Friends, I welcome the comments you are all leaving. While I filter out a very small percentage of those that are unbecoming of Christians (I pray that you all find in yourself the strength and will to pursue the truth and find peace in your hearts), the majority of the voices we hear in the commentary are from those who are the people on the ground, the members, the ones affected most by the battles in the leadership echelons. They are the ones that are being called names and labels, being generalized by certain factions, and sadly, being forcibly driven into disunity. It is their families that are being split, being made to choose, and being misled.
Please share more of your experiences, I'm sure there are those of us here who would like to hear how you've come to your decisions and how you're dealing with all this strife. YOU are all more important than the egos of the few.
There are more facts coming up, to help you see the truth, and help DISCERN.
Please share more of your experiences, I'm sure there are those of us here who would like to hear how you've come to your decisions and how you're dealing with all this strife. YOU are all more important than the egos of the few.
There are more facts coming up, to help you see the truth, and help DISCERN.
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13 comments:
CD,
I appreciate what you are doing in this blog. It's not to foster disunity, but it's really aiding us in our own lamentations. We are witnessing how the Lord is trully working and protecting our community.
Brothers and Sisters, let us always strive to do what is pleasing to the Lord and march on with our sevice in CFC. (The one and only!)
ALL for the greater glory of God!
When I first heard the news, I was caught unaware. My wife and I learned it in one of our household just in passing. I was not aware the danger MY Community was in.
This may be long, but I want to share this to all the listener of this blog.
I started in SFC when I was in the lowest in my life. Through the years I have learned to trust CFC-SFC to be my home community. I never did had one, but this I called my home.
Here I met my wife-to-be who is also a SFC then. We became leaders and there our love was born which led to marriage. My motto is "I and my household (family) will serve the Lord."
This love for the community grew even more when we were privileged to become chapter heads.
We became cold when the Council ordered that couple chapter heads serving in SFC to turn over the chapter leadership to singles. For a while I was distraught, how could the council do this to us? We love serving as chapter heads, and was looking forward to even greater service. We returned to being household members . This occurred in February 2007.
But, news came that the Bros. Frank, Tony and Lachie resigned came to my knowledge. I did not have an iota of doubt that there was a problem. When I came to knew of the resignation, I was amazed, I knew CFC was strong enough and that leadership can be passed on to others to carry on with the Work. I knew CFC was poised to last forever much like its mother, the Catholic Church. And about the same time, a storm was brewing and we did not know and was not able to do anything to help the community.
At first, I was angry at Bro. Joe Tale and the council members for I was thinking that he is making the CFC some kind of bureaucracy, being him in the government. I was at the brink of aligning with the FFL.
In the subsequent days, I was in agony on how to reconcile all these things happening in the community. I could not work properly, how can this community be at the brink of disintegration when I placed all my hopes in it being the Community for me and my family as planned by God. I had long sessions with the leaders I know, until.....
I attended a sector assembly held in a hostile ground, where FFL was able to tear some leaders away, Cluster Heads at that. It was Bro. Joe Tale who was the speaker. He tried desperately to choose the proper words, I could see his sincerity and at the same time agony. Then Bro. Joey Arguelles, Council Member, spoke, his words were delighting and giving hope. Then God opened my eyes, like St. Paul, scales began to fall from my eyes.
I realized that part of the culture of CFC was to follow the CFC Council, and not necessarily, the personalities. We had a council before, why can we accept this one that was anointed last CFC Anniversary.
After that, I reconciled everything and began to remember what it is to be a member of CFC, and that is to discern and follow the will of God.
To balance things up, I attended the FFL's 3rd Restoration Assembly. I heard Bro. Frank Padilla. I was crying at the foot of the Crucified Christ, I could not believe this is happening really. It may just be a nightmare. After that we placed some leaflets about the Issue on the parked cars, hoping for somebody to listen, no reply came back....
After much discernment and prayers, I and my wife resolved that we are siding with the CFC Council on this one. They may have made mistakes, but still God is working on these men and women. FFL may be right on certain aspects, but abandonment and hence discarding the CFC tradition of honoring the anointed CFC Council is overboard. It reversed one of the basic tenets of CFC regarding changes in leadership. And therefore reversing/endangering other tenets as well.
