Sch John Lester O. Tajon (PHI) sent this write-up last July 19. On June 1, during his homily, Fr. Tom O’Gorman aptly described the current atmosphere of Arrupe International Residence in two words, "arrival and departure".
Arrival because the AIR community once again is reinforced by fresh troops of Jesuit priests, scholastics and brothers from different countries in the EAO Assistancy and Africa. Fr Martin Suhartono (IDO), the former Superior of the Thailand Region, took office on May 31 as the new Rector of Arrupe International Residence. Fr. Martin was joined by new staff members, namely, Fr Pham Minh-Uoc (ASL), Fr Ludovico Ryu Hyong-nyol (KOR), Fr William Currie (JPN), Fr Pham Van Ai (ASL), the new Juniorate Director, and Sch Adrian Danker (MAS), Assistant Juniorate Director.
Side-by-side the arrivals are the departures for their new assignments in the Society of former AIR community members. On June 1, 5:00 A.M., Fr John Mace left for Omaha, thereby, ending his ten-year office as the Rector of Arrupe International Residence. He will be staying with the Creighton University Jesuit Community during his sabbatical. Fr John’s departure was followed by Fr. Tom’s departure for Myanmar on June 05. The series of departures of priests, scholastics and brothers was concluded when the four Indonesian scholastics: Andi, Beni, Mario and Pram, left for Indonesia on June 8 after finishing their one-year Juniorate program. Likewise, the chain of arrivals was concluded by the new Indonesian Jesuit Juniors Agustinus Wahyu Dwi Anggoro, Vincentius Ernest Justin, and Mateus Lesnanto who arrived on June 29.
Moreover, on June 1-3, the AIR held its three-day Orientation Program, which aims to familiarize the new community members to the AIR lifestyle. In his opening talk, Fr Martin stressed the importance of the community’s awareness about the temporality of life in Arrupe House. Coining the word "artificial", F. Rector exhorted that we, scholastics and brothers in formation, be aware of the fact that in reality the apostolic ministries that awaits us in our respective Provinces or future mission areas could be and is totally different from our current Arrupe House lifestyle. It is therefore important that we, the scholastics and brothers in formation, maintain an open mind, that we take advantage of the privileges that we enjoy in Arrupe House, "for as long as (tantum quantum)" these constructively help in the development of our vocation or formation in the Society of Jesus. The three-day orientation seminar was concluded by a four-day community villa held in Puerto Galera, Mindoro, aimed at prospering community bond and unity.