Asia, Oceania and “the River Above”

The Pacific, one-third of the planet’s surface, is the largest climate determinant on Earth. Asia and Oceania share a common image in the ‘River Above’– the Pacific Ocean is the life, the river of Asia feeding all rivers, seasons and lives. The surface area and ocean currents absorb energy and generate thermals and other air flows, forming the weather patterns and events while sustaining their movement westward. This flow is life-giving and life-taking, especially as the climate is changing and resources are being exhausted. The welfare of the lands and peoples is bound to the welfare of the seas.

The network seeks to serve the dialogue of integral living so that broader collaboration is possible and breadth and integrity of the ecology and territory are maintained. The Federation of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of Oceania (FCBCO) accompanies 16 small island states in Oceania, as well as Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand. The Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) is on the ground in six countries spanning the Mekong River Basin, five countries in the Himalayas including the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, four countries covering the Sundaland, and the island nations of Japan, Korea and Philippines (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines). The network proposes four ways by which we can come together as people and as Church: Dialogue, Discernment, Deeds, Desires.

“I see we are all affected by what is happening to mother earth. This helps me to realize that we are united in a way. We are in the same region, we are in the same experience. This calls us to respond in a way that unites us in caring. How can we begin a kind of network that will bring out what we have in our region? How can we be united in our response?”

– Cardinal John Ribat, Archbishop of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Thumbnail image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay