Author: 爵醒
Prayers for Fr Nico
For more than three weeks now, Fr Adolfo Nicolás SJ has been in the hospital, receiving good medical treatment, and enjoying the close care of our brethren of the Japan Province. His condition is now stable. The Jesuits in Japan, the Conference of Major Superiors of Asia Pacific and the General Curia of the Society of Jesus request all Jesuits, partners in mission, and friends for prayers.
~Statement released by Fr Antoine Kerhuel SJ, Secretary of the Society of Jesus
JesCom Vietnam trains young Catholics as communicators for the church
In a span of 18 months, Jesuit Communications (JesCom) Vietnam trained nearly 300 young Vietnamese Catholics in media literacy through their Media Education Project.
Inspired by the CommLab programme of SIGNIS, the project, which was started by Fr Nguyen Van Yen SJ and CommLab programme alumnus Vi Cao, aimed at providing media skills and knowledge to young people and to connect them as a network from which they could find spiritual and practical support.
A total of 22 courses have been conducted for 286 young Catholics across the country since March 2017. The alumni network is coordinated by members empowered by the JesCom committee in Vietnam.
On September 29, the programme officially ended with an evaluation workshop. Twenty-two participants representing the 22 courses shared their experiences and motivations along with their vision for a future project that echoes the success of the programme.
“Our workshop invitation received a prompt response from youth groups, parishes, dioceses and individuals. However, we must not only ask what JesCom Vietnam can do for us, but also what we have to offer to the church through communications and JesCom,” said Deputy Head of JesCom Vietnam Brother Thien Kinh SJ.
The evaluation sought to improve the programme further by asking the participants to identify gaps in human resource allocation, decision-making processes, training content, network management and financial resources.
At the end of the workshop, Vo Quoc Vuong, an alumnus from the 14th training course in the Vinh Province said: “There are 24 members of our course and after a year, we still keep in touch with each other. We connect with each other beyond the skills we shared, we perform online evaluation every day and we do mission trips even though our financial support is limited and most of us are still students. As millennials, traveling to extremely poor areas and discovering the real struggle of children without basic needs such as clothes, food or school materials, and seeing a dedicated parish priest who has to run back and forth between chapels that are 70 kilometres apart made us burst into tears. We found the true reason for our mission as communicators.”
The Media Education Project will be renewed with improvements to better empower the youth with adequate communication tools.
Ignatian year: a call to conversion
Superior General of the Society of Jesus Fr Arturo Sosa SJ has officially announced the celebration of the Ignatian year to commemorate 500 years since the conversion of St Ignatius in 2021 and 400 years since the canonisation of St Ignatius and St Francis Xavier in 2022. Continue reading “Ignatian year: a call to conversion”
Q&A with #FatherGeneral: What do you think about Pope Francis?
Pope Francis is a Jesuit. We asked the General of the Jesuits, Fr. Arturo Sosa, SJ, to tell us what he thinks of the current Pope and what he is bringing to the Church.
How education can shape a nation: the Jesuit commitment to peace and justice in Myanmar
First of two parts
As a secondary teacher in Australia, school holidays are an opportunity to rest and regenerate. Sometimes they present opportunities to travel and encounter the lives and cultures of people far different from our own. In July I had the opportunity to visit Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), my first visit to this country. Any visitor can’t help but be struck by the landscapes dotted with golden pagodas and ancient temples. Along with opportunities to encounter the diverse cultural life of the people, my visit also gave me some moving and inspiring experiences of the transformative power of education.
Only in recent years has Myanmar emerged from decades of oppressive military rule. Even though civilian leadership and the opening up of the economy have encouraged social reforms and rapid development, the military continue to cast a strong and controlling shadow over political and economic life. Myanmar continues to suffer the legacies of this repressive rule: ongoing conflicts, forced displacement and widespread poverty. While the brutal campaigns against the Rohingya have caught the attention of western media, other ethnic minorities also continue to suffer from enduring conflict and the insecurity and harsh conditions of displacement camps. Health and education services for the general population have been neglected for decades. Yet the country has become one of the world’s top producers of heroin along with a growing trade in human trafficking. Too many people live on the margins, excluded from the opportunities of development and vulnerable to exploitation.
