28 October 2022
The Churches in Asia need to seize the moment to stress the Asianness of the Church as Pope Francis encourages Church communities to become more grounded through continental contextual theologies, says Redemptorist Father Vimal Tirimanna, one of Asia’s leading theologians.
The 67-year-old professor of theology at the Pontifical Accademia Alfonsiana in Rome says the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference (FABC) should build on the theological foundations laid by yesteryear Asian theologians.
The priest, also a member of the Theological Commission of the General Secretariat for the Synod 2021-2024, also believes the synodal process will change "the Church upside down" if the process is taken seriously.
Father Tirimanna spoke with UCA News on Oct. 20 on the sidelines of FABC’s first general conference (Oct.12-30) organized in Bangkok as part of its golden jubilee celebrations.
This is the first part of the interview with Father Tirimanna. Read the second part -- "Bishops should teach continental theology in Asia."
What do you think the FABC has achieved in its 50 years?
The Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference has a very good foundation thanks to our forefathers, who worked for it in the 1970-80s. We are celebrating 50 years now and I think we should get inspiration from those pioneers. Of course, we cannot go back and should not go back literally to what they were because the world has changed, and realities have changed. We should move on based firmly on the foundation they have already laid.
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The essence they gave is the Asianness of the Church. Otherwise, tell me why should we meet as the FABC here. If we are not here to build on that essence of Asianness, it is all a waste of money, time and energy. We should cherish and develop a sense of Asianness in every aspect of the Church paying attention to the contemporary signs of the times. That, I believe, is the meaning of the existence of the FABC.
The FABC should continue to work. Let me be specific. We need to be Asian but as things stand today, the Church in Asia is not yet fully Asian. The FABC should continue to work and it has a lot of ground to cover. In the initial three decades of the FABC, it was bubbling with Asianness. But that Asianness has been gradually waning.
However, we cannot and should not go back to the 1970s and 1980s. We have to face today's reality and respond. Today's Asia is not the Asia of the 1970s or of the 1980s. So we have to be Asian according to today's Asia.
Is a fully Asian Church even possible?
We have to be Asian, otherwise, we don't need an FABC. Take for example the Latin American CELAM (the FABC equivalent in South America). It is through and through Latin American. And the FABC trails behind it. But as things stand, the reality is there is not much of a difference between European theology and the FABC’s theology. Of course, I'll be too naive to say that as a blanket statement. Certainly, there are certain Asian elements in our Churches. It's there … but much reduced. We can be more Asian, that’s what I am saying.
Why is the Asian Church attempting to reduce its Asian elements?
Frankly speaking, I don’t think that the Asian Church is consciously attempting to reduce her Asianness. However, the reasons for the lack of enthusiasm for being Asian can be traced to the pontificates of Papa Wojtila and Papa Ratzinger that perceived relativism as the major issue the Church has to respond to. During that time, most Asian bishops were trying to follow the Roman agenda, for obvious reasons. That's what Rome wanted. The freedom, which Paul VI gave, what Vatican II gave, was not there. Pope Paul VI allowed and encouraged the openness and freedom to be Asian, to be theologizing in the Asian way. But in the later decades, we see it being taken away little by little, little by little.
With the arrival of Pope Francis, we have gained much more space to be Asian because he's a Third-World man who would surely understand what it means to be in the Third World. He was the cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires in Argentina.
Secondly, he's promoting contextual theology. So, this is our Asian moment. We need to seize it. But I’m sorry to say I don’t see the enthusiasm and energy to do that. We can do much more than what we are doing because this is our moment. If we lose this, I wonder whether God will give us another moment like this.
What do you mean by contextual theology?
Any theology should help Christians to understand and respond to their faith in their own histories, in their daily life, in their culture, and in their socio-political nuances. These realities in Asia provide us with our context, and these realities are completely different from any other part of the world. Continental contextual theologies are local theologies to be developed as a faith-response to these continental realities. Roman or European theology will not be able to understand and respond to our realities in all their complexities. What we need is an Asian theology.
