Saying the Roman Catholic Church is now under "aggressive attacks" from fundamentalist groups, a Catholic archbishop urged the faithful Sunday to "defend" Catholic doctrines and dogmas.In his homily before the Lay Catholic Faith Defenders (CFD), Ozamis Archbishop Jesus Dosado underscored the tasks of the lay people in evangelisation and in defending church doctrines.
"The Church must be Catholic or universal to embrace all land and people. She must be Apostolic in origin, this was stressed against certain heresies and to stress that everything that humanity needs for salvation has been given to the apostles and apart from them, there is no Christian revelation," he said in his homily marking Pentecost Sunday.
“The Catholic Church must be Roman Church, the center of Christian government and stresses the unity and obedience of the universal faithful to the Holy Father who is the Vicar of Christ and the successor of Saint Peter," he said.
Excerpts of the homily were posted Sunday night on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Web site (www.cbcpnews.com).
Dosado called on the faithful to defend the Holy Mother Church against what he described as aggressive attacks from fundamentalist groups.
"Holiness is fundamental in Church's doctrine despite her own share of sinners and scandals throughout her almost two thousand years of history. Holiness could only come from God," the 68-year old prelate said.
After Holy Communion, 53 CFD officers and members renewed their oath before Dosado, who thanked the CFD for defending the church's dogmas.
CFD National President Miguel Abas noted the Iglesia ni Kristo founded in 1914 is an indigenous semi-Christian group that does not believe in the divinity of Christ.
Abas noted the INC has been more virulent in its attacks, and has become a very important political force in the country. "Its members have also increased remarkably," he said.
"Ecumenical dialogue between the Church and these aggressive non-Catholic churches has been rendered extremely difficult at the moment. The aggressiveness of their activities and their ways of evangelizing, perceived as negatively critical." Abas said.
Bro. Reynaldo Rosal, Catholic Faith Defenders' (CFD) chairman for religious programs, said the fundamentalist churches used the radio, television and the print media to attack Catholic teachings and practices, especially against Marian devotion and the use of religious images and icons. He added fundamentalists won over a number of Catholics to their ranks."
"The success of these fundamentalist groups is one of the signs of times for us. They succeed because the Church has failed in many ways to satisfy the spiritual hunger of many of the Catholic faithful," Rosal said.
CFD National Board of Director Bro. Lesty Cobul said there is a challenge to read, study and live the written Word of God.
"May the Bible, read in the home, occupy the place of honour it rightly deserves in every Catholic heart, home and community. We are also challenged to provide catechesis which will enable Catholics to make a defence against the heretic teachings of fundamentalist groups," he said.
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