Focus on mercy, CBCP head asks canon lawyers

The head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) asked canon lawyers to focus on how their ministry can reflect God’s mercy.

In his homily at the inaugural Mass of this year’s gathering of canon lawyers in Davao City, Archbishop Romulo Valles, CBCP President, said that God’s call to be merciful “should continue to empower and inspire us as Christians”.

“We may continue to serve that at least at the end of each day through your ministry, the law of the Church will truly be experienced as the mercy and compassion of the Lord,” he said at the San Pedro Cathedral Feb. 26.

Leading the delegates on the tract of compassion, he said that they are called to live “the authentic servanthood” according to the Gospel “in our struggle to build human society wherever in the world may be”.

Christians, according to him, are challenged to love the world more than by any servant of mankind.

He added that the call to be merciful enables Christians to approach the world with “realism”.

The 26th National Convention of the Canon Law Society of the Philippines gathered dozens of canon lawyers from different dioceses.

This year, the convention is centered on theme “The Clergy and the Consecrated Persons towards the New Evangelization”.

CLSP is an association of canon lawyers, mostly priests but not exclusively.