The visit of an old friend…

Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, OMI, (center) former President of the Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines, came to Macau as part of the Secretariat of FABC (Federation of Asian Bishops Conference) and spent a few hours with us. We spoke to him about the Word of God and the need to give back to our people the Good News in an affordable way.

Archbishop Quevedo participated in the last Synod of the Word of God. This is what he said during the Synod:

ARCHBISHOP ORLANDO B. QUEVEDO OMI OF COTABATO, PHILIPPINES, SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION OF ASIAN BISHOPS' CONFERENCES (FABC).

“God spoke His Word, especially for the sake of the poor. He was their refuge and liberator. ... Incredibly, rich in a marvelous mosaic of ancient cultures and religions, we in Asia are nevertheless a continent of the poor, of economic and political imbalances, of ethnic division and conflict. Our profound sense of transcendence and harmony is being eroded by a globalizing secular and materialist culture. But the Word of God in Asia is calling to the Father in the Holy Spirit thousands of small communities of the poor. And the poor in turn are heeding God’s Word. In so doing they are building a ‘new way of being Church’ – really an old way – the way of the early Jerusalem community. ... For them the Word of God is faith-empowering, urging them to participate actively within the Church and in social transformation. They are Basic Ecclesial Communities, renewing families, parishes and dioceses into vibrant communities, witnessing to the Word of God, quite often in a hostile multi-religious environment. They are communities of solidarity and fellowship at the grassroots, effectively challenging in their own little way the modern culture of secularism and materialism.”