This awareness, attained in a climate of prayer and spiritual discernment, should help us to free ourselves from all ekbstacles, internal and external, from all conditionings, personal, collective -irid institutional, affecting our very perception of reality and consequently our apostolic options. Hopefully we also will find the courage to act in conformity with the demands of our mission and to disengage ourselves from all dependencies and involvements with regard to ideologies, social systems and power structures; things that often, if they do not nullify, at least diminish our apostolic mobility and freedom.[2]

     The Society cannot leave completely to the discretion of individual members and Provinces the task of determining their apostolic vocation in East Asia. Neither can our Provinces entrust to the sole initiative of small communities, groups or isolated individuals, the interpretation of our mission in terms of concrete works and activities. There is need for a collective effort of reflection, a constant evaluation and revision of our commitments and ministries. And this at the level not only of each Province or each country but also at the Assistancy level.

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    Father Hardawiryana is Professor of Theology in the Institute Filsafat Teologi, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. This paper was prepared for the Joint Meeting of the Major Superiors and Apostolate Secretaries of the Jesuit East Asian Assistancy, held in Manila August 8-20, 1976. This study is of particular value in that the author joins the teaching of the universal Church with the contemporary pastoral insights of the bishops of Asia. He speaks from within the context of the Society of Jesus but there is no part of his overview, we believe, which cannot contribute to every ministry, individual and collective, working for the Kingdom of God in Asia.

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     What provides us with the basis for a religious and apostolic renewal in depth is the service of faith. Particularly in our countries this service demands as one of its main requirements the promotion of justice in the context of total human development. This unifying element is also the criterion for evaluating all our apostolic efforts and ministries in the fields of education, pastoral care, social action and social communication.[3]

     2. Since the Society was founded to labor for Christ our Lord and the Church His Bride,[4] as a priestly Order it shares in the ministry of the Church. But it also has a special responsibility for service to the Church in preserving and confirming the communion of her faith.[5]

     Hence, while we wish eventually to arrive at a concrete programme proposal, at "existential applications", it is not ours alone as "the Jesuits' East Asian Assistancy" to define our contemporary mission. We may not act as though we were a self-enclosed unit within the Church.[6] It rather must be the mission of the Church as a whole, which we take part in. Therefore, it should be clear that we cannot alone compose our concrete programme. Not only have we to situate our mission within the East Asian context; we also have to integrate our apostolic activities into the mission of the East Asian Churches.

     We cannot honestly draw up a concrete apostolic programme without at least consulting other "agents" of our common mission as Church (religious as well as lay people), and particularly without knowing what actually the East Asian Bishops' Conferences wish us to contribute to the building up of their local Churches.

     It is of vital importance right from the beginning of this conference to question ourselves: how do we in this respect of integration understand our sentire cum Ecclesia? To what extent, for instance, do we take into account the actual concerns of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences, and enter into consultation with the hierarchy of our local Churches?[7] Are we convinced that this integration is an integral aspect of our contribution to the "inculturation" of Christian faith in our regions, to which Father General Pedro Arrupe in his concluding address alluded as "somewhat new in the history of the General Congregations"? It was fine that "true 'inculturation' already began in the Congregation itself", as an experience that was lived.S But do we wish to be consistent and to pursue this inculturation down to its ultimate consequences?

     3. Without intending to be complete, we will reflect upon our mission in East Asia in four stages:

     Part I is no more than an attempt to give a summary description of the actual life situation in East Asia, particularly from the socio-economic and cultural points of view: poverty and even deprivation, the needs and aspirations of our peoples, prospects for their future, and, finally, the stance taken by the local Churches in various countries.

     Part II on the Church in East Asia confronts us with reflections especially of our Bishops presented at the Bishops' Synod of 1974: what is the actual situation and the role of the Churches? what are their main concerns? what about their dialogue with our separated Christian brethren and with adherents of other living faiths and religious traditions, specifically with regard to human development? what about our solidarity with the poor? The purpose of this Part is to direct our reflections towards what we as Jesuits eventually would have to be, how we would concretely understand our apostolic mission as well integrated into the actual life of the Churches.

     Part III presents an attempt at theological reflection based upon the mystery of Incarnation: the meaning of salvation in history and Christ's role in the process of the development of man; the urgent need of an intimate knowledge and experience of the problems of faith and justice in our countries. How are we to understand — based on the mystery of the Incarnation — the dialogue of the Church with human society and especially with the poor, and the building up of the particular Churches in Asia?

     Part IV, finally, will lead us hopefully to some more practical considerations: as Jesuits how would we have to face the challenges of contemporary East Asia, in order to build up a more just (or at least a less unjust) society, not merely at the international but also at the local level, as priests and as religious, so that our activities on behalf of human development, and specifically in promoting justice, truly become service to faith, apostolate, evangelization?

     4. As to the decrees of the 32nd General Congregation, particularly the decree on "Our Mission Today", we can suppose that all of you have studied them thoroughly, so that not even a summary is needed to recall their content.

     The decree on our mission concludes with an appeal for international cooperation, necessary to meet the major issues of our time which often have an international dimension; vital also to answer better the demands of apostolic availability and mobility inherent in our vocation, at the service of the universal mission of the entire People of God.[9]

     Such a collaboration at least at the level of our Assistancy is what we now intend to achieve.

     However, we are all aware of the immense plurality of nations, religions, cultures in East Asia. And even the existential content of terms such as "justice", "injustice", "faith", "unbelief", "development", "liberation", etc., in our region will reveal as great a variety. it is good to keep this in mind from the very outset of our reflection, so that, if ever we arrive at some "common practical applications", we shall always acknowledge the need of relativising them and the task of each Province to elaborate them into further details.

     a) The First Bishops' Institute for Social Action (BISA I) was held in Manila even before the Taipei Assembly.[11a] BISA II was held in Tokyo on the theme: "the social dimensions of the Gospel"[12] and BISA III in Kuala Lumpur again on the theme: "the social dimensions of the Gospel".[13]

     b) A Seminar on "Religion and Development" was held Baguio City, August 31-September 20, 1975, at which Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Belgium and the Philippines were represented.

     c) After our Conference there will be held in November 1976 an Asian Conference on "Religion and Peace" in Singapore, prepared already by its International Preparatory Committee at its meeting in Singapore, February 27-29, 1976, in order to promote a creative and critical awareness of the Asian situation.[14]

     6. It is not easy not to repeat well-known generalities. Neither is it possible nor is it our task right now to give a very detailed picture of the East Asian scene, because of a terrible lack of data and accurate documentation on injustice in our countries. We may expect to be provided with some of the necessary information on the first day of our meeting, particularly with regard to existential concepts of justice in Asia.

     Approaching the problem of evangelization in an existential and inductive way and analysing the main current trends in Asia, D. S. Amalorpavadass discerns these challenges to be faced by Christians in their common mission of evangelization: the numbers of Asia's population, pluralism, development and the process of progressive liberation, religions, youth, Marxism and other ideologies, and revolution (whether violent or non-violent).[15]

     It is, for instance, customary to say that the 20% or 30% of that part of mankind living in the developed countries now dispose of some 80% or more of the world's resources, imported from the underdeveloped countries where now two-thirds, and soon a very much greater portion, of all people live. The small minority of people in developed countries appropriate and use for their own production and consumption an entirely disproportionate and steadily increasing part of the world's resources. One broad inference is that any hope that the living levels in underdeveloped countries would ever approach those in developed countries presupposes a radical increase of their use of irreplaceable resources.

     BISA Ill's analysis of the social reality in Asia has shown "the vast dimensions of hunger, disease, malnutrition and unemployment", and also "how millions of our Asian brethren are living below the poverty line."[16]

     Another characteristic is that our countries have been isolated from one another by rival colonial powers, and that for centuries. Their economies are not complementary but competitive, geared to the export of the same agricultural raw materials. And they are still in process of discovering that they need each other more than they need their former masters of the developed West. Actually, poor as they are, they are not too poor to help each other.

     To refer to the well-known distinction of Pope Paul VI: we live amidst two sorts of violence:

     a) The violence of the "herodian" oppressors: the privileged minorities use violence upon the poor, the people who form the great majority of the human race, practically by-passing the great majority of the people, in most cases abandoning them to a level below human dignity, and at times exploiting them.[17]

     b) The violence imposed by the developed world on the underdeveloped world:

     "The rich countries refuse to allow the poor nations to own and use whatever material resources they possess for their own interests, and in their own way."

     "The poor countries suffer from a new fever, a fever which was at first unnoticed, but is now felt as unbearable: an awareness of the economic and social imbalance which separates them from, and humiliates them when set side by side with more prosperous nations."[18]

     In the last 30 years, and especially in the last decade, changes have taken place which have been so rapid and radical that they can only be called revolutionary: demographic[19], political[20] and our particular concern, the social and economic. Apart from the grave problems in most countries already mentioned, countries in North Asia — China, North Korea, Tibet, Vietnam and Outer Mongolia — now have Marxist-based socialist regimes with centrally-organized, state-controlled economies. Whereas in many countries injustice by being institutionalized dominates the whole of the peoples' lives, in North Asia economic justice is almost within their grasp; which makes Marxism the more attractive, although the people have yet to acquire their full political rights.

     7. Actually "the decade of development" has proved rather to be a "decade of failure." It would appear that due to the present economic systems the disparities between the rich and the poor may not only continue but even widen, so that some of the poor may become still poorer with the years. "We have come to realize the enormous social sin reflected through this injustice, oppression and poverty."[21] The last ten years have seen the gap between the rich and poor countries actually widen instead of narrow. When it has been estimated that 80% of the earth's wealth is concentrated in the hands of 20%, within ten years' time the figure will be 90% belonging to 10%. Not only is East Asia overpopulated; it is also condemned to suffer more and more from the unequal distribution of the world's resources.

     Worse than any form of personal injustice is the institutionalized injustice, "built into economic, social, and political structures that dominate the life of nations and the international community."[22]

     More than ever is true what Gaudium et Spes says:

     "Again, we are at a moment in history when the development of economic life could diminish social inequalities if that development were guided and coordinated in a reasonable and human way. Yet all too often it serves only to intensify the inequalities. In some places it even results in a decline in the social status of the weak and in contempt for the poor.

     While an enormous mass of people still lack the absolute necessities of life, some, even in less advanced countries, live sumptuously or squander wealth … While the few enjoy very great freedom of choice, the many are deprived of almost all possibility of acting on their own initiative and responsibility, and often subsist in living and working conditions unworthy of human beings." (art. 63).

     All our countries, with the possible exception of Singapore, and Japan of course, are economically underdeveloped. It can even be argued that instead of "developing" they are in fact "underdeveloping".

     The very process of "development" is reinforcing the subjection of the agrarian masses to the socioeconomic, technological, military elites, that compose the "advance" sector of development, and is increasing, as we just said, the dependence of Asia on the developed world.

     "Development" is either non-existent or paradoxically counterproductive: perpetuating and propagating poverty rather than relieving it. The reason is that that poverty in East Asia is not simply poverty but rather deprivation of the means to improve the quality of life, which are Asians' by right. Development, to be truly such, must begin with — or in any cases must bring about — a restoration of rights, that is, the removal of the economic, social, and political constraints which prevent their effective exercise. There can be no development without justice.

     The decree on the "Union of Minds and Hearts" points out a deeper reality, a more profound need:

     "T'he material conditions of our world — a world of sharply contrasted affluence and misery — and the spiritual climate engendered by them, tend to produce in our contemporaries an inner emptiness, a sense of the absence of God. The expressions, signs, and symbols of God's presence which reassured men in the past do not seem to be able to fill the present emptiness …

In the meantime, we ourselves are sometimes plunged in this climate of emptiness; and so it is crucial for us somehow to regain that continual familiarity with God in both prayer and action … " (n. 7).

     Already in 1964 A.T. van Leeuwen, in his book Christianity in World History, explained how the great Eastern religions are going through a process, still in the early stages, of disintegration, partly as a consequence of technology and seculariSM.[23]

     Besides, there is no denying the attractiveness of Mao Tse Tung's China. Acutely aware of the need for rapid and radical changes, young people especially are turning to this country. Before 1949 China was not unlike many Asian countries today: poor, weak and disorganized. Today it is a power to be respected, rapidly developing technologically and economically, culturally and communally. Although the Chinese people do not enjoy full political liberty — their political leaders are not elected — a totalitarian regime has enabled them to overthrow a corrupt centuries-old system. Mao's call to rise up and march forward finds a ready response from the young, who will not be satisfied with a revolution limited by national frontiers but will work for a world revolution as the only way of ensuring a fair distribution of the world's resources.

     The Marxist attitude towards religion has changed greatly since 1917 and 1949. The problem of the Vetnamese Christians, for instance, is to know whether or not they can, without after-thought, collaborate in the building of a socialist Vietnam under the direction of a Marxist government. It is not apparent that in their minds this attitude is reconcilable with what they consider to be the good of the nation, and above all with their understanding of the Christian faith. On the other side, the new communist government can hold suspect the loyalty of people who were the most adamant adversaries of the North.

     The Christians of South Vietnam are therefore faced with the same problems which confronted the Christians of China after 1949, North Korea since 1950, and North Vietnam since 1954. All these Christians could not count on help from the Churches of other countries. At the most they were encouraged to resist, or even to face martyrdom. Furthermore, the leaders of these Christians were not prepared to cooperate with the new regimes, especially at the beginning. In China this even led to a sort of schism when some Christians chose bishops for themselves without Rome's approval.[24]

     Many Christians of the Far East have experienced personally, or through their friends and relatives, besides the attractive elements of Communism (deriving from its Judaeo-Christian prophetic inspiration), also its negative elements (the use of any means for obtaining ends, the disregard of truth and promises, the reliance on violence and hatred, the whittling away of the relation connecting each individual man in his conscience with the personal Absolute, etc.)

