Down the Easter Road: An Online Lenten Prayer Series with Hangad

While we often eagerly anticipate the joy and celebration of Christmas, we seldom appreciate the significance of Lent, Holy Week, and Easter. Yet Easter is the Christian occasion of greatest importance—even more so than Christmas. After all, everyone is born—but only Christ was reborn! What would be the significance of Christ's birth, if there had not been a Resurrection? What would be the meaning of Christmas, if Jesus did not go on to suffer, die, and rise again?

This Lenten season, we in Hangad invite you to join us in our preparations for Holy Week and Easter, with Down the Easter Road: an Online Lenten Prayer Series with Hangad.

Down the Easter Road is a four-part online prayer guide comprising readings, reflections, and songs. A new chapter in the recollection will be uploaded each Sunday from March 15 to April 6. Simply set aside 20 minutes each week to visit the site and go through the different materials there, and you’ll discover a deepened Lenten season.

And on April 25, we will culminate Down the Easter Road with an Easter concert which we will also place online.

Click HERE today to start your journey with us Down the Easter Road.

WHAT'S YOUR FINAL STAND?

WE'LL TAKE WHATEVER YOU CAN GIVE!

But we highly suggest that you...

1. Blog and spread the word

The Internet has made entirely new forms of social interaction, activities and organizing possible because of its widespread usability and access. And according to World Internet Stats, as of June 30, 2008, 1.463 billionpeople use the Internet!

So link THE FINAL STAND (click me!) to your Facebook profiles and Y!M statuses, share this site on Plurk, blog about the issue and the movement on your LiveJournal--the possibilities are endless!

Become a fan! The Final Stand is on Facebook!

Other sites you can look at to educate yourselves about the issue:

http://carpernow.multiply.com

YOU CAN POST YOUR OWN THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS TOO!

Just send in your blog entries together with:

- your name, year&course

- your photo

- a paragraph profile about you (hobbies? philosophy in life? dream? beliefs? favorite song or food? basta short background :P)

to: thefinalstand09@yahoo.com

2. Donate cash, clothes, medicines, food, etc for the farmers.

Lahat ng volunteers sari-sariling resources ang binibigay! That’s why we need all the help we can get! We will be needing your time and effort for the success of this great cause!

For inquiries, contact:

Cheenee Otarra at cheeneex@gmail.com

Rob Roque at robroque07@yahoo.com

Kurt Cendana at kurtcendana@gmail.com

You can also forward your inquiries to thefinalstand.multiply.com :)

We need YOU! :)

3. Sign the petition for the passage of CARPER

Petition booths will be set up in Zen and Gate 2.5 on March 4-5

PASS CARPER NOW!!

4. Join the solidarity night on March 4

Strength in numbers! Our situation calls for us to be in communion where we can share all that we are and, indeed, become all that we are meant to be. Human Solidarity is something that we labor to build by fighting injustice!

Join us and get educated on the urgency of CARPER!

Because YOU WILL get AFFECTED.

5. Light a candle on March 4, at 6:00PM; outside Gate 2.5

If you pass by the gate everyday on the way home, or if you can’t join us on Solidarity Night, let your voices be heard by lighting a candle and offering a prayer.

Never underestimate the power of prayer! It is through prayers that we speak our hope; that we open windows for God’s transforming grace in the world!

Light a candle. Say a prayer.

6. Be one of the fasting/hunger act participants

Think you can handle 24 hours without a single meal? Join us and be a hunger-actor! KAYANG-KAYA MO YAN!

7. Run for a Cause on March 4

Can’t commit to the 24-hour hunger act? RUN for the CARPER cause instead! Get that much-needed exercise while doing it for a good cause!

Help us get the word around…LITERALLY!

* * *

No effort is too small!

It is exactly the smallness of these gestures that make them speak more powerfully.

For our farmers, theirs is the story which tells of the moment when there’s no more story to tell—when the future disappeared for them.

Let us remember the clash of power of brute force and the power of the weak and vulnerable—the clash of the power of Pilate and the power of Christ. Let this FINAL STAND be an initiative of trust that, in Christ, justice and solidarity will prevail in ways we cannot guess or anticipate.

Let this movement be a sign of hope; a hope that this anguish can also be faced with clarity…that this may bear fruit.

