History

In 1965, 150 Catholic priests met in Hongkong for the Priests’ Institute of Social Action (PISA). The aim of this seminar was to bring new dimensions into the social action apostolate for the Church in Asia. This was the result of the growing consciousness which the Church that we have a message for the world of Asia undergoing drastic changes.

Four years later, June 1969, forty bishops, priests and laymen from Asia gathered at the Jesuit House in Baguio, Philippines. It was an important meeting for here the concept of an Asian wide social action office was first discussed.

While PISA in Hongkong was a training seminar, the Baguio meeting was a gathering of social action veterans coming together to exchange experiences and to find better ways of working and cooperating with one another.

During the meeting, the nine bishops present met informally and expressed the need for keeping an open lines of communications among themselves with and the various national Episcopal commissions. They felt a secretariat with a chairman and a full-time secretary would be useful. They discussed this with the larger body and eventually decided to have the office in Manila under Bishop Julio Xavier Labayen and Father Horacio Dela Costa as chairman and secretary respectively.

The year was 1970 – the beginning of a decade for the emerging Asian Church. It was an historic occasion, in November 1970, when for a first time a pontiff would set foot in the Philippines, the only Catholic country in Asia.

Plans were made already in the air to organize a Bishops’ conference of Asia similar to the Bishops’ Conference of Latin America. But it has to be something much more humble – a federation of bishops’ conferences, a forum to exchange experiences and be enriched by the exchange – it was to be a structure to enable bishops of Asia to know each other.

What drew them together to gather around the visiting pontiff, Pope John Paul VI, is the earnest desire to become a genuine Asian Church. The Church that must become the Church of the poor because the majority of the people of Asia are poor.

In establishing the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), the bishops provided for a central committee consisting of the president or each national conference, and a standing committee which would take charge of the day-to-day work. These two committees were given assignment of coordinating and assisting in almost all matters of Church interest, although the concerns of Justice and Development were given a special priority.

On November 28, 1970, Cardinal Darmosurmono of Indonesia, Bishop Hsu of Hongkong, Bishop Labayen and Fr. De La Costa met with representative of Miserior to determine how the Asian office they had planned at Baguio the year before could be integrated into the new plan of the Asian Bishops. They decided to leave it to the Central Committee, which was scheduled to meet in Hongkong in March 1971.

The Bishops decided to accept the office described in Baguio, in December 1971, as their own Office for Human Development (OHD), with one important change: it would be at the service of all Asia, where the original concept had in mind only east and south east Asia.

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During its years of existence, the Office of Human Development continue the process of dialogue among themselves and with the poor. The following programmes will best describe the office’s contribution to the Church in Asia.

 

  1. Bishops’ Institute for Social Action (BISA) Series (I – VII)
  2. Asian Institute for Social Action (AISA) Series (I – VII)
  3. Faith Encounters in Social Action (FEISA) Series (I – VI)

Vision and Mission

The Office for Human Development need to concretize the meaning of A New Way of Being Church. It is the need to find a vital link between our call to Renewal and the Revitalization of our Mission that will be the common thrust and direction as we move towards the Third Millennium.

We therefore take as our starting point the following:

– Mission of love and service calls for a total dialogue within the context of a multi-religious situation, cultural diversity and phenomenon of dehumanizing affluence and poverty.

– Mission of love and service with the making of welfare and charity, the promotion of integral human development and advocacy for justice and peace.

– Mission of love and service calls for inclusion of gender, interfaith collaboration and care for the integrity of creation.

– Mission of love and service takes into consideration the following communities that need our special care and attention: the youth, women, children, family, indigenous people and migrants.

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We hope to keep in mind the following dimensions in our strategies and programmes:

    1. The witness of life
    2. Formation
    3. Social Communications
    4. Laity especially professionals
    5. Advocacy
    6. Education
    7. Basic Ecclesial Communities
    8. Collaborative Ministries

Our Approach in the 21st Century for A Renewed Church

The Office for Human Development need to concretize the meaning of A New Way of Being Church. It is the need to find a vital link between our call to Renewal and the Revitalization of our Mission that will be the common thrust and direction as we move towards the Third Millennium.

We therefore take as our starting point the following:

– We continue the vision of the FABC – Office for Human Development (OHD) that stems from the total vision of the FABC i.e. towards a Church of the Poor, as a servant of the Kingdom, with a mission of integral evangelization. OHD is particularly concerned with the spread of the Gospel, that will bring a radical transformation to the self, the community and the whole Asian society. We hope to make the working of the Gospel real and concrete in our lives by bringing to all in the Church the social teachings of the Universal Church and the Bishops of Asia. It is this vital link between the Gospel of Jesus and the Social Teachings of the Church that will be the light for our steps in the new millennium.

-We believe that this requires an on-going process, al system of communication, consultation and collaboration with corresponding national offices of Asian Episcopal Conferences, the Religious Congregations and lay movements and organizations involved in the promotion of an integral human development and advocacy for justice and peace.

-Integral faith formation of all in the Church as to be able to make the link between faith and life, word and witness. This integration will bring about a new sense of unity and solidarity to achieve greater collaboration and cooperation at all levels in the Church.

 

-Sensitivity to the “cries of the people of Asia” especially those who need the Good News of the Gospel in order to be the “sign and instrument of God’s salvation among our people and nation.

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FABC Offices

Office of Human Development

Office of Human Development

continue the process of dialogue among themselves and with the poor.

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Office of Social Communication

Office of Social Communication

To bring a Christian dimension to all communication activities

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Office of Laity and Family

Office of Laity and Family

started in 1982 as a Committee for Laity, ad experimentum, responding to the felt needs of the times.

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Office of Theological Concerns

Office of Theological Concerns

is a bit different from the other offices and was originally simply a Theological Advisory Commission (TAC).

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Office of Education and Faith Formation

Office of Education and Faith Formation

formerly Office of Education and Student Chaplaincy (OESC)

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Office of Ecumenical &
Interreligious Affairs

Office of Ecumenical &
Interreligious Affairs

has been focusing on the formation of persons for dialogue.

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Office of Evangelization

Office of Evangelization

The Central Committee established the Office in 1977

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Office of Clergy

Office of Clergy

was created in 2004 with the objective of helping Bishops,

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Office of Consecrated Life

Office of Consecrated Life

creation of an ambiance conducive to the building up of a participatory Church.

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Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences INTERACTIVE DIRECTORY 2022

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