     Christians must keep their lucidity when dealing with Communism. And while being stimulated to a greater fervor in the service of Christ by the example of the dedication of many Communists to their cause, Christians must not close their eyes to objective truth and to objective facts and must recall to memory the violation of basic human rights mainly the right of free exercise of religion - inflicted on so many of their brothers living under Communist rule.[25]

     9. Analyzing the dualism of affluence and misery, of the dominant and the dominated, of religion on one side and life very little influenced by religion on the other; the dualism of capitalism and communism, each trying to win Asian countries to itself, with the resultant conflicts; the dualism of totalitarian and democratic tendencies; the fact of growing secularism alongside religious traditions which remain strong; openness to spiritual values alongside practical atheism; the dualism of courage, idealism and willingness to take risks on the one hand, and discontent, selfishness and racialism of different shades on the other; and other phenomena of Asian life, BISA III arrived at the following diagnosis of the Asian scene:

     a) an inability to open up to "the other in what is different in race, religion, culture, etc." There are gaps in our societies, walls in our minds and hearts which fragment the human family;

     b) an inability to put personal values in the center. Things and systems seem to dominate;

     c) a lack of a wider vision of life, of a sense of meaning and direction. Even when religion has a goal, there is much passivity, an inability to involve ourselves in the problems of history;

     d) an insufficient capacity for solidarity. Some barriers are created by society, but also we have a one-sided approach instead of a comprehensive approach: the earth, for instance, is to be approached as a friend, to be enjoyed and loved and contemplated, and not just mastered and used.[26]

     At BISA II Bishop J. X. Labayen distinguished two signs of the times, the repercussions of which are many and felt alike by technologists, youth, theological and ecclesiastical structures of thought and life, and by ideological systems themselves, which sense their inadequacy to build a new man:

     a) secularization, which, even though backed by the Christian world view, yet raises the question whether man will organize a world apart from or open to God.

     b) the struggle for justice and community, for liberation from dehumanizing structures, systems and ideologies towards a more just and human community.[27]

     Indeed, underlying these often disheartening facts we encounter the deeper aspirations of East Asian man, the birth of a new civilization, man striving for mastery of his own destiny, for freedom from all forms of oppression and servitude, whether these arise from the natural order or from some political or social order. Asia wants to be free

"from the structures which imprison and warp both those who oppress and those who are oppressed; from the idolatry of ideological and social systems … ; from the phenomenon of faceless men and women who manipulate societies without having to be accountable; from the loss of purpose in work, leisure or social relations; from the violation of human rights in all our countries; from the paralysis of recurrent world monetary crises and uncontrollable inflation … ; from the resulting apathy, cynicism, alienation, despair and senseless violence."[28]

     10. It will be helpful to have a quick glance at the position of the Church, at least in its most important aspects. This short overall view already raises questions as to how we as members of the Society within the Church in East Asia have carried out our mission so far.

     There is no denying the very real sacrifices the Church has made down the centuries, nor the great good work she has accomplished.

     Yet we are challenged, for instance, to question ourselves whether our preaching of the Word actually has had anything to do with the exploitation of the people by the local elite and foreign powers? How vigorously did we fight against immorality, even though we were theoretically opposed to it? What sort of education did our "elitist" schools give, keeping in mind the conditions of injustice and inequality in our countries? How did the numerous and indispensable works of Christian charity help to bring about a social situation opposing the forces of liberation?[30]

     To what extent is it true that the Church today is still out of touch with the changes which have taken place in recent years? Has not the Church at times sided with the status quo, providing a bastion of uncritical anti-communism, unable still to see both the positive and the negative aspects of Asian communism, and seemingly ignorant of the need for calm analysis of the social and economic situation? Is it not true also that Christian communities have failed to appreciate the ambivalent character of their silence which has sometimes made them accomplices in the worst injustices?

     Have we not observed how our institutions and services have often projected images of riches and even alienation from the poor? With the help of our resource personnel, we have seen that many of our Church institutions designed to help the poor not only do not do so but may in fact have unintended effects against their interests. They are caught as it were in the unjust social systems and structures of our age.[31]

     Therefore, BISA III wished to commit itself to a critical evaluation of the activities of the Church, and even to make scientific studies with technical help. It wanted to take the steps to refashion and renew the Church, so that she could be a true servant in the cause of social justice. It felt the need — in the cases where such remedial measures arc ineffective — to be ready even to abandon old works and to take on new forms of apostolate in the search for social justice.[32]

     To help us to be more realistic, the Baguio City seminar on "Religion and Development" identified some common obstacles which are met by those working for the fulfilment of the Church's role in development.

     First of all, people who opt to help fight for the rights of the oppressed often do not get support from the institutional Church. Added to this would be the conflict in bishop-priests relationships. As a result of the Church's institutionalization or segregation from the greater majority of the people, many bishops and priests still do not recognize the need to make the people the embodiment of Christ's Church on earth. The institutional Church as such should not be isolated in her mission of working for the people. Her existence as an already existing structure which commands strength cannot be ignored. Her existence must be utilized and her orientation redirected, so that she will eventually be instrumental towards the promotion of genuine human development.[33]

     It is worth recalling at this very moment what was stressed repeatedly during the Synod of 1974, namely, that in order to evangelize ,others we must evangelize ourselves.[34]
 
 

     11. We have described in Part I the East Asian scene considered especially from the cultural and socioeconomic points of view: the misery and deprivation of millions in underdeveloped countries, their aspirations for freedom and prosperity, the prospects for their future, the contemporary situation of their religious beliefs and traditions in confrontation with communism in its various forms, the main trends underlying the facts, and finally the position of the Church in our countries. Ultimately, what the 32nd General Congregation says in its decree on "Our Mission Today" applies also with some modification to our situation: "Everywhere, if we only knew how to look for it, we can see that men are searching for an experience of Christ and of his Kingdom of justice, love, and peace."[35]

     Since — according to this decree — those expectations are clearly echoed in the last two Synods of Bishops on "Justice in the World" and "Evangelization in the Modern World", and "their mirroring of those expectations enable us to determine what form our witness and our mission must take today,"[36] we are now going to reflect on the Church in East Asia, more specifically viewed in the light of what our Bishops contributed at the Synods, and against the background of what FABC has offered so far by means of its Office for Human Development and in other ways on behalf of human development and belief in God.

     12. The report on Asia,[37] presented to the Synod of 1974 by Cardinal J. Cordeiro of Karachi, begins with the obvious statement, — for us, however, a very important one to keep in mind now that we are thinking of drawing up a more "comprehensive" programme of apostolate! — that it is not easy even to give the common characteristics of the Churches in Asia, except maybe some few of them.

     With regard to evangelization, however, they seem to have the following problems in common:

     a) the "de-westernization" of the Church and the "incarnation" of Christian faith into our local cultures, in dialogue with other living faiths and religious beliefs;

     b) the emphasis on spiritual life and contemplation. While facing the political, social and economic revolution, deep down in its heart the Asian society in general remains "religious" through the centuries;[38]

     c) our commitment to human development and liberation should be the inner constitutive dimension of evangelization.

     Particularly in view of our service of faith as Jesuits, more specifically the following points of the Cardinal's report need to be reflected upon:

     a) Compared with the situation of evangelization during the period of colonialism, the sociopolitical situation — as already described in Part I — has radically changed. Several episcopal conferences mentioned that certain remnants of that period are still obstacles to the service of faith; namely, in so far as they obstruct the particular Churches in finding their own way and to the extent that they have imprinted upon Church life a, foreign external appearance.[39] Therefore, in evangelization the building up of the local Churches merits priority.[40]

     b) Small minorities that generally we are in East Asia when compared with the numbers of Buddhists, Hinduists, Muslims and adherents of other beliefs,[41] we urgently need to be in constant dialogue with these living faiths. However, neither the positive elements found in them, nor the truth that is in them, nor their rightful place in the divine Plan of Salvation,[42] absolves us from the obligation to preach at the right time Christ crucified.[43]

     Service to faith in Asia is a difficult way of life, not only because the overwhelming percentage of its population adheres to other religions and traditional beliefs, but also because in many countries these religions have a very privileged position, since they are supported by their governments and sometimes are even "state religions".

     The climate of dialogue between Christians and Muslims is improving in South East Asia. The Hong Kong Consultation can be seen as a sign of progress and hope. The number of priests and religious from these various countries who are specialising in Islamic Studies is also on the increase.[44]

     c) Moreover, these religions — actually as much as Christianity is itself — are affected by the at times revolutionary sociocultural changes and, especially in urban and industrialized centres, by the waves of modernization and secularization.[45] This can be an advantage but can be an obstacle to service of faith as well. We have to bear in mind that in many instances traditional religious beliefs and religions have proved to be unable really to cope with secularizing tendencies, so that sometimes the result is some sort of "atheism".

     d) The causes of changes in Asian society, namely, secularization and industrialization, are rather recent. They may mean improved welfare — actually mostly for a rather very small group; for the masses prosperity still remains a far-fetched dream! But they also may lead towards alienation from God, to injustice and proverty, which are all mutually connected.

     For this reason many episcopal conferences stressed the necessity of evangelizing the whole man. Otherwise the result will be a dualism — if not a separation — between doctrine and life, between "the Gospel" and its daily implementation. Again, this dichotomy will be an obstacle not only to evangelization but also, more generally speaking, to the very credibility of the Church.[46]

     The history of our countries should henceforth be built up through our decisions and choices and the quality of society we create. We become more human or less human according to the quality and direction of the history and society we build.[47]

     Furthermore, the more the particular Church is conscious of herself being part of human society, the more she is responsible for preaching the Gospel to others.

     For our service of faith it is important that we dwell upon this historical character of our faith. For many religions have shown (and still show) a tendency to move away from life and its harsh realities into realms of ritual worship and abstract spiritualities. Without in any way denying the primary importance of the eschatological, "vertical," meaning of salvation, its anthropological, "horizontal", sociocultural and historic meanings must be attended to as well.

     e) Mindful of that "spiritualistic" tendency of many Asian religions and beliefs, we must therefore attend also to the renewal of catechetics, in order to overcome the dichotomy between faith and life and to avoid a presentation of faith which often has been "conceptual". In renewing our liturgy — an important aspect of religion in our countries — we will remember that the purpose of the liturgy is not to escape from life's hard realities or to withdraw into a private religious sphere but to worship the Father as a community of faith in Christ Who precisely has become a sharer in our lives. When in the risen Lord we worship the Father, hope for mankind and a more humanized future becomes part of our life, and this hope will have to express itself in action.

     Thus, the renewal of our preaching and our worship aims at confronting faith with actual life situations, and at making us ever more aware of the richness of salvation for our very life on carth.[48]

     f) Despite modernization, in many regions we still find an urge towards prayer. We have to lay to heart what the Indian bishops so much stressed during the last Synod: if the Church wishes to be a sign of salvation, prayer, and especially contemplation, must be an essential aspect of her life, to be promoted for every Christian.[49] Every Christian is called upon to experience the inhabitation of the Spirit in moments of silence and inferiority and above all to share his experience of Christ with others.[50]

     The fullness of the Gospel thus can enrich and reshape all methods of preaching, which are excessively intellectual and verbal, and will touch every person very profoundly and effect true conversion of heart and mind.[51]

     g) Besides the dichotomy between faith and daily life, there still is another obstacle to evangelization: the division between the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations, and also the division within the Church herself. The less the number of Christians, the more this division will prove to be disadvantageous.

     The Asian episcopal conferences stressed the need of promoting ecumenism with full energy, but equally admitted that insufficient preparation of the faithful could be an obstacle to ceumenism itself.[52] In carrying out our mission of serving faith by promoting human development we should bear in mind how necessary it is to engage ourselves in a continuous dialogue of life with our Christian brethren, by cooperating with their efrorts for the cause of justice. We have also to be in a constant dialogue with peoples of other living faiths. As we will see later on, we cannot content ourselves with merely interchurch dialogue. Ecumenism is not merely an interecclesiastical affair. It has to be for the sake of evangelization, for the sake of service to humanity.

     h) The bishops fully recognize the value of the mass media. Mostly our handicaps will be lack of equipment and personnel and restrictions on the part of governments. It seems, however, that regional cooperation between episcopal conferences can help towards overcoming these difficulties.

     Thus also the 32nd General Congregation gives this guideline: that in order to bring about concerted action we need the mass media.[53]

     13. Reassuming the specific contribution of the bishops of the T'hird World during the Synod of 1974, Pope Paul VI in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii nutitiaizdi,[54] December 8, 1975, again asserts that evangelization implies the explicit and ever-present message, appropriate to the different situations, of the rights and duties of each human person, of family life without which there can be hardly any progress of man,[55] of human society, of the life of all nations, of peace and justice and development. It is the message of liberation.[56]

     Evangelization and human development are linked together in an intimate relationship: a) anthropologically: evangelization is directed to the human person with his social and economic problems; h) theologically: God's will in creating man cannot be separated from His salvific Design encompassing the restoration of justice by overcoming injustice; c) evangelically: the commandment of love can only be preached when the genuine development of man is being promoted in justice and peace.[57]

     Even for many generous Christians the role of the Church is often confined merely to the anthropological dimension; salvation is restricted to material prosperity. Evangelization, however, has a properly religious purpose. Its religious foundation is the Kingdom of God in its full theological sense.[58] Human liberation according to the Gospel cannot be limited to the purely economical, political, social or scientific order. Liberation concerns the whole man in all aspects of his life, including his relationship to God.[59]

     In preaching liberation and declaring her solidarity with all who suffer, the Church does not wish her task restricted to the religious dimension, as if she were not concerned with human problems of the temporal order. On the other hand, the Church again stresses the priority of her religious task, and she never will abandon the preaching of the Kingdom for the proclamation of a merely human liberation. Her contribution towards liberation will never be complete and perfect unless she preaches salvation in Jesus Christ.[60]

     It is imperative that structures become more human, more just, more concerned with human rights, and less oppressive. But even the best structures will turn to be inhuman, unless the inhuman desires and inclinations of the human heart are cured by a genuine conversion of heart and mind of those who live within the structures or dominate them.[61]

     The Church urges more and more Christians to join their efforts in order to liberate others. She imparts to them the spirit and the guidance of faith, the motivation of fraternal love, and her social doctrine.[62]

     Legitimate liberation connected with evangelization, aiming at the building up of structures that defend human freedom, is inseparable from the defence of elementary human rights, and first of all, of freedom of religion.[63]

     In the Church, whose role is to be "a sign and a safeguard of the transcendence of the human person,"[64] historically three tendencies have appeared, though often in a mingled and confused fashion: a) support of the status quo, consciously or unconsciously, directly or indirectly;[65] b) indifference to political, economic and social realities, however important they may be;[66] c) deep concern for life here on earth, for the shape and quality of life and of relationships between individuals and groups.[67]

     14. For the 32nd General Congregation ecumenism is a specific of a more generic attitude: of openness, humility and respect for others, which should characterize our entire apostolate.

