JCAP President Fr Tony Moreno leads the blessing of our young Jesuit school leaders | Photo by Gokongwei Brothers School of Education and Learning Design

For a few days in November, some of our young Jesuit school leaders in Cambodia, Timor-Leste, and Malaysia travelled to the Philippines to meet and learn with seasoned educators and educational leaders around Asia Pacific.

Their colloquium was part of the Ignatian Initiative for Teacher’s Excellence (IGNITE) programme of Ateneo de Manila University’s Gokongwei Brothers School of Education and Learning Design, where conference Education Secretary Fr Johnny Go SJ serves as the dean.

Over the course of three days from 7 to 10 November, Fr Park Jinhyuk SJ and Fr Kim Taejin SJ, Director and Vice Director of Xavier Jesuit School in Sisophon, Cambodia, Fr Isaias Abilio Caldas SJ, Director of Colégio de Santo Inácio de Loiola in Kasait, Timor-Leste, and Fr Stanley Goh SJ, Principal of St Joseph’s Private School in Kuching, Malaysia learned about best practices and important lessons in leading Jesuit schools.

They listened to lay collaborators talk about the influence, contributions, and effects of the Jesuits on their communities, and discussed creative ways to promote Ignatian Pedagogy and Spirituality in their schools.

In one of the sessions with lay partners, Fr Goh shared that they were reminded to be true to their vocation as Jesuits and priests, bringing it to their service in their schools. “It was extremely consoling to hear how we’re not just supported as leaders but that this support extends to our vocations as well,” he said. “We rely on the Lord as we rely on those around us, knowing that even in our foibles and failings, the one who called us will always give us the capacity to be as we need to be.”

JCAP Education Secretary and Gokongwei Brothers School of Education and Learning Design Dean Fr Johnny Go SJ, IGNITE’s Je Ching, Fr Taejin Kim SJ, Fr Stanley Goh SJ, JCAP President Fr Tony Moreno SJ, Fr Isaias Caldas SJ, and Fr Jinhyuk Park SJ | Photo by Gokongwei Brothers School of Education and Learning Design

Having the support of a strong Jesuit network of schools was a source of consolation for Fr Caldas too who became the director of the secondary school in Kasait upon his ordination to the priesthood in 2020.  “In Timor-Leste, we have no other Jesuit school to compare and consult with. Attending this three-day conversation gave me peace and assurance that I am not alone because there are Jesuit school leaders elsewhere in the Asia Pacific Conference that are willing to help,” he shared.

“I learned that my role as a leader is to bring people together. I have to establish relationships with them, approach them with my strengths and weaknesses, and meet them where they are. I also have to create an Ignatian climate or culture where all can experience Ignatian spirituality,” he added.

Fr Caldas found it most profitable to listen to educators who have developed a lifelong practice. “What impressed me was that they were not just sharing knowledge learned from books, but wisdom gained from years of reflection on their experiences.”

As the group visited the various schools in and around Manila and spoke with educators from around Asia Pacific, Fr Goh related how the importance of school culture gave him much to reflect on. “Many saw the Jesuits in the schools as playing a key role in supporting the teachers who help to build and maintain the culture of the schools,” he said. “All our schools have unique missions that respond directly to the contexts that we are in and we respond to this through the building up of school cultures and identities that can help to advance this mission.”

Their conversations and exchanges deepened the young Jesuit school leaders’ sense of mission and vocation, and gave them strength, inspiration, and a strong sense of Jesuit brotherhood. In particular, Fr Goh notes the experience of cura personalis he felt throughout the programme.

“The feeling of being cared for gave me much matter for prayer,” he said, adding, “I could draw from these experiences as I seek to be similarly caring for those in and around our school.”