ASIA/KAZAKHSTAN - Relations between Catholic communities in central Asia and the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences must be intensified

Karaganda (Agenzia Fides) - Relations between Catholic communities in central Asia and the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences must be intensified. This emerged at a meeting of Catholic Bishops of Asia held in Tashknet, Uzbekistan, at which a special guest was Fr. O’Toole FABC secretary general assistant.
Official relations between the FABC and the Catholic Bishops of central Asian republics, independent since the fall of the USSR - were established in 1998, when FABC welcomed the Catholic communities of Siberia and Asia central Asia, opening the doors to delegates from, Kazakhstan, Kirghizistan, Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
In these almost ten years relations have developed but much remains to be done since the only country with its own Bishops’ Conference is Kazakhstan (2003), whereas the remaining four countries having no Bishops’ Conference cannot be FABC members, only observers.
During the meeting one of the themes discussed was whether the Catholic communities in this area should look more to Europe or to Asia. On the one hand their cultural and religious heritage is closer to Christian Russia; on the other the fact that they are minorities in Muslim majority countries means they have much in common with FABC member Catholic communities. “Catholic communities in Central Asian countries can be a bridge between Asia and Europe”, said Fr. O’Toole. For their part the Bishops of central Asian countries agreed on the priority to grow in numbers, in faith and in pastoral activities and take deep root to fulfil the task of mediation between the two continents. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 31/3/2007 righe 26 parole 269)