Martha and Mary in Couples

ENTHUSIASMS & FOREBODINGS
By Rene Q. Bas

THE birth of two Couples for Christ branches, which the bishop most directly concerned with lay associations virtually instructed the disagreeing CFC factions to pursue, will end up in something good for everyone and the Church. That’s because, from what I see, both sides love God. St. Paul said everything turns out for the good for him who loves God.

Loving God guarantees good results. Because the one who loves God will not make moves to contradict His will—and God’s will is always for mankind’s good. Now just in case the one who loves God makes human mistakes, God—it is perfectly sensible for us to assume—will make the necessary corrections.

Those who in CFC-Gawad Kalinga were sad to see Frank Padilla leave to set up the CFC-Foundation for Family and Life to start a CFC restoration movement. Frank’s goal is to bring CFC back to the original purpose of the association, which is to make the Lord Jesus Christ’s Gospel a reality to the married couples who become members of CFC and the people they are in touch with most of all their children, relatives and old as well as new friends.

The CFC-GK group, whose people now run the officially original body, admits that perhaps they did go overboard in making the Gawad Kalinga program the be-all and end-all of their CFC work and involvement. That is not right, because Gawad Kalinga is only one of seven co-equal pillars of the association.

They admit that there were isolated cases of bad errors, in which CFC people mobilized to raise funds and get project partners for the universally-acclaimed aim of building houses for the poor pretended that they were not working for Christ to attract non-Catholics. And they gave the impression that GK was totally different and independent of CFC and therefore has nothing to do with the Church’s strictures against contraceptive pills and abortifacients and the Reproductive Health bills being pushed against the Catholic, Orthodox and most mainstream Protestant Christian denominations’ wishes in Congress.

The CFC-GK groups say, “OK, all right. Some of us made mistakes. We will now correct them and do the restoration that you want, Brother Frank. So don’t leave. Work with us for the restoration from within the original association.”

Frank Padilla, however, is not convinced that the powerful GK-oriented CFC leaders and elders are up to the task of restoring the CFC to its original charism, its God-given character and mission. So he formed CFC-Foundation for Family and Life and is now asking the various CFC units all over the country and the world to join him in the effort to restore and rebuild CFC.

The Filipino prelate whose job is to oversee lay associations, like CFC, is Bishop Gabriel V. Reyes. In a clarification he made about media reports that everything was all right with CFC-GK because it had “Vatican support” (as the Inquirer reported Tony Meloto had said), Bishop Reyes quoted Frank Padilla’s complaint that CFC “because of Gawad Kalinga is veering away from the vision/mission of CFC and from Catholic teachings and because of Gawad Kalinga enough manpower and resources are not given to the other ministries of CFC, like evangelization and catechesis.”

Bishop Reyes reminded the CFC elders and ruling executives that “Couples for Christ, together with its ministries, was founded primarily to ‘make disciples of all nations,’ to build up the Kingdom of Christ, ‘not just by building a nation.’”

CFC head Bro. Joe Tale, who is identified with the CFC-GK faction, said Frank Padilla’s break-away group should not use the name Couples for Christ for Family and Life. Several bishops, notably Bishop Reyes, disagree. He said, “As long as the names are explained, it will not cause confusion.” He likened the case to Marriage Encounter and Worldwide Marriage Encounter, which are parallel organizations operating in the Philippines. He also mentioned the original Franciscans who are OFM, and the subsequent OFM Capuchins and the OFM Conventuals. He also mentioned the Carmelites who have the Order of Carmelites and the Order of Carmelites Discalced.

The rift is another outbreak within the Church of the conflict between Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Both are saints—even if Jesus said Mary had chosen the better portion. But GK leaders must make sure that, GK, as it continues to help Muslim and people of other faiths, should stop pretending to be a non-Catholic organization.