FOR THE SENIORS:

Let this be YOUR FINAL STAND as Ateneans! Itodo mo na!

FOR THE UNDERGRADS:

Make this YOUR FINAL STAND for the school year.

FOR THE FACULTY and the ADMINISTRATION:

Let this be YOUR venue to act as true LEADERS and MENTORS to your students. A true embodiment of learning that is not just confined within lecture halls and classrooms.

FOR THE STAFF:

Let this be YOUR venue to show that SERVICE goes beyond your actual job descriptions. Make YOUR FINAL STAND through this EYE-AWAKENING SERVICE.

FOR THE ALUMNI:

Rekindle the real Atenean inside by championing not just the sport but the values of cura personalis and being persons-for-and-with-others. Make this YOUR STAND.

It's time we show our unity as ONE COMMUNITY.

Let us be men-and-women-for-others.

gusto niyo ba mag food trip? as in field trip na puro pagkain?

Mangan tamu!
(kain tayo!)

VIAJENG CUSINANG MATUA (Old Kitchen Tours)

The Kapampangan cuisine is highly regarded as one of the most delicious variety in the Philippines. Discover the secrets of the locals and explore the rich culture of Pampanga through this one of a kind cultural culinary experience. We will bring you to an extra special tour...we bring YOU to some of the old kitchens ofPampanga...because the best Kapampangan dishes are made at home.

Date: Feb 28, 2009

Fee: Php 1,500 per person
Inclusions: lectures, chartered vans, set and buffet dishes (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Meriendas)

Great expectations for 09

No one believes their life will turn out just 'kind of okay'
We all think we're going to be great
And from the day we decide to be _______
We are filled, with expectation...
Expectations of the trails we will blaze
The people we will help
The difference we will make
Great expectations
of who we will be
Where we will go
And then...
we get there.

We all think we're going to be great
And we feel a little bit robbed when our expectations aren't met
But sometimes, our expectations sell us short
Sometimes, the expected simply pales in comparison, to the unexpected
You gotta wonder why we cling to our expectations
Because the expected is just what keeps us steady, standing, still
The expected is just the beginning
The unexpected is what changes our lives.
- From "Grey's Anatomy"
--------------------------------------------------------
Here's to a bountiful, blissful and blessed 2009 for everyone

International point of view

AN OPEN LETTER IN RESPONSE TO
THE 14 SIGNATORIES OF THE ATENEO STATEMENT

”House Bill 5043 on “Reproductive Health and Population Development” has occasioned enormous debate in the Philippines and was recently the subject of a position paper drafted by 14 members of the faculty of the Ateneo de Manila University. In their statement, these faculty stated their belief that the bill adheres “to core principles of Catholic social teaching: the sanctity of human life, the dignity of the human person, the preferential option for the poor and vulnerable, integral human development, human rights, and the primacy of conscience.” They believe these conditions of Catholic social teaching are met in Bill 5043. We, the undersigned Catholic academics, assert, however, that these Ateneo faculty are gravely mistaken in their presentation of the Church’s teaching.

”The primary reason for these Ateneo Faculty members´ support of the bill seems to stem from their deep commitment to the Church’s long-held “preferential option for the poor.” Their position paper describes, heart-wrenchingly, the situation of the poor in the Philippines. High maternal mortality rates, inadequate and uneven provision of basic health care, lack of birth attendants, and lack of reproductive health information: such situations place an undue burden on the poor, and in particular on women. These women, like all women, desire to determine the number and spacing of their children, and ensure that proper nutrition, health care, and education can be provided for each member of their families. As Catholics, we have a clear obligation to ensure that all persons, particularly the poor, have the ability to exercise these basic freedoms.

”As Catholic academics, we agree that we must support civic and governmental initiatives that can aid the poor. Nevertheless, a Catholic cannot support the Reproductive Health and Population Development bill in good conscience, because the primary provisions of the bill not only fail to recognize and support the dignity of the poor, but also stand in direct opposition to Catholic social teaching. The bill focuses primarily on providing services to curb the number of children of the poor, while doing little to remedy their situation, provide necessary health care or establish the grounds for sound economic development.

”A few citations will serve to show how clear and unambiguous is the Church’s care for the dignity of the person, and in particular the poor, and how critical it is for us to heed her teachings in addressing the circumstances facing the Philippines today.

