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The First
CFC Southeast Asian Regional Conference was held from 6 to
Participants started arriving as early as the 3rd of December, using the time before the conference to visit the famous tourist sites in and around Bangkok and to shop at the Chatuchak weekend market, MBK shopping mall, Pratunam and other well-known shopping areas. The last participant to leave was John Peter from CFC Vietnam, who was hosted by Prakal and Praisri. He left on the 15th of December after attending the post-conference luncheon fellowship of CFC Bangkok.
Airport
reception was arranged for all overseas participants starting noontime of 5
December but most participants arrived on the 6th. A total of two
buses and ten vans were used for this purpose, picking up participants from the
airport and the various hotels in
After
a generous dinner of various Thai and international dishes, the formal program
commenced at the spacious plenary hall, which was equipped with modern
audio-visual equipment, tastefully decorated for the occasion, and provided
with neatly arranged chairs and tables. After a brief worship led by Jimmy
Lozare of CFC Thailand and a welcome statement by Prakal, the CFC Thailand
National Director, the participants were treated to an array of songs, dances
and other presentations from the different CFC communities all over Thailand.
While watching a traditional Thai dance being performed by CFC members from
Thare, in the northeast of
The
plenary session the following day, Saturday, 7 December, started with a vibrant
worship led by Mon Santiago of CFC Brunei. The music ministry of CFC Bangkok,
partly composed of professional Filipino musicians living and working in
He stated that these words were being addressed to Couples for Christ. God was saying “it is too little” for Couples for Christ just “to restore the survivors of Israel,” that is, just to restore or re-evangelize the Christians. It was too little for Couples for Christ just to “raise up the tribes of Jacob,” that is, just to raise up people from poverty and want. Yes, God raised CFC to help build the Church of the Home with the formation of the Family Ministries. Yes, God tasked CFC to help build the Church of the Poor with the establishment of the social ministries. But God was now saying that these were “too little.” God wanted CFC not just to “raise up the tribes of Jacob,” not just to “restore the survivors of Israel,” but also to be light to all nations and to bring salvation to the ends of the earth. God was calling CFC to mission ad gentes (see Box 1).
In the afternoon, three parallel sessions were held. Session 1 was chaired by Paul Isaac Ratnam of CFC Malaysia and various papers on the challenges and experiences of evangelization in Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore were presented by Mon Santiago, Bonnie Blando and Jojo Apolo, Paul Isaac Ratnam, and Marlou Castillo, respectively. Session 2 on evangelization in Indo-China was chaired by Ernie Bautista of CFC Cambodia. Interesting experiences and inspiring stories about evangelization and inculturation in predominantly Buddhist areas were related by Fr. John Tamayo and Jimmy Lozare of CFC Thailand, Ed Mondigo of CFC Cambodia, and Bert Lara and John Peter of CFC Vietnam. Session 3 on evangelization through the social ministries, with Noly Torres of CFC Philippines as chairman, was the most attended of the three breakout sessions. Talks were given by, among others, Tony Meloto, Dante Liban, Tina Torres and Domy Gregorio of CFC Manila, and four workshop groups were formed to enable more detailed discussions of the various social ministries.
While Friday evening was CFC Thailand night, Saturday evening, after dinner, was foreign delegates night. Thus, after a brief worship led by Malcolm Goh of CFC Singapore, delegates from the CFC communities of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam showed their skills in singing, dancing, acting and other forms of art.
The following morning, Archbishop Lawrence Khai of the Archdiocese of Thare concelebrated the Sunday Mass with the other members of the clergy from Thailand and Singapore. The entrance procession was very touching. As the clergy entered the hall, members of CFC Thare accompanied them in procession while singing – or more accurately, chanting – a haunting and awe-inspiring song in Thai that was composed by one of its members. Archbishop Khai delivered a meaningful homily, which at times was humorous to the delight of everyone. The representatives of the various CFC communities recited the prayers of the faithful in the language of their respective countries. For many participants, the Holy Mass was the pinnacle of the conference. There was something unexplainable that permeated throughout the Mass, touching each one very profoundly, that made everyone go through a very deep spiritual experience.
