What is an Archbishop?

[Bishop Tagle is now the archbishop-elect of Manila, but wait! what is an archbishop anyway? is he just a simple bishop with additional title "arch"?]

an archbishop is a bishop assigned in governing an ecclesiastical province eg. the Archdiocese of Manila. an ecclesiastical province is composed of different dioceses under the leadership of bishops.

prerogatives of archbishops are

* the right to wear the pallium, a symbol of communion with the Pope.

*precedence over other bishops in liturgical function.

*6 tassled capello romano use in the church heraldry.

According to the new code of canon law, an archbishop or metropolitan has the following functions:

Can. 436 §1. In the suffragan dioceses, a metropolitan is competent:

1/ to exercise vigilance so that the faith and ecclesiastical discipline are observed carefully and to inform the Roman Pontiff of abuses, if there are any;

2/ to conduct a canonical visitation for a cause previously approved by the Apostolic See if a suffragan has neglected it;

3/ to designate a diocesan administrator according to the norm of cann. ⇒ 421, §2, and ⇒ 425, §3.

§2. Where circumstances demand it, the Apostolic See can endow a metropolitan with special functions and power to be determined in particular law.

§3. The metropolitan has no other power of governance in the suffragan dioceses. He can perform sacred functions, however, as if he were a bishop in his own diocese in all churches, but he is first to inform the diocesan bishop if the church is the cathedral.

*** archbishops are the eyes of the Pope in the locality. He is like a supervisor, to his brother bishops, so that they may act as bishops.

so the expectation is higher to them, because they have greater responsibility and they are accountable to God as well.

Let us pray for our Archbishops!

NEW ARCHBISHOP OF MANILA!

Pope Benedict XVI has named Imus Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle as the new Manila archbishop, succeeding Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales who occupied the post for eight years, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) announced Thursday.

The CBCP received the information through a communiqué from the Apostolic Nunciature in Manila after Tagle's appointment was announced in Rome at 6 p.m. Manila time.

“I write to inform you that the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI has appointed His Excellency Most Reverend Luis Antonio Tagle, until now Bishop of Imus, as Archbishop of Manila," said charge d’ affaires Monsignor Gabor Pinter.

No date yet has been set for the ordination and installation of the new Manila archbishop, the CBCP said.

Also, the CBCP said Rosales submitted his resignation in 2007 when he turned 75, the mandatory retirement age for bishops, but the Pope extended his term indefinitely.

Early this year, Rosales said the Pope had accepted his resignation and was just awaiting his successor’s appointment, the CBCP said.

Tagle currently chairs the CBCP’s Commission on Doctrine of the Faith.

The incoming Manila archbishop took his philosophy and theology studies at the San Jose Major Seminary based in the Ateneo de Manila University, said the CBCP.

He was born on June 21, 1957, and was ordained to the priesthood on February 27, 1982 at the age of 25.

He earned his doctorate in sacred theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC, where he studied from 1985 to 1992.

He has been a member of the International Theological Commission of the Vatican since 1997, and sat as an expert at the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for Asia in Rome.

He was ordained Bishop of Imus on December 12, 2001. — LBG, GMA News

*** I heard a lot of stuff about him, both negative and positive. May the good Lord guide him in his ministry as shepherd for the Archdiocese of Manila.

Experiencing the Extraordinary Mass!

2 years ago Our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, issued the Motu Proprio "Summorum Pontificum" which liberalizes the universal usage of the 1962 Missal most commonly called the Tridentine Mass and currently termed the Extraordinary Form of the Mass

The Ecclesia Dei Society of Saint Joseph in partnership with Fr. Jojo Zerrudo of the Parish of Our Lord of the Divine Mercy of the Diocese of Cubao, offers the Extraordinary Form of the Mass with Missa Cantata (Sung Mass) every Sunday @1:30 pm at Parish of Our Lord of the Divine Mercy, Sikatuna Village, Quezon City.

Come and experience the Mass of all ages!

photo courtesy of Mr. Maturan of the Ecclesia Dei Society of Saint Joseph

A NEW LIFE

A NEW LIFE AGAIN

I'M IN THE BLOGGING ACTIVITY AGAIN!

