A devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Syria and Turkey early morning on Monday, 6 February, killing more than 7,000 people and leaving behind a trail of destruction and debris. Continue reading “Jesuit emergency response to the Turkey-Syria earthquake”
Jesuit emergency response to the Turkey-Syria earthquake
Traveling the long road to peace and reconciliation
“The past,” Faulkner warned “is never dead”, nor is it really past. Until we break down the barrier of division and fear that goes back many generations, no new bridges of hope can be built. Ever since General Congregations 35 and 36, the Society of Jesus has made reconciliation a key message. It is the theme that brought Fr General Arturo Sosa to Asia in the summer of 2019.
Continue reading “Traveling the long road to peace and reconciliation”
Society of Jesus donates surgical N95 masks to aid healthcare workers in Hubei province battling COVID-19
The Society of Jesus has donated 1,800 surgical N95 masks to Jingzhou No 1 People′s Hospital in Hubei province.
Jesuit Superior General Fr Arturo Sosa SJ approved the donation, which was coordinated and arranged by The Beijing Center for Chinese Studies (TBC), the Jesuit education centre and intellectual hub operating in mainland China since 1998.
“The Society of Jesus is a Society of solidarity. This small gesture is a symbol of that wide and deep solidarity,” said Fr José Magadia SJ, General Counsellor and Regional Assistant for Asia Pacific.
Earlier this month, Chinese authorities said there is an urgent need for medical supplies, including surgical N95 masks. These masks offer better protection than regular surgical masks and are designed to prevent 95 per cent of small particles from entering the nose and mouth area.
Though not prominently appearing in international media, Jingzhou city, located about 220 kilometres (137 miles) west of Wuhan, has been greatly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The disease has killed more than 2,996 people and infected over 87,728 globally.
With over a thousand infected in Jingzhou city alone, healthcare workers are grappling with certain medical supplies shortages. TBC has been in direct contact with Jingzhou No1 People’s Hospital, confirming the serious need for surgical N95 masks. The centre ensured the delivery of the masks, which arrived from Canada, to the hospital’s healthcare workers.
“TBC is honored to be the facilitator and platform connecting the Jesuits to mainland China. We thank the Society for the generous donation and continued support during this challenging time,” said TBC Executive Dr Simon Koo.
“It is our privilege to support your meaningful mission with our humble donation,” said Chinese Jesuit Provincial Fr Stephen Chow SJ to the healthcare workers. He assured them of the Society’s earnest prayers and told them: “Please stay safe and healthy for your loved ones and your mission.”
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”
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.
The Gospel in action in Taiwan
“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
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.”
Fr General to visit Korean, Chinese and Japanese Provinces
Superior General of the Society of Jesus Fr General Arturo Sosa SJ is set to visit Korea, Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan in the next three weeks. This is Fr Sosa’s third official trip to the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific after visiting Vietnam and the Philippines last year, and Indonesia and Cambodia in 2017.
A big part of Fr General’s visits to the different conferences is to learn more about the Jesuits and their commitments in their places of work. In Asia Pacific where only three per cent of the population is Catholic, the call is clear for dialogue with religious traditions and various cultures.
In Korea, where he begins his trip on July 15, Fr Sosa will not only be meeting with the Korean Jesuits to animate and inspire them with the Universal Apostolic Preferences but also to understand the various contexts in which they work. One of these is in their mission of reconciliation. On July 16, Fr Sosa will visit Panmunjom, a small village located in the Korean Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) on the border of North Korea. The DMZ was established after the Korean War to serve as buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea.
Throughout his three days’ stay, Fr General will also learn of the intellectual apostolate and the youth ministry of the province from meetings with collaborators, staff and students of Sogang University, Jesuits in formation and young people.
Fr Sosa will next visit the Chinese Province where he will make stops in Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan. His activities will centre around the theme, “Ignatian bridge building” and will thus include many meetings with Jesuits and lay collaborators.
From July 18 to 19, Fr Sosa will meet with lay collaborators from the two schools in Macau, Colegio Estrela do Mar and Colegio Mateus Ricci, where he will take part in the graduation ceremonies. He will also meet with the staff of Macau Ricci Institute, a study and research institution dedicated to fostering better mutual understanding between China and the rest of the world, and Casa Ricci Social Services, which helps poor and marginalised communities in China.
In Hong Kong, from July 19 to 21, Fr General will meet with Jesuits and collaborators for a sharing on the Universal Apostolic Preferences. He will also celebrate Mass for the 60th anniversary of St Ignatius Chapel in Wah Yan College Kowloon, as well as preside over the Final Vows of two Jesuit priests in Wah Yan College Hong Kong. Then on July 22, Fr Sosa will join the JCAP major superiors in their five-day assembly.
