MANILA, July 31, 2009- Scores of bishops from across Asia are to meet in Manila to review obstacles and problems they face in their ministry, and to deliberate how they could get over it.
About 120 Asian archbishops and bishops, seven of them cardinals, are expected to address these concerns during a weeklong plenary assembly of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences.
Archbishop Orlando B. Quevedo, OMI, FABC secretary general, said they will put evangelization as their centerpiece during the meeting at the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center in Paco, Manila from Aug. 10 to 16.
He said the delegates will certainly be discussing the challenges facing the evangelization of their regions and find ways to accomplish their mission.
In a continent where Christianity is a "very small" minority religion, Quevedo said working together among them as church leaders is very important.
"It is important that we together collaborate in a context that is very much interreligious, intercultural and, third, because of the massive poverty," he said during a press briefing Friday.
"From these three commonalities alone one can see the necessity of collaboration among our Episcopal conferences," said the prelate who is presently Archbishop of Cotabato.
Quevedo also said the expected participants are currently considering the working document on "Living the Eucharist in Asia," which is based in recent church teachings on the topic.
It also mirrors on Asia's particular living of the Eucharist, as "a unique experience of God's dialogue with us and our response to God as a dialogue of life and love."
The document deals with the subtopics of living in community, in faith, hope and love, and living in mission.
Aside from the main topic about Eucharist, the FABC official said the floor is also open for other "urgent concerns" which may not necessarily be on the program.
"Maybe some bishops would want to talk about the problems of the church in other countries. It's listed in the agenda but we give them freedom not to say," Quevedo added.
He said common issues in Asia like migration, social justice, and ecology including the religious side could also be discussed.
"But these are not in the agenda. We just want to contextualize the living of the Eucharist in Asia and the living of the Eucharist would address some the particular issues," he said.
The Manila assembly follows the last plenary on the role of family in Asia in Daejon, Korea in 2004. Plenary assemblies, the highest governing body of the Federation are held once every four years.
This year's assembly was planned originally for January 2009 in Bangalore in India but later postponed and transferred to Manila. (Roy Lagarde)