Statement of the JUSTICE – PEACE and INTEGRITY OF CREATION (JPIC) of the Society of the Divine Word of the Northern and Central Provinces of the Philippines
We, religious-missionary priests and brothers of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD), after deep and prayerful silence in discernment about today’s “escalating violence and culture of impunity in the country”, express our outrage at the brutal killings of priests, most recently that of Rev. Fr. Richmond Nilo of the Diocese of Cabanatuan. We are impelled by the love of Christ to become transforming missionary disciples proclaiming the reign of peace and reconciliation amidst the darkness of sin and death that is seen and felt in a pervading culture of impunity and death around us. We are one with Bishop Bancud who said: “No priest, and no human being for that mmatter, deserves to be killed with utter brutality, disrespect and impunity … to kill a priest then for whatever motive or cause is not only unchristian and inhuman; it is also un-Filipino.”
We are one with ecclesial groups in the Christian and Faith communities to call for a STOP to killings. We live for each other. Let June 18th, the 9th day of Fr Nilo be a Day of Atonement – a day of prayer, that the darkness of sin (killings) and the night of unbelief (impunity) vanish before the Light of the Divine Word and the Spirit of grace.
SIGNED:
Fr. Flavie Villanueva, SVD
JPIC – PHC Coordinator
Fr. Reynaldo Jimenez, SVD
JPIC – PHN Coordinator
Fr. Reynaldo Jimenez, SVD
DATE: June 15,2018
