Why no Moral Outrage?

EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS UNDER THE DUTERTE ADMINISTRATION

From Fr. Provincial

“I therefore ask Jesuit communities, institutions and ministries to look closely at this matter and discuss it together with our mission partners so as to consider appropriate collective actions…. I encourage further the creation of circles of discernment to pray over and reflect on this contentious issue. I ask our government leaders too to hear not only the cries of drug victims and their families but to restore the rule of law and heed the longings of those who have lost loved ones.”

Duterte’s Anti-Drug Drive

"Double your efforts. Triple them, if need be. We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last financier, and the last pusher have surrendered or put behind bars -- or below the ground, if they so wish," he said in his July 25 State of the Nation speech.

The Death Toll of the War on Drugs• 1) Killed during police operations:

the alleged drug suspects were killed by policemen in anti-illegal drug operations (such as buy-bust operations, Oplan Tokhang, Oplan Galugad etc.) that reportedly escalated to a shootout. This category also includes those killed by policemen after the alleged drug suspects were reportedly caught in the act of engaging in suspected illegal activities, whether drug-related or not.

• 2) Killed by unidentified assailants: the individuals tagged in drugs were killed by unidentified assailants in shooting incidents or by motorcycle-riding gunmen. The incident was either witnessed by other people or captured on CCTV.

• 3) Bodies found away from the crime scene: the victims’ bodies were discovered away from the crime scene. The body either bears a label tagging them in drug-related activities (usually a cardboard bearing the words “drug pusher” “drug user” or “drug addict”) or there are reportedly illegal drugs recovered from the body. The victims’ faces and bodies usually bear gunshot wounds, and sometimes even stab wounds. The victims’ arms or legs, or both, are also usually bound and their bodies wrapped in tape.

c/o ABS CBN News, War on Drugs

2,956 (as of Sept.11, 2016)

•1,466 KILLING OF SUSPECTED DRUG USERS BY POLICE•1,490 UNSOLVED KILLINGS•16,025 ARRESTED DUE TO DRUG-RELATED ACTIVITIES•709,527 SURRENDEREES • 52,568 suspected drug pushers• the rest, suspected drug users

Philippine National Police, Sept.11, 2016

Q1: Who are the victims?• Victims of alleged Extra-Judicial Killings?• by Law Enforcers?• by Vigilante groups?

• Their Families?• Drug users?• Drug pushers?• Hired killers?• Law enforcers?• Collateral Damage?

“Janie”, sister of suspected drug dealer• He was 47, a motor-tricycle driver who was estranged from his wife. He had two kids.• Police officers came to his house on August 14 and forced their

way in, says his sister, who doesn't want to reveal her name or her brother's, or even the name of the town they're from -- to protect her safety. We'll call her Janie.

• "Those policemen might kill us once we spoke out the truth," Janie tells CNN's Ivan Watson. "I said to myself, they have the license to kill already."

• They came to his house, she says, and forced their way in.• "Handcuffed already, they shot (him in the) head." Janie alleges

they killed three other men with him.• But, a police report says, her brother, was a suspected drug dealer, and

was shot and killed after he opened fire on police. His sister insists her brother was a user, not a dealer.

Bimbo, drug pusher• MANILA, Philippines – When Marites Fernandez

realized how lives of illegal drug users and pushers were at risk with the massive anti-illegal drugs campaign, she was quick to warn her brother Eduardo Francisco.• “Bimbo,” she told him, “Huwag ka nang lalabas kasi

napakadelikado. Sunod-sunod ang patayan. Sabi [nila] lahat ng sumusuko, ganun pala ang ginagawa.”• (Bimbo, don’t go out because it's very dangerous.

There have been successive killings. They said that’s what they do to those who turn themselves in.)

• Marites, 40, was among those who surrendered to local authorities • She did not deny her brother’s

involvement in drugs. She said Francisco only did it because he had no other means of providing for his wife and 3 children – including a 4-month-old baby.• “Someone – I do not know – gives him a pack of drugs, which he has to sell to earn money. He only gets a small portion of the money, which he automatically allocates to buy rice for his family,”

• “Basta ang importante sa kanya, makabili siya ng bigas,” she added. (What’s important for him is, he is able to buy rice.)• Bimbo was gunned down by unidentified men riding a motorcycle on August 23 in Barangay Rosario, Pasig City. Barangay officials said he was invited that night to a late dinner at a nearby tapsihan (eatery) by a police asset.• Although she is uncertain who the people behind her brother’s death are, Marites wished Bimbo was instead arrested.

