Lay group slams priests’ killings
Cebu's biggest lay organization lamented the spate of killings involving priests and ordinary citizens in other dioceses.
“We are saddened by news reports about the spate of killings involving ordinary people. And it is more sad and painful learning that some priests are also being killed," said Fe Barino, president of Cebu Archdiocesan Commission on the Laity.
Barino said priests should not be touched and harmed whatever the circumstances are, citing a Bible verse: “Touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm.”
She explained that priests are anointed persons, thus they are made holy being chosen as disciples of Christ.
Barino believes life is sacred and that a person— either a priest or an ordinary person— should not be killed.
“God, the Creator, only has the power to take one's life,” she said.
Cebu has around 700 priests—diocesan and religious.
Three priests have been slain over the past six months, according to an Inquirer report.
On June 10, Fr. Richmond Nilo of the Diocese of Cabanatuan, 40, was shot by unidentified men at Nuestra Señora de la Nieve Chapel in Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija.
Nilo was behind the altar getting ready to start Mass when two unidentified men shot him through a window four times.
On April 29, Fr. Mark Anthony Ventura, 37, was gunned down after saying Mass in Gattaran town, Cagayan province.
Ventura was talking with choir members at Barangay Piña Weste gymnasium when two men riding on a motorcycle arrived. One of the men got off and, without removing his helmet, walked toward the group and shot the priest twice.
The militant group Karapatan linked Ventura's killing to his human rights and antimining advocacies, though President Duterte nonchalantly linked his death to an illicit affair during a talk in Cebu on May 20, which drew flak from priests and on social media.
On Dec. 4, 2017, Fr. Marcelito “Tito” Paez, 72, was shot dead by motorcycle-riding men while he was driving his vehicle in Jaen town, Nueva Ecija province. He died at the hospital in San Leonardo.
Paez, a retired priest who served in the Diocese of San Jose, Nueva Ecija, for 32 years, had facilitated the release of a political detainee.
He was a coordinator of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines in Central Luzon and had been a political activist since the martial law years under then President Ferdinand Marcos.
‘SALAMAT PADRE’
Moreover, Barino said the commission is against the idea of allowing priests to carry firearms for self-defense.
“God is always the strongest weapon, accompanied with prayers,” she said.
This prompted the lay organization to step up its program dubbed as "Salamat Padre," which aims to show their support for the priests amid the killings.
The program was launched on May 19.
Barino said the commission came up with the program in line with this year's pastoral thrust of the Philippine Catholic Church - the Year of the Clergy and Consecrated Persons.
She hopes the activities would allay the fears of priests and uplift their morale to serve their parishes more bravely.
She said Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma issued a written circular declaring August 5 as the day of thanksgiving for all the clerics.
August 5 also commemorates the feast of St. John Mary Vianney, the patron of priests.
On this day, Barino said, all parishes will hold simultaneous and various activities that will relay a strong message of gratitude for all priests.
Nuns and religious priests in various religious orders and congregations, or priests not assigned in parishes like seminary formators are also expected to join the events.