“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”
Some months ago, Fr Juan Masiá SJ interviewed his Jesuit brother and former Jesuit Superior General Fr Adolfo Nicolás SJ on Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Japan. Fr Nicolás told Fr Masiá: “Francis will certainly come in the footsteps of Xavier, but he will not see the other religions as if they were the enemy or the competition, but as traveling companions to give each other life with the joy of the Gospel and the joy of love”.
Below is an unofficial translation of the interview, originally done in Spanish.
Conversations in Japan by Juan Masiá with Adolfo Nicolás
At Loyola House, the residence for elderly Jesuits who pray for the world, the Church and the Society, Fr Adolfo Nicolás, former Superior General of the Jesuits, received with satisfaction the good news of Pope Francis’ trip to Thailand and Japan. The news came precisely when he reviewed the text of a colloquium-epilogue on the posthumous work of K Kadowaki (Jesuit pioneer of inculturation and integrator of Zen spirituality with Christian prayer, well known for his book Zen and the Bible). It was the right time to pray with Francis for Japan and from Japan, to pray for Francis. In this context, these conversations about evangelisation arose; but they were interrupted when his health was affected by an illness in mid-September. We publish in the blog, with your permission, the first entries of the series, hoping to complete them, God willing, after the messages of Francis in Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Adolfo Nicolás (AN): We are used to hearing from Francis his favorite refrain: “Pray for me.” May this go both ways: to pray with Francis for Japan and from Japan, to pray for Francis, supporting his evangelical spring.
Juan Masiá (JM): Too much for a post and too little for a complete article.
AN: Also, this fragment might help you think.
JM: Let’s start with the trip, a dream of the young Bergoglio is realised, a dream he had on the day he was missioned, but not granted because of health problems. Now he comes to evangelise in the footsteps of Xavier.
AN: To evangelise, yes, and also to let the West be evangelised. “The sower went out to sow and … it was found that the wheat was already sprouting.” It is the Spirit that had sown before. Our Asian colleagues said it and our companion, Fr Codina, says it about the Amazon…
JM: Xavier came in the footsteps of the Spirit.
AN: Francis will come after Xavier’s same footsteps, but with a different background and style from Xavier’s time. I took part in the Synod on the New Evangelisation, but I did not see the errors of the old evangelisation come to the fore. Xavier brought the theology of his time, he thought that “outside the church there is no salvation” and that the so-called “pagans were rushing en masse into hell.” Today, after Vatican II, the mission as colonisation and proselytism is no longer happening, nor are conversions captured with threats of eternal punishment. Francis will certainly come in the footsteps of Xavier, but he will not see the other religions as if they were the enemy or the competition, but as traveling companions to give each other life with the joy of the Gospel and the joy of love: Evangelii Gaudium, Amoris Laetitia , and to protect all life: Laudato si’.
JM: “Protecting all life” is the official motto of Francis’ visit to Japan, which includes central themes of those exhortations well received by the Japanese bishops that, when they appeal for peace, life and justice, or for the abolition of the death penalty, or for the suppression of nuclear weapons, or against the destruction of the environment and the “throw-away” economy, they do so by joining similar movements from within other religions and in union with them.
AN: That is especially true for cooperation with Buddhism, with which we agree and share four great themes that are very endearing to Francis: contemplation, mercy, discernment and the just protection of all life.
JM: This gives us a lot of stuff for the following posts. We will continue preparing for Francis’ coming with these conversations while we pray with him for Japan and from Japan, pray for him. [Religión Digital]
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
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.
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.”
