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This project arises from religious education courses at the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University Chicago but can be opened to other programs as well. Interested professors of religious education or faith formation should e-mail edaily@luc.edu if they want their students to be included.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Asian Review

The article reviewed this week is entitled "Asian Bishops Propose New Church," by Tom Kyle. In this article, Peter Phan is quoted as discussing how the Church and God have become less central in our lives - He is not our top priority anymore. God is in the middle of our lives with everything else surrounding it - but He is not the tops.

At one time, the Asian Catholic was a Western Catholic philosophy transplanted into the Asian world. It did not flourish. A new movement/group emerged in order to move the Asian church into a new way of being church: the Federation of Asian Bishops Conference (FABC). The FABC called for meeting with JP2 in order to discuss their church; a church built on activism, promoting the care of the poor, and giving witness to injustice. The one issue the Pope and the FABC do not agree with has to do with Jesus Christ as the only Savior. The FABC believes that with that limited belief, there can be no communication with other religions. The Pope holds strong to JC as the only Savior.

The reading this week, Christianity with an Asian Face, Asian American Theology in the Making, by Peter Phan. Mr. Phan discusses the Asian Christian person as one that is in solidarity with the people it serves. Those people that are touched by poverty, injustice, oppression, and such sadness, should be reflected by the Christians serving and teaching them. Phan also discusses the relationship between doing works of social justice, being one with the universe, and the relationship to body, mind and soul.

Both articles establish the same premise of working and preaching to the poor by being poor. The people of the Church are the people in the streets - they are the same people, sharing the same injustice. The main theme is to make the gospel message visible through giving witness. Giving witness is the best way to show others what being a Christian is. Not all people have to live in the most horrific conditions though. Likewise, the Pope is right in remaining firm that the Christian belief is that Jesus is the only Savior. There is no other and we can still be open to communicating with other religions.

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