Jesuit scholastics and brothers from across the Conference gathered in Cambodia at the end of the year to reflect on healing a broken world. Mark Lopez SJ, Chairman of SBC 2012 Core Organising Committee, provides this report of the meeting.
The 13th Scholastics and Brothers’ Circle Meeting was held in Cambodia from December 21, 2012 to January 3, 2013. In the group of 54 scholastics and brothers were representatives from every Province, Region and Mission in the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific, as well as from Portugal, Gujarat and Kerala. The meeting’s main theme was “To Heal a Broken World: Reconciling People, Communities and Creation.”
The meeting’s reflection and discussion days were held at the Metta Karuna Reflection Center in Siem Reap, but the group also spent days in the floating villages on the Tonle Sap, in Battambang Parish, and in various Catholic communities within the Battambang Prefecture.
The meeting was facilitated by the SBC 2012 core-committee and Fr Pedro Walpole SJ of the JCAP Task Force on Ecology, assisted by Iris Legal of the Environmental Science for Social Change. The speakers were asked to share their experiences with the document “Our Environmental Way of Proceeding” as the main platform for reflection.
Sr Denise Coghlan RSM, former director of Jesuit Service Cambodia and now director of Jesuit Refugee Service Cambodia, shared stories on Healing a Broken People (the work for refugees and the disabled.) Friends of JRS-Cambodia, Channa Reth, Ainsa and Keyra spoke of their experience of struggle through war and persecution.
Fr Totet Banaynal SJ shared on engaging Cambodian culture and working with the young. Peace advocate Bob Maat (a former Jesuit brother) spoke of his experience of transforming attitudes and relations, and Msgr Kike Figaredo SJ shared his personal vocation story in light of the experience of seeking the fullness of life for the poor in Cambodia. Finally, Fr Gabby Lamug-Nanawa SJ shared on the environmental frontiers for the Jesuit Mission in Cambodia.The participants also reported on their research on ecological concerns in their own localities, after which Fr Pedro helped the group to move into discussions, brainstorm possible areas for collaboration and engagement, and situate the efforts of the SBC in the greater context of the Conference’s concern for ecology.
The group was inspired by the many Jesuits of the Cambodia Mission who came to welcome them, and who provided all-out support and presided in the daily Eucharistic celebrations – Fr Gabriel Je SJ, Delegate to the Korean Provincial; Fr Greg Priyadi SJ, Director of Jesuit Service – Cambodia; Fr Indon Oh SJ, Director of Banteay Prieb; as well as Fr Jin-hyuk Park SJ, Fr Rajat Putri SJ, Fr Rudy Chandra SJ, Fr Stepanus Winarto SJ, and Bro Ham Touen SJ. JCAP President Fr Mark Raper SJ joined the group as it travelled to Battambang for Christmas celebrations. Finally, Fr Joseph “Jub” Phongphand Phokthavi, SJ came to be recollection master for the day of silence and prayer.
Many of the participants found all this intense, deeply moving and very inspiring. Everything helped to deepen their appreciation of the various aspects of “Our Environmental Way of Proceeding”.
The participants also highly appreciated the chance to visit and engage communities in Chong Kneas and Prek Toal (the floating villages on the Tonle Sap), the immersion-experience during which they stayed with host families in the Catholic communities in Battambang Prefecture, and the opportunity to experience Christmas in a mission setting.
There were also visits to historical sites like the Killing Fields memorial in Wat Knong Somrong in Battambang, as well as the Angkor Archaeological Complex, which kept the reflections and discussions on healing a broken world grounded in the mission context of Cambodia. Conversations as to how the participants, as members and collaborators of the Society of Jesus, can grow in greater ecological solidarity and establish right relationships with creation were begun at the meeting. The participants will bring this back to their respective Jesuit communities.
All in all, the meeting achieved the objectives of strengthening the commitment of formands to ecological solidarity (GC34) and restoring right relationships with God, people and all of creation (GC 35); deepening the appreciation of various cultural, apostolic and missionary settings of Jesuits and Jesuit works; and identifying opportunities for positive, practical initiatives in Jesuit communities in line with “Our Environmental Way of Proceeding”. The participants appreciated that the meeting allowed them to be introduced to the global character of the Society and its works, and to form friendships among formands across Provinces. They look forward to greater cooperation on the priority works of the Conference.
To read a sharing by Charles Nopparut “Bee” Ruankool, SJ, a Thai scholastic who joined the SBC meeting in December, click here.