Jesuits serving in Timor Leste have returned a secondary school they set up and managed for 18 years to the diocese of Dili. Colégio de São José was transferred on December 14 with a mass led by Vicar General Father Apolinario Aparicio Guterres.
During his homily, Fr Guterres thanked the Society for developing both the Church and the nation through the school and praised the Jesuits for teaching young people to be qualified and disciplined individuals. (Source: UCAN)
The move leaves the Jesuits free to pursue a separate education project that will help meet the immense need in the country for quality education. Plans for Instituto de Educação Jesuita were announced in September 2011 and a formal proposal and application to the Minster of Education was lodged in December.
Instituto de Educação Jesuita will comprise two complementary programmes: Colégio de Santo Inácio de Loiola, an Ignatian Junior and Senior High School for boys and girls, scheduled to commence in early 2013; and Colégio de São Joao de Brito, which will offer a three year degree programme for secondary school teachers, which will open in 2014.