• As the eldest of the siblings, Marites now assists Bimbo's surviving family by giving them a portion of what she earns from hosting a small-scale bingo in their barangay.• “Gusto niya talagang magbago, wala lang siyang

magawa, wala nga siyang pinag-aralan, walang makuhang trabaho."• (He really wanted to change. He just didn’t have the

means to do it – he was uneducated; he couldn't get a job.)

Hired Killer: Maria’s Story• In the BBC report, Maria (not her real name) confesses to

carrying out contract killings as part of Mr. Duterte’s brutal campaign against illegal drugs.• She is part of a hit team that includes three women, who are

valued because they can get close to their targets without arousing the same suspicion a man would, according to the BBC’s Jonathan Head.• Since Mr. Duterte took office, and urged police and armed

civilians to kill drug dealers who resisted arrest, Maria claims she has killed five people, shooting them all in the head, bringing her kills to six after the first job she did two years ago, Head said.

•Head said he asked Maria who gave the order for the hits, and she replied: “Our boss, the police officer.”•Maria’s husband is also a contract killer for the police and they earn up to P20,000 per hit, which is shared between three or four other people whose roles Head does not describe in the report.

• Head said that on the afternoon he met Maria, she and her husband had been told that their safe house in Manila had been exposed. They were moving in a hurry.• According to Head, Maria regrets being a hired killer and wants to quit after one last job.• But her boss has threatened to kill anyone who leaves the team. She feels trapped, Head said.• The PNP and the Department of Justice have not

commented on the BBC report.Inquirer, Sept. 2, 2016

Law Enforcer: Cop 'kills self' after motorcyclist's death

• One of two policemen accused of murdering a motorcycle rider allegedly committed suicide on Saturday, August 27.• Highway Patrol Group (HPG) Chief Superintendent Antonio Gardiola Jr

confirmed this in an interview with dzBB on Saturday.• Police Officer 3 Jeremiah de Villa allegedly jumped

from the 3rd floor of the Philippine National Police Security and Protection Group (PSPG) headquarters in Camp Crame.

• De Villa reportedly died at around 9:45 am on Saturday.

• Gardiola said De Villa might have killed himself because of the case he is facing, according to dzMM. • De Villa and Police Officer 2 Jonjie Manon-og have

been tagged in the death of motorcycle rider John dela Riarte.• De Villa and Manon-og claimed that Dela Riarte "twice attempted to snatch their firearms" after he was accosted, the Inquirer reported.

• The Inquirer said in another report that Dela Riarte "was arrested last July 29 after he figured in a road altercation with another motorist, Eric Fajardo." Dela Riarte "was handcuffed and supposed to be taken to Camp Crame but was shot along the way," the report said. – Paterno Esmaquel II

Rappler, Aug. 27, 2014

Collateral Damage: Danica May Garcia, 5 yrs. old

• At around noontime that day (Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016), just after taking a bath, a stray bullet took Danica's life.• Gretchen So, Danica’s aunt, said in an interview with

Rappler that on August 23, two motorcyle riders suddenly barged into their house in Sitio Camanggaan, Barangay Mayombo in Dagupan City, and began firing away.• Their apparent target was So's grandfather, Maximo

Garcia, 54, who was eating lunch with his wife, Gemma, and his 3 other grandchildren.• There were two gunshots at first, followed by relentless

shooting.

• According to So, Maximo ran to the back of the house where their makeshift bathroom was located. The gunmen pursued him and continued firing at him. Danica was stepping out of the bathroom and got hit.• So said when she got to the back of the house,

Gemma was already clutching her grandchild's body. The bullet hit Danica's nape and passed through her right cheek.

• Four days before the incident, Maximo had surrendered to authorities after friends warned him that he was on the police watch list of drug personalities which includes 4,755 individuals from 1,704 drug-affected barangays in the province.• “Nagsurrender po siya kasi ang sabi nila, at ang alam niya, na safe po siya (He surrendered because they said, and he knew, he was going to be safe),” So said.

