Asian Mission Congress: Asia Catholics open to the world

(20 Oct. 2006) : The Asian Mission Congress (AMC) began in Thailand on Thursday with a solemn liturgy presided by card Ivan Dias, prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Missions. At the beginning of the mass, nuncio Salvatore Pennacchio read a letter from Pope Benedict. In it the Holy Father singled out his legate, Card Crescenzio Sepe, archbishop of Naples (Italy), for his “important missionary experience”. Cardinal Sepe himself then made a few introductory remarks. Although the first day of the congress was devoted to introductory speeches, it also looked at the prospects for mission in Asia.
Archishop Orlando Quevedo from the Philippines, secretary general of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), highlighted some of the continent’s records. Asia is a treasure’s trove in spiritual terms and that the Church is reaching maturity, so much so that it is relying on Asian missionaries in the oldest Churches of Europe and the Americas, the prelate said.
The Church Yearbook shows that between 1978 and 2004 the number of Asian priests almost doubled from 27,700 to 48,222. The number of seminarians went up by more than 150 per cent from 11,536 to 29,220. Thousands more joined traditional religious institutions. Given the drop in vocations in the older Churches, it is apparent that the mission of the Church in the world will be entrusted to Asian Catholics, he said.