It is at these margins of society that the Myanmar Jesuit community focuses its efforts. Supported by Jesuit Mission, the Jesuits run education projects which give students access to quality education through scholarships, teacher training, language courses and two higher education institutes: St Aloysius Gonzaga Institute of Higher Studies (SAG) and the Campion Institute.
In Myanmar, the Jesuits are unable to offer the quality secondary education that distinguishes their schools in other parts of the world. Catholic schools were seized by the military government in 1965 as part of its nationalisation programme. The government continues to be responsible for primary and secondary schools but the quality of education is poor due to inadequate resources, facilities training and expertise. Passing by one primary school I was struck by the noise coming from the classrooms. The students in crowded classrooms were waving and throwing paper planes out the window. Surprised, I asked about this and was told many teachers had given up trying to teach as the power had been off for the past four hours, a regular occurrence. How else could it be in such heat with no light and no fans?
The Church in Myanmar has tried to address this situation through the development of boarding houses in parishes across the country to enable village children to attend the government schools and also receive supplementary lessons in the boarding homes.
The Jesuit education programmes target students who often face barriers to accessing educational opportunities due to their ethnic background or economic and social circumstances. Hungry to acquire skills and knowledge, students also benefit from an Ignatian approach to teaching – developing critical thinking skills, striving to develop their full potential, actively discerning the best path forward and using their gifts and talents for the service of their community. This is a powerful and long-term vision of education as a vehicle to re-build a nation that values the lives of all its people.
The Jesuits have also established the Yangon Loyola Community College which provides vocational training for young people who are usually excluded from access to such programmes. Training is provided in the areas of accountancy, computers, English and life skills. Work experience placements are also organised for the students. In its first year, 15 out of the 16 graduates were able to find full-time employment. Such a success has a profound impact on the young students, building their skills, confidence and engagement with the broader community. The Iñigo English Academy provides English language training in day, afternoon or evening classes. The classes are structured so that while learning English, the students experience and appreciate dialogue between the different ethnic and religious backgrounds. Such opportunities are significant in this ethnically diverse and often fractured society. The warm rapport between teachers and students nurtures a supportive learning community and helps to build the confidence of students. Between morning and afternoon sessions, the classroom is transformed into a dining area where teachers and students share their simple meals and conversation. Here, the divisions and prejudices experienced in broader society do not exist. Despite its humble surrounds and regular power outages, one quickly senses that the energy and commitment of all involved in this educational enterprise will transform lives and, hopefully, the society around them.
The Jesuit tradition of service learning at TBC
One of the distinguishing features of Jesuit education is the inclusion of community service in the curriculum. The Beijing Center (TBC) is rooted in the Ignatian tradition of being “men and women for others”.
Since TBC’s founding in 1998, students in the study abroad programme participate in service learning activities each semester in Beijing. As persons for others, they’ve volunteered with disadvantaged youth, worked as English tutors and helped renovate classrooms in the Beijing suburbs.
This fall semester, students from 11 Jesuit universities in the United States and two from Colombia are participating in TBC’s service learning activities. On September 21 they spent an entire day at the Bethel China Foundation, an organisation which provides support to thousands of vulnerable children through training and outreach at five different locations across the country. One of their projects called “Love is Blind” serves young orphaned children who suffer from visual impairments.
Loyola University Maryland student Zachary met a small girl named Callie at Bethel. “She was very outgoing and had more energy than most of the TBC students combined”, he writes. “This was the highlight of my weekend; to be able to see the happiness in her eyes, and more so, the difference one person can make in someone’s life.”
More service learning opportunities are lined up in October and November, and on November 17, TBC will host its annual fundraiser dinner themed the “Feast of Bartimaeus” with university staff, non-profit and business partners, scholars, professors, alumni, students and their families. The event will showcase the wonderful service learning work the students have done this semester with partner charity organisations, working with disadvantaged youth in Beijing.
“Being that The Beijing Center is a Jesuit organisation, we value service and community as a crucial part of our academic and social life in China,” writes Zachary. “TBC offers plenty of these types of volunteer opportunities and strongly recommends them, as they are eye-opening experiences to say the least!”
Read Zachary’s reflection here.
