I am not going to vote because the question is wrong. The original article by Carmela Fonbuena was just sensationalism and had no sense of fairness or justice. She did not get the side of Couples For Christ and so she appeared somehow as a proxy doing the bidding of the group that left CFC.

Thank God the Inquirer corrected it here: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20080418-131127/Vatican-corrects-Couples-for-Christs-GK-focus

Bishop Reyes said the letter by the Vatican to CFC was just a guide or a correction. The word "admonish" used by the supposed journalist was very misleading. Read this quote from that more responsible and journalistic article:

"He (Bishop Reyes) said he did not think that the letter from the Vatican referring to Gawad Kalinga—a social action group that was founded by the CFC and which has become hugely successful in building homes for the poor—was an admonition."

If the question was "Is the Vatican right in guiding or correcting Gawad Kalinga?". My answer is "absolutely". Since GK is an arm of CFC, it falls under the care and guidance of the Vatican. Now the other question is "Is there really overemphasis on social work?". That is very subjective. If you only look at one area, you might see an instance where that is true. However, looking at the broader picture, it is not. I have seen countless individuals transformed to become better Christians just by witnessing the love shown to them unconditionally by the GK volunteers.

This label that GK is just "social" is very unfair. Saying so is judging the motives of GK volunteers and belittling their sacrifices as just "for show". In my life, I have not seen anything more spiritual and Christ-like than the love we give to the poor. There are a lot of beneficiaries of GK that became CFC members because we offer it to them (but not forced). In the end, it is their choice whether to accept Jesus or not. But we from CFC will not expect anything in return for the love we give to the poor.

I don't get it. If not social work, where should the "overemphasis" be, taking into account that CFC is a laymens' group involved in social action?

---

Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It's the courage to continue that counts.

As member of this community, the real mission of CFC is evangelization and not nation building. That's why we in Couples for Christ Foundation for Family and Life (CFC-FFL)  are bringing back the original charism of CFC that is building Kingdom of God through evangelization. Building a house is easy as long as you have resuorces as in GK but building the temple of the Holy Spirit in ourselves is difficult and that is the mission left by Jesus Christ. Many houses can be built  but how one can be sure that there will be  success as far as spritual renewal is concerned. I believed everybody can be a pro-poor not only by building a house but by providing assistance to poor people needs such as in education, giving livelihood etc. Focusing on social action is good but serving God in His way is better.

Naning Roxas:

As member of this community, the real mission of CFC is evangelization and not nation building. That's why we in Couples for Christ Foundation for Family and Life (CFC-FFL)  are bringing back the original charism of CFC that is building Kingdom of God through evangelization. Building a house is easy as long as you have resuorces as in GK but building the temple of the Holy Spirit in ourselves is difficult and that is the mission left by Jesus Christ. Many houses can be built  but how one can be sure that there will be  success as far as spritual renewal is concerned. I believed everybody can be a pro-poor not only by building a house but by providing assistance to poor people needs such as in education, giving livelihood etc. Focusing on social action is good but serving God in His way is better.

I don't disagree that evangelization is a worthwhile goal but building communities (or houses) is also a tool that gets you there. Those 2 objectives are not necessarily in conflict with each other.

---

Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It's the courage to continue that counts.

We in the community were taught of our elders  to be submissive to authority but the way i see it they (leaders) are the ones breaking it. I think it is high time to acknowledge our fault and listen to the church.

Gawad Kalinga is one of the 7 pillars of Couple For Christ. While we have a lot of CFC members who are also volunteers for Gawad Kalinga, we also have some members who are serving the other pillars (we believe that some members have their own calling whether that be helping the poor, spreading the Good News in the prison systems, etc). While some people would make you believe that us CFC members are 100% focused on GK and forgetting about our spiritual growth, that is simply NOT the case. We did NOT stop evangelizing people. Just this year, we already held 3 Christian Life Programs that transformed the people that attended it and made them closer to Christ (like last year despite the crisis). Us existing members continued attending the formation programs that sustain our impossible goal of becoming perfect Christians.

