ASIA/PAKISTAN - For the Year of St Paul: Mission Congress and a Formation Seminar on the Letters of St Paul

Karachi (Agenzia Fides) – For the Year of Saint Paul the Catholic Church in Pakistan will focus on formation and on mission involving priests, religious and lay Catholics. A major initiative consists of two formation seminars on the Letters of St Paul to be held in different dioceses. The seminars have been organised by Fr Emmanuel Asi who has planned an interesting programme of formation and invited experts and theologian speakers with some meetings reserved respectively for clergy, religious or lay people.
Formation, mission and St Paul's contribution will be the subject of a Pakistan Catholic Mission Congress to be held in November on the theme “Telling the Story of Jesus in Pakistan”, a follow-on from the 1st Asian Mission Congress held in Thailand in 2006.
Local Church sources tell Fides that the Congress will focus especially on the missionary zeal of St Paul and take it as a measure to gauge the mission ability of the Church in Pakistan.
Last but not least, for the Year of St Paul, dioceses across the country are planning pilgrimages to the tomb of the Apostle in Rome and to Asia Minor where Saul was born, where he encountered the Risen Christ and began immediately to preach the Gospel.
(PA) (Agenzia Fides 3/7/2008 righe 25 parole 256)