The CBCP: For Filipino Catholics

[CivisRomanusSum]

This thread is mainly for Filipino Catholics but is open to others as well.

I was recently lurking in the Filipino Freethinkers website (I don’t have an account there; I just wanted to see what the secularist mob was up to). I came across an article there saying that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has about 18 billion pesos worth of invested stocks.

From filipinofreethinkers.org/2011/12/19/open-letter-to-cbcp-donate-one-billion-to-the-victims-of-sendong/

So in the spirit of Christmas, I humbly ask that you answer the Pope’s prayer and Fr. Pascual’s request by donating to the Sendong victims one billion Pesos.
This should be easy. According to Philippine Stock Exchange records, you have at least 18 billion Pesos invested in various corporations as of July 2011. What is one billion when you’ll have 17 billion left?

Your former president, Oscar Cruz, said in an interview that the 18 billion has been there since the time of the Spanish occupation. If it’s been sitting there unused for so long, every peso invested is just the kind of excess money Fr. Pascual is requesting. Cruz also said that you can’t simply do what you please with the money, implying that donations such as what I’m asking for won’t be that easy.

But recently, former archbishop Rosales allegedly sold more than a million shares of Philex Mining Corporation (PX) in April and May this year to Manny Pangilinan.

They also recently posted something about the newly installed Archbishop of Manila Luis Antonio Tagle (known to be a brilliant but humble man), saying that he’s a “billionaire archbishop” in the “richest diocese in the country.”

It’s here: filipinofreethinkers.org/2011/12/20/billionaire-archbishop-tagle-holds-2nd-collection-for-sendong-victims/

Last night, Archbishop Luis Tagle ordered all priests, rectors, and chaplains in Manila to hold a second collection for the victims of Sendong:
“In the spirit of Christian solidarity, I request that a second collection be made at all Masses in all parishes, shrines, and communities in the Archdiocese of Manila from today until Christmas Day,” he said.

This is good news. But when you consider the fact that Manila is the richest archdiocese in the Philippines with P17.26 billion invested in stocks, you have to ask: Shouldn’t they be doing more?

The Billions of Bishop Tagle

For starters, they can sell a fraction of their shares and send money directly to the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro and the Diocese of Iligan. As far as I know, these churches aren’t as fortunate to have stock investments of their own.
Anything short of this would cast doubt on Tagle’s statement that the calamity “saddens us and breaks our hearts.” Tagle would also be a hypocrite. How can someone encourage people to have simple Christmas parties or remember “Jesus who became poor” while he has P17 billion he could share?

I’ve always been on the side of the CBCP and I still fully trust them, if only out of obedience. I always try to defend their stances (especially regarding the RH bill) despite opposition from my friends (including one time when the CBCP demanded that “gay rights” be removed from an anti-discrimination bill). I just don’t how to defend this one though because I would always argue that the Church is the largest, most effective, and most zealous charity in the Philippines, hence being a “Church of the Poor.” My brothers and sisters in Christ, how are we to defend our good bishops regarding their billions in wealth?

 

[Saburo]

I wouldn’t assume that having 18 billion P in investments means that the Bishops are hoarding money for themselves. It really isn’t a lot of money when you consider their responsibility and all the relief efforts they are faced with. Do the math - it comes out to about 241 P for each Catholic in the Phillipines, or about $5.48 - even less if you include non-Catholics. You could take the entire amount and it would hardly make a difference to the average Filipino, but future relief efforts which could come from the earnings would never materialize. Yet, while the Bishops are already contributing from other funds, those who contribute the least call for those who contribute the most to contribute even more. Some things never change.

 

[CivisRomanusSum]

I wouldn’t assume that having 18 billion P in investments means that the Bishops are hoarding money for themselves. It really isn’t a lot of money when you consider their responsibility and all the relief efforts they are faced with. Do the math - it comes out to about 241 P for each Catholic in the Phillipines, or about $5.48 - even less if you include non-Catholics. You could take the entire amount and it would hardly make a difference to the average Filipino, but future relief efforts which could come from the earnings would never materialize.

I would agree to this. In fact, I would argue that it would be foolish to hand out something as large as 1 billion pesos *every time * a typhoon strikes are country, which you know, is quite often. Pretty soon their coffers will run dry. But the point is, better to have given than not to have given at all, right? And I wouldn’t say that it would be a waste and wouldn’t make a difference to the average Filipino. But you’re right. It would mean a lack of foresight if they just spent and spent. They should see how most effectively these funds will help the victims and the poor before appropriating a large chunk of it in a single instance.

But then again, 18 billion pesos is still a very large amount. And I don’t also think that the critics mean for the Church to distribute the money evenly to every Catholic (or non-Catholic, for that matter). Rather, I think they posit a sound point for the Church to give from her own coffers which they claim anyway to have been there “since the Spanish times.” That is not to say that the usual and extra collections are not meritorious, but I think it would have been better to spend as well from the investments given the abundance of wealth (unless the CBCP is letting the money lay around for already planned expenditures).

Yet, while the Bishops are already contributing from other funds, those who contribute the least call for those who contribute the most to contribute even more. Some things never change.

Very well said here! I also have no doubt that even if the CBCP did donate the 1 billion pesos, the so-called Freethinkers won’t stop there and only criticize the Church more for not spending the rest. These people seriously do not appreciate the efforts of the Church, no matter how much she tries.