Prelates from the Federation of Asian Bishops Conference (FABC), Latin American Bishops Council (CELAM), and Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) have gathered to identify common pastoral issues and a manner for cooperation in a synodal approach in Luxembourg on August 28-29.
“We found a lot of common agenda in three continental churches and also quite a lot of differences,” said Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo Archdiocese.
The bishops have also agreed on data exchange among the three continental prelate associations to consolidate the Catholic church across the globe.
We have decided to continue sharing information online to further strengthen the Church's universality and synodality across Asia, Latin America, and Africa," said Kikuchi, who also serves as the Secretary General of FABC.
Kikuchi noted the bishop's associations in the three continents have “much deeper” ties with their European and American counterparts. These ties serve especially as channels of assistance.
At times, the ties between the Asian, Latin American, and African bishops assume a donor and-recipient relationship, Kikuchi explained.
“The relationship within the universal church is limited to the so-called north and south relationship,” he said.
The global church has to encourage the continental associations of bishops to come together and coalesce around working for the synodal church.
“This gathering is a fruit of last year's first session of Synod,” Kikuchi said. “We met there and decided to have this conference before the second session. As we travel from Latin America, Asia and Africa, Europe is ideal for the meeting. And as the Synod is going on, we thought meeting in Luxembourg with Cardinal Hollerich was beneficial.”
The gathering saw the attendance of the presidents, vice presidents, and secretary generals of FABC, SECAM, and CELAM.
Cardinal Grech, Holleorich, Gracias, Maradiaga and others attended the gathering as resource persons.
The incoming president, incoming vice president, secretary general, and assistant secretary general of FABC have also joined the event.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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