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Bishops leave for Senate hearing on PCSO controversy


Catholic bishops on Wednesday morning left for the Senate in a convoy of vehicles to attend a Senate hearing on alleged irregularities in vehicle donations to some bishops by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO). The convoy included some sport-utility vehicles such as an Isuzu Crosswind and a Nissan Pathfinder, radio dzBB’s Carlo Mateo reported. The convoy left the Pope Pius Catholic Center in Manila after 8 a.m. and headed for the Senate, whose blue ribbon committee was to start its hearing at 9:30 a.m. Among the bishops in the convoy were members of the CBCP Permanent Council, as well as outgoing president Nereo Odchimar and retired Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, the report said. Before leaving for the Senate, the bishops held a “final briefing" for the hearing, the report added. On Monday, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines assured the public the bishops are ready to accept the consequences of their actions, even as it apologized for the scandal. In a pastoral statement read by Odchimar last Monday, the CBCP also asked the public to be slow in judging the bishops, who it said acted out of sincere concern for their flock. "We assure you that the bishops concerned are ready to accept responsibility for their action and to face the consequences if it would be proven unlawful, anomalous, and unconstitutional. We assure you that their action was done without malice. Out of their sincere desire to help their people, they failed to consider the pitfalls to which these grants could possibly lead them. They have also expressed their readiness to do everything that is necessary to heal this wound so that we can all move forward in hope," Odchimar said in the statement titled "A Time of Pain, A Time of Grace." He said the CBCP expressed "deep sorrow" for the pain that the recent events have brought to the people. Odchimar added they will take the recent ordeal to "encourage and challenge us" to do better. He also hinted at a review of the Church's collaboration with the government to help the poor. "We also assure you, our beloved people, that we shall re-examine the manner of our collaboration with government agencies for purposes of helping the poor, making sure that pastoral sensibilities are respected and the highest ethical standards are observed," he said. He said the Church will examine its values in the light of its vocation to be disciples of Jesus Christ. "We commit ourselves to the long journey of personal and social transformation required of all disciples of the Lord. We plead with you to walk with us in this path of constant renewal," he said. 'Apologies' In the pastoral statement, Odchimar said the Church was "deeply wounded" by the controversies in the PCSO that had erupted in the past two weeks. He said that while some members of the Church believe in the innocence of the bishops involved in the issue, "others do not." "As shepherds struggling to love you like Jesus the Good Shepherd, we are sorry for the pain and sadness that these events have brought upon you," he said. Odchimar said the Church was particularly saddened that many of the faithful, especially the youth, the poor and the basic ecclesial communities, had become confused due to the "apparent inconsistency of our actions with our pastoral preaching." But he also appealed to the public to be "slow in judgment and to conscientiously seek the whole truth behind the controversy." — LBG, GMA News

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