There is an increasing focus on disaster preparedness in the Philippines, although this is happening at different levels. The general public is learning how to use the available technologies for monitoring hazards and to understand the language used. Many communities are also focused on evacuation strategies and on identifying safe centres that can be used in the event of a disaster.
Two months into 2015, there are already nine new Jesuit deacons in the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific – two Koreans, six Vietnamese and one Singaporean.
The first Jesuit community college, Arrupe College of Loyola University Chicago, is scheduled to open in August. The college will provide students with the same liberal arts core curriculum classes offered at the university, but at a more affordable cost, according to Fr Stephen Katsouros SJ, Arrupe College’s dean and executive director.
The album produced by the Jesuit Music Ministry (JMM) for the Philippine Papal Visit made it to the top 10 of the Original Pinoy Music (OPM) charts in January. This is the first time a JMM album has reached the top 10. “Mercy and Compassion: Songs for Pope Francis” landed in the second spot of the OPM list and in the third spot of the Overall best-selling albums for the fourth week of January.
A copy of the album was presented to Pope Francis when he met with Jesuits in the Philippines on January 16.
The Jesuits in Cambodia have proposed a fast from pollution this Lent. Why pollution? Their response is that “Pollution weakens our bodies and makes us vulnerable to many diseases such as diarrhoea, chest infections, cancers, respiratory and heart diseases. And the people most likely to be affected first are the poor, due to their already limited access to clean water, clean food and clean air. The poor suffer first.”
In support of this, they provide the following facts:
An inter-religious ceremony was recently held to bless the land for the Xavier Jesuit School Project. Msgr Enrique (Kike) Figaredo SJ, Apostolic Prefect of the Battambang Prefecture in Cambodia presided with His Excellency, Mr Oum Reatrey, the Vice-Governor of Banteay Meanchey Province with responsibility for Education, at the ceremony which took place on January 29, 2015, in a temporary tent erected for the purpose on top of the land-fill just opposite the site where the foundations of the first building are already being constructed.
More than 3,000 people joined the Jesuits in Vietnam for the close of a yearlong celebration of the arrival of the first Jesuits in the country 400 years ago. The mass was held at the main Jesuit compound in Thu Duc, a suburb of Ho Chi Minh City.
At Kanyintabin village, a community nestled on the bank of the vast Pyamalaw River, Jesuit Scholastic Cyril Nay Myo Htet, better known as Phocho, sat down with a group of farmers on a hot December afternoon, a mug of sweetened instant coffee in his hand. This was the time of the year when they harvested the yields of their toil and sweat.
Indonesian scholastic Anggun Sugiyono SJ left the recent Scholastics and Brothers Circle (SBC) meeting with a greater understanding of the universal mission and of himself. Now doing his Regency in Micronesia, Sch Anggun shares with us his reflection on the meeting.
Working as an Indonesian regent in Micronesia, I realize the importance of our universal mission as one Society of Jesus. This sense of universality became much clearer during the SBC meeting.
Fr Adolfo Nicolás SJ, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, spent two weeks in Asia Pacific in January, visiting the Jesuit Chinese Province from January 13 to 16, and the Jesuit Vietnamese Province from January 17 to 25.