The Korean Jesuit Province is offering a programme to help scholastics and brothers-in-formation understand the real situation of migrants in an industrialised society like Korea, and the urgency of the issues they face. The programme will be run by Yiutsari, the Jesuit migrant centre located in Gimpo.
From December 17 to January 1, 25 Jesuit scholastics from across the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific gathered in Tacloban City – one of the areas hardest hit by Super Typhoon Haiyan –to learn about disaster risk reduction and management, the theme of the 2015 Scholastics and Brothers Circle Workshop. After talks, immersion and reflection, they each had to write a plan for disaster risk reduction and management in their own context. Myanmar scholastic Paul Tu Ja SJ shares this reflection on his experience.
A more perfect learning environment would have been hard to find for the recent Scholastics and Brothers Circle meeting. With Disaster Risk Reduction and Management for a theme, Tacloban – one of the areas hardest hit by Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda in the Philippines) in November 2013 – was the logical location. During their workshop from December 18 and 30, the 25 Jesuit scholastics from across the Asia Pacific Conference were able to see with their own eyes the situation in Tacloban two years after the disaster. They visited reconstructed sites, and met with local comm
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.
Since the historic elections in November 2015, there has been a wave of optimism for national reconciliation, which may allow for Burmese refugees who fled to camps on the Thailand-Myanmar border decades ago to return.
Loyola University Chicago and its Board of Trustees have approved the implementation of the Magis Scholarship Fund, a student-led initiative to support undocumented undergraduate students in the United States. The Board of Trustees finance committee voted unanimously earlier this month to approve the initiative, which will raise approximately USD 50,000 each academic year.
The clinic may only be six months old and located in a classroom in Colégio de Santo Inácio de Loiola (CSIL) in Kasait, but already it has begun community outreach services to nine villages in the broader Ulmera area. The focus has been on raising awareness of hygiene, safe drinking water, sanitation, nutrition and communicable diseases, and organising dental, eye and general medical checks.
Pope Francis visited the Jesuit-run St Joseph the Worker Church in a Nairobi slum during his six-day visit to Africa. Speaking at the church on November 27, the pope condemned the “injustices” of urban poverty and substandard living conditions.
On December 8, as a concrete sign of commitment to the Jubilee Year of Mercy, the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) launched the “Mercy in Motion” advocacy and fundraising campaign to expand and strengthen their education programmes. JRS’ goal is to provide educational services to 100,000 more refugees than they currently serve by the year 2020.
Mercy in Motion reflects the words of Pope Francis: “mercy is not an abstract idea, but a concrete reality… We are called to look beyond, to focus on the heart to see how much generosity everyone is capable of.”
The Manila Observatory is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, marking the milestone with a new website, three exhibitions, as well as conferences and seminars.