Bishops criticize RH bill in Easter messages

As the issue on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill continues to heat up, Catholic bishops have been criticizing artificial contraception in their messages for Easter. "If we are truly an Easter people and love is our rule of life, we must destroy callousness and audacity... Contraception is corruption of love and life. It is not a solution. It will only open more problems for the soul of our nation," Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines website. "Sin is abnormal. Obedience to the Ten Commandments is normal. Let us not extol impurity and ridicule virtue. Polluting the minds of children by teaching them sex without God cries to heaven for divine justice. Easter people: stand up for life!" Villegas also said. CBCP president Nereo Odchimar likewise called for true social change, saying Filipinos should not be so selfish as to deny others their right to life. "Let us not be selfish as to deprive others of their right to live. Let us not be too clever as to deceive others to our own advantage. Let there be Easter in our midst by our presence that loves and cares," he said. Catholic Church officials have been vocal in opposing the RH bill and President Benigno Aquino III's Responsible Parenthood bill. The Church favors only natural means of family planning. Earlier this month, the President maintained he will push through with his bill even at the risk of excommunication. The President said he cannot ignore the plight of the poor. Involvement in politics Villegas, a protege of the late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, also called for involvement in politics to make it a "liberating, not a corrupting kind of politics." He also called for an end to indifference, apathy, insensitivity, heartlessness, callousness, and audacity. "The risen Lord urges us to bring Christian ethics to economics and put charity — not profit — as its overriding principle. The risen Lord sends us on a mission back to Galilee to restore all things to him. Easter people: spread the values of Christ!" Villegas said. He said Christians must now show responsibility and mercy and not continue to ignore the poor. Otherwise, "the world outside our parish churches will not believe that Christ has risen if our lives do not show any signs of new life at all," he added. "It is not hard to meet the poor if we are not playing blind to their presence. We cannot claim to be an Easter people and yet not do anything about the silent moans of aborted babies. We cannot sing Alleluia and remain insensitive to rising criminality, the commercialization of sex and the unabated availability of shabu in the neighborhood. Easter people: act now!" Villegas said. For his part, Odchimar said the world remains "beset by various forms of evil enslavement." "Our Lord himself who became man like us went through even the worst of human degradation and suffering in the hands of a corrupt humanity," he said. He urged Catholics to become builders of social transformation and work for peace that lasts and for justice that enhances human condition. "With renewed vigor, let us become builders of social transformation. Let us work for peace that lasts and justice that enhances human condition... Let there be Easter in our midst by our presence that loves and cares," he said. — JE, GMA News