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| Father Robert Astorino, MM (1943- 2020) Photo: Christopher Khoo |
Grief has overtaken me since the news came out of the blue. Maryknoll priest Father Robert Astorino (popularly known as Father Bob) passed away in New York on June 25. He was 77. Following his ordination in 1970 he came to Hong Kong as a missionary and spent most of his 50 years of priestly life in Asia. Father Bob was my first guru in journalism and I believe if I did not meet him 2009 I could not stay in this field and accept it as a personal and collective mission. I am so shocked as if I have lost my father, but I am unable cry. I have resorted to writing, what he has taught me like many others, to pay a tribute to him.
Literally, Father Bob was the messiah for the Catholic Church in Asia when it comes to social communication. In the 1970s, he found local Catholic Churches didn't know each other well in absence of effective communication channels. Thus, he dedicated himself in developing and leading the media mission for the Catholic Church in Asia for over next three decades. In 1979, he founded Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN), the largest Christian news agency in Asia, in Hong Kong. He led the agency as the executive director until 2008. He traveled across Asia, developed 14 bureaus covering 22 countries and trained dozens journalists for UCAN, many of whom went on to become journalists for the secular press as well. As a skilled trainer he taught people how to see, listen and feel everything in Asia in their originality and to put them in words properly and effectively. He was rewarded for his outstanding services. In 1998, Catholic Press Association in the United States awarded him the Bishop John England Award. For many years he served as a consulter for the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
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| Father Bob with reporters during a training in Bangladesh in 2009 |
Father Bob was my first and so far the best mentor in journalism. He trained me with others in journalism and Catholic Church's mission in Asia among many other things in Bangladesh and Thailand on three occasions in 2009. He is the best human communicator I have ever met in my life. I didn't have a chance to work with him, but he has made a lasting impression on my life and career path. He was a simple, saintly and fatherly figure to all who met and came in touch with him.
He was a highly trained media professional with a great heart full of love and compassion for people and culture in Asia. He always encouraged people to be committed to truth and to see extraordinary in ordinary things. I will never forget his prophetic words: "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." He was a great admirer of inter-faith dialogue. I remember how he trained us to love and to see good things in non-Christians, especially Muslims during a training in Bangkok. "Christians are a minority in Asia, but they have survived because people of other faiths have supported them. That is the beauty of inter-faith harmony." He recalled that he was shocked over the 9/11 terrorist attack on Twin Towers. "I was thundered! I realized Christians have failed to have a good dialogue with people who grew up with so much hatred that exploded in such a tragic way!"
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| Father Bob with reporters from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore and Mongolia at UCAN House, Bangkok, Thailand (2009) |
Father Bob was a gift for the Church in Asia and world. Thus, his demise is a great loss for Catholic Church in Asia as well the universal Church. He might have ended his race of life and faith, but his great life and works will continue to inspire many in the days to come. He was a star that will keep flashing and enlightening forever. May God grant his great servant eternal rest in heaven.
*A number of prominent media outlets covered the news of the demise of Father Bob and also paid tributes to him. They are as follows:
UCAN
Asia News
Catholic News Service
National Catholic Reporter
Matters India
LiCAS News
Herald Malaysia
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