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ASIA: ITS CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES TO THE ORDER

 

I THE CONTEXT OF ASIA

A. THE FACE OF ASIA

Asia is big and young. It occupies 30 percent of the world's land area and hosts three fifths of the world's 5.5 billion population. Over 60 percent of Asians are young people. Thus, though ancient, Asia is also a continent of the young.

Asia is multi-religious. It is home to major religions of the world: Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Taoism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Jainism, and numerous primal or traditional religions thrive also in the region. Christianity is but a minor religion in Asia. The only countries where Christians are a majority are the Philippines and East Timor. Due to the strong influence of religions on cultures, Asians are remarkably very religious.

Asia is multi-cultural. Rich and diverse traditional cultures abound in Asia. To some extent many Asian societies have been influenced by the cultures of the west, made possible in the past by colonization, trade, and commerce. In more recent history, the inroads of industrialization, modernization, tourism, and mass media have fostered the values of materialism, consumerism, secularism, individualism, and hedonism among many Asian communities to the point of undermining their traditional religious and cultural values. Asia is where traditional and modern cultural values meet in creative and at times destructive tension.

Asia is predominantly poor. A few rich countries though are found in the region: Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong. From the end of the colonial period, most of the Asian countries have been struggling to stand up on their own feet in their respective socio-economic-political life, but not without the strong influence of the powerful rich nations of the world to the great disadvantage of the Asian countries themselves. In effect, the new economic prosperity in many of our Asian societies has but typically benefited the foreign capitalists and the few local elite, with very little benefits to the majority of Asians. The plight of the poor masses is made worse by the pervasive practice of graft and corruption and by the ineffective governance resulting to the dismal delivery of basic social services. More tragic, the lack of planning and monitoring of development programs being carried out in many Asian countries has led to ecological devastation and disasters in many parts of the region.

On the bright side, however, Asia is re-awakening. There is a renewed consciousness among Asian peoples of their respective identity and autonomy. In each nation, there is a growing sense of appreciation and affirmation of one's ethnic, political, and national identity. Asian peoples are increasingly conscious of their human dignity and human rights. There is a renewed affirmation among Asians of their rich and life-giving cultural and religious values. There is a renewed confidence in their power and right to change the unjust structures and overcome the death-dealing realities of society. At both governmental and non-governmental levels, Asians have begun to collaborate in various groupings and associations towards a better Asia.

B. THE CHURCH OF ASIA

Since the end of the colonial period and more so with the advent of Vatican II, the local churches in Asia have been struggling to build themselves into authentically Asian-faith communities. They have by and large begun to walk closely with the peoples of Asia in their concrete and total life-realities. Such thrust paved the way for the local Churches to renew themselves in their faith-life and mission.

As "small flocks" of Christ in the midst of highly multicultural and multireligious milieus and varied and complex socio-political-economic contexts, the local Churches have in time seen dialogue as the preferred mode of doing mission or evangelization work in Asia. As articulated by FABC in its First Plenary Assembly in 1974, such dialogue is three-fold: dialogue with the religions of Asia, dialogue with the cultures of Asia, and dialogue with the poor multitudes of Asia. It is primarily by walking on this three-fold path of dialogue that the local Churches can most effectively build themselves up as authentically Christian and Asian.

In recent times, the means of social communication "have a growing influence even in remote areas of the Asian continent." (Synod of Asia, Instrumentum Laboris, n. 53) This phenomenon challenges the church in Asia to increase its presence in mass media in order to communicate the message of the Gospel through it, as well as to evangelize the culture created by modern communication.

II THE REALITIES OF THE ORDER IN ASIA

The presence of Dominican men in Asia is very small; 591 professed brothers. There are 3 indigenous provinces, 1 vice-province, 1 general vicariate, and 5 regional vicariates. Three of these regional vicariates belong to the Province of the Holy Rosary which also has its provincial house in Hong Kong. There are also "missions" in Korea, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, and Macao. (See Appendix A) To date, the men Dominicans are present only in 12 countries: Iran, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Philippines, Hong Kong (China), Macao, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and Indonesia. There are though in the region about 2,500 Dominican sisters and 9 monasteries of Dominican nuns. The biggest group of the Order in Asia are the lay Dominicans: 40,000 are in Vietnam, 1,750 in the Philippines.

The Order administers important centers of education and formation, the most notable of which are: the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines; St. Charles Seminary, Nagpur, India; and the Pastoral Institute, Multan, Pakistan. The Philippine Province runs 4 more centers of tertiary education: Aquinas University, Legaspi City; Colegio de San Juan de Letran, Manila; Letran College, Laguna; and Angelicum College, Quezon City. More than a hundred other educational institutions are run by the brothers and the sisters in the region.

