Meeting of the Superior General, the Members of the General Consulta  and the Major Superiors of the Order of Camillians

Some introductory notes on ethical, socio-cultural, historical and Asian religions from China

Taiwan-Lotung, 18-22 June 2018

By Fr. Leocir Pessini

Superior General

Dear Camillian religious,

Health and peace in the Lord of our lives,

You are all welcome to Taiwan and to Lotung!

We are beginning our annual meeting of the general government and the major Superiors of the Order of Camillians for the year 2018. The subject of this event is ‘Together in the Continent of Asia to Know, Celebrate and Discern the Future in order to Revitalise the Camillian Missionary Spirit’.

Events such as these are a concrete and practical expression of a style of collegial government which witnesses the involvement of all those who have taken on the responsibility of leadership, that is to say the ministry of authority amongst the religious of our Order, at this specific moment in history.

Let us read our General Statutes: ‘The superior general also consults the provincial superiors, vice-provincials and delegates in matters of major importance which concern the entire Order. If possible once a year and, whenever this is necessary, he shall convene the provincials, vice-provincials and delegates, whose delegations have at least twelve perpetually professed, to address various questions with the general consulta…All superiors, respecting just and legitimate differences, should be watchful that what is particular does not harm unity, but, rather, fosters it. They promote amongst the various parts of the Order fraternal communion, the exchange of pastoral experiences and activities inherent in our ministry, and material help’ (n. 79).

In addition to the characteristic aspects of ordinary management of the Order (secretariat, financial administration, ministry, missions…) which always require dialogue at our international meetings, we also always seek to offer space and time to fraternal encounter in order to foster mutual knowledge amongst us all as members of the same religious family. In an atmosphere of sincere and respectful dialogue, we seek to reach necessary discernment as regards the most demanding questions that require greater dedication and a serious in-depth analysis for the good of the whole of our Order.

Amongst the objectives of this meeting there is also that of offering thanks for the over sixty years of presence of the Camillians in Taiwan: a) learning about the various socio-political, cultural and religious aspects of Asian culture; b) an introduction to the exercise of  interreligious dialogue: how to use and live Christian and Catholic phrases in a minority context in relation to other local religions (Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Hinduism); c. learning at a deeper level about our Camillian missionary presence in Asia (Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, India and Australia), between realities and challenges, and exploring the prospects for the development of a Camillian future in Asia; and d) what is the identity of Camillian mission today? Can we define some of its original characteristics?

In his Message for the World Missionary Day of 2017, Pope Francis reminded us constantly that every Christian today is a missionary disciple: ‘The Church’s mission, then, is not to spread a religious ideology, much less to propose a lofty ethical teaching. Many movements throughout the world inspire high ideals or ways to live a meaningful life. Through the mission of the Church, Jesus Christ himself continues to evangelize and act; her mission thus makes present in history the kairos, the favourable time of salvation’

Pope Francis quotes the encyclical Deus Caritas Est (n. 1), reminding us that ‘being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a Person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction”. The world has a substantial need for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He, through the Church, continues the mission of the Good Samaritan, healing the bleeding wounds of humanity and, with the mission of a good Shepherd, ceaselessly looking for those who are lost because of distorted pathways that have no exit.

The mission of the Church (not an end in itself but an instrument and mediation of the Kingdom) is animated by a spirituality of continuous exodus. One is dealing with moving out of one’s own wellbeing, of nurturing the courage to reach all of the fringes that need the light of the gospel (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, n. 20). Our Order as a living part of the Church (cf. Const. n. 1) is profoundly in harmony with the perspective indicated by the Pope.

Our Constitution states: ‘The Church is missionary, and evangelization is the task of the whole people of God. Our Order assumes its role and becomes involved with its special charism in the range of missionary activities, faithful to the Lord’s command to heal the sick and preach the Gospel’ (n. 56).

Lastly, in all our ministerial and missionary activity we have as our Constitutional mandate to express certain fundamental human values as testimony to our faith in the resurrection: ‘By the promotion of health, the treatment of disease and the relief of pain, we cooperate in the work of God the creator, we glorify God in the human body and express our faith in the resurrection’ (n. 45).

This introductory note for our annual meeting of the general government of the Order with the major Superiors seeks to collect certain perceptions and insights about the cultural values that emerged at meetings, conversations, readings and journeys in the continent of China and Taiwan during the month of May 2014. I had accepted an invitation of the Chinese Medical Association to take part as a speaker in Shanghai in an international symposium on ‘Futile and Useless Treatment (Dystanasia) and Palliative Care’. I took advantage of the visit to visit the activities and works of our Camillian religious in Taiwan who recently celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of their arrival on that island, which is also called Formosa, where they bear witness to an important and admirable presence in the world of care and health.

