ASIAN MISSION CONGRESS
Vol. XVIII x No. 7
AUGUST 2006
THE
ROLE
OF THE POPES
By Frans-Josef Eilers, SVD
FABC Executive Secretary
It was under the pontificate of Pope John XXIII that the initiative for an Asian bishops’ meeting was realized. Paul VI and John Paul II kept insisting that “the peoples of Asia need Jesus Christ and His Gospel.”
To open the windows of the Church was the first proposal of the newly-elected Pope John XXIII. And he really did this not only with the announcement of the Second Vatican Council on January 25, 1959 but also in showing his special concern for the Church in the world and for Asia.
It was under the pontificate of John XXIII that the initiative for an Asian bishops’ meeting, which began under his predecessor Pope Pius XII, was realized. For the first time in history, the bishops of Asia and Oceania assembled at the Central Seminary of the University of Santo Tomas, in Manila, from December 10 to 16, 1958. Some 10 papal representatives, 16 archbishops, and 79 bishops from Egypt to Australia assembled in the Philippines to discuss the situation of the Church in a continent where communism had expelled all missionaries from China and was rapidly spreading into other countries.
It was at this occasion that the first proposal was made for a continental Catholic radio station, to broadcast especially into countries like China, where Christians otherwise could not be reached anymore. This was the first step in the creation of Radio Veritas Asia, which, under the responsibility of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), has been broadcasting for almost 40 years now in 16 different languages.
John’s successor, Paul VI, showed in a special way his concern for Asia. He was called the Pilgrim Pope because he was the first to travel beyond Italy and Europe to support the local churches and thus, personally, to tell and reflect the story of Jesus in Asia and the world. In 1964, he started his pilgrimages – going to the Holy Land and India.
The family of Asian bishops
In 1970, Pope John Paul II visited several countries in Asia, including the Philippines, where he also visited the premises of Radio Veritas Asia. At this occasion, the Asian bishops assembled again in Manila and the FABC was born as the continental family of Asian bishops and bishops’ conferences. The initiative received the Pope’s special support and brought all the Asian countries together, to think and plan in a more systematic way how to tell and live the story of Jesus in Asia. Since then, the different FABC bodies already produced three volumes of documents – the result of different meetings and deliberations.
The support for Asia became especially obvious in Pope John Paul II. In 1981, he visited the Philippines, Goa, Japan and Pakistan. In 1984, he was in South Korea and Thailand. In 1987, he thrilled Catholics in Bangladesh and Singapore. In 1989, he visited South Korea again, and came to Indonesia, East Timor and Mauritius. In 1995, the Pope came to Sri Lanka and again to the Philippines, where he celebrated the Eucharist for World Youth Day with some 5 million participants, the biggest crowd assembled for a Eucharistic celebration in all history. John Paul II also used the occasion to address the FABC and to celebrate the 25 years of Radio Veritas Asia. In November 1999, he came again to Asia for the publication of the Apostolic Exhortation “Ecclesia in Asia.” In 2001 and 2002, respectively, he went to the Central Asian States of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
Contemplation lessons
John Paul II admitted, in his Encyclical on Mission, “Redemptoris Missio” (1990), that he learned about the importance of contemplation for missionary spirituality in a special way through his visits to Asia. (No. 91)
Under Pope John Paul II, the Asian Synod was celebrated in Rome in 1998, in preparation for the Jubilee Year 2000. The Pope made it a point to personally publish the conclusions and reflections of the Synod, and made a special trip to New Delhi, India in 1999. His Apostolic Exhortation “Ecclesia in Asia” is based on the deliberations of the Asian bishops, but also reveals John Paul II”s concern for the story of Jesus being alive in Asia. He, in fact, promotes story-telling as a form of teaching and sharing especially used in and fitted to Asia. (No. 20)
In “Ecclesia in Asia,” the Pope describes Jesus Christ in an Asian perspective, with different titles reflected in our cultures such as “Teacher of Wisdom, Healer, Liberator, Spiritual Guide, the Enlightened One, the Compassionate Friend of the Poor, the Good Samaritan, the Good Shepherd, the Obedient One.” Jesus could be presented, he writes, as “the Incarnate Wisdom of God whose grace brings to Christians the seeds of Divine Wisdom already present in the lives, religions and peoples of Asia” (No. 20).