The Order has modest resources for media evangelization in the Philippines. Three of the above tertiary educational institutions, namely, UST, Colegio de San Juan de Letran, and Angelicum College, have excellent mass media communications facilities and equipment, and do offer a university/college degree in mass communications arts. Two of the brothers respectively head the mass communications technology departments in UST and in the Colegio de San Juan de Letran. Two other brothers are host to two different TV weekly programs in the country.

There is a growing collaboration among the entities in the region. The major superiors of Dominican men and women meet together every two years. There are standing collaborative relations between the Philippine Province and the Holy Rosary Province, also between the Philippine Province and the Chinese General Vicariate both in formation and ministry. In India, Pakistan, Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan, the members of the Dominican Family come together for their annual or biennial gatherings or conventions. In the same countries, there are local on-going collaborative projects in ministry and formation by the members of the Family. The formation of the mission team for China is an outstanding example of collaboration for mission "ad extra." While the foundation in 1993 of the Asia-Pacific Dominican Formation Center, hosted by the Philippine Province, is proving to be a potent and excellent center of training Dominican men and women in the region for formation ministry. The Center hopes to offer in the future renewal programs for continuing formation needs along our Dominican tradition.

It is noteworthy that the presence of the Order in Asia is generally growing. Among the brothers, 23% (142 out of 591 professed members) are young and in their initial stages of formation. The Order has 42 novices in the region. New projects of presence have been recently initiated in Korea, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Macao, and Iran.

 

 

III ASIA: ITS GREAT CHALLENGES AND

OPPORTUNITIES TO THE ORDER

 

CHALLENGES

Asia, with its life-situations, presents to the whole Order great challenges to actualize and develop further its vocation of preaching the Gospel in the third millenium.

1. Asia is a vast open area for the preaching of the Gospel. It has a population of more than three billion people who are mostly naturally religious in character and are generally open, by the stirrings of the Spirit, to hear the word of God. Should the Order not see the Asians as the "Cumans" of St. Dominic today?

2. Of Asia's huge population, only a little more than two percent are Christians. China is easily the biggest non-Christian setting in the world. After 1945 years of Christianity's arrival in India, 97.57% of its 846.3 million population remain non-Christians. Clearly, Asia poses to the Order the greatest challenge to its missionary vocation to non-Christian situations.

3. It is Asia's singular distinction to be the home of the world's major religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Taoism, etc. The challenge of entering into dialogue with these religions can best be addressed by the Order in Asia, nowhere else.

4. There are multitudes of poor people in Asia caught up in the throes of ambivalent socio-economic-political realities. In the face of opposing life-giving and death-dealing life-realities, they call for others to be in solidarity with them in their struggles and efforts for a decent human life, for truth, freedom and justice. The challenge to the Order of justice and peace in the world and the challenge of the marginalized is immense in Asia.

5. Christianity in Asia continues to be of predominantly Western, European, or North American expressions. It remains very much foreign. The same can be said of Dominican life and mission in Asia. But, Asia is a region of ancient and rich cultures with deeply religious values, like simplicity, hospitality, silence, sense of the sacred, contemplation, and community, which can easily become indigenous expressions of Christian spirituality. The Order, in particular the Asian Dominicans, are called to actively respond to the challenge of inculturating their own Dominican life and mission and to contribute to the larger tasks of inculturating the Church's life and ministries in Asia.

OPPORTUNITIES

The order in the light of its realities in the region and in the face of the above challenges, has the following great opportunities in Asia.

1. Mission. The greatest opportunity in Asia to the Order is in its mission of preaching the Gospel. Asia is for the Order:

2. New Presence. The Dominican men are so far present in only 12 countries in Asia. While the Order prepares itself for the opening of China, it must also take note of the fact that the Order is very much welcome even in the present moment in many other countries in Asia. For example, a diocese in Malaysia has sent in April 1998 an official invitation to the Dominican Family in the Philippines to come and work with it. The time is now to go to these countries while they are still open to us.

3. Vocations. India, Pakistan, Philippines, and Vietnam are clear areas of growth in vocations to the Order. We also receive a considerable number of candidates from the new places where we have broken ground: Korea, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. There are candidates to the Philippine Province from Burma and Thailand. Certainly, the Dominican charism appeals to Asians.

4. Collaboration in Formation. Local collaboration in formation has taken off from the ground in India, Korea, Pakistan, Philippines, Vietnam. On the regional level, the outstanding and fruitful collaborative project is the Asia-Pacific Dominican Formation Center began in the Philippines in 1993. This has made possible the training of Dominican men and women formators within and in the context of the region. It is opportune for this center to evolve into a venue for offering renewal or sabbatical programs catering to the continuing formation needs of the Dominican Asian brothers and sisters.

