Church

Reading 1 and//www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/deuteronomy/30:15 DT 30:15-20 Moses said to the peopleand Today I have set before youlife and prosperity, death and doom.If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,which I enjoin on you today,loving him, and walking in his ways,and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,you will live and grow numerous,and the LORD, your God,will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen,but are led

KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo, DCC, DD has condemned the assassination of a social action worker of the Diocese of Kidapawan in southern Philippines.Bagaforo, Kidapawan bishop,said it is alarming that even a Church worker who has been working for the poor fell victim to ‘extrajudicial killings.’ The prelate deplored the killing of Wilerme Agorde, a 64-year-old peasant leader and worked as project coordinator of the agrarian reform program of the CBCP’s National Secretariat for Social Action (Nassa).

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a period of spiritual renewal which helps us prepare for the celebration of the Paschal mystery of Christ, his passion, death and resurrection.The ashes we receive on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday are both a reminder of our earthly mortality and a call to repentance. The ashes are made by burning the palms that were distributed the previous year on Palm Sunday.

TACURONG CITY -- The remains of Rev. Fr. Allan Crismie Buendicho, DCC will be brought to the Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral in Cotabato City on February 20, the archdiocese of Cotabato today said.Fr. Buendicho who died in a motorcycle crash will be laid to rest on February 21 at the Notre Dame Archdiocesan Seminar cemetery after the requiem mass to be presided over by Kidapawan Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo, DD.Fr. Buendicho, more known as Fr. Nonoy, was parish priest of Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat until his demise following a 10:30 p.m.

Beloved People of GodWe, your bishops, are deeply concerned due to many deaths and killings in the campaign against prohibited drugs. This traffic in illegal drugs needs to be stopped and overcome. But the solution does not lie in the killing of suspected drug users and pushers. We are concerned not only for those who have been killed. The situation of the families of those killed is also cause for concern. Their lives have only become worse. An Additional cause of concern is the reign of terror in many places of the poor. Many are killed not because of drugs.

MANILA – Catholic bishops called on the faithful to speak out against summary killings, saying that silence makes them an ‘accomplice’ in the rising death toll of the war on drugs.The Church leaders found disturbing the lack of strong rejection by many Filipinos of the daily killings in the country. To consent and to keep silent in front of evil is to be an accomplice to it, the bishops said in a pastoral letter read in all Masses on Sunday. Let us not allow fear to reign and keep us silent.

MANILA – Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Gilbert Garcera as the new archbishop of Lipa in Batangas, transferring him from the Diocese of Daet in Camarines Sur.Garcera, who just turned 58 years old today, succeeds Archbishop Ramon Arguelles who served the archdiocese for almost 13 years.With permission from Pope Francis, Arguelles resigned three years ahead of the bishops’ mandatory retirement ageof 75.Arguelles is one of the most vocal prelates in the advocacy of protecting the sanctity of life and marriage.He also led the fight against mining, coal-fired power plant and other threat to t

Dear Catholic FaithfulWe write this pastoral letter to you with an eye to our celebration of the 500th year of the coming of Christianity to our shores. By 2021 the Christian faith shall have arrived in our shores for half a millennium already. For a long time we have been the only Asian country with a Christian majority. And even today we can thankfully say that we are the Asian country with the biggest Christian population.

MANILA-- The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is standing firm over its position on the reimposition of the death penalty as capital punishment in the country.In a statement issued at the end of its 114th Plenary Assembly, CBPC President Archbishop Socrates Villegas noted that everyone has the right to live and should be given the chance to change. We regret that there are strident efforts to restore the death penalty.

MANILA — A Catholic bishop warned President Duterte against spreading rumors and gossip or accusing people without proof.Novaliches Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani said spreading gossip is unbecoming of a president of the land. He is degrading his leadership.