Catholic News, paiigitingin sa Pinas!

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Setyembre 19, 2009) – Pinaiigting ng Union of Catholic Asian News o UCAN ang operasyon nito sa bansa upang lalong pagtibayin ang mga balitang may kinalaman sa Katolismo.

Ang Pilipinas ay ang natatanging Katolikong bansa sa Asya at ito ang pinagtutuunan ng UCAN upang maipabatid ang magagandang pangyayari na may kinalaman sa mga komunidad hindi lamang sa mga Kristiyano kundi maging ibang relihiyon.

Pinangunahan ni Norma Jean Viehland ng UCAN-Manila ang pagtitipon sa Davao City na dinaluhan ng mga beteranong mamamahayag, peace advocates, at pari.

Ang UCAN ang pangunahing source ng mga ibat-ibang bansa sa mga balitang may kinalaman sa mga Katoliko.

Bukod sa UCAN ay ang Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines ay naglalabas ng mga balitang ukol sa Simbahan at mga mahahalagang isyu. (Mindanao Examiner)

Burglars Break Into Church, Steal Money And Leave A Note Asking For Aplogy In South RP

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 23, 2008) – Robbers broke into a Catholic church in the southern Philippines and carted some P150, 000 in donations from the sacristy, but left a note to the priest to ask for forgiveness for the crime, police said.

Police said a church helper, Jocelyn Tahoy, discovered the robbery on Tuesday and told police about the crime. Police said the Holy Infant of the Shrine Jesus church is located in Matina village in Davao City.

She said the lock of the sacristy was already destroyed when she arrived to clean the church. She said a note was left the burglars asking for an apology for taking the money.

Sacristy is a room for keeping vestments, such as the cassock and chasuble, and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. (Romy Bwaga)

Catholic priest ambushed in Southern Philippines

BASILAN, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 18, 2008) – A Catholic priest was wounded in an ambush Saturday while on his way to say mass on a remote town in the southern Philippine island of Basilan, police said.

Police said Claretian priest Felimon Libot was wounded in the attack and so were two of his security escorts, both government militias in the village of Upper Cabengbeng in Sumisip town.

"The priest is wounded and also his two security escorts" Senior Superintendent Salik Macapantar, the island's police chief, told the Mindanao Examiner.

He said the priest was on board a jeep on his way to the village of Tumahubong in Sumisip town when gunmen ambushed them at around 12.30 p.m. "There is an ongoing pursuit operation in the area," he said.

But Major Eugene Batara, a regional military spokesman, said four militiamen escorting the priest were wounded in the ambush. One marine soldier was also hurt in the attack, he said.

"Four government militias are wounded," Batara said.

No group claimed responsibility for the ambush, but police said the area is a known lair of Abu Sayyaf militants and the larger rebel group called Moro Islamic Liberation Front, both had been implicated in previous attacks in the predominantly Muslim province, just several nautical miles south of Zamboanga City.

The Abu Sayyaf is still holding two aid workers, Esperancita Hupida and Millet Mendoza, kidnapped last month on the island, about 900 kms south of Manila.

In March 2000, Abu Sayyaf militants kidnapped 58 people, mostly teachers and students, including a Catholic priest Roel Gallardo in Sumisip town. The priest was tortured and killed along with four other teachers.

The Abu Sayyaf, which means "Bearer of the Sword," was originally fighting for a separate Islamic state similar to Afghanistan, but resorted to banditry and kidnapping after its Libyan firebrand founder, Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, was killed in 1998 in a clash with policemen in Basilan province.

The Abu Sayyaf also killed two Catholic priests in the past years - Rey Roda of the congregation of Oblates of Mary Immaculate, who was shot inside his parish in Tawi-Tawi early in January this year and Bishop Benjamin de Jesus, assassinated in Sulu province in 1997. (Mindanao Examiner)

Photo: A Catholic Church In Zamboanga City

A Catholic church in the village of Putik in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion – Steven Weinberg.

Catholic Missionary Killed, Teacher Kidnapped By Sayyaf In Southern Philippines

Catholic priest Jesus Reynaldo Roda in these undated photos released to the Mindanao Examiner newspaper by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in southern Philippines. The priest, also known as Father Rey, was killed by the Abu Sayyaf during a botched kidnapping late Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008 in Tawi-Tawi province. (Mindanao Examiner Photo/Mark Navales)

TAWI-TAWI, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 16, 2008) – Abu Sayyaf militants raided a convent in the remote southern Philippine island of Tawi-Tawi and killed a Catholic missionary during a kidnapping attempt, officials said on Wednesday.

Fr. Rey Roda, of the congregation of Oblates of Mary Immaculate, was killed outside his convent at the compound of the Notre Dame High School, where he also served as its director, in the village of Likud Tabawan in South Ubian town late Tuesday.

Villagers tried to rescue the priest, but failed. Policemen who rushed to the school, clashed with the militants who took one teacher hostage, Omar Taub. “There was a firefight and Fr. Roda was resisting the kidnappers and he was shot and killed,” Fr. Rito Daquipil, head of the OMI mission in Tawi-Tawi province, told the Mindanao Examiner newspaper.

He said the priest’s hands were tied when they recovered the body slumped outside his convent. “We are all sad. Father Roda was a good man and loved by everybody. He was there doing missionary works with our Muslim brothers and sisters for the past ten years,” Daquipil said.

Roda was praying when the gunmen, about 10 of them armed with rifles and handguns, seized the priest and dragged him outside the chapel, Daquipil said, quoting a report from the village.

He said the body of the priest would be sent to OMI headquarters in Cotabato City.

The Philippine military launched a massive search Wednesday to capture the attackers and rescue the teacher.

It also condemned the killing of the priest. “We condemned the killing of Father Rey Roda. The Abu Sayyaf has no respect to religion and even an innocent priest is killed,” said Army Maj. Eugene Batara, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command.

He said troops were searching for the hostage. “General Allaga ordered troops to rescue the hostage and neutralize the terrorists,” he said, referring to the chief of the Western Mindanao Command, Lt. Gen. Nelson Allaga.

It was not the first time that the Abu Sayyaf killed a priest. In 2002, militants also kidnapped, tortured and killed a Claretian priest Roel Gallardo in Basilan province, several nautical miles south of Zamboanga City.

In 1997, the Abu Sayyaf also assassinated a Catholic bishop Benjamin de Jesus in Jolo town in Sulu province. He was shot several times outside his church in a broad daylight attack.

Three years later, the Abu Sayyaf also ambushed a Catholic missionary, Benjamin Inocencio, in Jolo town while buying gifts for poor Muslims. The Abu Sayyaf also randomly attacked and bombed Catholic churches in Tawi-Tawi, Sulu and in Mindanao the past decade.

The Abu Sayyaf, which means “Bearer of the Sword,” was originally fighting for a separate Islamic state similar to Afghanistan, but resorted to banditry and kidnappings for ransom after its Libyan firebrand founder, Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, was killed in 1998 in a firefight with policemen in Basilan province. (With reports from Nickee Butlangan in Tawi-Tawi and Mark Navales in Mindanao)

Photo: Black Nazarene

A man dressed up like the Black Nazarene speaks on a mobile phone in front of the Saint John, the Baptist Church in Manila’s Quiapo District. The Black Nazarene is a life-sized statue of Christ that a priest bought in Mexico and brought to Manila in 1606. Since 1787 the statue has been housed at Saint John the Baptist Church. Today, January 9, Manila will celebrate the annual Black Nazarene Procession with throngs of people following the statue through the neighborhood in hopes of a miracle. For more than 200 years the church has been placing the statue on a gilded carriage every January and pulling it through the streets of Quiapo. People who touch it are reported to sometimes be healed of diseases. It is usually the single largest festival of the year in the Philippines, the only country in Asia where Roman Catholics make up a majority of the population. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

Catholics Work For Beatification Of Slain Bishop In South RP

TAWI-TAWI – Catholic parishioners have gathered at a church in the southern Philippine island of Tawi-Tawi as part of an ongoing effort toward beatification of their slain bishop, the Union of Catholic Asian News reported Tuesday.

It said men and women and children assembled at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Parish in Bongao town over the weekend and listened to members of the Bishop Benjamin de Jesus Beatification Movement explain the survey they are conducting.

The movement was started in 2003 to work for the beatification of the previous bishop of Jolo, who was killed in 1997. Gunmen shot De Jesus just outside the church called Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral in downtown Jolo, 950 kilometers southeast of Manila, where the Apostolic Vicariate of Jolo is based.

Carmen Gobaton, a beatification movement member and Jolo church worker, explained to parishioners in Bongao the inspiration behind her group's efforts and why they are asking people how long and how well they knew the bishop.

Survey forms also ask how people got to know the bishop, what kind of qualities they observed in him and what significance his death held for them.

The movement is a "spiritual" initiative and has no "political agenda," Gobaton stressed at the orientation session. She told UCA News the gunmen who shot the bishop may have killed the prelate’s body, but they did not quell his spirit or his influence on the people he met during his ministry in Jolo.

Among the projects the bishop began were housing for tricycle drivers, cooperative stores and livelihood programs for the Badjao and Muslim Tausugs.

Gobaton said Tawi-Tawi is her group's third survey area. Earlier this year about 170 Muslims, Christians and Badjao responded to surveys conducted in their communities. Among them were members of Basic Ecclesial Communities and the late bishop's cooperatives, beneficiaries of his housing projects and Notre Dame of Jolo students and their parents.

In Siasi town, on a small island south of Jolo, at least 55 people of various religious and cultural groups responded to the survey, also earlier this year.

One man told researchers that in his predominantly Badjao Tuhug-tuhug community, the slain bishop came to be known as "Father Bishop" because he visited them frequently as a priest.

"He made an effort to come for anniversaries of programs such as the foundation of the Badjao learning center. He ate with us and spent time with our children in the kindergarten," the man told the volunteers conducting the survey.

An imam (Muslim prayer leader) credits Bishop de Jesus for inspiring him to become a prayer leader.

"He taught me to be prayerful," the imam said. One man claimed he would be dead by now if not for the late bishop's "compassion." He explained that he had gotten "very sick" and the bishop took him immediately to the hospital emergency room.

Gobaton said the movement for Bishop de Jesus' beatification began after the chairperson of Jolo's worship committee, Juludi Elam, shared at a Lenten activity in 2003 about how the slain bishop had inspired her and many others.

Those present at the Lenten event, including two deacons of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions and lay parishioners "close" to Bishop de Jesus, suggested they work for the bishop's beatification and martyrdom cause.

They began meeting regularly until they identified the tasks to be accomplished and assigned people to do the research. They also agreed to compile the bishop's writings, including his letters.

In the past year, movement members have met the fourth Sunday of every month to pray and reflect on their experiences with the late bishop.

Gobaton said people given pieces of cloth from Bishop de Jesus' vestments have reported healings. Some people also told researchers they became well after praying to the late bishop for his intercession.

Born in the Malabon district of Manila, Bishop de Jesus served as a member of the Oblate outreach program at Notre Dame College in Jolo in 1976, nine years after being ordained a priest. He later became school president, and in January 1992 Pope John Paul II appointed him bishop and apostolic vicar of Jolo, succeeding then retiring American Bishop George Dion.

Witnesses to his killing claimed to have seen three men approach the bishop before they shot him in the head and chest, killing him instantly. One suspect, Mubin Madangan, was later arrested and tried for the murder, but the trial was halted and he was released in June 2000 after a key witness died.

Locals had told UCA News they suspected a politician was behind the bishop's assassination. They claimed a witness had identified the gunmen as aides and a nephew of the politician. (UCAN)