On November 24, President of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conference (FABC), Charles Cardinal Bo of the Yangon Diocese, presided over a Eucharistic celebration to conclude the 28th FABC-OSC Bishops' Meet in Bangkok.
Concelebrants were Fr. William Larousse, the assistant secretary general of the FABC, and Fr. Peter Choy from Hong Kong Diocese.
In his homily, Cardinal Bo explained the relationship between communication and living the Pope's' call for a synodal church.
Bo said, “The synodal process is Holy Spirit-inspired, an irreversible process, and an axial missionary moment for Asia.”
Like the Samaritan woman, “who rushed back to the village proclaiming the Good News with great vigor,” the “Asian Church must communicate the memorable encounter with Jesus journeying with us.”
The digital world has “shrunk the missionary field,” offering a great opportunity to tell Christ’s Gospel, he continued.
It is then always “crucial” to live as Christ’s witnesses in contemporary culture.” But it is necessary “to first know the culture,” the Cardinal cautioned.
“Digital missionaries” must carry out the mission in the digital environment, while helping “the rest of the community, including pastors,” understand its dynamics.
Communication must provide “safe spaces for sharing,” but it must also be “spiritually life-giving” and one that promotes “care as well as concern for one another and the common good,” the prelate continued.
Echoing Pope Francis, Cardinal Bo reminded the Bishops’ Meet participants “to be always present.”
“People like the youth may not come to Church, but the Church needs to be present where they are,” the cardinal said.
Our communicating mission must include cleansing the Holy Spirit’s temple, which is the human person, restoring his or her dignity, evangelizing the digital space, healing the wounded world, building communion, and leading people to God.”
The “new energy unleashed by emerging technologies” must be “the Church’s ally in building God’s Kingdom of peace, justice, human dignity, and fellowship,” Cardinal Bo concluded.
The “springboard” for communicating the synodal way in Asia is the Bishops’ Meet-organizer, FABC-OSC, which in 1996 had envisioned the yearly event to be a forum for networking, sharing, and support for bishops in charge of communications and their secretaries.
This year’s Bishops’ Meet saw 30 participants from FABC member conferences Brunei-Malaysia-Singapore, Cambodia-Laos, India, Indonesia, Korea, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam, and associate member Hong Kong.
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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