The Philippine Jesuit Province, with its mission partners, communities, and institutions, has announced a renewed province plan for the next four years. The plan is a collective response to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the threat of prevailing authoritarianism in the country, the Philippine Jesuits said.
The renewed province plan centres around five thrusts they refer to as “five loaves”, namely: 1) fostering integrity and accountability in their communities and institutions, 2) feeding the hungry and creating sustainable livelihoods, 3) summoning the youth to engaged citizenship, 4) building faith-based hope and resiliency, and 5) cultivating personal and institutional ecological conversion.
In pursuing these objectives, the Philippine Jesuits noted that “the mission is taking on new forms amidst great practical and spiritual challenges, including the care of the poor among our direct stakeholders. There have been and will be new challenges to our mission, and yet we put a spotlight on these province thrusts as fundamental to our mission today.”
They also affirmed the progress made in the Mindanao Roadmap, which promised greater apostolic focus, preference, resources, and energies to Mindanao, the country’s southernmost island where the Jesuits have a long history, tradition, and presence.
“Mindanao remains the periphery which the province is called to attend to in the long term. But what prompted us to take on the Mindanao Roadmap has gone beyond the metes and bounds of Mindanao. In other parts of the country, poverty and hunger have worsened sharply and the search for peace and justice is critically threatened by red-tagging, rising insurgency, and spreading lawlessness and impunity. The adverse effects of the abuse of the environment are sadly made starker by the string of typhoons that hit Luzon in November, exacerbating the staggering social injustice,” they said.
The province’s thrusts, which were announced on the eve of the Ignatian Year, resonate with the apostolic preferences of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific in the next five years, particularly the commitment to the call of poverty and reconciliation with creation, deepening in and sharing the charism of Ignatian Spirituality, and collaborating with young people.
“Our troubled times compel us Jesuits (and our mission partners) to re-examine the fidelity of our way of life, to return to the Lord’s call in General Congregation 36 for renewal of Jesuit life and mission, and together to beg for God’s grace to fulfill it,” the Philippine Jesuits said. “The pursuit of these province thrusts relies heavily on our capacity, as individuals, communities, and institutions, to engage in personal and collective examination of conscience and to see how we live out and struggle with our vowed commitments to Jesuit life and shared mission.”
Read the Philippine Jesuits’ renewed Province Plan 2021-2024 here.