[quote=karljadon ]
kanang CBCP dili unta na sila mag apil-x2, feeling important kaayo na sila murag ilang voice para sa tanan, ako pa nila tabang sila sa mga pobre pag educate.....
How can I disagree with you? Now let's hear from one of the Bishops who seems to be enlightened now. Through soul searching, he realized that he too was a factor of divisiveness in our society. I hope kining ubang mga hilabtanon nga Obispo will follow him. The better for them is to help educate the public who should and who should not hold a public office. The key is educating the public and the pulpit can be very effectivet on this and they'd better leave accusations and finger pointings to the politicians.
Catholic bishop tones down political activism
By Christian V. Esguerra
Inquirer
Last updated 11:44pm (Mla time) 02/09/2007
MANILA, Philippines -- A Roman Catholic bishop often heard criticizing social injustice under the Arroyo administration acknowledged on Friday that his involvement in political affairs might be divisive for the country.
Speaking with candor at a media briefing on ecumenical dialogue, Novaliches Bishop Antonio Tobias said he was going through a "self-examination" to determine if he
should continue being in the frontlines on political matters.
"Shall I continue or not? I am getting myself to answer this because this is dividing our own folk," said the 65-year-old prelate.
Tobias said answering the question was also related to his "own conversion" apparently brought about by an agreement among bishops not to directly involve themselves in political affairs.
Tobias is considered among the few "talking bishops" in the local Catholic hierarchy, along with Archbishop Oscar Cruz, and Bishops Deogracias Iñiguez, and Julio Xavier Labayen, and lately, Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines president.
Despite the label, these men of the cloth and their supporters explained that their involvement in social and political issues was clearly grounded on their responsibility as moral shepherds.
As per the CBCP agreement, Tobias said he was staying out of the frontlines, preferring instead that the Catholic laity lead the struggle against social injustices.
"If you notice, you don't see me often nowadays," he said in Filipino.
Observers within the Catholic hierarchy believe that the opinions of Tobias, Iñiguez, and Labayen on political issues were magnified by their affiliation to the Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomiya.
It's a coalition of people from the clergy, academe, and economics promoting a "nationalist" economy for the country. The three bishops act as spiritual advisers, but are normally thrown by the group in the frontline.
Despite his "self-examination," Tobias said he was not exactly abandoning his shepherding role on concrete social and political situations.
Staying behind the scenes, he said he would, for instance, encourage lay Catholics in his diocese to promote responsible voting in the May elections.
"We have to prepare our own people to vote wisely," he said.
The task is currently at work on a national scale, courtesy of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting led by Henrietta de Villa, former Philippine ambassador to the Vatican.