The Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC): Bearing Witness to the Gospel and the Reign of God in Asia

233 Pages·2021·1.921 MB·English

by  Jonathan Y. Tan

The Federation of
Asian Bishops’
Conferences
(FABC)

The Federation of
Asian Bishops’
Conferences
(FABC)
Bearing Witness to the Gospel and
the Reign of God in Asia
Jonathan Y. Tan
FORTRESS PRESS
MINNEAPOLIS
THE FEDERATION OF ASIAN BISHOPS’ CONFERENCES (FABC)
Bearing Witness to the Gospel and the Reign of God in Asia
Copyright © 2021 Fortress Press, an imprint of 1517 Media.
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical
articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced
in any manner without prior written permission from the
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Fortress Press, PO Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440-1 209.
Cover design by Alisha Lofgren
Print ISBN: 978-1-5064-3355-4
eBook ISBN: 978-1-5064-3356-1
To
Peter C. Phan, PhD, STD, DD
William Cenkner, OP, PhD
David N. Power, OMI, STD
John Baldovin, SJ, PhD
Mary E. McGann, RSCJ, PhD
Louis Weil, STD
Kenan Osborne, OFM, DTheol
doctissimis theologis in
profunda gratitudine

Contents
Preface ix
Abbreviations xvii
1. Encountering the Postcolonial Realities of Asia 1
2. A New Way of Doing Theology in Asia 29
3. A “Little Flock” in Plurireligious Asia 45
4. A New Way of Being Church in Asia 69
5. Coming of Age at the Asian Synod 107
6. Looking Ahead: Challenges and Possibilities 147
Notes 183
References 187
Index 201
vii

Preface
Anniversaries and milestones are often good opportunities to
review how far we have come, to take stock of the successes and
shortcomings, and to look forward to the possibilities and oppor-
tunities ahead. The year 2022 marks an important anniversary
in the history of the Asian Catholic Church and contemporary
Asian Catholic theology. Fifty years ago, in 1972, the Federation
of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) was formally constituted by
the Vatican, following the decision of the Asian Bishops’ Meeting
(ABM) on November 29, 1970, in Manila to establish an umbrella
organization for mutual collaboration and cooperation.
On the one hand, the FABC is not as well known globally as its
Latin American counterpart, the Consejo Episcopal Latinoameri-
cano, or Latin American Episcopal Conference, better known by
its acronym CELAM. It was CELAM’s second conference, the cel-
ebrated 1968 Medellín Conference in Colombia, that placed Latin
American theologizing on the global map when it endorsed the
then emerging liberation theology and promoted the new eccle-
sial paradigm of comunidades eclesiales de base (basic ecclesial
communities, or base communities). Since then, the latter part of
the twentieth century has witnessed the widespread acceptance
ix