Small-scale farming and indigenous practices in the uplands of Asia are not very sustainable and a great majority of the youth wants out. Given the marginalisation and oppression that still rule in many of these environments with exploitation by corporate “sustainable” logging and mining firms, armed groups, corporate agricultural practices, infrastructure and seeping globalisation, farming life is not a question of success but of survival.
Indonesian Jesuit scholastic Advent Novianto reflects on his experience of the East Asian Theological Encounter Programme, a Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific formation programme that provides an opportunity to experience Buddhism in the context of theology in Asia.
More than 200 young pilgrims from provinces and regions within the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) have just spent a week learning what it means to be Magis. MAGIS is a Jesuit-organised international meeting of young people from all over the world held in conjunction with World Youth Day. The MAGIS programme helps to prepare them for the experience of World Youth Day by offering them an opportunity to share in a unique experience on three distinct levels: individual growth, relationships with God and others, and intercultural dialogue.
The ecological crisis, the globalised call for environmental stewardship promulgated in Laudato si’ and the 2015 UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris have brought the concept of “sustainability of life” to the fore. These have raised the need for critical reflection on sustainability in the light of the innovative praxis of local communities, particularly the indigenous peoples.
The third run of the Workshop on Ignatian School Leadership (WISL) brought together 38 school leaders from Jesuit-run schools in four provinces and regions within the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP). Coming from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Micronesia, and the Philippines, the participants ranged from administrators of a wide range of experience to teachers identified as having leadership potential.
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.
Often, our mission is not only the aim of our efforts, but also the instrument of our own formation. We are formed for the mission, by the mission, in the mission. At least, that was how I felt about my regency in East Timor.
What kind of leader do we need to continue our service of faith and the promotion of justice? First, one who understands context in leadership and next, one who is able to move forward on mission development. Which is why this was the focus of the second module of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific’s Leadership Development Programme held in Chiang Mai, Thailand from May 15 to 21. The first module held last December focussed on the importance of context in leadership.
The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) has published a report confirming that education is a life-saving intervention for children and adolescents forcibly displaced from their homes.
Jesuits and colleagues in the Asia Pacific region are gathering in the Philippines next month to discuss and share how transformed lifestyles are moving a more meaningful and effective response to environmental and social concerns in their ministries. The three-day environmental reflection workshop will be held at the Culture and Ecology Centre in Bendum, Bukidnon from June 6 to 10, and is organized by the Reconciliation with Creation programme of the Jesuit Conference Asia Pacific (JCAP).