     The particular Church is the most important place for ecumenism, just as it is for dialogue with people of other living faiths and religious convictions.[68] It is at the local level also that the spirit of ecumenism must find a concrete expression. And the ecumenical role of the particular Church is brought into clear focus when there is an understanding of the identity and nature of the local Church.[69] ne actual initiative for unity, therefore, has to come from the Church at ground level. Eventually it is the member Churches and the congregations, and even individual Christians, who must take the necessary steps.[70]

     According to Vatican ll's Decree on Ecumenism cooperation among all Christians should be ever increasingly developed, particularly in regions where a social and technical evolution is taking place.

"It should contribute to a just appreciation of the dignity of the human person, the promotion of the blessings of peace … "[71]

     The answer to the question whether Church unity — an important aim also for our service of faith — still bears any meaning in view of the overwhelming pressure of the problem of the "secular oikoumene", should be sought essentially in three domains: a) practical collaboration in secular service; b) solidarity and witness, service and mission combined, as it were, as integral accomplishments of our life according to the Gospel; c) essential unity of Church and world, which makes any endeavor for inner Church unity superfluous. In all events, people still expressed the expectation that the world to which we Christians turn in solidarity and service may also become eventually the "theological point where the lost and sought unity of Christians may be found."[73]

     Reflecting upon the situation in our East Asian countries we are aware that maybe the ecumenical movement is still regarded by many as an interecelesiastical affair to be settled between the Churches. Should not this attitude gradually be revised, so that people come to realize how much the ecumenical movement is related to the world? not because it is fashionable or convenient but because of its very foundation?

     Ecumenism is not simply an internal Church issue, by which preference is given to the Christians' own problems rather than to those of peace, justice, liberty and human rights. Especially in East Asia, where by far we are no more than a very small minority of the population, ecumenism for the sake of evangelization must bring us right to the heart of the problems of humanity.[74]

     And it is also true that ecumenism which starts merely as an interchurch concern ought to develop into ecumenism as service to human society. From doing things together we arrive at witnessing together. Ecumenism is not simply the sum total of all the things we do together but a way of being and living,[75] which commits Christians and the Church to a process of renewal involving a change of heart, a summons to continual reformation and at the same time to an ever greater fruitfulness in our service to faith by promoting total human development in East Asia.

     15. The process of building up the particular Churches in East Asia, in other words, the inculturation of Christian faith, inevitably requires an on-going dialogue with the Great Religions and other religious beliefs of the area. The decree on "Our Mission Today" bases this dialogue, which means "living together with other living faiths," upon the mystery of Incarnation:

"For some Christian communities, especially those in Asia and Africa, this 'economy of the incarnation' calls for a more intensive dialogue with the heirs of the great nonChristian traditions.[76]

     "Only in dialogue with these religions can we discover in them 'the seeds of the Word of God'. Dialogue will allow us to touch the expression and the reality of our peoples' deepest selves, and enable us to find authentic ways of living and expressing our own Christian faith . . . It can become a sharing in friendship of our quest for God and for brotherhood among His sons. Finally, this dialogue will teach us what our faith in Christ leads us to receive from these religious traditions, and what must be purified in them, healed and made whole, in the light of God's Word."[78]

     Dialogue can also bring to other men, among other treasures of our Christian faith, the importance of the personal and social dimensions of salvation, the meaning of human history.[79]

     Some of the reflections presented during the Synod of 1974 are to the point. Those who preach the Gospel have to become ever more acquainted with other living faiths and their development. Dialogue is not merely a way of approaching them. It is a necessary condition for the service of faith. It means fidelity to the Spirit at work in other religious traditions. Dialogue must eventually lead people of other faiths towards Christ; it is not sufficient merely to make Muslims better Muslims. Dialogue has to go together with an entire way of life which gives testimony to the Gospel.

     In his address to the Indonesian people on the occasion of his visit to Jakarta, December 3, 1970, Pope Paul VI quoted Ecclesiam Suapn (1964) saying: "We acknowledge with respect the spiritual and moral values of the various non-Christian religions, for we desire to join-with them in promoting and defending common ideals in the spheres of religious liberty, human brotherhood, teaching and education, social welfare, and civic order."[80]

     In Thailand, dialogue is now effected by means of cooperation in social action. It is an ecumenical cooperation. Religious leaders, both Christian and Buddhist, are launching active projects for more human conditions. In the report he gave to the Meeting on Dialogue with Hinayana Buddhism held in Bangkok on May 17-19, 1974, Fr. John Ulliana, a Salesian missionary in Thailand, said that social welfare is a common field where we can all cooperate for the benefit of the people, giving both material and spiritual assistance.[81]

     In Japan, inter-religious dialogue is being carried out by collaborating for the good of society, for example, for the promotion of human rights, for world peace, for the building of a better world, etc.[82]

     In Taiwan and Hong Kong dialogue on the social level is chiefly .carried out by the hierarchy and takes place in excellent co-operation with the Protestant churches.[83]

     We may also mention some of the positive results achieved at the Colombo Conference, jointly planned by a group comprising persons drawn from five Faiths (Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Muslims), and held on April 17-26, 1974: a "provisional" but perhaps more realistic approach to the theme "world community"; the attention drawn to "the emergence of new models of society and their impact upon the fate and the role of religion"; particularly also the "feeling" that it might be "the special task of religious groups to stress the importance of the model of concrete local community as the first reality of world community, but also as the reality which mediates world community";[84] a closer evaluation of "the influence of religions and ideological resources upon socioeconomic conditions and upon the quality of life in a given nation or community of nations."[85]

     16. If the Church wants to dialogue with the peoples of East Asia, she will have to dialogue with the poor themselves, and to work not only for them but with them. For the majority are deprived of even the minimum resources and are oppressed, i.e., submitted to social, economical and political structures which have injustice built into them.

     This encounter will "demand working, not for them merely (in a paternalistic sense), but with them, to learn from them (for we have much to learn from them!) their real needs and aspirations."

     Finally, "this dialogue leads to genuine commitment and effort to bring about social justice in our societies. In turn this will include an operative and organized 'action and reflection in faith' (sometimes called 'conscientization') … "

     "… what can and should be done in Asia today is gradually to impregnate all spheres of life in society — cultural, socioeconomic, political, and the rest — with true Christian values through a personal and deeply committed witness of truth, justice and love. Such a commitment is an imperative of the hour, and is by no means peripheral or ancillary to what is called 'direct evangelization'. It is not only a 'constitutive' dimension (Synod of Bishops 1971) of evangelization, but should be seen as the concrete realization of the Church's sacramentality … "

     To be truly the signum iizagnu i credibilitatis the Church must become, and also "be convincingly seen and felt by the poor and the young in Asia, as a Church whose life is given in selfless dedication, even at grave risk to itself, to the great needs of mankind today … If all this is true, how then are we to understand the attitude of the Church, in all too many instances, that cries foul when its position, institutions, vested interests are touched by outside forces, while remaining silent and inactive in the face of others being oppressed?"[87]

     We will have to reflect on what in concrete this integration means for each Province in the Assistancy and for all of us together, while always bearing in mind that what we call "East Asia" as a matter of fact comprises an immense variety of peoples and cultures, which therefore calls for as great a plurality and creativity in the ways we implement our mission today.

     The building up of the particular Church was already in Vatican II one of the most important doctrines. During the decade after the Council up to the third General Synod it has become the most actual issue and a matter of vital interest. The theology of the local Church has come to a greater maturity, thanks first of all to the experiences and the reflections of the Churches of the developing countries. This "breakthrough" may be considered an important "sign of the times" to our service of faith.

     The Synod did not arrive at a clear-cut theological definition of the local Church, nor at a commonly accepted terminology.

     The element most emphasized has been the sociocultural integration of the local community of the faithful. This was for our bishops the main concern. We agree with the African bishops in abandoning the term (and concept) "adaptation", and to speak rather in terms of "incarnation", that is, becoming a community of faith from within the sociocultural lifc-situation. Christ has to be born anew within the local cultures.[88]

Socio-cultural integration, as the expression ("participation") of the mystery of Incarnation, requires our Churches free themselves from foreign types of Christian life and ways of thinking. It demands the spirit of initiative and creativity.

     On the other hand, the remark was made during the last Synod, that the tendency towards overemphasizing the necessity of building up a truly inculturated particular Church ought to be counterbalanced by efforts towards an ever more intimate communion of faith of the universal Church. For without this koinonia no local Church can develop itself healthily. The bishops who so strongly stressed the identity and the autonomy of the local Church at the same time underlined the need of openness towards the universal Church and of unity with the Pope.19 In the same way as for Christ, the mystery of Incarnation means that the Son of God is present in human nature, not isolatedly as an individual; precisely by becoming man He unites Himself to all of us within the unity of mankind and has become our Brother.

     Analogically this applies also to us as members of the Society. The greater the plurality in our apostolic activity, the more each of our Provinces has to read in spiritual discernment the signs of the times in order to determine the aims and objectives particular to the region, the stronger should be our koinonia in mission and spirituality.

     This plurality — far from being a threat to our unity as Jesuits — should be a positive and creative sign that our unity is deeper than whatever the concrete technical analysis or viewpoints might show. The only condition should be that this plurality of action within the unity of our mission needs to be the result of serious discernment and study and of a deep concern for our people and not the casual result of oversimplification.

     18. This deep awareness of plurality at that Synod was at least partly due to a new method of reflection, namely, a pastoral inductive existential approach starting from actual life situations, indispensable in the process of growth of the particular Church.

     It should be a valuable thrust to our reflection on our Jesuit mission today that theology since Vatican II more and more concentrates upon "man and his world", "man in the historical context of his contemporary society." This new orientation means something more than merely what used to be called "faithfulness to Catholic doctrine", or "faithfulness to the Gospel and Christ."

     The actual situation of present-day society, placed within the divine universal salvific Will, is being more and more considered as penetrated with the activity of God's Spirit guiding the whole of mankind; in other words, as a locus iheologicus. Hence, the World Congress of Theology on the Future of the Church, Brussels, September 12-17, 1970, describes theology as "a reflection of Christians upon their faith and their Christian experience in a particular time and culture. Hence only Christian communities, involved in the life of the contemporary world, and taking active responsibility within their society can fashion the theology of the future."[90]

     This is precisely where spiritual discernment comes into play; it is to use Vatican ll's phrase — "the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel."[91] It is only in a climate of prayer and true discernment that we shall find the wisdom and the strength to act in conformity with the demands of our mission. By the discernment of spirits "we will gain a deeper knowledge of the movements, aspirations, and struggles in the hearts of our contemporaries, as well as those in the heart of mankind itself."[92]

     Compared with Vatican II, the view of the last Synod on salvation is still less ecclesiocentric, still more concentrated upon Christ; greater stress was laid upon the guiding and animating activity of the Spirit outside as well as within the visible boundaries of the Church. This is of particular relevance in our countries, with their immense variety of religious beliefs and traditions, with their many and grave social and economic problems, where the community of our faithful is no more than a very small minority. Since we truly have to immerse ourselves in human society and try to leaven it from the inside, our impact not only depends on how numerous we are but all the more on how we are as Christians and as Jesuits. To what extent have the meanings, the values, the attitudes, the way of life that come from the Gospel been made real, authentic, consciously and in a personal way interiorized among our faithful?

     19. At the last Synod the "young" Churches felt themselves already "fully fledged". They stood at the same level as the Churches of centuries-old Christianity. Whereas Vatican 11 in the wording of the decrees and constitutions still reveals a "Western" point of view, in Gaudium et Spes, for instance,!'@' and even in a decree such as Ad Gentes, the 1974 Synod definitely has a broader and more pluralistic outlook.

     We may raise the question also whether tc) a certain extent this is not true with regard to our last General Congregation as well: that its documents have been conceived mainly in a Western framework, for instance, the assumption that the concept of "justice" of the West is a universal one, valid for all times and all cultures. We certainly must re-think "justice" and "faith" in the light of Asian experience and applied to present-day Asian realities.

     Says Fr. J. Joblin, S.J., who recently travelled through Asia under the auspices of the International Labour Office:

     While at the General Congregation the Commission on "criteria and orientations of our apostolate" was discussing this theme, some tension was still felt between the "deductive" method (starting from the Formula Instituti and the original "lgnatian inspiration") and the "inductive" method (to put it simplistically: starting from the reality of our apostolate), in order to find out how the Society wants us to be.[96]

     It was only towards the end of the Congregaton that the Declaration "Jesuits Today" came about with the image of the Jesuit as a "man-to-be sent", n permanent availability for any mission. This man, born of a conversion, and this mission are inserted into the heart of the struggle of our contemporary world. His option is a meaning of life that in and by faith builds full justice among men: "Faith and justice are undivided in the Gospel which teaches that 'faith makes its power felt through love' (Gal. 5, 6). They cannot therefore be divided in our purpose, our action, our life."[97]

     In our case the question should come up also: what exactly can our East Asian Assistancy meeting give as directives for our Jesuit life and apostolate, so that all and each one of us are really helped to live concretely the genuine Jesuit spirituality within our common mission, in our own life-situation, within the framework of the growth of our particular Churches? Ale very fact that we are sent to our fellowmen within present-day society, and the actual situation of our East Asian countries cannot be put aside in determining "the Asian Jesuit's identity" (if this common name still has any meaning).

     The actual meaning, of our mission and the relevance of the Society depend on whether we are able to bring to the fore that injustice is an important and most serious aspect of our peoples, and that indeed the promotion of justice, within an integral human development, is the priority of priorities.

     21. The 32nd General Congregation stresses the religious and priestly character of our apostolic life. Since it wishes to be practical and inspiring, we need not get lost in the endless theological discussions concerning the many opinions on the meaning of priesthood and religious life.

     In my modest opinion, however, a weakness of the Congregation was that with approximately 70 theologians present (i.e. almost 30% of all the participants) theological reflection was not given due attention, particularly with regard to priesthood and religious life and the relationship between the service of faith and the promotion of justice.

     Yet the decree on "Our Mission Today" says:

     "We must be more aware of the need for theological reflection, carried on in a context which is both interdisciplinary and genuinely integrated with the culture in which it is done. Only thus can it throw light on the main problems confronting humanity and the Church today … " (n.60).

     This would be a theology thought out from within the consciousness of Christians of developing countries, a theology whose perspective is post-colonial East Asia, a theology at the service of that creation of the new man and the new society, referred to in the Taipei "Statement and Recommendations" of our Asian Bishops.