In preparing these notes on a world that has aspects and perspectives that are so different from ours, the world we call the Western world, I remembered that I had read the study of an American author on religious sociology (unfortunately I can no longer remember his name!) who advances the following thesis: the first millennium of the Christian era was characterised by the civilisation of the Mediterranean; the second was characterised by the civilisation of the Atlantic; and the third will be dominated by the populations of Asia, the inhabitants of the region of the Pacific ocean.

At the present time there is no lack of evidence to confirm this thesis. On may think of the frenetic economic development of the Asian megalopolises, with well-organised enormous airports, large viaducts, tunnels, and roads with millions of cars, high-speed trains, and underground systems, but also with the inevitable congestion and a consequent pollution of the air. Everywhere you can see building works with enormous cranes used to build gigantic building complexes. Bicycles have by now been replaced by thousands of modern motorbikes, above all in Taipei.

Lastly, in my report, which takes a summarising form, I will present some data and information of a socio-historical-political and economic character that can help us to understand the leading role of China and Taiwan in Asia.

I was able to develop a bioethical reading of this panorama of Asia starting with my participation in four world congresses on bioethics when I was a member of the executive committee of the International Association of Bioethics (IAB), an organisation that organises events of an international character. These four congresses were: the fourth world congress organised in Tokyo (Japan) in 1998 on the subject ‘Global Bioethics: North-South, East-West’; the seventh world congress organised in Sydney, Australia, in 2004 on the subject ‘Listening Deeply: Creating Bridges between Local Bioethics and Global Bioethics’; the eighth world congress held in Peking (China) in 2006 which addressed the subject ‘Searching for a Just and Healthy Society’; and the tenth world congress held in the city of Singapore in 2010 which discussed the subject ‘Bioethics in the Globalised World’.

This paper will begin with a description of certain socio-cultural and historical aspects of China, as well as the cases of Tibet and Taiwan (1). It will then address some aspects of the Chinese one-child population policy which has recently been made more flexible with permission being given to each couple to have two children, remembering at the same time the grave question of the violation of human rights, starting with the massacre in 1989 in Tiananmen Square (2). It is simply impossible to understand the values, the culture and the sub-culture of Asia without knowing, albeit in an introductory way, about Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. For some scholars of the sciences of religion, we are dealing more with philosophies of life that teach people to behave in a virtuous way and to cultivate harmony and interior peace than with religions because they did not speak about God. What has happened to Christianity in China (3) we will then ask ourselves, and I will emphasise some characteristics of Buddhism and similarities between Jesus and Buddha (4). We can then ask ourselves about what we can learn from the values of Chinese culture (5). Lastly, some characteristics are listed for Asian Confucian bioethics (6) in comparison with European and Anglo-American Western culture, with the identification of some fundamental characteristics of Asian bioethics (7).

Paper given on the occasion of the opening of the annual meeting of the Camillian major Superiors in Taiwan (Lotung, 18-22 June 2018). Fr. Leocir Pessini is the current Superior General of the Camillians (2014-2020). A doctor in moral theology and bioethics at the Faculty of Theology of the Our Lady of the Assumption Pontifical Catholic University of San Paolo (Brazil), he attended courses in clinical pastoral education (CPE) for five units at Saint Luke’s Hospital, Milwaukee, WI, USA. He is the author of numerous works in the fields of bioethics, the theology of pastoral care, and the humanisation of the world of health.

I accompanied the movement of global ethics through participation in these world congresses from the outset with the world congress that was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1994, until the last edition in the year 2016, the eighth world congress, which was held in Edinburgh, Scotland. The next world congress, the fourteenth world congress on bioethics, will be held in India (Karnataka) at the St. John´s National Academy of Health Sciences and its subject will be ‘Health for All in an Unequal World: the Obligations of Global Bioethics’. This a very stimulating and provocative idea for us Camillians above all: this general subject is based on the celebration of various anniversaries in the world of health and health care. In the year 2018 we will commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the  Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN, 10 December 1948) and the fortieth anniversary of the Declaration of Alma Ata whose global goal was ‘health for all by 2000’. More recently, the World Health Organisation has announced the need for ‘universal health coverage’ for all the inhabitants of the planet and called attention to questions connected with fairness in health-care systems.

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