Vatican II has given us the freedom to develop these contextual theologies. This is the moment for us. I'm so happy that I'm living in this moment. I’m very hopeful about this space and freedom which Pope Francis reiterates. But will we use that space and the freedom to continue to build an Asian theology? I’m not sure. At the same time, I say this with a certain amount of hope. But I would have loved to have more inspiration from an Asianness than what we see today.
How will the universal Church benefit from these contextual theologies?
One of the finest theological elements which the FABC developed and contributed to the universal Church was the theology of inter-religious relations. The first document of the FABC Theological Advisory Commission was trying to understand how Christians could practice their faith without negating or looking down upon the beliefs of other religions in Asia, following the guidelines given by Vatican II.
I want to mention the names of a few Asian theologians here, who worked hard to lay the foundations for the FABC’s theology — Father Felix Wilfred from India and Jesuit Father Catalano Arevalo from the Philippines. I also remember Jesuit Father Aloysius Pieris of Sri Lanka. We may have differences of opinion with them. For example, I may not agree as a bishop with certain views they hold but their work for the FABC was seminal and indispensable.
Their main common point was that there are three main living realities in Asia: religions, cultures, and the poor. These founding fathers of FABC theology, of course, together with the pioneer FABC bishops, considered that Christian existence in Asia can be appreciated only through triple dialogue — with religions, cultures and the poor. These triple realities characterized Asia in the seventies, and they continue to characterize Asia even today and that will characterize Asia even tomorrow.
After all, our major Asian religions are here to stay. Whatever our other problems are, we are very religious still in Asia. Secondly, cultures. We are still culturally conditioned people more than any other non-Asian country, probably some African nations may be exceptions. Thirdly, our poor. They are not going to go off in the near future. So the dialogue with these three living Asian realities is a must. Of course, in our globalized world, all these are becoming social realities in many other parts of the world too. Asia is typically characterized by them.
I believe FABC will somehow regain its theological prominence because I believe in the active presence of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, a conference like this will not have happened, a hope like this will have never been lit. However, I also think that we lack daring theologians of the caliber of those, who were there at the foundation. We don't have them today. Simple as that. We have theologians who mostly repeat what the early Asian theologians said, or what the Vatican is saying. We do not have theologians who can take Asian theology forward, but I believe that the Holy Spirit will lead the FABC in His own way.
What should be their priorities in this journey forward?
We have newer issues that beg for theological engagement here in Asia. We should have more time for dialogue with women, youth, and the environment. But please don't put those dialogues on par with the triple dialogue because the triple dialogue is what gives us our Asianness our Asian identity in theologizing.
Environmental issues are here as they are in other parts of the world. Issues of women and youth are also global. We should not lose what characterizes us. Have a dialogue with everybody, but let's be Asian. If you are not focused well, everything becomes important even with regard to dialogue. That means nothing is important. Have a dialogue but don't say they are Asian issues alone. But the issues of women in Asia are not that of Europe. So European solutions will not help Asian women. I think I have made my point clear.
I am in the Theological Commission, and Pope Francis is interested in Asian Churches. All the national episcopal synodal reports I read last month in Frascati together with my colleagues spoke about the role of women in the Church.
Here, I think of the report from Sri Lanka, which pleasantly surprised me as it said, women are the lifeblood of the Church in Sri Lanka. So we should give them more place, much more than now in ecclesial life. All that is true. But for heaven’s sake don't copy North American and European women's agenda and bring it here. For example, women's ordination. Is it an Asian issue? I'm asking that question. I won't say anything more. Are not women’s social subjugation, their oppression, and man-dominated societies in Asia typically our Asian issues? We also have issues of pushing women to be migrant workers in foreign lands.
This is the first part of the interview with Father Tirimanna. Read the second part -- " Bishops should teach continental theology in Asia. "
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