     Theologizing is a process of reflexive learning from whatever happens. At times it may be tentative and searching (as in this paper); or also questioning and evocative of biblical themes that come to mind while trying to understand our situation. At heart this search is the expression of our desire to listen to the Spirit in all.

     22. What significance do creative involvement in action for total human development and concern for the promotion of justice have for evangelization or the service of faith in East Asia? What relationship is there between historical activity for earthly prosperity and eternal life, liberation from hunger and liberation from sin, between faith and political action, between the building-up of this world and the Kingdom of God? In brief, between earthly well-being and our final fulfilment is there a homogeneity and continuity or a heterogeneity and discontinuity? Is salvation a blossoming of history and historical existence, or something which transcends history, which uproots man from history through death and uproots the cosmos through the parousia? Do we look for salvation in a flowing of nature or in the depths of failure and suffering? Do we come to God through nature's glory and man's ability to create and to give, or through hunger and disease and the experience of suffering and nothingness?

     What actually does it mean when the decree on "Our Mission Today" says that the promotion of justice is an absolute requirement" of the service of faith (n.2)? Or when according to "Jesuits Today" "the service of faith and the promotion of justice cannot be for us simply one ministry among others", but "must be the integrating factor of all our ministries... of our inner life as individuals, as communities, and as worldwide brotherhood"?[99]

     There is no meaning and no fruitful discussion if theology and social justice meet in theory, in the abstract, from above. Again, we need a theology that springs from Christian living in our actual being together with all men.[100]

     We sense a certain polarity in the relationship between service to faith and promotion of justice, a certain tension and dialectic. But it may well be that this tension is full of life and dynamic. In our service to faith and in the promotion of justice the Church is one salvific sacrament for all the human family. The next, more practical, question is, then, how we are going to integrate them with the East Asian situation and with the focal circumstances of each country.

     23. Let us start by recalling what the main Church documents from Vatican II on have to say.

     a) Gaudiuin et Spes stresses especially three points: 1) the autonomy of the secular (art. 36); 2) the dignity of man (art. 26 cf. art. 3); 3) the solidarity of the Church with the entire human family (art. 40; see also art. 3 and 4). In this way the call is given for a vital synthesis of all earthly commitments with religious values.

     b) Apostolicam Actuosilatem stresses similar aspects: 1) autonomy of the temporal order and the dignity of man (art. 1 and 7); 2) the renewal of the whole temporal order as part of the redemptive work of Christ and therefore of the Church's mission (art. 5).

     c) Ad Gentes explains — although from a different aspect this opening of the Church to the world, to Christian witness of social justice and charity, to social engagement and development aid. Development work is not only the forefront of evangelization; it is not to be considered "before", not even "concomitant" or "besides", but "together", "jointly".

     d) The Motu Proprio Catholicam Christi Ecclesiam, January 6, 1967, says that the Pontifical Commission on Justice and Peace aims at arousing the whole People of God to full awareness of its mission at the present time, in order, on the one hand, to promote the progress of poor nations and encourage international social justice, and, on the other, to help underdeveloped nations to work for their own development.

     e) The Encyclical Populorum Progressio, March 26, 1967, proclaims the basic relations which exist between the Christian faith ancl the immense challenge of world development. The Church must fulfill her role in the long and arduous task of world development, in closest collaboration with our Christian brothers, with our fellowmeli of other religions and with all men of good will, at the service of all the human family. There can be no true development unless progress is enlightened by the Gospel message, nor true evangelization unless it leads to a practical service of the People of God.

     f) In the apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens to Cardinal Roy, the President of the Pontifical Commission on Justice and Peace and of the Laity Council, May 14, 1971, Pope Paul VI commits Christians especially to social and political engagement, with due respect for the pluriformity of situations, structures and possible positions and solutions.

     24. The foundation of our theological reflection on our mission as Jesuits is the mystery of Incarnation, alluded to in "Our Mission Today".[101]

     Within the context of God's salvific Design tending towards the fullness of God's Kingdom (comprising the whole man and all men), we shall reflect on the role of Christ and his Church, to whom as Jesuits we have coinmitte ourselves very particularly. We shall consider what it means for us to live in solidarity with the poor and to integrate ourselves into human society, so that all our eltorts truly converge towards building up the particular Church.

     There is a "spiritualistic" tradition which warns us that liberation and development, earthly well-being and human justice, are not the Kingdom of God. They are ambivalent and often lead men away from God. In the emphasis on social justice there lurks the danger of neglecting God to serve men, and of diverting the Church from its task of preaching Jesus Christ. Eschatology and the perspective of eternity relativise and de-emphasize the world and temporal prosperity. Involvement in social action and political struggle can scarcely be called Christian apostolate.

     Human values of development and justice, on the other hand, are not realized in the abstract but within social and economic realities and concrete human relationships. And it is within these relationships that the service of faith is to be realized. It is essential to be convinced that there is a legitimate, even a necessary, horizontalization, since the Son of God became man, and the risen Lord is met and served in needy men.

     Hence, the cause of human development and justice is our concern, not because injustices resulting from imbalance in the developmental process might lead to an explosion of violence, nor because Communism might take over and our countries might be lost to the "democratic" camp, nor even to ease our consciences and find relief in an uncomfortable situation.

     We are interested because human development and liberation[102] are intrinsic to human wholeness and salvation, essential to the incarnate Person of Jesus Christ and His risen life, to the love that lies at the heart of the Christian reality, to the rights and dignity of every human person and the human community. Salvation, having a personal and interior dimension, the total liberation of man, in order to be genuine would have to include the economic, social and political dimension.[103]

     Says the decree on "Our Mission Today":

     "The Christian message is a call to conversion: conversion to the love of God, which necessarily implies conversion to the love of men, which necessarily includes conversion to the demands of justice" (n.28).

     The history of salvation means that salvation takes place in history. Hence, our service of faith, which is the proclamation of salvation, embodies itself in the events, aspirations, the signs of the times and the "historical contents" of the present process in East Asia.[104] Our Christian message, if presented as an answer to the needs of our peoples, will announce freedom to reach God and freedom from personal enslavements. Again, it is a call to conversion[105] in a faith committed to God, to man, and to the transformation of society, so that men will uphold the dignity of the human person,[106] provide the opportunities for development and progress, and promote that quality of life enabling them to reflect their sonship in God.

     In the spheres of the "secular" and the "profane" God and His Christ are active in the Spirit, expecting our "partnership" in the shaping and reshaping of human history and human destiny, our "participation" in His ongoing act of creation and re-creation. All God's gifts are also our tasks. It is essential to defatalize history. Providence is not fate. And in the Christian vision there is no Providence of which we are not part.

     25. Our service of faith requires us to avert people from "certain false images of God which prop up and give an aura of legitimacy to unjust social structures," and from "ambiguous images of God which appear to release man from his unalienable responsibilities." In certain regions in East Asia and within the atmosphere of certain religious beliefs this is very important. We have to help people to rediscover the true God, "who, in Jesus Christ, chose to share our human pilgrimage and make our human destiny irrevocably His own."[107]

     As true as faith implies much more than justice and the deep causes and consequences of unbelief cannot be simply reduced to the social level, our problems in East Asia have roots that are not just social and technological but also personal and spiritual: "men are hungry, but hungry not for bread, but tor the word of God."[108] Unbelief, contemporary theoretical and practical atheism, reveals itself as one of the main causes of injustice.[109] While injustice, if it is tolerated and left unchallenged, generates new forms of atheism.

     26. The God of love reveals Himself in His Son Jesus Christ. For any theology of development and promotion of justice, therefore, a christological foundation is essential.

     In creating the world, God's plan was to entrust to us a world to be built and brethren to be loved. In order to become images of God in Christ and through Christ, "the Image of the invisible God" (see Col 1,15 and 2 Cor 4,4), we too must become co-creators.

     Christ also came to reveal the sin and failure of human enterprises. He is the bearer of a message from a God Who reconciles all men. Christ is, moreover, Himself the supreme reconciliation. He recapitulates past history and opens up a new future for sinful humanity.

     Hence, the Christian is one who follows Christ in announcing the reconciliation to be found even in the conflicts and ambiguities of human history. He is actively waiting for the Christ Who will come again. This Christian message of creation and reconciliation in our days has to be embodied in our efforts for human development and the promotion of justice.

     The Christian-and in our considerations, the Jesuit-is one who has in his life come to know the person of Jesus Christ and His Gospel. He has been given some experience of the reality of the living Christ. And henceforth he meets his brother in a love and a concern that finds its foundation and energy within that faith and his experience of Christ. In his suffering brother he would encounter Christ, waiting for him to relieve him of his suffering and to be lifted up in the freedom of the children of God.

     The Church of Christ the Incarnate must be a servant Church, in forma servi, like Christ Himself.[110] Her mission primarily is a mission of service to mankind.[111]

     27. What are we then? A "Church for the poor"? Or a "Church for everyone?" We easily accept that God in Holy Scripture always appears to be on the side of the poor, the weak, the little ones, and that Jesus also particularly loved the poor.

     He identified Himself with the people of His time and His country. He made not only their religious and spiritual interests His own but also their physical needs, their sicknesses, social injustice, "To identify oneself" does not only mean to look at something with sympathetic consideration, with compassion and understanding, but also to make it one's own. And this does not only imply to understand and to share, but also to remedy, to help in creating better living conditions.

     By reason of its participation in the Incarnation and as a communication of God's love our development work is an integral part of the Church's mission and, therefore, constitutive to our service of faith.

     Yet at the moment one concludes that the Church — and we are that Church! — today should side with the poor not merely by words but by deeds, people begin to object that the Church is for everyone, rich as well as poor, and hence should not take sides with the poor and reject the rich.

     Of course there is no tension whatsoever between the salvation of the poor.and the salvation of all. God's plan of salvation is for all men. But the point is that because it is for all men, it has to consider especially the poor.[112] Only when the "last ones" are saved, will the entire humanity be saved, like the ill in the Gospel. The poor should be the sign that salvation is for all.

     Thus also J. Moltmann replies:

     "The goal of Christian universalism can be realized precisely through the dialectic of siding with the humanity of the humiliated and oppressed. For to stand on the side of the poor is not to take a stance of enmity or hate against those who possess wealth and power among individuals, or human groupings, organizations, but rather to take issue with attitudes of selfishness and the structures which institutionalize egoism, against the politics and trade-systems which exploit the poor, against abuse of power over the lives of men. Christians and the Churches will not bring about reconciliation and peace by posing as a suprahistorical "meetin place for negotiation and peace." Sub specie aeternitatis all worldly conflicts become relative and insignificant. To reconcile, finally, paradoxically enough, one must dialectically take sides, to achieve the purposes of justice and peace."[113]

     Since for the Church in East Asia poverty is a question of life or death, the lives Christian leaders live must be, in appearance and reality, close to the lives of the masses. In BISA II it was keenly felt that the Church should revise her own life style and institutions, in order to realize first within herself whatever she has to say about social justice. Without justice inside the Church our message will never be credible.[115]

     28. All the way through our theological reflection the mystery of Incarnation has been the underlying source and inspiration. Dialogue with our fellowmen in their actual life situations is as a matter of fact the way we live for ourselves "dialectically" the life of Christ Incarnate within us.[116]

     Our service to faith is that dialogue, since the Church is to evangelize the Asian "revolution", and at the same time she is to be evangelized by the Asian "revolution".

     a) Let us start bv asserting that in the context of that service dialogue with adherents of other living faiths and religious traditions is imperative in order to understand their deepest needs and aspirations. Religions are the keystones of East Asian cultures. And since God through His Spirit is guiding humanity towards its fulfilment in Christ the new Man, "interreligious dialogue is the response of Christian faith to God's saving presence in the religious traditions of mankind and the expression of the firm hope of the fulfilment of all things in Christ."[117] Especially the Great Religions have become transforming agents in the plurality of cultural and religious situations of our countries, and at the same time they have been themselves transformed by the local cultures.

     b) As it has often been stressed, we as the Church should speak with a voice echoing the life of our continent. This is the only way we may become an epiphany, a living proof that faith in Jesus Christ can help our nations to build an East Asia which will be truly human.

     Hence, we all must participate in our common mission of humanization, by being a constructive force, by becoming involved in our society. We must also be prophets and have the courage to proclaim genuine justice, which means taking sides with the deprived majorities. Our cooperation with other agents of development implies in itself that we should also provide a critical force with regard to oppressive structures and institutions and be the intrepid defenders of human values, of integrity and liberty. We should be concerned with both "micro-evangelization" (individual conversions) and with "macroevangelization" (the reform of structures), well-balanced according to the local circumstances.

     c) At the same time, we must learn to listen to the people among whom we live. Since everywhere we find ourselves confronted with the guiding presence of the Spirit, God speaks to us through events. This is why "the signs of the times" are the realm of our apostolic discernment in the Spirit. The experience of East Asia's growth and development, with its failures and critical situations, is an interpellation; it contains God's Word addressed to us right now.[118]

     Just like Israel did at certain moments in her history, our communities are now passing through a period of repentance, individual and collective, to prepare us — as Christians and as Jesuits — for a radical transformation of our way of life. We may have to abandon our role as defender — consciously or unconsciously — of the status quo, and, impelled by the force of the Spirit, eventually become the prophetic community of faith our countries need.

     29. Mere goodwill and dedication are no longer enough. To be able to identify the structures which obstruct the total development of man, to look beyond the complex phenomena of society, and to recognize the forces which give logic to seemingly unrelated events, we must have the facts analyzed critically.

     Spiritual discernment, although indispensable, cannot replace profound and serious study. This latter is required to understand and solve the economic, social and cultural problems of society. Neither is it sufficient to point out that sin is the deepest cause for oppressing structures and injustice. In order to find our way through this complex reality, we need the human sciences, no less than philosophy or theology.

Says Pope Paul VI:

     "Mere denunciation, often too late or ineffective, is not sufficient. There must be an analysis of the deep-rooted causes of such situations and a firm commitment to face up to them and resolve them correctly."[119]

     Seen in the light of the problem of inculturation also, the patterns of a prosperous and just society for each of our countries are still to be devised. And for this purpose the free expression and the appreciation of cultural values at all levels of society, especially those of the most oppressed and voiceless, appear indispensable.

     It is to be expected, therefore, that in our action for justice in the framework of serving our faith, there will be a multiplicity of responses, according to the particular life situations of each country.

