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Office of the Laity and Family (OLF)

The Office of Laity and Family started in 1982 as a Committee for Laity, ad experimentum, responding to the felt needs of the times. One of its initial tasks was to assist the Pontifical Council for Laity in organizing the first Laity Meeting for Asia in 1982.

This was followed by the regional Bishops’ Institute for Lay Apostolate (BILA) held in:

• 1984 – BILA 1, Changhua, Taiwan, for East Asia
• 1986 – BILA 2, Bangalore, India, for South Asia
• 1986 – BILA 3, Singapore, for Southeast Asia.

These first 3 BILAs were a venue for dialogue among bishops, priests, religious and lay people. They were occasions to know what programs have been going on to train lay people and to create awareness in their role and vocation. These gatherings helped to affirm that the “Church is the People of God.’

The IV FABC Plenary Assembly in 1986 was on the theme: “The Vocation and Mission of the Laity in the Church and in the World of Asia”. This was directly preparing for the World Synod on the Laity and the bishops examined the roles of the lay faithful in the areas of: politics, the youth, the plight of Asian women, the family, the world of education, the mass media, the world of work, in business and health services. It was during this Assembly that the Committee for the Laity became a full fledged Office of Laity in the FABC, with Fr. Jess Brena SJ as its first Executive Secretary, based in Taipei, Taiwan.1986 Fr. Tommy Murphy SSC succeeded as Executive Secretary and Ms. Cora Mateo as Assistant.

After the Synod that sparked the whole Church to reflect and affirm the role of lay people, BILA 4 was held (February, 1988) as a follow up. It was also to look more in depth at Asia’s own journey. This BILA brought together the bishop-chairmen of the Laity commissions in the 14 member Conferences of FABC. Like previous BILAS, the bishops came with their teams (one lay person and a priest or a religious). They reached a consensus that the two top priorities for the coming years were: Formation and Lay Spirituality. They also asked for concrete examples to allow greater lay participation. In December of that same year, the Office of Laity organized an exposure to the BEC experiences of the Philippines. BILA 4 also commissioned the Office to organize regional BILAs on formation. Thus the next series of BILAS were:

• 1991 – BILA 5, Macao, for East Asia
• 1992 – BILA 6, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia for Southeast Asia
• 1993 – BILA 7 meant for South Asia, was postponed as a region but carried out in Pakistan.

These BILAs were asking: How do we prepare our lay people for greater involvement? What type of formation programs will respond to the present demands? These BILAs examined and evaluated the existing formation programs at the diocesan and/or national levels and learnt from them. They were also responding to the 1990 FABC V Bandung statement which asked for formation for the “New Way of Being Church’ facing the challenges of the 1990s (V FABC#8). Given greater emphasis to the Church Social Teachings and the inter-religious dimension of the life in Asia, these BILAs affirmed that formation to bring about change is for all, not only for the lay people, but for the clergy and religious as well.In 1993 the Office of Laity entered a new phase with two lay people heading the office: Ms. Cora Mateo as Executive Secretary, and Mr. Jun Hashimoto as Assistant.

The focus was then new set on:

• Church social Teachings and the vocation of the Laity – in their specific areas of living and working, networking with people of other faiths, with emphasis on the implementation of the Social Teachings of the Church.
• Training of Trainers – towards a Participatory Church, a Church that is a “Communion of Communities” promoting AsIPA
• Youth – to strengthen the contact among those involved in youth ministry in Asia, to carry out the recommendations given in TABC Plenary Assemblies with regards to youth, allowing the voice of the young to be heard and creating more channels for their participation.
• Women – focusing on issues and concern that affect women and in a particular way, to encourage and offer ways for greater recognition and channels of partnership of women and men in carrying out the Church’s mission.

In June 1993, the FABC OL organized in cooperation with the FABC Office of Human Development a Youth Consultation, which recommended that the FABC establish a Commission for Youth within the FABC Office of Laity. Mr. Jun Hashimoto was entrusted with the newly established Youth Desk. One year later, the FABC Office of Laity established a Women’s Desk with Mrs. Virginia Saldanha as its Secretary.

In January 2000 Mrs. Virginia Saldanha took office as Executive Secretary, Ms. Cora Mateo continues to work for FABC OL as Asian Coordinator of AsIPA Desk.