Pope John Paul II begins his document for and about the “Church in Asia” with the statement that Jesus was born, lived, died and rose from the dead in Asia. Thus, “a small portion of Western Asia became a land of promise and hope for all mankind. Jesus knew and loved this land, He made His own the history, sufferings and hopes of its people. He loved its people and embraced their Jewish traditions and heritage… And from this land, through the preaching of the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Church went forth to make ‘disciples of all nations’ (Mt. 28:19)” (No. 1).
The Asia millennium
Pope John Paul II repeats what he had already told the FABC in 1995 in Manila: “Just as in the first millennium, the Cross was planted in the soil of Europe, and in the second in the Americas and Africa, we can pray that in the third Christian millennium, a great harvest of faith will be reaped in this vast and vital continent of Asia” (No. 1).
The Pope concludes his document with the assurance that we should not be afraid and that “the peoples of Asia need Jesus Christ and His Gospel. Asia is thirsting for the living water that Jesus alone can give. The servants of Christ in Asia must, therefore, be unstinting in the efforts to fulfill the mission they have received from the Lord who has promised to be with them till the end of the age. Trusting in the Lord who will not fail those whom He has called, the Church in Asia joyfully makes her pilgrim way into the Third Millennium. Her only joy is that which comes from sharing with a multitude of Asia’s people the immense gift which she herself has received – the love of Jesus the Savior. Her one ambition is to continue His mission of service and love so that all Asians may have life and have it abundantly” (No. 50).
This is exactly the purpose of the Asian Mission Congress we are going to celebrate in October in Chiang Mai, Thailand. <WM
A
STORY BORN IN ASIA
By Frans-Josef Eilers, SVD
FABC Executive Secretary
Telling the story of Jesus starts with His birth. And He was born in Asia. Almost at once, Christianity began to grow in the continent.
At the continental synod for Asia – in 1989, during the preparation for the Holy Year in Rome – a proposal was made not to start the document of this assembly with Ecclesia in... (Church in...) but rather with Natus in Asia (Born in Asia), something which no other continent of the world could claim. This proposal is still somehow reflected in the final document of the synod, where it says that Jesus’ birth took place in a definite historical and geographical context: "Because Jesus was born, lived, died and rose from the dead in the Holy Land, that small portion of western Asia became a land of promise and hope for all mankind. Jesus knew and loved this land. He made His own the history, the sufferings and hopes of its peoples...”
The story of the growth of Christian faith as reflected in the Acts of the Apostles, and especially the journeys and activities of the apostle Paul, points to "Asia Minor" as the special field of proclamation. The Indian Christians are convinced that already the apostle Thomas was the one who brought Christianity to the continent in the year 52, which was much earlier than any other development of Christianity in Central Europe and beyond the Mediterranean. Just recently (March 17, 2006), the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India declared the San Tome Cathedral in Chennai (Madras) – that according to tradition was built over the tomb of St. Thomas – a "national shrine." "It is one of the three basilicas in the world,” Archbishop Chinnapa of the archdiocese said, “which is built over the tombs of Christ's disciples."
Syrians and Franciscans
In 635, the missionaries from Syria were the ones who told the story of Jesus in China, long before the reign of Charlemagne in Europe (800). They were followed later, in a second wave, by the Franciscan missionaries, soon after the time of St. Francis of Assisi. In the beginning of the 14th century, Johannes de Montecorvino (1246-1328), was one of their outstanding pioneers, becoming the first archbishop of Beijing – then a community of several thousand Christians. This happened at a time when no modern way of communication was available to cross the long distances from the birthplace of Christianity to the outmost bounds of the earth.
A
further wave of missionaries telling and living the story of Jesus in China
followed in the 16th century, with pioneers like the Jesuits Mateo Ricci
(1552-1610), Miguel Ruggieri (1543-1607) and, later, Johann Adam Schall
(1591-1666), who not only met but also influenced the Emperor of China. St.
Francis Xavier, an outstanding example of a "teller of Jesus' story" died on
his way to China, in 1552.
From China to Korea
It was from the royal court of China that the Christian faith found its way to Korea. Some Korean lay people in Beijing who learned about the Christian faith, were baptized and thus became the first Korean Christians. They returned to their homeland to bring the Bible, the books of the stories of Jesus and our redemption. In their country, they founded the first Christian communities, even without a priest. The power of the Word and the story of Jesus itself were sufficient to convince Koreans to be baptized.
