PRO DEO ET PATRIA

RESOURCES

JUSTICE AND PEACE

 

ECUMENICAL PARTNERS

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

A MILLION VOICES

FOR JUSTICE:

STOP POLITICAL KILLINGS,

END IMPUNITY IN THE PHILIPPINES

 
  
 
 
 
 


 

 

 

EASTER MESSAGE OF THE OBISPO MAXIMO

 

Let us Give Witness to the Empty Tomb

and Share the Joy of the Resurrection of Jesus


“You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.

He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.” (Mark 16. 6)

The women came early morning, their hearts heavy with sorrow and pain, to anoint and prepare Jesus’ body for proper burial. These women have seen the wounded body of Jesus being taken down from the cross and followed him to where he was buried. Coming close to the tomb, they noticed the huge stone blocking its entrance had been rolled away. When they entered the tomb where the disciples laid the dead body of Jesus, the tomb was empty. Soon after they heard the glorious news about the resurrection of Jesus from an angel, the women hurried away from the empty tomb, filled with awe and amazement.

 

Jesus’ tomb was empty! The one who was crucified, died and was buried was nowhere to be found inside the tomb. It was hard for the women, and later for the disciples, to grasp the mystery of the empty tomb until they began to understand, little by little, Jesus’ words that he will rise again from the grave (Mark 8. 31). Jesus’ tomb was empty because he has risen. Joy and jubilation begun to fill their spirits for the empty tomb was a declaration that God has resurrected Jesus from the dead. It has made a witness so strong that no one can deny that Jesus’ has risen. The women and the disciples saw the tomb was empty (John 20. 1-8). The chief priests, and even the soldiers who guarded the tomb, also knew the tomb was empty (Matthew 28. 11-13). The empty tomb was a testimony that Jesus has risen from the dead.


 


 

Presiding Bishop Preaches in the Philippines 

[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori preached at a Mass on Feb. 12 at St. Jude’s Episcopal Church in Bangao, a town in the mountainous region of the Northern Philippines. Bishops in attendance included North Central Bishop Joel Pachao, Northern Bishop Brent Alawas, who co-presided, and the Most Rev. Ephraim Fajutagana, the Obispo Maximo of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, or the Philippine Independent Church.

IFI and ECP Celebrate 15th Concordat Anniversary 

The Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) and Episcopal Church in the Philippines (ECP) celebrated their fifteen long years of partnership under the concordat agreement. The Most Reverend Alberto Ramento, IFI Obispo Maximo, and Most Reverend Ignacio Soliba, ECP Prime Bishop, signed the Concordat of Full Communion in February 17, 1997.

Church Leaders Join Efforts to Bring Palparan to Justice 

Church leaders have called on their faithful to help in hunting down retired Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. Palparan, charged with kidnapping and serious illegal detention in connection with the disappearance of the two missing University of the Philippines (UP) students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan.

Church wants End to Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines

(21 October 2011, Amsterdam) The newly-founded Filipino Parish Council Netherlands (FPCNL) urged the Aquino government to stop the extrajudicial killings of members of the church. The call was made by Rev. Father Cesar Taguba, chairperson of FPCNL during the memorial mass for murdered Bishop Alberto Ramento held in the Old Catholic Church in Amsterdam. 

Justice Secretary Pledges Support to Bishop Ramento’s Case

 

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima declared support to the quest of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente to give justice to the kiling of Bishop Alberto B. Ramento. De Lima made the statement before a group of bishops and priests who visited her for a dialogue in the afternoon of October 18, 2011. 


Bishops Call for a Stop to Large-Scale Mining Operations, Repeal of Mining Act of 1995 

The Ecumenical Bishops Forum (EBF) issued a statement at the end of the two-day mining forum of the organization's Southern Luzon Regional Conference in Legaspi on October 6, 2011. The organization of Catholic and Protestant bishops urged the government to repeal the Mining Act of 1995 and to issue a moratorium on large-scale mining.