Ecclesia of Women in Asia

This is a collection of essays originally presented at the inaugural conference of Ecclesia of Women in Asia: Gathering the Voices of the Silenced, held in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2002. It is important for readers to understand the background of the conference as inspiration for the book. The Ecclesia of Women in Asia (EWA) conference was a groundbreaking event in Asian theology for it was the first one organized by and for Asian Catholic women theologians and activists. The conference had a three-fold purpose: (1) to voice Asian Catholic women's perspectives; (2) to systematically reflect on the theology of the Asian Catholic Church from women's perspectives; and (3) to suggest a new model for the church in Asia. There are several important matters that inspired Asian Catholic women theologians to organize the conference. The first was a conference of Asian Catholic theologians held in India in 2001 to reflect on the 1999 Post-Synodal document, Ecclesia in Asia. The Post-Synodal document volunteered that Asian Bishops are concerned about Asian women's status, rights, and dignity in the church. However, when Asian Catholic theologians gathered for theological reflection and discussion of the document, male theologians primarily did the talking. So after the conference, women participants organized a gathering of Asian Catholic women theologians, called EWA, which subsequently became the title of this book.

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