”Rerum Novarum opens with the powerful reminder that “Man precedes the state” and for that reason should not be subject to the state’s regulation of his private matters. Populorum Progressio reiterates this sentiment, stating: "No solution . . . is acceptable which does violence to man's essential dignity; those who propose such solutions base them on an utterly materialistic conception of man himself and his life. The only possible solution to this question is one which envisages the social and economic progress both of individuals and of the whole of human society, and which respects and promotes true human values."[1]

”Perhaps no document speaks more powerfully in opposition to the main ideas in this bill than Humanae Vitae: “Therefore we base our words on the first principles of a human and Christian doctrine of marriage when we are obliged once more to declare that the direct interruption of the generative process already begun and, above all, all direct abortion, even for therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as lawful means of regulating the number of children. Equally to be condemned, as the Magisterium of the Church has affirmed on many occasions, is direct sterilization, whether of the man or of the woman, whether permanent or temporary.”[2]

“In reply to the claim that reproductive rights, contraception and sterilization are required in order to help the poor limit their family size and thus aid the poor by reducing the numbers of mouths to feed, Humanae Vitae states: “Others ask on the same point whether it is not reasonable in so many cases to use artificial birth control if by so doing the harmony and peace of a family are better served and more suitable conditions are provided for the education of children already born. To this question we must give a clear reply. The Church is the first to praise and commend the application of human intelligence to an activity in which a rational creature such as man is so closely associated with his Creator. But she affirms that this must be done within the limits of the order of reality established by God.”[3]

”Artificial contraception can never be accepted by the Church as an action in conformity with the dignity of the human person because “each and every marital act must of necessity retain its intrinsic relationship to the procreation of human life.”[4] Further, it is never valid to argue, “as a justification for sexual intercourse which is deliberately contraceptive, that a lesser evil is to be preferred to a greater one,[5]” as the authors of the position paper seem to suggest. While applauding efforts in the bill to provide information on both artificial and natural forms of family planning, the position paper then asserts that provision of contraceptives as essential medicines and fully covered sterilizations for indigent patients are measures that promote quality of life.[6] This statement directly contradicts Catholic teaching, which recognizes the use and promotion of artificial contraception and sterilization as intrinsically evil. Such actions can never be promoted or justified. “It is never lawful, even for the gravest reasons, to do evil that good may come of it – in other words, to intend directly something which of its very nature contradicts the moral order, and which must therefore be judged unworthy of man, even though the intention is to protect or promote the welfare of an individual, or a family or of society in general. Consequently it is a serious error to think that a whole married life of otherwise normal relations can justify sexual intercourse which is deliberately contraceptive and so intrinsically wrong.[7]”

“The Church does not hold these positions to punish the poor, but rather because she recognizes that the poor have the same inviolable dignity and rights that all human persons share. What the poor need is not contraception and sterilization, but to experience authentic solidarity with those who, in responding to their innate dignity, work with the poor to enable them to develop their skills, improve their circumstances and cultivate lives that are marked by both interior and exterior freedom. This places a much more radical demand on those of us to whom much has been given (Luke 12:48); we must live and work with the poor in order to identify and enable the resources they require to live lives of authentic freedom.

”Finally, Humanae Vitae warns us that "[c]areful consideration should be given to the danger of this power[8] passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family difficulty? Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife.”[9]

“These statements of the Church and Magisterium have been retained in all subsequent documents and reiterated in documents too numerous to cite here.[10] These few, but clear, passages make it abundantly clear that no Catholic can in good conscience support Bill 5043. This Bill violates the Church’s teachings in the gravest manner.


”Maternal and ObGyn health
“Finally, it must be emphasized that there are two sections in the bill that should be applauded and expanded. Both Section 6 and Section 7 call for the expansion of midwives and birth attendants, as well as greater access to obstetric care. Such measures are critical to reducing maternal mortality and making progress toward the Millennium Development Goals, particularly MDG 5 (maternal health) and MDG 4 (infant health). Healthy mothers are the critical factor in assuring infant and child health.[11]

”Unfortunately, these two sections are the weakest in the bill. Most of the reproductive health proposals of the bill are mandatory and supported through financial means, as well as through the creation of new government agencies to assure implementation. Sections 6 and 7 of the Bill, which provide the only concrete health care and services to prevent or eliminate maternal mortality, are not mandatory, and the bill earmarks neither institutional support systems nor finances for their implementation. The POPCOM, which is established in Section 5 to implement and oversee the commitments outlined in the bill, has nine specific areas related to reproductive health and reproductive health services, yet no explicit mention of any responsibility in the area of maternal and ObGyn care. This most important section of the bill - and the only section actually consistent with Catholic social teaching - has been entirely neglected in the allocation of responsibilities to the agency established to oversee its implementation.

