ASIA/INDIA - Announcing the faith begins with education

Bangkok (Agenzia Fides) - Among the many initiatives of the Indian Catholic Bishops’ Conference (FABC) is a special activity in the important field of youth education. The Religious Education and Formation Office of the FABC is working to make Asia’s schools and universities places for authentic dialogue, in accord with the Catholic International Education Office (OIEC). As OIEC’s Executive Secretary, Fr. Vicente Cajilig, recently explained, the Catholic International Education Office is working intensely to stabilize their presence in Asia, with the hope of promoting the faith in the Asian continent through an education that provides for a defense of principles and orientation towards the Catholic faith, as well as the promotion of communion and solidarity.
Regarding this point, encouraging news has arrived from the meeting of the FABC in April in Bangkok. There, the Bishops’ Office was reaffirmed in its commitment to the education of students (OEFF). The Office’s members are: (President) Bishop Francis Xavier Mizobe (Takamatsu, Japan), Archbishop Joseph Cheng Tzey-fa (Taipei, Taiwan), Bishop Charles Soreng (Hazaribagh, India), Bishop Socrates B. Villegas (Balanga, Philippines), and Fr. Vicente Cajilig.
Various different cultures and religions co-exist in Asia and the task of the OEFF is to announce Christ and the model of Christian life. In the past, the OEFF has also collaborated with the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines in a program for interreligious dialogue. The program was also co-sponsored by countries such as: Indonesia, Great Britain, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Malaysia, Holland, Singapore, Spain, and Thailand. (PR) (Agenzia Fides 27/05/2008; righe 22, parole 246)