FABC Communication INFO

Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences – Office of Social Communication OSC 1916 CTM Bldg. Oroquieta Street Sta. Cruz, Manila 1003 Tel: (632) 7327170, 3138577 Fax: 7327171 Email: [email protected]

PHILIPPINES: 8th MINDANAO SUMMER INSTITUTE MACAU: FIRST MASS CUM CONCERT IN HONOR OF FOR JOURNALISM HELD MATTEO RICCI HELD Some 40 senior mass communication students from different The Missa in Honorem Matthaei Ricci was held for the first universities in the southern island Mindanao gathered for the time in the historic St. Joseph Seminary April 26 to first leg of the eighth MSIJ (Mindanao Summer Institute for commemorate the Jesuit missionary (1552-1610) who lived and Journalism) April 22-24, 2015 at the Ateneo de Davao. died at ’s Imperial Court in . Matteo Ricci is not Resource persons include Angela Ureta, writer/producer of yet a . Gathering documents for the cause of his ABC-CBN TV Network, and FABC-OSC staff assistant ended only a few months ago. The place where the Anthony Roman. This year’s annual event was sponsored by the event took part is significant because for at least two centuries, Communication Arts Department of Ateneo de Davao, Titus St Joseph’s Seminary (Seminário de São José) trained Brandsma Media Center of the Carmelite Fathers and missionaries for China, Japan and the Far East. The Mass cum MindaNews, the leading news agency in Mindanao. concert is the work of Aurelio Porfiri, an Italian composer who has lived in Macau for several years. (ASIANEWS) + IN MEMORIAM + INDIA: DELHI POLICE SETUP FACEBOOK PAGE TO PROTECT CHRISTIANS Long-time program Delhi Police has launched in March a Facebook page to director of Radio address grievances of Christian institutions and individuals in Veritas Asia, Msgr. the wake of a series of attacks on Christian institutions in the Pietro Nguyen Van city. The new Facebook page “Delhi Police Minority Brethren” Tai, died on April 21 is meant to be a forum for all Christian people in Delhi to put in a hospital in Ho across their views regarding law and order with special Chi Minh city, reference to the security of churches and educational Vietnam. He was 67. institutions. In February this year, Prime Minister Narendra In 2012, Msgr. Tai Modi had said that his government will not allow any religious served as assistant to group to incite hatred and will strongly act against any religious the Papal Legate of violence. (FIDES) the 10th Plenary PHILIPPINES: LENTEN COFFETABLE BOOK Assembly of FABC (Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences) LAUNCHED December 10-16 in Xuan Loc diocese east of Ho Chi Minh city, Manila Archdiocese’s Liturgical Commission announced the Vietnam. In 2009, Msgr. Tai and eight other communication launch of a liturgical photo book inspired no less by Manila stalwarts pioneered the St. Joseph Freinademetz Archbishop Emeritus Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales and the Communication Center (JFCC). His other initiatives include late renowned liturgist Fr. Anscar J. Chupungco on March 23, at radio broadcasts of Bible study and liturgies to Communist- the Chapel of Arzobispado de Manila in Intramuros. Entitled ruled Vietnam. In the age of Internet and digital convergence, “Holy Week and The Easter Triduum,” the coffeetable book he pioneered audio- and video-streaming thru RVA facilities for features photographs of then Manila’s chief priest, presiding Vietnamese in the diaspora. Msgr. Tai once said that through over Holy Week services at the Manila Cathedral from Palm the means of social communication, people will be “able to Sunday until the Easter Vigil, with accompanying captions of follow the Sunday Mass, to hear Bible teachings and to be Chupungco. (CBCPNEWS) informed about the life of the Church.” The Funeral Mass held in Saigon was attended by five bishops and 500 priests. (OSC) SHARING RESOURCES FOR THE 49TH WORLD COMMUNICATION DAY PHILIPPINES: CACERES’ RADIO PROGRAM DEBUTS Communicating the Family: A Privileged Place of Encounter The Archdiocese of Caceres brings the Good News to the air with the Gift of Love is the theme chosen by Pope Francis for waves with its radio program, Ca-Sarig, over The Mother’s the 2015 World Communications Day to be celebrated on 17 Touch/Radio Veritas Naga, 98.3 FM from Mondays to May, the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. As in Saturdays, 7:30 – 9:00 a.m., starting on March 23. “Ca-Sarig,” previous years, the Pontifical Council for Social which means “to lean on” is a 90-minute and magazine type Communications (PCCS) is encouraging everyone around the radio program divided into 6 segments: introduction, news, globe to share pastoral resources prepared by journalists and Commission programs or Ministry programs discussion, Church media offices of the local church. Links to these resources will teachings, success stories, and “advice to letter senders.” be featured on the Council’s website, www.pccs.va. (PCCS) (CBCPNEWS)

