In a recent editorial entitled, “Two-pronged war against poverty,” Sun Star Cebu, a daily newspaper, claimed that the Philippines’ rising population is “one of the basic causes of pervasive poverty and which has become central to the reproductive health controversy.”

This is false and obsolete thinking.

Numerous economic studies have shown that there is no causal link or correlation between poverty and population growth. In the paper “A Primer on the proposed Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood, and Population Development Consolidated Bill,” Dr. Roberto de Vera cites Nobel Prize winner Simon Kuznets’ 1966 book, Modern Economic Growth: Rate, Structure and Spread, which concluded: “no clear association appears to exist in the present sample of countries, or is likely to exist in other developed countries, between rates of growth of population and of product per capita.”

More recent studies have supported Kuznets’ original conclusion and applied it to all nations in general. De Vera cites five more:

“(1) the 1992 Ross Levine and David Renelt study of the relationship between growth and its determinants found no significant effect of population growth on economic growth;

(2) the 1994 Jeff King and Lant Pritchett study arrived at a similar finding where they allowed the effect of population on economic growth to vary according to the level of development and resource scarcity;

(3) in a 1996 review of the population-growth-poverty relationship, Dennis Ahlburg points out that studies have shown population growth has little or no effect on poverty;

(4) in a 2004 study examining the determinants of long-term growth, Gernot Dopelhoffer, Ronald Miller, and Xavier Sala-I-Martin, found that average annual population growth from 1960-1990 was not robustly correlated with economic growth;

(5) the 2007 Eric Hanushek and Ludger Wommann study found that total fertility rates, which can be seen as an alternative measure of population growth, did not have a statistically significant association with population growth.”

Dr. De Vera goes on to say:

Similar conclusions have been arrived at by the US National Research Council in 1986 and in the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Consultative Meeting of Economists in 1992.

Moreover, these studies support Kuznets’s explanation of why no direct relationship could be expected between population growth and economic growth. Population growth and economic growth are linked through a “common set of political and social institutions.” Thus, any “direct causal relation” between them “may be quite limited.” Moreover, any relationship that is measured cannot be used as a basis for managing population to affect economic growth.

It is important to note that even if there are recent econometric studies that show that population growth is negatively correlated with per capita income growth in the Philippine case (i.e. an increase in the population growth rate leads to decrease in the per capita income growth rate), these studies cannot conclude that higher population growth rates causes lower per capita income growth rates. It is more probable that there are intervening factors such as those mentioned by Kuznets that may cause economic growth. This these studies cannot serve as bases for a policy that aims to reduce population growth to raise per capita income growth.

For the Sun Star to say that population growth causes poverty is unscientific. Overpopulation is clearly a myth.

The real causes of poverty in the Philippines are massive corruption, bad governance, economic mismanagement, indiscriminate debt servicing, greed, and war (in Mindanao). The so-called “reproductive health” bill and its population control measures will not address these issues; but the Church’s social teaching — if put into practice — certainly will.

(NOTE: This post also appeared in my blog at http://mamador.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/obsolete-thinking-again/)

I found this interesting blog today.  It is not only comforting but also encouraging to find another fellow Filipino living the Royal Priesthood that was bestowed upon us when we were baptized.  He is an inspiration.  Although I may not agree completely to what he said about the Traditional Latin Mass, that “the Old Rite of Mass expresses the fullness of the Catholic Faith and the Sacrificial Nature of the Mass”, wherein the seeming implication is that the Novus Ordo doesn’t, I believe that both does.    It is more likely, since I share the same sentiment, that what he was trying to say is that the Old Rite of Mass does for him what the other doesn’t.   I personally believe that it is only a matter of preference.   In any case, his blog proves to me that truly the Holy Spirit is at work behind the Motu Proprio, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM.  The Church is without a doubt universal in all ways.  May God continue to bless this “[The] Catholic Layman…in the Public Square,” as always.

The new translation of the Roman Missal is about to given approval  according to NCR.  The abundance of blessings and guidance of the Holy Spirit continue to shower us at this time of  ”renewal” of the Catholic Church.

Although the approval may be given today it wouldn’t be put into practice until next year perhaps.  A while but certainly worth looking forward to.  The Holy Father gave the following address to the members of Vox Clara.  Vox Clara is an international group of bishops that advises the Vatican about the translation.

The new translation can be found here.

Aleluia!

