USCCB, Phan and Me...

Blog #4 http://www.usccb.org/mrs/harmony.shtml#iii

Sharing Gifts and Promoting Harmony… Contemporary Asian-American Struggles

“We believe strongly that this is a moment of special grace for the Catholic Church in the United States. As Asian Pacific communities, we bring a strong sense of family with a loving respect for the elderly and a profound and fervent religious faith. We contribute a spirituality which is eastern [and] rooted in Asian Pacific cultures. We also seek to live in harmony with each other and with the whole of creation. We deepen and challenge our understanding of the meaning of the universal Church, enabling all of us to be a church which is complete and whole.”

There is much richness to be found in a healthy incorporation or inculturation of the Asian population into the Church. The sense of family and respect of elderly is something we of contemporary Anglo cultural norms are lacking in. It is evident that as Phan suggests there are still several struggles faced by Asian Americans: oppression, social barriers, and bigotry. However I feel that it is these contemporary challenges that allowed this rich culture to contribute as witnesses in true Biblical solidarity with those who have had similar challenges in the Gospel stories and those in current cultural groups. In our ability to focus on the suffering of these people we somehow denounce any ownership of their plight; conversely, if we bring to focus our sins of transgression and omission… we are accepting a role in the oppression and deprivation of life. Being empathically moved by the human suffering will not always lead one to actively denounce their abhorrent conditions. However, accentuating the sinfulness of OUR actions as we watch those inflicted with social, political, and economic strife seems to be the more direct approach to infuse a sense of accountability and hopefully will lead more people to ministering and aiding those in need.

It was Jesus’ mission to restore God’s people to covenant; the original intention of covenant, by providing a social vision based on equality and right communion with God. The historical Jesus was not a radical nor was he a reformer; so much as he was a “restorer”. He did not want to usher in a new sect of Judaism; he wanted integrity, respect, and honesty to prevail over corruption, he strove to eliminate economic and social disparity, he labored to repair the lack of cohesion and unveil the corruption in the Jewish faith, he wanted the anawin in our midst provided for and loved, and he sought to reestablish covenant by bringing healing and a fullness of devotion to God to the people he ministered. We are called to create a Church of harmony and equality where different cultural practices and traditions can be incorporated in the larger Church for an enhanced existence (spiritual, physical and psychological) for all.

“Harmony is central to the lives and cultures of Asian and Pacific communities. According to the bishops of Asia, "harmony embodies ‘the realities of order, well-being, justice and love as seen in human interaction. . . . Harmony is not simply the absence of strife. . . . The test of true harmony lies in acceptance of diversity and richness.'"

Quotes from: http://www.usccb.org/mrs/harmony.shtml#iii