Statement On The Killing Of the Three Civilians

Mrs. Juvy Malid Capion, 27 years old (3 months pregnant), wife of Daguil Capion, and two sons of Daguil and Juvy-Jordan “Pop”, 13 years old and John, 8 years old were killed by army soldiers led by 1Lt. Dante Jimenez Commanding Officer of Bravo Company on 18 October 2012 about 6:30am in Sitio Fayahlob, Brgy. Datal Aliong, Kiblawan, Davao del Sur.  Lt. Jimenez is under the command of Lt. Colonel Noel Alexis Bravo, Batallion Commander, 27IB.  A third child, Vicky, was wounded.  She was able to escape.  Ressa Piang, 11 years old, escaped unhurt, but traumatized.

Daguil Capion is strongly opposing the proposed Tampakan Copper and Gold project of Xstrata/SMI.  The military claimed that there was an encounter with the armed group of Daguil and the communities opposed to SMI/Xstrata.

Those who heard the firing  claimed there was no exchange of firing.

Blood scattered on the wall.  Bullet holes on split bamboo walls and ceiling of the nipa hut.

We strongly condemned the killings of innocent civilians, especially children, by the military.

We demand that the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), the Department of National Defense and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) conduct a thorough, factual, speedy and objective investigation of this incident.

Way forward.  Before the entrance of Western Mining Corporation (WMC) in 1995 there was relative peace in Tampakan..

When Sagittarius/Xstrata/Indophils, successor of WMC, came trouble started.  Besides this bloody incident there is now a brewing war between B’laans of Brgy. Bong Mal and B’laans of Atmorok.  SMI decided to relocate the B’laans of Brgy. Bong Mal to Atmorok.  These two communities have bad blood between them.

Majority of the B’laans want the military out of their ancestral land.  They also want Sagittarius Mines Incorporated to respect their ancestral land, human rights, customary laws and traditional rich cultures.  They want SMI to stop the project.

This being the Year of Faith we ask everyone to be converted to God and stop doing immoral actions.

+DINUALDO D. GUTIERREZ, D.D.
  Bishop of Marbel
22 October 2012

Synod of Bishops, October 11, 2012. Interventions

Fr. Robert F. Prevost, Prior General of St. Augustin (Augustinians).  From Chicago, Ill.

Role of mass media in shaping “human imagination regarding faith and ethics, particularly television and cinema.

Mass media as responsible for garnering sympathy “for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel.”

Frontline evangelizers “must become more informed of the challenges of evangelizing with the present difficulties.”

Fathers of the Church are “masters of the art of rhetoric.” “…they understood the foundations of social communication appropriate to the world in which they lived.”

“The proper mission of the Church is to introduce people to the nature of mystery as an antidote to spectacle.”  Religious to live faithfully the evangelical counsels. (Vatican City, Oct. 12, 2012, zenith.org).

First Assembly, Campus Ministers (CM) In Public Schools

Sixty-three (63) Campus Ministers in public schools met on 12-13, 2012, St. Marcellin Champagnant Hall, Notre Dame of Marbel University, Koronadal City.  They came from the Archdiocese of Cotabato, Diocese of Kidapawan and Diocese of Marbel.

Main activities:

(1)      Mass, Bishop Dinualdo, presider and homilist.  Gal. 3: 7-14 (Abraham, the man of faith).  Lk. 11: 15-26 (Jesus casts out a demon).  Faith is needed in spiritual warfare.  Study the catechism of the Catholic Church, develop intimacy with Jesus through prayer/contemplation, do acts of justice and love.

(2)      Talk “Campus Ministry: A Call for Relevance in Today’s Context.  Msgr. Vicente D. Bauson, Director, Campus Ministry – Archdiocese of Manila, Director, CMNet Phil.

(3)      Workshop 1. “Our Ministry Today: Concerns and initiatives in Ministering to School Community” – Ms. Rebecca Arquiza-Baldonado, Prog. Coordinator, Archdiocese of Manila and CMNet Phil.  Reporting.

(4)      Talk: “Effective Ways of Serving the Campus through the CM-RE Program” – Sr. Millette Olifernas, OND, OND Ministry Coordinator, OND Schools’ Superintendent.  Open Forum.

(5)      Team-building.  Socials.  Film Viewing.

(6)      Workshop 2.  “Planning the Shape and Possibilities of Campus Ministry.”  Ms. Baldonado, facilitator.  Plenary reporting.

(7)      Talk: “Presenting the Campus Ministry Network of the Philippines” – Msgr. Bauson.

(8)      Synthesis and Ways of Proceedings to organize the Regional Assembly of CM, Region 12.  Ms. Petrocil M. Manzano, Region 12 Coordinator, CMNet Phil., Mr. Al F. Quillope, Coordinator NDMU Center for Peace and Environment.

(9)      Closing Mass, Fr. Joel Aliligay and talk “the Spirituality of Campus Ministers.”

We hope students, faculty and administrative staff would know Jesus Christ, Crucified and Risen, accept Him into their lives, obey his command to love God and neighbor, practice their faith and protect the integrity of God’s creation.

Congratulations!

Synod of Bishops, 5th General Congregation, October 10, 2012

Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury addressed the Synod of Bishops, 6pm, 10 October 2012.