Dear Cardinals,

Dear Brother Bishops and Priests,

Members and Consultors of the Vox Clara Committee,

I thank you for the work that Vox Clara has done over the last eight years, assisting and advising the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in fulfilling its responsibilities with regard to the English translations of liturgical texts. This has been a truly collegial enterprise. Not only are all five continents represented in the membership of the Committee, but you have been assiduous in drawing together contributions from Bishops’ Conferences in English-speaking territories all over the world. I thank you for the great labour you have expended in your study of the translations and in processing the results of the many consultations that have been conducted. I thank the expert assistants for offering the fruits of their scholarship in order to render a service to the universal Church. And I thank the Superiors and Officials of the Congregation for their daily, painstaking work of overseeing the preparation and translation of texts that proclaim the truth of our redemption in Christ, the Incarnate Word of God.

Saint Augustine spoke beautifully of the relation between John the Baptist, the vox clara that resounded on the banks of the Jordan, and the Word that he spoke. A voice, he said, serves to share with the listener the message that is already in the speaker’s heart. Once the word has been spoken, it is present in the hearts of both, and so the voice, its task having been completed, can fade away (cf. Sermon 293). I welcome the news that the English translation of the Roman Missal will soon be ready for publication, so that the texts you have worked so hard to prepare may be proclaimed in the liturgy that is celebrated across the anglophone world. Through these sacred texts and the actions that accompany them, Christ will be made present and active in the midst of his people. The voice that helped bring these words to birth will have completed its task.

A new task will then present itself, one which falls outside the direct competence of Vox Clara, but which in one way or another will involve all of you – the task of preparing for the reception of the new translation by clergy and lay faithful. Many will find it hard to adjust to unfamiliar texts after nearly forty years of continuous use of the previous translation. The change will need to be introduced with due sensitivity, and the opportunity for catechesis that it presents will need to be firmly grasped. I pray that in this way any risk of confusion or bewilderment will be averted, and the change will serve instead as a springboard for a renewal and a deepening of Eucharistic devotion all over the English-speaking world.

Dear Brother Bishops, Reverend Fathers, Friends, I want you to know how much I appreciate the great collaborative endeavour to which you have contributed. Soon the fruits of your labours will be made available to English-speaking congregations everywhere. As the prayers of God’s people rise before him like incense (cf. Psalm 140:2), may the Lord’s blessing come down upon all who have contributed their time and expertise to crafting the texts in which those prayers are expressed. Thank you, and may you be abundantly rewarded for your generous service to God’s people.

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Noynoy’s Predicament

The article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (March 5, 2010) on A2, second front page titled Noynoy Eases Up on RH Bill seems to show he misunderstands the Church’s position. He says: “If they have unwanted children that they cannot take care of, I think I will err in favor of the child that will not be attended to rather than the criticism I will get from the more conservative elements of my Church.” A direct question to Noynoy is: “Is that real love or concern for a child when you eliminate his chance to live just because you think his parents will not be able to take good care of him or her?”

It only goes to show the superficial perception he has of the point in question. The fact that you will find it hard to attend to or rear the life that you give birth to as the normal fruit of sexual love does not mean you have the right to terminate life or block the normal course of a life that will be conceived through sexual union. Whether actual or potential life, it is not moral to terminate life. If this mindset is allowed to escalate, life will tend towards extinction. Continue reading here.

3rd Sunday of Lent
Luke 13:1-9)
March 7, 2010

The Nation Must Repent

In Luke’s travel narrative, today’s Gospel on the Lord’s reminders on the need for all to repent (Luke 13:1-9), is part of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51-19:27) in which he prepared his disciples for their role after his passion and death, at the same time continuing to teach his listeners about the in-break of the Kingdom of God to which all must respond. In the present pericope, Jesus’ teaching was occasioned by the calling of his attention to two incidents. The first refers to Pontius Pilate’s slaughter of Galileans whose blood he mingled with the sacrifice. This incident is not attested in other gospels nor in extra-biblical literature, although that Pilate could have done this is not out of his character. It is probable that these Galileans were pilgrims in Jerusalem . They were likely in the forecourt of the priests in the Temple , slaughtering their Passover lambs, when the soldiers of Pilate came to liquidate them. In contrast with this deliberate murder of Galileans was another incident, purely accidental, involving eighteen persons who were killed when the water reservoir of Siloam fell. Luke is probably referring to a tower that formed part of the old wall of ancient Jerusalem .

Continue reading here.

YOU would know summer is here when all of a sudden you see the bougainvilleas around bloom in exploding profusion and color. Seeing them makes you forget the inconveniences of summer. It tells you summer has its own blessings, its own fun and beauty. You just have to know how to make use of them.

I was reminded of this bougainvillea-in-summer image as I reviewed all this issue about the new Secretary of Health distributing condoms to the public last Valentine´s Day and, as latest news would have it, up to when she ends her term.

Her act offers a precious opportunity—to clarify things. Like the bougainvillea, this task of clarifying may have thorns, but it also has those beautiful flowers.

Frankly, I was amused by all the antics surrounding the controversy. No, I was not irritated or disturbed. Just that, amused.

