Tag: Chinese Province (CHN)

The Jesuit tradition of service learning at TBC

8Oct2019 2019-10-08 爵醒 News

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.

The Gospel in action in Taiwan

4Aug2019 2019-08-04 爵醒 News

“Choosing life in a context filled with fear and anger and insecurity seems like a daunting task. But it is not impossible – not for followers of Christ.” This was Fr General Arturo Sosa’s message in his homily for the advance celebration of the Feast of St Ignatius in Taipei.

The Superior General of the Society of Jesus visited Taiwan from July 27 to 29 accompanied by his Regional Assistants Fr Jojo Magadia SJ for Asia Pacific and Fr Vernon D’Cunha SJ for South Asia, as well as Fr Pierre Bélanger SJ of the Jesuit Communication team in Rome and Fr Stephen Chow SJ, the Chinese Provincial.

Fr Sosa’s message to never lose faith, despite the difficulties was the main takeaway of his entire trip to the country. “Deuteronomy mentions two actions”, he shared. “‘Choose life’, it says, and then right after that, you are told, first, ‘to love the Lord your God’ and second, ‘to walk in his ways’.”

In his meeting with the Magis youth in the Tien Educational Center, Fr Sosa encouraged the young people not to be afraid to face the world, even to change it, to keep walking ahead because God would be always be with them as a beacon to guide them.

The Superior General was able to see how this courageous faith is being lived out in the social apostolates of the Jesuits in Taiwan. On his first day in Taipei he went to the Rerum Novarum Social Service Center founded by Fr José Ellacuría SJ in 1971. Over the years as society has changed, Rerum Novarum’s services have expanded from low-paid, overworked labourers to migrant workers in Taiwan and migrant workers on fishing boats subject to unequal treatment. The centre manifests the Gospel in action. Fr Sosa showed particular concern for the migrant fishermen.

In Chutung, an hour-and-a-half’s drive from Taipei where Jesuits have served the indigenous populations since the 1950s, Fr General experienced the culture of aboriginal Christians. He concelebrated the Sunday Mass which was a showcase of multiculturality with parishioners who are Han Chinese, Hakka people, Atayal and Saisiyat indigenous peoples, and migrants from Vietnam and the Philippines. Next to the church, there was a display of indigenous hunting and other tools. Fr Sosa wore an aboriginal jacket and tried to draw a bow.

Many other meetings were held to enable Fr Sosa to get to know the Jesuits and partners involved with the work of the Society of Jesus in Taiwan. His audience with lay collaborators included no less than the Vice President of Taiwan, Chen Chien-jen. They shared with Fr General how they live out and promote the Universal Apostolic Preferences. In his address to the teachers and students of Fu Jen Faculty of Theology of St Robert Bellarmine, Fr Sosa praised the theologate for nurturing men and women able to take on a variety of responsibilities within the Church. He also had an opportunity to meet the apostolic mission collaborators of the Jesuits at Fu Jen Catholic University and got to know their work.

Fr General’s visitations are of course opportunities to strengthen Jesuit brotherhood. Before he ended his trip, Fr Sosa paid a visit to the elderly Jesuits in St Joseph’s Province Infirmary. Then he spoke to the Jesuits in Taiwan and presided at a Mass with them.

A heart that inspires other hearts

2Aug2019 2019-08-02 爵醒 News

As part of Fr General Arturo Sosa’s trip to the Chinese Province, he visited Macau on July 18 to 19. Macau is an autonomous region on the south coast of China, across the Pearl River Delta from Hong Kong. With a population of 700,000 and an area of 32.9 sq km (12.7 sq mi), it is the most densely populated region in the world. Originally a sparsely populated collection of coastal islands, the territory has become a major resort city and the top destination for gambling tourism. It is the ninth-highest recipient of tourism revenue and its gaming industry is seven times larger than that of Las Vegas.

