Understanding the impact of migration on children
13 Jan 2017

Understanding the impact of migration on children

by | posted in: JCAP News, Migration, Social Justice | 0

Much has been written about migrant workers and their lives and trials working in foreign country.  What is often overlooked, however, is what happens to the children who are left behind by their migrant worker parents.

How do the children cope with the absence of one or both parents? How are these children perceived by a society that still values traditional family and gender roles? To what extent does migration change the idea of child welfare or parenthood?

Called to be companions, not just problem solvers
13 Jan 2017

Called to be companions, not just problem solvers

by | posted in: JCAP News, Migration, Social Justice | 0

Eka Tanaya of the Australian Province was one of 39 participants in the Scholastics and Brothers Circle (SBC) workshop held from December 19 to 28, 2016 at the Jesuit Apostolic Center in Seoul, South Korea.  He shares his reflection on the workshop, which was themed “Understanding Migration: The South Korea Experience Guided by the Ignatian Teaching Paradigm”.

The day after the last term of my teaching regency at St Ignatius’ College, Adelaide, I immediately flew to Seoul for the SBC workshop. Seoul was my second SBC, after the one in Cambodia in 2012.

Responding to ecological challenges in Asia Pacific
20 Nov 2016

Responding to ecological challenges in Asia Pacific

by | posted in: JCAP News, Reconciliation with Creation, Social Justice | 0

Drought and flooding are the two most significant ecological challenges in Asia Pacific, according to participants in the first Reconciling with Creation Reflection Workshop.  According to the workshop report released in October, drought was foremost in the minds of the participants, named by 11 people from eight countries.  Flooding was a close second, named by 10 participants from six countries.  But these are just two of the host of ecological challeng

Directing greater energies to the poor and the peripheries
20 Nov 2016

Directing greater energies to the poor and the peripheries

by | posted in: Province News, Social Justice | 0

When Pope Francis visited the Philippines in January 2015, his message to the Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus was clear: to go to the poor and the peripheries.  It shone a light on what then Fr General Adolfo Nicolás had asked of the whole Society when he convoked General Congregation 36 in December 2014, which was to reflect prayerfully on what more the Eternal King is calling the Jesuits to do.

The ordeal of a foreign spouse in Japan
14 Nov 2016

The ordeal of a foreign spouse in Japan

by | posted in: Migration, Province News, Social Justice | 0

Anastasia* is from Latin America. A few years ago, she married a Japanese man in her country and in April 2015, they took their toddler son to Japan to visit his grandparents. While they were in Japan, they took their son for a general medical check-up and found out that he had a heart problem. They went to the United States and Latin America for second and third opinions, but could not decide on the best treatment for their son.

The most heart-warming Mid-Autumn Festival
20 Oct 2016

The most heart-warming Mid-Autumn Festival

by | posted in: Migration, Social Justice | 0

The mooncakes might have been hard and the lanterns dim but this celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival was the most heart-warming one the migrant workers have had in a while.

The Rerum Novarum Centre in Taiwan had invited Vietnamese and Indonesian migrant workers to celebrate the last day of the Mid-Autumn Festival with Taiwanese friends at the Jesuit theologate.

Sharing a deeper hope
13 Oct 2016

Sharing a deeper hope

by | posted in: General Congregation 36, Social Justice | 0

We have already been reminded many times by the Holy Father of the needs at the frontiers, and of an education that serves the long term. As Jesuits, our spirituality prepares us for the long haul and so we face the challenge of being inserted in the world and to go heal the wounds, especially at the margins where people are so compromised, insecure, and subject to all forms of violence.

The simple life as a symbol of resistance
6 Oct 2016

The simple life as a symbol of resistance

by | posted in: Interreligious Dialogue, Province News, Social Justice | 0

Indonesian scholastic Tiro Daenuwy SJ shares what he learnt from his immersion experience in an Islamic boarding house in Garut, West Java, Indonesia.  The five-day immersion held from July 29 to August 2 is a vital part of the Asia Pacific Theological Encounter Programme, a formation programme in contextual theology with a focus on Islam that is conducted annually by the Jesuits in Indonesia.  Part 2.