Baltazar Acebedo, MA

The Federation of Asian Bishops Conference (FABC), an association of Catholic bishops’ national conferences in Asia, sees itself as a coordinating body articulating their role for the Church and society in Asia since 1972. It found itself to have a distinct feature of theology compared to John Paul II’s papal encyclical Ecclesia in Asia (1999). The theological concepts of ‘inculturation’, of ‘development’, and of ‘evangelization’ have occupied the most space in FABC discussions and have influenced prominently FABC theology. FABC understood these terms differently over time since the Second Vatican Council (1962 1965), and the recent scholarship misses to pinpoint the reason to these developments. A historical approach to FABC ‘triple dialogue’  dialogue with the poor, with other cultures, and with other religions) in the era of decolonization can be used to explain these changes.

I plan to do this in three separate parts. First, I will explore the term ‘development’ with FABC’s dialogue with the poor, in the context of liberation theologies, communism, and exploitation of women in Asia. Second, I will investigate the term ‘inculturation’ with FABC’s dialogue with other cultures, in the context of liturgy, Canon Law, and the role of the local church. And third, I will delve on the concept of ‘evangelization’ in the context of ethno-religious nationalism, of religious violence, and of the Asian concept of ‘Spirit’. The very objective of the research is to trace how the changes in FABC’s Catholic theology in Asia and decipher the striking interests that facilitated these
changes.