The Society of Jesus has been present in Macau from the very beginning of its own history (having been formally established in Rome in 1540), and equally from the beginning of the historical role played by the small city of Macau. St Paul’s College founded by the Jesuits in 1594 and was operative for 168 years until 1762 when the Jesuits were expelled in Macau, extended the Society’s influence beyond the city walls inside China and farther afield. During these years, 665 young Jesuits completed their formation in the College.

On the first day, Fr General Sosa accompanied by his Regional Assistants Fr Vernon D’Cunha SJ for South Asia and Fr Jojo Magadia SJ for Asia Pacific, and Fr Pierre Bélanger SJ of the Jesuit Communication team in Rome had a meeting with lay collaborators in Colegio Estrela do Mar, one of the two Jesuit schools in Macau. Around 60 people came from different social apostolates: Christian Life Community, Magis youth ministry, Macau Ricci Institute, Casa Ricci Social Services and representatives of the two schools, Colegio Estrela do Mar and Colegio Mateus Ricci. Fr General shared with them the Universal Apostolic Preferences.

The next day, Fr General visited the other Jesuit school in Macau. He addressed the primary and secondary students of Colegio Mateus Ricci at their graduation ceremonies. “You are still so young, but you carry in you the future of this world”, he said. “As you come to the end of this academic year, and begin your vacation, I invite you to think about how you can help others in new ways that you have not yet tried before.” Fr Sosa prayed for the children to have “the strength to be daring and hopeful, not for yourselves, but for the world, and for the future”.

After his brief commencement address, Fr General blessed two statues of St Ignatius in the school’s complex and visited St Anthony Church, the oldest church in Macau built by the Jesuits around 1560. Nowadays the church is served by the Korean Martyrs Congregation.

Fr General also met and greeted the staff of Casa Ricci Social Services and Macau Ricci Institute. He also had an opportunity to meet the Jesuit community in Macau. The short trip was closed by the Thanksgiving Mass for 70 years in the Society of Jesus of Fr Yves Camus SJ and 50 years in the Society of Fr Luis Sequeira SJ and Gregory Koay SJ.

The experience of Fr General’s visit, albeit only brief, remains in the hearts of the many lay collaborators and Jesuits in Macau. His message in his homily during the thanksgiving Mass resonated not just with the three jubilarians but with each of us. “They have taught many young people; they have preached many homilies and touched many lives; they have accompanied searchers for the will of God through the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius. They have lived as missionaries, offering themselves faithfully as Jesuits”, said Fr General.

“Yet, today’s thanksgiving Mass is not just about them. It is first and foremost about a God who started it all, a God who loved first and called these three Jesuits to follow him, a God who has given them the grace to respond to His call with great zeal. This is the same God that invites each of us today. He offers his life freely, to show us what it means to love the way god loves – without counting the cost, without heeding the wounds, without seeking for any reward.”

Diaconate ordination in Taiwan

15Jun2019 2019-06-15 爵醒 News

Family, friends and members of religious communities gathered on the bright morning of June 8 to witness the diaconate ordination of Joseph Dang Do Nhan SJ by Most Rev John B Shan-Chuan Hung SVD, Archbishop of Taipei. The Mass was held at St Robert Bellarmine Chapel of Fu Jen Faculty of Theology of St Robert Bellarmine, New Taipei City.

The solemn rites were celebrated with music, indigenous dance and choir. The atmosphere was warm and joyful. Archbishop Hung encouraged Deacon Dang to serve God and fulfil His Holy Words with a pure heart. He also asked the congregation to pray for the new deacon’s family who have generously dedicated their son to God.

Deacon Dang expressed his gratitude foremost to the Lord who continues to love sinners like him. Originally from Vietnam, he also thanked the Vietnamese Province, where the seed of his vocation was planted and grew, and the Chinese Province for accepting his desire for an international Regency. Lastly, he thanked his family for their company, support and encouragement.

