For 25 years, the Jesuit prison ministry in Thailand has been accompanying foreign prisoners primarily through providing counselling and companionship. Today, the programme serves about 1,200 prisoners spread across in 10 prisons in Bangkok and other provinces, and two prison hospitals.
This year, the team encountered a number of challenges.
Indonesian Jesuit scholastic Advent Novianto reflects on his experience of the East Asian Theological Encounter Programme, a Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific formation programme that provides an opportunity to experience Buddhism in the context of theology in Asia.
The two and a half weeks of MAGIS and World Youth Day have greatly influenced my spiritual mind and my point of view of the world. When I first saw the poster for the meeting, I was in Paris, France studying as an exchange student. Thinking that it would be difficult to attend since I was not with the Korea group, I envied those who could participate in it and quickly forgot about the event.
We celebrate on July 31 the feast of Ignatius Loyola, the founder and first Superior General of the Society of Jesus. His successor was elected at the first General Congregation that, delayed by a war, was held two years after his death, in 1558. In October this year, 220 electors will assemble in Rome for the 36th General Congregation, called to elect the 31st Superior General who will replace Fr General Adolfo Nicolás who, at 80 years of age, is seeking to resign.
More than 200 young pilgrims from provinces and regions within the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) have just spent a week learning what it means to be Magis. MAGIS is a Jesuit-organised international meeting of young people from all over the world held in conjunction with World Youth Day. The MAGIS programme helps to prepare them for the experience of World Youth Day by offering them an opportunity to share in a unique experience on three distinct levels: individual growth, relationships with God and others, and intercultural dialogue.
The ecological crisis, the globalised call for environmental stewardship promulgated in Laudato si’ and the 2015 UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris have brought the concept of “sustainability of life” to the fore. These have raised the need for critical reflection on sustainability in the light of the innovative praxis of local communities, particularly the indigenous peoples.
The third run of the Workshop on Ignatian School Leadership (WISL) brought together 38 school leaders from Jesuit-run schools in four provinces and regions within the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP). Coming from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Micronesia, and the Philippines, the participants ranged from administrators of a wide range of experience to teachers identified as having leadership potential.
The Society of Jesus in Korea celebrates three new Jesuit priests: Fr Kim Min-cheol John, Fr Yeo Myoung-mo Paul Ha Sang, and Fr Kim Kun-dong Benedict. They were ordained to the priesthood on June 29 at Myung-dong Cathedral in Seoul, South Korea. More than 1,100 people participated in the ordination mass concelebrated by His Eminence Andrew Cardinal Yeom Soo-jung DD, Archbishop of Seoul, and 100 priests. During his homily, Cardinal Yeom called for the newly ordained Jesuits to be good shepherds who serve Christ, read the Scripture, believe the Word and do what they will teach.
A group of 17 consisting of 10 Jesuit scholastics, one priest, five Religious sisters and one lay woman came together recently to learn, re-learn and unlearn with our Indigenous sisters and brothers in Tarlac, Philippines. Their two-week immersion was part of the Asia Pacific Contextual Theology for Engagement Programme (ACOTEP) planned for students of the Loyola School of Theology but Religious sisters and lay students of the Institute of Formation and Religious Studies and Institute for Consecrated Life in Asia were invited to participate.
