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Thursday, September 22, 2005
Avoid politicians’ influence, cardinal urges church groups
Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal called on leaders of Catholic-based groups in the communities to ward off influence from politicians.
Make your own decisions without any politicians telling you what to do,” Vidal told over 300 participants of the National Assembly of the Basic Ecclesiastical Communities (BEC).
BECs are church-organized groups of Catholic families and have the support of their parish and the priests.
Vidal, who officiated the mass during the first day of the assembly, said that today’s society is “very much dictated” by politicians.
Because of politicians’ influence over various organizations, whether civic or Christian, the prelate fears that politicians would veer the groups away from their purpose.
He said the BEC groups, have, for the past few years, helped the church in bringing back people’s faith and politicians might take advantage of the groups, considering the number of members and families that could be tapped for the elections.
The national assembly has provided an avenue for the cardinal to encourage the BEC to expand all over the country.
He called on community leaders to persevere, sustain their spirituality and help each other.
He is also hoping that the BEC groups will initiate livelihood programs for their members, especially residents of mountain barangays.
As the head of the Archdiocese of Cebu, Vidal said he is encouraging the BEC leaders to come up with new programs for their individual communities.
He offered to listen to any proposal coming from them.
“I want to know what they are doing and hear them out so that I can encourage them in every undertaking that they have,” Vidal said. (LLV)
(September 22, 2005 issue)
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