Deacon Dang first thought of becoming a priest as a child. The dream gradually faded out, but many years later, while at Mass, he found himself very touched by the singing of the Peace Prayer of St Francis. This time he decided to respond to God’s call. When he shared his desire to pursue the priesthood with his mother, she told him it was a difficult road to follow. “Dare you go to the end?” she asked. Deacon Dang replied, ”Just support me and give the rest to God. He will surely help me to complete this journey!”

Indeed, Deacon Dang has deeply felt God’s love and help throughout his vocation. Looking back he says his most impressive experience is failure. Instead of being frustrated, he believes failure has taught him to listen, to open himself up, to accept others more easily, to comfort others and to help others out of their worries. In the process, he always thanks God for accepting his imperfections and filling in his shortcomings from time to time.

Deacon Dang admits he is nervous about the responsibility that lies ahead, yet he is filled with hope in spreading Jesus’ love through social services. He believes that when you serve, people can see you as a witness of love. Quoting John 15:12, he said, “Love one another as I love you.”

Learning to become schools of discernment

10May2019 2019-05-10 爵醒 News

From April 26 to May 1, a diverse group of educators from Jesuit schools in Cambodia, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau and the Philippines met at the Seven Fountains Retreat Center in Chiang Mai, Thailand for a workshop on “Apostolic Planning and Decision Making through Communal Discernment”. The title is a mouthful; after all, discernment in common is a complex and difficult, albeit worthwhile process.

The participants had a first-hand experience of discernment in common, one of the identified Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus. There was emphasis on listening to others as well as listening to one’s interior movements. The spiritual conversations were conducted in mixed groups to allow the participants to learn from one another’s contexts and cultures. There were moments of personal prayer and reflection in preparation for the spiritual conversations.

“It was important for the participants to listen attentively not only to members of their own groups, but also to the plenary reports from the small groups. It is counter to what educators are accustomed to, given their workload and busy lives”, said Fr Johnny Go SJ, Education Secretary for the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP).

Fr Go facilitated the workshop together with Jennie Hickey, Executive Officer of Jesuit Education Australia, Fr Roy Ragas SJ of Emmaus Center for Psycho-spiritual Formation and Jeraldine Ching from Xavier School in the Philippines.

The JCAP Ignatian leadership workshops have become known for their socials. Delegates from Ateneo de Cebu / Sacred Heart Jesuit School in the Philippines organised an evening of games to break the ice and build a sense of community. Consequently, one of the best parts of the workshop was the friendships formed. “These personal relationships are the crucial ingredient to the networking that we hope to strengthen among our schools in Asia Pacific”, said Fr Go.

The participants were most grateful for the actual experience of spiritual conversations. “We ended the workshop with the optimistic resolve to find ways of incorporating some of the elements of communal discernment in selected decision-making processes in our schools”, said Fr Go. “As Jennie put it at the end of the workshop, we hope that our schools will truly become schools of discernment.”

Engaging with Taiwan Aborigines and the Chinese Jesuit mission

16Jan2019 2019-01-16 爵醒 News

2019.01.SBC-At-Fu-Jen-University — Engaging with Taiwan Aborigines and the Chinese Jesuit mission

Community-building, immersion, daily Masses, city tour, academic lectures, periods of reflection, food expeditions, museum visits, efficient train rides, Christmas festivities and lasting friendships – these are just some of the tags that can summarise the 10-day Scholastics and Brothers Circle (SBC) workshop in Taiwan from December 15 to 25.

A total of 37 formands of 15 nationalities (six Vietnamese, five Burmese, four Filipinos, four Indonesians, three Koreans, three Australians, two Thais, two Timorese, two Chinese, an Italian, a Singaporean, a Malaysian, an Indian, a Polish, and a Japanese) participated in the workshop that centred on “Indigenous Ministry and the Mission of the Jesuits in China”. Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific Socius Fr Eric Velandria SJ and Formation Delegate Fr Riyo Mursanto SJ accompanied the participants.

