By Joy Ampiloquio

Peter came up and asked Jesus, ‘Lord, when my brother wrongs me, how often must I forgive him? Seven times?’ ‘No,’ Jesus replied, ‘Not seven times; I say, seventy times seven times’ (Matthew 18:21-22).

Stricken with guilt

There was a release of guilt on her part. Guilt, as defined by the dictionary, is a condition of having done wrong. It is concerned with a deed which has violated certain norms. ‘The violated norms involved in guilt are often, but not always, moral’ (Aaron Ben Ze’ev: The Subtlety of Emotions, p. 498). We feel guilty after doing something which is forbidden and it typically involves some harm to another agent. This student felt guilty and, at some point, thought that her impulsive action was wrong. When people feel guilty, they try to repair what they have done by apologizing, explaining themselves, offering excuses, confessing and making amends.

By Joy Ampiloquio

This reflection is born from the writer’s experience of being in a multi-religious work context in Taiwan and journeying with young people who are searching for meaning in life. In many instances, students share that they feel so at home and able to open their hearts. The writer also has some Buddhist friends who marvel at the fact that a Catholic is willing to be nourished by their practice of meditation.

By Sr Ditma Luz Trocio MIC

A missionary from Baroy, Lanao del Norte, Sr Ditma Luz Trocio is well aware of the plight of migrant workers, particularly that of domestics, in Taipei. Her various commitments in the parish allow her fruitful occasions to meet some overseas contract workers and learn more about their life experience. Sr Ditma Luz was executive secretary of the Asian Meeting of Religious (AMOR) when the secretariat was based inTaipei. AMOR is an organization of Asia-Pacific religious deeply concerned with the empowerment of oppressed women. She speaks to us about this ministry where together people try to find, and open, spaces of solidarity and justice.

It is a well-known fact. Since about 1990, Taiwan has become one of the favored destinations of a large number of job seekers and capital investors from all over the world. This country’s economic miracle and financial prowess have thus attracted multicultural groups, who as a whole, form a complex society. Workers from Thailand, presently the most numerous, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, India, from African countries and some from the West, have flocked to Taiwan as Overseas Contract Workers (OCWs). Forced by circumstances to work as domestics, migrant workers are hired for specific jobs and are expected to leave Taiwan at the end of a two-year contract. This policy seeks to avoid keeping undesirable migrants in the country as much as it is meant to prevent abusive practices by employers. Issues of injustice, of human rights violations, sex exploitation and other social problems have sprung up. On the other hand some ‘quiet’ churches have become alive because of the presence of Catholic migrant workers who flock to them every Sunday. Some domestic workers who are professionals and deeply committed to their faith have, by their Christian witnessing and sharing of the basic tenets of the faith, influenced the families they work for.

An interview with Cora Mateo, Asia Youth Day pioneer

BANGALORE, India (UCAN) -- Young Catholics in Asia is not leaving the Church, but the Church is keeping distant from them, says the former executive secretary of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC) Office of Laity.

Cora Mateo from the Philippines was very involved in the beginnings of Asian Youth Day (AYD), a biennial gathering of Catholic youth from Asian countries. UCA News interviewed her in Bangalore,India, 2,060 kilometers south of New Delhi, during the third AYD celebration, held Aug. 9-15. The first two were held in 1999 in Thailand and in 2001 in Taiwan.