From May to August, the Chinese Jesuit Province saw four Jesuits from three countries ordained to the priesthood in ceremonies held in its four territories. A Jesuit from Burundi was also ordained to the diaconate during this period.
John Joseph Zhang SJ was ordained priest in northern China during the Easter Season. He has been assigned to Casa Ricci Social Services in Macau.
In the front row pews during evening mass at the Church of St Ignatius in Singapore on July 26, family members gathered to celebrate the ordination to the priesthood of two not-so-young Jesuits. It would be typical to see both men seated amidst their respective families ready in turn to offer them up to the rest of the Church. What was not so typical was that it was just one family – with both Jesuits seated on either side of the same mother, and among the same siblings and relatives – supporting them into the service of ordained ministry.
Seven Jesuits were ordained to the priesthood in Thu Duc, Hồ Chí Minh City on Saturday, August 20, 2015.
Peter Nguyễn Xuân Anh SJ, Joseph Phạm Đình Cư SJ, Anthony Nguyễn Hoàng Dũng SJ, Matthias Nguyễn Kim Đoàn SJ, Francis Javier Nguyễn Thanh Hùng SJ, Peter Đào Kim Sơn SJ, and Paul Nguyễn Thái Sơn SJ received the sacrament of Holy Orders from Bishop Stephen Tri Bửu Thiên of the Cần Thơ Diocese in a ceremony concelebrated by Vietnamese Jesuit Provincial Fr Joseph Phạm Thanh Liêm SJ and more than 120 local and visiting priests, including other Jesuits.
The Korea Jesuit Province celebrated the ordination of 10 new priests on July 1. More than 2,000 people participated in the ordination mass concelebrated by Most Rev Gyoung-chon Timothy Yu, Auxiliary Bishop of Seoul, and 160 priests, at Myung-dong Cathedral in Seoul, South Korea. During his homily, Bishop Yu reminded the newly ordained Jesuits of the Jesuit charism to be contemplatives in action that makes Jesuit priesthood possible.
Timorese Jesuit Fr Venancio Pereira recently completed his tertianship in Sri Lanka, and shares how his tertianship experience has made him a “professional Jesuit”.
First of all, I would like to thank Fr Mark Raper SJ, my superior for sending me to do my tertianship in Sri Lanka. It was a special grace that I received personally from the Lord, the owner of my vocation and life.
Ten tertians from nine provinces recently completed the 2014-2015 Asia Pacific Tertianship in Manila. For six months, from September 7, 2014 to March 6, 2015, the tertians were engaged in ministries, chosen with the guidance of their spiritual directors. These were varied and included working in prisons, migrant service, orphanages, parishes, high schools, hospitals, and with indigenous people’s ministry.
Scholastic Rui Muakandala SJ began his theology studies at Faculdade Jesuita de Filosofia e Teologia in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Here, he reflects on the challenges he and Sch Albino Gonçalves SJ are facing as East Timorese studying in a new country, continent, culture, and language.
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.
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.
On August 23, 2014, family, relatives, friends, and Jesuits gathered at the Ateneo de Manila University’s Church of the Gesu to celebrate the diaconal ordination of nine Jesuits, one from the Vietnamese Province (Joseph Pham Din Cu), five from the Korean Province (Seokbae Andrew An, Hyungsik Francis Jo, Do-hyun Paul Kim, Min Kim, Jaesang Jason Bonaventura Lee), and five from the Philippine Province (Ambrosio Faustino Flores, Alvin Dagooc Laput, Mark Peter Ledesma Lopez, Arnel Te Ong, Henry Cogal Ponce).