Fr. Devadass: ‘There is a specific face of Asia for synodality’

The Malaysian priest who participated in the drafting of the final document that the Synodal Assembly is discussing: ‘Dialogue here is part of the experience we live every day within a pluralistic culture’. Indian Cardinal Ferrao, Filipino David and Melkite Patriarch Absi elected to the General Council of the Synod.

Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews) - The second session of the Synodal Assembly is drawing to a close in these hours, with the discussion of the final document. It was drafted by a small group of 14 delegates elected by the Assembly, among whom, representing Asia, was Fr. Clarence Devadass, a Malaysian priest from the archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur.

It was precisely Fr. Devadass who spoke at the daily briefing with journalists at the Synod in recent days, offering some reflections starting from the experience of an immense continent of over 4.8 billion inhabitants, where people of different religions, cultures and languages live side by side and Christians number just 383 million, of which 153.3 million are Catholics. In this complex reality, synodality - the central theme of this Synod - is a unique experience both within the Church (ad intra) and in relation to Asia's gigantic pluralistic demography (ad extra).

‘Apart from the Philippines and East Timor,’ he said, ‘Asia is a continent where Catholics are a minority. If the faith is alive, it does not mean that the negative impacts of secularisation and other problems are not present. The public space for the expression of faith seems to be shrinking more and more, in many places, also because of political and religious extremism. In such a context, harmony must be sought by engaging in dialogue'.

Dialogue,' he stressed, ’in Asia is not an option, but a matter of survival. It is not a novelty but a necessity, and it is part of our daily experience within a pluralistic culture'.

The challenge in Asia is to learn to do theology ‘from the perspective of living with others’ and to evangelise even there ‘where faith cannot be expressed in a public way’. Synodality, he commented, is ‘at the basis of all this’ and is already being lived in many situations, starting with the family, bearing fruit.

Mentioning the phenomenon of migration, which has led many Asian Catholics to live in other parts of the world, he also emphasised: ‘They are the new missionaries because when they leave their homes they are not just looking for an income, but they take their faith with them. And I know that in many places in the world they animate the Churches in the communities where they live and work, helping to keep the faith alive'.

Meanwhile, last night the Assembly proceeded to elect the new members of the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod, the body that constantly prepares and coordinates the work of this body. Composed of 17 members (read the complete list here), Card. Filipe Neri António Sebastião do Rosario Ferrao, Archbishop of Goa and Damão in India and Mgr. Pablo Virgilio David, Bishop of Kalookan in the Philippines (who will also become a cardinal in the Consistory on 7 December).

Oceania will be represented by Msgr. Timothy John Costelloe, Archbishop of Perth in Australia, while for the Eastern Catholic Churches His Beatitude Youssef Absi, Patriarch of Antioch of the Greek-Melkites has been elected.