By Leslie Ann Aquino A Catholic prelate is disappointed that a person like Australian missionary nun Sister Patricia Fox, who selflessly dedicated her life in serving Filipinos who are poor and oppressed, is now forced to leave the country. Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes
(PagadianDiocese.org | Manila Bulletin) “As a bishop and a religious missionary of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD), I am very disappointed with the unfair and unjust deportation of Sister Fox, who has been sacrificing her life and using her personal strength and efforts for the upliftment of the life of our fellow lumad Filipinos, the genuine and original inhabitants of our God-given land,” Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes said in an interview. “I cannot understand why the President (Duterte) and his officials call a frail lady dedicated to a noble cause of Mission an ‘undesirable alien’,” he added. The head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines Episcopal Commission on Mission said this only shows the “paranoic attitude” of the country’s officials, whom he said are guilty of heinous crimes against humanity. “They cannot stand criticism from anyone who exposes their evil deeds,” said Bastes. “Sister Fox, being a religious missionary, is simply fulfilling her prophetic vocation to denounce evil and to help the oppressed! And she is punished for doing her duty as a consecrated woman,” he added. Filipinos, Bastes said should be grateful to Fox and all people who announce the good news of justice and do concrete deeds for the poor and the underprivileged. “We should express our gratitude to Sr. Fox and all missionaries for their selfless dedication to the spiritual and temporal upliftment of our poor and oppressed people!” he said. Bastes urged everyone to pray for the enlightenment of government officials so that they may execute the right judgments. On Wednesday, the camp of Fox revealed that the nun is leaving the Philippines, where she stayed for 27 years, on November 3. In a statement, the nun's her counsel said Fox is compelled to leave after the Bureau of Immigration denied her application for the extension of her temporary visitor’s visa and requires her to leave the Philippines on the said date. “Under the circumstances, she is compelled to leave under strong protest. We will not allow the government to forcibly expel Sr. Fox out of the country given her stature as a respected missionary nun and human rights defender, neither will we give them the wicked pleasure of gloating over this injustice,” they said in a statement posted on the Hands Off Sr. Patricia Fox Facebook page.