OUR pROGAM
Asian Youth Academy (AYA) / Asian Theology Forum (ATF) 2025
Theme: “Asian Christianity’s Critical Approach to COP 30, UN-led SDGs and Religious Nationalism from the View of Peoples Caught in a Desperate Situation in Asia”
August 16-26, 2025
Taman Eden, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
CONCEPT NOTE
OVERVIEW
As we look forward to the year 2025, Asian Christianity finds itself at a pivotal moment within civil society, navigating a landscape shaped by ongoing geopolitical tensions and rapid technological advancements. The world continues to grapple with wars and conflicts such as those in Ukraine and Gaza, underscoring the urgent need for peacebuilding efforts championed by religious communities including Asian Christianity especially Catholic Churches in the continent. Simultaneously, using artificial intelligence (AI) in workplaces more and more looks reshaping global labor dynamics, ushering in an era of increased automation and the proliferation of various type of contract or an ultra-short parttime workers such as “gig laborers”. That has been a great challenge to many countries in Asia where young people in general and Catholic youth in particular who have joined Asian Lay Leaders (ALL) Forum’s programs once or twice have suffered also. This trend exacerbates socioeconomic disparities, polarizing the gap between the rich and the poor, or the affluent and the marginalized in nearly all countries in Asia. Asian Christianity, represented prominently by organizations like the ALL Forum, acknowledges these challenges and aims to advocate for human dignity and rights of laborers, peasants, jobless women and young ones, and descent working condition, fair wage for their labor and equitable opportunities to get a job in this evolving digital landscape.
The international community’s commitment to sustainable development is underscored by steppingstones such as COP29 and COP30 in 2024 and 2025 each, where crucial decisions are required to be made for global environmental policies. These conferences are to be improvement of the COP28 discussions whose results were not advanced nor progressive, so they should be going forward to advancing initiatives like the “Paris Agreement” in COP21 in 2015 which is crucial for mitigating climate change impacts. Asian Christianity, influenced by principles articulated in the Pope Francis’ another Apostolic Exhortation called “Praise God” (Laudate Deum, 2023) as a follow-up of Laudato Si (2015) should play a significant role in advocating for environmental stewardship and sustainable living practices across diverse communities in Asia. Furthermore, the countdown to completing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 intensifies, with only five years remaining to meet critical targets especially in poverty alleviation, education, gender equality, healthcare, and environmental sustainability. The Asian Christian community, through educational platforms for youth like the ALL Forum, aligns its efforts with these global objectives, focusing on poverty reduction, ecological justice, and empowerment of women and the marginalized
groups as integral components of its mission.
Inwardly, the world Catholic Churches have finally finished the three year-long “Synod on Synodality” termed and driven by Pope Francis in October 2024. But we should remember and keep in mind that the synod of the whole People of God, a representative ecclesiology of Vatican II, has not been ‘ended’ nor ‘completed’. It rather should be regarded as a starting point or a steppingstone to move forward to Synodality or Synodal Church, by implementing and living out how to “walk or journey together with the whole People of God”, or simply, “working and collaborating with laypeople”. Indeed, it would be the key that whether the synod remains no significant change like before or could go one step further to become synodal or collaborative Church is up to very much bishops willing or not
willing to work with laypeople. Therefore, it is a great challenge for bishops to follow or succeed the spirit of Vatican II called “collegiality” of bishops to be integrated into “synodality” of the whole People of God.
Speaking of Vatican II, the world Churches will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the closure of the first ever “pastoral council” in the Church history in 2025. ALL Forum should focus on its 16 documents especially 4 “Constitutions” and significant “Decrees” and “Declarations” for young lay leaders in Asia.
THEME & THE KEY ISSUES
1) Jubilee year 2025: ‘Abolition of Debts’ of the 3rd World countries: In his speech on the Jubilee year 2025, Pope Francis proposed to “forgive the debts of countries that will never be able to repay them”. It is an appropriate proposal in a way that reminds us of the Jubilee should be the year of “liberation” for
the oppressed. In the similar way, it reminds us of the origins of that debt deeply rooted in colonialism, and also the fact that many of those especially the poor and the marginalized are still suffering from its effects today.
2) Cry of the Poor & Cry of the Earth: Integral Ecology: Against the backdrop of COP 29 and 30 discussions, Asian Christianity especially Catholic community has emphasized Laudato Si and Laudate Deum principles to advocate for environmental stewardship and sustainable living practices. It is quite meaningful to focus especially on the Laudato Si precisely because we celebrate the 10th anniversary of its publication in 2025. During Covid19 many of political, social and economic leaders in the world have talked much about “new normal” which requires especially change of human conscience. But after the pandemic was over all of them totally forgot about it and got back to “old normal” treating the earth and creatures as the same way as before. Therefore, the urgency of addressing climate change and environmental degradation is still relevant and needed. For these global discussions at COP29 in 2024, COP30, COP31 and COP32 which could impact future environmental policies, ALL Forum needs to educate young leaders on what the global meetings are all about and the ways how Asian Christianity is to respond to this move. By promoting sustainable lifestyles, advocating for climate justice, and supporting communities vulnerable to environmental impacts, ALL Forum fosters a sense of ecological responsibility among Catholic youth and make a connection of it to the nature-friendly lifestyle of Indigenous Peoples prevalent in many countries in Asia.
3) Faith in God vs. Neo-Liberalism: Asian Christianity, through educational platform like ALL Forum, should be alert to the technological disruption and economic inequality forced by the open-market policy of each country or Neo-Liberalism pushing the ‘gig economy’ on labor markets in the world. Efforts are focused on advocating for policies that safeguard worker rights, ensure fair wages, and promote sustainable livelihoods amidst technological disruption. This dehumanizing neoliberalism, which survives only by trampling on others and outcompeting them, cannot coexist with Christian faith in God. It is simply because this economic system of infinite competition produces the “structural sin” of survival by beating others in a race to the death.
4) 60th Anniversary of Vatican II, Synodality and Social Justice & Peace: It is right time for ALL Forum to provide Asian youth with opportunities of learning and reflecting the message of Vatican II and its 16 documents on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the closure of the council in 2025. Building on the principles of synodality and dialogue among the whole People of God, one of representative ecclessiologies of Vatican II, Asian Christian communities are poised to deepen their engagement in social justice & peace initiatives.
5) Rise of Religious Nationalism vs. Interreligious-cultural Spirituality: Countries like India, Indonesia and Phillippines have experienced the rise of religious extremism, fueled by nationalist agendas and sectarian ideologies. In India, the influence of Hindu nationalism or Hindutva under the current Prime Minister has led to polarization and discrimination against minority communities especially Muslims. Similarly, Indonesia and Philippines have seen the infiltration of Islamic extremist groups, posing potential or real threats to religious pluralism and social integration. ALL Forum addresses these challenges by equipping young leaders with the tools to promote interreligious/intercultural dialogue, religious tolerance, and advocacy for marginalized communities.
TIME TABLE
The format of the AYA/ATF program is Exposure-Immersion; Workshop; Cultural Exploration & Visitation. Read more the program detail schedule here.