Fr Olivier Lardinois SJ, who combines pastoral work with indigenous peoples and doctoral studies in anthropology, facilitated the meeting. Most of the activities, including residences of the participants, were held in Fu Jen Faculty of Theology of St Robert Bellarmine Community in New Taipei City. Fr David Yen SJ, the Jesuit Delegate to Fu Jen, provided a hands-on tour of the campus and explained the philosophical meanings of the designs and locations of the buildings.

In the morning of December 17, the participants had their team building activities despite the 13°C temperature outside. In the afternoon, at Tien Center at Sacred Heart Parish, Guting, Fr Emmanuel Lim SJ, Delegate for China of the Chinese Provincial, talked about the mission of the Chinese Province. Part of the talk was the introduction to the staff of Magis Center. Chinese Provincial Fr Stephen Chow SJ celebrated the Mass followed by a sumptuous Chinese dinner with the lay and Jesuit community of Sacred Heart. There they met the lively Fr Andres Diaz de Rabago SJ, the oldest member of the Chinese Province at 102 years old! After dinner, Fr Lardinois brought the group to Longshan Temple to witness the faith of many Taiwanese Buddhists. The Temple also serves as refuge for many homeless at night.

The formands visit the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines

December 19 to 21 were days dedicated to living with indigenous peoples, mostly of the Atayal Tribe of Central Taiwan. A day prior, Fr Lardinois oriented the participants about Taiwan Aborigines and the Jesuit indigenous ministry, and took them to Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines.

A two-hour bus ride took the participants from Fu Jen University to the Jesuit Parish in Zhudong, Hsinchu Hsien. They were welcomed by very engaging lay persons who shared about the parish’s pastoral services, particularly the intensive catechetical programmes to young and old.

The formands were divided into four groups for their immersion: one group went with Fr Yves Nalet SJ to Shilei, another to Xinguang with Parish Priest Fr Corneille Heynanns SJ, group three to Qunqquan where Fr Barry Martinson SJ was waiting and group four to Nalou with Fr Lardinois. It took three hours of navigating the zigzag road before they reached their mission stations.

The participants gained plenty of memorable experiences from the immersion, such as the meaningful conversations with indigenous peoples and experiencing their warm hospitality, bathing in hot springs in 10°C weather, tasting sautéed and stewed flying squirrels and house-to-house Christmas carolling.

Italian Scholastic Cesare Gabriele Sposetti SJ, shared: “As a ‘westerner’, I never before had the opportunity to meet indigenous cultures. This kind of encounter helped me to have a wider picture of the cultural and human variety of this part of the world.”

On the way back to Taipei, the participants stopped by St Aloysius Technical School at Hsinpu, Hsinchu Hsien. This Jesuit educational institution has produced several quality technocrats in Taiwan. Many were astonished to realise that behind the school’s success are laypersons led by Principal Jerry Jyh-Lung Tang.

On December 22, Fr Lardinois provided a synthesis of the immersion experience by placing his expertise in anthropology side by side the Ignatian paradigm. This was supplemented by the brief sharing of each group of the fruits of their structured reflections and spiritual conversations. Then it was the participants’ turn to present. Each country reported about their respective province’s or region’s effort in serving indigenous peoples. In the evening, the group held a Christmas party.

The remaining days were devoted to excursions around Taipei. The formands made sure not to miss the National Palace Museum to see the paintings of Br Giuseppe Castiglione SJ, imperial painter to Emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong in the mid-18th century.

Although only 10 days, the SBC workshop in Taiwan fortified the formands’ appreciation of the Chinese Jesuit Province and the ministry to the indigenous peoples.

Voices from Leadership by Conversation workshop

3Dec2018 2018-12-03 爵醒 News

What better way to practice cura personalis than to use an approach to Growth Coaching that is based on ‘listening to the self, to others, to creation and to God?

