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Date Posted: 03:04:16 08/03/12 Fri
Author: IMRD
Subject: August 3, 2012 news

http://opinion.inquirer.net/33911/but-doesnt-the-cbcp-support-responsible-parenthood


But doesn’t the CBCP support responsible parenthood?
By: Eleanor R. Dionisio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
9:37 pm | Thursday, August 2nd, 2012
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The Catholic debate over fertility regulation is now so muddled that even the bishops seem to have become confused.

The day after President Aquino declared in his State of the Nation Address that his administration would promote responsible parenthood, Archbishop Ramon Arguelles of Lipa was reported to have said: “We in the prolife movements are so disgusted with these vigorous pronouncements in support of responsible parenthood.”

I suspect that the good archbishop was misquoted, or that he really meant, not “responsible parenthood,” but “reproductive health,” or that he meant “the Responsible Parenthood bill,” which the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) says is reproductive health in responsible parenthood’s clothing.

That still would not have pleased many, including a number of Catholics, who find some prolife reactions to the Responsible Parenthood bill a bit hysterical. But disgust with statements in support of reproductive health would at least be consistent with the CBCP’s previous positions.

Disgust with statements in support of responsible parenthood, however, would be embarrassing to the CBCP, which has made such statements for more than 40 years.

The CBCP first proffered the concept of responsible parenthood at the end of the 1960s, as a Catholic alternative to “population control.” Population control emphasized birth reduction targets set by governments; responsible parenthood emphasized the empowerment of couples to choose how many children they could raise in a manner consistent with human dignity. But the bishops maintained, in line with Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical “Humanae Vitae,” that for Catholics the practice of responsible parenthood did not admit the use of contraception.

The CBCP cosponsored, with the Bureau of Public Schools and the private sector, “a nationwide program of education and service in responsible parenthood,” spanning 11 provinces by 1973. The bishops understood then that having more children than one could support was a problem for both the family and the nation, and that to solve it they had to work with the government—even if they were not happy that the government favored the distribution of contraceptives. Cooperation ceased when the CBCP judged the Marcos dictatorship’s population program to be deceptive and coercive, lacking respect for the consciences and choices of its clients.

Four years after the fall of the dictatorship, in its 1990 “Guiding Principles” on population control, the CBCP renewed the push for responsible parenthood: “This means, among other things, that couples should bring into the world generously the children [whom] they can raise up as good human beings, but they should seek to bring into the world only those that they can raise up as good human beings.”

In 1991, the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines—the assembly of bishops, clergy, religious, and laity which set the Philippine Catholic Church’s directions for the 21st century—inscribed responsible parenthood into its “Acts and Decrees.” This document declared that parents “should strive to beget only those children whom they can raise up in a human way.”

In 2001, in its joint pastoral statement “Saving and Strengthening the Filipino Family,” the CBCP said: “Even as children are precious gifts of God, we must realize that ‘responsible parenthood’ has to be exercised.”

In 2005, the CBCP pastoral letter “Hold on to your Precious Gift” further elaborated on the Catholic concept of responsible parenthood, quoting passages from “Humanae Vitae”: “It calls for due regard to physical, economic, psychological and social conditions in deciding ‘to raise a numerous family.’ It includes the spouses’ decision ‘based on grave motives and with due respect for the moral law, to avoid for the time being or even for an indeterminate period, a new birth’” (italics in original).


http://www.malaya.com.ph/index.php/news/nation/9984-rh-debate-gets-bogged-down-in-semantics

RH debate gets bogged down in semantics
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Published on Friday, 03 August 2012 00:00
Written by GERARD NAVAL and JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR
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THE Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines yesterday belied the statement of presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda that the CBCP was consulted on the contents of the reproductive health/ responsible parenthood bill.
Fr. Melvin Castro, executive secretary of the CBCP’s Episcopal Commission on Family and Life (ECFL), said the CBCP is not aware of any consultation.
“Definitely ang authority sa issue na ito ay ang ECFL and we flatly deny that we were ever consulted by Malacañang on the matter,” said Castro.
Castro said talking with one bishop, if Malacañang did, does not mean CBCP has been consulted.
“Kung may na-consult sila na individual bishop, hindi pwede sabihin na CBCP yun. Sapagkat ang CBCP ay kabuuan ng mga obispo. Ngayon, hindi namin alam sino nakausap nila,” said Castro.
On Wednesday, Lacierda said the responsible parenthood bill “that the President introduced or the administration introduced took into consideration the concerns of the bishops.”
“Just to remind our Catholic bishops…There were several meetings held by the bishops and there were certain issues that they raised. And those were studied by the administration and they were incorporated into the responsible parenthood bill. I hope the bishops do realize that their concerns were noted by the President when we introduced the responsible parenthood bill to Congress,” he said.
Yesterday, Ramon Carandang, Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning secretary, said dialogues were held on and off with members of the CBCP since 2010 about the RP bill.
“There was a meeting in December 2010…in January 2011... in March 2011...in May 2011 and many agreements were reached as a result of those meetings,” he said.
He said the dialogues included discussions on the proper age to provide sex education to students. He said original drafts of the bill stated it should be taught in the fourth to fifth grades, which the Church opposed, and which the Church suggested be raised to Grade VI to VII. Also discussed, he said, was separate funding for natural and modern family planning methods.
“So I don’t think anybody can honestly claim that this administration has not reached out in the spirit of goodwill to hold dialogues with the bishops…We have reached out and we have sought honest dialogue for the last, almost two years,” Carandang said stressing that the administration’s RP bill reflects inputs from the Catholic Church.
Castro said the “dialogues” held in the early parts of 2011 cannot be considered “consultations.”
He said for the CBCP, all that took place between bishops and Palace officials were just “dialogues” because Malacañang only heard from the bishops their concerns against the RH bill, nothing more.
“Our definition of a consultation is you listen to what the other side’s concerns and you use it as an input. In the dialogues we had with them, they just heard us but did practically nothing. It (bill) remained the same,” Castro said.
Among the things initially agreed on by the two sides was for a joint working committee to be created and for them to go on a massive information campaign on the pros and cons of the RH bill, particularly on the use of the artificial methods of family planning.
“(But) all they did was use the Church’s term of ‘responsible parenthood’ but the provisions of it remains to be the reproductive health bill,” he said.
Castro also said, “Before, we were really hesitant to hold this dialogue because we are afraid that they might use it against us so that they can say that we were ‘consulted’ but we really were not. Now, our fears have come true,” said Castro.
In May last year, the CBCP officially pulled out from the on-and-off dialogues with Malacañang. This was after Aquino, in a speech at the UP said he is firm in his conviction to have the RP bill passed despite strong and persistent opposition from some sectors, especially the Church.
Aquino, in a chance interview yesterday after the 2012 Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines awarding ceremony in Malacañang, said he is hoping that the voting on the RP bill at the House scheduled next week pushes through.
He also said he respects the right of the Church to rally against the bill.
Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle called on the faithful to join the “Prayer Power Rally against the RH Bill” tomorrow at the Edsa Shrine.
Tagle instructed parish priests in the archdiocese to encourage more people to have their voices heard.
From 1 to 7 p.m., anti-RH bill groups and individuals are set to gather at the EDSA Shrine to pray for the non-passage of the measure.
On August 7, the House of Representatives is set to vote on whether to continue deliberating on the RH bill or set it for voting.
The CBCP has been the staunchest opponent of the RH/RP bill believing it to be anti-life because it promotes the artificial method of family planning.
The EDSA Shrine in under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila.

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