We did NOT stop worshiping the Lord and praying to the Lord. In fact, helping the poor is one of the fulfillment of our Love for the Lord and our neighbors. It is one of the urges that we feel when the Holy Spirit manifests its power over us. We believe praying and being spiritual is a good thing but that we also believe that concrete actions such as helping the poor complements our faith. Please do not judge and degrade our construction of houses as mere physical exercises or purely acts of pity and devoid of any spirituality.

The Couples For Christ also hold Christian Life Programs in the Gawad Kalinga sites. A lot of beneficiaries became members after witnessing the Love we gave to them. We don't force them to attend the Christian Life Programs and we don't force them to join CFC. It is ultimately their choice. We don't expect anything in return for the Love that we share. Seeing the face of Christ on our neighbor and loving them and actually doing something to uplift them is our way of serving God and one of our ways of evangelizing. But we respect the other ways that those who left CFC (those who joined the new FFL group) are practicing. If they felt that CFC stopped evangelizing while they were there, then praise God that they found their restored zeal of evangelization in their new group, the FFL.

I stayed in CFC because I believe that there is no need to choose between praying (or being spiritual and evangelizing) and helping the poor. That you can still evangelize in whatever ways and scenarios the Lord presents you every day, whether that be sharing the Joy of Christ with a friend/stranger or by restoring their dignity by helping them materially.

However, Couples For Christ and Gawad Kalinga are not perfect specially that its members are sinners like me. There are still some problems like those brought up by the group that left. The existing leadership is committed to correct any problem, in God's time and up to what we can achieve with God's grace. What we've learned as "couples" for Christ, is that you don't leave your family when there are problems and start a new family. There is no guarantee anyway that there will be NO new problems to merit starting another one. Instead we help and support and uplift one another to solve the problem, invoking the presence and generosity of our Lord, and claiming His promise that all things will work for the good of those who love Him.

I ask for your forgiveness if I have offended thee, as I only wish to correct any misconception of how we in CFC practice our faith. I bless you and your decision to walk the path to Holiness through FFL.

God bless you all!!!

As to the question of submission to the Church and acknowledgment of faults, the Couples For Christ already paid an advertisement in one of the papers. See the link below.

Apology (http://cfcwestc.multiply.com/photos/album/12/_Newspaper_AD)

It said "We sincerely apologize for any scandal that the Couples For Christ leadership, past or present, may have caused among the faithful with our previous partnerships. ... We will do our mission in full communion with the hierarchy of the Catholic Church...".

This will not be the last time that our leaders will make mistakes but we pray that they will be guided by the Lord.

God bless you all!!!

I had read the letter of Stanislaw Card Rylko which is posted in this site and it is very clear that the message as I quote " to give priority to building up the family in complete fidelity to the magisterium of the Church. Cosequently this would counterbalance the overemphasis on the social work."  In one of the forums we attended, the speaker (CGC-Global)  stated that in GK, CLP is banned because if the partners would know this activities they would be pulling out of GK. Also according to this speaker, if he would be talking to a would be a partner of GK, it would take only a minute if he would begin GK as part of religious activities of CFC but  if would begin GK as non-religiuos organization then good conversation starts. How could CFC-Global sacrificed sipitual aspect of mission of CFC. As our beloved Bishops, in one of thier letter to CFC-Global states that "it appears that certain CFC principles and way of life are giving way to Gawad Kalinga. The spiritual and pastoral culture of CFC must not be sacrificed for the sake of GK. Nor should GK be imposed on all since ther are other pillars of concern."  As saying goes the truth hurts and it shall set us free.  God bless.

Couples For Christ is committed to "building up the family in complete fidelity to the magisterium of the Church". There are a lot of children from rich CFC families who used to be spoiled by their comfort but whose hearts have changed when they saw the suffering of their fellow children in the GK sites (some of those children have since grown and dedicated their lives to helping the least of their brethren by being GK volunteers).

