Row erupts over service to poor

Filipino Church rejects accusations of lack of charity, reports Richard Shaw TIIE CHURCH in the Philippines has acted to counter accusations that it has not being doing enough for the poor in the region.
Cardinal Jaime Sin of Manila has exchanged apologies with supporters of former President Joseph Estrada at a special reconciliation Mass on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima.
Cardinal Sin has been seen as instrumental in the campaign to oust Estrada. the ex-President now in prison facing trial on a serious corruption charge, styled "economic plunder", which carries a life-sentence and for which no bail can be posted.
His supporters, however, have remained strong. About 100,000 went on the rampage recently after demonstrations at Estrada's house. Setting off from the house, they vandalised a Marian shrine, which has become associated with the efforts of Church leaders' and, in particular. of Cardinal Sin, to end the Estrada regime.
The Church in the Philippines, however, wanted to assure the population that this was no mere ecclesiastically-supported middleclass revolt against the poor. Many of Estrada's supporters come from among the poorer sections of society and it has been suggested that some were beginning to see the Church as simply conservative and elitist. Auxiliary Bishop Teodoro Bacani of Manila described the pro-Estrada riots as "the self assertion of the marginalised poor against the sectors they perceived to have marginalised them".
Archbishop Leornado Legaspi of Caceres, vicepresident of the bishops' conference, called the riots "a wake-up call to a perceived elitist Church to become visible servants of the poor".
Others, including Bishop Francisco Clave of BontocLagawe, disagreed. Bishop Clave said: "The rally was not directed against the government and the Church's neglect of the poor, but was first and foremost for the reinstatement of a thief and incompetent person as president."
Nonetheless, it is in this context that Cardinal Sin's actions have conic. The Mass. held at the desecrated shrine of Mary, Queen of Peace, was the culmination of days of penance and restitution for the attack upon it.
At the start of the ceremonies Estrada supporters prayed for forgiveness for their loss of faith in the Church and for the bitterness and anger they nursed.
This was followed by a moving demonstration of reconciliation, where at the pax vohiscum, those defending Estrada shared a tearfilled embrace with Presi dent Gloria MacapagalArroyo. At the same time, the rest of the congregation waved white hankerchiefs as a sign of peace and to celebrate the gesture of the two parties.
Cardinal Sin expressed his own regret in a speech in which he spoke of ways to help diminish the chasm between rich and poor.
He said: "We apologise to the poor if the Church hurt their feelings. We ask them for forgiveness for having neglected them for a long time now."
He called on Catholics to be "poor in spirit" and to live without unnecessary luxuries, but instead to devote extra wealth and energies to the poor.
He said the ceremony of reconciliation should not be seen as the completion of action on the issue, but rather as a launching pad for renewed efforts to help the poor. He warned the congregation that they must not again await a crisis before they began to act.
He asked Catholic schools to provide aid by teaching those who would not otherwise be able to afford fees and called on priests and religious to devote more time and effort to the homeless and the unemployed.
He prayed, finally, that a day would come when "the poor will see the Church as a truly loving mother, embracing all her children".