The world has changed a lot for us here at the office of JCEAO since the General Congregation began two months ago. Suddenly we lost a boss – Fr Adolfo Nicolás was elected Superior General—and then we gained another one.
On March 3, it was announced that Fr. General has appointed the Australian Provincial Fr Mark Raper to succeed him as President of the Jesuit Conference of East Asia and Oceania. While waiting for the appointment of a new Provincial to succeed him later in the year, Mark is working out how to divide up the work at the regional level so that he can devote himself to all that needs to be done in the Australian Province during the rest of 2008. In June he will relinquish the role as President of Catholic Religious Australia.
On his way back from Rome to Australia at Easter, Fr Raper will stop in Manila for five days from March 18–22.
Fr Raper is a man with wide experience internationally. He was Regional Director of JRS during the 1980’s and then Director of the International JRS in Rome before becoming the Australian Provincial.
What is his vision for the future work of the EAO? In his letter to the Australia Province he wrote: “This new mission corresponds to our vision of the mission of the Australian Province. We have already made significant personnel commitments in Asia. Each of the provinces and regions which form part of Conference of East Asia and Oceania, especially the newly established regions, understand that they are part of a larger community. We need one another’s support in order to achieve our common mission. Consequently across Asia many Jesuits now live and work beyond their national and province boundaries. The conference has many common projects which need to be consolidated for the medium and long term, such as the new programmes in Burma and East Timor, and the growing activities in China and Vietnam.
“In our fast changing part of the world the practical and facilitating role of the Jesuit Conference of East Asia and Oceania is most relevant for this. Moreover the Society in Asia has much to offer other parts of the world. If done well, quite a lot of people can be considerably helped. The openness demonstrated in our Province by Jesuit and lay members to collaboration with one another across our ministries, and increasingly across Asia and the Pacific, gives me greater confidence in undertaking this new mission.”