The breakout sessions resumed after the celebration of the Holy Mass. The sharing of Tati and Vichai of CFC Bangkok was the most touching and lovingly humorous. Tati, a Filipina, met and married Vichai, a Buddhist Thai, in the Philippines where Vichai took up his university studies. They related their trials and difficulties, as well as their joys, living as a Catholic wife and a Buddhist husband, and how CFC had changed their lives. Although still a Buddhist, Vichai had become a very active and faithful member of the community, joining even the CFC missions to the remote provinces of Thailand.
During the closing plenary, Frank Padilla gave a very powerful synthesis of the messages from the conference and the three session chairmen summarized the proceedings of their respective breakout sessions. Edgar Dante, chapter head of CFC Bangkok, read a draft resolution, which was adopted unanimously, with only minor amendments, by all participants (see Box 2). Lachie Agana of CFC Manila led the praisefest that marked the closing of the First CFC Southeast Asian Regional Conference. Everyone agreed that it was so far the most well organized and efficiently conducted CFC regional conference – one that inaugurated CFC’s mission ad gentes.
Box 1: The three possible components of CFC’s mission ad gentes
First, it should initially focus on the evangelization of non-Christians who are married to Christians. In the case of Thailand, this work would be carried out primarily in the urban areas, where there are thousands of Buddhist Thais married to Catholic Filipinos and other expatriates.
Second, it should gradually expand into the predominantly poor rural and tribal non-Christian communities. The evangelization of these communities would be accomplished primarily through the social ministries, in particular through Gawad Kalinga.
Third, it should include in the long term the area of educating the young, opening up institutions to provide Christian education to young men and women, Christians and non-Christians alike.
Box 2: Bangkok Resolution on Couples for Christ’s Mission Ad Gentes
We, the participants of the First CFC
Southeast Asian Regional Conference held at Bangkok, Thailand from 6 to 8
December 2002, Recalling the opening words of the Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Missio of Pope John Paul II issued in 1990, stating that the mission of Christ, the Redeemer, which is entrusted to the Church is still very far from completion,
Noting the urgency of the need to proclaim the Good News as stated in the Decree of the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes Divinitus published in 1965, stressing that billions of people have never, or barely, heard the Gospel message, constituting large and distinct groups united by enduring ties, ancient religious traditions, and strong social relationships;
Noting further the admonition of Ad Gentes Divinitus for the Church to implant itself among these groups in the same way that Christ by His incarnation committed Himself to the particular social and cultural circumstances of the men among whom He lived,
Recognizing that evangelization, as described in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi issued by Pope Paul VI in 1975, is the carrying forth of the Good News to every sector of the human race so that by its strength it may enter into the hearts of men and renew the human race,
Acknowledging that God established Couples for Christ in 1981 for the work of the new evangelization, the spiritual renewal of Christians so that they can become families in the Holy Spirit renewing the face of the earth,
Acknowledging further that God continues to call Couples for Christ to greater commitment and wider service so that in 1993 the Family Ministries were established to make up CFC’s work of helping build the Church of the Home and then later the Social Ministries to make up CFC’s work of helping build the Church of the Poor,
Reflecting on the words of Pope Paul VI that it would be useful if every Christian and every evangelizer were to pray about the following thought: men can gain salvation in other ways, by God’s mercy, even though we do not preach the Gospel to them; but as for us, can we gain salvation if through negligence or fear or shame or as a result of false ideas we fail to preach it,
Encouraged by the prophetic vision of Pope John Paul II in Ecclesia in Asia of a new and promising horizon of a humanity more fully prepared for the sowing of the Gospel being fulfilled in Asia, where Jesus was born and where Christianity began;
Cognizant of the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in the community of Couples for Christ and all its ministries,
1. Affirm the prophetic message resounding throughout the conference that God is now calling Couples for Christ and its ministries to mission ad gentes;
2. Call upon all members of the community to pray for discernment and ask the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Lady of Guadalupe and the Star of Evangelization,
3. Urge the worldwide community of Couples for Christ to reach out to our non-Christian brothers and sisters so that by the community’s “living witness of fidelity to the Lord Jesus – the witness of poverty and detachment, of freedom in the face of the power of the world, in short, the witness of sanctity,” they may be drawn to Christ;
4. Request the CFC International Council in Manila to establish a Study Group on Mission Ad Gentes to prepare a comprehensive plan and a set of guidelines on how the community could best respond to God’s call to mission ad gentes.
First CFC Southeast Asian Regional Conference Done on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary 8 December 2002
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