Bishops pull out of talks with gov't, hit 'crisis of credibility'

The president of the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines on Sunday lamented the "crisis of credibility" in the nation, even as a second bishop disclosed that the CBCP had decided to pull out of dialogues that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her deputies had organized for administration, opposition and civil society leaders. “In our country today, we have a crisis of credibility; we find it difficult to believe in one another or to believe in our leaders, " CBCP president, Archishop Angel Lagdameo, wrote on his web blog Sunday. "When a leader says one thing and acts differently from what he had said he would do: that is a failure in credibility," he said. “Credibility. Credibility. I say it again credibility. This is the challenge we give to our new generation of leaders. Yes, people whom we believe because ‘The Word of God is a lamp to their feet and a light to their path,’" Lagdameo said. At the same time, Lingayen Archbishop Oscar Cruz said the CBCP had decided to withdraw participation in the Malacanang-sponsored talks with the bishops, opposition and civil society leaders because what was supposed to be clandestine meetings had been divulged to the media. Cruz said the dialogues held last August 2 and 3 were supposedly designed to please the clergy, but turned out to be unsatisfactory. Leaked to media? In a telephone interview, Cruz said the CBCP decision was prompted by the disclosure of the conduct of the talks to reporters. “There was supposed to be another meeting but Archbishop (Angel) Lagdameo did not like it that it came out in the media," Cruz said. Lagdameo wrote former Ambassador to the Holy See Howar Dee on August 15 saying that the bishops “have discerned that our participation for the common good at this point in time is not workable." “We hold in abeyance our active participation in this process until such time that we have more fully studied the matter," said Lagdameo’s letter, which was faxed to Dee’s office on the same day that the House of Representatives justice committee voted to dismiss the impeachment complaint against President Arroyo. But Cruz said the junking of the impeachment complaint had nothing to do with Lagdameo’s change of mind, stressing that Lagdameo wrote the letter to Dee even before Congress heard the case. The dialogues held at the Magsaysay Center on Roxas Boulevard drew the participation of 30 leaders of the administration, opposition, academe, business, and religious sectors. Persuaded by Dee, Garilao Cruz said it was Dee and former Agrarian Secretary Ernesto Garilao who persuaded Lagdameo into acting as “convenor" of the talks after hearing Secretary to the Cabinet Ricardo Saludo saying that Malacanang would like to seek “conciliation" with the bishops. “Dee and Garilao went to Lagdameo to make him call the participants in the dialogue. He was persuaded to use the CBCP’s stationery. So in a way, the CBCP was the convenor (of the meeting)," Cruz recalled. Cruz doubted that it was Dee who paid for the venue because “he was also acting in favor of the government." Describing Dee as a “good man," the archbishop said he believed that the former has good intentions in organizing the talks. “He (Lagdameo) was persuaded by the kindness of Dee," said Cruz. The dialogue was supposed to tackle issues confronting the nation such as employment, fund mobilization, peace and order, education, and the legitimacy of the Arroyo administration. In its last pastoral statement, the CBCP refused to heed calls for the bishops to support the impeachment complaint against the president. The clergy, however, voiced concern about other issues, including the environmental damage wrought by mining projects and the unabated and unsolved murders of activists, pastors and journalists. Example for the youth Citing the importance of leaders with credibility, Lagdameo wrote on his web blog that during World Youth Day last April, Pope Benedict XVI called for a new generation of Christian leaders to serve as example to the youth. He said Benedict XVI lamented that the youth are often “held captive by the current ways of thinking, (which are contrary) to God’s way of thinking." “They may think they are free but they are being led astray and become lost amid the errors or illusions of aberrant ideologies," he quoted Benedict XVI as saying. Benedict XVI also called for a four-stage formula in forming a new generation of Christian leaders, bordering on more prayer and Bible-reading and less TV and other recreation, Lagdameo said.. One of society’s most important and urgent concerns, he said, is the formation of the youth who will become carriers of moral values in a globalized society. “Thus, there is need above all to save the young from among whom we hope a new generation of leaders will rise to lead our country to the path of justice, honesty, truth and freedom. If we lose the young, we lose the hope on which our future hangs," he wrote. - GMANews.Tv