For over 50 years, the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) has become the Asian hub for theological renewal, updating, experimentation and exploration for the Church. Its current residential programmes, namely the Pastoral Leadership and Management for Mission, Pastoral Education and Renewal for Mission, and the Sabbatical Renewal Experience, encourage participants to engage 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.
On August 4, 2018, an endowment fund was launched to support the work of EAPI and to honour the legacy of Fr Adolfo Nicolás SJ, Superior General of the Society of Jesus from 2008 to 2016. Fr Nicolás was EAPI director from 1978 to 1984. He had not wanted to be immortalised in an endowment fund, but he agreed because of his affection for EAPI.
The Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific and the Philippine Province hosted a testimonial dinner, where around 150 Jesuits and friends gathered to honour Fr Nico, as he is fondly called, and to bid him farewell, as he was to leave for his home province of Japan on August 6.
Fr Nicolás said in his message, “In this distinguished audience, there certainly are those who ask themselves for the meaning of today’s supper: why a person, Adolfo Nicolás, who otherwise appears to be rather normal, in a time of so many, would give his name to a pastoral institute and to fundraising? The answer is simple: because he believes in pastoral institutes.” He recalled, “In my years in Rome, I had the chance to visit almost the whole world. I am convinced now that Asia is the Way, Europeans and Americans are preoccupied with Truth, and Africa and Latin America with Life. We need all the cultures of the world to have the fullness of Christ.”
Fr Nicolás believes that “in Asia it is not enough to say that we must be humble and imbued by the sense of mystery and the like. Rather, we have to show the way, and this is pastoral.”
Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon and an EAPI alumnus, spoke of how EAPI has helped pilgrims like him find healing and a sense of belonging to a universal Church. “For many priests and church personnel who came from Myanmar, emotionally, spiritually bruised and broken, the stay in EAPI was comprehensively healing… We went back with a great resolve to be better disciples of Jesus.”
Cardinal Bo said that EAPI needs to reinvent itself as a new generation of Christians and Church emerges. “Politically and socially the world is on a spiral. Institutions like EAPI are vital. I am glad it is seeking monetary support for new efforts. The name of Fr Adolfo Nicolás is a live wire to this effort.”
The testimonial dinner raised about US$200,000 towards the endowment fund. For the initial phase of fundraising, the target of about US$1 million was set.
EAPI serves the local churches in Asia and the Pacific with its focus on pastoral formation in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council. It envisions a new way of being Church by offering priests, religious men and women and laity a unique experience of learning and formation in community. The endowment fund will be used primarily to provide scholarships for participants from poorer countries and for maintaining its aging facilities.
Peter Pojol SJ
Director, East Asian Pastoral Institute
Know more about the Adolfo Nicolás East Asian Pastoral Institute Endowment Fund here.