The Office of Evangelization of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) has organized a consultation on Evangelization among Indigenous/Tribal Communities, to be held July 20-24 at the Redemptorist Center in Pattaya, Thailand. Participants mostly work and live among indigenous and tribal communities around Asia. They will study spiritual and cultural resources, methods of evangelization and emerging opportunities vis-a-vis these cultures, but also the threats globalization and dominant cultures pose to them. (FABC website)

The Central Secretariat of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) has published FABC paper No. 127, titled Theological and Pastoral Perspectives of Inter-Faith Marriages. The paper develops further matters discussed at a theological colloquium of Asian bishops in Hong Kong in May 2006 (FABC Paper No. 118). It defines "inter-faith marriage" as the marriage of a Catholic with a believer who is not a Christian and is not baptized. The situations in Japan and Thailand, where Catholics form less than half of 1 percent of the population, are given extensive consideration. The publication concludes with a section on Islam and Inter-Faith Marriages. (FABC website)

The 77-year-old comatose woman whom a Seoul hospital removed from a respirator on June 23 in South Korea's first court-approved death with dignity case is still alive more than a week later, defying doctors' expectations. The woman, identified only by her surname Kim, was undergoing a bronchial endoscopy in February 2008 when her heart stopped. Doctors were able to revive her, but she has been in a vegetative state since then. Following a legal battle, doctors at Protestant-run Severance Hospital there took her off the respirator in compliance with a Supreme Court ruling on May 21 upholding her family's desire that the woman's "meaningless" treatment be stopped. (UCA News)

Bishop Johannes Maria Trilaksyanta Pujasumarta of Bandung has been appointed a member of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. The members of the council comprise about 30 cardinals and bishops from countries around the world. They gather every two or three years in a plenary assembly to discuss important issues and to set guidelines for the work of the council. Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Pujasumarta along with two other bishops, from Africa and Europe, as members on June 20. (Holy See’s Bulletin)

Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Father Stephen Tjephe auxiliary bishop for Loikaw, his native diocese. The diocesan area in east-central Myanmar has a population of 309,820, of whom 75,485 are Catholics. Bishop-elect Tjephe was born there on Aug. 1, 1955, and was ordained a priest on March 28, 1984, after completing his studies at St. Joseph's Major Seminary in Yangon. He has served in Loikaw parishes since then, except for three years of graduate studies in theology in the United States and an eight-year stint (1991-1999) as professor of dogmatic theology at the major seminary in Yangon. At the time of his episcopal appointment on June 19, he was serving as parish priest of St. Matthew's Church in Dognekhu. (Holy See’s Bulletin and UCA News)

Salesian Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, retired bishop of Hong Kong, Salesian Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil of Guwahati, India, and Bishop Luis Antonio G. Tagle of Imus, the Philippines, attended the recent third meeting of the XII Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops. During the June 3-4 meeting at the Vatican, the three Asian and 12 other prelates on the council studied a scheme for elaborating the propositions of the XII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, held Oct. 5-26, 2008, on the theme: The Word of God in the life and mission of the Church. (Holy See’s Bulletin)