But I would NOT deny that there are probably cases where one can perceive "overemphasis on social work". I have not witnessed it as we in our area are focused on our formation programs and evangelizing in Christian Life Programs (but I don't see it as impossible to occur).

It is unfortunate that these issues are blown out of proportion. However, even though they are isolated cases, it is absolutely right that they be brought up so they can be corrected. I agree that sometimes, small problems, if we ignore them, becomes the norms when they get bigger and by then, they become harder to solve. I would suggest that we tell CFC authorities who this CFC speaker is that said "CLP is banned" and also tell them the specifics (date, time, venue, event) so it can be investigated and the speaker can be brotherly corrected (otherwise, they will just be hearsays that people can use to point fingers to others).

Not conducting CLPs is certainly NOT the regular policy of GK or CFC. There might be exceptions though such as in Muslim areas where we probably chose not to conduct CLPs so as not to appear compassionate but with proselytizing motives (I am not sure here as I have never been to one so there might have also been cases where CLPs were indeed conducted in Muslim areas). But such decision to NOT present Christ verbally should not prevent the exercise of Love, because in giving Love, you are giving Christ (and the non-believers can see Christ in you even without a single word spoken, that's how the Holy Spirit works sometimes by planting seeds to the hearts of people).

It is unfair to present one case as representative of the whole thinking. We can not judge the whole movement by the mistake of a few since we are all imperfect. The key here is to have the courage to face the problems and to work together to solve them, invoking the guidance of the Church and the grace of our Lord.

We absolutely don't impose GK on everyone. We acknowledge that everyone has their own calling in their hearts so we support them in whatever capacities they want to serve the Lord such as campaigning for Pro-Life, evangelizing the inmates, etc. Obviously, there are a lot of poor people in the Philippines so it is not surprising to see that the GK work could appear more prevalent than the other ministries I mentioned. Understand that it's very hard to evangelize and say a few verses from the bible to people who are hungry. For them, their immediate concern is not the salvation of their soul but to make it through the day. After we feed them, then we can talk about God (but only if they want, we don't force God down their throats, but we pray that they see Christ in us).

For me, the truth never hurts. Otherwise, I would have turned my back on the problems and left CFC already and went back to my comfort zone where I can pray with the air-conditioner turned ON.

God bless us all!!!

-----------------------------------------------------------

meanwhile, you can read about what the Catholic Church of Qatar has to say:

 

Dear Brothers and Sister of CFC Qatar,

I send to all of you warm greetings and felicitations!

I write as your Parish Priest and Spiritual Director with much concern about this letter of Cardinal Rylko and the propaganda it has caused. Reading the letter gave me the impression that the Vatican is very much concerned with your community just like a mother to her children which is contrary to some interpretations coming from the other sides. There is no room for doubt that Cardinal Rylko and the Church is looking after the growth of CFC.

Br. Joe Tale should be commended for admitting the past mistakes. I do not know him personally but I should express my admiration for a man who can do this. A good leader doesn't ran away from his responsibility and point an accusing finger to anybody and everybody. You have with you an admirable leader.

I pity those who use Rylko's letter as a propaganda to discredit CFC. If they think you will simply let go and leave CFC, please tell them what your heart says. Tell them you will not run away and abandon your community. Tell them you have the courage to face all the criticisms they accuse you of. Tell them you will not leave just because you had disagreements with one another. Tell them you have found a family in CFC. Tell them you want to obey and listen to the Church authorities. Tell them you are willing to change for the better. Tell them to leave you alone and instead do what they think they want to do. If they do not leave you alone, beg them or even kneel down before them so they may realize how much you love CFC.

Courage dear brothers and sisters! Today is the time to stand up and admit the mistakes of the past. Today is also the time to move forward and face the future with hope.

Sincerely,

TV

Tomasito Veneracion OFM Cap.
Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Rosary
PO Box 12230
Doha- Qatar

I would like to propose that those who love the work of GAWAD KALINGA -- residents or non residents of the Philippines; CFC or non-CFC; the GK individuals, academic institutions and/or corporate supporters -- all talk to COUPLES for CHRIST and together with CFC, suggest reconstituting the corporate structure of GK, its association, its foundation, its corporation.

