The VIII AsIPA General Assembly was held at Pacific Palace Hotel in Batam Island, Indonesia from October 18 to 24, 2018. It was organized by the AsIPA Desk of the Office of Laity & Family of the FABC, and hosted by the Catholic Bishop Conference of Indonesia. The theme for the assembly was: “Small Christian Communities (SCCs) evangelize families towards communion and mission.” The theme was found very timely, urgent and important for Asia. It drew on of the insights of Pope Francis on ways to strengthen and animate the families.
Fr. Milfer Vaz, CMF was one of the seven representatives from Sri Lankan. There were altogether 83 participants (35 lay, 11 Religious, 32 priests and 5 bishops) from eleven Asian countries, and one from Germany. Fr. Rohan Dominic, CMF was also a member of the organizing team. The assembly included workshops, exposure in six different parishes, reports presented by the countries, group discussions, a pilgrimage and an outing with a cultural night. By the end of the assembly, the participants were very motivated to get involved in promoting AsIPA so that the Participatory Church envisaged by FABC could blossom.