If the JCAP major superiors needed a reminder of the extent of and differences in our Conference, the last two locations for our biannual meeting certainly provided that. The island Republic of Palau, population 20,600, is a vastly different locale from that of our previous assembly held last July in Macau, a part of China, population over 1.4 billion.
As we gathered in Palau, from January 21 to 25, the striking contrast provided a fitting backdrop to our reflection on the Year of Faith and our discussion of how the Society of Jesus can better serve the universal mission amidst the immense diversity of our Conference. Our discussions centred on the topics of capacity building for the Conference, Jesuit formation and the re-shaping of governance affecting all sectors of the Conference.
What I find particularly encouraging for the Conference is that the readiness of provincials to engage pro-actively in the give and take of international cooperation expands with each assembly.
Considerable progress was made in this meeting, for example, towards greater financial collaboration within the Conference. These immediate steps will help in the longer-term tasks of restructuring governance arrangements, and in building the capacity of the Conference to enable the stronger members to support the weaker ones. The capacity of the Conference has also been strengthened by several appointments of Conference personnel, most of whom have already begun work, among them a new Socius and Treasurer, a Secretary for Pre-secondary and Secondary Education, a coordinator for the service of vulnerable migrants and for the social ministries, and a Delegate for Jesuit Studies. This new team will enable the Society’s universal mission to be more deeply integrated in diverse sectors of apostolic service.
An obvious area for financial collaboration is the support of Jesuit formation. The number of young Jesuits from units that have not yet developed formation institutions, or built up reserve funds, such as Vietnam, Myanmar and Timor Leste, is growing. The provincials reviewed planning for a three-year cycle of workshops on the preparation of new formators, the first of which will be held in August in Manila. The discussion on formation also considered the demands of our universal mission, which requires that more Jesuits become familiar with other languages and cultures. An International Juniorate has been opened in Yogyakarta. Our major house for studies, Arrupe International Residence, is changing its character, becoming a house for students in their first and second cycles of theology, and for Jesuits who come to Manila for graduate studies. JCAP provincials supported the proposal for Arrupe International Residence to welcome Jesuit students from around the world to study theology in English in an Asian setting.
Perhaps the most decisive of the topics treated over the five days was exploration of the governance arrangements that will enable Jesuits and companions in Asia Pacific to fulfil more effectively their mission to serve a faith that does justice. This was a continuation of the “spiritual process” and discernment initiated by Fr General’s letter of September 27, 2011, in which he called for a governance review around the world. His letter followed GC35’s request that the Society’s “structures of governance should be streamlined, modernized, and made more flexible where possible”.
After examining the criteria put by Fr General as required for the formation of a province, each of the regions or missions of JCAP (Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia-Singapore, Timor-Leste, Micronesia) had already clarified during 2012 that they had no prospect to become provinces in the foreseeable future. Further, to function as isolated units is unnecessarily difficult. For each region, the support and encouragement from outside is essential, even to facilitate adequate apostolic discernment and deep engagement in cultures. Similarly provinces realise that they are not islands and have started to reach out to one another in a number of creative ways, often facilitated by the Conference sectoral secretaries, such as for education, formation, or social ministries.
In an earlier meeting we had explored an idea of ‘zones’ of cooperation, e.g. the ‘chopsticks’ zone of Korea, Japan and China, or the ‘Mekong’ zone of Laos, Thailand and Cambodia. These imaginative ideas led to fruitful conversations among some regions and provinces. The JCAP Governance Working Group later refined these ‘zones’ into a number of options for discussion, which this assembly further chiselled into draft proposals to be tested.
Conversations among the Jesuits of China, Japan and Korea, the ‘chopsticks’ group, are already leading to encouraging initiatives of cooperation and exchange among institutions and individuals in social ministries, theological reflection, education and Jesuit formation.
In Timor Leste, where I am temporarily acting as superior, several provincials had met last October with local lay and Jesuit friends, including with the Region’s consultors, to explore possible ways of strengthening governance and apostolic planning. The ensuing proposal was reviewed by Fr General’s advisors, following which the Palau meeting tightened a proposal that can now be discussed on the ground with Jesuits of the Timor Leste Region.
The acknowledgement by the regions themselves that they have no prospect of becoming provinces in the foreseeable future gave a starting point for exploring next steps. Helpful models of multi-national and in some cases, multi-lingual provinces were examined, including those where the local contexts of mission are quite challenging. These included the Near East Province comprising Lebanon, Egypt and Syria, which is soon to include Turkey and the Maghreb. Other examples are Eastern Africa, comprising five countries; Central America comprising six countries; and West Africa comprising 14 Francophone countries. After reviewing the examples and implications in local communities, provincials will submit ideas for further deliberation by JCAP’s Governance Working Group, which will convene again in April.
Micronesia itself is a small region with strong links both to the Asia Pacific Conference and to the New York Province of which it is a mission, so Fr Dave Ciancimino, Provincial of New York, joined the whole meeting. He could advise us on how the USA provinces approached their process of realignment, now well advanced. Although they have nowhere near the cultural and linguistic differences we face in Asia Pacific, there are always benefits from discerned changes, and experiences with resistances. Finally our presence in this seductive North Pacific island enabled the major superiors to consider squarely the ways a fruitful Jesuit service to the local Church could continue in the North Pacific, despite a severe reduction in Jesuit numbers there.
Mark Raper SJ
President, Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific
January 28, 2013