We cannot separate our life from our relationship with other people, with one another. To be able to understand and see ourselves deeply requires great energy and strong will. During a three-day workshop, from 20 to 22 January, with the major superiors and safeguarding delegates of our Jesuit conference, we were confronted with the issues affecting our Church and ministries today. We can say that the workshop was a time for realising more and more deeply who we are, what we do, and how we live.
On the first day, we were invited to appreciate how much we care about our own safety, and the safety of our communities and ministries. During the workshop, I imagined a colourful world for our children, and created it using coloured paper. However, there was also sadness in the world because of the wrong treatment children receive from their parents or family, their school environment, or their surrounding community.
Fr Gottfried Ugolini invited us to realise the fragility of our world and ourselves. Sometimes good people are surrounded by bad people. It is the real picture of the world and even of our Church. Listening to those who are vulnerable is part of a continuing conversion effort. We are all pilgrims trying to direct our lives to God Himself.
On the second day, the speakers encouraged us to go deeper into reflection on the context of safe self, safe community, and safe ministry. Conference President Fr Tony Moreno SJ highlighted the need for us to be aware of how we act, not only as leaders but also throughout our entire formation process. He stressed that our formation is our way of capacitating other individuals who are going through the same process.
Fr James U Gascon SJ, who is the Coordinator of the conference Safety in Ministry Network, gave a session on psychological awareness, particularly on what and how personal capacity is formed. Msgr Ramon Masculino added some points on how through our ministries we can relate to other people as collaborators. We must consciously be respectful of our collaborators, paying attention to the work environment, and communicating more openly and transparently with them.
Fr Danny Huang SJ led us through a reflection process for deepening our Jesuit identity and mission, going all the way back to the historical roots of the first founding fathers of the Society, who had carried out from the very beginning the work of “safeguarding”. They cared for the poor and vulnerable people of Rome, including prostitutes, women, and children. Ignatius loved the Church realistically because the first fathers also realised that they lived in a vulnerable world. Making safeguarding a priority makes us aware that trust is very difficult to gain but very easy to lose.
On the final day, after sharing what we learned from the case studies that were presented, Fr Hans Zollner SJ, President of the Centre for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, gave us a broader perspective on the dynamics of the Universal Church. He said that much still needs to be done in putting systems in place to ensure safety in all our ministries. Leaders can be false, and humility is needed. There is a need to clearly identify and strengthen responsibility, accountability, and transparency in our way of proceeding. Tension can actually help lead us to self-awareness. When we face the tension, we can begin to pay attention. We are all vulnerable, and self-understanding must be in the foreground.
Safeguarding is a call to conversion. We will always struggle, yet we constantly ask for God’s grace in our pilgrim journey. As a Jesuit conference, we need to work more closely together as collaborators in the “Missio Dei”, as friends in the Lord. I was touched by Suzanne Braddock’s reflection for Creighton University’s online ministries. She writes: “Mary’s pain opens her and us into a loving, listening relationship. She becomes our mother as well, ever ready to listen as we pour out our own woundedness to her who certainly must have known many pains as the mother of Jesus.”
Fr Yohanes Alis Windu Prasetya SJ from Indonesia is the Assistant Coordinator of the Safety in Ministry Network of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific.