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.