     All this is even more necessary, since the wording of "Our Mission Today" and other documents seems not specific or appropriate enough to be considered concrete directives for our specific apostoiate in our regions.

     Let us keep aware that in thus scrutinizing the signs of the times, and in faithfully responding to them in the light of the Gospel, i.e., in view of man's total fulfilment in Christ, we are working on the "incarnation" of our faith in human society with the perspective of its full redemption at the end of times. We meet our fellowmen precisely where they are, i.e., in the very problems of their lives rightly understood. This encounter with man deep down in his "joys" and "hopes", but still more in his "griefs and anxieties", and particularly with "those who are poor or in any way afflicted",[120] this exactly is what the Son of God meant to bring about by becoming man.

     This is essential in our solidarity with the poor, which should be understood in a much deeper sense than merely "living among the poor." Here precisely we continue in ourselves the mystery of Christ Incarnate.

     This is as a matter of fact none other than part of the process of the inculturation of our faith,[122] of a renewed Incarnation of the Word of God, and we may even say, a renewed kenosis of the Son of God in a humanity that still suffers from the miseries of poverty and deprivation.

     "We have a duty to ensure that our ministry is directed toward incarnating the faith and life of the Church in the culture and traditions of the people among whom and with whom we work and, at the same time, toward communion with all who share the same Christian faith."[123]

     This, identically, is the process of building up the local Churches in our countries.

     Actually this implies a cultural exchange, a giving and a receiving.

     "Neither the culture of the missionary nor that of the missionized' is perfect. Both have their values. Both are limited. Certainly both have complementary and mutually enriching aspects … there is no such thing as culturally pure local Churches whose Christianity would be the result of their 'locality' alone without any external influences … " In the Third World "this interchange and mutually beneficial enrichment has been radically ambiguous since the process historically took place within a colonial context of cultural domination, which we are still trying to correct."[124]

     31. Pope Paul VI says in his Apostolic Letter Octogesiina Adveniens, May 14, 1971:

     "It is not enough to recall principles, state intentions, point to crying injustices and utter prophetic denunciation, these words will lack real weight unless they are accompanied for each individual by a livelier awareness of personal responsibility and by effective actions."[125]

     And although it will not be easy to arrive at very detailed ,common directives towards concrete actions to be taken, because of the almost unsurveyable plurality of peoples and cultures, can we not at least formulate some more practical orientations?

     32. I. Scientific research and analysis of our problems.

     How are we to contribute to thoroughly scientific investigation on the actual meanings and existential forms of "faith", "unbelief", "justice", "injustice", etc., in the historical and local context of our apostolic mission in our own region?

     How is the necessary theological reflection to be carried on in a ,context, both interdisciplinary and genuinely integrated into the cultures of our region, since only thus can our reflection throw light on the main problems confronting humanity, the Church and ourselves today?[126]

     How can the process of evaluation and discernment be brought to bear principally on the identification and analysis of the problems concerning the service of faith by the promotion of justice, and the review and renewal of our apostolic commitments?[127]

     We cannot jump from our faith experience to the concrete de,cisions of social action without due technical investigation and due account of the ideologies under whose influence we are living.

     BISA Il's considerations led towards concentrating our attention on specific social issues and problems, for instance, the problems of workers, youth, the rural marginated, population, political and social :situations.[128]

     II. Reform of Structures.

     a) Although injustice must be attacked at its roots in the heart of man, by eradicating those attitudes and habits which bring forth the structures of oppression,[129] we must be convinced that we shall fall short by merely trying to handle individual cases of injustice and to solve particular problems of oppression.

The decree on "Our Mission Today" says:

     "It is becoming more and more evident that the structures of our society are among the principal formative influences in our world, shaping men's ideas and feelings, shaping their most intimate desires and aspirations; in a word, shaping man himself. Hence, to work for the transformation of these structures according to the Gospel is to work for the spiritual as well as the material liberation of man, and is thus intimately related to the work of evangelization."[130]

     But not only in human society is transformation of oppressive structures called for. Have we not to question ourselves as well, whether certain structural changes should not be brought into Church life? What about our Jesuits' community life in its actual situation? with regard to our institutions (education, social apostolate, etc.)?

     b) We have to take into consideration that the reform of structures requires cooperation and solidarity with other groupings and institutions concerned with them or involved in them.

Again the decree on "Our Mission Today":

     "Our involvement will be apostolic to the extent that it leads us to a closer collaboration with local churches, Christians of other denominations, believers of other religions, and all who hunger and thirst after justice … "[131]

     Church cooperation with government institutions in social action programmes rarely proceeds without some disagreement on ideology, objectives, the nature of programmes, methods, priorities, etc. There is at times the risk of compromising the Church's principles and her autonomy of action.

     On the other hand, this may be the very touching point, where the Church can come in with her prophetic function, particularly with regard to what is going on in the social field, e.g., family planning programme.

     Which groups or institutions have we to come in contact with in view of the transformation of structures? How are we to achieve this cooperation with them to bring about structural changes, in human society, in the Church, favourable to human development and the promotion of justice?

     34. III. Handling particular cases of injustice.

     Although theoretically speaking it appears imperative to reform structures, actually they are very hard to change! Merely having this purpose in mind, maybe concretely speaking not very much will happen. Structural changes require an ongoing struggle of concerted forces.

     Generally speaking, people are only willing to take part in efforts for the promotion of justice, when it really concerns them and they happen to be themselves the victims of injustice. We have to tackle as best we can these concrete cases of injustice (and not just bypass them in silence!).

     Working for the transformation of unjust structures in general seems to meet lgnatius' desire that his companions would go wherever there was hope for the more universal good.[132] This, however, does not imply "that we can ever afford to neglect the direct apostolate to individuals: to those who are the victims of the injustice of social structures … "[133]

     What are the concrete cases of injustice we are confronted with at present?

     35. IV. Cultural liberation.

     Although problems of injustice deserve priority among our con. cerns, it is not merely justice that is at stake but actually the entire sociocultural life of East Asian nations.

     For our developing countries one of the most disastrous consequences of economic aid, as its effects also social and political dependence, eventually is cultural dependence, and at times even an alienation from their own cultural values.

     We have to ponder seriously to what extent our countries in their process of development are still culturally dependent, e.g., recognizing the following symptoms:

     1. "The adoption of development patterns which are alien or unsuited to the social cultural reality of our peoples. Mainly through the mass media, such models are imposed by the 'developed' countries for the benefit of their economic imperialism. Such an imposition fosters pseudo-values, foreign to the local culture, and activates frustrating and alienating aspirations."[134]

     2. " … there is an ideological-cultural imposition accompanying the imposed model of development. Even in institutions which consider themselves popular, the peculiar way of the people is not being sufficiently discerned."[135]

     3. All these pressures may force our people into life styles both inconsistent and alienating. Their authentic values are not appreciated, become obsolete and the end result is a loss of cultural and national identity.[136]

     No less important than the reform of structures, therefore, is cultural liberation, or at least the effort to prevent the development in our peoples of a cultural alienation.

     Here a special task awaits us. There is nothing more sensitive about a culture than the growth of its own values through selfcriticism and self-transformation. How do we help our peoples in passing from a mentality which is uncritical and conformist to a creative attitude which keeps in contact with its own authentic cultural patterns, while they remain conscious and critical of every subtle form of cultural alienation?

     Through the values which Christianity transmits in the service of faith it possesses the ethical ingredient for a true cultural development. How then should we help our fellowmen towards the attitude of taking up their own changes and accepting their historical vocation as their own task and project, while they use their own values as the point of departure? How to find the right language to preach the Gospel? and to stimulate those values? and to instill that vocation to develop the creativity of a culture in the light of faith? Because the Gospel is not tied to any particular cultural form, it is capable of accompanying the development of culture from within, unifying it without alienation.[137]

     Let us bear in mind that this encounter between Christianity and culture should be a dialogue in its true sense.

     Our East Asian cultures, impregnated with many religious values, have something to offer, more or less, in making actual the rich potentialities of the saving message of Christ.[138]

     However, when they come in contact with the saving message of Christ, they need to pass through the Paschal Mystery. They have to be saved not just in the sense of being preserved, but also in the sense that they have to die and be reborn.

     An equally important aspect of the relationship of culture to Christianity in the evangelization process is the fact that because culture becomes man's "second nature,"[139] the saving word of Christ can only reach him as a culturally defined individual, to the degree it is clothed in and refers to his culture.

     36. V. The process of "conscientization."

     Our reflections lead us to the conclusion that particularly in developing countries like ours conscientization is absolutely necessary.

     Where the decree on "Our Mission Today" provides us with guidelines for concerted action, it stresses "the conseientization according to the Gospel of those who have the power to bring about social change."[140]

     Conscientization is not merely a prise de conscience, a taking awareness, spontaneously and ingenuously, of reality. It goes deeper; it is the critical development of that prise de conscience, the further deepening of that spontaneous apprehension of reality. Then this becomes a knowable object. Man takes an epistemological stance and tries to know. It is a probing of the ambience, of reality, where man gets at the phenomenal essence of the object he stands in front of, in order to analyze it.[141]

     Conscientization implies an historical awareness, an historical commitment, a critical insertion into history, in order to create history, in order to make and remake the world. When man realizes he is oppressed, he also knows he can liberate himself if he transforms the concrete situation where he finds himself oppressed. Thus a critical insertion into a process is implied, an historical commitment to make changes: the acts of denouncing the dehumanizing structure and announcing the structure that will humanize integrally, in the Christian sense. And only those who are permanently committed to a radical process of transforming the world so that man can be more, only they can be prophetic.

     Conscientization is a seizing and a reshaping of reality. it demythologizes; it strips reality down so as to get to know the myths that deceive and perpetuate the dominating structure.

     Conscientization demands an Easter, requires that we die to be born again. And each of us has to give his witness of that death and rebirth. Conscientization is a summons to do that; to be each day new in Christ.[142]

     Not only do we have to conscientize other people; we ourselves, as religious and Jesuits, need conscientization by integrating ourselves into the human community. Says M. de Mesa, S.V.D.:

     "The integration phase of conscientization is essential especially for religious who might have the illusion of being able to conscientize one another. Conscientization takes place only when one is among the people. For one to experience the resurrection with the people, he must incarnate himself in the people. And it is there where the passion and death of self-serving values and resurrection of mutual service of community occur."[143]

     The process of conscientizing people in the context of our service of faith cannot be restricted to the human social sphere.

     BISA ll: "We would like to work out at every level of our Christian life and our Christian community a process by which we all deepen this awareness in our common striving for the total salvation of man. This is a complex process of reflection and action under the challenge and direction of the Word of God as it lives and grows in the Church and history."[144]

     BISA Ill itself applied as its methodology the process of conscientization, namely, exposure to reality, social analysis, theological reflection and commitment to action, but found it a rather painful process, especially in the area of analysis and commitment to action.[145]

     What, actually, does conscientization imply in our countries? Who are to be conscientized and in what sense? How are we to keep this process of conscientization going? How are we to overcome the barriers of certain traditional cultural patterns?

     37. VI. Service of faith by promoting justice at the local level.

     We have first of all to be concerned about service of faith by promotion of justice at the local level. It is by no means sufficient to restrict our activities (initiatives, programming, implementation) to the "top-level" by conferences and seminars, such as our Assistancy meeting is doing right now.

     Surely it is almost impossible to create anything fertile if facts are simply produced in headlong flight from serious reflection. And now that the promotion of justice requires an interdisciplinary approach, this reflection should be carried on in consultation with real experts. Yet many are now inclined to think that facts have mostly to precede theory. And these facts cannot be gathered simply at the top but only at the base.

     In other words, practice does not just follow the discovery of principles as something secondary. But rather it forms an essential part of this discovery itself, which follows rather the inductive existential rather than the deductive way. Just as the local Church is not merely the lowest shading of the universal Church but rather the immediate and concrete realization of the Church, likewise local efforts on behalf of development are not just "consecutive implementations" of centralized, top-level international programming but rather an original form of developmental activities. Such local efforts will even provide new starting points for deeper reflection and deeper insig:hts.

     It is not far-fetched that a gulf may arise between the work done by "officials" — like we perhaps are — who are engaged in dialogue on rather lofty matters of "existential applications" and "principles" on the one hand, and, on the other, those involved in practical action at the local level, who have to deal with the needs of everyday life. These two streams at times tend to misunderstand each other and level accusations at each other. The first mentioned think that those at the "grass-roots" may not have the education required to involve themselves professionally in social activities, and that these not rarely are marked by ambivalence and confusion. The others say that those at the "top" are frequently engaged in theoretical discussions, rather abstract, and that their theories have not very much to say to the realities of present-day life.

     The question now arises how we are to prevent that gulf forming between what is being achieved here in our Assistancy meeting, and the challenge of actual life situations at the local level. How are we going to share with them the results of this conference? How are we to meet the very concrete and practical cases of injustice?

     On the other hand, it is equally true that efforts at the local and even national level will prove inefrective, because problems, and even more so the facts of injustice and underdevelopment, also depend oil international structures and relationships. Thus our local situation cannot be coped with separated from the social situation of other countries. In these matters of justice and development the Society may be called indeed to apostolate and activities on a universal and worldwide scale.[146]

     38. VII. The dimension of faith in the cause of justice.

     In order to carry out our mission, it is not enough to be engaged in social activities. We are not just "social workers!" Not each and every kind of work for development is part of the mission and salvific function of the Church, but only development work and social engagement which come from a true and fundamental motivation in the light of the Gospel, with a real Christian dimension.

     In order that our efforts in promoting justice deserve to be called apostolate" and actually mean "service to faith", they must be directed to helping our fellowmen, so that in one way or another they come closer to the Lord of salvation. In other words, development must become integrally human. And justice must be promoted so that our fellowmen enjoy the freedom of heart to find God.[147]

     The right accent and the appropriately balanced relationship between our activities in the cause of justice and "direct" service of faith remain a problem. It is a task ever new given us. It must always be solved anew according to local and regional situations. There are not even universal principles. Too many factors are involved, such as, for instance, the degree and urgency of the needs, of under-development, etc.

     Taking into consideration, of course, the opportunities ofrered in each country, and never losing sight of the greater good, at times we may have to speak out in prophetic witness, while we face various forms of injustice or oppression in the social, political and economic orders.[148]

     And since the Church must have the possibility and opportunity for inspiration, animation and participation, it is quite in conformity with our Jesuit mission to become experts in bringing in, explaining and formulating this inspiration to agents of development in our countries, the great majority of whose population is not Christian.

