A Message from Cecile Motus: Assistant Director, Asian Pacific Island Affairs

Dear Friends,
With great pleasure, I welcome you to the website of the Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Island Affairs.  We are continuing to build this website so that it can be a resource to learn more about the beauty and richness of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

The number of Asian and Pacific Island communities connected with the Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church has grown exponentially from nine in 1999 to twenty-five in 2011.  Among the Asian communities are the Bangali, Burmese, Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Hmong, Indian (Roman), Indian (Syro-Malabar), Indian (Syro-Malankara), Indonesian, Japanese, Kmhmu, Korean, Laotian, Montagnard, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Thai, and Vietnamese peoples.  The Pacific Island communities include the Chamorro, Hawaiian, Fijian, Samoan, Tongan, and Micronesian peoples.  

This year, 2011, marks a momentous occasion because we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the bishops’ pastoral statement, Asian and Pacific Presence:  Harmony in Faith.   The bishops on the Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Island Affairs set four goals to mark the anniversary: 

1. To assess the state of Asian and Pacific ministry in the various dioceses in the country through a survey.
2. To increase the capacity for ministry to Asians and Pacific Islanders in the local churches through the development of a leadership formation program and guide for those ministering to these communities.
3. To educate the Church in the United States about Asian and Pacific people, especially their Catholic practices, by developing online educational materials for diocesan and parish leaders.
4. To strengthen communion, unity, and ethnic identity among Asian and Pacific Islanders and to establish relationships with other cultural and racial groups (particularly with the bishops and local churches of those other cultural and racial groups) through community gatherings and celebrations.

An Advisory Group was created to assist the Subcommittee and Secretariat in planning the observance of the 10th anniversary.  The celebratory activities chosen by the Subcommittee, especially the development of educational materials, leadership, and cultural competency, contribute to the fulfillment of several USCCB priorities and suggested activities such as faith formation, vocation, and recognition of cultural diversity. 

The Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Island Affairs invites you to join us in our various activities as we celebrate this anniversary. Please continue to visit this website in the coming months in order to access the exciting new materials that we will be adding throughout the year. Join inspiring diocesan celebrations which will highlight the gifts of Asian and Pacific Catholics and other cultural and racial communities. Some of these diocesan events include the Asian Unity Day of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, the Asian and Pacific Youth Day of the Diocese of San Bernardino, the Celebration of Cultures of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Chautauqua of the Diocese of Oakland, and Migration Sunday of the Diocese of Brooklyn.  

We especially invite you to be part of the Asian and Pacific Day to be held on May 21, 2011 in Washington D.C. at the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  Come and be introduced to the complexity of Asian and Pacific American Catholic identity in the morning. Then, in the afternoon, pray with eighteen Asian and Pacific communities in various languages and forms of prayer during the colorful and unique pilgrimage in honor of our Blessed Mother.

Thank you for your interest in the Asian and Pacific Island communities within the Catholic Church in the United States. We hope to see you at our celebrations!              

With our prayers and best wishes in 2011,

Cecile Motus
Assistant Director