Asian bishops’ meeting a ‘launchpad’ for 2023 synod, says priest

Dec 16, 2022

VATICAN: The general assembly of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) held in Thailand in October served as a “launchpad” for next year’s synod in the Vatican.

“I think in some ways it’s like a launchpad to lead the Church and Asia into the second phase,” said Fr William LaRousse, FABC assistant secretary general, in an interview with Vatican News.

The priest was in Rome recently for a conference of organisers of the synod next year.

Fr LaRousse said a president of one of the conferences contacted him, “and he said he’s already had a meeting with the people from the 37 dioceses who are in charge of the synodal process.”

“They are already actively engaging the document for the continental stage [of the synod],” he said.

In October, the Vatican released the “frame of reference” that will guide the next stage of the synodal process that Pope Francis launched in October 2021.

Titled Enlarge the space of your tent, the document forms the basis for the work of the second stage of the synodal process.

Pope Francis launched the “Synod on Synodality” as a worldwide undertaking during which Catholics were encouraged to submit feedback to their local dioceses.

Fr LaRousse said Asian Catholics have been “very involved” in the synodal process so far.

“We’ve received the reports from almost all of the conferences,” he said. “It seems as though a good number of the conferences got very involved very early on with the synodal process,” said the priest.

He said Asians are very eager to participate, saying that “There seemed to be a lot of enthusiasm about it from the different conferences.”

“And all seemed to have worked on it quite diligently,” said Fr LaRousse. -- LiCAS News