     How are we to communicate this inspiration as a human and civic responsibility and participation, but founded as well, if not upon strictly Christian faith, then at least upon "belief in the merciful God who wishes us all to be saved", so that not only Christians but adherents of other beliefs and religions may equally understand?

     Admitted that the Church should never abandon the preaching of the Kingdom for the proclamation of a merely human liberation,[149] and granted that her contribution to liberation will never be complete and perfect unless she preaches salvation in Jesus Christ,[150] not everywhere is it opportune or even feasible to preach Christ directly.

     It depends largely on local circumstances how in dialogue with people of other living faiths and religious traditions we are to aim at giving testimony to faith and to guide people to an ever more genuine belief in God, which is not necessarily the same as explicit Christian faith in Jesus Christ.

     It is good to realize how dialogue can be seen by people of other faiths, especially Muslims.[151] Sometimes dialogue is considered by them as a new strategy of the Catholic Church in the new postcolonial epoch. The non-Christians often do not believe in the sincerity of dialogue and are suspicious of the missionaries who want to work with them.[152]

     39. VIII. Our priestly apostolate.

     The decree "Jesuits Today" emphasizes that the Society of Jesus in its entirety is a sacerdotal society, a band of ordained ministers of the Gospel (n. 22). This is its distinguishing mark: to be a companionship at one and the same time "religious, apostolic, sacerdotal, and bound to the Roman Pontiff by a special bond of love and service."[153]

     "The mission of the Society today is the priestly service of the faith: an apostolate whose aim is to make men more open toward God and more willing to live according to the demands of the Gospel."[154]

     Considering this priestly character of our Order, it may be particularly suitable to fulfil our prophetical function not only as experts, but as enriched by our faith experience and enabled to guide our faithful in living the Gospel amidst human society with its actual problems; to give inspiration, animation and direction in the light of faith to those involved in efforts to promote justice.

Let us recall what the Bishops' Synod of 1971 said:

     "Together with the entire Church, priests are obliged, to the utmost of their ability, to select a definite pattern of action, when it is a question of the defence of fundamental human rights, the promotion of the full development of persons and the pursuit of the cause of peace and justice."[155]

     "Led by the light of the Gospel and the mind of the Church and motivated by Christian love, let them act directly and definitely in the temporal sphere. As citizens they must cooperate with other citizens, using their own particular skills and acting on their own responsibility", (art. 7).

     Should qualified lay people, a certain elite, not yet be available, or available in sufficient numbers, would it not be appropriate for us as priests to direct our main attention towards the finding and training of expert lay people?

     The exact possibilities and limits of priestly action in defence of fundamental human rights and justice are not clearly defined. This point evidently is connected with the reflection that is now going on concerning the meaning of the priestly ministry itself.

     No matter what though, as priests we are not to remain indifferent to the struggle for human rights. Here we have a vital role to play.

     40. IX. Our testimony of faith as religious.

     We have to reflect also on how we have to give witness as religious in our service of faith by promoting justice. Our consideration should not remain mere words and pious reflections. We all have to commit ourselves to make them real in our lives and responsibilities.

     The 32nd General Congregation confesses that we ourselves share in the blindness and injustice of our age. We stand in need of being evangelized, in order to know how to meet Christ as He works in the world through the Spirit. We are sent to contemporary East Asia, whose needs and aspirations are an appeal to the Gospel which it is our mission to proclaim.[156]

     The East Asian scene, as sketchily outlined in Part 1, invites us to be more than ever what we should always be by our religious vocation. By our lives and our apostolates we must be for human society a perpetual reminder of its supernational vocation.

     In order to produce this awareness, there must be "a constant interplay between experience, reflection, and the decision or action that follows from these. The aim is to ensure a change in our habitual patterns of thought as well as a conversion of heart so that apostolic decisions can be taken, tested in action, and evaluated from experience, all in the context of reflective prayer in accordance with our ideal of the 'contemplative in action."[157]

     Our lives, our communities, our religious poverty can and should have a meaning and convey a message to our countries, which suffer from "massive, dehumanizing poverty, not only material but spiritual as well." A message also for men of good will "working for a social order of greater justice and the abolition of oppressive structures." A message for all, rich and poor, who "are duped into placing man's whole happiness in the consumption" of material goods and their enjoyment, which verge on a practical atheism.[158]

     We shall not be able to hear the "cry of the poor,"[159] unless we have more personal experience of the miseries and distress of the poor. It will be difficult particularly in developing countries to advance effectively the cause of justice and human dignity, if the greater part of our ministry identifies us with the rich and powerful. Our life will be no witness to a new and eternal life redeemed by Christ, if individually or corporately we are seen to be attached to earthly things, even apostolic institutions, and to be dependent on them. Our communities will have no sign value for our times, unless they are clearly seen to be communities of charity and of concern for each other and all others.[160]

     "Through a humble service, we will have the opportunity to help the poor find, at the heart of their problems and their struggles, Jesus Christ living and acting through the power of the Spirit. Thus we can speak to them of God our Father who brings to himself the human race in a communion of true brotherhood."[161]

     Since in Part III we based our theological reflection on the mystery ,of Incarnation, let us recall also that our last General Congregation understands "voluntary poverty in imitation of Christ" as "a sharing in that mystery revealed in the self-emptying of the very Son of God in the Incarnation."[162]

     According to the Religious Superiors of Indonesia a lack or failure of ours to live out brotherhood and justice may manifest itself in the following:

     Our apostolic activities intend to communicate Christian faith on the basis of a commitment for the promotion of social justice. it is within the heart of this engagement, that our service of faith is to be lived. It is from there that we will strive to proclaim our faith.

     Yet this is not enough. In this building of social justice we should take as our starting point an option for the poor, the oppressed, the despised races, the marginal cultures. By attempting from there to build social justice we take a "conflictive" position in history.

     In fact, to build social justice on the basis of those who today live in misery and are exploited means a radical change of history. It is from this point that we intend to participate in this construction. It is for this reason that we speak of liberation also.[164]

     Again, we share our faith with our fellowmen through gesture and word. It is our life style that gives a sense to our service of faith. This testimony of our lives is the "locus" for verification of our activities in the cause of justice; a verification also of our faith, not just before others, but also before ourselves. To communicate the Word without seeking to live the Gospel is an incoherence. To live the Gospel without proclaiming the Word is to mutilate it.

     41. X. Ongoing evaluation of our apostolic activities. "Our Mission Today" says:

     " … we must undertake a thoroughgoing reassessment of our traditional apostolic methods, attitudes, and institutions with a view to adapting them to the changed conditions of the times and to a world in process of rapid change." (n. 9)

Moreover, says "Our Mission Today":

     "Too often we are insulated from any real contact with unbelief and with the hard, everyday consequence of injustice and oppression. As a result, we run the risk of not being able to hear the cry for the Gospel as it is addressed to us by the men and women of our times". (n. 35)[165]

     "communicates the ultimate and profound sense of the dignity and value of peoples and cultures by revealing the presence of Christ in each brother and of the 'seeds of the Word' in each culture … in proclaiming that the salvation of men — and of cultures — takes place in history, it communicates to the peoples the fundamental reason for their historic responsibility, bringing them to a dynamism of'growth and commitment."[166]

     There is also the opposite "temptation". We may completely abandon some precious values of tradition and understand evangelization, our service of faith, as an acculturation so radical, that we may end up simply assuming the defects, certain "structures," of the culture to which we are sent. And we may do this without bringing any prophetic and questioning element. In other words, the danger is that our cultural incarnation may eliminate the ultimate reason for our being sent in the service of the Word.

     These are some reasons why a permanent critique, an ongoing assessment of our attitudes and our activities, really is necessary.

     42. XI. The mystery of the Cross.

     From the theological point of view, one element still cannot be overlooked. Just as Christ Himself has gone through His passion to His resurrection, likewise the Church, — we may as well say the whole of mankind - has to participate in the mystery of the Cross.

     So far we have stressed that we may not surrender to injustice and to structures of oppression, and that we have to take pains in order to arrive at a more just society.

     Realistically speaking, however, we often feel powerless, and our struggle seems endless. At times we do not even know where to start. And perhaps we shall already have to be thankful, if there can at least be less injustice in the world.

     What actually has the mystery of the Cross to say to us?

     Is not its message also that in solidarity with our peoples we have to take this cross of our times upon us; that we have to suffer from the power of injustice, to the extent that we are not able, despite all out energy and all the efforts we have put into the cause of justice, to overcome the misery in our countries?

     Have not we to experience also that salvation in the Risen Lord is not something we owe to our human endeavors? But that salvation, in its fully human sense of conformity to Christ the New Man, still is and always remains God's grace, a gratuitous Gift of God's percy, bestowed upon His people?
 
 

     43. At the end of our reflections upon our service of faith in East Asia, we may ask ourselves to what extent there has been so far coherence between our ideals and our concrete achievements, between the challenge of the life situation in our countries and what we have actually contributed so far towards the solution of problems, between words and deeds.

     Some of the causes of the lack of coherence, no doubt, are almost impossible to avoid. But there may have been factors that to some extent depend on ourselves.

     Often we do not feel the urgency of passing on to action, of faithfully responding to the very needs and aspirations of our deprived peoples, because our awareness of the gravity and extensions of the problems of our society, of its unbelief and injustice, and of the urgent need of solving them, is not sufficiently deep and reflex. Perhaps it all has been more "conceptual" than truly "experienced" and personally lived.

     Moreover, we are not speaking of an awareness on a purely human level, acquired in the light of reality objectively known and seriously studied. Needed is a deep awareness acquired in a context of faith, in a climate of prayer and spiritual discernment, an awareness that can help us to free ourselves from all the obstacles, internal and external, from all the conditions, personal, collective and institutional, that afrect our very perception of reality in faith, and consequently also our apostolic options.

     May this paper be of some help towards deepening that awareness, so that the Spirit may give us to understand what in concrete our apostolic mission is in contemporary East Asia.
 
 

1 See "Our Mission Today" (OMT) nn. 7172.

2 See OMT, n. 74.

3 Just to have a quick glance at our mission today: we are to preach Christ and His Gospel (OMT, nn. 11, 24, 25); to make known the love of our Father, salvation; to work that men "may have life and have it to the full" (n. 13); to work for the establishment of the Kingdom (n. 14). "The mission of the Society today is the priestly service to faith: an apostolate whose aim is to make men more open toward God and more willing to live according to the demands of the Gospel" (n. 18). We must help others to rediscover the true God (n. 26); present our faith and service in the context of a personal encounter with Christ, and this in every one of our apostolates (n. 51 ); bring men to find Christ at the center of their lives, according to the Gospel (n. 52); incarnate the faith and life of the Church in the culture and traditions of the people among whom and with whom we work (n. 55). In the light of the service of faith, the work of "direct" evangelization by preaching Jesus Christ remains essential (n. 24). Social action, education and social communication are all means to make the preaching of the Gospel more effective. Solidarity with the poor is spoken of in order to speak to them of God our Father, and to "help them find, at the heart of their problems and their struggles, Jesus Christ living and acting through the power of the Spirit" (n. 50). The promotion of justice, if it is to be done in the full and Christian sense, must be accompanied by the preaching of Jesus Christ (n. 27), and should contribute "to bring men to desire and to welcome the eschatological freedom and salvation offered to us by God in Christ" (n. 33). The declaration "Jesuits Today" (JT) n. 31 says: "Whether we consider the needs and aspirations of the men of our time, or reflect on the particular charism that founded our Society … , we are led to the identical conclusion that today the Jesuit is a man whose mission is to dedicate himself entirely to the service of faith and the promotion of justice … for the building up of a world at once more human and more divine."

4 See Formula Instituti Iulii III, (n. 1).

5 See OMT, n. 13: "The mission we are called to share is the mission of the Church herself … "

6 What the decree on "Union of Minds and Hearts and the Spiritual Life" (UMH) n. 18 says, applies also to our Assistancy and our Society: "Since our communities are communities for mission, they should not be self-enclosed", although of course it particularly speaks about the interrelationship of our communities.

7 See UMH, n. 33: on our thinking with the Church: "Our being united among ourselves depends, in the last analysis, on our being united in both mind and heart to the Church that Christ founded."

8 See: "The Jesuits", Year Book of the Society of Jesus, 1975-1976, p. 32.

9 See OMT, n. 8 1.

10 "Statement and Recommendations of the First Plenary Assembly of the FABC, Taipei, Taiwan, China, April 22-27, 1974", Introduction.

11 "Statement" FABC, sub 11, Some problems of Asian man today.

11a March, 1-15, 1974; 6 countries from South East Asia represented by 44 participants. The basic aims of the three BISA seminars were "to allow bishops, major religious superiors and directors of social action to come into confrontation with the social, religious, economic and political values of present-day Asia; to come to a greater awareness of the task of the Church; and to arrive at concrete programmes which will place the diocese in its role as the basis for the involvement of Christians in the development of their community and country," FABC Newsletter, n. 13, March 1976.

12 April 6-19, 1975; 6 countries from East Asia represented by 42 participants.

13 November 2-16, 1975; 9 countries from South Asia, Australia and the Pacific represented by 61 participants.

14 This aim is spelled out as follows: "1. To undertand and appreciate the processes of political, economic, social and cultural change and the aspirations for dignity and equality in the peoples of Asia and to communicate the same to all religious communities. — 2. To examine and promote an appropriate concept of integrated development from a religious perspective based on Asian traditions." — Another aim is "to vitalize the Asian Religious Heritage in Pursuit of Peace," i.e. "1. To search together for ways and means of bringing the religious and spiritual resources of Asia to bear upon the socioeconomic processes as a necessary factor of integrated development and the quest for peace. — 2. To rediscover religious values, to re-awaken religious consciousness and to stimulate religions people for creative action," Info on Human Development, from the Office for Human Development of the FABC (Info OHD), 3 (April 1, 1976) pp. 9-10.

15 See "Theology of Evangelization in the Indian Context", an inaugural address delivered at the International Theological Conference on Evangelization, Nagpur, in "Service and Salvation", Nagpur Theological Conference on Evangelization, Bangalore 1973, pp. 1 ff.