JCAP on dialogue with Islam: turning visions into action
Interfaith dialogue is not for the faint-hearted. The challenges that come with the territory are many and difficult. Successful initiatives are usually sustained by visions that give collective efforts meaning and direction. In interfaith dialogue, the vision is usually of a better world where unity and harmony among peoples of diverse cultures and beliefs are realised from the heart of faith.
Meeting Fr Greg Soetomo SJ at the Ateneo de Manila University in mid-2017 was another “call” of faith in my two decades of journey in the field. Fr Greg, an Indonesian Jesuit, currently serves as the Coordinator for Dialogue with Islam of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP). Upon his invitation, Mona Lisa Pangan and I attended our first meeting with Jesuits among Muslims in Asia (JAMIA) in Negombo, Sri Lanka late in December 2018.
Mona is a young and feisty woman from Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao who has been actively engaged in promoting various forms of Muslim-Christian dialogue in that conflict-ridden southern region of the Philippines. We both appreciate the efforts of our Jesuit brothers to live up to their Universal Apostolic Preferences in the area of reconciliation. We see that this offers many avenues for them to address–through mutually respectful Muslim-Christian collaboration–such pressing problems as the climate crisis, poverty, violent extremism and conflict.
The conference of JAMIA in Sri Lanka was followed nine months later by a second conference held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia from September 14-15, 2019.
The Yogyakarta conference was significant because it was the first time that the Jesuits met and worked together with members of the Asian Muslim Action Network (AMAN). Their work together unfolded not without its challenges. But everyone was earnest about crafting curriculums for various educational programmes that, as JCAP President Fr Antonio F Moreno SJ emphasised at the Sri Lanka conference, would be responsive to the “call” to service among Jesuits labouring in this area of ministry. The programmes that would be finalised would be part of a five-year plan which could be turned into project proposals for possible funding, he said. This was the challenge and invitation issued to JAMIA then that was being responded to promptly at the conference in Yogyakarta.
AMAN and JAMIA took the first step in turning into action their shared vision of mutually respectful and harmonious relationships between Muslims and Christians in Asia.
Among the Jesuits who welcomed AMAN were JAMIA members Fr Greg Soetomo SJ, Fr Heru Prakosa SJ, Fr Heri Setiawan SJ and Fr Sigit Setyo Wibowo SJ. They were joined by Fr JN Hariyanto SJ of the Indonesian Province and members of the academic community of Sanata Dharma University Dr Eka Priyatma and Fr P Bambang SJ who stood in for Fr Bagus Laksana SJ (who was unable to join us because his father just passed away). Other invited participants were: Dr Budi Hernawan and Ahmad Nashrullah of the International Committee of the Red Cross Indonesia, Fr Joko Lelono and Fr Sigit Pranoto SCJ.
AMAN was represented by Mr Muhammad Sabur (Thailand), Mohammad Ashraf Ali (India), Mufti Dr Abdus Salam and Mr Chit Ko Ko Nasir (Myanmar), Dr Ehsanul Huq Milan, Mr Md Abdul Momen Sarker and Mr Ishak Mia (Bangladesh). They were joined by Muslim intellectuals Dr Revianto Budi Santoso and Mr Eko Riyadi from the Indonesian Islamic University of Yogyakarta.
The conference had three parts. The first part focused on presentations on Texts and Contexts with interesting presentations on The Role of Interfaith Dialogue (Muslim-Christian Relation) in the Context of Contemporary Asia. This included some sharing of perspectives on what can be done and of experiences in the fields of conflict.
The second part was where the collaborative work was most intense. Participants were divided into working groups to craft programme modules for three different areas of engagement, namely: university-based education and training, out of school projects and activities involving youth participants, and social work and service ministries. Each area had to cater to the need for knowledge, understanding and skills which could be useful in addressing poverty and injustice, the climate crisis, political economy, conflict transformation and peacebuilding.
The third part was brief but inspiring as each group shared with the rest of us their respective programme modules. Each programme was a significant work-in-progress that would go through an ongoing process of development, strategic planning, implementation and evaluation within the next two years. This is to ensure that our shared visions are realised within the framework of the five-year plan of JCAP.
Much has been accomplished in the short period that the Jesuits and AMAN were together. This has set their mission of reconciliation in motion. Mona and I are happy to go with the flow of this grace-filled initiative at this point in our journey.
