Fr Peter Pojol SJ has been named as the new Director of the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) to succeed Fr Arthur Leger SJ who has held the position since 2011. The appointment was announced by the President of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific, Fr Mark Raper SJ, following the endorsement of the EAPI Board of Trustees.
The Asia Pacific Tertianship programme includes a two-week Christmas exposure programme during which the tertians spend two weeks with various communities. They offer this joint reflection on the experience.
On December 3, the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) concluded its nine-month celebration of 50 years of being faithful to its original purpose and mission – to form pastoral workers to go back to their local churches and “set the world on fire” with new attitudes, knowledge and skills to effect transformation.
“We have accomplished this in unique ways, especially with the participatory multicultural community living,” said EAPI Director Fr Arthur Leger SJ.
Cardinal Charles Bo, Archbishop of Yangon, opened the 50th Anniversary Mid-Year Celebration of the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) on June 18 with affirming words recognizing EAPI’s significant role in the growth of the Church across Asia. The Cardinal, an EAPI alumnus himself, shared his testimony on the transforming impact of the institute in the lives of the participants and the life of the Church.
In our latest annual report, we look back on a year of key milestones throughout the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific, recall the Pope’s visit to the Philippines, review the history of the Arrupe International Residence, continue our dialogue with Buddhism, and learn about the impact of the Spiritual Exercises in China. Also, JCAP President Fr Mark Raper SJ reflects on the Conference’s growth and the importance of collaboration in mission.
Fr Claudiu Jani Miklós SJ from the Independent Region of Romania was one of six tertians in the recently concluded 2015 to 2016 Asia Pacific Tertianship in the Philippines. Before tertianship, Fr Miklós was Spiritual Director of the Diocesan Roman Catholic High School Hám János of Satu Mare for four years. He shares with us a reflection on his tertianship experience.
Fifty years ago, the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) embarked on a new mission through the initiative of Fr Pedro Arrupe SJ, then Superior General of the Society of Jesus. After providing liturgical renewal for missionaries for more than a decade, it changed its purpose in 1966 to providing programmes for renewal and aggiornamento in the spirit of Vatican II.
Are there lessons to be learnt from a silver jubilee? In a typically Jesuit fashion, Fr Renato Repole SJ, Rector of the Arrupe International Residence (AIR), looked back on the recently concluded celebratory activities spread out over the last seven months, and asked himself, “What have we learned and gained from the whole experience? What did it mean for us at Arrupe?”
Filipino scholastic Richard Fernando SJ lived in Arrupe International Residence (AIR) from 1994 to 1995. He went to Cambodia for his Regency, and died in Banteay Prieb at the age of 26 while trying to prevent a student from releasing a grenade at the vocational institute. As AIR celebrates its Silver Jubilee, we remember one of the house’s martyrs.
JCAP Formation Delegate Fr Norris Seenivasan SJ of the Malaysia-Singapore Jesuit Region was one of the early residents of the Arrupe International Residence. As a scholastic, he called AIR home from 1993 to 1997. In 2015, as AIR celebrates its 25th anniversary, he recalls how the house of formation helped him become the Jesuit he is today.