Ateneo on RH issue: We respect our educators but we stand behind Catholic Church

The Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) in Quezon City on Friday said it supports the anti-reproductive health (RH) stance of the Catholic Church but respects the stand of the university's pro-RH educators. On Wednesday, more than 200 ADMU and University of the Philippines (UP) faculty members declared their support for the RH bill and urged lawmakers to pass the bill in Congress immediately. On Thursday, University President Bienvenido Nebres, S.J., released a statement clarifying the stance of ADMU on the RH bill. The university acknowledges the right of the faculty members to express their views as individual Catholics, the statement said. The ADMU also appreciates the educators for clearly stating that their stand on the RH bill was their personal opinion and not the university's stand. Nebres said the university appreciates "the efforts of these members of the Ateneo faculty to grapple with serious social issues and to draw from Catholic moral teaching in their study of the bill." "However, the Ateneo de Manila University does not agree with their position of supporting the present bill," the statement said. The statement said ADMU stands by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and the Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus, as they had stated way back in 2008. The ADMU said it opposes the RH bill, as the CBCP and the Society of Jesus do. In the statement Nebres issued on Thursday, he cited the letter he sent on October 2, 2008 to Catholic bishops on the RH issue when he expressed the "opinion of our moral theologians." In the 2008 letter, Nebres said "although there are points wherein the aforesaid bill and the Catholic moral tradition are in agreement, there are certain positions and provisions in the bill which are incompatible with principles and specific positions or moral teaching which the Catholic Church has held and continues to hold." The ADMU released a statement in 2008 after 14 faculty members wrote a position paper entitled "Catholics can support the RH Bill in good conscience." The statement also said that the Ateneo de Manila, a Jesuit and Catholic university, ensures that "in our classes and other fora, we teach Catholic faith and morals in their integrity." As of posting time, UP, a state university, has not released a statement about its faculty members' support of the RH bill. – VVP, GMA News