FABC-OSC Communication INFO May 2015 Vol. 30 No. 5 SINGAPORE: CATHOLIC NEWS PUBLISHES PRIESTS’ SINGAPORE: ARCHDIOCESAN CHINESE WEEKLY VOCATION STORIES CELEBRATES 60 At least a dozen diocesan and religious priests serving in Hai Sing Pao, the archdiocesan Chinese newspaper, celebrates Singapore will share how they came to recognize God’s call to its 60th anniversary this year. To commemorate, hundreds the priesthood in a series of vocation booklets being published attended a concelebrated Mass at Church of St. Bernadette on by the Archdiocesan weekly, CatholicNews. The first in the April 18 with Archbishop William Goh, the newspaper officials, series, called “Man of God, Man for Others,” was released on and lay people. “Hai Sing Pao” (Chinese for Star of the Sea) Good Shepherd Sunday, April 26, the same day that the Church was first published on April 3, 1955 to be a means of observes World Day of Prayer for Vocations. (CN) communication among overseas Chinese and to provide readers CHINA: PILGRIMAGE OF THE ‘MERCIFUL JESUS’ news about the Universal Church. The paper’s website IMAGE IN MERCY JUBILEE www.carlo.org.sg was launched in 2009. (CN) Chinese Catholic communities welcomed the papal bull Misericordiae Vultus (The Face of Mercy) that proclaims the “Words without example are empty words… They are Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy by intensely living the initiative ideas that do not reach the heart, and may even cause of the Pope with great participation and being in communion injury.” with the universal Church. The bull is the fundamental – Pope Francis at Ordination Rites in Rome April 26, Good document for the Holy Year, set to begin December 8. It Shepherd Sunday outlines the overall spirit and intentions for the Jubilee, as well as the spiritual fruits that are hoped for. A parish of the Diocese SINGAPORE: CATHOLICS AND PROTESTANTS of Bao Ding in He Bei province launched an initiative, “Invite GATHER FOR TAIZE SONGS, PRAYER Jesus at home for 24 hours,” proposing from April 12, the Members of various Christian Churches got together for an Sunday of Divine Mercy, a pilgrimage of the image of the evening of prayer and songs on April 16. The ecumenical Taize Merciful Jesus in families. (FIDES) service, titled “Of One Heart and Mind,” drew about 280 JAPAN: BISHOPS ISSUES STATEMENT, RE-COMMIT participants. It was held at the St Andrew’s Cathedral New TO PEACE CAUSE 70 YEARS AFTER WORLD WAR II Sanctuary. The event was organized by the Archdiocesan The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan (CBCJ) issued a Catholic Council for Ecumenical Dialogue with assistance from third statement post-World War II in February recommitting the a core group of Taize participants in Singapore. (CN) entire Japanese Church to the cause of peace. The first statement MALAYSIA: CROSS CHALLENGES ISLAM, PROTEST issued in 1995 marked the 50th anniversary of the war’s end. GROUP SAYS The second was issued in 2005 for the 60th anniversary. This About 50 residents gathered outside a new church in Taman year’s message upholds a “no war” constitution while Medan, Petaling Jaya on April 19 Sunday to demand removal of embracing peace not as a political but a human resolution. The the cross affixed to the house of worship as it was “challenging full message is available in the official CBCJ website at Islam.” The protesters said the presence of a cross in a Muslim- www.cbcj.or.jp/eng. (CBCJ) majority area posed a challenge to the religion and could sway the faith of the youth. The Council of Churches Malaysia FABC-OSC PUBLISHES ‘COMMUNICATIO (CCM) said the protest was politically-motivated to stir up SOCIALIS PRINTS’ religious tensions in Selangor. (UCANEWS) The FABC-OSC co-publishes in April the first two volumes TAIWAN: COMMUNICATION “HELPS DEEPEN of Communicatio Socialis Prints (CSP), a collection of LIVING EXPERIENCE OF THE GOSPEL” scientific papers in Religion and Social Communication. “A person who declares himself Christian should give priority Volume 1 titled “Social Communication in Theological to the ability to communicate, to do so in an honest way and Perspective: Communication Theology” is written by Fr. Anh bring out the best in other people,” says well-known Taiwanese Vu Ta, while volume 2 titled “Social Communication Formation TV host, John Hei. In a recent interview with AsiaNews, Hei in Seminaries and Schools of Theology: An Investigation” is by said this is “nothing more than a simple and effective way of Rev. Virgilio F. Ciudadano, Jr. CSP’s are jointly published by living the Gospel and making it contagious for many people.” St. Joseph Freinademetz Communication Center Inc. (JFCC), Hei, who hails from Holy Family parish in Taipei, also gives Asian Research Center for Religion and Social Communication leadership courses to poor people twice a year. (ASIANEWS) (ARC), and the MAT-SPC (Master of Arts in Theology major in PHILIPPINES: UST HOLDS INTERRELIGIOUS Social/Pastoral Communication) program in the University of DIALOGUE CONFERENCE Santo Tomas (UST) Graduate School. The Institute of Religion of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas (UST) in Manila co-sponsored a

two-day international conference on interreligious dialogue April 29-30. “The Approach of Islam and Christianity Towards Religious Extremism and Violence,” was the conference title jointly organized by the Embassy of Iran in Manila, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Commission on Interreligious Dialogue and UST.

FABC-OSC Communication INFO May 2015 Vol. 30 No. 5