Naga City (13 March 2011) --- The laity of the Archdiocese of Caceres, in a manifesto signed by leaders of religious organizations, had declared its support for the Church’s call to protect human life.
The declaration also calls on families to unite and ensure that the family remains as an “autonomous social institution.”
In its statement “Stand up for Life,” lay leaders and their members affirmed their commitment to the Church’s position regarding reproductive health.
They asserted that “[h]uman life is a sacred gift of God that has to be valued and protected by the State and by everyone from natural conception to natural death,” and that “the human family is the natural institution designed by God, the Creator, to nurture, nourish and protect children.”
Similarly, they stated that the natural rights to life and the right of every person to be born in the family “have to be safeguarded by the State, especially by the Legislature,” and that “marriage between a man and a woman is a communion of life and love, open to the transmission and nurturance of human life.”
Taking consideration of the proposed RH Bill in Congress, the laity of Caceres categorically denounced the “use of taxes for contraceptives and sterilization,” while at the same time strongly challenged any effort towards cooperation “in the dissemination and use of contraceptives and abortifacients.”
They also stated their opposition against “mandatory sex education that would abdicate us of our primary, original and irreplaceable role of educating our children in the area of sexuality.”
The lay group also declared that one’s freedom of religion is violated by the penalty provisions of the proposed RH Bill.
Among the signatories of the manifesto were the leaders of Parish and Barangay Pastoral Councils, Archdiocesan Religious Organizations and Movements, and members of Council of the Laity of the Archdiocese of Caceres (CLAC) headed by Atty. Minetta B. Estanislao. (FJTL)