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Inside NCR: Synod for Asia could be historic
event
The Synod for Asia will begin in Rome April 19.
Its odd how we become immunized and eventually take for granted the most
incongruous status quo -- such as a Synod for Asia not being in Asia or a Synod
for America not being in America. One suspects that church leaders at all
levels would learn more about and be better able to help far-flung areas of the
church by getting closer to them than by moving the discussion so far away from
them, especially to a place like Rome where the rusty wheels of centuries move
so slowly toward new vision or action.
There are startling signs, however, that this synod may mark the
end of business as usual. NCR publisher Tom Foxs article (page 9)
on the Japanese bishops response to Romes plans, followed by the
full text of the bishops document, hint that this will be no rubber-stamp
synod. Serious issues about collegiality and the very nature of the church that
have been floating about unresolved since Vatican II may be brought into sharp
and perhaps controversial focus.
Subsequent NCR articles will deal with other Asian
countries responses and Romes reply to these, and of course we will
follow the synod itself blow by blow.
Fox, though busy enough being publisher, has been coaxed back
into service for this occasion. He brings a couple of credentials that make him
the obvious choice to cover the synod. He attended enough Vatican events, from
synods to conclaves, to ensure that he knows the Roman ropes better than most.
And he has a superior personal knowledge of Asia, including an MA from Yale in
East Asian studies, several years in Vietnam as a volunteer with International
Voluntary Services and as a journalist, marriage to a Vietnamese wife, Kim Hoa,
and various journalistic peregrinations throughout Asia.
I admit it -- we at NCR are excited about this ongoing
synod story.
In the Feb. 27 NCR we published readers lists of the
centurys greatest Catholics (and others). But theres yet more, from
folks with strong opinions that cant be ignored.
There was an egregious omission, writes Sr. Yolanda
T. DeMola from the Bronx, N.Y. Hes Fr. Pedro Arrupe, who led the
Society of Jesus during a most difficult time of the churchs history. And
did it with grace, brilliance, holiness.
And Msgr. Daniel B. OBrien from DeWitt, N.Y., Must we
not add those 1920s London, Ontario, choir boys, Guy Lombardo and his Royal
Canadians, who, says OBrien, produced the greatest music this
side of heaven?
I searched in vain for Charles Davis name, adds
R. J. Reinkober from New Brighton, Minn.
Sr. Pat Prunty of Kyle, S.D., drew up a roster of 20 and filled
the first 19 slots. Apart from those mentioned in the last roundup (and
Im working from memory, folks), she includes: Sr. Martha Raleigh, Sr.
Raphael McCarthy, Victoria Prunty, Magdalena Schmit and Jesuit Fr. Joe
Sheehan.
And Leo Luke Marcello from Lake Charles, La., adds Shusako Endo,
Georges Rouault, Dominique de Menie, Fr. Carl J. Peter.
Finally (our next such list will be a century from now), Rita
Moran from Maynooth, Ontario, names (over and above the many aforementioned)
Che Guevara, Mikhail Gorbachev, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Jimmy Carter, U Thant
and Craig Kielburger, a fitting final nominee because he stands for the next
century: When he was 12, two years ago, he spoke before the members of Congress
of both Canada and the United States, challenging them on child labor laws.
Writes Moran, After visiting sweatshops in Asian countries, he took to
task some multinational corporations over the obscene conditions their
companies were condoning. That puts him very close to the top of the list in my
book.
Over young shoulders like that, one could look with confidence
into the next millennium.
National Catholic Reporter, March 27,
1998
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