He said contemplation is “Key to Humanity.”  Viewing the world in freedom – ‘freedom from self oriented, acquisitive habits and the distorted understanding that comes from them’.

“To put it boldly, contemplation is the only ultimate answer to the unreal and insane world that our financial systems and our advertising culture and our chaotic an unexamined emotions encourage us to inhabit”, Archbishop Rowan said.

‘The Anglican prelate emphasized that learning contemplative practice is revolutionary, one that allows all to live in truth, honesty and love’ (zenith.org, Vatican City, Oct. 11, 2012).

  Free interventions followed until 7:00pm.

3.1. Card. Jean Louis Tauran, President, Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.  NO. 73 Instrumentum Laboris. “Christians, often ignorant of the content of their own faith and incapable because of this of living of and for it, are not capable of interreligious dialogue that always begins with the assertion of one’s own conviction there is no room for syncretism or relativism.  Three challenges for the faithful: (1) challenge of identity; who is my God? (2) challenge of alterity: others, not of my faith, are pilgrims of truth; (3) challenge of pluralism: God is at work in each person.

3.2. Archbishop Pascal Wintzer, Poitiers (France) Globalized but shattered world.  Community inclusive: among those who follow the Lord in the Gospel are disciples and crowds (non disciples).  Church must be an audible and credible witness to the world.

3.3. Bishop Louis Pelatree, A.A., Apostolic Vicar of Istanbul (Turkey).  Christians in Turkey constitute less than 1% of the population.  Recipients of evangelization are the small flock of practicing faithful, the mass of non-practicing Catholics, the other Christians faiths and almost the whole of Turkey’s population – practicing or sociological Muslims.

            No.  74 of Instrumentum Laboris.  “Dialogue is the path towards the Kingdom” (Redemptoris Missio, 55 and 56, John Paul II).  Need for well-prepared and qualified evangelizers.

3.4.  Archbishop Luis Augusto Castro Quiroga, I.M.C., Tunja (Colombia)

Heart speaks to heart.  Three steps: MBS

M         –  Meeting of the disciple with Jesus, a meeting of love that is surprising, transforming,      personal.

B         –  Being like Jesus.

S          –  Showing others, as good witnesses, this experience of Jesus.

The MBS must be accompanied by Go and Make Disciples (GMD)

3.5. Bishop Christopher Charles Prowse, Sale (Australia).  Instrumentum Laboris (139, 140) distinguished between initial proclamation of the Gospel and catechesis.

3.6.  Fr. Adolfo Nicolas Pachon, S.J., Superior General, Jesuits.  Find God in all things, in all cultures.  Need for humility, simplicity of the message, generosity and joy, simple lifestyle, forgiveness, reconciliation, message of cross in self-denial.

3.7.  Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt, Palai of Syro – Malabars (India).  Syriac Orient directly linked to Biblical world.  Strong patristic basis (Fathers of Church), for effective method of new evangelization.

Marbel Clergy’s Recollection

Forty priests (of 50 = 80%) attended the recollection in Maitum, Sarangani on 09 October 2012.

Activities: exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, recitation of/ meditation on, scriptural rosary, benediction; talk; mass; and eating.

Fr. Ramil Nerio, Diocesan Director, Christian Formation Center, spoke on the “Year of Faith.”  He started with a reflective reading of Lk. 10: 38-42, about Martha and Mary, active and contemplative.

Faith expresses hope (cf. Heb. 11:1).  Comes from what is heard (cf. Rom. 10:17).  Stands with the Lord (cf. Benedict XVI, Porta Fidei, n. 10).  Faith connotes change (conversion, aim of Year of Faith).  Faith demands working for the common good.  It leads us to a new understanding, a new way of becoming – a new perspective, new evangelization.

Jesus Christ is the object of our faith.  We believe in Jesus crucified and risen.  He is our Redeemer, Salvation is God’s ultimate call (Reported by Fr. Joseph Morallon).

Thank you Fr. Michelle Tacogue and parishioners of Sto. Niño Parish for your hospitality and for the abundant, nutritious, delicious food.  A real feast!

Year Of The Faith Launched in Marbel Diocese

The year of Faith which started on 11 October 2012 was launched in the Diocese of Marbel on 14 October 2012.

Launchings were done in all parishes during Sunday masses and Bible Services in Basic Ecclesial Communities.  This strategy was chosen to reach out to more people.

Key activity was the reading of Bishop Dinualdo’s Pastoral Letter “Year of Faith: Jesus Crucified and Risen.”

Quoting Benedict XVI, Bishop Dinualdo wrote that this Year of Faith will “help Catholics appreciate the gift of faith, deepen their relationship with God, and strengthen their commitment to sharing Faith with others” (CNS, Oct. 18, 2011).

We are summoned during this Year of Faith “to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord” (Benedict XVI, Porta Fidei, n. 6).

Bishop Dinualdo exhorted the faithful: “to study the Catechism of the Catholic Church to deepen their faith and gain more personal knowledge of Jesus Christ; to improve their prayer life to have an intimacy with our Lord; and “to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8) to be credible witnesses to Jesus Crucified and Risen.”