Prolife group to hold anti-RH vigil November 20

Prolife groups will hold a prayer vigil in Manila on November 20 to express their opposition to the controversial reproductive health (RH) bill in Congress. Led by the Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas, the vigil dubbed “Prayers and Reflections on Human Life" will be held at the Manila Cathedral from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. on November 20. “As a Church, we cannot just be complacent and allow this insidious attempt to ruin the moral and spiritual fabric of our society," Laiko national president Edgardo Tirona said in an article posted Tuesday afternoon on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) news site. He said now is the time for the laity to defend the Catholic faith “against those who are trying to propagate the culture of death in the guise of alleviating the lives" of the poor. Next week's prayer vigil will also serve as a spiritual prelude to a prayer vigil called by Pope Benedict XVI. The vigil, for “All Nascent of Human Life," will be conducted in all dioceses and parishes on November 27, the eve of the first Sunday of Advent. Tirona urged all lay organizations to participate in both activities and affirm their “commitment to the sacredness of family and life." Bishop questions consciences of RH bill supporters Meanwhile, Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales said the Catholic hierarchy will continue to oppose the RH bill and other measures that they consider to be violating the moral law. He also called on the lawmakers to make serious examination of conscience before casting their votes for the RH bill because their choice will have long-lasting consequences on the lives of Filipinos. Rosales said RH bill supporters are “lost" and do not have "well-formed" consciences. “There are consciences that are not well formed. They were not brought up properly and that is always certain," Rosales said in an article posted on the CBCP news site on Monday. Rosales made the statement in his homily during the closing Mass of the three-day 17th Asia-Pacific Congress on Faith, Life and Family at the Dusit Hotel in Makati City. Rosales said one of the country’s biggest problems is the lack of values, which he said is prevalent among public officials. He said contraception would probably not have been much of an issue if the country elected lawmakers with good consciences. According to Rosales, a well-formed Christian conscience does not permit a person to support a political program or a law that contradicts faith and morals. Those involved in lawmaking have a grave and clear obligation to oppose any law that attacks human life, he added. Rosales said the decision of the lawmakers on the RH bill will reflect how they were brought up by their parents, who are the “first teacher of conscience." “If you fail (in guiding your children properly), you will reap the kind of people that you have now in most of our institutions, including Congress," Rosales said. Rosales' statement came barely two days after CBCP president Nereo Odchimar said they will consult with legal and medical experts to prepare them for a dialogue with government on reproductive health. RH bill 96 Several versions of the RH bill have been filed in previous congresses. In the present Congress, the RH bill is known as "Bill 96" whose main proponent is Minority Leader Edcel Lagman of Albay. The RH is based on the premise that the country's population growth impedes economic development and exacerbates poverty. The bill seeks to “guarantee to universal access to medically-safe, legal, affordable and quality reproductive health care services, methods, devices, supplies and relevant information." The bill also seeks a “consistent and coherent national population policy," citing studies that show that "rapid population growth exacerbates poverty while poverty spawns rapid population growth." The Catholic Church promotes only natural family planning and is opposed to the use of artificial birth control methods such as condoms and birth-control pills, saying these could lead to promiscuity and a rise in abortion cases. On the other hand, RH advocates say natural family planning methods are not as reliable as artificial means of birth control. End contraceptive mentality The Catholic Church accepts only natural family planning (NFP) methods. The NFP has two distinct forms: * Ecological breastfeeding (a form of child care that normally spaces babies about two years apart on the average), and * Systematic NFP (a system that uses a woman’s signs of fertility to determine the fertile and infertile times of her cycle). –VVP, GMANews.TV