FABC Bishops Identify Challenges for 'New Evangelization'

December 18, 2012: Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, secretary general of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), opened the second full day of the 10th FABC Plenary Assembly on Dec. 12 with a summary of the working paper written by his predecessor Archbishop Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato, Philippines.

The 30-page text, whose title is based on the assembly theme, "FABC at Forty Years - Responding to the Challenges of Asia: A New Evangelization," outlines the federation's history and highlights the theme of every previous plenary assembly, the FABC's highest governing body.

The document also lists 14 "megatrends" that "shape the evangelizing mission of the Church in Asia": globalization, culture, poverty, migrants and refugees, indigenous peoples, population, religious freedom, threats to life, social communication, ecology, laity, women, youth, Pentecostalism and vocations.

The next section of the text offers a theological basis for the Church's proclamation and evangelizing mission. Lastly, the document briefly describes the prophetic role of the Church embodied in a "new evangelization" based on the FABC's understanding of a "new way of being Church in Asia."
The document, which was sent to the FABC's 19 member bishops' conferences and its nine associate members before the Dec. 11-16 assembly began, aims to provide a basis for the participants' reflection during their sessions at Xuan Loc Pastoral Centre, part of a large compound of the Catholic diocese of Xuan Loc in Dong Nai Province, east of Ho Chi Minh City.

Following a brief presentation of the working paper by Cardinal Gracias, several participants shared their reflections and reactions, largely based on realities they must deal with in their respective local Churches. Their interventions sketched a snapshot of challenges the Church in Asia must address as it revitalizes its evangelization efforts.

Archbishop Patrick D'Rozario of Dhaka agreed that a "new evangelization" is needed in Asia, but he suggested that serious deliberation be given to what this means. An appropriate response to the challenge of new evangelization, he said, is to consider two basic dimensions of human society today – namely, "a tendency for a materialistic secular culture resulting from the unilateral advances in secular sciences and technologies," which is in contrast with "a quietly felt need for the spiritual."

The 69-year-old prelate, a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross and president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Bangladesh, then identified six specific areas of mission concern in Bangladesh: indigenous people comprising about half the country’s Christians; over-population and problems arising from unethical birth control measures; ecology, which is a major issue for Bangladesh because it is so harshly affected by climate change; evangelization among Muslims; the promotion of the dignity of women; and widespread injustice and corruption at various levels.

Bishop Norberto do Amaral of Maliana diocese in Timor Leste asserted that the working paper's 14 megatrends are valid and that his country must "face the same challenges.