A Jesuit General Congregation is a rare event. This month, the 36th General Congregation to be held since the Society of Jesus was founded 475 years ago begins with the first meeting of Electors in the six Jesuit Conferences across the world. For the Jesuits in Asia Pacific, this meeting was held in Manila from October 19 to 22.
After the release of Laudato si’ in May and the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific’s response in July, the Jesuits in Cambodia met to reflect on the Holy Father’s encyclical and how they can respond to his call through their ministries.
The Jesuits, volunteers, religious sisters, and Khmer collaborators of Jesuit Mission Cambodia welcome and support the latest encyclical of Pope Francis, Laudato si’ (On Care for Our Common Home).
Although the Jesuits do not have any parishes, schools or universities in Vietnam, they have found a way to reach out to young Catholic students. In what they call their “pastoral ministry of/for students”, they provide, in church-based settings, classes on catechism, Ignatian spirituality, and leadership to help Vietnamese Catholic students become rooted in and widely apply Ignatian spirituality in their lives, and live a life of faith.
The Philippine Jesuit Province celebrates this year the Golden Jubilee of its theologate which, in the five decades since it was established, has contributed to the intellectual and spiritual growth of 17 bishops, about 1,200 priests, 1,500 religious sisters and brothers, and 800 laypeople.
“I didn’t experience your caress when I was little because you left me on day one, and even up to now,” writes one student at a workshop on dealing with loneliness for children of Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). “But I am really longing for that time when you come home,” “and “hopefully when that time comes, I would know what it feels like to be hugged by my real mom.”
Brussels, 19 October 2015 – Hospitality and generosity should be at the centre of our response to the increased arrivals of refugees in Europe, say a group of leading European Jesuits in a statement released today. The statement acknowledges work done over past decades with refugee and migrant communities by Jesuits and those working with them and calls for renewed energy and vision in building active solidarity and hospitality with forced migrants.
With General Congregation 36 commencing this month with meetings of Electors in their six respective Conferences, there is much curiosity about what a new Superior General will bring to the Society.
Australian scholastic Andy Nguyen SJ is putting his training as an architect to good use in Timor-Leste, where he is doing the second year of the Regency stage of his formation. He is coordinating the various Jesuit design and construction projects in the country. He shares this reflection of his experience since arriving in the country in April this year.
The Jesuit spirituality centre in Singapore turns 25 this month. The Centre for Ignatian Spirituality and Counselling officially opened on October 21, 1990, two years after Fr Paul Tan SJ, then Regional Superior of the Jesuits in Malaysia and Singapore, decided to convert the students’ hostel at Kingsmead Hall into a Jesuit novitiate and spirituality centre. Singapore was changing and growing rapidly, and the Jesuits saw in this the need to provide for the spiritual needs of the people.
Six months have passed since the “Palm Sunday Typhoon”, Maysak, hit Chuuk, Micronesia on March 29, 2015. Life is almost back to normal at Xavier High School.