MikeLigalig.com

 
 A group of 28 southern Luzon congressmen called on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to impose sanctions on Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz for conduct unbecoming of a bishop.

Calling it the “height of ecclesiastical arrogance,” lawmaker-allies of President Arroyo warned Catholic bishops against allowing the unbecoming conduct of Cruz to go unpunished.

Cruz was earlier reported as saying that he would not allow a sinner like Mrs. Arroyo to receive Holy Communion.

Southern Luzon Alliance head Rep. Danilo Suarez of Quezon said they will be forced to elevate the case to the Vatican if the CBCP would not sanction the bishop.

“Archbishop Cruz cannot claim that what he said was taken out of context or misunderstood by members of media as that press conference, I believe, was videotaped,” Suarez said.

The senior administration lawmaker urged the CBCP to deal with Cruz, a vocal critic of the President, “for lying in public” when he backtracked on his taped statement before a weekly forum at Crown Plaza Hotel in Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

Suarez and his group said Cruz set a “very bad example to Catholics by telling a barefaced lie to backtrack on what a multitude of people heard him say during a press conference.”

“For a man of the cloth to try to spin his way out of the mess he himself created is appalling. He should have just apologized, instead of committing the very sin (lying) he is fond of accusing people of,” he added.

“It’s the height of ecclesiastical arrogance for an archbishop to be very quick in condemning others, while turning a blind eye on his own mistakes,” he said. “Worse, he is now trying to shift the blame on media by saying he was misquoted.”

The CBCP should consider that lying, especially when committed by priests or Church officials, is a grave sin that should merit Cruz the very action he threatened the President and her family with – a denial of Holy Communion, Suarez said.

He lamented that Cruz has been mixing politics with religion in violation of the constitutional provision on the separation of the church and the state.

He stressed that an archbishop should be the last to trifle with holy sacraments by making off-the-cuff remarks on denying anyone Holy Communion.

He said American archbishops even secured the ruling of the Vatican in determining whether to refuse communion to proponents of abortion and euthanasia in the US, showing the gravity they give to the matter.

In reply, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the present Pope, ruled that communion can only be denied to those who had been excommunicated officially by the church and those who had committed “grave” sins.

“From my readings into the matter, the church’s position is that before communion can be denied to anyone, prudent and conscientious judgment must first be made by church ministers,” said Suarez.

“I’m afraid Archbishop Cruz cannot claim being prudent and conscientious in many of his reckless and irresponsible utterances. He should undertake soul-searching to determine his own fitness to deny anyone communion,” he added.

 By Delon Porcalla


‘CBCP has no power to sanction Cruz

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is unlikely to impose sanction on Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz for what allies of President Arroyo described as “ecclesiastical arrogance” by supposedly saying he would not give holy communion to the chief executive.

Bishop Leonardo Medroso of Tagbilaran, Bohol, chairman of the Bishops’ Commission on Canon Law, said only the Vatican can act on complaints against a bishop and impose penalty, not the CBCP.

“First, you can approach the bishop concerned and talk about the issue. Now if the bishop remains adamant about the whole thing, then they could report to the Papal Nuncio. That is why there is the Nunciature. That is the flow of power in the Church,” Medroso explained in an interview over Church-run Radyo Veritas.

He said any ordinary person could file a valid complaint against a bishop or any member of the clergy. The role of the Nuncio is to report the complaint to the Vatican.

“The CBCP has no power on this matter. It has no executive or disciplinary competence over individual bishops because individual bishops are autonomous from the body,” he stressed.

Medroso said the 28 congressmen from Southern Luzon who sought sanctions against Cruz, must first establish and prove that the senior bishop indeed committed a crime or violation of rules.

“They should first ask if he really said those words because I don’t think he would mean such words. I am sure of that,” he said in defense of Cruz.

“We have to be cool about all these things especially to the matters of conscience. We have to be very, very careful about these matters because it concerns not just one bishop, but also the whole Church,” he added.

Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iniguez Jr., chairman of Bishops’ Public Affairs Committee, said the lawmakers should be extra-careful in accusing Archbishop Cruz.

“They should examine it closely because that may be encroachment on the Church,” Iniguez said in a text message.

A group of Southern Luzon congressmen called Cruz’s statement to refuse communion to Mrs. Arroyo and members of her family, as the “height of ecclesiastical arrogance.”

The lawmaker who are allies of President Arroyo warned Catholic bishops against tolerating the conduct of Cruz.

Southern Luzon Alliance head Rep. Danilo Suarez of Quezon said they will be forced to elevate the case to the Vatican if the CBCP would not sanction the bishop.

“Archbishop Cruz cannot claim that what he said was taken out of context or misunderstood by members of media as that press conference, I believe, was videotaped,” Suarez said.

The senior administration lawmaker urged the CBCP to deal with Cruz, a vocal critic of the President, “for lying in public” when he backtracked on his taped statement before a weekly forum at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

Suarez and his group said Cruz set a “very bad example to Catholics by telling a barefaced lie to backtrack on what a multitude of people heard him say during a press conference.”

“For a man of the cloth to try to spin his way out of the mess he himself created is appalling. He should have just apologized, instead of committing the very sin (lying) he is fond of accusing people of,” he added.

“It’s the height of ecclesiastical arrogance for an archbishop to be very quick in condemning others, while turning a blind eye on his own mistakes,” he said. “Worse, he is now trying to shift the blame on media by saying he was misquoted.”

 By Edu Punay
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=11297.0