What Dish is Ecclesia in Asia?
To begin, let us look at what exactly is Ecclesia in Asia and how it has been presented to us. In the words of Cardinal Paul Shan, Ecclesia in Asia is “the Magna Carta for the evangelisation of Asia in the Third Millennium.”7 Shan seems to be right on target, for that is exactly what Ecclesia in Asia is – a manual for the evangelisation of Asia. In fact, Ecclesia in Asia itself is explicit about its aims. No attempt is made to hide the fact that it “is a strong affirmation of the need for a new drive for evangelising Asia and expresses a fervent hope that Asia will turn to Christ in the third millennium.”8 To be sure, Ecclesia in Asia begins by expressing this hope “that just as in the first millennium the Cross was planted on the soil of Europe, and in the second on that of the Americas and Africa, we can pray that in the Third Christian Millennium a great harvest of faith will be reaped in this vast and vital continent” (EA, 1). It then continues by saying that the Synod of Bishops f