16 See Info OHD, 2 (Dec. 1, 1975) p. 3. M. de Mesa, SVD, "Social Action for Human Development", refers to conclusions of the FERES 1975 delegates in their analysis of Asian development. Among other conclusions: 1. The present intense economic dependence and depression found in most Asian countries is not necessarily an original state, but rather was historically induced by an economic power and political power. 2 … the local market is destroyed and there is complete foreign monopoly on prices … 3. Imperialist finance directed a large flow of capital from the poor underdeveloped Asian countries to the rich developed nations … And imperialism went so far as to incorporate almost the entire Asian economy into the imperialist system … " Info OHD, 2 (Dec. 1, 1975) pp. 6-7.

17 See Populorum Progressio, n. 9; also Gaudium et Spes, n. 63, par. 3.

18 See Pope Paul Vl's address on March 27, 1968, on the first anniversary of the encyclical Populorum Progressio. Cf. "Liberation and Society: Asia", Prospective, LIB/201/73.

19 The Philippines and Thailand will double their populations in 21 years; Indonesia 24, Malaysia 25; Hong Kong and Korea 28; Singapore 29; Taiwan 31. In 1976 there were 738 million children below the age of 15 in the ECAFE region.

20 A number of countries have gained their political independence in Asia: India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh.

21 Thus according to BISA III, see Info OHD, 2 (Dec. 1, 1975) p. 3.

22 See OMT, n. 6; also JT, n. 6. Some causes of the sufferings (poverty, disease, hunger) are mentioned in OMT, n. 20: "the unjust distribution of wealth and resources" and "racial, social, and political discrimination.

23 Chiefly in the chapter "Christianity in a Planetary World". This book is published in New York 1964. See p. 399.

24 See T. Balasuriya, "An Asian's Reflections after Vietnam", Info OHD, 3 (Jan. 1, 1976) p. I 1. On the situation of Communism in Laos, see M. Zago O.M.I., "Le dialogue avec les Botiddhistes an Laos", Bulletin Secretariatus pro Non-Cltristlanis, 1975-X/2, sub C: "Le tournant communists", pp. 285-291.

25 See P. Nemeshegyi, S.J., in Info OHD, 2 (Nov. 1, 1975), "Second Bishops' Institute for Social Action (BISA 11), Tokyo, Japan, April 7-19, 1975", Part III, Theological Reflections, p. 19.

26 See S. Rayan, S.J., "Theological Reflections of BISA Ill", Info OHD, 3 (Jan. 1, 1976) p. 6.

27 Msgr. J. X. Labayen, O.C.D., "Report on the Second Bishops' Institute for Social Action (BISA II), Part III. Theological Reflections, Info OHD, 2 (Nov. 1, 1975) p. 18.

28 See "Speech by Philip A. Potter, General Secretary, World Council of Churches to the Synod of Bishops, Roman Catholic Church, Rome, October 10, 1974", Word Council of Churches, Communication Nb. 17/74, p. 6.

29 See "Statement and Recmmendations" FABC, sub ll: "to find new meanings in their lives and endeavors, to overcome destructive forces and to shape a new integration in our societies, to free themselves from structures which have created new forms of bondage, to foster human dignity and freedom anl a more fully human life, to create a more genuine communion among men and nations."

30 See T. Balasuriya, "An Asian's Reflections after Vietnam", Info OHD, 3 (Jan. 1, 1976) p. 12.

31 See BISA Ill: "Final Reflections", Info OHD, 2 (Dec. 1, 1975) p. 3 A "Reflection" on "Church and Squatters" at the seminar on "Religion and Development", Baguio City, August 31-Sept. 20, 1975 puts it strongly: "the Church is found to be perpetuating and reinforcing present unjust structures in society. She has economic and political power, and because of so much vested interests she is afraid to act in favor of the interests of the poor. She sits among the elite, and to quiet her conscience she does social action in a paternalistic manner through her welfare programmes. This manner of exercisiing social action helps the continuance of the status quo since it keeps the minds of the people away from the real problem: the unequal distribution of economic, social and political power and wealth and the unequal opportunities of access to the same", Info OHD, 2 (Dec. 1, 1975) p. 11.

32 See BISA III, "Final Reflections", Info OHD, 2 (Dec. 1, 1975) p. 4.

33 See "A Reflection on Analysis of Micro-level Action" (A Workshop Report if the Baguio City Seminar on "Religion and Development"), Info OHD, 3 (Febr. 1, 1976) p. 11.

34 P. A. Potter quoted the intervention of Msgr. R. Etchegaray at the Synod of 1974: "A Church which is being renewed in order more effectively to evangelize is a Church which is itself willing to be evangelized … We lack not so much the words to say to people as credible persons to say the word." He concluded: "The crisis we are going through today is not so much a crisis of faith as a crisis of faithfulness of the whole people of God to what he has offered us of his grace in the crucified and risen Lord and in what he demands in the wisdom and power of His Holy Spirit," see "Speech" (cf. footnote 28) P. 9.

35 See OMT, n. 21.

36 See OMT, n. 22.

37 This report was based on the reports of several episcopal conferences, and especially also on the "Statement and Recommendations" of the Taipei meeting of FABC, April 22-27, 1974. The text is found in L'Eglise des cinq continents: principaux textes du Synode des Evêques, Rome 1974, Paris, Centurion 1975 (255 pp) pp. 92-100.

38 See the decree UMH, n. 10: "There is the interest in, and understanding of, the different approaches to union with God developed by the non-Christian religions."

39 Just an example, see P. Phichit, "Dialogue Situation in Thailand": "The foreign elements of the Church in Thailand are so clear that we can hardly avoid the accusation that Christianity is a foreign religion. Those who were converted to Christianity ware held as betrayers of the local customs, families and national religion, and nationality", Bulletin Secretariatus pro non-Christianis, 1975-X/2, n. 30, p. 270.

40 The teaching of the Church is presented for instance in Lumen Gentium art. 13, 17; Ad Gentes art. 16-18, 22, 26; Gaudium et Spes art. 53-58; Pope Paul VI, Populorum Progressio, n. 65. See also "Statement and Recommendations" FABC, sub III on the Local Church.

41 We are confronted with the fact that Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam are not the only religions. By far not all of our peoples belong to these often called "great religions". Apart from these religions, millions and millions of people share deeply rooted religious traditions and beliefs of their own.

42 We strongly recommend Asandas Balchand, S.J., The Salvific Value of Non-Christian Religions according to Asian Christian Theologians writing in Asian-published Theological Journals; 1965-1970, reprint from Teaching All Nations, 1973 no. 1 and 2.

43 See L'Eglise des cinq continents, p. 94.

44 See: Arv A. Roest Crollius, S.J., "Four Notes on Dialogue (more especially regarding Islam)", Bulletin Secretariatus pro non-Christians, 1975 — X/2, n. 30, p. 245.

45 See Part I n. 8.

46 See L'Eglise des cinq continents, p, 95.

47 See S. Rayan, S.J., "Theological Reflections of BISA Ill", Info OHD, 3 (Jan. 1, 1976) p. 8.

48 See L'Eglise des cinq continents, p. 96.

49 Members of other religions easily recognize a contemplative or a Christian sanyasi as a person who is truly of God, one who opted out of economic and social structures, who is totally dedicated to the worship of God and to a search for fuller union with Him. Such a person can give full evangelical witness to the radicality of the Christian faith and can more deeply enter into inter-religious dialogue. Contemplation proclaims Christ by giving witness to the life of the Spirit, reminding men of the incompleteness of material and social welfare. See L'Eglise des cinq continents, pp. 95-96.

50 Without a deeply religious and spiritual experience our contribution to the service of faith and to the promotion of justice would lose all itsl specific originality and renovating force. The 32nd General Congregation brings us back, once again, to the Spiritual Exercises, a school of prayer and of spiritual and apostolic discernment, a means more apt today than ever to revive continually our faith and our hope, to renew our commitment to be companions of Jesus in His mission. See OMT, n. 38.

51 See L'Eglise des cinq continents, p. 96.

52 Ibid., p. 97.

53 OMT, n. 60: "We should promote communication and participation among men in every way possible, but especially by constructive and imaginative use of the modern media of communication."

54 Edition of Typis Polygl. Vatic. 1975. See n. 30.

55 See Gaudium et Spes, art. 47-52; Paul VI, Humanae Vitae, AAS, 60 (1968) pp. 481-503.

56 See Evangeli nuntiandi, n. 29 (EN).

57 EN, n. 3 1. Also: Allocution of Pope Paul VI at the opening session of the Synod on Sept. 27, 1974, AAS, 66 (1974) p. 562.

58 EN, n. 32.

59 EN, n. 33.

60 EN, n. 34.

61 EN, n. 36.

62 EN, n. 38; Also: Pope Paul VI, allocution at the closing session of the Synod, Oct. 26, 1974, AAS. 66 (1974) p. 637.

63 EN, n. 39; Pope Paul VI, Allocution on Oct. 15, 1975, in L'Osserv. Rom. Oct. 17, 1975.

64 See Gaudium et Spes, art. 76.

65 Reasons given: for the sake of peace and order, to avoid hatred and divisions and revolution resulting in confusion and bloodshed; to serve all including the rich; to avoid class struggle; to be "realistic", etc.

66 Reasons: with eyes fixed on the "beyond", we can live in any political situation; against the reality of the eschaton everything on earth is relativised; the secular should be distinguished from the religious, the natural from the supernatural, etc.

67 It is in economic and political life also that God's Kingdom becomes concretely realized. The Church is now trying to project the pattern of a society which is more human. See S. Rayan, S.J., "Theological'Reflections of BISA III", Info OHD, 3 (Jan. 1, 1976) p. 7.

68 Local ecumenism is not simply a matter of applying at local level universal concepts worked out in advance elsewhere. It is "an original form of ecumenism and a starting point independent of theological discoveries". See J. Ratzinger, "Ecumenism at the Local Level", The, Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, Information Service n. 20 (1973/11) p. 4.

69 See "Concluding Documents of the Meeting" of the Delegates of the Commissions for Ecumenism of the Episcopal Conferences and of the Synods of the Catholic Oriental Patriarchates, Nov. 1972, SPCU. Inform. Serv. 20 (1973/ 11) p. 16.

70 See L. Vischer, "Drawn and Held To,-ether by the Reconciling Power of Christ. Reflections on the Unity of the Church towards the Fifth Assembly of the WCC", Ecumenical Review, 26 (1974) p. 167.

71 See Unitatis Redintegratio, art. 12.

72 On this so called "conscientization" see later on in Part IV.

73 J. B. Metz, referred to in H. W. Gensichen, "From Minneapolis 1957 to Jakarta 1975. Variations on an Ecumenical Theme", Ecumenical Review, 26 (1974) p.480.

74 The church-to-church ecumenism could also be the spontaneous outcome of a common endeavor to discover "the Asian face of Christ"; that is to say: inter-ecclesial ecumenism, here in Asia, ought to be a "by-product" of the new praxis which is trans-ecclesial, Christ-centered and world-oriented.

75 See Unitatis Redintegratio, art. 1, 5.

76 See OMT, n. 54.

77 On the positive evaluation of those religions, see A. Balchand, The Salvific Value of Non-Cliristian Religions according to Asian Christian Theologians writing in Asian-piiblished Theological Journals, 1695-1970, Manila 1973, chapter V, pp. 42-53; on the negative evaluation, ibid., chapter VI, pp. 54-60.

78 "Statement and Recommendations" FABC, sub IV. The North African Bishops' Conference formulated the purpose of dialogue as follows: "1. To find out in a sympathetic way how our non-Christian fellow-countrymen live, what their deepest aspirations are, and what gives meaning to their lives. 2. To try to learn from them, in order to share the wisdom of their life, and to make our own 'the hopes and joys, the sorrows and anxieties' of their community", See Rapport de la Conference Episcopale d'Afrique du Nord pour la preparation du Synode des Eveques 1974, Tunis 1974, Prospective, EVA/200/ 74.

79 "Statement and Recommendations" FABC, sub IV.

80 J. W. M. Bakker, S.J., Piagam Nostra Aetate. Tafsiran. Zaman kita zaman dialog antar Agama, Seri Orientasi, no. 8, Yogyakarta 1972, p. 83.

81 P. Phichit, "Dialogue Situation in Thailand", Bulletin Secretariatus pro non-Christianis, 1975-X/2 n. 30 p. 272.

82 See J. B. M. Shirieda, "Dialogue Situation in Japan and Korea", Bulletin Secrelariatus pro Non-Christianis, 1975-X/2, n. 30, p. 293.

83 See J. Shih, S.J., "Dialogue Situation in Taiwan and Hong Kong", Bulletin Secretariatus pro Non-Christianis, 1975-X/2, n. 30, p. 296.

84 This was one of the topics of the Fifth Assembly of the World Council of Churches: "Seeking community: the common Search of People of various Faiths, Cultures and Ideologies"; discussed also at the First Asian Congress of Jesuit Ecumenists, Manila, June 18-23, 1975, introduced by Fr. Ary A. Roest Crollius' paper.

85 See S. J. Samartha, "Reflections on a multilateral Dialogue", Ecumenical Review, 26 (1974) pp. 642-643.

86 "Statement and Recommendations" FABC, sub V. Note also how here the cause of justice and service to faith are mutually connected.

87 See in Euntes, 8 (1975) pp. 34-36.

88 The ultimate foundation of our theological reflection in Part Ill will be the very mystery of Incarnation.

89 See Cardinal J. Rosales, of Cebu, "C. Third Intervention in general Session, in connection with the Circuli minores Reports, second part of the Synod discussions", Teaching All Nations 12 (1975), Evangelization Issue p. 42.

90 Resolution 2; quoted by D. S. Amalorpavadass, "Approach, Meaning and Horizon of Evangelization", NBCLC, Bangalore 1973, p. 17. Cf. Gaudium et Spes, art. 3, 10, 22, 40, 62.

91 Cf. Gaudium et Spes, art. 4.

92 See OMT, n. 10. Also JT, n. 19 on the Jesuit community as "community of discernment".

93 See, e.g., the Introduction, art. 4-10, the way the constitution pictures the situation of the world today and formulates current problems of humanity.

94 Quoted in a letter of Fr. J. Bulatao, S.J., dated February 11, 1976.

95 OMT, n. 1, mentions "the many requests received from all parts of the Society for clear options and definite guidelines concerning our mission today."

