SAN FERNANDO City, Pampanga, March 7, 2015—Amid the violence and bloodshed now happening in Mindanao, a Filipino Catholic Church official insists mutual hatred and vengeance will take the nation nowhere.
Peace, reconciliation
Rather than plotting each other’s undoing, fostering division, and adding more fuel to the fire, San Fernando Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Virgilio S. David said the faithful would do better by paving the way for lasting peace and reconciliation in the country.
San Fernando Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Virgilio S. David (Photo: CBCPNews)
In his interview over Radyo Veritas, the prelate, who also chairs the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)’s Episcopal Commission on Biblical Apostolate (ECBA), stressed the Church is well within her right to promote and call for peace and justice, urging both the clergy and the laity to actively support this endeavor.
War ‘un-Christian’
The Kapampangan bishop further noted that waging war on fellow humans does not make one a good Christian.
While many Filipinos felt the loss of the Mamasapano victims’ bereaved families, taking it as their own, David said the anguish this brought about should not blind them to the cause of and need for peace.
Once peace has been endangered, the prelate pointed out it is only a matter of time before more innocent people will needlessly perish.
40 days
Meanwhile, Thursday, March 5, marked the 40th day since the demise of 67 individuals, 44 of whom commandos of the elite Philippine National Police (PNP)’s Special Action Force (SAF) in what has been dubbed the “Mamasapano Massacre.”
Bishop Leopoldo S. Tumulak of the Philippine Military Ordinariate presided over a Eucharistic celebration held at the Shrine of St. Thérèse sa Pasay City in honor of the victims. (Raymond A. Sebastián/CBCP News)