Marites Guingona-Africa PhD is the founder of The Peacemakers’ Circle Foundation Inc , a non-profit Manila-based non-government organisation that promotes various forms of dialogue among peoples of diverse cultures and beliefs. She currently teaches courses on Muslim-Christian Dialogue for Nation-Building and Conflict Transformation for Peace Among Religions at the Ateneo de Manila University.
Ignatian educators “go back” to high school
On the morning of September 19, the junior and senior high schools of Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu in the Philippines opened their doors to welcome 50 Ignatian educators from Asia Pacific into their classrooms. They were participants in the second Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) workshop on the Principle and Foundation of Jesuit Education. They came from Timor-Leste, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Taiwan, Pakistan and the Philippines.
The activity, called Student Accompaniment Program, is a concrete response to the Universal Society’s call to “accompany the youth in the creation of a hope-filled future”. Moreover, true to the spirit of Ignatian Pedagogy, it was also an exercise in empathy with the participants immersing themselves in the students’ context. All through that morning they were led by the high school students assigned to guide them through a typical day in their high school life.
The Student Accompaniment Program was, for many participants, the highlight of the workshop. It was a rare opportunity for these educators to actually sit through the classes we offer our students.
“I became a student again,” shared Ling Yun So from Hong Kong. “I experienced that long lost feeling of being a student.”
“It’s already been 30 years [since high school] and I became very curious and actually a little bit scared and worried because I found out this morning that there were quizzes and I didn’t know if I was ready to take them!” said Maricar Kristin Panganiban from the Philippines.
The participants were grateful for the meaningful insights they obtained as a result of the activity. Some even considered the experience an eye-opener as an educator even if their contexts may differ from Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu in some way.
Nevertheless, thanks to our gracious hosts led by the School President, Fr Manny Uy SJ, the workshop treated the participants with a number of other highlights. For one, the opening ceremony was like no other we have ever had in our previous JCAP workshops. We were welcomed with both a joyfully boisterous lion dance and a beautifully moving Sinulog prayer–a wonderful mix of Chinese and Filipino cultures to symbolise the unique mission of our host school.
As in all of our workshops, the participants did a lot of work, not only listening to the inputs of the facilitators, but sharing their personal experiences and insights with their colleagues from other countries.
The workshop was designed to give the participating educators an opportunity to reflect on the history and tradition of Jesuit education, its characteristics, and most particularly, its goal as captured by the so-called 4 Cs (Competence, Conscience, Compassion and Commitment).
But just as important as the formal sessions were the informal conversations among the participants during the breaks and over the meals. Thanks to the schools’ benefactors, we had some pretty special meals as well, starting with the welcome dinner, when we celebrated the birthday of the new Education Delegate for the Chinese Province, Fr Clement Tsui SJ.
As always, each day of the workshop was capped with a Eucharistic Celebration to thank the Lord for the abundance of graces received. Each day we made sure to pray especially for the school community that hosted our workshop and the generous benefactors who made the experience extra special.
What made this workshop very special, however, is that upon the approval of the Chinese Provincial, Fr Stephen Chow SJ, we welcomed a new affiliate school to our network, the Marymount Primary and Secondary Schools in Hong Kong. Also, for the first time, our colleagues from Pakistan requested to join our workshop and their request was graciously granted by JCAP President, Fr Tony Moreno SJ.
At the close of the workshop, the participants were requested to share whatever they learned with their colleagues as they returned to their respective schools. They were also strongly encouraged to keep in touch with one another and to feel free to consult with–and offer assistance to–their colleagues in Asia Pacific. After all, they were able to create many unforgettable memories these last few days and were certainly able to establish new friendships among themselves–and with the students. [JCAP Education]
Fr Johnny C Go SJ is the Secretary for Pre-Secondary and Secondary Education of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific. He is also the Assistant for Mission and Identity of the International Commission on the Apostolate of Jesuit Education, an advisory council to the Secretariat for Education in the Jesuit curia in Rome to ensure quality service in the field of education.
Watch this video to know what the Ignatian educators have to say about their experience in the Student Accompaniment Program. This video was created by No Budget Productions composed of high school students of Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu.