96 See above n. 18, on "the inductive existential approacw' as a new method of reflection applied at the 1974 Synod.

97 See JT, n. 8.

98 Our reflection should guide and inspire all our efforts to form and educate the men of today,-the young as well as adults-in faith, in the spirit of service, "men for others and with others;', in justice. The apostolate of education, the task of religious and human formation, remains today one of our main ministries. See OMT, n. 60.

99 JT, n. 9 cf. JT, n. 26; JT, n. 31 gives a summary. See also the decree on "The Formation of Jesuits", n' 24: " … our mission today is the proclamation of our faith in Jesus Christ, which itself involves the promotion of justice"; also UMH, n. 3.

100 A theological reflection is offered, for instance, by J. Sehutte, S.V.D., "Evangelization and Development in the Light of Conciliar and Post conciliar Theology", in Evangelization, Dialogue and Development (Documenta Missionalia n. 5), cd. M. Dhavamony, Ronle 1972, especially pp. 314-328.

101 "It is from the loving regard of God upon the world that the mission of Jesus takes its rise: Jesus, who was sent 'not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many' ", OMT, n. 13; see also n. 14.

102 Development in the sense of Vatican II is bound to be liberation. In Latin America "liberation" is preferred to "development" (which seems to presuppose the evolution of the rich countries should be the norm of progress for "developing" nations). In Latin America "liberation" means that one is allowed the freedom to grow towards what he himself would want to become, towards the society expressing the configuration of values he himself chooses. For a committed Christian, however, development — the term during the last Synod preferred by our Asian Bishops to "liberation", — is by its very essence "liberating". The Church is by definition catholic (i.e. open to all nations) and she is only faithful to God's plan of creation to the extent that each race and culture is allowed to remain faithful to itself in its pursuit of Christian values. Moreover, the Church's message announces the freedom of the whole man, and therefore also liberation from any form of oppression.

103 "At a time when so many men are sparing no efforts to put the world to rights without reference to God, our endeavor should be to show as clearly as we can that our Christian hope is not a dull opiate, but a firm and visible sign of another world, the sign — and pledge — of a 'new heaven and a new earth' (Ap. 21)", OMT, n. 30.

104 "The Gospel message, to which the Church gives witness in the world, cannot be articulated without taking seriously the bearing of the world on this message. Therefore, the work of theology is to be carried on in the light of both the Gospel message and society, i.e., the contribution of various cultures, their sciences and arts, literature and religions … Christianity must recognize that the philosophies and humanisms of our cultural environment contain indispensable elements for Christian proclamation and theology," World Congress of Theology, resolution nn. 3, 7, 8, in D. S. Amalorpavadass, "Approach … p. 20.

105 our efforts on the social and structural level are not sufficient in themselves. Injustice must be attacked at its roots in the heart of man by eradicating these attitudes and habits which bring forth the structures of oppression", OMT, n. 32.

106 In the light of faith, according to Gaudium et Spes, we have to stress that it is firstly injustice that we have to cope with, as an encroachment upon the dignity of the human person, hence to be distinguished from merely suffering, like hunger, diseases, etc. However it cannot be denied that a large portion of these sufferings has its very cause in injustice, often even institutionalized in national as well as international oppressing structures.

107 See OMT, n. 26 sub a).

108 See OMT, n. 21. Says n. 27: "There c-an be no promotion of justice in the full Christian sense unless we also preach Jesus Christ and the mystery of reconciliation he brings. For us, it is Christ who, in the last analysis, opens the way to the complete and definitive liberation of man … "

109 OMT, n. 29: "The injustice that racks our world in so many forms is, in fact, a denial :of God in practice, for it denies the dignity of man: man, the image of God; man, the brother of Christ." — JT, n. 7: " … the prevalence of injustice in a world where the very survival of the human race depends on men caring for and sharing with one another is one of the principal obstacles to belief: belief in a God who is justice because he is love."

110 See the christological Hymn of Philippians 2, 6-11.

111 In their Plenary Assembly in 1967 the Congo Bishops said: "Today the People of God can only fulfil its proper mission, which is to bring the Good News to all men, by incarnating herself in the service of the world."

112 Here the word ",poor" is not to be taken only in economic terms; it refers to the weak, the destitute, the helpless, the sick … But let us never forget that sociologically most of human problems concentrate there where economic poverty shows.

113 J. Moltmann, Religions, Revolutions and the Future, New York 1969, quoted by C. Arevalo, S.J., in Prospective, LIB/201/73.

114 Ad Gentes, art. 12: " … let the faithful take part in the strivings of those peoples who are waging war on famine, ignorance, and disease and thereby struggling to better their way of life and to secure peace in the world.' In a special way the laity is called to this Christian witness and social task. "For it is up to them, imbued with the spirit of Christ, to be a leaven animating temporal affairs from within, disposing them always to become as Christ would wish them," art. 15.

115 Report on BISA II, Part IV: Final Reflections, Info OHD, 2 (Nov. 1, 1975) p. 23. It continues on p. 24: "In order to be the 'voice of the voiceless,' the poor and the weak, the marginated and the victims of injustice, wherever they may be, — in a universal love, we should cooperate with any person of good will engaged in the same task without narrowness, without paternalism and in open dialogue, while looking at people without labelling or categorizing them."

116 P. A. Potter: "Dialogue is a form of existence, the form of the incarnate Lord as a servant living among human beings, being open and vulnerable to them. It is the way of the Cross … Speech to the Bishops' Synod of 1974," p. 8.

117 Report of the Calcutta Session of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, 1974, quoted by A. Nambiaparambil, C.M.I., "Dialogue in India. An analysis of the situation, a reflection on experience," Bulletin Secretariatus pro Non-Christianis, 1975-X/2, n. 30, p. 253.

118 See OMT, N. 50: "If we have the humility and the courage to walk with the poor, we will learn from what they have to teach us, what we can do to help them … Through such humble service, we will have the opportunity to help them find, at the heart of their problems and their struggles, Jesus Christ living and acting through the power of the Spirit."

119 Message of the Pope to the United Nations on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

120 See Gaudium et Spes, art. 1.

121 "Poverty", n. 2. See also n. 10: commitment to the cause of justice and to the service of the poor in many places of our area "is a very condition of credibility for the Society and for the Church."

122 From its very beginning the Society has had a long and venerable missionary tradition of promoting inculturation. Hence, the work must be pursued with even greater determination nowadays. See "Inculturation", n. 1; decree on "Formation of Jesuits", nn. 6, 11, 12, 13, 25, 29, 30, 32, 46.

123 See OMT, n. 55; also nn. 53, 54, 56.

124 S. Galilea, "Evangelization and Liberation of the Peoples", Teaching All Nations, 12 (1975) Evangelization Issue, p. 100.

125 Octogesima Adveniens, n. 48, with reference to Populorum Progressio, n. 8 1.

126 See OMT, n. 60.

127 OMT, n. 44: "The social and political problems of each particular situation should be subjected to a careful diagnosis, using the analytical instruments provided by the sacred as well as the secular sciences … This diagnosis should be followed by a serious spiritual discernment of the pastoral and apostolic aspects of those problems." On communitarian discernment, OMT, n. 45. Also JT, n. 19. — UMH, n. 21 gives a definition of this discernment, namely: "a concrete search for the will of God by means of a shared reflection on the signs which point where the Spirit of Christ is leading," with reference to R. P. Arrupe, "De Nostrorum in spiritu institutione," Act. R. SJ, 15 (1967) 123-124. And UMH, n. 22 sums up the prerequisites for a valid communitarian discernment, on the part of the individual member of the community, as well as on the part of the community as such.

128 Cf. Report on BISA 11, Part IV: "Final Reflections," Info OHD, 2 (Nov. 1, 1975) p. 24.

129 See OMT, n. 32.

130 See OMT, n. 40. No. 3 1: in a world where the power of economic, social, and political structures is appreciated and the mechanisms governing them understood, the service of men according to the Gospel cannot dispense with a carefully planned effort to exert influence on those structures." The decree on "Formation" n. 24 speaks of helping men "lead lives according to the Good News of Christ and to renew the structures of human society in justice."

131 See OMT, n. 37.

132 See OMT, n. 39.

133 See OMT, n. 40.

134 See S. Galilea, "Evangelization and Liberation of the Peoples", Teaching All Nations 12 (1975) Evangelization issue, p. 96.

135 Ibid., p. 97.

136 Here for instance we think of just one aspect in the process of urbanization: people from rural areas niigrate to the cities and suddenly find themselves lost amidst another more "modern" cultural milieu. This uproots them culturally!

137 See Gaudium et Spes, art. 58.

138 For instance, there are some lessons on liberation that a Christian can learn from the Buddha: 1) According to the Buddha, liberation is a state to be achieved now; 2) It is a liberation of the mind; in Christian terms it would mean that "personality development" is essential; it can be achieved by prayer and meditation; 3) If religion is to be seen by anyone as a liberation, then it must be presented as a "therapy"; 4) The starting point of preaching this "therapy" is the dukkha, the "state of sin" or "crisis" in man; 5) Presenting religion as a liberation means presenting it as i way to unprecedented joy and perennial peace. See A. Fernando, "Dialogue with Buddhism, Liberation as the principal point of contact", in Evangelization, Dialogue and Development, (Documenta Missionalia 5), Rome 1972, pp. 288-290.

139 i.e., man tends to take it for granted as "natural", as the only way, the best or proper way of acting, judging, seeing the world and men.

140 See OMT, ri: 60.

141 D. S. Amaloroavadass: The ultimate aim of conscientization is "to realize the humanization of dehumanized man caught up in dehumanizing structures, and to bring about the liberation of the oppressed culminating in the liberation of the oppressors themselves by unleashing the power that is in the oppressors themselves by a process of love", in Approach … p. 69f.

142 See also: M. de Mesa, S.V.D., "Social Action for Human Development", Info OHD, 2 (Dec. 1, 1975) pp. 6-9; especially p. 8.

143 M. de Mesa, S.V.D., art. cit., p. 7. Also BISA I speaks of working with the poor, and therefore being with them; influencing people to share our concern that the poor be enabled to participate in the decisions that vitally affec them.

144 BISA II, Part IV, "Final Reflection" , Info OHD, 2 (Nov. 1, 1975), Report of BISA II, p. 23.

145 BISA III: "Final Reflections", Info OHD, 2 (Dec. 1, 1975) p. 5.

146 See OMT, n. 81 on international cooperation.

147 See OMT, n. 27 and n. 40.

148 Says the document on "Justice in the World" of the Bishops' Synod of 1971: "The Church has the right, indeed the duty, to proclaim justice on the social, national and international level, and to denounce instances of injustice, when the fundamental rights of man and his very salvation demand it", Section: the mission of the Church, Hierarchy and Christians.

149 See Evangelii nuntiandi, n. 34.

150 Ibid., Evangelization by the direct preaching of Jesus Christ remains essential today, and must be continued, continued more than ever before, in the context of an open dialogue with the believers of other religions belonging to non-Western cultural traditions", OMT, n. 24, sub a).

151 Some reaction from Muslim religious leaders: "You speak as a snake, with a double tongue. When you can preach and make conversions, you do so; but when you cannot preach, you make dialogue." — "We are afraid of entering the door of conversion," Ary A. Roest Crollius, S.J., "Four Notes on Dialogue," Bulletin Secretariatus pro Non-Christianis, 1975-X/2, n. 30, p. 247.

152 Dr. Sam Bhajjam of H. Martin Institute of Islamic Studies (Hyderabad, India), speaking at the meeting organized by the WCC, held in New Delhi in 1974, said of the reaction of the Muslim to the Christian opening to dialogue: "Beware of the new trap of the old trappers," Minutes of the Second Meeting of the Working Group, New Delhi, Sept. 1974, Geneva 1974, p. 10.

153 See "Jesuit Today", n. 24, referring to Pope Paul Vl's "Address to the 32nd General Congregation", December 3, 1974. Also "Introductory decree", n. 5, and OMT, n. 15.

154 See OMT, n. 18.

155 Document of 1971 Synod of Bishops, "The ministerial Priesthood", Engl. Transl., Typ. Polygl. Vatic. 1971, p. 18.

156 See OMT, n. 23. Also IT, n. 3: The Society of Jesus, "acknowledg,.ng with repentance its own failures in keeping faith and upholding justice …

157 See OMT, n. 73.

158 See Decree on "Poverty", n. 3.

159 Ps. 9, 13; Job 34, 28; Prov 21, 13; referred to by Pope Paul VI, Adhortatio Apostolica 'Ei,angelica Testificatio', June 29, 1971, n. 17.

160 "Poverty", n. 5. OMT, n. 16: "Our consecration to God is really a rejection of those idols which the world is always tempted to adore: wealth, pleasure, prestige, power." OMT', n. 48: "Alterations are called for in our manner and style of living so that the poverty to which we are vowed may identify us with Christ poor, and thus with the poor to whom he preached the Gospel."

161 See OMT, n. 50.

162 "Poverty", n. 2.-See n. 4: "Religious poverty still calls to the following of Christ poor, but also to a following of Christ at work in Nazareth. identifying with the needy iri his public ife, the Christ of heartfelt compassion, responding to their needs, eager to serve them."

163 See: "A request for justice", Statement of the Third Meeting of Religious Superiors of Indonesia" at Klender, Jakarta, September 3-11, 1975, Rohani 23 (Jan. 1976) pp. 15-17.

164 See G. Guitierrez, "Christians and the Crisis: Evangelization", Info OHD, 3 (May 1, 1976) p. 6.

165 See OMT, n. 49: "The personal backgrounds of most of us, the studies we make, and the circles in which we move often insulate us from poverty, and even from the simple life and its day-to-day concerns."

166 S. Galilea, "Evangelization and Liberation of the Peoples", Teaching All Nations, 12 (1975) Evangelization Issue, p. 98.

FABC Papers:

1. A Christian Alternative, by Alopen, 1976
2. Harmonious Approach Of Christianity to Other Faiths, by Pedro S. de Achutegui, 1997.
3. Conclusions jof the Asian Colloquium on Ministries in the Church, 1997.
4. Pastoral Action in Tertiary Education, by the Secretatiat of the Association of Catholic Universities of the Philippines, 1997.
5. The Proclamation of the Christian Message in a Buddhist Environment, by Marcello Zago, 1997.
6. The Bishops' Institutes fo Social Action, by Bishop Julio X. Labayen et al., 1978.
7. The Encounter of the Gospel with Culture, by Parmananda R. Divarkar et al., 1978.
8. The Service of Faith in East Asia, by Robert Hardawiryana, 1978.

END