Q2: Is “War on Drugs” the proper term?• The term “War” legitimizes casualties of war or

collateral damage• “Collateral damage is a general term for deaths,

injuries, or other damage inflicted on an unintended target. In military terminology, it is frequently used for the incidental killing or wounding of non-combatants or damage to non-combatant property during an attack on a legitimate military target.”

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia

• “We should also try to get the view of others who approve of what’s happening and see it as … maybe a necessary evil … in the pursuit of greater good,” Pernia told a news briefing.• Pressed to elaborate, he said the killings of drug

personalities could be “a byproduct of you know … self-defense thing,” which, he said, was “legitimate.”

• Is Sec. Pernia advocating the dictum, “The end justifies the means”? That the death of innocent civilians like Danica May Garcia is justified in a war?

Q1b: And what about the other “Wars”?• War vs. Unemployment and Underemployment• War vs. Malnourishment• War vs. Housing Backlog• War vs. Insufficient Public Schools and Health Centers • War vs. Corruption • War vs. Human Trafficking• War vs. Encroachment into our Territorial Waters• Etc.

Q3: Are EJK’s State-Sanctioned?

Duterte: Extra Judicial Killings not state-sanctioned• President Duterte does not tolerate extrajudicial killings of drug

suspects and has already ordered an investigation into these incidents, Malacañang assured the United Nations (UN) on Friday.• After two UN experts called the government attention to stop

the unlawful killings, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said it was “unfair” to insinuate that these deaths were sanctioned by the President.• “The President has repeatedly said that he does not tolerate extrajudicial killings, nor is it policy,” Abella said in a statement.

Manila Bulletin, Aug. 19, 2016

The Case of Alleged Iloilo Drug Lords: Melvin and Meriam Odicta

• The lawyer of the Melvin Odicta was on the phone with the Iloilo businessman’s wife Meriam a few minutes before they alighted the roll-on roll-off vessel early on Monday at the Caticlan Port in Aklan Province.• Lawyer Gualberto Cataluña said the Odicta couple were asking him

to fetch them there. But before Cataluña could enter the port terminal, unidentified assailants gunned down Melvin and Meriam while they were walking at the walkway around 1:30 a.m.

• “Hindi na namin sila inabutan dahil pagbaba na pagbaba ng barko, doon na binaril ang mag-asawa pero hindi kaagad napuruhan si Melvin. ‘Yung asawa tinamaan dalawang beses sa likod, tapos si Melvin, tinamaan sa paa. Tumawag pa sa akin, sabi kung pwede pumasok kami doon para sunduin namin sila. Ang problema noong papunta na kami doon, kinordon na buong area. Walang makakapasok na,” the lawyer said.

• From afar, the lawyer saw Melvin in handcuffs being escorted inside a police patrol car.• Police then brought the couple to the Malay District Hospital

but were declared dead by the attending physician• “Si Melvin nakita pa namin na nakatayo, dumaan pa pero

hindi namin makausap. Nakita namin dumaan naka-posas pinasok sa sasakyan. Tapos dinala ng hospital. Pumunta kami sa Kalibo pero ‘yon pala dinala sa Malay hospital. So noong bumalik kami sa Malay, patay na silang dalawa. Tinanong namin ‘yong doctor, dead on arrival na raw,” he said.

Gov’t Investigations• “The President therefore decries the

attribution of killings to the Philippine government. This is simply unfair, especially to the hardworking men and women in uniform who risk their lives and limbs to win the war against drugs,” he said.• Abella said the President has already assigned the National

Police Commission to conduct an investigation on reports that some suspects “may have been salvaged or killed by vigilantes or by mistake.”• “The nature of a number of deaths though imply internecine, or

organizational killings within the drug trade,” he said.Manila Bulletin, Aug. 19, 2016

BATO, “We are not perfect”• A Senate inquiry is underway into the police and the

extrajudicial killings. Police Chief Ronald Dela Rosa told the committee there was no shoot to kill order, but people are happy with what the police are doing, despite mistakes by officers. "We are only human...We admit we make mistakes, we are not perfect," he said.•Dela Rosa said that about 300 of his officers were suspected of involvement in the drug trade and would be relieved of their duties and tried in court.

