The Jesuits in Cambodia have initiated a carbon offset programme in conjunction with the modest seedling nursery set up in Banteay Prieb, the Jesuit-run vocational school for people with disabilities, in late 2012. Primarily intended for Jesuits within the country, volunteers and visiting friends, the carbon offset programme provides an opportunity for air travellers to counterbalance the carbon emissions from their flights to or from Cambodia.
Jesuit Social Services (JSS) in Australia has formed an International Jesuit Prison Network (IJPN) to facilitate collaboration and support among Jesuit organisations and individuals around the world who are working in prisons or with former prisoners. Set up late last year, the network already has the support of all the Jesuit Conferences and various Jesuit organisations including Jesuit Networking, which has offered to assist in connecting interested people.
The 2014 Pax Christi International Peace Award has been granted to Jesuit Refugee Service Syria (JRS Syria) for its outstanding dedication in providing emergency relief to Syrians since the war began in 2012. According to the latest UN statistics, more than 9 million Syrians are in dire need of humanitarian assistance, including 6,5 million internally displaced persons and 2,6 million refugees in neighbouring countries.
Jesuit Refugee Service Cambodia marked World Interfaith Harmony Week with an interfaith event at Mindol Metta Karuna on February 8. The event gathered people of different faiths who want to work together for justice, peace and a development that sustains all especially the poorest and most excluded.
During the event, participants were asked to think about what they could do for a world of justice and peace, and make a promise by choosing one of the following and placing it in the Interfaith circle.
Three months after Typhoon Haiyan struck, thousands of people in the islands of Visayas continue to reel from the devastation it wreaked. Debris from wrecked houses still litters the shores of many islands. Makeshift homes made of the same rubble have mushroomed amidst the chaos despite the numerous tents and bunks provided by both local and international aid. Many people in the largely fishing and farming communities still cannot earn a living because they have not been able to replace the boats, crops and equipment destroyed by the typhoon.
Being a Christian involves obedience. It’s easier to obey a superior we like unless he makes the likeable somewhat difficult. Jesuits, with our special vow, think this affable Pope is easy to follow when he asks us to be revolutionaries; but, when we put “eco-” in front, is it easy? Personally, I share with Francis being a Jesuit, chemist, activist, and Facebook friend; however, he encourages me to do more: extraordinary dedication, intensive focus, and community/team cooperation. We are called to heal our wounded Earth at this time of anthropogenic climate change.
How can we accompany refugees without responding to their longing for healing and peace? This is the question posed in a newly-published guide that aims to strengthen the role of Jesuit Refugee Service in the reconciliation of groups of people displaced through conflict.
This month we remember Pedro Arrupe, the 28th Superior General of the Society of Jesus who died on February 5, 1991 aged 83. An incredibly charismatic general, he spent the last 10 years of his life confined in the infirmary, patiently enduring the debilitating effects of a cerebral stroke.
The Society of Jesus in Vietnam has begun a year of celebrations leading up to the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Jesuits in the country. On January 18, 1615, the first Jesuits arrived at the port of Hoi An – Italian Jesuit Fr Francesco Buzomi and Portuguese Jesuits Fr Diogo Carvalho and Br Antonios Dias with some other 70 Jesuits expelled from Japan. They took refuge with the Japanese Catholic community taking asylum in Hoi An, after fleeing the furious persecutions of Christians in Japan.
All members of the Myanmar Jesuit Mission residing in the country gathered for the first time to share their thoughts and experiences of the Mission. The three-day gathering in late December provided the group with an opportunity to meet and share their experience as Jesuits, deepen their understanding of the mission, and explore the future needs of the Church in Myanmar and the role of the Society of Jesus in that future. The rapid changes taking place in the country make this a matter of urgency for the Church and the Society.