5. Studies. These are the three important centers of studies for the brothers and sisters in Asia:

It is only in India, Philippines, and Vietnam where the student-brothers take up their philosophical and theological studies in centers supervised by the Dominicans themselves. It is expedient and a felt-need to develop the above institutions into excellent centers for the region. Asia is very rich in its diverse religious traditions, ancient and living cultures, and socio-political-economic realities. The process of developing further the above centers of studies means the recruitment and or preparation of new highly qualified or competent professors and mentors. It also entails the imperative of doing contextualized inculturated theological reflection. In this regard, Asia provides the Order a great opportunity of theologizing in new ways which affirm and creatively incorporate the richness and wisdom of Asian religious traditions and cultures, and the insights of being in solidarity with the poor, into an authentic Asian theology and spirituality.

6. International Collaboration and Exchanges. All the aforesaid opportunities are simply beyond the capabilities and resources of the Asian entities to adequately respond to. The Dominicans in the region are certainly open to any reasonable and mutually beneficial modes of collaboration between them and their brothers and sisters in the other parts of the world. There is so much for any one in the Order to discover, affirm, celebrate, learn, and receive from the enormous human and spiritual resources of Asia. Would not the other entities of the Order in the world see Asia as a promising venue for exchanges in personnel, visions, experiences, and resources, as for example, in formation, studies, research teaching ministry, pastoral work, and spirituality?

 

IV RECOMMENDATIONS

1. We re-affirm recommendation no. 62 of the Caleruega Chapter:

2. We recommend to the Master of the Order to organize a meeting among the leadership of the different entities of the region to share on their respective visions on the development of the order's mission to Asian countries where it is not yet present, and to possibly come up with a common vision and concerted development plan of mission in those same countries.

3. We recommend the expansion of the course-offerings of the Asia-Pacific Dominican Formation Center to include a renewal program catering to the continuing formation needs of the Asian brothers and sisters.

4. We recommend the strengthening of: The Pastoral Institute, Multan, Pakistan; St. Charles Seminary, Nagpur, India, and the UST Ecclesiastical Pontifical Faculties, Manila, Philippines, especially along the thrust of Asian contextual theology, philosophy, and pastoral praxis.

5. We recommend the renewal and strengthening of the UST Institute of Oriental Religions and Cultures in collaboration with experts, both Dominicans and non-Dominicans.

6. We recommend to the Master's Assistant for Intellectual Life to organize a meeting or congress for the whole Order on the theme of dialogue with the major world religions to be held somewhere in Asia within the period of three years before the next General Chapter.

7. We exhort the Dominican entities in Asia:

8. We make known to the whole Order in other parts of the world our openness and invitation for any workable and mutually enriching manner of collaboration and/or mutual exchanges in personnel and other resources especially in the areas of formation, study, research, ministries, and spirituality.

 

Submitted by:

Fr. Bonifacio Solis, O.P., Provincial, Holy Rosary Province

Fr. Joseph Dinh Chau Tran, O.P., Provincial, The Vietnam Province

Fr. Quirico T. Pedregosa, O.P., Provincial, Dominican Province of the Philippines

Fr. Paul Kuruvilla, O.P., Provincial, Province of India

Fr. Munuwar Bhatti, O.P., Vice-Provincial, Vice-Province of Pakistan

Fr. Anselm Hsu, O.P., Vicar, The Chinese Dominican General Vicariate

 

Text prepared by: Fr. Quirico T. Pedregosa, O.P.

 

Appendix A

 

ENTITIES AND HUMAN RESOURCES

Country / Entity

BP

PR

SPCB

SPST

TPCS

TOT

NOV

1. Province of Vietnam  

87

7

16

44

154

10

2. Vietnam Vicariate

Province of Paris-Lyons

  

5

1

9

15

4

3. Province of the Philippines

2

126

11

8

14

161

11

4. Philippine Vicariate

Holy Rosary Province

  

16

      

16

1

5. Holy Rosary Province

Hong Kong

  

12

  

1

  

13

  
6. Vice Province of Pakistan  

27

2

3

5

37

1

7. Province of India  

44

6

29

79

8

8. General Vicariate of Taiwan  

13

  

1

1

15

4

9. Taiwan Vicariate

Holy Rosary Province

  

22

      

22

  

10. Taiwan Vicariate

Province of Teutonia

  

6

    

6

  

11. Japan Vicariate

Province of Canada

1

27

3

  

1

32

  

12. Japan Vicariate

Holy Rosary Province

  

28

      

28

  

13. Korea Mission

Holy Rosary Province

  

4

      

4

3

14. Indonesia Mission

Province of the Philippines

        

1

1

  

15. Sri Lanka Mission

Province of the Philippines

  

1

    

3

4

  

16. Macao Mission

Holy Rosary Province

  

3

      

3

  

17. Iran Mission

Vice-Province of Pakistan

  

1

      

1

  
TOTAL

3

422

24

44

98

591

42

 

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General Chapter, 1998
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