Naga Priest Elected President of Catholic Missiologists

Naga City - Fr. Andrew Recepcion, a priest from the Archdiocese of Caceres has been elected president of the International Association of Catholic Missiologists (IACM) during the organization's fourth conference and assembly last 27 July to 1 August at Tagaytay City.

Recepcion, the Mission Director of the Archdiocese, was one among 80 participants coming from varied parts of the world engaged in Catholic mission activities.

Recepcion also currently serves as the Executive Secretary of the Tercentenary Celebration Committee.

 

Together with Recepcion, the other newly elected members of the IACM Executive Board were Sr. Nzenzili-Lucie Mboma from Rome (Vice President ), Fr. Francis Vincent Anthony SDB from Rome (Executive Secretary), Fr. Kevin J. Hanlon MM from USA (Treasurer) and six continental representatives with Fr. John M. Prior SVD representing Asia.

His Excellency Most Rev. Edward Joseph Adams, Papal Nuncio to the Philippines, was the main celebrant at the inaugural Eucharist of the IACM conference along with Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle, Bishop of Imus, and Bishop Selvister of Punalur, Kerala.

The papers presented in the General Assembly dealt with the main theme ''New Life in Jesus in the Areopagus of a Globalized World'' but from the perspectives of the different continents.

Later there was a study in groups under the following sub-themes: Proclamation and Witness, Dialogue and Religions, Religious and Secular Fundamentalism, Human Rights and Eco-justice, and Indigenous Peoples.

Fr. Joseph Puthenpurakal, SDB - Director of Don Bosco Centre for Indigeneous Cultures, was the leader of the group which discussed the subtheme: Indigenous Peoples.

The week-long Conference emphasized that the sense of mission and the systematic study of it (missiology) should act as a synoptic discipline bringing together other theological subjects at the service of the proclamation of the Good News.

The next Conference and Assembly in 2013 will be hosted by one of the African countries.