Church’s stand on reproductive bill uncompromising

MANILA, Oct. 5, 2008—The Catholic Church’s position on the Reproductive Health bill is absolute, said an official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

CBCP spokesperson Msgr. Pedro Quitorio III said there’s no way that the Church will soften its position against the controversial bill currently pending in Congress.

“As of now, the stand of the CBCP on the RH bill is absolute. There’s no way to compromise,” he said in a forum in Intramuros, Manila.

Quitorio, however, admitted that they haven’t come up with a plan yet on what their next move will be in the event the bill is approved in Congress.

“The leadership hasn’t thought of what will happen afterwards. I can just surmise that if it gets approved, the CBCP will definitely do something,” he said.

At present, he said, they are concentrating on lobbying against the bill because of its anti-life provisions.

On Thursday, it was reported that the number of legislators in favor of the Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood, and Population Development Act of 2008 or House Bill (HB) 5043 climbed to 108 from 103, only 12 votes shy of approval in the House of Representatives. The bill needs 120 votes to be approved on second reading.

On the other hand, CBCP’s Episcopal Commission on Family and Life head and Pampanga Archbishop Paciano Aniceto said he is not in the least bothered by the development as he expressed confidence that the lawmakers would eventually make the right decision in the final voting.

“This is not a statistical contest. Above all our strategy here is a prayerful campaign. We will pray for the whole church that they will ask for divine assistance and we also pray for our legislators. They are men and women who are educated and they have their own conscience. This is also a test of maturity for our legislators,” he said.

The Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) also joined the Catholic Church’s voice in opposing the bill.

"We stand by the Church as she respectfully signified her strong objection to the contraceptive program the Bill promotes, considering the practices which it shall engender," CEAP said in a statement posted on their website (www.ceap.org.ph).

"Both Sacred Scripture and Reason proposed that the best form of birth regulation is self-discipline," it added.

Instead of allotting P2 billion from taxpayer’s money for the purchase of contraceptives, the CEAP has urged lawmakers to use the money for education, livelihood and basic public services.

The Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) is the biggest organized group of Catholic schools in the country, with about 1,252 member schools. (CBCPNews)

Familiaris Consortio #40:Relations with Other Educating Agents

40. The family is the primary but not the only and exclusive educating community. Man's community aspect itself-both civil and ecclesial-demands and leads to a broader and more articulated activity resulting from well-ordered collaboration between the various agents of education. All these agents are necessary, even though each can and should play its part in accordance with the special competence and contribution proper to itself.(104)

The educational role of the Christian family therefore has a very important place in organic pastoral work. This involves a new form of cooperation between parents and Christian communities, and between the various educational groups and pastors. In this sense, the renewal of the Catholic school must give special attention both to the parents of the pupils and to the formation of a perfect educating community.

The right of parents to choose an education in conformity with their religious faith must be absolutely guaranteed.

The State and the Church have the obligation to give families all possible aid to enable them to perform their educational role properly. Therefore both the Church and the State must create and foster the institutions and activities that families justly demand, and the aid must be in proportion to the families' needs. However, those in society who are in charge of schools must never forget that the parents have been appointed by God Himself as the first and principal educators of their children and that their right is completely inalienable.

But corresponding to their right, parents have a serious duty to commit themselves totally to a cordial and active relationship with the teachers and the school authorities.

If ideologics opposed to the Christian faith are taught in the schools, the family must join with other families, if possible through family associations, and with all its strength and with wisdom help the young depart from the faith. In this case the family needs special assistance from pastors of souls, who must never forget that parents have the inviolable right to entrust their children to the ecclesial community.

Familiaris Consortio #36:The Right and Duty of Parents Regarding Education

36. The task of giving education is rooted in the primary vocation of married couples to participate in God's creative activity: by begetting in love and for love a new person who has within himself or herself the vocation to growth and development, parents by that very fact take on the task of helping that person effectively to live a fully human life. As the Second Vatican Council recalled, "since parents have conferred life on their children, they have a most solemn obligation to educate their offspring. Hence, parents must be acknowledged as the first and foremost educators of their children. Their role as educators is so decisive that scarcely anything can compensate for their failure in it. For it devolves on parents to create a family atmosphere so animated with love and reverence for God and others that a well-rounded personal and social development will be fostered among the children. Hence, the family is the first school of those social virtues which every society needs."(99)

The right and duty of parents to give education is essential, since it is connected with the transmission of human life; it is original and primary with regard to the educational role of others, on account of the uniqueness of the loving relationship between parents and children; and it is irreplaceable and inalienable, and therefore incapable of being entirely delegated to others or usurped by others.

In addition to these characteristics, it cannot be forgotten that the most basic element, so basic that it qualifies the educational role of parents, is parental love, which finds fulfillment in the task of education as it completes and perfects its service of life: as well as being a source, the parents' love is also the animating principle and therefore the norm inspiring and guiding all concrete educational activity, enriching it with the values of kindness, constancy, goodness, service, disinterestedness and self-sacrifice that are the most precious fruit of love.