This was the premise of the second workshop on Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm organised by the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific Education Secretariat. The workshop combined Ignatian conversation with Growth Coaching and best practices on feedback giving.

The idea first emerged in Kamakura, Japan, where a team from St Ignatius’ College, Riverview, Australia conducted the Ignatian Teachers Program.

“The group agreed that a module on coaching and mentoring based on the Ignatian ministry of holy conversations would respond to an important need among educators in our Asia Pacific schools, and so here we are!” shared JCAP Education Secretary Fr Johnny Go SJ.

Twenty-six educators from the Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau and Indonesia had gathered at St Ignatius’ College, Riverview for the workshop, which was held from November 11 to 17.

Fr Ross Jones SJ, Rector of St Aloysius and former Rector at Riverview, set the tone by talking about St Ignatius of Loyola’s ministry of holy conversation.

Bill Hobbes drew from his vast experience working with the former Jesuit Secondary Education Association in the United States to help the participants grow in self-awareness and understand the dynamics within organisations.

Scholastic Bagus Sugiyono SJ, a first-year regent at Kolese Kanisus in Jakarta, was grateful for the theoretical and practical things he learnt at the workshop. “There are several new insights that I got on how to practice cura personalis for students, as well as teachers,” he said.

Mandy Yu from Estrella do Mar in Macau was “excited and thankful” for the experience to “deepen my spirituality and help me grow”, and is looking forward to applying what she learnt in her school and in her teaching.

The participants were also joined by so-called “Companions” from Riverview who helped to model what coaching based on Ignatian conversation is like. The participants’ first-hand encounter with these expert practitioners proved to be a powerful learning experience.

“I still find it amazing how Ignatian Conversation can be seamlessly linked to Growth Coaching and how feasible it is in our own school setting,” shared Chaveli Ventosa Dela Cerna of Xavier School, Philippines, who found many possibilities for faculty and staff formation in Jesuit institutions.

Irene Cheung, Principal of Colégio Mateus Ricci, appreciated the new approaches she learnt in coaching and listening, as well as the use of tools such as the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator. “The feeding forward bridge,” she added, “is what I most want to master and apply.”

Likewise, Antonius Agus Sulistyono from St Peter Canisius Minor Seminary of Mertoyudan, Indonesia, said that the “feeding forward conversation taught me how to make others better and to lead them to God”.

For many of the participants, the workshop was an opportunity to examine their leadership style.

“I was able to step back and reflect on how I can be a better companion to the teachers and students I work with and how I can lead them to be better partners in the mission,” shared Chuchay Rolan-Lugapo of Xavier School, Philippines.

Vivian Cheng of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong hopes that after the workshop, “each one of us can be a better companion to our students and colleagues”.

For Ag Prih Adiartanto, Principal of De Britto College, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, his most valuable takeaway was, simply, learning how to listen.

Maan Estrellado-Domingo of Xavier School, Philippines shared a similar realisation: “It is not my brilliance, but the love that I put in the conversation that matters”.

The next education workshop will be on communal discernment from April 26 to May 2, 2019 at the Seven Fountains Retreat Centre, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Thirty years of serving at the frontiers of humanity

15Jan2018 2018-01-15 爵醒 News

Fr.Luis Ruiz SJ — Fr Luis Ruiz SJ, Ricci Social Services founder

Thirty years ago, a 74-year-old Spanish Jesuit priest had his first encounter with a community of persons affected by leprosy in China. Moved by the terrible situation of the leprosy-affected persons in Taikam Island in Guangdong Province, Fr Luis Ruiz SJ decided to work with local governments and church communities to change the conditions of leprosy patients in China. That was the beginning of Ricci Social Services, a social service network created to bring relief, dignity and social justice to the poor and marginalised people in mainland China and Macau.

Sister-playing-with-children-living-with-HIV — Sister playing with children living with HIV

Since then, Ricci Social Services has journeyed far and wide in China, going to the remotest places to be with and serve persons and communities in need of solidarity, healing, friendship and support.

