If the JCAP major superiors needed a reminder of the extent of and differences in our Conference, the last two locations for our biannual meeting certainly provided that. The island Republic of Palau, population 20,600, is a vastly different locale from that of our previous assembly held last July in Macau, a part of China, population over 1.4 billion.
The Jesuit Conference Asia Pacific (JCAP) continues to seek venues to strengthen reflection, and network through participation in formation programmes, and institutional and province reviews. In Asia Pacific, there are continuous challenges of social and environmental injustice, limited basic education for the poor, and the needed revision of values in a culture of consumerism.
EAPI sets up Centre for Effective Mission
The East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) is setting up a new unit to provide consultancy and on-site training programmes for local churches in Asia Pacific. The new Center for Effective Mission will complement EAPI’s current formation and educational programmes in Manila, Philippines.
Rectors and Formation delegates across the Conference of Asia Pacific gathered in Manila recently to discuss how to form Jesuits for the needs and contexts of the globalized, interconnected world we live in today.
The Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific has produced a modest 16-page annual report, simply titled “Jesuits in Asia Pacific 2012”.
We continue the series of reflections by Jesuit formands on the six interrelated dynamics described in “A Profile of a Formed Jesuit for Asia Pacific” as having the potential to form a Jesuit as a contemplative in action. Fr Jody Magtoto SJ of the Philippine Province wrote this reflection on the dynamic of universal perspective shortly before he was ordained on April 14.
Much more than words, a picture can tell the stories of dozens of people with their own unique cultural and historical identities, and even the call to follow Christ radically, especially if the picture is the community photograph of Arrupe International Residence 2011-2012.
Following the launch of A Profile of a Formed Jesuit in late 2011, Jesuit Houses, especially houses of formation, have been studying how they can incorporate it into their programmes. Arrupe International Residence (AIR) is one of these.
The 10 tertians in the Asia Pacific Tertianship completed their six-month tertianship in early March. One of them, Fr John Sullivan SJ, contributed this reflection on the experience.