newspaper from the CBCP called CBCP Monitor. The first thing that came into my mind is: Does it have the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum in it? I was glad to know that the July 9-22 issue has it. I can't wait for the next issue.

CBCP also has a new online news site: cbcpnews.com. There's not much content yet, nevertheless, check it out.

CBCP's response to the Motu Proprio

From the CBCP Website:

CBCP welcomes Pope’s Letter on Latin Mass

MANILA, 09 July 2007— “We fully welcome with respect and appreciation the recent Apostolic Letter of Pope Benedict XVI on the “Tridentine” Mass. It clarifies for us the status of the Tridentine Mass in the Latin language,” said CBCP President Archbishop Angel Lagdameo in a statement released today.

Pope Benedict XVI issued Saturday a motu proprio Pastoral Letter entitled “Summorum Pontificum" saying that Tridentine Mass approved by Pope John XXII in 1962 “continues to be permissible as an extraordinary form” of celebrating the Mass.

In the same statement, Lagdameo said that the mass being practiced today by Catholics throughout the world is the “new mass” which was introduced after the Second Vatican Council and approved by Pope Paul VI in 1970, which has become the ordinary form of the mass and more popular among the people because it allows the use of some approved adaptations, including the use of popular languages and dialects.

Supporting the Pope’ Pastoral Letter, Lagdameo stressed that the Tridentine mass has never been forbidden and abrogated but should be celebrated by priests of the Latin Rite only in private masses, in conventual or community celebrations, or in parishes when requested by the faithful but under the guidance of the local bishop.

Lagdameo further said that permission by Pope Benedict to celebrate the Tridentine mass is given on condition that it should follow the formula of the Council of Trent.

But news priests, he said, will require formation before celebrating the Latin mass. (Roy Lagarde)