COUPLES for CHRIST should be honored and respected because they own the vision of this great work that is slowly making the Philippines a new beacon of hope among poor nations, because in GK they see that a non-government institution like CFC could be better instruments to change the lives of the poor.

COUPLES for CHRIST proved to all Filipinos that a faith community could mobilize many sectors to improve the lot of poor peoples because it proved that what it was doing was altruistic.

COUPLES for CHRIST simply did that out of the divine intervention they probably kept getting from their God, because even if it was tough in the beginning, their leaders and a handful of members tried the formula (many in CFC, members & leaders alike, thought it was crazy at the start!). In my discussion with both CFC and GK leaders, no one told me that they started GK because a priest, Bishop, Cardinal or anybody in the Catholic Church prescribed it for them to follow. This was indeed a lay movement rising from the ground, and it benefited the Catholic Church (whether they want to admit it or not) in the growing number of renewed church going (& presumably God abiding persons) out of the GK areas.

The leadership of CFC, past & present, should also be honored because their love for their God (I am also a Catholic, but I write in that manner to honor the non-Catholic peoples who also love poor Filipinos thru GK!) led them to extend their prayers by going out of their comfort zones and actually involving themselves in building relationships with the poor in slum areas.

I am aware that CFC was put to a real community test when some of their own leaders - for one reason or another - left the community and started criticizing the work in GK. Having dealt with some of these ex-CFC leaders in the corporate world, I really could not understand how their bright minds could so clouded with petty reasons for their departure.

Going back to the proposal here are a few listing of what I personally think CFC and GK should do:

1. The GK Foundation should be slowly weaned from CFC, not because CFC is a faltering ‘owner / prime mover’ of GK but because, CFC’s hands are tied in one way or another due to its devout Catholic position.
2. By weaning GK from CFC, I mean for GK to be allowed to take in more non-CFC in its leadership structure. From the viewpoint of CFC, GK will be its major partner in the ‘mission of bringing glad tidings to the poor’.  The CFC Board of Directors comprising of the Chair Joe Tale and other 7 man Board members should only be 40% of the new GK Board. And the 60% should be comprised of corporate partners or even personalities like Bo Sanchez, Fr. Ben Niebres, ex-Mayor Bernadette Congco, or executives of Smart, Globe, Philam, ABS-CBN, Meralco etc.
3. BY doing # 2, then GK can no longer be subject to the Catholic Church’s prohibition of the “sourcing funds from tainted donors”. CFC likewise will be isolated from the Church’s restrictive policies. I do not have any idea if the Church actually has a definitive ruling on this matter. Easily one could be confused because the Church sanctioned CFC while I have not seen any admonition or chiding of Cardinal Rosales of the many reported anomalous and more scandalous PCSO & PAGCOR money finding its way to the coffers of the Church units like a Diocese or Radio Veritas or  monies directly going to the local priests, etc. CFC can hire canon law experts about this, since this is not one of my area of competence. Despite that I think I can still make this suggestion.
4. The CFC GK workers will not wane in their work for the GK, I think – but admittedly the big numbers of CFC members who are not involved in GK (sic!) will now have a good reason to remain in their belief and position. Be that as it may, I think GK will still find support in corporate volunteers and now it may even try to have GK ‘caretaker team workers’ from the other Catholic groups who are GK advocates themselves, like Bukas Loob sa Diyos, Focolare, & Light of Jesus.
   

 

 

 

"As member of this community, the real mission of CFC is evangelization and not nation building."

