During a meeting of the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences (FABC) held in Manila, bishops discuss and express their grief over sad events affecting the Catholic church in Asia. According to Philippine Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, marriage of couples with different religions has resulted in dwindling numbers of Catholics. More specifically, Asians who marry into families with different religious beliefs tend to convert to their spouse’s religion, especially if he or she is the only one dissimilar in the area.

Another problem seems to be the dwindling of young men entering priesthood. According to Cardinal Oswald Gracias of India, secularisation has prompted Christian families into having fewer children. He added that the number of girls entering convent is significantly more than the number of boys entering seminaries.

A reason cited by Pakistani Archbishop John Saldanha mentions that poverty prevents parents from sending their sons to seminaries as the move is a “big sacrifice”.

The meeting was concluded with a call for strengthening the Eucharistic celebration. According to the high ranking member of clergy of Asia, the Eucharist must be made into a “transforming event” through sufficient preparation, celebration and encouraging homilies. The meeting was attended by more or less 120 church leaders with the present Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments Francisco Cardinal Arinze representing Pope Benedict XVI.

However, some Filipino’s seem to be leaning away from religion as more and more church leaders are expressing their intent to join politics. With policy affairs generally getting negative views from the people, it is sometimes not surprising that church goers are starting to become hesitant with the emergence of priests turned politicians. The Palace has also commented on such through Presidential Spokesman Gary Olivar saying that religious leaders planning to enter politics must be the first ones to practice the humility that they preach.