“A bill that responds to the situation of the poor requires us to respond to their full range of needs in order to facilitate integral improvement in their quality of life. This necessitates the creation of laws that guarantee the adoption of measures, at the national and local levels, that will lead to improved access to authentic development including the provision of basic health care and access to quality education. It is measures such as these that will enable the poor to develop and thrive, and that will affirm and respect the dignity of each and every human person. This bill stops short of assuring implementation of needed medical care, while emphasizing the adoption of measures that deny the dignity and freedom of the poor. As Catholics we have a moral duty to defend and support the poor; we must demand more from our legislators and from ourselves, placing ourselves at the service of poor, ready to commit to the necessary work, sacrifice and solidarity needed to establish and build societies that will respond to authentic needs while respecting the dignity and freedom of every human person.”

November 4, 2008


[1] Encyclical letter Populorum Progressio, nos. 48-55: AAS 59 (1967), 281-284
[2] Encyclical letter Humanae Vitae, nos 14-15, (1968)
[3] Ibid, no. 16
[4] Ibid, no. 12
[5] Ibid, no. 14
[6] “Catholics can Support the RH Bill in Good Conscience”, Position paper on the Reproductive Health Bill by individual faculty of the Ateneo de Manila University, pp. 2-7, 15 October, 2008
[7] Humane Vitae, no 14
[8] Paul VI is referring to the control of reproduction and artificial contraception when he talks of “this power” being put in the hands of the state. This passage follows directly on a passage in which he discusses the problems artificial contraception poses within the marital union, and then expands to the consideration of problems that will result if the state is given the authority to regulate conception and birth.
[9] Humanae Vitae, no 17
[10] The Church's teaching on marriage and human procreation affirms the "inseparable connection, willed by God and unable to be broken by man on his own initiative, between the two meanings of the conjugal act: the unitive meaning and the procreative meaning. Indeed, by its intimate structure, the conjugal act, while most closely uniting husband and wife, capacitates them for the generation of new lives, according to laws inscribed in the very being of man and of woman."(38) This principle, which is based upon the nature of marriage and the intimate connection of the goods of marriage, has well-known consequences on the level of responsible fatherhood and motherhood. "By safeguarding both these essential aspects, the unitive and the procreative, the conjugal act preserves in its fullness the sense of true mutual love and its ordination towards man's exalted vocation to parenthood."(39) The same doctrine concerning the link between the meanings of the conjugal act and between the goods of marriage throws light on the moral problem of homologous artificial fertilization, since "it is never permitted to separate these different aspects to such a degree as positively to exclude either the procreative intention or the conjugal relation." (40) Contraception deliberately deprives the conjugal act of its openness to procreation and in this way brings about a voluntary dissociation of the ends of marriage." The Congregation on the Doctrine of the Faith quoting Humanae Vitae and Pope Pius XII in its "Instruction on the respect for Human Life and on the Dignity of Procreation" Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, February 22, 1987
[11] As cited in the Ateneo position paper, page 2.

List of Signatories

1. Prof Janet E. Smith
Father Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life Ethics
Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit, MI.

2. Robert G Kennedy, PhD
Professor and Chair
Department of Catholic Studies
Co-Director
Terrence J Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law, and Public Policy
University of St Thomas
Mail #55-S
St Paul, MN 55105

3. Richard S. Myers
Professor of Law
Ave Maria School of Law
3475 Plymouth Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48105-2550

4. Romanus Cessario, O.P.
Professor of Theology
Saint John's Seminary
Boston, Massachusetts

5. Rev. Joseph W. Koterski, S.J.
Department of Philosophy
Fordham University
Bronx, NY 10458 USA

6. Theresa Notare, PhD
Assistant Director
Natural Family Planning Program
Secretariat for Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 4th St., N.E.
Washington, DC 20017

