Dec 1, 2006: Today was the second day of an international symposium here in Macau, to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of Alessandro Valignano. This Italian Jesuit was appointed Visitor (major superior) for all the Far East when still in his thirties and a Jesuit for less than ten years. He is the one who first decided for a policy of inculturation both in Japan and in China. He is the one who asked Matteo Ricci to come to China. The symposium is focused on the first century of our missions in Japan and China, and compares what happened in both countries. Three of our research institutes (the Macau Ricci Institute, the Ricci Institute at the University of San Francisco, and the Historical Institute at our Roman Curia) did very well in planning and running this symposium. The comparative approach and the many interactions between the scholars assembled here in Macau appear to be quite productive. A dozen Jesuits from different nations are among the scholars present here. There is also a group of about ten young Chinese scholars who have become experts in the area of Christianity in China, and they are having an important input in the symposium.
At the opening of the symposium, on November 30th, the Post Office of Macau issued a set of five new stamps, thanks to the good public relations work of Fr Luis Sequeira. Five stamps, five Jesuits: Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, Alessandro Valignano, Matteo Ricci and Melchior Carneiro (Jesuit, first bishop of Macau). On the stamp, we read in Portuguese: Companhia de Jesus Macau China, and in Chinese 中國澳門耶穌會. The juxtaposition of “China” and “Society of Jesus” has not happened in such a formal way for a number of years! (To see the stamps, you can look at www.macaupost.gov.mo/Philately/EnglishVersion)
You have probably heard about the Ignatian Conference in Hong Kong, from November 24 – 27. Three well-known Jesuit specialists in Ignatian spirituality came from India (Paul Coutinho), Ireland (Brian O’Leary) and the USA (David Fleming). Who would have expected 300 participants? Fifty sisters and priests came from the continent, all people who have already made the Spiritual Exercises and have participated in formation courses. Several of our Hong Kong Jesuits took turns as leaders of prayer, respondents to the keynote speakers, masters of ceremony, etc.
This conference was a special activity to mark the Ignatian Jubilee Year, and it had been prepared by two main groups, under the leadership of Fr Stephen Tong: the team of the Xavier Spirituality Center in Cheung Chau and the “Loyola Center” which is a “virtual” Spirituality Center made of some Jesuits (Fr Séan Coghlan, Fr Seán Ó Cearbhallán) and of a group of remarkable lay Catholics, all CLC members. These CLC members have gone through a long formation and they regularly give the Spiritual Exercises. Although they are busy professionals they give much time and energy to the promotion of Ignatian spirituality. They also run Marymount, an excellent primary and secondary school, according to the principles of Ignatian education. They did most of the logistics before and during the Ignatian conference, on a par with the Jesuits. I think that the priests and religious who came from China were able to see a very good example of a post-Vatican II Church with a mature and vibrant laity. An impressive number of Jesuits from different areas of the province participated in the conference, and we were once more “confirmed in our vocation” of studying and transmitting the Spiritual Exercises.