I also recognized that the Holy Spirit is working and cannot be controverted by personal ambitions and whims. Individuals may go wrong, but not the whole body of the CFC Council and the Elders Assembly. To doubt them, as a whole body, is to doubt the Holy Spirit. As parallel, we look with reverence to the selection of the Pope by the College of Cardinals. Catholic Bishops follow the same Discernments like in the cases of the Vatican Council II. Moreover, this anointing of the CFC Council was recognized by the Bishops in subsequent meetings when they declared that both Vatican and CBCP recognition stays with the Couples for Christ led by the CFC Council.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, let us press on forward, for the CFC Council, led by Bro. Joe Tale, needs our support for them to carry on their enormous tasks. We have much work to do to build up the Church of the Home and of the Poor.
Yeah, God really humbled us with this event in our community, let us continue to trust Him. If we cannot see His Hand, Trust His Heart.
God Bless Us All.
Egbert and Lina SALES
South B9 CFC Member
CFC Emmaus
cfc_emmaus@yahoo.com.ph
Remembering what Jesus taught us.
http://cfc-emmaus.blogspot.com
From the start I've tried to decide based on my criteria for discernment. I tried not to choose sides based on friends, personalities and affiliations. I wanted to be objective.
Whenever I discern on decisions I always ask my self two things. I need to be able to answer yes to both before I even consider the decision as blessed by God or something that he wants for me.
These questions are:
1. Does this decision honor and show my love for God?
2. Does this decision follow the golden rule which is to love one another as you love yourself?
Based on these two criteria, it was clear to me what my decision was.
I did not even need to look hard into the facts and issues. Although I did it just the same.
I belong to a Christian community and all the more it is important that I not only look at the result but the manner of achieving that result.
Sadly, FFL does not meet those criteria.
This time the end does not justify the means.
The emails that have been sent, the personal attacks on CFC and the people behind it, this is not what true Christians do.
I have friends in FFL and they will remain to be friends as long as they do not cross the line and attack my other friends in CFC below the belt. As long as mutual respect is showed then things will be ok for me.
I can not in good conscience choose FFL for the plain and simple reason that the manner they're trying to achieve their goals is something I can not agree on.
It may be right for them but it isn't for me. At the end of the day, it's about my belief in God and how he would like me to act. I believe I made the right decision.
That being said I am glad that the side I chose is also the side where some of my dear friends are in. But again, I emphasize, my decision was not based on friendship but rather conviction and belief. I have friends on both sides. It just happened that most of them chose CFC.
I urge everyone not to get caught up in the pressure that your friends or family apply, decide for yourself based on what you believe is right.
God bless us all.
EMBARRASSING. The split is all over the news and for an ordinary member like me, its very embarrassing. To make matters worse is the fact that the split could have been avoided if only the warring leaders acted like real cfc members. Any self-respecting member, under the circumstances, would have acted with humility, sacrifice and delicadeza. Its really disappointing to know that during those crucial times, none of our so-called leaders budged an inch from their respective positions or "paninindigan". None of the leaders even offered to resign from their exalted positions. In the chapter level, a leader or coordinator would immediately resign if that would bring unity to the group or help solve some problem. Simple as that. Sa top leadership, it seems that the rules are different.
Some are pleased that the split is final and are eager to "move on." Easier said than done. Kapatid, with all the bad publicity that we are getting, how do you expect to effectively evangelize? Let's face it, because of the split, we are now known as a community that doesn't practice what it preaches. Our numbers are getting few but we can't even stay united. We want couples to remain together but we can't even remain together as one community.
I believe most of the members don't want a split. They do not want to choose. It's like parents separating from one another and they want their children to choose which parent they want to go to. Kawawa ang children. They would rather tell the parents not to separate so that the family will be complete. I hold responsible the top leaders that brought us to this painful situation. I hold them responsible for ruining the good name of CFC and making it harder for us now to evangelize.
God bless us.
"majority of the voices we hear in the commentary are from those who are the people on the ground, the members, the ones affected most by the battles in the leadership echelons."
