‘No pressure to convert to Catholicism’: UST CCM vows to non-Catholics
Non-Catholics are required to respect the university’s traditions, but will not be pressured to be converted to Catholicism.
This is the assurance of UST Center for Campus Ministry (UST CCM) to non-Catholics, after their administrators attended the 25th Association of Southeast and East Asian Catholic Colleges and Universities Conference at the Assumption University of Thailand last Aug. 21 to 27.
Richard Pazcoguin, director of UST CCM, said the ‘no pressure to convert’ will be the campus ministry’s approach to non-Catholic audience inside the university.
“Right now, while non-Catholics are required to respect the traditions of [UST], there is no pressure to convert them to Catholicism,” he said in an interview with The Spiral Journal.
Pazcoguin cited Fr. Amnuay Yoonprayong, the vice president for Moral Development Education of the Assumption University, who shared their campus ministry strategies to the conference delegates.
“[We] learned from him that preaching the Gospel to a non-Catholic audience means focusing on moral values which are universally shared by people of different faiths, even of atheists,” he said.
Pazcoguin clarified that the attendance of non-Catholics to Catholic activities is not a form of conversion.
The director explained the UST CCM’s formation programs as their efforts to form a Christ-centered community, regardless of religion, in the university.
“[The university] is looking into the possibility of providing prayer spaces for our non- Catholic students, especially foreign students, who have no places of worship in proximity to the campus” he said.
“Pastoral care for students with special needs is also considered now as a concern,” he added.
Other representatives of UST CCM in the conference were Campus Ministry assistant Albert Loteyro and assistant director Girly Constantino.
The conference is an annual meeting of administrators, students, and scholars from Catholic higher learning institutions in Southeast and East Asian countries. with reports from C.C. Fabro and M. A. N. T. Fabricante