Ordained in China in 1845, the very first local Korean priest, Andrew Kim, was beheaded in his native country only one year after for witnessing to his faith. From the 93 canonized Korean martyrs, only three were foreign missionaries; all the rest were local people who concluded their story of Jesus by giving up their lives.
The Jesuit Alexander de Rhodes (1593-1660) became the “Apostle of Vietnam”, when his dream to go to Japan failed. He not only used the spoken word in the local language but also wrote his famous “Catechismus”, where he included local proverbs and sayings to inculturate the story of Jesus into the lives of the people. It became the first book printed in the new Romanized script of the country.
In many other parts of Asia, the missionaries from outside were the first to tell Jesus' story, but, gradually, the local people followed and became a part of the group. It is not without meaning that many other Asian martyrs, who gave their lives for Christ, were mostly local people themselves. The big number of Japanese (158), Vietnamese (96) and Chinese (105) martyrs was witness of the convincing power of Jesus' story in Asia.
Up to our own days, Jesus' life and redemption inspire people in different countries of Asia. Mother Teresa of Calcutta is only one example of what might be considered the “tip of an iceberg” of Christian witnesses.
The Bishop who said “No”
The Church in the Philippines started with the telling of the story of Jesus by missionaries from Mexico and Spain, but the task was taken over by the local people. The result: A merging of Christian faith and the existing traditions of story telling and drama, theater and song, a process that is still going on today.
People like Bishop William Finnemann, SVD, a naturalized Filipino citizen, former auxiliary bishop of Manila and first Apostolic Prefect of Calapan, Mindoro, are modern examples of living the story of Jesus in their lives. As bishop of Calapan, Finnemann refused to let girls and women be abused by Japanese soldiers. He also refused converting Catholic schools and convents into brothels for the soldiers. Thus, he was imprisoned and finally thrown alive into the sea between Calapan and Batangas on October 26, 1942: “Along the way in the waters between Verde Island and Batangas, the soldiers bound his hands and feet, tied his body on a huge rock and dropped him overboard into the depths of the sea.”
He was 60 years old. Until today, the people of Mindoro honor Bishop Finneman. Every year on October 26, they would sail out to the sea, between Calapan and Batangas, to offer prayers and flowers to the pastor who laid down his life upholding their dignity – a gesture that is a symbol and a big part of telling today Jesus’ story in Asia. <WM
The voice of a young continent
By Joy Candelario
FABC - OLF - Youth Desk
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.
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
To
tell God’s story
By James Kroeger
Maryknoll Missionary
Mission means “telling God’s story.” This insight lies at the heart of the First Asian Mission Congress to be held in October on Chiang Mai, Thailand. The entire five-day meeting will focus on the many dimensions of the “telling the story of Jesus in Asia.”
To be in mission signifies that one has heard the Good News, the “Jesus-story”; has reflected deeply on its crucial importance; has integrated the message into one’s life, and then passionately desires to tell others: to “tell the world of his love”; to tell God’s love story, that love incarnate in Jesus. All evangelizers can testify that this story is, from beginning to end, a story of great compassion and mercy, God’s salvation story.
The Asian Mission Congress, to be held from October 18 to 22 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, will unfold in four thematic segments. First, the story of Jesus in the peoples of Asia will be the focal point (e.g. family, youth, women, migrants). Secondly, the “Jesus-story” in the religions of Asia will be presented (e.g. Buddhism, Islam, traditional religions). Thirdly, the cultures of Asia will be related to Jesus (e.g. indigenous, contemporary and media “cultures”). Finally, the story of how God’s Son guides the life of the Church in Asia will be highlighted (e.g. Asian saints, holiness, Mary). The Congress participants will celebrate faith and life in all these pivotal dimensions of the story of Jesus in Asia.
To appreciate why storytelling with faith reflection was chosen as the integrating methodology of the Mission Congress, one can profitably explore the basic elements of a story. In brief, stories tell us who we are; they help us maintain and deepen our identity; they link us together. Stories continually explore the deeper dimensions of our lives, illuminating many aspects of the mystery of our being. Stories possess tremendous power to influence faith and life.
Furthermore, stories help define and sustain individuals, families, communities and, indeed, nations. Stories present a window through which we can view the world, perceiving meaning, gaining insight. Stories capture the human experience, telling of compassion, conversion, forgiveness, grace, joy, mercy, peace, reconciliation, and unity. They probe deeply into the human heart, into the mystery of life, into human relationships with God and others. Particular stories emerging from the soil of Asia can shed light on our common spiritual journey (whether we are Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, or Christian); together we are on a mutual spiritual pilgrimage.
