BANGKOK (RVA News): The Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences [FABC] kicked off its silver jubilee celebrations with its first General Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, on August 22.
The inaugural ceremony was held at the Shrine of Blessed Nicholas Bunkerd Kitbamrun and was also streamed online on YouTube and Facebook.
Pope Francis expressed his hope that “the FABC 50 General Conference will renew the Churches in Asia in fraternal communion and in missionary zeal for the spread of the Gospel among the richly diverse peoples, cultures and social realities of the vast Asian continent.”
In his message, read out by Archbishop Paul Tschang In-Nam, the apostolic nuncio to Thailand, the pope noted that the theme for the gathering, Journeying Together as Peoples of Asia… ‘and they went a different way’, is “most fitting within the broader context of the synodal path of listening, dialogue and discernment undertaken by the universal Church in these years of preparation for the next Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.”
In his opening remarks Charles Cardinal Maung Bo of Yangon, the president of the FABC, noted that Asia is the cradle of many religions.
This century can be the Asian Christian Century if people pray, plan, and work hard to spread the Good News and work for peace and justice in the world
Cardinal Bo
“Fifty years ago, the Asian bishops came together in a wonderful Pentecostal moment provided by the Second Vatican Council to establish the FABC. It is set upon to respond to the creative apostolic impulses provoked by the Council and set the world on fire for renewal,” the Cardinal Bo said.
The cardinal noted that the conference was occurring “amidst suffocating clouds of conflict and displacement, the collapse of the economy, frightening climate change, pandemics, and the starvation of millions,” and that “secularism is ascending in the traditionally Christian world.”
He appealed to the Asian Churches to become prophets of peace in an increasingly anxious world. “This century can be the Asian Christian Century if people pray, plan, and work hard to spread the Good News and work for peace and justice in the world.”
In his remarks, Oswald Cardinal Gracias of Bombay, convenor of FABC, said, “FABC 50 will try to trace a new vision for the Church in Asia. As a Church we do not exist for ourselves, but are at the service of all the peoples of Asia as we continue to build up the Kingdom of God,”
The FABC was founded following the visit of Pope St. Paul VI to Manila, the Philippines [28 to 30 November 1970], impelled by a desire to engender collegiality and to express being ‘Church in Asia’ in the light of the Second Vatican Council.
The first meeting of the FABC was convened in Hong Kong in 1971, and it was officially constituted in 1972.