Thanks for creating this blog, CD. Now an ordinary CFC brother or sister has a forum for expressing his/her sentiments. Hindi na laging recipient na lang kami ng mga emails nina Frank, Oscar and the Easter Group. Sawang-sawa na ko talaga sa incessant emails nila.
May bago na namang "Moving Forward # 3" si Frank.... ARGGGGG!
Ipagdasal nga natin ng husto at baka di na natutulog ang mga kapatid sa FFL kung papaano sila mag-separate sa CFC in a way that they can also exploit its name, resources and members. Paradoxical, di ba?
Time is of the essence. While the readers still frequent your blog you have an opportunity to right whatever wrong was done here. People were killed - not physically but their reputations were tarnished to as far as the internet goes. Do not take my word for it. But I seriously exhort you to find your favorite priest and tell him what you did. Because you may be guilty of very serious sins that even if Tito Frank will not sue, you still need to answer to a higher authority. Slander, defamation, perjury are deadly sins. Google it. Review your Catechism. I am here to save your soul. (If I succeed, I get brownie points.) But as I said, confer with a priest not just an elder or a HH head. The priest took moral theology and has the grace of state. Your eternal salvation is what is at stake here, so do it now. A week from now, the readers will not be coming anymore and you might have lost your only chance to make things right. The cost is eternity in hell. So, call your priest - even just for your peace of mind. This is for real my brother. Like I said, all I want is for you to be saved because, you are in a very bad place right now - sorry to say.
aProphet
"Anonymous said...
Time is of the essence. While the readers still frequent your blog you have an opportunity to right whatever wrong was done here."
Once again, the "anointed" feels he has the right to judge others.
By what moral authority may I ask? Did God talk to you in your sleep?
Please point out slander, defamation, and perjury? Big words brother, but do you really know what they mean?
Response to aProphet,
Yours is an insight in one of the characteristics of false prophets: they claim authority from God, but they have no authority. One famous leader have garnered enormous popularity to make his "policy" legitimate. This is the very problem we are facing now.
False prophets have a vision of their own imagination, their own hearts. They are legends in their own minds. They wanted to be known for possessing spiritual insight.
The following scene from Jer 23:18-22, describes a council meeting that takes place behind closed doors.
"Now, who has stood in the council of the LORD, to see him and to hear his word? Who has heeded his word, so as to announce it?
See, the storm of the LORD! His wrath breaks forth In a whirling storm that bursts upon the heads of the wicked.
The anger of the LORD shall not abate until he has done and fulfilled what he has determined in his heart. When the time comes, you shall fully understand.
I did not send these prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.
Had they stood in my council, and did they but proclaim to my people my words, They would have brought them back from evil ways and from their wicked deeds."
The true prophet is the IC (who did not resign) who stood in the council of the Lord and emerges from the meeting to speak with the ruler's authority. Had the false prophets sat in the meeting they would have told the people that CFC (under the IC) has the affirmation of the Holy See's recognition and that of the CBCP.
God's response to false prophets is clear: He is against all false prophets and anyone who misrepresents He has said in His word. In Jer 23:16a "Do not listen to what the prophets say; they are filling you with false hopes. They tell you what they have imagined and not what I have said."
cfcgideon
Year 1991 Kingdom of Bahrain when I was invited to attend 2nd batch of CLP conducted by Bro. Roquel & Sis. Nina
Never in I thought that I will be able to complete the 13 weeks session, considering that I am a Protestant... maraming hindi ugma sa teaching at paniniwala ko.
But God indeed is good coz He made me realised it is HIM that I needed most and for me to grow with my new discover Faith I allow the Lord to use me tru CFC by becoming one of dedicated servant leader.
After 17 years in Bahrain my family and I dicided to moved to another place called Saudi Arabia.
Akala ko walang CFC dito sa Saudi... meron pala.
2002-2005 ay nasa Alkhobar K.S.A 45 minutes from Bahrain dito at lalong tumibay ang Faith ko together with all our bro. & sis. even our kids are also serving the community as YFC leader at KFC.
year 2006 till date ay nalipat ako sa Jeddah which a place where the Grand holy mosque located so. sabi ko wala ng CFC but again God has different plan for us... dito ay nag start kami ng 1st CLP with just 6 couples... we always fear for our security... mahirap talaga dito sa Saudi pero with a clear vision and mission of our CFC community we continue to grow in great number...
