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Towards An Asian Franciscan Identity
The formators of the East Asia Conference held their meeting on August 10-14, 1998 at Our Lady of the Angels Seminary in Quezon City, Philippines. Agenda of the said meeting were: presentation of formation reports, sharing on Asian Franciscan identity and how this is seen in the level of formation, discussion on the promotion of Asian Franciscan identity in the formation and the challenges of formation in the East Asian context. Most of the discussions were focused on the theme: "Towards an Asian Franciscan Identity."
Participants of the EAC Formators Meeting in Manila
Reports of the formators were twofold. After presenting a general information on each country's economic, political, cultural and religious situation, each Province reported their different formation activities, problems, challenges and preoccupations. After the presentation of reports, formators of each Province grouped together to share on the search and promotion of Asian identity in the formation level. The search for an identity is based on the need to respond to the missionary challenges in Asia believing that Asians can best proclaim and facilitate the spread of the Good News in the Asian region. The formators felt the difficulty of defining what is truly an 'Asian identity' on the basis of the highly diverse, complex, contrasting, multi-religious and multi-cultural patterns among Asians plus their long history of Western colonization. Based from the group sharing, the search for Asian identity ranges from the need to have it visibly in the formation level to deepening of what is Asian and Franciscan in the formation.
Taiwan considered the idea of having an integration year like that of the Philippines in which one's culture, Franciscan calling and identity will be fostered and deepened. Korea affirmed the need to create venues for collaboration especially among other religions to foster Oriental ways of contemplation. The formators in the Philippines pointed out the sense of community, sense of interiority, sense of hospitality and sense of adaptability as distinctively Asian values which are being developed in all levels of formation. Seeing the closeness of our Franciscan identity to Asian values, formators from Vietnam affirmed that this can be a basis for inculturation and collaboration among Franciscans in East Asia. Japan expressed also the need to deepen this Asian Franciscan identity within their social context of vast migration of Asians and Latin Americans in the country.
The participants also discussed how to strengthen formation collaboration in the Conference level. These challenges include inculcating missionary awareness among formandi; re-examining our formation program in view of our mission to China and Asia; discovering our Asian identity and enkindling our missionary commitment to China. The participants dream to have Taiwan and Hong Kong as missionary stations in the future.
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