'Magnificat' stories

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Mama Mary. That is how she is fondly called by many Filipinos who have a special devotion to her. Frankly, I don’t know how the name came about or who started it. I did not hear anyone calling her Mama Mary 25 years ago. She was called The Blessed Virgin, The Blessed Mother (with or without “The”), Mother Mary, Our Lady and Santa Maria with their equivalents in Filipino languages and dialects,...

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Woman theologian stands up to Vatican

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo A lively exchange of comments online ensued among readers after last week’s column, “Face-off between women religious and Vatican.” The column was about the Vatican patriarchy, particularly the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, accusing the Leadership Conference of Women Religious in the United States of “corporate dissent” and pursuing “radical feminist themes incompatible...

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FAce-off between women religious and Vatican

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Clash of the titans. Crackdown. Chastisement. War on nuns. It’s been called all sorts of names. But what is it, really? The answer depends on which side of the debate (or the divide) you support. The tension between the Vatican and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in the United States has generated all kinds of reactions. Among the protagonists’ supporters and observers, a duel has ensued in social media networks. As if the Vatileaks of secret documents and the resulting...

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Romancing the land

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) is unfinished business. Two years ago, in June 2009, the Senate passed the bill extending for another five years the CARP or the government’s land acquisition and distribution program. The budget was P147 billion. The cry of the farmers and other CARP advocates at that time was Carper. The last two letters stood for “extension with reforms.” It’s...

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Santa Rosa: From the enchanted kingdom to the enriching past

Sunday Inquirer Magazine/FEATURES/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo There is definitely more to Santa Rosa, Laguna than just being the much touted gateway to Calabarzon, that burgeoning industrial zone and magnet for investors that straddles the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon. Younger folk too can find much more to this town than just the giant ferris wheel of the Enchanted Kingdom. Waiting to be explored is the old historic...

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