With the present situation bewteen CFC and CFC FF ... we are now in LIMBO... we can not conduct another CLP and GK1MB..
Lahat ng mga invited participant for CLP and GK ay na turn off dahil sa mga nangyayari sa ngayon.
Very dissapointing and frustrating ang mga attitude ng elder.
All our activities are all put on hold until we see the storm in the community becomes clear to us and even to the public.
This email was sent by one of the top leaders of Frank's group on July 31 as a reaction to the note of Bro Victor Tagulinao on the resignation letter of Pancho. Notice the similarity of the arguments to the "Moving Forward #3 of Frank. Parang nakakahilo!!!
Subject: Re: [CFCWestC] Resignation of Pancho
May God's peace be with you all!
Just a few comments on bro. Oca's well-meaning note on Pancho's and
Marilyn's bold decision to stand for their belief and sail against the wind:
Pancho and Marilyn are not "leaving" Couples for Christ (CFC). CFC is not just a name. It is a way of life rooted in the family and driven by the charism God has given to the community, characterized by the qualities of being global, wholistic and catholic.
There may be disagreement as to whether the present leadership of CFC has strayed from this charism, or if it intends to steer the community back to its spiritual mooring. The point is, Pancho and Marilyn have risked so much--not least the friendship of many--just to reserve the flickering light of this charism which, they believe, is being threatened with extinction by the buffeting winds of social reformation through nation-building and the temporal desire to build what St. Augustine calls a "city of man" ( where man receives the glory), as opposed to the ideal "city of God" (where all the glory goes to Him alone). By reading the road less traveled--the easier route was just to flow with the tide and ignore the threat--Pancho and Marilyn have remained faithful to the charism and, like Mary (sister to Martha), have chosen the better part.
Yes, Pancho and Marilyn are leaving the physical manifestations of the community (i.e., Governing Council, the name, logo, etc.), but they remain steadfast and loyal to the charism of CFC. Since it is the charism (not the man-made structure) that comprises the essence of the community, then Pancho and Marilyn could not have left CFC. On the contrary, they have decided to hold the fort for CFC in these difficult times of confusion and division.
In closing, I'm minded to reflect on these soul-searching questions:
1. Which is the authentic CFC? Is it the corporate structure represented by a leadership that governs on the strength of its constitution and by-laws, or is it the restoration group that openly and proudly proclaims and defends in no uncertain terms the community's charism?
2. Is being faithful to CFC's charism an act of leaving the community? In the context of this charism, who are the "stayers" and who are the "leavers"? We can only be one or the other.
God bless!
Si anonymous aProphet ay para naman si Frank at lahat ng FFL na akala sila lang ang anointed, na sila lang ang may monopoly of holiness.
to all members of CFC and FFL,
It is not easy to lose a brand name. We lost a brand name--CFC. We lost a reputation. We lost our integrity. sooner or later, CFC will be wiped out from the map.
What will be left are the MCG or ECG and leadership. Members will fall, not from CFC or FFL or GK, but will just leave and quit quietly.
According to Raffy B, Lamentation has 4 parts--humiliation, repentance, reconciliation and then restoration. to have a genuine lamentation we need to have the 4 elements.
Now CFC is being humiliated. But i guess Frank started Lamentation with repentance. but repentance cannot be full unless we know the truth that will set us free. The truth will be humiliating. We are now in that stage.
Reconciliation should now follow. time to move forward for both CFC and FFL. No more throwing of mud and stop blaming one another. Time to move on. Let us all be reconciled and do our own thing.
Then and only then that God will restore all of us..Otherwise, we're finished!
We lost the brand name!
apologies to ED DAVID because I wrote that he is cooperating with Nonong Contreras and Roland Nillas in the move of FFL in separating GK with CFC
The correct person should be OLAND DAVID.
Sorry din Oland, I was not able to identify you properly. Big time ka pa naman pala sa FFL, being one of the incorporators. Treasurer ka rin yata dyan, paki print na nang BIR approved receipts for your tithes.
I got confused as both of them were famous executives of finance related companies.
CD please post this at proper site.
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