“You are being kidnapped and maybe killed, why don’t you get out of there.” – Cardinal Sin

“You are being kidnapped and maybe killed, why don’t you get out of there.” – Cardinal Sin

These were words of concern to me of my friend the late former archbishop of Jaro and later of Manila. That was sometime in 1986 after I negotiated for the release of ten Carmelite nuns in Marawi who were kidnapped and held captive for a week by a dismissed Muslim employee of the local office of the National Food Authority (NFA).

He was using the nuns who he believed were friends of the President Corazon Aquino for his demand to be reinstated.

Politely I had to explain to the good cardinal the agreement that Bishop Bienvenido S. Tudtud, then bishop of the St. Mary’s prelature in Marawi had with his priests, sisters and lay workers: that they would have the courage to give the ultimate witness to Christ when threatened with kidnapping and/or death as predicted and experienced by Jesus Himself (Mt. 5:10-12).

The Catholic bishops in Mindanao said almost the same thing about Fr. Chito Suganob and companions in their Statement on Marawi and Martial Law. They said: “The victims fear death but they have also the courage to give ultimate witness to Christ.”

We continue to pray for such courage.

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