ABOUT APAC

..........Somewhat like its Augustinian sister organisations in Africa (AFA) and Latin America (OALA), the Asia-Pacific Augustinian Conference (APAC) offers itself as a binding force to members of the extended Augustinian family in a very large section of the world.

..........Whereas the regions of AFA and OALA are largely land masses, the APAC area also contains two oceans (the Pacific and Indian Oceans). At its extremities in two different hemispheres, it has countries that require a direct flight of as much as ten hours' duration in a modern aircraft so as to travel from one nation to another.

..........Within the Order of Saint Augustine, APAC includes friars in Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and one Augustinian appointed to Thailand – nations that variously are predominantly Christian, Hindu, Moslem and Buddhist. In these nations, the Order of Saint Augustine currently has a total of almost forty novices distributed in five different novitiates that use four different native languages.

..........As well as in many of the above nations, other APAC member congregations also serve in China (including Taiwan), New Zealand, Tonga and Vietnam.

..........In that APAC embraces all religious orders and congregations that follow the Rule of Augustine and adopt his thought for their primary spirituality, APAC contains over a dozen distinct religious orders and congregations.

..........APAC began thirty years ago as the inspiration of some members of the Augustinian General Chapter in Rome in 1977, at the end of which the first APAC meeting was held. On that inaugural occasion, the late Fr Miguel Manrique O.S.A. of the Province of the Holy Name of Jesus (Philippines) was elected as the first APAC President.

APAC Convention delegates, July 2005.

..........Since that time, three other male religious orders have become involved in APAC: the Augustinian Recollects (OAR), the Discalced Augustinians (OAD) and the Augustinians of the Assumption (AA).

..........The number of female congregations is much greater. The larger of these congregations have been the Augustinian Sisters of Our Lady of Consolation, the Augustinian Recollect Sisters, the Augustinian Missionaries of the Philippines, Kongregasi Susto Santo Augustinus (Indonesia), Augustinian Sisters Servants of Jesus and Mary, four separate monasteries of Augustinian Contemplative Nuns (Philippines), Augustinian Missionary Sisters (Agustinas Misioneras), Little Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, and Religious Sisters of the Assumption.

Some APAC delegates in 2005.

..........APAC has a convention every three years, and an Executive Council that meets a number of times annually. An APAC Bulletin of twenty-two pages is produced twice a year.

..........The current APAC President (2008-2011) is Fr Anthony Banks O.S.A., of the Province of Australia.

...........On the Internet, an APAC news page appears every two months on the web site of the Australian Augustinian Province. Go to http://www.augustinians.org.au/apac.html 

..........More details about APAC can be obtained by contacting its Secretariat, which has a permanent office in Manila ( Philippines): apacphil@yahoo.com