On July 27, he flies to Taipei where he will spend the next three days. He will get to know the lay partners, speak to leaders of Ignatian families on how they can be closer collaborators in living out and promoting the Universal Apostolic Preferences, and visit Jesuit parishes and the Fu Jen Faculty of Theology of St Robert Bellarmine. He will also join an advance celebration of the Feast of St Ignatius.
Fr General will conclude his visit to Asia Pacific in Japan. On August 1, he is scheduled to meet with his predecessor Fr Adolfo Nicolás SJ and later with the Japanese scholastics. He will also be going to Hiroshima for a gathering with collaborators and to talk about Servant of God Fr Pedro Arrupe SJ who was a missionary in Japan during the Second World War. One of his stops will be the Atomic Bomb Dome and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum on August 3.
He returns home to Rome on August 4.
Ignatian leadership and discernment in light of the Universal Apostolic Preferences
Over 50 Jesuits and lay collaborators gathered at Monte Cucco, just outside of Rome, to reflect on how Ignatian leadership and discernment can help realise the newly identified Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs), a mission from the Holy Father released to the Society of Jesus.
The participants composed of leadership development practitioners coming from a range of ministries – from parishes to retreat centres, high schools to universities, outreach centres to refugee services to province offices – included six from the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP): Fr Jojo Magadia SJ, Regional Assistant for Asia Pacific; Fr Adrianus Suyadi SJ, JCAP Secretary for Social Ministries; Fr Non Yamauchi SJ of the Japanese Province; Fr Benny Juliawan SJ of Sanata Dharma University in Indonesia; Dr Edna Franco of Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines; and Fr Karel San Juan SJ, President of Ateneo de Zamboanga University also in the Philippines.
Fr General Arturo Sosa SJ told all those gathered that the UAPs are “a call to conversion” and not merely a strategic plan or a checklist of ministries and activities. He also underlined the use of the term “preferences” rather than “priorities”. Whereas priorities emphasise the primacy of certain apostolates, probably establishing new ones and relegating some old ones, preferences should be understood more as “orientations” for focusing all Jesuit apostolates in the next 10 years.
“‘Orientations’ primarily are about giving direction which helps us reconsider and recalibrate our life and mission. UAPs are not about what to do, rather they are an inspiration about how to do, as Fr General put it”, shared Fr Juliawan.
“Working in institutions that are heritages of Jesuit legends and having very limited number of Jesuits and lay collaborators, I used to feel very lonely and powerless to respond to our mission. The conference gave me a new inspiration”, said Fr Yamauchi.
The meeting held from April 1 to 5 emphasised discernment as essential in leadership. Fr John Dardis SJ, General Counsellor for Discernment and Apostolic Planning, asked the participants to be open to a “prayer for leadership” that promotes spiritual conversion. The participants engaged in spiritual conversations in voicing their hopes and fears for the future of the Society of Jesus.
“Ignatian leadership centres around the formation of spiritual persons who are united with God in all their deeds. These persons build trust and inspire people around them to grow and work collaboratively for a mission. The mission in question is the mission of the Society”, said Fr Juliawan.
About half of the participants were lay people, evincing the move towards greater collaboration.
“They are really committed people who consider themselves Ignatian and even members of the Jesuit family”, said Fr Juliawan.
Dr Franco, a lay participant, serves as executive director of Ateneo de Manila’s Center for Organization Research and Development. “It was a priceless gift to be in the same room with Fr General and 49 other individuals from 23 coutries working as a community on the desire of the Society of Jesus ‘to find the best way to collaborate in the Lord’s mission, the best way to serve the Church at this time, the best contribution we can make with what we are and have, seeking to do what is for the greater divine service and the more universal good’”, she shared, quoting a letter of Fr General introducing the UAPs.
For Fr San Juan: “The meeting is an example of networking and collaboration of Jesuits and lay colleagues across cultures, to facilitate sharing of resources and expertise, and to foster friendship and community.”
The meeting reminded me of the proverb ,“More haste, less speed”, said Fr Yamauchi. “In order to implement the UAPs, we should not rush to conclusions. Instead we should start a pilgrimage of discernment with our collaborators. Although the process may take time, it is our way of proceeding. It is how we can implement the preferences in our life and mission.”
In his address Fr General used the term the “Collaborative Society” (Minima Compania Collaboradora) and encouraged the participants to promote lay vocations to be partners or collaborators in the mission.
“The call for collaboration is certainly growing louder”, said Fr Juliawan, “and if the Jesuits are serious about this, some changes to the way the Society is governed must be introduced in the future to reflect their significance.”