By LiCAS.news
INDIGENOUS leaders from eight Asian countries have urged the Catholic Church to confront and dismantle colonial mindsets that continue to marginalize Indigenous peoples within its structures, theology, and pastoral life.
The call was articulated in a collective statement issued at the conclusion of the Training of Trainers on Ancestral Wisdom and Organic Intellectual Leadership, organized by ROOTS Asia, the Catholic Network of Indigenous Peoples of Asia.
The gathering brought together Indigenous leaders engaged in Catholic communities from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.
Meeting first in Chiang Mai, Thailand and then subsequently online, the participants emphasized that decolonization remains an urgent and ongoing task within the Church, alongside wider political and social processes.
They underscored that inherited colonial frameworks have historically weakened Indigenous knowledge systems and spiritual traditions, resulting in the exclusion of Indigenous voices from leadership formation, theological reflection, and decision-making within Church life.
The statement affirmed that Indigenous ways of knowing are dynamic and grounded in lived experience, community memory, and ecological relationships.
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