The Age of Giants is Past

In Genesis we read, "There were giants on the earth in those days.... These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.' The Scriptural reference is mythological, but for the Catholic Church in Asia there was, indeed, a time when there were giants on the earth, and they were bishops.

The recent death of Bishop Francisco Claver may have marked the end of that era.

I never met Bishop Claver personally, though he did come to my seminary in the United States and made a strong impression upon us students. He was clearly a pastor dedicated to the Church, the people of God entrusted to his care. Later, that dedication bore fruit in his work with Cardinal Jaime Sin of Manila to bring about the peaceful end of the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines in 1986.

It's strange to recall that two decades ago, the names of many Asian bishops, including Claver and Sin, were well known not only in their local Churches, but around the world.

Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan of Seoul made his Myongdong Cathedral a rallying point and refuge for those opposing military rule in South Korea. I used to read about him in the secular press in the United States.

Bishop Nobuo Soma, along with Bishops Fumio Hamao and Sei'ichi Shirayanagi (both later cardinals) led the Japanese Church to public repentance for what it did and what it failed to do during the period of Japanese military expansionism in the 1930s and 1940s.

This marked a new commitment to a broad concern in Japan to present the Church's teaching on human dignity, peace and justice. When Bishop Soma died in 1997, the news was even carried in the national secular media.

As preparations were in progress for the Extraordinary Synod for Asia held at the Vatican in 1998, the Japanese bishops, led by Cardinal Shirayanagi and Bishop Hamao, spearheaded what became, in effect, an Asian revolt against the curial officials and mindset that assumed that they would control the topics, discussions and results of the gathering.

These are just a few examples of the bishops in Asia who had a vision of the Church's mission that focused on the challenges, opportunities and needs of the people and Churches of Asia.

Those men were known and respected outside the Church because of their commitment to protecting the weak from political and economic injustice. Within the Church, they were noted (and sometimes opposed) because of an equally strong commitment to finding ways to live and evangelize that could grow and flourish among the peoples and cultures that surround us.

What did those men teach us about leadership in the Church? Though they came from different cultures and different Church situations, they shared one characteristic: a secure faith in Christ that allowed them to be fearless proclaimers of the Gospel.