Fifty years ago, the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) embarked on a new mission through the initiative of Fr Pedro Arrupe SJ, then Superior General of the Society of Jesus. After providing liturgical renewal for missionaries for more than a decade, it changed its purpose in 1966 to providing programmes for renewal and aggiornamento in the spirit of Vatican II.
On March 4, the EAPI begins a nine-month celebration to mark the anniversary with a Eucharistic Celebration presided by Bishop of Cubao Honesto Ongtioco. This will be followed the next day by a full-day programme that features His Eminence Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, Archbishop of Manila, as the main speaker.
On June 18, His Eminence Charles Maung Cardinal Bo, Archbishop of Yangon, will be the main speaker for the mid-anniversary event, and the celebrations culminate on December 3 with an event at which Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific President Fr Mark Raper SJ will be the main speaker.
The EAPI traces its beginning to 1953, when Fr Johannes Hofinger SJ, an Austrian missiologist, founded the Institute for Missionary Apologetics to provide comprehensive liturgical renewal for missionaries and make them more aware of the changes in the Church’s catechetical and religious education programmes. By September 1961, when the institute’s name was changed to East Asian Pastoral Institute, the resident team of Jesuits was already training missionaries from all over the world in the areas of liturgical and catechetical renewal and conducting workshops on the missionary aspects of the Church.
The decision to shift its focus coincided with its move to its current location within the Ateneo de Manila University campus. Amidst the construction of its main building, the EAPI started offering its regular pastoral course in 1966 with its first intake of 32 priests, sisters and lay people from Asia, the Pacific, the Americas and Europe.
Fifty years later, the EAPI is now the Asian hub for theological renewal, updating, experimentation and exploration for the Church.
Its programmes, especially the Pastoral Renewal Programme and the Sabbatical Pilgrimage Experience, encourage participants to look at faith from a perspective that is thoroughly personal and existential, and to commit themselves to gradually transforming their lives to be witnesses following the way of Christ in the world.
The Pastoral Leadership and Management for Mission programme provides formation on how to adapt new insights from leadership theory, research and development for effective and ethical leadership. It also focuses on how organisational attitudes, skills and knowledge can be adapted to assist in pastoral planning and management.
In addition, because of numerous requests for assistance with pastoral leadership and management, apostolic and pastoral planning, and even skills in administration, the EAPI conducts customized on-site training programmes in partnership with organizations in the local churches.
This academic year (2015-16), the EAPI began its first Master of Arts programme in Pastoral Ministry, in collaboration with the Loyola School of Theology (LST) in Ateneo de Manila University. This programme in pastoral leadership and management aims to equip pastoral workers with the knowledge, skills and practical know-how in Church leadership and management in parish and other ecclesial settings. A major component of the programme is the residential programme at the EAPI, including participation in its community life and modular courses.
More events are planned for the anniversary and the details can be found in the EAPI website: www.eapi.org.ph
Related story: LST-EAPI offer new program in Pastoral Leadership and Management