AMOR, an organisation that brings together religieuses from Asia/Oceania, meets to discuss "Mary and Religious Women of Asia and Oceania – Contemplative Prophets" to promote their mission and help them recover their sense of identity.

Seoul (AsiaNews/CBCK) – The 14th meeting of AMOR (Asia Oceania Meeting of Religious Women) is currently underway at Aaron Retreat House, Gyeonggi-do (South Korea). Commitment to the poor and the marginalised as well as "positive and concrete" steps towards the "contemplative model" are the main topics of the event which began on April 24 drawing more than a hundred religieuses from 21 countries. "Mary and Religious Women of Asia and Oceania – Contemplative Prophets" is the overarching theme—a special session was in fact devoted to Mary, "the contemplative model with a universal humanity" in light of various issues such as the unification of the south, migrant workers, the environmental movement, etc.

AMOR was created in the early seventies "to dedicate religious women to the service of God and humanity, at a time when "the world became aware of the de-humanising poverty of the majority of the earth's population. This meant that the "representatives of the Church must act in practical ways as well as through prayers".

"I hope that this new meeting plays a key role so that we can approach the poor and marginalised in a positive, active and concrete way," said Sister Gracia kim Sook-hee, who chaired AMOR's preparatory committee.

In her opening speech, AMOR's president Sister Mary Vincent said that the religieuses' commitment is a "very useful way to promote their contemplative and prophetic mission in Asia and Oceania and help them recover their sense of identity."
"I hope," she added, "that this meeting may produce enriching results in Asia, the land of martyrs, which is proud of its dynamic power".

During the common prayer, Fr Matthias Chae Jun-ho, Jesuit provincial, said that "the religieux, a gift of God, have been striving for contemplative practice. For this reason, they are at the service of the Church's propagation and renewal since Medieval times."

AMOR meets once every three years, each time in a different country in Asia/Oceania. This is the second meeting in South Korea since 1985.

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