Solidarity in social apostolates is rapidly increasing between the Japan and Korea Jesuit Provinces.  In another step towards increased collaboration, the two provinces will hold a bi-province meeting, timed to coincide with the 2015 Gangjeong Peace Conference to be held from September 7 to 9.

Gangjeong Village in Jeju Island, South Korea, is the site of an ongoing peace movement protesting the construction of a Korean naval base on the island.  The Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes are a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The 16 Jesuits from Japan attending the peace conference will remain on Jeju Island for one more day for the social apostolate meeting with nearly all the Jesuits working in social apostolate in the Korean Jesuit Province. Both provincials will attend the peace conference, which will be held at the new St Francis Peace Center of the Jeju Diocese.

This pastoral centre, which will be officially opened on September 5, will provide peace education, reflection and reconciliation for local residents and peace activists, and international solidarity through peace events and intellectual pursuits.  It has an auditorium and facilities for people to stay and meet. The broader effort is now to make the transition from opposing the new harbour, which is near completion, to a healing and peace process focussing on greater peace efforts in the area.

With 24 participants from Japan this year, the conference will seek Korea and Japan’s cooperation on three fronts:

1. Promoting a peace park on the historical site of a World War II Japanese airport in Jeju
2. Calling for Okinawa and Jeju to become demilitarised islands of peace
3. New initiatives in peace education

The Jesuit Research Center for Advocacy and Solidarity in Korea, directed by Fr Francis Mun-su Park SJ, is one of the organisers of the 2015 Gangjeong Peace Conference.

Ecology is one of its key areas of concern and action and, in the last 18 months, it has held a series of eight lectures on ecology and spirituality through the centuries.

The first set of four presentations covered Saints Benedict, Saint Hildegard, Saint Francis, and Saint Ignatius.  The present set of four presentations covers four 20th century Jesuits: Teilhard de Chardin, Luis Alberto Hurtado, Alfred Delp, and Oswald von Neil-Breuning.  Each presentation, held at the Ignatius Café of the Jesuit Apostolic Center in Seoul, includes lectures on the life and works of the spiritual leader, small group discussions, and prayerful dance or other cultural expression.

The research centre has also partnered with the Institute for Ignatian Spirituality in Seoul to translate a significant number of articles from the issue of Promotio Iustitiae centred on the Global Ignatian Advocacy Network (GIAN) initiative.  The following articles will be published in a book by the end of the year.

• The entire Promotio Iustitiae (PJ) 110 that focuses on Global Ignatian Advocacy Networks
• Networking in order to respond better to our mission by the Conference Social Coordinators (PJ 113)
• Global advocacy network for the right to education by Lucia Rodriquez (PJ 114)
• University research (PJ 116)
• The Church in a new immigration country: South Korea by Denis Kim (PJ 113)

[Ecojesuit]