“The ones who opened the door to us were not business persons, the powerful or the learned, but persons affected by leprosy and those living with HIV/AIDS,” shared Ricci Social Services Director Fr Fernando Azpiroz SJ. “It was because of them that more than 50 local governments from more than10 provinces invited Ricci Social Services to go to their places, to serve them in their needs.”

Today, Ricci Social Services collaborates in more than 40 programmes in 10 provinces that serve around 5,000 people, including adults and children affected by leprosy or living with HIV/AIDS, women at risk (such as sex workers), or people dying without support in the hospitals. These programmes are organised as a network of “communities of solidarity”.

“These are communities where people learn how to overcome discrimination; communities where physical, psychological and social wounds are healed, where dignity is affirmed, and where communion is restored and re-created among individuals, their communities and their relationships with their natural environments,” said Fr Azpiroz.

In these communities, more than 80 religious sisters and volunteers live with patients or people who suffer from discrimination, serving them in their needs, joining them in their daily struggles and learning from them.

Sister doing wound care to a person affected by leprosy in Shiping Yunnan Province

“This has been a journey to our personal limits as well, far away from our comfort zones,” said Fr Azpiroz, sharing that in many places, they suffered from lack of understanding and discrimination from the local people; lack of water, electricity or roads; tests, sicknesses, and even death. In 2008, one of the religious sisters, Sister Xue, died in an accident while serving her leprosy-affected patients.

“But our reward has been far bigger than all the efforts we have made during these 30 years, a reward that only those who love can understand because love transforms everybody and everything,” said Fr Azpiroz.

Fr Azpiroz explains that love enables receivers to become givers, and givers to become receivers. This is why three decades later, the same impulse to love has brought them to more new frontiers, serving women at risk, children living with HIV/AIDS, poor and dying patients in public hospitals, and helping almost 25 different local social service communities to build their capacities to serve more and better. This same love has also pushed them to do more in terms of ecological justice in China. “We would like to help people to change their ways of living, consuming and producing, in order to do justice to nature and our future generations,” he said.

But love is also and always an invitation for others to collaborate. “We are not doing all these alone. This is the fruit of working together with thousands of benefactors, hundreds of sisters, volunteers and staff workers, hundreds of government officials, partners. We are the beneficiaries of all their love and support,” said Fr Azpiroz.

This has been the daily experience of Ricci Social Services throughout its 30-year journey in China; the experience of a love that is incarnated and shared, and that has transformed and continues to transform thousands of people. The mystery of a love that took flesh to become Emmanuel, God with us.

New provincial for the Chinese Jesuit Province

1Jan2018 2018-01-01 爵醒 News

Fr Stephen Sau-yan Chow SJ will become Provincial of the Chinese Jesuit Province on January 1, 2018. He succeeds Fr John Lee Hua SJ who has served as Provincial for the last six years.

Fr Chow hails from Hong Kong and is a seasoned educator. Before entering the Society of Jesus in 1984 in Dublin, Ireland, Fr Chow already had a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology/Philosophy and a Master of Arts in Educational Psychology (Counselling) from the University of Minnesota in the United States.

After his ordination in 1994, he obtained a Master of Science degree in Organisational Development at Loyola University, Chicago, USA, and worked at Wah Yan College Kowloon and Hong Kong for five years, from 1995 to 2000, as minister, ethics teacher, vocations director and chaplain. At Wah Yan College Hong Kong and Kowloon, he also served as school manager (trustee).

In 2000, he went to Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education to study Human Development and Psychology, and completed his Doctorate in Education in 2006.

Prior to his appointment as Provincial, Fr Chow served as Formator of scholastics in Hong Kong. Fr Chow will continue as Supervisor of Wah Yan College Hong Kong and Kowloon, positions he has held since 2006 and 2007 respectively, and as Chairman of the Chinese Province’s Education Commission.

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