Opening Message: CBCP 117Th Plenary Assembly

July 7, 2018

Welcome to our 117th Plenary Assembly of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines!

It is my pleasure to welcome the new bishops, our new members of the Conference – five (5) recently ordained, Bishop Abel Apigo, the new Bishop of Mati; Bishop Bartolome Santos, the new Bishop of Iba; Bishop Louie Galbines, the new Bishop of Kabangkalan; Bishop Raul Dael, the new Bishop of Tandag and Bishop Medil Aseo, the new Bishop of Tagum, – and the two (2) soon-to-be-ordained – Bishop-Elect Daniel Presto for the Diocese of San Fernando, La Union and Bishop-Elect Cerilo Casicas for the Diocese of Marbel. And in case you missed it, the new Archbishop of Jaro is now Abp. Jose Romeo Lazo! And Bishop Elmer Mangalinao will soon be installed as the new Bishop of Bayombong. We also welcome Father Anrunico Elemento, the Diocesan Administrator of San Jose de Antique.

We sincerely appreciate the great work that our Apostolic Nuncio and his staff are doing at the service of the Holy Father as he made these appointments and hopefully will continue to do so, appointing and naming new bishops in the Philippines, in the coming days.

We note with sadness that after our Plenary Assembly in January of this year, four (4) Bishops have departed from us. Bishop Jesus Varela, Bishop Emeritus of Sorsogon, died in February of this year; Bishop Zacharias Jimenez, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of Butuan, passed away this April; and in May, two bishops, Bishop Jose Oliveros, Bishop of Malolos and Bishop Camilo Gregorio, Bishop Emeritus of Batanes, also passed away.

With our affection for them and in the faith we shared with them, we pray: Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let your perpetual light shine upon them.

Now, the events and developments that we have all experienced in these recent days made me recall the very first few words of the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, and I quote “The joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the men of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted in any way, are the joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well…” (no.1)

And I would add that the joy and hope, the grief and anguish have come, as it were, closer to home, closer to us priests and religious and bishops in this Year of the Clergy and Consecrated Persons.

Our joy and hope! The joy of having seven (7) new bishops and the hope that more are coming. Many of us have attended and witnessed their joyous ordination rites. And two (2) more are still to be celebrated. They were truly occasions of joy and hope. Joy and hope! There was the unforgettable 121 vehicle-convoy, traversing 190 kilometers, joyfully bringing Bishop Abel Apigo to Mati. There was the very sincere, humble, self-effacing and touching thank you message of Bishop Bartolome Santos during his ordination in Malolos. There were tears of joy in the eyes of Bishop Raul Dael, and tears in the eyes of the very well-known homilist in Cagayan de Oro. Who can forget the signature smile of Bishop Louie Galbines during his ordination in Bacolod. And who can forget the joyful disbelief in the face of Bishop Medil Aseo as he was ordained bishop in Tagum.

But what touched me most was the so palpable and apparent joy in the faces of hundreds, if not thousands, of simple unnamed faithful who were there for these beautiful occasions. One, that is still so vivid in my memory, was a poorly dressed woman carrying her baby with a banana leaf as her umbrella, big smile on her face, standing along the highway going to Mati. So unmistakably joyous in seeing the new bishop of Mati passed by.

And closer to home also are the grief and sorrow and anxieties we have endured and experienced these past few days. We had the unfortunate and disturbing case of Sister Patricia Fox. And added to that, we had the sadness of the passing away of four (4) bishops as mentioned earlier. And on top of these, we grieve until today over the murder of three (3) of our priests in the country: Father Marcelito “Tito” Paez of the Diocese of San Jose, Nueva Ecija, killed in December of last year; Father Mark Anthony Ventura of the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao, killed in May this year; and recently, Father Richmond Nilo of the Diocese of Cabanatuan, murdered in June this year.

And then very recently we have heard the very public, difficult to digest, and to say the least, unacceptable comments and statements regarding the God whom we worship and love; and statements and commentaries on some treasured truths that we hold and believe coming from the Holy Scriptures. We are greatly pained by these.

Again, joy and hope, grief and sorrow, pain and anxiety closer to home, closer to us! I appreciate the comments and insights coming from the lay faithful and from some of us, brother bishops, in the face of these grief and sorrow. But I also had my own soul-searching as it were, to find meaning in my simple limited ways as a bishop, in the midst of this challenging situation.

When we faced the tragic news of the killings of the three (3) priests, I was really touched by the homily of Bishop Bancud during the funeral of Father Richmond Nilo and his homily brought me to meditate and ponder further on the simple lines coming from Jesus, “Anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it” (Lk 9:24); and “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13)

As bishops, I thought it would be uplifting to underline this truth in the midst of our utter grief and evil… the joy and gift of dying in the midst of the fulfillment of their priestly duties.

Then, I had the opportunity of being asked to be the homilist of two (2) episcopal ordinations; one, the ordination in the Archdiocese of Davao, and the other, the ordination in the Diocese of Tagum. In Davao, the three Cardinals were not available to be homilist and for the same ordination, the Nuncio, also desired to be the homilist, could not come; so they were left with me. In the other ordination in Tagum, they had simply no choice, I guess, because I am the first priest made bishop from that diocese. And because of these two (2) homilies I had to prepare, I was really caught up and touched by this text describing the bishop from Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, and I read it again, “For from tradition, which is expressed especially in liturgical rites…, it is clear that by means of the imposition of hands and the words of consecration, the grace of the Holy Spirit is conferred, and sacred character so impressed, that bishops in an eminent and visible way undertake Christ’s own role as Teacher, Shepherd and High Priest and that they act in His person” (no.21)

The words “eminent and visible way” really kept coming back to my mind. And also the powerful words that bishops “act in his person.” So, our challenge, with this singular grace given to us, is to act in the person of Christ in an eminent and visible manner in the midst of our people today. And so, I was searching for myself in the midst of these grief and sorrow and asked myself: how can I be more true to that description of us to eminently and visibly act in the person of Christ in this current situation.

And my reflection brought me to consider once more that it is in Jesus’ passion and resurrection, in his Paschal Mystery, that one can see the summation of who the person of Jesus is and his manner of acting. In his most utterly difficult moment of grief, pain and sorrow on the cross, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). He did not demand that those who crucified him ask for forgiveness; instead, he was the one who pleaded the Father to forgive those who were inflicting suffering and pain to him. He did not talk about the gravity of their sins, but simply he turned to the Father and pleaded forgiveness for them. Such is the person of Jesus. And I don’t know why, from meditating on these words of Jesus on the cross, my thoughts were brought to his preaching on the Beatitudes, “Happy are you when people hate you, drive you out, abuse you, denounce your name as criminal, on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice when that day comes and dance for joy, for then your reward will be great in heaven. This was the way their ancestors treated the prophets” (Lk 6:22-23).

And so I thought: this could be my manner of acting; my acting in the person of Jesus – to act with forgiveness and mercy… and to act with “noble and holy joy” (from the Collect, Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles, celebrated only a few days ago).

It is also interesting to note here that Pope Francis’ recent Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et Exultate on the Call to Holiness in Today’s World has these words in its very first line: “Rejoice and be Glad’ (Mt.5:12), Jesus tells those persecuted or humiliated for his sake.”

I end with this thought: Do we strive to be as “happy that people hate us, drive us out, abuse us, denounce us, on account of our Lord? Are we not to rejoice and dance for joy for our reward will be great in heaven?” (Lk 6:23) How are we coming across to our people today as we struggle to eminently and visibly act in the person of Christ?

+ Romulo G. Valles, D.D.
Archbishop of Davao
CBCP President