Asian Ecumenical Committee

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE of ACMU II

The Second seminar of the Asian Movement for Christian Unity (AMCU II) was held in Tegaljaya, Bali, Indonesia between 10-13 January 1998. The seminar brought together 48 participants from 15 Asian countries and was jointly organized by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) and the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA). The participants were equally divided between Roman Catholics, named by the Episcopal Conferences of FABC, and those representing the more than 120 member Churches and Synods of the CCA.

The main focus of AMCU II was the preparation of ecumenical teams who could give ecumenical formation courses at the local and national levels. The context for ecumenical formation as the Churches of Asia look forward towards the 21st Century was presented by various speakers from the FABC and CCA.

"An Ecumenical Vision of the Church in the 21st Century" was presented by Bishop Julio X. Labayen of Infanta, and by Dr. Feliciano Cariño, General Secretary of the CCA. This was followed by a presentation on the "Special Assembly for Asia of the Synod of Bishops" by Archbishop Armando Trindade of Lahore, with a response by Anglican Bishop Kenneth Fernando of Colombo.

The subject of "Christian Theological Concerns in Asia for the 21st Century" was presented by Rev. M.T. Joseph of Bangalore, with a response by Bishop Deogracias Iñigues of Iba. These two presentations sought to draw out the main theological issues raised at the Congress of Asian Theologians held in Seoul in June, 1997.

Sister -Pauline Chakkalakal of Bombay and Dr. Hisako Kinukawa of Tokyo addressed the topic of "Women in Theology and Ecumenism", while Rev. Hermen Shastri, General Secretary of the Council Churches in Malaysia and Fr. J.B. Banawiratma, professor of theoogy in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, explored that of "The Wider Ecumenism: Ecumenical Concerns in Interreligious Dialogue."

The final day of the workshop centered on setting up ecumenical formation courses. Fr. Kuncheria Pathil of Bangalore and Rev. Glynthea Finger of the CCA staff in Hong Kong drew on years of experience in conducting ecumenical courses to describe the characteristics and syllabi of such courses, with references to available theological and worship resources for conducting seminars of ecumenical formation.

The CCA and FABC are planning a joint publication of the papers delivered at AMCU II.

Thomas Michel, S.J., 23 January 1998

For More Information Contact:

Asian Ecumenical Committee
96, 2nd District, Pak Tin Village, Mei Tin Road, Shatin, N.T. Hong Kong
Tel: 852-2691 1068
FAX: 852-2692 4378 / 3805
Internet: cca@hk.super.net or interrel@sjcuria.org

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Last modified: April 13, 1998