The CBCP Leading Us Nowhere

A Statement of the Black & White Movement THESE are times that indeed call for discernment. All our institutions are being judged by the people. The Black & White Movement recognize that the leaders of many can only move as far and as fast, as the obstinate few. Archbishops Talamayan and Capalla have prevailed on their fellow bishops to refrain from committing the hierarchy to a cause the country is embracing. But the bishops won't embrace it, yet. Rather, they have embraced what some bishops call prudence and others compare to the strategy of the ostrich when faced with a problem: to stick its head in the sand. The bishops' pastoral exhortation disappoints us, and although they call for the administration to scrap EO 464, for executive officials to face the Senate without mental reservations or efforts at evasion, the people know better. Their diluted and muted statement has made them akin to toothless tigers, fast becoming irrelevant to the times. Whether in Luzon, Visayas or Mindanao, we are one people, who all know right from wrong, and who can tell the truth from official lies. We know all too well, that in the fullness of time, the President will prefer lies to the truth, and embrace suppressing the truth to embracing the light. The bishops have given the President a chance. She will find a way to betray their good faith, the way she did with their calls for a Truth Commission and to face issues squarely before Congress.The truth is our perpetual help, we said last Monday. It is our strength and comfort even when the shepherds are fearful and leading us nowhere.