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.
… this by the tender mercy of our God
who from on high will bring the rising Sun to visit us,
to give light to those who live
in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet
into the way of peace.
Luke 1: 78-79
Love is born in the most unlikely places. A star gives hope to the most unlikely witnesses. Gifts are carried by the most unlikely guests.
Ibrahim*, a young man of 32, has been in Cambodia for nearly three years. His home is Myanmar, more specifically Arakan state. He is Rohingya. He is part of a Muslim minority from Myanmar, which has faced persecution for decades. Many consider them to be stateless, as Myanmar does not recognise people of this ethnicity as citizens.
The seafood factory on the southwestern coast of Thailand is sometimes referred to as the “Burmese university in Ranong”. It is one of the few opportunities available to many Burmese migrant children denied an education due to chronic poverty and social pressure.
The Conference team is expanding and strengthening. Consultations between the President and Provincials over several months have resulted in the missioning of Jesuits from various Provinces to core positions in the Conference. This generosity of spirit will greatly help the Conference to keep the Society in Asia Pacific oriented towards the service of faith and the promotion of justice.
The appointments announced by Conference President Fr Mark Raper SJ in December are:
A funding pitfall in education for the Burmese refugees along the Thai border may negatively affect their preparedness to go home.
The focus of the international donor community is shifting from the camps towards Burma, and a lack of sufficient resources has forced many organisations working in the camps, such as Jesuit Refugee Service, to make cutbacks to critical programmes like schooling.
The social apostolate needs to be approached from the perspective of Ignatian Spirituality, which provides a new way of seeing all things. Fr Patxi Alvarez SJ, Director of the Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat in Rome, made this point at the JCAP Social Apostolate meeting in August.
Jesuits and collaborators working with migrants and refugees in Asia Pacific gathered in Manila recently to share insights and ideas for co-operation among the migrant ministries within the Conference.
The two-day meeting organised by the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific was held on June 30 and July 1, in conjunction with a migration conference, “Migration, Religious Experience and Mission with Migrants in Asia”, organised by the Loyola School of Theology and the Scalabrini Migration Center.
In a recent interview, Fr Enrique (Kike) Figaredo Alvargonzález SJ, Apostolic Prefect of Battambang, spoke of the suffering of the Church in Cambodia under the persecution of the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s.
“It is a martyr Church,” said Fr Figaredo. “The Church in Cambodia was completely levelled. All our leaders… bishops, priests, nuns, many catechists, were killed. Those who weren’t killed died of hunger or disease, and the community remained in a very bad state.”
The suffering did not end after the end of the regime.
Myanmar is at a crossroads; an exciting point in its history as a nation. One of the poorest, most ethnically diverse and conflict-prone societies in Southeast Asia, Myanmar is now emerging from decades of isolation. Changes are afoot, as the release, election to parliament and recent travel abroad of Aung San Suu Kyi demonstrate. A parliament is in place; interim elections passed without major offences. Many political prisoners have been released. The demands to halt construction of the Irrawaddy Dam project appear to have been heeded.