Deny pro-RH lawmakers communion – bishop

A BISHOP has asked legislators in Misamis Occidental province not to vote for the controversial reproductive health (RH) bill pending in Congress or risk being disallowed to take Holy Communion.

In a report on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) News website, it was learned that Ozamiz City Archbishop Jesus Dosado has sent an open letter to Representatives Jorge Almonte Sr. of the First District and Loreto Leo Campos of the Second District of Misamis Occidental appealing to them not to vote for the RH bill,

Dosado, however, encouraged the two lawmakers to support a version of the reproductive health bill filed by Rep. Roilo Golez of Parañaque City (Metro Manila).

“I request you, our dear Representatives, not to vote for the consolidated bill resulting from the different RH bills,” the bishop said.
But he added that if the two lawmakers of Misamis Occidental choose to support the controversial version of the RH bill, they should have the sensitivity to refrain from taking Holy Communion.

“On the other hand, if you are really interested in the health of our mothers-to-be and their children-to-be when they cooperate with God’s action to create another person from nothing in the exercise of their marriage covenant, I urge you to support a bill which, I believe, is currently being introduced by Rep. Roilo Golez for that purpose,” Dosado said.

The bishop stressed that he had received an urgent message from CBCP headquarters urging him to talk to the congressmen of his province and tell them not to support the RH bill.

“In accordance with that, I thought of addressing this open letter to you, the honorable Representatives of the province of Misamis Occidental, because this will also serve to clarify matters to our Catholic faithful, especially those in the provincial, city, town and barangay (village) offices, who are tasked to make and implement ordinances in their respective levels,” Dosado said.

While professing the highest esteem for the members of Congress and government officials at the national and local levels, he quoted Pope Benedict XVI on what the concerns of those in the government on the issue should be.

“The concerns for non-violence, sustainable development, justice and peace and care for our environment are of vital importance for humanity. They cannot, however, be understood apart from a profound reflection upon the innate dignity of every human life from conception to natural death: a dignity conferred by God himself and thus inviolable,” Dosado said.

At present, there are four RH bills pending in the House of Representatives, with the apparently most controversial authored by House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman that pushes contraceptive use.

The version filed by Golez, who is opposing Lagman’s RH bill, is seen as pro-life and strongly discourages abortion. –JOMAR CANLAS REPORTER, Manila Times