Support Each Other, Mindanao Clergy Urged: UCAN

MATI, Philippines (UCAN) -- A regional clergy convention has stressed support among "brother priests" in the southern Philippines, especially for priests who live in isolation, with little basic supplies, in dangerous areas.

It is important for priests and bishops to support each other in the diocese, Archbishop Romulo Valles of Zamboanga told 405 priests and bishops at the 34th Annual Convention of the Diocesan Clergy of Mindanao (DCM).

Organizers of the Feb. 12-14 convention at Clergy House of Mati diocese chose the theme "Nobody Gives Up on a Brother Priest" to emphasize the value of mutual concern among clergy, especially during trying times, according to outgoing DCM president Father Elmer Abacahin of Cagayan de Oro archdiocese. Mati, 1,025 kilometers southeast of Manila, is the capital of Davao Oriental province.

In his keynote address, Archbishop Valles reminded participants that though they have been brought into "communion with God" through priestly ordination, they still need support among "all clergy in brotherhood."

This support, he clarified, is not only for seeing each other through practical difficulties but also for building a "counter-culture" to the growing materialism of modern society, which threatens to weaken the priesthood.

The ecclesial territories of the Mindanao region include five archdioceses, 12 dioceses, one vicariate and three prelatures. Nearly a fourth of the country's 76.5 million people live in Mindanao.

All the ecclesial territories were represented, except for Isabela prelature, which covers Basilan province. Fourteen bishops from outside the region also attended.

After a Feb. 13 session, Bishop Angelito Lampon of Jolo spoke with UCA News about conditions in his vicariate. He said priests around Jolo town live in fear, in "ever-imminent danger of being shot or killed."

Abu Sayyaf extremists, bandits and Islamic rebels thrive in mountainous areas of the vicariate that covers Sulu and Tawi-Tawi provinces, which comprise 457 islands and islets. At the same time, there are ongoing military operations against the Abu Sayyaf.

Bishop Lampon recalled a priest serving on an island who "literally takes his life in his hands each time he gets on a boat" to reach his parish because the seas get rough from August to January, and pirates can attack. As for basic needs, he said at times the priest cannot buy fish because fishermen prefer to sell their catch at a higher price to middlemen. Moreover, with electricity lasting only up to six hours a day, he cannot stock up on food.

The bishop also said some priests face isolation and boredom because Catholics make up only two percent of the 1.02 million people in the vicariate. Priests in remote areas communicate with the bishop and each other through their sideband radios.

Bishop Lampon said he hosts clergy meetings every three months for prayer, discussion and "much-needed" fellowship.

Isolation is also a concern for Father Herminigildo Alinas of Malaybalay diocese. He said most of the 76 diocesan clergymen in his diocese are alone in distant parishes. Only four parishes have more than one priest, he observed, which is why the convention is helpful in "strengthening the priestly life."

During the rest of the year, he continued, Malaybalay priests nurture their community by meeting every two months.

Most priests who shared after Archbishop Valles' keynote address reported that they gather at least once a month for a diocesan clergy meeting. Others said they have one meeting and one prayer gathering a month.

One priest said when he was challenging a paper company to stop destructive logging in his diocese last year, it would have encouraged him if fellow priests supported his efforts. Others recalled then-Bishop Valles' inter-island biking trips with his priests in Kidapawan prior to his elevation and transfer to Zamboanga in January.

Participants at the recent convention elected Father Danilo Fuentes of Mati diocese as DCM president for the next three years. They decided to hold their 2008 convention in Iligan City, Lanao del Norte province.

In 1973, Mindanao priests organized the first DCM convention in Davao City, during a time when Church personnel and workers suffered persecution under martial law. "With or without martial law, the Church of Mindanao is growing fast" and diocesan priests must do their share in ministering to the "missionary, migrant and vibrant" Church in the region, they said in their first DCM convention statement.

In their 25th-anniversary booklet, DCM members described their ministry as Gospel witness among the region's "tri-people," meaning Christians, Muslims and lumad, the collective term for the area's indigenous peoples.

After their convention, the priests broke up into diocesan teams for basketball, lawn tennis and a bicycle race. Some spent the afternoon at a nearby beach. (UCAN)