As a doctor, she is free to prescribe anything she thinks is good for the patient. Of course, that is not infallible. Many doctors have given wrong prescriptions after making wrong diagnoses too. Besides, I still have to convince myself that human fertility is a disease to be cured by some drug or gadget.  Continue  reading here.

From: Fr. Chito’s Kalakbay at Katoto Blog.

LANGIT ANG TUNAY NATING BAYAN

Isa sa mga palatandaan ng postmodernismo ay ang palaisipang ang mahalaga ay ang nakikita, ang nahihipo, ang nabibilang, at nasusukat. Ang katotohanan ay hindi tiyak, hindi maipapako sa iisang paka-unawa, at bagay na napapalitan, nababago, at nahuhubog. Ang objetivong katotohanan, ayon sa palaisipang ito, ay hindi makakamtan ninuman.

Isa ito sa pinakamahalagang dahilan kung bakit ang karamihan ng tao ay puno ng pagdududa, at ang pagtitiwala ay tila naglaho nang parang bula. Wala tayong tiwala sa mga namumuno. Wala tayong tiwala sa mga naghahatid ng balita. Ang lahat ng institusyon ay pinagsususpetsahan ng balana. At ang nagsisikap mamuno ay nananalo lamang kung pina-aandar ang pera o dili kaya ay malawakang pandaraya.

Bunga ng lahat ng ito ang paniniwalang ang buhay ay nakatuon lamang dito sa lupang ibabaw. Kung ang mahalaga ay dito at ngayon, ang impiyerno, ang purgatoryo, at ang langit ay hindi na masyadong pinag-uusapan.

Tutumbukin ko na agad ang gusto kong sabihin … May langit, kaibigan. May purgatoryo at may impiyerno. Ito ang turo ng Simbahan magmula pa noong una, sapagka’t ito ang nilalaman ng Banal na Kasulatan.

When as a rule, the rich and the powerful are above the law, when certain famous public officials while strongly suspect of big crimes and gross foul plays have palatial homes and freely frequent expensive restaurants here and abroad, when well known public characters are altogether free and basking in social life and lights although strongly appended with the commissions of flagrant graft and gross corrupt practices, when therefore the local and national prisons are full of merely accused or actually convicted poor and helpless people – the conclusion is obvious: The justice system in the Country is dysfunctional.

When the suspiciously wealthy and the deviously influential lord it over the poor and innocent people, when those employing guns with goons through the use of gold are the considered frightful masters of the populace in certain municipalities, provinces and/or regions even, when individuals are afraid to tell the truth such that when they in fact tell it, they are made to live in fear and fright, when the symbolic “Lady Justice” carrying a leveled balance yet having one eye uncovered to see who is who – the conclusion of obvious. The justice system in the Country is dysfunctional.   Continue reading here.

I thought this is helpful.  Thanks to http://www.chastitysf.com/index.html

Many Catholics have never made a thorough study of the Bible. If you were to decide to read it carefully, however, you could make the mistake of trying to read it straight through, right from the beginning. You might start eagerly at Genesis, but then, once you get to all the abstract legalism in Leviticus, you will get bogged down and give up, saying it doesn’t make any sense.

Therefore, if you’re a real beginner, you might just begin by reading the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament; it’s the earliest and shortest Gospel, or story of Christ (gospel comes from the Middle English word godspell and means “good news”). Mark’s Gospel should give you a basic sense of what Jesus was all about.

Still, anyone, beginner or not, needs to understand Jewish history, or Jesus himself can’t be understood. After all, when Jesus talked about Scripture, he was referring to what we now call the Old Testament.  Continue reading here.

It is both funny and strange when the standard battle cry of “Separation of Church and State” is fervently and loudly invoked when certain individuals in tenure of a public office feel frustrated in their ethically questionable options or meet rejection of their morally bankrupt projects. This is exactly the sentiment and the counter-offensive of someone who should know better what the Philippine Constitution really provides and means. The real problem of such government officials is their futile wish for the bishops, priests and religious to act as if they know nothing, see nothing, and say nothing even when said public officials engage in unethical and/ or immoral plans, programs and projects. There appears to be the vivid desire to be exempted from the Commandments in the order of nature, to be over and above solid ethical norms and sound moral principles.

Recently, there was the loud and public lamentation made by the head of a government agency concerned, that sounded something like this: The CBCP has the blame in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in the Philippines when its free condom gimmick during the last Valentine’s Day was censured by some bishops. Perhaps, just perhaps, the otherwise illustrious public official, does not know that condoms are not only supposedly anti-aids and contra-population items – but also, and specially so, gadgets that are pro-promiscuity, pro-infidelity, pro-immorality, pro-irresponsibility and other unsound value systems.  Continue reading here.