Jesuit Mission Australia celebrated its 75th anniversary with special events in Sydney and Melbourne, bringing together more than 300 supporters, Jesuits, missionaries, volunteers, staff and friends to honour a legacy of faith, service and solidarity that began in Hazaribag, India, in 1951.
The milestone recognises the 58 Australian Jesuit missionaries who served in Hazaribag during the mission’s first 25 years, as well as the generations of supporters whose generosity has sustained Jesuit Mission’s work for 75 years.
Speaking at the Sydney celebration, Jesuit Mission Australia CEO Helen Forde reflected on the courage of those early missionaries.
“Seventy-five years ago, Australian Jesuits first arrived in Hazaribag. They went not as experts, but as companions. They walked alongside tribal communities, Dalits, and some of the most marginalised people in India, sharing their lives, learning from them and working together to build a more just future,” Forde said.
Forde also recalled the words of the late Fr Phil Crotty SJ, who spent more than 50 years in Hazaribag and later served as Director of Jesuit Mission Australia. Asked what it was like arriving in India as a young Jesuit, Fr Crotty famously replied: “We were dead mad, but we were called by the Spirit.”
During the Sydney Thanksgiving Mass, Fr Steve Curtin SJ reflected on the enduring call to mission that has guided Jesuit Mission since the beginning.
“The missionaries and co-missionaries who have gone before us embraced this task with relish and so do we. Now the torch they carried is in our hands,” Fr Curtin said.
Jesuit Mission Australia CEO Helen Forde and Fr Anand Beck SJ of Hazaribag Jesuit Province
Fr Anand Beck SJ, a member of the Hazaribag Jesuit Province currently undertaking tertianship in Australia, said celebrating the anniversary in Australia carried special significance.
“Being on the very soil from which these missionaries were once sent fills my heart with profound gratitude and a special sense of connection to their legacy,” Fr Beck said.
Over the past 75 years, Jesuit Mission has grown from a single mission in India into partnerships supporting education, healthcare, livelihoods, ecological initiatives and humanitarian responses across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
The anniversary theme, One Vine, Many Branches, reflects the shared nature of this mission and the many people who have contributed to Jesuit Mission’s story over three quarters of a century.