My Reply: The real mission of CFC is to imitate Christ -- IN His Steps! Jesus spent most of those precious years he was here on earth to provide the kind of attention the poor were not getting from the church authorities of His day. 'Nation Building' was a tag given to CFC's work in Gawad Kalinga not because CFC and its Gawad Kalinga Ministry forgot about evangelization but actually FOUND A BETTER WAY of expressing its evangelistic desires (in obedience to the urging of the Holy Spirit, of course!) by actually going to the slum areas, build relationships via value formation, youth development programs, livelihood trainings, health improvement & disease prevention activities on top of the regular CLPs & CFC member & leader training programs that were conducted in the previously blighted areas that were slowly transformed to be the colorful GK sites they are now.

 If you are so sure of your "building the kingdom of God" method (by the way this has been the protestant approach for many years in foreign shores and now being experimented in the Philippines; I am surprised that you who have been consecrated to the BVMary keep saying this!) try going to a slum area yourself with your FFL-kingdom-of-God-building team and then tell us that if you could even gather a good number of the residents to listen to your bible-based talk, seminar, meeting, etc on a CONSISTENT BASIS each time you go and that you have a good reason to hope to get a GROWING NUMBER of residents each time you go there! If you succeed tell us!

So you Bro, evangelisation in GK includes but is NOT LIMITED building houses only. We have the track record...see us where the GK areas exists and ask how many have been made members of CFC! 

God Bless! 

 

 

 

 

(I am just a member of CFC and I do not represent the group. This is just my personal opinion. I could be wrong.)

 > COUPLES for CHRIST should be honored and respected because they own the vision of this great work

As emotional human beings, we admit we delight in hearing these very kind remarks (but with a sprinkle of guilt to take such credit). Certainly, we in CFC feel blessed to have been used by the Lord to give birth to this movement to bring glad tidings to the poor. In reality however, it is not us helping the poor. Instead, it is the poor helping us. Jesus said "For whoever has a desire to keep his life will have it taken from him, but whoever gives up his life because of me, will keep it". When we give up the comforts of our lives and love the poor and share bread with them, we discover our life and our purpose (and that is to glorify God by witnessing and becoming instruments of His Love). Seeing their suffering changed our heart and our outlook in life, and how blessed we are to have been given something to share.

> The GK Foundation should be slowly weaned from CFC...

I certainly entertained these thoughts at point or another. There are certainly advantages and disadvantages (like those mentioned which are indeed very interesting points). At this point however, it is still in our belief that GK is not owned by CFC. Instead, it is God who owns GK (CFC itself is owned by God). With that belief, we are absolutely certain that He will use it according to His plan. And any future plans or changes will happen according to His will. In other words, if God desires GK to continue to exists, then that will happen. If He desires for GK to become a civic organization, that will happen. If He still needs CFC to nurture GK, then it will happen.

Of course, the leadership will most likely take part in whatever it is that could happen in the future (so there is divine and human aspect). In the mean time, we are not bothered by these issues and we are committed to loving the least of our brethren. Please pray for us and the GK volunteers (BLD, Focalore, LoJ, etc) that we be given the strength to deal with the difficulties.

God bless!!!

I think we are miles off the question. It's simple is the vatican right or wrong in admonishing CFC? As a parent when one of our child committed a sin or mistake, what are we going to do? We call the attention of the child. It will never be wrong to call the attention of someone who made a mistake we have this in our teachings (correction). Anyways we are all sinners accept our mistakes and make sure not to do it again. God bless all of us in the community CFC-Global and CFC-FFL.

When I read this question for discussion, my immediate reply was 'no'.

Then I thought its better not to reply because the a bigger question popped up in my mind and this was: "Why is Vatican admonishing CFC and GAWAD KALINGA in its social work and how did Vatican come to a conclusion that there was an 'overphasis' on the social work?"

In my non-attorney mind, I think that for the Church to make such position i must have received a charge, so I wrote down what I know:

- Frank Padilla, their former leader left the community and started rationalizing his move because he thought GK was not doing the supposed evangelization actions of CFC in the GK areas. His charge was veering away. I do not know what CFC veered away from. He did not want an election of elders last June, so he walked out along with less than a dozen of his couple supporters. Then he called his Bishop friends in the persons of their excelencies Bishops Reyes, Lagdameo, and Villegas and all of them called for postponement of elections and when CFC DID NOT HEED THE RECOMMENDATION TO POSTPONE IT, the CFC leadership was charged with disobedience tot he Church.

