Editorial

This edition of CTC Bulletin is Part II of a Special Issue on the Fourth Congress of Asian Theologians. It carries the second set of papers shared at the Fourth Congress of Asian Theologians (CATS IV) in August 2003, held in Chiang Mai, Thailand on the theme, �Building Communities: Asians in Search of Pedagogies of Encounter�. The first set of papers was published in the April 2004 edition.

Some of these papers were shared in the seven discipline groups that met separately during the Congress. Congress participants chose beforehand the discipline groups they wanted to be part of and several of them prepared papers on their chosen topics to share in those groups. The discipline groups were: (a) Religious Education; (b) Missiology; (c) Biblical Hermeneutics; (d) Ecumenism; (e) Theological Methods; (f) Ethics and Social Analysis; and (g) Spirituality and Liturgy. There were rich discussions within the discipline groups, including suggestions for closer networking, continuing exchange, and for the forthcoming fifth congress.

Two of the papers in this edition were among those shared at the Women�s Forum held a day before the opening of CATS IV proper. The CATS IV Continuation Committee intentionally planned to have a one-day Women�s Forum. This was in response to requests made by the few women in the first three congresses who asked for a time for women to be together in order not to feel �lost� in a usually male-dominated gathering. Indeed, it helped to bring in more women to the congress, so that unlike the previous congresses, where women were so few, CATS IV registered an increase to 30 per cent women out of 100 participants. Furthermore, the CATS IV Continuation Committee took seriously the importance of the Women�s Forum so that time was given in the congress proper to hear their report or statement. This statement is now included in this edition.

Two short papers in this edition come from two African sisters who joined the Women�s Forum and CATS IV proper. Their greetings were shared at the congress proper. In a way they represent the number of non-Asians who have been welcomed to the Congress over these years. Two other theologians � one from Africa and another from Latin America � also gave greetings at the CATS IV proper.

The very presence of African and Latin American theologians in the congress was an indication of the desire for more South-to-South exchange, since we share so much in common among countries of the South. Of course �South� here does not simply mean the geographical location of our countries or regions but more so the socio-political-economic location of our nation-states in relation to the site of power represented by the �North�.

A statement from CATS IV was prepared by a drafting committee composed of representative groups from among the participants.

As in previous congresses, one participant has written a report summarizing what transpired in CATS IV so participants have something to remember it by and also so that those who were not able to attend the congress would be able to have a glimpse or taste of what happened.
Another feature at CATS IV was the election of the members of the Continuation Committee for the next congress. CATS IV participants elected the following as CATS V Continuation Committee members: Nam Soon Kang and Soosai Arokiasamy, co-moderators; Hope S. Antone, secretary; Yangrae Son, treasurer; and Hannah Chen, Mary John Mananzan, Sylvanna Ranti-Apituley and Samuel Ngun Ling, members-at-large. Institutional representatives are: Sientje Merentek-Abram, Edmund Chia, and Samson Prabhakar. They represent different theological associations or organizations as well as sub-regional groupings.

Although the four Congresses of Asian Theologians have been held every two years, the CATS V Continuation Committee decided to hold the next one in 2006 � in response to requests of some founding organizations who will be holding their General Assemblies in 2005. However, the planning for CATS V will already begin in 2005.

Hope S. Antone
Editor