Anthology of homilies by Fr Arnel Aquino SJ to benefit young Jesuits in Arrupe International Residence
Jesuit Communications (JesCom) Philippines has published an anthology of the homilies of Fr Arnel Aquino SJ entitled, Empty boats…full nets. All proceeds of the book will go toward the education and training of Jesuit scholastics in Arrupe International Residence, an international work of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP).
The book contains 58 homilies arranged by evangelist and a few of them are homilies on feast days and vows. All of them draw from Fr Aquino’s life experiences throughout his nearly 30-year journey with the Society of Jesus as a musician, theologian and priest. The book aims to communicate the poignant message of a deep, personal encounter of Christ himself.
“Fr Arnel Aquino SJ demonstrates the point on preaching raised by Pope Francis… [He] elegantly writes these reflections about Jesus, faith, life and human experience using Gospel passages ‘to encourage the practice of good,’” writes JCAP Fr Tony Moreno SJ in his foreword to the book.
Fr Aquino was initially hesitant to publish a book of his homilies but finally agreed because of the cause behind its publication.
“My friends had been urging me to compile them into a book. In my head, homilies are for free. Then, we found a worthy cause for the sales of the book,” Fr Aquino, who is part of the Arrupe International Residence community, told JesCom Philippines.
The book’s sales will benefit young Jesuits from Asia Pacific, South Asia, Africa and Europe studying at Loyola School of Theology and Ateneo de Manila University, a good number of whom are on scholarship.
“It is often said that the future of the Church comes from Asia and Africa where there is growth in vocation, emerging leadership and vibrancy in the way the faith is lived,” writes Fr Moreno. “Readers of this anthology will be part of the mission to assist and accompany future church ministries in this part of the globe.”
Empty boats…full nets: an anthology of homilies is available on Jescom Philippines and at the Tanging Yaman store located on the campus of Ateneo de Manila University.
Fr General’s visit from behind the lens
Photographing Fr General Arturo Sosa’s six-day visit was a daunting task, given the flurry of activities. There was pressure to capture the moment, the perfect image. In his evening talk at St Ignatius, low light levels offered a big challenge since quick movements blurred the image. At Sophia University, when Fr General spoke of the role of a Jesuit university in the world, the university’s communications team was anxious to have multiple photos to choose from. Their shutters clicked incessantly and audibly, taking what seemed like 10 photos per click. In the province assembly, the difficulty was trying to fit everyone into one shot.
Sometimes it was easy to lose sight of the main focus. During the Mass at St Ignatius, when a song to Our Lady was being sung, two children near the doors of the church started to pull on the hands of their mother. Some elderly women looked with reproach since the children’s shrieks vied with the soprano’s clear crisp voice. As the women looked away, they did not realise that the children were in fact pulling their mother over to the statue of Our Lady. One child even clasped the hands of Our Lady delicately, her eyes looking up at her with wonder. Filled with emotion, I failed to capture what would have been a meaningful photograph.
The most iconic image of the visit was unplanned. As Fr Adolfo Nicolás blessed Fr General in Loyola House, Fr Sanji Yamaoka, the Province Socius, captured that moment on his smartphone. The post became viral as soon as we uploaded it. The image expressed a fraternal bond, a sense of community that Jesuits and our lay partners all aspire for.
During that visit to Loyola House, someone asked what improvement the Society needed that they could pray for. After pausing briefly, Fr General said, “Community life.” From then on, I noticed that “community” influenced the angle of our coverage.
And so, while feasting on the barbecue (asada in Spanish ) prepared by Fr Provincial Renzo De Luca and Fr Juan Haidar at the scholasticate, while enjoying the music in Elisabeth University, and as laughter resonated in the Nagatsuka and Yamaguchi communities, the afterimage of brother Jesuits blessing each other never left us.
At a sumptuous meal Fr Saturnino Ochoa and Br Nobuchika Muraoka prepared in Fukuoka to cap the visit, Fr General, visibly tired but happy, remarked, “I am grateful that my visit became a good excuse for our brothers to gather”. Perhaps it was not merely the General’s visit that brought us joy. It was in seeing each other and remembering that we are companions of Jesus.
Fr Jody Magtoto SJ is a Filipino from the Japanese Jesuit Province and works in communications.