- Frank Padilla's followers said they had to keep (meaning not show it in the GK site during activities) the name CFC from those who are the volunteer partners of CFC.

- Frank Padilla said they in GK partnered with Pfizer, and he claimed this company produced a drug called "depo____".

So if I were Vatican, I would need to investigate the veracity of these reports even if Frank Padilla already went to Vatican and informed Vatican of these charges. A fair and just disposition of the matter entails looking at the defense of the party accused, CFC.

I do not know though if Vatican did that. What appears to be true however is that Vatican contacted the Philippine Catholic heirarchy and naturally that would fall on the office of the Bishop G. Reyes.

Since Bishop Gabby Reyes is patently pro-Frank Padilla, it seems to me that the whAtever the good Bishop could say in this regard would be biased on the side of the complainee, Frank Padilla.

An independent Vatican, in fairness to all concerned, would have deferred all judgement -- the letter to Mr. Jose Tale, Chair of Board of CFC -- whereby instructions were given constituted such judgement; and instead sent an emissary to Manila who would have visited the various gk sites to find out the facts or situations preVailing in the GK sites:

Vatican would have discovered for itself if:

- its true that engagement with the pharma company proved that there was use of anti life devices by the families in the GK sites; or were given anti life teachings by the pharma company or any other NGO unit?

-its true that there was an over-emphasis on the social aspect because the GK residents never were proposed to join CFC via the Christian Life Seminar; or that no other value formation talks were never ever done in those communities?

-its true that the CFC caretaker teams truly hid their community identiy in all the GK sites in the country?    

-Vatican secured the copy of the MOA of the pharma company, scutinized its content before making a decision to tell CFC to rescind it? If they did they would have been pleasantly surprised that it is true what Mr. Jose Tale says that that MOA was for capacity building of the GK residents.

There are many more ifs, that I thought Vatican would have done to be able to handle the matter fair and square, but then again I thought the Church is NOT A DEMOCRATIC institution.

As someone involved in GK I now realize that there are indeed some tight policies or rules or tradition in the church. I thought I was getting some "saintly points" (I did not want to use the term "pogi points") when I added being in and of GK  in addition to church going, but now I come to a difficult situation where I need to love the Bishops and whoever else is their elder in the Phil Church and in Vatican despite the fact that their position to GK seem to be irrational. And to my mind not like Jesus position.

 

Brother, you are being mislead by saying that we left Couples for Christ and joined new group of FFL. WE ARE STILL MEMBERS OF COUPLES FOR CHRIST and nobody can removed us from CFC. Only that we disagreed on how GK is being administered by the concerned leaders. We know for a fact that GK has flaws. FFL is added just to distiguish us from the other group who supports GK. THe commitment of CFC-FFL is continue the evangelization works left and mandated by Jesus Christ ledaing to therkingdom of God. CFC-Global is always telling that CFC and GK are unseparable. But in all GK villages, the name of COUPLES FOR CHRIST is not metioned at all; only GK and its respective partners have it. That's why it  puzzled many CFC members considering GK is a product of CFC. Just asking because unseparable and yet one is only there.

Thanks and God Bless.

Brother, I hope when you said that "WE ARE STILL MEMBERS OF COUPLES FOR CHRIST", you also meant that you are willing to follow and respect the rules and statutes of "Couples For Christ". After all, these statutes were approved by the Vatican when it gave CFC its recognition. Under the statutes, there is only one global CFC with one overall governing body, the CFC International Council (i.e. CFC Council based in Manila).

Here's what's written in the statutes of Couples For Christ, exactly as how the Vatican approved it (formatting is mine):

“1.1 COUPLES FOR CHRIST (CFC) is a private international association of faithful of pontifical right recognized by the Pontifical Council for the Laity.”

