The Philippine Jesuit Province will welcome a new Provincial Superior with the appointment of Fr Xavier L Olin SJ. He will take over from Fr Primitivo Viray Jr SJ, who has been appointed as the next President of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP).
Fr Olin hails from Naga City, where he studied AB Literature at the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Naga University. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1997 and was ordained a priest in 2008. In that same year, he completed both his STB and MA in Pastoral Ministry at the Loyola School of Theology and Ateneo de Manila University. He underwent Tertianship in Australia in 2020 and professed his Final Vows in 2021.
Fr Olin has extensive experience in formation work, including his role as Vocation Promotion Coordinator of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific from 2008 to 2011. During this time, he served as the Province Vocation Promoter and Arvisu House Candidacy Director. He became Superior of the Jesuit community at Xavier School in San Juan City in 2012 until 2019. In this period, he was also Superior to the Jesuits serving in Mary the Queen Parish, Philippine General Hospital Chaplaincy, Philippine Prison Service, and in 2017, for the Jesuits in Loyola College of Culion. While at Xavier School, he also served as the Director of Campus Ministry.
In 2021, Fr Olin was missioned to San Jose Seminary, where he assumed the role of Director of its Spiritual Pastoral Formation Year programme. Presently, he serves as the Rector of Loyola House of Studies, as well as the Province Delegate for Formation and the Executive Director of the Center for Ignatian Spirituality.
JCAP President Fr Tony Moreno SJ requested prayers for both Fr Viray and Fr Olin, as well as the Philippine Province. The handover date is yet to be determined.