The Federation of Episcopal Conferences of Asia (FABC) is holding its XII Plenary Assembly in Jakarta these days, a meeting that gathers bishops from the continent approximately every four years along with theologians, specialists, and pastoral leaders to reflect on the main challenges facing the Church in Asia. Under the theme “Synodal conversion and the mission of building bridges of communion in Asia”, the assembly has counted on the participation of representatives from the Holy See and various invited speakers, including Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Malaysian theologian Choong Pui Yee, and Czech priest and thinker Tomáš Halík.
Halík’s presence is not coincidental. A priest ordained clandestinely during the communist regime of former Czechoslovakia, a collaborator of President Václav Havel after the recovery of democracy, and a Professor of Sociology at Charles University in Prague, he is considered one of the most influential voices in European Christian thought. In 2014, he received the prestigious Templeton Prize for his contribution to the dialogue between faith and culture, and much of his work revolves around the encounter between believers and non-believers, secularization, and the spiritual renewal of the Church.
In his address, Halík stated that the greatest crisis of contemporary world is not solely political or economic, but a crisis of trust, of meaning, and of capacity to understand reality. In his view, the mission of the Church does not consist so much in offering immediate answers to all problems as in forming communities where people learn to look deeply, to discern, and to discover the presence of God in everyday life. From this perspective, synodality would not just be a reform of ecclesial structures, but a way of walking together that also transforms the manner of listening and dialoguing.
His proposals have occasionally sparked debate within the Church due to his defense of greater openness to dialogue with contemporary culture and his insistence on a pastoral renewal that prioritizes welcome, listening, and discernment. However, he has never been subject to doctrinal sanctions and is today recognized internationally as one of the most influential Catholic theologians of our time.
An invitation to look differently
In times when immediacy seems to demand answers for everything, Halík proposes recovering a humbler and more profoundly evangelical learning: to stop, to listen, and to look at reality deeply before passing judgment. Perhaps there lies one of the most urgent tasks of the Church in the 21st century. Not so much multiplying answers as helping people discover truer questions and a gaze capable of recognizing God’s presence in life.
Inma Calvo
Sources consulted
Fides Agency. Tomáš Halík at the FABC Assembly: “The future of Christianity will depend on whether our communities become spaces where people learn to truly see”.
Federation of Episcopal Conferences of Asia (FABC). Information about the XII Plenary Assembly held in Jakarta.
Templeton Prize. Biography of Tomáš Halík.
Charles University in Prague. Academic profile of Tomáš Halík.