Q4: Can a war on supply of illegal drugs eliminate the drug problem?

Two Approaches to the Drug Problem• 1) President Rodrigo Duterte is pursuing an aggressive drug war that aims to reduce the supply of illegal drugs entering and circulating in the country.• 2) Some – like Vice President Leni Robredo –

advocate alternative measures such as rehabilitation and education among the youth to curb the demand for drugs.

Does supply reduction work?• the traditional way of tackling illegal

drugs: by limiting its supply through prohibition. This immediately creates a shortage that raises its price in the black market.• Indeed, reports show that the Duterte drug

war has already raised drug prices in certain areas. In Manila, one report said that the price of shabu has “doubled because of the drug war”. In Central Visayas, the PDEA reported that as of September 1 the price of shabu has risen from P1,500/gram to P6,500/gram because of the intensified crackdowns.

• However, drugs are addicting. So even if they become much more expensive, this will not make a proportional dent on the quantity of drugs demanded by users. • Several empirical studies have

shown this to be true. Estimates vary, but a 2006 study co-written by Nobel Prize winner Gary Becker found that, on average, for every increase in the price of drugs (say, 10%), drug purchases tend to decrease only by half that magnitude (in this case, 5%).

• So when a government imposes a prohibition that reduces supply, drug suppliers sell more or less the same quantity as before, but at higher prices. This often leads to even larger drug sales and revenues than before.• This combo of higher prices and

revenues allows drug suppliers access to larger stashes of cash which they can spend on more manpower, weapons, bribes, etc – all of which only serve to expand their operations and escalate overall violence.

• In the US, which has waged an intensive drug war since the 1970s. more than 40 years have elapsed and a trillion dollars have been spent since the war started. Yet drug cartels are larger than ever and continue to earn billions of dollars that they invest in R&D and expensive equipment like giant catapults and “narco-submarines”.• Therefore, a drug war that focuses disproportionately

on supply reduction tends to strengthen and enrich – rather than weaken and impoverish – the operations of drug suppliers.

War on Drugs Raises Prices of Illegal Drugs • CAGAYAN, Philippines – The war on

drugs has pushed up the street value of methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu” in the Cagayan Valley region, a Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) official said.• Citing an intelligence report, PDEA

Regional Director Laurefel Gabales said the street price of shabu has increased by around 25% to 40%, or to P4,000 to P5,000 from P3,000 per gram due to scarcity of supply following the government's crackdown on illegal drugs.

JC Punungbayan Rappler, Sept. 10, 2016

War on DrugsScarcity of Illegal DrugsRise in Prices of Illegal DrugsWhich benefits Drug Syndicates:

Produce lessEarn as much or even moreMore efficient operations

Does demand reduction work? • Education and prevention campaigns

among the youth, or rehabilitation among drug users, eventually lead to a surplus of illegal drugs in the market. • In 2017, for example, the US is

proposing to spend more on demand reduction than supply reduction for the very first time since their drug war started ... Similarly, a number of governments in historically drug-ridden countries in Latin America – including Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Uruguay – are also rethinking their approach to drugs.

Church’s complicity in the Drug Menace•Lack of or Absence of Drug Education in our Parishes and Schools

Q5: Do we have adequate Rehabilitation Centers and Educational Programs?• Health officials on Thursday admitted the severe lack of rehabilitation centers for the hundreds of thousands of drug suspects who had been opting to surrender as the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte pursued its fierce war against drugs.• In a Senate hearing on the drug problem, Health

Undersecretary Elmer Punzalan said there were only 44 drug rehabilitation centers across the country—just 15 of them public—now operating as throngs of drug dependents were coming forward to the police.

• “It’s different this time. We call it an influx. Now, those surrendering are coming in by the thousands. Our rehabilitation centers are crowded,” Punzalan said, responding to lawmakers’ queries on the capacity of government to respond to the flood of surrenders.• He said a total of 600,000 drug dependents by far had

surrendered since President Duterte waged his all-out war, of whom nine percent—or 54,000—were determined to be in need of confinement in a rehabilitation center.