SAME CONTENT

SAME GOAL

SAME TRAVEL

MARRIAGE OF THE CHINESE IN THE PHILIPPINES DURING SPANISH RULE

The marriage between the Chinese and the Filipinos was an occasion for unending problems for the church authorities in the Philippines. Since the Chinese had to be baptized as a prerequisite for marriage, they received the sacrament with mixed intentions. To obtain this, a royal decree in 1849 ordered the Chinese who wished to contract marriage in the Philippines to present before the government:

a. his baptismal certificate
b. written consent of the parents or guardians of his future wife
c. an affidavit that his name had been included in the padron or census list of christians for more than two years.

he also had to certify six years' residence in the country, his good conduct all this while, and a testimony from the parish priest that he had been instructed in the Christian doctrine. Once married according to this form, the chinese needed the express consent of his spouse in order to return to his country. it had frequently happened that once there, the husband did not return to the wife left in the Philippines. in view of so much difficulty, many unbaptized chinese preferred to live in open concubinage with filipino women, with no church intervention. for this reason, Fr. Manuel de Rivas in the middle of the 19th century urged the patronato real to obtain from the Holy See a habitual dispensation for disparity of cult for the chinese, who turned out to be good husbands, though remaining pagans, once they married in the eyes of the church.

-HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN THE PHILIPPINES 1521-1898
p. 155
by Fr. Pablo Fernandez, O.P.

THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE XXIII INTERNATIONAL EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS 1962

Manila Archbishop Rufino Cardinal Santos delivering his speech.

The procession of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Clergy in cassocks and surplices.

The Philippine hierarchy dressed in their mantelletas.

The altar at the Luneta

* PICTURES FROM THE BOOK ''THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE XXIII INTERNATIONAL EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS MANILA" 1962

COMMUNION IN THE HAND...MANDATED BY VATICAN 2?

for those who argue that communion in the hand was mandated by the second vatican council, think again...:

...it carries certain dangers with which may arise from the new manner of administering communion : the danger of a loss of reverence for the august sacrament of the altar, of profanation, of adulterating the true doctrine.[ how true of many Catholics today]

Three questions were asked of the bishops, and the replies received by 12 March 1969 were as follows:

1. Do you think that attention should be paid to the desire that, over and above the traditional manner, the rite of receiving communion on the hand should be admitted?
YES: 597
NO: 1,233
YES, BUT WITH FEW RESERVATIONS: 315
INVALID VOTES: 20

2. Is it your wish that this new rite be first tried in small communities, with the consent of the bishop?
YES: 751
NO: 1,215
INVALID VOTES: 70

3. Do you think that the faithful will receive this new rite gladly, after a proper catechetical preparation?
YES: 835
NO: 1,815
INVALID VOTES: 128
[ it is interesting to note that majority of the bishops don't like to endorse the so-called new rite of communion in the hand]

From the returns it is clear that the vast majority of bishops believe that the present discipline should not be changed[ how then is communion in the hand allowed if the majority of the bishops were against it in the first place], and that if it were, the change would be offensive to the sentiments and the spiritual culture of these bishops and of many faithful.

...in view of the gravity of the matter[gravity...in a sense that it involves a fundamental doctrine of the church and that is the doctrine of the body and blood of Christ present in the Host.] and the force of the arguments put forward,[so there are bishops who are also pro communion in the hand] the Holy Father [Paul VI]has decided not to change the existing way of administering holy communion to the faithful.[Yes, the Pope did the right thing]
The Apostolic See therefore emphatically urges bishops, priests and laity to obey carefully the law which is still valid[communion kneeling and on the tongue] and which has again been confirmed. It urges them to take account of the judgement given by the majority of Catholic Bishops[the figures above], of the rite now in use in the liturgy, of the common good of the Church.[I might just add...for the preservation of Catholic "Tradition"]

-INSTRUCTION ON THE MANNER OF
DISTRIBUTING HOLY COMMUNION

Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship. Memoriale Domini, 29 May, 1969
Vatican Council II, The conciliar and post conciliar documents pp.150-151

MY COMMENT:

WE MUST RECEIVE OUR LORD IN THE EUCHARIST REVERENTLY KNEELING AND ON THE TONGUE, WE MUST BE THE MODELS OF THAT CATHOLIC LAITY WHO KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING DURING MASS. WE MUST TEACH IT TO OTHERS, THE SIGNIFICANCE, THE IMPORTANCE OF KNEELING IS TO ADORE OUR LORD AND TO WORSHIP HIM. WE MUST RESTORE THAT "loss of reverence for the august sacrament of the altar, OF TAKING OUT of profanation, of adulterating the true doctrine."