CBCP to consult with RH experts before dialog with Palace

Catholic bishops said they will consult with legal and medical experts in coming weeks to help them prepare for a dialogue with Malacañang on controversial issues that surround government efforts to shape a reproductive health (RH) policy. Members of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said they will seek opinions of such "lay people," as bishops admitted they are aware of their limitations. “Since our major line is on morality, we would be enlisting help from the lay people who would be with us representing their specific expertise," said CBCP president and Tandag bishop Nereo Odchimar, in an article posted Saturday night on the CBCP news site. Odchimar said the bishops will seek to tackle the demography, economics, legal and medical aspects of reproductive health. He said the CBCP’s preparations are still ongoing as no schedule for the dialogue has been finalized yet. “This is also a presentation that the majority of the church in the Philippines is composed of lay people… so that would be a concerted presentation of the position of the church not only by the CBCP, but in the totality," Odchimar added. Odchimar disclosed this at the start of the three-day “Human Life International (HLI) 17th Asia-Pacific Congress on Faith, Life and Family" in Makati City. Last month, President Benigno Aquino III sought a dialogue with Catholic bishops and other stakeholders on the government’s policy on reproductive health even as he assured the public that his pro-choice stance on family planning remained unchanged. Odchimar and other ranking prelates earlier sat down with Aquino at the Bahay Pangarap on October 12, where they reportedly talked with the President for three hours. (See: Aquino, bishops meet on RH issue) “He [Aquino] was talking most of the time about his projects and about his accomplishments, and it was only the last 20 minutes that we discussed about the RH bill," said Odchimar. Near the end of their meeting, the Church officials took the opportunity to correct the misimpression that Odchimar had considered the option of excommunicating Aquino for allowing artificial contraception. “I just clarified that I never threatened him with excommunication and the bishops have not discussed about civil disobedience," Odchimar said. But the Catholic Church would continue fighting for the protection of life, the CBCP president maintained. “For us it does not matter, whether we win or lose, we still have to preach the gospel (and) preach the position of the Catholic Church so that it might not be said that if the RH bill would pass, it is because the bishops did not do anything, that the bishops did not speak out," he said.—JV, GMANews.TV