• This while the total number of rehabilitation centers in the country could only take care of 5,000 patients in all.• “So kulang na kulang,” Punzalan said.

CHURCH RESPONSES

CARD. TAGLE, “Denounce all forms of killings”

• In an interview on Sunday on Church-run Radio Veritas, Tagle stressed that all forms of killings should be denounced.• “Many are worried about extrajudicial killings, it’s only right. But I hope we should be worried too about abortion, why are few speaking out on it, that’s also killing. Unfair labor practice is also killing the dignity of the worker,” Tagle said.

CARD. TAGLE• Tagle stressed that another form of killing was wasting food, forcing poor people to pick it in the trash and feed it to their families. “That is also killing children who have nothing to eat,” he said.•He added that each and every life should be held sacred.• “I know the killings are a big issue now. Guilty or not, life should be taken care of and respected. And if one is guilty, he should be given a chance to change,” Tagle said.

ARCH. SOC: “We will resist moral wrong”

• Arch. Soc called on the CBCP “to stand up against what is morally wrong and uphold the Church’s teachings even if it means going to the ‘wilderness.’”• “…the right is right and the wrong is wrong… we

“will not withdraw from the mission of the Lord.”• “We will stand and defend every person’s life and dignity… We will shield the weak from harm, we will protect the confused from error.”

CBCP 113th Plenary Assembly, July 9, 2016

ARCH. SOC, “the killings continue…indifference…is spreading”• MANILA, August 25, 2016— Amid the spate of killings and other

challenges hounding the country, a Catholic archbishop has called for prayer to heal the “wounds and divisions” afflicting the country.• “Our first armor is prayer. So let us pray even more,” said

Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan.• The archbishop has also issued a “prayer for healing of the

nation”, which asks for unity, solution to crimes and corruption, and compassion for those who died “in the present purge.”• “The killings continue to rise. The divisions seem to widen even

more. The indifference to the violations of the Commandments of God is spreading. We must not give up,” he said.

AMRSP• “We express our full support for the government’s serious crusade

against the problem of illegal drugs in our country. We admire the leadership that the President has taken in this campaign and the determination of the people under him in working to rid our society of such menace.• “Nevertheless, we are alarmed at the continued extrajudicial

killings, which seem to go unchecked, without trial or investigation.• “We are alarmed at the silence of the government, groups, and

majority of the people in the face of these killings. Ubi boni tacent malum prosperat. Evil prospers where good men are silent. Is this lack of public outcry a tacit approval of what is happening? Is it fear that prevents people from speaking out? Whatever the reason, this problem, if it remains unchecked, leads to a culture of impunity.

• We demand that the concerned government agencies continue apprehending those involved in drug trafficking but avoiding extrajudicial killings, and pursue and apprehend vigilantes who carry out such illegal actions.• As men and women of consecrated life, we commit ourselves to

the following:• 1. For our communities, parishes, apostolates and educational

institutions to study, reflect on and act on these unabated killings.• 2. To care for the violated, the orphaned and the widowed through

counseling, sharing and integration with Gospel values.• 3. To stand with people of other faiths and other beliefs in the

inviolability and sacredness of life. In the Year of Mercy, let our humanity and compassion reach those who are the least and the powerless.

• 4. To recognize that the drug problem is a complex and deeply-emotional issue that needs to be addressed holistically, with great understanding and compassion for both victim and perpetrator for we are all dehumanized by this culture of death.• 5. To recognize and support the need for reforms in the criminal

justice system and the need for rehabilitation for drug dependents. We need to weed out the corrupt in our security forces as well as in the prosecution service as well as the judiciary. The drug menace is an intricate web of corruption and patronage that feeds on the insatiable desire of people for profit.• 6. To hold Masses and prayer vigils for peace and justice in the

affected communities.• 7. For the bells to toll at a designated hour in solidarity with the

poor and in upholding the sacredness of life.

UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

• The Manila Episcopal Area of The United Methodist Church believes in the establishment and development of a just and humane society where peace, justice and love reign. • We fully reject all careless, callous, or discriminatory

enforcement of law• We denounce retributive justice but uphold restorative justice that seeks to hold the offender accountable to the victimized person, and to the disrupted community. Through God’s transforming power, restorative justice seeks to repair the damage, right the wrong, and bring healing to all involved, including the victim, the offender, the families, and the community.

