After the opening day of the meeting, organized in Bangkok by the Federation of Episcopal Conferences, the Church of each country presented the joys and challenges of their own reality. Cardinal Gracias: “The Latin American experience with the Aparecida document is a model to renew and revitalize our pastoral experience in Asia.”
Bangkok () – It was a “virtual journey”, country by country, through Asia to listen to the experience of each of the Churches that make up the great mosaic of the Catholic presence on the Continent, which everyone considers the crossroads of the future. . After the opening day of October 12, the General Conference organized by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) on the occasion of its 50th anniversary continued these days with the reports presented by the 29 countries whose delegations participate. The objective of the meeting, which will take place until October 30 at the Baan Phu Waan Pastoral Center in the Thai capital, is to trace the path of the Church in this immense continent.
On Thursday the 13th, the delegates from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Nepal and the communities of the three different rites of India (Syro-Malabar, Siro-Malankara and Latin) presented their experiences. Friday the 14th corresponded to Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, East Timor, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. And yesterday it was the turn of the last group of countries: Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar and Hong Kong.
The representatives of each country -in a closed session- exposed the concerns and challenges facing their Church and their national community. Showing their support and concern, and trying to understand each other, at the end of each day all the delegates met in small groups to identify and underline what had caught their attention the most and they considered could be useful for the everyone’s way. At the end of these three days, Fr. Clarence Devadass, priest of the Malaysian diocese of Kuala Lumpur, proposed a synthesis organizing the responses of the groups to the reports that the countries had presented in four main categories: joys, concerns, responses of the Church and changes that the FABC may adopt.
Starting tomorrow a new stage of work begins. Throughout the week the General Conference will reflect on these realities, making them dialogue with the recent reflections of the magisterium: the apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium, the encyclicals Fratelli tutti and Laudato si and the constitution Praedicate Evangelium that has reformed the Roman Curia. It will focus on the teachings that the Church in Asia must take especially into account in order to respond to the challenges that this “virtual journey” has revealed.
The General Conference of the Catholic Churches in Asia opened on October 12 with the Eucharistic celebration presided over by Card. Charles Bo, Archbishop of Rangoon and Chairman of the FABC. The liturgy was followed by the Opening Ceremony in the Saint John Paul II Hall. Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai, recalled here the path that led to the convening of this conference, which was to take place in 2020 but the pandemic forced it to be postponed for two years. Cardinal Gracias explained that the reference model was the General Conferences of CELAM organized by the Latin American episcopate and the final document of Aparecida, whose great inspiration was the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Mario Bergoglio. “What has helped South America – explained Gracias – can certainly help Asia. We said to ourselves, wouldn’t such a Conference help our Churches in Asia to renew and revitalize our pastoral effort, so that the Church can become what the Lord calls her to be? A vibrant Church that works for a better Asia”.
The beginning of the work was enriched by the presence of children from 11 schools in Thailand who, with stories, music, songs and dances, told the story of the Catholic faith in the country. At the same time they showed the beauty and diversity of the peoples of Asia and the contribution they can make to the world by walking together.
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