FIRST ASIAN MISSION CONGRESS
Vol. XVIII x No. 5
JUNE 2006
The voice of a young continent
In the 1st Asian Mission Congress, to be held in October in Chiang Mai, Thailand, the voice of the young will be heard. Before that, almost a thousand young people from 25 Asian countries are expected to participate in the 4th Asian Youth Day in Hong Kong.
By Joy Candelario
FABC - OLF - Youth Desk
Ki-jo, a young professional from Korea, is a certified computer geek. He spends most of waking hours in the Internet. He has accumulated many virtual friends but have grown distant from his family and peers…He is a Catholic. Joti, a Nepalese lass, is challenged in living the Christian faith in a predominantly Buddhist culture… She is a Catholic. Din, a Singaporean teenager, is an instant life of the party … She is a Catholic. Francis, a college student from Indonesia, is involved in peace work in Ambon and other conflict stricken areas of the country… He is a Catholic. Thi, a Vietnamese migrant in the Philippines, desires to retrace his roots and appreciate his culture in a foreign land… He is a Catholic…
Young people of Asia, comprising about 60% of the entire region’s population, struggle with basic questions. This August, the 4th Asian Youth Day will be held in Hong Kong where close to a thousand from 25 Asian countries are expected to participate. Here, they celebrate the gift of being young Asians, reflect on the realities that the region is facing and respond concretely in the light of faith and distinct Asian values. This year’s theme is YOUTH: Hope for Asian Families. The 5-day event highlights the Asian family as seen in the context of the young. Through exposure to HK families, sharing of realities and issues, youthful catecheses, awareness-raising and empowerment workshops, praying and celebrating the Sacraments, the assembly aims to enable the young to become hope givers to their families and to their countries.
A new face of the Church
In the 1st Asian Mission Congress, the voice of the young will be heard not only among fellow young people but as part of the bigger family of the Church. Together with their elder counterparts from the different ministries, they will tell their personal story of Jesus against the backdrop of a continuously changing society. The young of Asia long for a new face of the Church, where their basic questions can be answered and where an encounter of the living Jesus is made possible.
The Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) has always expressed its concern for the young. In the first document of the assembly in 1970, the bishops were one in expressing that Asia is indeed a “Church of the young”. They stated their wish: “To be, in them and for them, a Church that they shall see as worthy of their devotion and hope; which seeks to understand and trust them; which is responsive to the needs and demands of men in contemporary society; a Church not “established” in the world but lives out in deeds, day by day, the convictions of her faith and the imperatives of her compassion.”
This vision has been articulated through the years by the different FABC offices, as they respond to the different realities of Asia. Clearly, whether it is interfaith and ecumenical dialogue, human development issues or social communication, young people are both prime victims and prime movers. More concretely, the FABC established the Youth Desk under the Office of the Laity which has held assemblies for the Asian youth (Asian Youth Day and Asian Youth Gathering) and Asian youth animators (Asian Youth Ministers’ Meeting). <WM
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