Vocation Promoters from our Jesuit conference met in Kingsmead Centre, Singapore from 5 to 9 March to discuss Fr General Arturo Sosa’s call to promote a culture of vocations promotions in the Society and to propose collaborative efforts to accompany young people towards God through discernment and the Spiritual Exercises.
This was the first time that the vocation promoters network met onsite since the pandemic began in 2020. In his opening message, JCAP President Fr Tony Moreno SJ encouraged the vocation promoters to share their best practices and learn from one another. The meeting provided an opportunity for the promoters to discuss their vocprom efforts and share the challenges they faced in promoting vocations during the pandemic. Fr Mark Ravizza SJ, General Councilor for Formation, also addressed the promoters via Zoom about the Universal Apostolic Preferences and the importance of promoting a culture of vocation promotions in the Society.
JCAP Youth Ministry Coordinator Fr Alexander Koko SJ gave an overview of the activities done by their peer network and proposed areas for collaboration between the youth ministry and vocation promoters. One of which is to collaborate with the MAGIS programme heads of the respective provinces/regions to craft a module on vocational discernment.
The promoters also invited Eric Santillan, a Filipino organisational development consultant based in Singapore, to talk about the Spirituality of Millennials and Gen Z. A former Jesuit scholastic, Mr Santillan shared about the lights and shadows millennials and Gen Z experience, which may impact the fruitfulness of our ministries. He also discussed ways to understand their behaviours and context and suggested approaches to promoting the Jesuit vocation to them.
Filipino Jesuit Fr Eric Anthony Escandor is the Convener of Vocation Directors in the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific.