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CBCP head to focus on Pastoral Priorities
08 December 2005 -- The new Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) head will focus on the many decrees of the Second  Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP-II) and the National Pastoral Consultation on Church Renewal (NPCCR) that have never been fully implemented.
Jaro, Iloilo Archbishop Angel Lagdameo said that he is going to open several issues concerning the conference in the upcoming meeting of the executive secretaries of CBCP Commissions on December 13.
"The working heart of the CBCP are the commissions," he said. "So all commissions should focus on the Nine Pastoral Priorities for the people to see what have been agreed upon."
According to Lagdameo, the "priorities" should be examined thoroughly in order to find out under whose commission or cluster they would be assigned.
One of the priorities of the Catholic Church for instance, according to him, is the implementation of the Basic Ecclesial Community (BEC) "but it's not that visible for many people."
"Maybe in some parts of Mindanao it was implemented and rarely started in the Visayas but why do most people don't see it as a priority," he asked.
"If we focus more on our pastoral mission, we might not get the impression that we are just responding to political crisis," he added.
9 Pastoral Priorities
"Renewal and evangelization are the challenges facing the Philippine Church," Lagdameo said. "PCP-II and NPCCR carry the seeds for both."
The Nine Pastoral Priorities are the Integral Faith Formation, Empowerment of the Laity towards social transformation, Active presence and participation of the poor in the Church, The family as focal point of evangelization, Building and strengthening of participatory communities that make up the parish as a community of communities, Integral renewal of the clergy, Journeying with the Youth, Ecumenism and Interreligious dialogue, and Animation and Formation for Mission ad gentes.
"The center of PCP-II is not only its recognition by the Holy See but its implementation," Lagdameo also said.
"Church remain unchanged"
The PCP-II was the Catholic Filipino gathering together as a Church in search of renewal held on January 20 to February 17, 1991 at San Carlos Pastoral Formation Complex in Guadalupe, Makati.
The Conciliar thrust was to transform the Church into a "Community of Disciples" where the poor have preferential and participative functions. The objective was to engage in a "Renewed Integral Evangelization" with its dual message of salvation and liberation.
The decrees of the PCP-II received canonical recognition from Rome on April 25, 1992 and the promulgation of the decrees was held on July 22, 1992.
On January 22 to 27, 2001, representatives of the vicariates, prelatures, dioceses and archdioceses of the Philippines gathered anew at the San Carlos Pastoral Formation Complex for the National Pastoral Consultation on Church Renewal (NPCCR) to reflect on how far they have fulfilled the grand vision and mission proposed by PCP-II.
In a statement dated January 27, 2001, the CBCP, however, acknowledged its difficulties.
"The Church in the Philippines has, to our shame, also remained unchanged in some respects. Due to weakness in formation and education, the lack of defined diocesan pastoral directions and programs, and deficiencies in structures, many prescriptions of PCP-II have not been implemented," it said. (Roy Q. Lagarde)
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