Bishop calls for ‘sobriety’ on RH bill debate

While his colleagues continued to step up their attacks against the Reproductive Health (RH) bill and those in favor of it, a Catholic bishop on Monday called for sobriety on the issue. Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas lamented that the heated debates have already placed Catholics at “odds" with one another. “We want to make a plea for greater charity even as we passionately state our positions on this divisive issue ... At the end of the heated debates, we will all be winners if we proclaim the truths we believe in with utmost charity, courtesy and respect for one another," he said in a pastoral statement, excerpts of which were posted on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines news site. He said it was not the Church’s intention to “add flame to the fire" but rather to make an appeal “for the triumph of reason and sobriety." Villegas also said it is “sad" and even “scandalous" for non-Christians to see the Catholics divided among themselves. He also noted that there are also instances where some Catholics’ relationship with their own pastors suffered because of the issue. “We appeal to our Catholic brethren to remember that the unity of the Church does not only pertain to the acceptance of a set of doctrines. Our Catholic faith has a moral mandate," Villegas said. “It is not enough to recite the Apostles’ Creed; we must show that we are Catholics by living by the norms of Catholic morality. We are Catholics by creed and cult and code. We are Catholics in beliefs. We are Catholics in prayer. We are Catholics with one moral life," he added. Villegas also called on the people for understanding on the Church’s position on the issue, adding that all it wants is for the welfare of the people. The Church opposes the RH bill for its provisions allowing artificial means of contraception. The Church allows only natural means of family planning. Retired cardinal wants PNoy family to ‘guide’ him Meanwhile, a retired cardinal asked President Benigno Aquino III’s “very Catholic" family to guide him on the matter. Retired Cardinal Jose Sanchez said Aquino needs guidance for him to decide morally on the issue. “I only hope that the family (of Aquino) who is very Catholic will do something. It seems that they cannot tell him… the mother probably if she was alive," Sanchez said on Church-run Radio Veritas. “I was very close to the mother before," he added, referring to the late President Corazon Aquino. He also said he is praying that Aquino rejects the bill on contraceptives and favor on what is just and moral. “I pray for the enlightenment of the President that God may give him the strength… a moral strength ... I hope the family will also be praying for this light from God. He needs moral light… the spiritual and wisdom," Sanchez said. “We need spiritual gift [for] our leaders to really prefer the light and to prefer or stop this human desire which in the end will destroy human family," he added. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines earlier withdrew from dialogues on the RH bill, citing Aquino’s apparent “firmness" in his position. “I hope that our leaders see that the Church is here to protect the truth," said Sanchez. — KBK, GMA News