Jesus, the storyteller
Without doubt, people remember stories long after they have forgotten the abstract word. It is little wonder then that Jesus enthralled and challenged his listeners with stories. As master-teacher (rabbi) using parables, Jesus constantly proposed stories about new possibilities in our relations with God and all our brothers and sisters. Jesus, as a storyteller, gathered up experiences and anecdotes from daily life; he turned them into windows through which his disciples could take a peek at the Kingdom. He invited people to see life with new eyes, to embrace values different from those that culture normally endorses.
Often when Jesus was asked a somewhat theoretical question, “Who is my neighbor?” he replied with a story like The Good Samaritan (Lk. 10:30-37). Jesus tried to get the Pharisees to view God in new ways by telling the story of The Prodigal Son (Lk. 15:11-32).
The scriptural passage appearing on the Mission Congress’ logo quotes Jesus’ words to the possessed man he had cured: “Go home to your people and tell them all that the Lord in his mercy has done for you” (Mk. 5:19). Congress participants are expected to bring home to their own communities new insights into the story of Jesus, particularly its Asian dimensions. Missionaries have always returned to their homelands, bringing with them vivid and inspiring stories, which could light the flame of mission in young hearts.
Recall that at the Council of Jerusalem, Peter told the story of his encounter with Cornelius. During his visit to Jerusalem, Paul recounted several stories of the way in which the Gentiles received the faith. Francis Xavier wanted to run through European universities, telling the story of his encounter with Asia and its millions of peoples waiting to receive the liberating truth of Christ. Great saints, missionaries, and evangelizers have recognized the truth of the assertion: “You cannot tell people what to do; you can only tell them parables.”
The Asian approaches
As an Asian mission assembly, the Congress aims at using Asian approaches to communicate Christian faith. Perceptively, John Paul II’s 1999 apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Asia notes: “In general, narrative methods akin to Asian cultural forms are to be preferred. In fact, the proclamation of Jesus Christ can most effectively be made by narrating his story, as the Gospels do.” The Church “must be open to the new and surprising ways in which the face of Jesus might be presented in Asia” (EA 20).
The pope continues, saying there is a “need to evangelize in a way that appeals to the sensibilities of Asian peoples”; there is “the pressing need of the local Churches in Asia to present the mystery of Christ to their peoples according to their cultural patterns and ways of thinking” (EA 20).
“Storytelling in faith” captures the vision and integrating methodology for the Mission Congress; in more academic language, it could be termed “narrative missiology.” This approach seeks to communicate, inspire, bring laughter, promote reflection, strengthen faith, elicit mission commitment. The Congress aims to provide an opportunity for Asian evangelizers to share their stories and melodies that will, in turn, resonate with the stories and songs of all God’s peoples in Asia. <WM
Points
of Departure
By Msgr. Gilbert Garcera
National Director, Pontifical Mission Society
Executive Secretary, Episcopal Commission on Mission (ABCP)
“Set out from any point. They are all alike. They all lead to a point of departure,” wrote Spanish author Antonio Porchia. In this context, all the preparations for the First Asian Mission Congress, scheduled for October 18-22, in Chiang Mai, Thailand, become several “points of departure.”
The plan to hold a continental mission congress in Asia was introduced by Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (since 2001 to the present), during his address to the Central Committee of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) in Bangkok on September 27, 2002. He said: “I wish to express my gratitude and that of the Congregation, over which I preside, for the project of the Missionary Congress of Asia which will be organized. Not only do I agree with this proposal but, from now on, I pledge the total collaboration and the full support of our missionary dicastery for this missionary venture. We will be happy to place ourselves at your disposal so that this project may also be organized as soon as possible and obtain the best fruits for the new evangelization of the Asian continent.” Over the past four years, committed Asians have held several consultations and organizational meetings to decide on the host country and to determine the overall theme, objectives, content and methodology of the Asian assembly.
