In January 2009 the major superiors decided that a working group be set up that will develop better cooperation among the nine Asian schools for philosophy and theology. To implement this, Fr Mark Raper, JCEAO President, appointed the following as its members: Fr Mario Francisco, President of Loyola School of Theology-Philippines, Fr Michael Smith, Rector of Jesuit Theological College-Australia, Fr F. Hasto Rosariyanto, Rector of St Ignatius House of Studies-Indonesia, Fr Tsutomu Sakuma, Dean of Faculty of Theology at Sophia University-Japan, Fr Nguyen Cao Sieu, Rector of St Joseph Scholasticate-Vietnam. The group is now called the Theological Cooperation Working Group (TCWG).
After intense discussions last April 13 -14 at the Loyola School of Theology, Philippines, the TCWG came up with quite a number of consensus points and recommendations on the areas of cooperation between the different theological centers in the JCEAO, International Theology Program (ITP) at Loyola School of Theology (LST), online theological education, formation guidelines, and structures for reporting and evaluation of these projects as they progress.
Meanwhile, Fr Norris Seenivasan (MAS), Prefect of Studies of Arrupe International Studies, traveled to India from March 27 – April 6 where he explored the possibilities of our scholastics studying there, be it for juniorate, an undergraduate degree, or philosophy. He was warmly welcomed by our Jesuit brothers in Madurai, Gujarat, and Calcutta.
The TCWG report and Fr Norris’ findings were presented to the JCEAO consult last April 15- 16. Recommendations were made by the consultors for Fr Mark to bring to the major superiors when they meet again in July 2009 in Yogyakarta.
