The Church must face the road ahead united

Archbishop Charles Bo of Yangon, Chairperson of the Office for Human Development of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), played a leading part in the First Integrated Meeting on Pastoral Care of the Road / Street for Asia and Oceania.

The meeting is part of an ongoing partnership between the FABC and the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People.

As he listened to the various presentations at this meeting on women and children being trafficked for sex, on the abuse they suffer, on the homelessness affecting so many, Archbishop Bo told ucanews.com that he saw the strength of the Church in working with these most vulnerable and abused people.

It was a vital part of the Church’s mission to address the issues of injustice the plight of society’s weakest raised.
‘A voice for the people’

Still, he acknowledged that the Church needs to do so much more for offering pastoral care to the suffering populations of Asia-Oceania named at this meeting.

“The Church is called to be a voice for these people, advocating on their behalf and lobbying civil and government authorities to act for the good of these most vulnerable in our midst,” he said.

“Church leaders are busy about many things but the need is to leave behind the more mundane for others to do and focus more on what is important.

“Namely, focus more on what matters for people and their good,” he told ucanews.com.

“This focus is on the call of the gospel that comes from those suffering and most vulnerable in our world. This renewed focus will be best served by planned strategies for acting. “

The archbishop believes that currently, too much may depend on the top strata of Church leadership. Rather the Church needs to act together on responding to these issues and living the gospel. This means bishops, priests, religious and laity all acting together.

“For now, the focus is to bring together the fruits of this meeting and to share what is learnt here with the Church of Asia-Oceania,” he said.

“The Bishops’ Conferences will be communicated with directly so that the issues arising at this meeting can get onto their agenda and let discussion begin at the local Church level. The aim will be to have a response made on the ground.”

Archbishop Bo acknowledges that the Church faces different situations in different countries in the region.

Still there is much in common, he says.

The same issues are being faced and the same themes are at work – greed and profit at the expense of the weak and vulnerable.

So the way ahead seems to be to act together at the local level in response to universal issues and themes.

Augustinian Father John Murray works for Caritas Thailand.

source:http://www.ucanews.com