Fr. Amado Picardal, CCsR

• Extrajudicial killings is unlikely to stop “because there is no moral outcry.”• “Others are quiet or they approve of it, the thing is justified until a member of their family is included…”• “If this will continue and this will worsen, I think there is madness happening in our country today.”

FOR REFLECTIONTHREE VALID CHURCH RESPONSES TO THE STATE (Dan Harrington, S.J.)• COOPERATION (Titus 3:1-2)• CRITICAL COLLABORATION (Mt. 22:15-22)•DENUNCIATION (Rev. 6:9-10)

1. COOPERATION (Titus 3:1-2)Paul to Titus and his community:

Remind them to be under the control of magistrates and authorities,* to be obedient, to be open to every good enterprise.a2They are to slander no one, to be peaceable, considerate, exercising all graciousness toward everyone.3For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deluded, slaves to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful ourselves and hating one another.

2. CRITICAL COLLABORATION (Mt. 22:15-22)

Jesus on Paying Taxes to the Emperor:*15d Then the Pharisees* went off and plotted how they might

entrap him in speech.16They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians,* saying, “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion, for you do not regard a person’s status.17* Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”18Knowing their malice, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?19* Show me the coin that pays the census tax.” Then they handed him the Roman coin.20He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?”21e They replied, “Caesar’s.”* At that he said to them, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”22When they heard this they were amazed, and leaving him they went away.

3. DENUNCIATION (Rev. 6:9-10)John of Patmos to the Persecuted Christian Churches:

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for the testimony they had given; 10 they cried out with a loud voice, “Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?”

FOR REFLECTION & SHARING•What are my reactions to the anti-drug drive of the Duterte administration and the alleged cases of extra-judicial killings? (Attitudes)•How is the Lord inviting me to respond? (Behavioral Response)•How might we as an institution respond to the situation? (Collective Response)• Cooperate?• Critically Collaborate?•Denounce?

LORD, HEAL OUR LANDALL: Father of endless mercy, we come to you,a people wounded and torn by issues that have divided us into opposing, bickering, quarreling and even hating factions.

R: We beg you for unity; we ask for healing; we beseech you to forgive our sins and restore to our land the joy and the peace that you alone can give.L: Teach us once more the wisdom of the Scriptures:that the help of man is vain and that our strength is not in princes, but in You.

R: We pray for the leaders of our nation. Let them acknowledge your sovereignty, so that they may render due homage to your image that is in all. Send your Spirit so that the miracle of Pentecost by which all understood each other may prevail over the Babel by which our leaders slur and embarrass one another.

L: Let tongues of Divine fire settle on them as they did on the apostles so that their words may be words of peace, joy, truth and love. There is so much hatred,Father, and hatred always kills!

R: We pray that you purge our country of crime,particularly the heinous crimes of drug-dealingand the endemic corruption that impoverishes our nation.But grant us too the wisdom to recognizethat these evils have their roots in all our hearts:in our envy, greed, avarice and implacable desire for even more.

L: But have pity too on those who have lost their lives in the present purge. We pray for them, because all life is precious in your sight, and no man or woman is ever so unworthy of the redemption that your Sonbrought us all! Console their families and show their children the paths of righteousness –as you alone can judge and teach what is righteous!

ALL: Finally, we pray for your Church that it may be true to its prophetic vocation, for it is when times our difficult and trying that you ask your Church to be the servant of the nation by speaking Your Word. Let not our fear and trepidation overcome the zeal for your house and your truth that should consume us.

ALL: We know our sins. We our humbled by our failings. But we are also aware that when the prophets of old pleaded to you their sinfulness, you commanded them anyway to proclaim what you wanted proclaimed reminding them that it was not their word that they were to announce but yours.

ALL: Forgive our sins in the Church and make us strong in your service so that we may continue to be salt of the earth and light of the world. Long ago, thewoman of Galilee whom you chose to be the Motherof Your Son asked Juan Diego: “Am I not your mother?” To our Mother’s prayers then, in this hour of need, we entrust ourselves. From her we draw inspiration to be the faithful bearers of the image of Your Son that you called us and set us apart to be. AMEN