Several significant reasons emerge for holding this Asian Mission Congress. It is to be an offshoot of the year of the Eucharist. In fact, this Congress becomes a concrete Asian response to the late Pope’s call – the “Eucharist: The Principle and Plan of Mission.” John Paul II noted that “Christians ought to be committed to bearing more forceful witness to God's presence in the world. We should not be afraid to speak about God and to bear proud witness to our faith. The ‘culture of the Eucharist’ promotes a culture of dialogue, which here finds strength and nourishment.” (JP II, Mane Nobiscum Domine, no.26)
In addition, this year’s 500th anniversary of the birth of Saint Francis Xavier, patron of mission and missionaries, is a providential signal to focus Asia’s attention on a model of ad gentes mission. As a Jesuit missionary born in Navarre, Spain in 1506, Xavier crossed continental boundaries and evangelized in several Asian countries: India, Indonesia, Japan and China. Father Saturnino Dias, Executive Secretary of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences Office of Evangelization and Over-all Coordinator of the Congress, has noted that this year is also the 300th year of the approval of the oratory of Blessed Joseph Vaz, the first indigenous “Society of Apostolic Life” in Asia (1706-2006). All these events are “points of departure” which provide Asian Christians with reasons to celebrate our faith.
A celebration of life and faith
The Gospel of Mark anchors the spirit of the Asian Congress: “Go home to your people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how He has had mercy on you (Mk.5:19).” The biblical challenge to tell the story of Jesus becomes one of our Asian expressions of faith. This faith expression seeks to inspire “the Church's evangelizing work in Asia” which is often carried out in difficult and even dangerous circumstances” (EA 10). The over-all theme of the Congress “Telling the Story of Jesus in Asia: A Celebration of Life and Faith” will be reflected upon and shared through personal faith stories and reflections by ten faith-sharers and four missiologists who will give a daily theological synthesis. The daily themes have been arranged to invite the participants to interiorize and share “The Story of Jesus in the Peoples of Asia” (October 19), “The Story of Jesus in the Religions of Asia” (October 20), The Story of Jesus in the Cultures of Asia” (October 21) and “The Story of Jesus in the Life of the Church in Asia” (October 22, which is also World Mission Sunday).
The pedagogy of the presentations of the daily themes responds to the four objectives set by the Congress Executive Committee: share the joy and enthusiasm of our faith in Jesus Christ; celebrate Asian ways of mission through witness in the midst of life realities; raise the awareness in the Asian churches about the renewed understandings of mission ad gentes during and since Vatican II; and note priorities for a renewed mission animation. The keynote Congress talk will be delivered by theologian Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines; the Congress’ basic text was prepared by Jesuit Father Julian Saldanha. Together, they will set the tone of the four-day Congress.
If we had to choose a motto, we would certainly remember the words of John Paul II: “If the Church in Asia is to fulfill its providential destiny, evangelization, as the joyful, patient and progressive preaching of the saving Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, should be your absolute priority'" (EA 2). <WM
America, the first continent
In 1977, the first Missionary Congress of Latin America and the Caribbean countries was held in Mexico. Many delegations from Latin American countries participated. The Congress was also graced with the presence of Cardinal Angelo Rossi, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. From this “point of departure”, a broad program for continental congresses was inspired by Cardinal Jozef Tomko, the late Prefect (1985 -2001); he also launched the idea of extending the Latin American Missionary Congress to include both North and South America.
After the celebration of the Special Synod for America in 1997, it was noted that the Sixth Latin American Missionary Congress wished to embrace fraternally "all the Churches of the Continent," thus becoming the First American Missionary Congress. This direction focused on what the Holy Father, in his celebration of the Synod for America, had expressed: "a closer bond which the peoples of the Continent seek and which the Church wishes to foster." The Congress sought to strengthen the “evangelizing mission of the Church, in the Continent as well as beyond its own borders.”
In Asia, the First Congress is spearheaded by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) Office of Evangelization. It is also organized by the continental national offices of the Pontifical Missionary Societies of Asia and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Thailand, headed by Cardinal Michael Michai Kitbunchu. The preparation is facilitated by the missionary institutes, working committees from Thailand and the different FABC offices. The Federation is composed of Bishops’ Conferences from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos-Cambodia, Malaysia-Singapore-Brunei, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Hong Kong, Macau, Mongolia, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Siberia (Russia), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and East Timor are also members.
The total number of expected participants is about 1,000. Asian countries have a quota allocation depending on the country’s Catholic population. Participants are selected on the basis of their involvement, primarily, in the work of evangelization and mission. These participants also have an “Asian perspective” and are decision-makers in their own pastoral field. <WM
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