Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Indonesia has launched a social media campaign ahead of the celebration of World Refugee Day on Monday, June 20.
The initiative seeks to gather messages of support by asking people on Facebook to post a photo of themselves alone or with friends holding a personal statement of encouragement for people who have been displaced because of war, natural disaster or prejudice and oppression in their home countries.
What kind of leader do we need to continue our service of faith and the promotion of justice? First, one who understands context in leadership and next, one who is able to move forward on mission development. Which is why this was the focus of the second module of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific’s Leadership Development Programme held in Chiang Mai, Thailand from May 15 to 21. The first module held last December focussed on the importance of context in leadership.
In May 2015, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) approached the Jesuits in Jakarta for the help of Myanmar scholastics as translators for its interviews with Myanmar citizens who had been enslaved in the Thai fishing industry. Several scholastics did so, among them Simon Kam Sian Muan, who is now back in Myanmar for his Regency. He shares here what he learnt from the experience.
Tokyo is gearing up for the 2020 Olympics. While athletes are training hard, the Japanese government is working equally hard to get the facilities ready in time. To do so, it has recently relaxed immigration procedures to allow more foreign workers to work on the construction of new olympic venues. It has also introduced new regulations for foreign domestic helpers from the Philippines and Vietnam, easing the situation in the previously restricted sector. With this, sources say that this service industry will be worth 600 billion yen (US$5.45 billion) in the near future.
For Fr John Mace SJ, Cambodia was but the last way station in a decades-long journey in service of the Society of Jesus and the universal mission in Asia. He had spent the last four years serving as Secretary to the Delegate of the Korean Provincial to the Jesuit mission in Cambodia.
The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) has published a report confirming that education is a life-saving intervention for children and adolescents forcibly displaced from their homes.
Since the earthquake that devastated Nepal on April 25, 2015, the Nepal Jesuit Social Institute (NJSI) has been actively working in the 11 most affected districts.
With the Emergency Phase of work fully completed, the institute moved into rehabilitation activities and to date has erected semi-permanent structures for 15 schools. It has assisted 89 schools unreached by government assistance with student and office furniture, white boards, educational material and recreational material.
The Archbishop of Yangon, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, delivered an inspiring talk to the students and staff of Stonyhurst College, a Jesuit school in the United Kingdom, when he visited on Saturday May 21. He spoke of the role of the Catholic Church and the struggle for religious freedom in his country Myanmar.
Jesuits and colleagues in the Asia Pacific region are gathering in the Philippines next month to discuss and share how transformed lifestyles are moving a more meaningful and effective response to environmental and social concerns in their ministries. The three-day environmental reflection workshop will be held at the Culture and Ecology Centre in Bendum, Bukidnon from June 6 to 10, and is organized by the Reconciliation with Creation programme of the Jesuit Conference Asia Pacific (JCAP).
There are “the cracks in the planet”. As we mark Earth Day today, I am reminded of the startlingly fresh and visionary way Pope Francis called on all – not just Catholics – to be aware of the acute distress of our planet, our “common home” last year. In his encyclical letter Laudato si’, Francis calls us to appreciate our moral responsibility to care for this wounded world even as we rejoice in the marvels of creation, the wonder of human life, the beauty of the stars, the forests and the macro- and the micro systems of our universe.