7. Fr. Basil Cole, O.P.
Dominican House of Studies
487 Michigan Ave NE
Washington DC 20017
bbcole@dhs.edu

8. E. Christian Brugger, D.Phil.
Associate Professor of Moral Theology
Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary
Denver, Colorado 80210, USA

9. SC Selner-Wright, PhD
Acting Chair, Philosophy Department
Acting Director, Pre-Theology Cycle
St. John Vianney Theological Seminary
Denver, Colorado USA

10. Dr. Mary Healy
Associate Professor of Sacred Scripture
Sacred Heart Major Seminary
2701 Chicago Boulevard
Detroit, MI 48206

11. Ångela Aparisi Miralles
Philosophy of Law Professor
Directora - Instituto de Derechos Humanos
Universidad de Navarra

12. Michael Rota
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
University of St. Thomas
St. Paul, MN

13. Michael Scaperlanda
Associate Dean for Research
Edwards Family Chair in Law
University of Oklahoma College of Law

14. Richard Stith J.D.(Yale), Ph.D.(Yale)
Professor of Law
Valparaiso University School of Law
656 South Greenwich St.
Valparaiso, IN 46383-4945
USA

15. Patrick Quirk
Associate Professor
Ave Maria School of Law
3475 Plymouth Road
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105-2550

16. Fr. Earl Muller, S.J.
Kevin M. Britt Chair in Theology/Christology
Sacred Heart Major Seminary
Detroit, MI, USA

17. Professor David Paton
Chair of Industrial Economics
Nottingham University Business School
Jubilee Campus
Wollaton Road
Nottingham NG8 1BB
United Kingdom

18. Dr. Eduardo J. Echeverria
Professor of Philosophy
Sacred Heart Major Seminary
2701 Chicago Blvd
Detroit, MI 48206

19. Jane Adolphe
Associate Professor of Law
Ave Maria School of Law
Ann Arbor, Michigan
USA, 48105

20. Teresa S. Collett
Professor of Law
University of St. Thomas School of Law
MSL 400, 1000 LaSalle Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55403-2015

21. David Braine,
Honorary Research Fellow,
Department of Philosophy,
University of Aberdeen, UK.

22. Dr. Helen Watt
Director
Linacre Centre for Healthcare Ethics
London

23. Ligia M. De Jesus
Assistant Professor of Law
Ave Maria School of Law
3475 Plymouth Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48105-2550
USA

24. Jacqueline M. Nolan-Haley
Professor of Law
Director, ADR & Conflict Resolution Program
Fordham Law School
140 W. 62nd Street
New York, New York 10023

25. William E. May
Michael J.McGivney Professor of Moral Theology
John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family
Washington DC

26. Evelyn (Timmie) Birge Vitz
Professor of French, New York University
Affiliated Professor of Comparative Literature, Medieval
and Renaissance Studies, and Religious Studies
19 University Place, #623, New York, NY 10003

27. Mary M. Keys
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556
USA

28. Mark E. Ginter, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Moral Theology
Saint Meinrad School of Theology
200 Hill Drive
St. Meinrad, IN 47577

29. Father Daniel J. Trapp
Professor of Sacramental Theology
Sacred Heart Major Seminary
2701 Chicago Boulevard
Detroit, MI 48206

30. Maria Fedoryka
Philosophy Department of Ave Maria University
Ave Maria, FL.

31. Dr Dermot Grenham
Graduate Teaching Assistant
London School of Economics
London

32. Dr. Michael Pakaluk
Professor of Philosophy
Institute for the Psychological Sciences
Arlington, VA 22101

33. Timothy Flanigan MD
Professor of Medicine
Brown University Medical School

34. Gerard Bradley
School of Law
Notre Dame University

35. Adrian J. Reimers
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Philosophy
208 Malloy Hall
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
574-631-7384

36. Daniel Philpott
Associate Professor, Political Science and Joan B. Kroc Institute
for International Peace Studies
University of Notre Dame

37. Aneta Gawkowska
Assistant Professor, Sociology
University of Warsaw

38. Tom D’Andrea
Philosophy
Cambridge University

39. Peter Kreeft
Philosophy
Boston College

40. J. Budziszewski
Departments of Government and Philosophy
University of Texas at Austin

41. Habib Malik
Department of History, Lebanese American University
Beirut

42. Nicholas Eberstadt
Political Economy
American Enterprise Institute
Washington, D.C.

How to help the Calatagan Farmers

Mga butihing kasama sa Ateneo:

Dumating ang mga Sumilao farmers sa Ateneo nuong ika-5 ng Disyembre, 2007 at napakahalaga sa kanila ang ibinigay nating suporta.