“5.6 Overseeing and promoting the life and mission of CFC throughout the world is the CFC Council based in Manila.”

“5.7 CFC groups in a particular country or area may establish COUPLES FOR CHRIST as a foundation or corporation or formal association, in accordance with local and/or national laws, for purposes of conducting transactions as a juridical entity.”

“5.71 Such juridical personality however does not supersede the more basic reality that COUPLES FOR CHRIST is part of the body of Christ and is an international Christian community with its own organization, government and patterns of life.”

“6.63 The CFC Council is the overall top governing body for the international CFC community. It is the overall policy-making body that determines major policies for the entire body.”

“6.631 Policies of CFC groups in different areas throughout the world should always conform to policies set by the CFC Council.”

“6.632 In cases of different interpretations as to the meaning or application of these statutes, the interpretation of the CFC Council will prevail.”

Nevertheless, I am delighted that deep in your heart, you still feel belonging to Couples For Christ. We will always welcome you back with open arms. Hopefully, sooner so you can also help us solving the problems your group brought up.

> all GK villages, the name of COUPLES FOR CHRIST is not metioned at all.

While I am certain there are indeed occurrences of this, I would also like to point out that I've seen CFC stickers on the doors of beneficiaries (and also stickers of BLD, etc).

> That's why it  puzzled many CFC members considering GK is a product of CFC.

Me, personally, I am not bothered by it because I don't seek honor for myself or for CFC. This should be discussed further by the authorities as there are many points for either answer of "to have or not to have CFC stickers". Napag-uusapan naman etong mga eto at sa tulong ng Diyos, kaya din natin mag-come up with the appropriate thing to do.

God bless you!!!

Brother for the past few days, I was only reading the comments herein. Its only now that I will be giving my opinion which I think is relevant to your message because I could not let your comments goes on without any answer. I have likewise my own views of the issues.I am agreeablle that Vatican admonishes GK for its "overemphasis on social work" not correction as your group is claiming for. I'm with CFC-FFL and your invitation to rejoin your group is not in my dream. Why should I come back to your group? Your group is supporting GK which has so many flaws; your leaders are disobedient with the recommendations given by the Bishops to avoid split of CFC; your leaders who are only want powers (no humility at all); your leaders who can not show financial statements of GK fundings - no transparency at all - we don't know what happen to the millions of pesos solicited only that GK built houses. What were the real expenses?); your leaders tolerating wrong doings in GK villages (you know them for sure); your leaders by-passed the national leadership of Laity (re: Tale et al went to Vatican by-passing Bishop Reyes who is the Head of the CBCP Pontifical Commision on the Laity).

Perhaps, brother it should be the other way around. You are telling that CFC is governed by its statutes. Fine, but did you follow Statutes no. 942 which states that "Couples for Christ will conform to and support orthodox Church teachings and stand on issues". Why did your so called leaders accepted money from drug companies that produce contraceptives which is against the teaching of Catholic Church? Perhaps, you know the answer of your leaders. Bro. Tony Meloto's answer as publisehd in Inquirer page 23, dated Aug. 28, 2007,"GK is non-partisan. We do not take any side in building a nation in the same manner that we do not pass judgement on any corporation we engage. We do not ask themwhat their (corporations) products are as long as they want to help." So pera lang pala ang gusto, di ba. How can be spiritual transformation if the source of funding is not from a moral source? Meron tayong kasbihan, "Kung ano ang puno, siya rin ang bunga!" very clear ito. As father of your children, are you going to feed them goods coming from unmoral source? Di ba hindi. It is the same analogy applies in GK fundings. In the future there will be one CFC and that is CFC-FFl. Kung ako sayo  brother, ikaw ang sumama sa amin. Bro. Frank Padilla is the permanent representative of CFC to Vatican by virtue of issued certication by Vatican therefore CFC-FFL is recognized by Vatican. Huwag ka namang makasarili na sinasabi mo na kayo lang ang recognize.

 God bless.