Kingsmead Hall in Singapore served as the venue for the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) Basic Education annual meeting, where education delegates from across the conference gathered from 1 to 4 April.
The main objective of this meeting was to finalise the JCAP Basic Education Apostolic Plan 2025-2027, which had been drafted during the previous delegates meeting. The plan consists of three pathways: forming Ignatian leaders, building and sustaining the structures to support our apostolic network, and connecting Jesuits and leaders for a shared mission.
Each pathway has been translated into specific key actions to facilitate actual implementation, with a clear emphasis that the plan should be implemented rather than remain as a document. Among these actions is the creation of two new committees, namely, the Formation Committee and the Collaboration Committee, reflecting the network’s willingness to discern a more collaborative way of proceeding.
Participants included Fr Jose Mesa SJ, Secretary for Secondary and Pre-secondary Education of the Society of Jesus; Fr Jun Viray SJ, JCAP President; Fr Leonardus Winandoko SJ, JCAP Secretary for Secondary and Pre-Secondary Education; and delegates from various provinces: Fr Baskoro Poedjinugroho SJ from Indonesia, Fr Yasunori Yamauchi SJ from Japan, Fr Joseph Haw SJ from the Philippines, Beth McConnell from Australia, Ying Lun So from the Chinese Province, Fr Mark Lopez SJ from Cambodia, Fr Calisto Seco Colo SJ from Timor-Leste, Fr Stanley Goh SJ from Malaysia-Singapore Region, and Fr Thomas Kenny SJ from Micronesia. David Smith, Global Community Director of Educate Magis, also participated in the meeting.
Reflecting on the current JCAP education landscape, Fr Viray expressed hope that the network’s apostolic plan would align with the apostolic plans of each province or region, reminding the participants that, as a conference, “We’re not operating in silos.”
Fr Mesa emphasised the significance of the meeting as a way to address the limited nature of the Society’s resources. “We need to take discernment, collaboration, and networking seriously as our way of proceeding, as Fr General Arturo Sosa has asked of us,” he said.
Building on this, Fr Winandoko invited the delegates “to work collaboratively as one apostolic body, taking part in the broader mission of the Society of Jesus”.
In addition to finalising the apostolic plan, the meeting also addressed JCAP’s involvement in the Educate Magis platform and provided updates on the upcoming Ignatian Student Leadership Forum (ISLF) 2025 and the 11th World Union of Jesuit Alumni (WUJA) Congress 2026.
By the end of the meeting, Fr Mesa’s reflection on our way of proceeding became ever more relevant. The delegates were reminded that discernment in common is always provisional. “A good discernment is always in the making, leaving room for God to act.” The feeling of consolation experienced during the conversations encouraged all participants to continue working together in God’s mission. The meeting itself served as a tangible example of collaboration. As the delegates affirmed: “We are called to emphasise our community as a universal apostolic body. If we want to go farther, we must go together.”
