September 23, 2008 | Vol. 12, N. 8

Father General

      Early in the morning of September 20 Father General left for his visit to Brazil. At the city of Manaus he will attend the meeting of the Conference of Provincials of Latin America (CPAL) to be held September 23-27. After the Conference he will proceed to visit the Amazonian Region where 45 Jesuits work in seven communities. His visit is interpreted as a sign of encouragement to the recently established Region (2005), characterized by the mobility of its apostolic activity organized as “itinerant teams”. (See “Light Cavalry” Yesterday, “Itinerant Team” Today. YEARBOOK S.J. 2004, page 97). Jesuits from the Region are now preparing their intervention in the World Social Forum to be held in the city of Belem at the end of January 2009. They intend to raise their voices in defence of Nature, a vital concern for the people in the Region.

Father General will also visit Belo Horizonte, the only inter-provincial center in Latin America of formation for Jesuits, where the Faculties of Philosophy and Theology are located.

   Immediately after his return to Rome (October 5) Father General will participate in the Synod of Bishops (October 6-26) on the theme “The Word of God in the life and mission of the Church”.

   From September 20-Oct 5 and during the Synod, Father Valentín Menéndez will act as Vicarius ad tempus for matters of ordinary governance in the Society.

Appointments

   Father General has appointed Father Wojciech Ziólek, 45 years old, Provincial of the South Poland Province. He succeeds Father Krzysztof Dyrek.

Curia

   As well as the usual individual visitors, the month of September has registered an unusual number of guests who were attending four main meetings in the Curia: Counsellors of Father General, Presidents of the Provincials Conferences, Treasurers of the United States Provinces and their assistants, and a JRS seminar for volunteers. Twenty eight of the guests stayed at the Curia. Others stayed at the Canisio Community and at the Residence for lay people.

   After the XV World Assembly celebrated in Fatima August 12-21, the Secretariat of the Christian Life Community (CVX) has made available the following documents:
-Talk of Father General to the Assembly;
-Final Document of the Assembly;
-Handbook of the CVX Ecclesiastical Assistant.
Requests from: cvx-at-sjcuria.org
These documents are available in English, French and Spanish.

   Social Justice Secretariat: Ignatian Ecology Network.
Starting with a summary of what the 35 General Congregation declared regarding “Ecology and the Society of Jesus”, the Social Justice Secretariat has formulated several questions inviting Jesuits to offer Father General their own answers and suggestions. To receive the summary and the questions, write to ecology-at-sjcuria.org

From the provinces

Bihar, Haiti, Cuba
Reports from several parts of the Society regarding the devastation caused by recent hurricanes, has moved Father General to send financial help from FACSI to the state of Bihar (Patna Province), Haiti and Cuba. In the state of Bihar the flooding left more than 2 million people homeless. For Haiti it has been estimated that 100 million $USD will be needed for the reconstruction. An official announcement in La Habana reported that all the reserves of the country to help people were exhausted.

Sweden
Together with two female religious, Father Brian O’Leary, of the Irish Province, has concluded recently a course of the Spiritual Exercises for Lutheran Pastors in the Jesuit Retreat House at Gothenburg. Sister Adelheid, of Germany, a member of the Sacred Heart Congregation, started the movement several years ago. The Exercises are conducted in silence with daily periods of personal direction. Father O’Leary found that many of the Pastors were anxious to contact the Catholic Church at the spiritual rather than the ecclesiastical level. The future of this activity however is not rosy because at the beginning of 2009 the Sacred Heart Sisters are pulling out of Sweden and without the inspiration of Sister Adelheid, the British and Irish Jesuits who have been called to conduct the Retreats wonder if it will be possible to keep the program alive.