By Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha
Toronto, June 29, 2020: Here is a tribute from Archbishop Emeritus Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore, who was associated with Father Bob Astorino, founder editor and editor of Union of Catholic Asian News, who died on June 24 in a hospital in New York.
I salute the passing of my old friend Father Bob Astorino, the founder of Union of Catholic Asian news agency (UCAN). He was a great man who did a lot for the Church in Asia.
Here is my tribute to his dedication!
I knew him personally for many years and was Bureau Chief of UCAN Pakistan.
I admired his strong sense of professional journalism, coupled with his love for the Church in Asia. Thanks to his drive and energy, UCAN was able to bring the vibrant stories of Asian Catholics to a worldwide audience.
The Church in Pakistan is generally called “the unknown church.” But Father Astorino gave a great impetus to this young Church. He encouraged, trained and supported budding journalists of Pakistan. He asked me to serve on the board of Directors of UCAN which I gladly did .
I wish to pay rich tribute to his great services of the Church in Asia. Thanks to his persistent efforts, the stories of the remote Asian churches have reached a worldwide audience. In the present era of digital media, the plight of the poor and marginalized is highlighted in mainline publications.
The Church in Pakistan is generally called the “unknown church “because so little is written about it. But Fr Astorino reversed that trend. He picked, trained and appointed budding journalists in Pakistan.
Especially now in this global pandemic age, when life in Asian cities has come to a screeching halt, there is even more urgent need for Asian Catholic journalists to highlight the impact of Covid 19 on the daily lives of the poor and marginalized.
So it is our hope that the work of UCAN, and the vision of Bob Astorino will become all the more relevant and necessary.
We thank God for Fr Astorino and pray that the good Lord may grant him eternal reward and peace in his kingdom!
(Archbishop Saldanha currently leads his retired life in Toronto, Canada. He was born in Mangalore, India. He received his religious training at the Christ the King seminary in Karachi and was ordained a priest in Lahore, Pakistan January 16, 1960. He has a doctorate in systematic theology from Rome-based Pontifical Urbaniana University. He is among the few surviving participants of the Second Vatican Council. He served as the editor of the Catholic Naqib, the archdiocese’s Urdu bimonthly from 1971-1974. He was also rector of Christ the King Seminary in Karachi from 1974–1979 and taught dogmatic theology there until 1983.
He headed the social communications commission and WAVE Studio, the Church’s national audiovisual center in Lahore during 1986-1998. He was serving as associate pastor of Precious Blood Church in Toronto, Canada, when Pope John Paul II called him back to Pakistan to serve as the Lahore archbishop in 2001. He retired after ten years in 2011, the same year he returned to Canada.)