Peace on Farmers: Genuine Human Development and Ecological Sustainability for Farmers in Asia

책 소개

Asian Youth Academy and Asian Theology Forum are Getting Younger and Wider Dr. Paul Hwang Director of Woori Theology Institute (WTI) Director of Asian Lay Leaders (ALL) Forum Young lay activists in Asia are being called to strengthen their Christian identity as they embrace their local, traditional cultures, histories and religions. Although it is complex work, it is necessary work. For Catholics to succeed in justice activities they need to cooperate with other religions similarly seeking a more just world order. This is yet another reason Asian lay Catholics need solid formation. Inter-religious work begins with solid Catholic formation. It is why AYA/ATF program put much emphasis on “Triple Dialogue” of FABC namely dialogue with the poor, diverse religious and cultural traditions in Asia, as well as Christian spirituality. Unfortunately, because of a lack of resources they don’t get an adequate support from their Church. In some cases they have been largely abandoned by some ones in the Church hierarchy who do not understand or do not agree with the idea of “the People of God” from Vatican II and Pope Francis’ vision on the “synodal church”. While our Church eagerly provides support for seminarians who want to enter the priesthood, it does very little for young lay leaders’ in great need of Catholic formation. This must change lest the work of these lay leaders dissolve for lack of funds and encouragement. Lay Catholic NGOs and other lay groups face major challenges throughout Asia. Among the challenges Asian Catholics face today are social and economic pressures emerging from widespread unemployment, growing materialism, and widening gaps between rich and poor. Asian societies are especially vulnerable to ecological degradation as decisions are made under the corporate pressures of globalization and market-dominated economic policies. Asians face not only physical poverty, but also a “poverty of spirit” that comes from, in no small part, by their sense of isolation from other like-minded Catholics in Asia and throughout the wider Church. As was 2013, the 2014 Asian Youth Academy (AYA)/Asian Theology Forum (ATF) has been carried out without a major difficulty. Through the combined program in Kerala, India, in last July, we have once again found it is an effective platform for such NGO workers, especially for those working for social actions like justice and peace, human rights, ecology and Indigenous Peoples (IPs), to become “contemplative activists” from whom religions in Asia will get much help in the future. Pope Francis recognized the unique and pressing needs young people face in Asia, deciding to travel to South Korea in 2014, the time soon after the AYA/ATF completed in Kerala, to participate in Asian Youth Day. The pope urged young ones there and in the world to “wake up,” the words he stressed much even with his dramatic gesture. We totally agree with the emphasis of Francis in terms of young lay leaders who need to wake up themselves and the world. In reality, however, they cannot do that without a consistent and systematic support for them. It has been and is lay NGO activists who have devoted themselves to “waking up” the Church to move forward to the world by reaching out the marginalized. Without them, the whole Catholic Church may lose its dynamic and energy to become the Church for the poor. As a continuation of the last AYA/ATF, WTI have conducted the 2014 AYA/ATF titled “Holistic Human Development and Ecological Sustainability with Focus on Poverty of Farmers in Asia” in Kerala, India, in July, 2014. The theme was chosen mainly because the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs, 2000-2015) has come to its deadline which fell in 2015. On the other hand the natural environment has been rapidly destructed because of (economic) “development” having victimized many poor people in general particularly the farmers who have no their own land to which the Church and civil NGOs as part of international community…

리뷰 남기기

로그인하면 리뷰를 남길 수 있어요.

리뷰 0개