Incarnate our Faith, Live-out our Heritage and Carry On with our Historical Mission Despite Persecution

‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at a proper time we will reap a harvest.” (Galatians 6.9)

The one hundred and eleven years of history that we, the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, celebrate today brings us to very special moment to consecrate ourselves anew to our historical mission Pro Deo et Patria. We come together amid the plot to silence us from speaking the Gospel of Christ by those who take scandal about God’s righteousness. We courageously confess our faith even as the shroud of violence seeks to tyrannically overcome us. The persecution that has broken anew cannot hold us back us from proclaiming the Gospel of Christ with apostolic commitment and prophetic courage.

There are forces, both in the present and the past, that seek to put our

historical mission into compromise but we remain, nonetheless, faithful in living out our patriotic and democratic heritage, a heritage that stands for our nation’s independence and people’s integrity. This is our historic mission, our treasured heritage. We rejoice, even as we suffer from persecution, for the Spirit of God continues to raise from among us bishops, priests, men, women and young people who would incarnate our faith in Christ Jesus with a firm hold on the banner of our national and democratic heritage.

We dare to take this present challenge as a precious occasion to live-out in a more faithful manner our historical mission Pro Deo et Patria. Our 111th proclamation anniversary, under the theme “Persist in Doing What is Right and in Due Time We Shall Reap”, challenges us to brace ourselves together as a community of faith and confront the powers that desecrate human life and liberty, and deny from our people the justice and peace of God’s kingdom. Our faith is sending us out to be in solidarity with those who suffer and struggle. We know that unless we actively work for a just society, that is, addressing the most basic questions of economic poverty and political oppression in our midst, we can never truthfully proclaim the Gospel of Christ.

We must also look at the challenges within. The Iglesia Filipina

Independiente is on a constant journey towards corporate renewal. The renewal that we desire is more than innovation or alteration or change in the various areas

His Eminence The Most Rev. Ephraim S. Fajutagana

Supreme Bishop XII

Iglesia Filipina Independiente OBISPADO MAXIMO

1500 Taft Avenue, Ermita, Manila, Philippines 1000

THE IGLESIA FILIPINA INDEPENDIENTE is a congregation of new men educated in and liberated by the teaching of Christ, dedicated to the worship of God in spirit and in truth, nourished and sustained in the Eucharist, and commissioned to be witnesses to God's love in the world.

Tele-Facsimile: +63-2-521-3932 P.O. Box 2484, 1000 Manila, Philippines E-mail: om@ifi.ph Website: http://ifi.ph

of our corporate life. It is an act of consecrating anew ourselves to our calling as the Iglesia Filipina Independiente as we constantly seek for new ways to become more faithful and truthful in our covenant with God. We should begin by humbly confessing our weakness as an institution, human and temporal, and to honestly and critically acknowledge where we have fallen short and objectively identify the factors that hinder our path towards genuine corporate renewal. Let us further build up the Iglesia Filipina Independiente so she may continue to meaningfully offer herself as a vessel from where the Gospel of Christ may unfold in the lives of our people.

Beloved brothers and sisters, let us celebrate our history and heritage as we

come for the Iglesia Filipina Independiente’s 111th proclamation anniversary. Let us courageously proclaim God’s power and presence in history, give witness to Christ Jesus in our people’s struggle for fullness of life. and tirelessly sow the seeds of justice and peace in a nation that awaits the coming of God’s kingdom.

Pro Deo et Patria, † The Most Reverend Ephraim S. Fajutagana, D.D. Obispo Maximo

3rd August 2013