Makalipas ang isang taon, ngayong Biyernes, ika-5 ng Disyembre, 2008 muli nating ipakita ang ating pakikiisa sa mga magsasaka ng Calatagan.

Nagsimula na silang maglakad nuong ika-1 ng Disyembre upang ipaglaban ang kanilang pagmamay-ari sa lupang sinasaka sa Brgy. Baha at Brgy. Talibayog.

Sa Biyernes, ika-5 ng Disyembre maaring ipadama ang pagsuporta sa kanila sa maraming paraan....

4:00 ng umaga: sumabay sa kanilang paglalakad mula De La Salle University (dadaan ng UN Avenue-Nagtahan- - Aurora Blvd) patungong Ateneo de Manila University

11:00 ng umaga: salubungin natin ang isang daan at limampung
magsasaka sa Gate 2

12:00 ng tanghali: maging bahagi ng misang gaganapin sa Church of the Gesu
(punong tagapagdiwang: Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales)

3:00 - 6:00 : tumulong sa medical check-up, Loyola House covered courts

Magpapalipas sila ng gabi dito sa Ateneo at itutuloy ang kanilang paglalakad patungong DAR kinabukasan, ika-6 ng Disyembre,2008.

Ito ang kanilang iba pang pangangailangan:

a.. mga doktor at gamot (loperamide, paracetamol, pain relievers, neo-block
at vitamins)
b.. banig, tsinelas o sapatos
c.. pagkain

Kung nais makatulong, makipag-ugnayan lamang po sa aming tanggapan.
4261017, 4266001 lokal 5090 (Raffy Papelleras)

Lubos na gumagalang,
An Manapat

Office for Social Concern and Involvement (OSCI)
Loyola Schools

Unite with Mumbai

Sign the petition for Mumbai

Mumbai: We Will Not be Divided

The whole world is reeling from the shock of the attacks in Mumbai.These attacks were aimed at our people, our prosperity and our peace. But their top target was something else: our unity.

If these attacks cause us to turn on each other in hatred and conflict, the terrorists will have won. They know that hatred and chaos feeds on division. They also know that as radical extremists, their only hope of disrupting society as a whole is turning the rest of us against each other.

Let's deny them that victory. We're launching a message to extremists on all sides, and our fellow citizens, one that will soon be published in newspapers across India and Pakistan. The message is that these tactics aren't working and we are more united than ever. And we are determined to work together to stop violent extremism, and call our political and religous leader to so the same. If millions of people sign it, our message will be unmistakable.

-------
We citizens of India, and countries around the world, from all faiths, backgrounds and walks of life, declare with one voice that the terrorist attacks in Mumbai have not divided us, will not divide us, and that we stand together, as one people, against all violent extremists who shamefully target the innocent. We call upon all our political and religious leaders to come together at this moment, and take effective action to prevent the spread of violence.

Be the LIGHT, Atenean

In this time of crisis, we are called to

Be the Light

A Candle-lighting and Prayer Vigil for the Country.

Pass by the Zen Garden on Tuesday, December 2, 2008

to do the following:

Know more about the pressing issues that you need to know.

2010 elections and need for electoral reforms.

State of Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

Reproductive Health Bill.

Charter Change and Impeachment.

Light a candle.

Make it known that you stand for the Philippines in its time of need.

Pray for the Country.

Join us in offering prayers, and sharing reflections during these times:

10:30 am - 12:00 pm.

4:30 pm - 6:00 pm.

It will only take a few minutes to show that you care.

Be the Light.

Because only WE can make a difference against the darkness.

Sanggunian ng mga Mag-aaral ng mga Paaralang Loyola ng Ateneo de Manila

Committee on Social Concern and External Affiliations.

Council of Organizations of the Ateneo

Issue and Policy Analysis Cluster (AEA, HPAIR, ADS, ENTABLADO, The Assembly, AStat).

Faith Formation Cluster (ACIL, AtSCA, ACLC, ACMG, YFC-A).

The Development Society.

Make more people care. Share this to all Ateneans (students, faculty, staff) who can Be the Light.