New provincial for the Australian Province
The Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Fr Adolfo Nicolás, has appointed Fr Brian McCoy to succeed Fr Steve Curtin as Provincial Superior of the Australian Province of the Society of Jesus.
With Pope Francis for St Peter Faber
Pope Francis celebrated Mass with his fellow Jesuits on January 3, in the mother church of the Society of Jesus, the church of the Gesù, in Rome. The Mass marked the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus and gave thanks for the enrollment of the first Jesuit to be ordained a priest, Fr Peter Faber SJ, in the list of the saints. About 350 Jesuits were present.
In his homily, Pope Francis spoke of the particular way in which the Jesuit Order is marked – and desires to be signed – by the name of Jesus: “To march,” he said, “beneath the standard of His Cross”.
God is with us
As I prepared to write this Christmas greeting, our fifth floor of the East Asian Pastoral Institute where I live in Manila began to rock and sway. The tremor lasted seconds, but it was enough to remind me that the Philippines not only receives 10 to 20 tropical storms a year, but also lies on the “Ring of Fire”, the Pacific Ocean’s volcano and earthquake belt. This year, the Filipino people have once again experienced more than their share of earthquakes and typhoons.
Peter Faber declared a saint
More than 140 years after he was beatified, Peter Faber is now a saint. The announcement was made on December 17, Pope Francis’ 77th birthday, and is something of a gift to his fellow Jesuits for whom Faber is a well-loved role model.
With Faber’s “equivalent canonization”, the pope extended his devotion to the universal Church and inscribed him in the catalogue of saints, bypassing the Vatican’s typical procedures for sainthood which include ascertaining two miracles to their intercession.
Learning from the past for the Society’s mission today
Fr Adolfo Nicolás SJ, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, recently invited every Jesuit, all our collaborators, every community, apostolic work, Region and Province of the Society to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Restoration of the Society in 2014 “with humble and sincere gratitude to the Lord, with a desire to learn from our history, and as an occasion for spiritual and apostolic renewal”.
The role of structure and infrastructure in disaster reduction
There is now an awareness that after typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) hit central Philippines on November 8, infrastructure broke down, and not just roads and bridges, but also communication channels, power, water, transportation. Economic structures where subsistence co-exists with poverty also broke down, and there is now the immediate challenge for people to build livable structures as their housing. Structuring a whole response of sustainable cities and villages as a reality, beyond an architectural print-out, is the challenge the country faces.
Rebuilding after Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda)
Three weeks after Typhoon Haiyan (“Yolanda” in the Philippines) wreaked widespread devastation on the Philippines, the survivors are slowly beginning to pick up the pieces.
The official death toll of 5,500 as of November 27 makes the typhoon the deadliest storm in the country’s history – and the number of dead is expected to increase.
Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) – Update 2, 12 November 2013
The Philippine Jesuits are joining forces with massive relief efforts to help victims of Typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda), the most powerful typhoon ever recorded in the Philippines. The scale of desperation and devastation is immense.
A team from the Jesuit social arm, Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan (Church in service of the Nation – SLB) sails today on a navy boat for the devastated areas of Leyte and Samar together with a Caritas Manila team and many supplies.
Typhoon Yolanda – Haiyan – Update 1, 11 November 2013
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Dear Friends,
Thank you for your concern for the Filipino people at this time of crisis presented by Typhoon Yolanda, possibly the worst disaster the people has faced in a long time.