Church in Asia Cannot Live in Isolation, says FABC Secretary General ahead of Plenary Assembly

As the Catholic Church in Asia prepares for the XII Plenary Assembly of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC) in Jakarta, Indonesia, from July 20 to 26, Cardinal Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, SVD, has urged the Church to deepen its engagement with society, saying it cannot fulfill its mission by living in isolation.

In a message shared with Radio Veritas Asia ahead of the assembly, the FABC Secretary General and Archbishop of Tokyo, Japan, reflected on the gathering's theme, "Synodal Conversion and the Mission to Be Bridges and Bridge-Builders in Asia," calling it an invitation for the Church to journey alongside people across the continent's diverse cultures, religions, and communities.

"As a Church community, we are mostly a minority in the diverse realities of society in Asia," Cardinal Kikuchi said.

"We, the Catholic Church, do not exist in isolation. We have our relationships with society, other faith communities, other cultures, and other languages in Asia," he added.

The cardinal said this reality requires the Church to understand synodality not only as an internal process but also as a way of engaging the wider world.

"When we talk about synodality, we cannot talk only about ourselves, which is our intra-relationships, but also our extra-relationships, which are our reality," he said, noting that dialogue has always been a defining feature of the Church's mission in Asia.

He described synodality as "a call to conversion and prophetic mission in the Asian reality," urging the Church to discern how it should respond to the continent's rapidly changing social, political, economic, and cultural landscape.

While acknowledging the many challenges facing Asia, including violence, poverty, and illness, Cardinal Kikuchi also pointed to the hope and opportunities present across the region.

"The plenary assembly will try to discern the calling of the Holy Spirit to the Churches of Asia," he said. "It will consider how the Church is being affected by current social, political, economic, and cultural realities, and how she can respond faithfully and creatively in a synodal way."

The cardinal emphasized that synodality must become more than a concept or institutional reform.

"Synodality should not be treated as an abstract concept or structural change but as a lived reality that shapes the Church's mission and our witness," he said.

For Cardinal Kikuchi, becoming a synodal Church means serving as both a bridge and a bridge-builder.

"Walking through these harsh realities in Asia, we want to be bridges between people in diverse situations so that we can walk together, support each other, and pray together in love, peace, reconciliation, harmony, mutual support, kindness, and acceptance," he said.

Rather than simply offering solutions, the Church should invite everyone to participate in building a more just and compassionate society, he added.

"It is not that we simply provide bridges, but we want everyone to join in building bridges together. Our synodality, our mission, is not only to provide solutions but also to work together to find common solutions so that everyone can begin to build bridges and support one another in love to protect human dignity, the precious gift from God."

The weeklong FABC Plenary Assembly will bring together bishops from across Asia to discern how the Church can strengthen communion, participation, and mission while responding to the region's diverse pastoral and social realities.