Renowned Jesuit missionary Fr Luis Ruiz Suarez SJ passed away at the age of 97 in Macau on 26 July 2011. Fr Louis Gendron SJ, Provincial of the Chinese Province, remembers his privileged encounters with Fr Ruiz, who he says enriched the name of “Ricci”.
Scholastic Jun-G Bargayo SJ reflects on his experience of the first JCAP meeting on Ecology, which was an experiential workshop at Kampong Cham, along the Mekong River.
Close to 40 Jesuits, religious and lay companions from across the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific gathered in Kompong Cham, Cambodia, from 11 to 15 July for the first JCAP meeting on ecology.
Reconciliation with Creation is a JCAP priority engagement and the meeting aimed to build a common understanding and shared approach to environmental issues among the Provinces.
The Jesuits in the Asia Pacific region have initiated a carbon offset scheme to reduce the impact of air travel on the environment. Flights for Forests was presented and approved at the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) assembly in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, in July 2011.
“Air travel is a major contributor to global warming, and since our collaboration in the Jesuit mission requires many of us to fly frequently, we seek to mitigate the damage our trips cause to the environment,” said Fr Mark Raper SJ, JCAP President.
Ignatius Loyola’s gift to the Church was about choice: how to make the best decision in our lives. In the celebrations for Ignatius Loyola the readings speak of choice and of the mission that follows the choice. Ignatius invites us to say ‘no’ to the self that is focused on itself: the surface self, the small, fearful, insecure self. By contrast the Gospel reveals the sacred, unique, individual self, the person created and sustained in life by God, loved as a son and daughter, whom Jesus wants to be saved.
Human and environmental devastation caused by floods in Australia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka and by earthquakes and their aftershocks in New Zealand, Japan and Myanmar is massive. Although Japan has the technology and experience to cope with earthquakes, the latest tsunami defied preparation. The consequent nuclear crisis brought the worst of nightmares into reality.
Fr Roland Doriol SJ spent 15 years in Cebu, Philippines as a Chaplain in a maritime school and at the port, ministering to seafarers and their families. He sent us this report after three weeks in Algeria in May, during which he met Filipino migrant workers at their work sites and in their camps.
In Mae Sot, Thailand, a border town where thousands of people migrate from Burma, work can be hard to come by, especially between planting and harvesting time in the large plantations. So a simple vegetable garden can mean everything.
An annual sports festival for the Thai and Filipino communities in Gimpo began on June 5 with the opening festival day at Gimpo YIUTSARI. YIUTSARI, which translates to “living with the neighbours”, is the Jesuit Centre for Migrant Workers.
The two communities have enjoyed the Gimpo Migrant Workers’ Sports Festival every year since the first event in 2006. This year, after the opening festival day, the Thai community will play soccer for eight weeks while the Filipinos will play basketball for 12 weeks.
The third Hulas (the Pulangiyen term for training and formation) batch graduated in Bendum on May 28.
Led by Fr Pedro Walpole SJ, the Hulas initiative reaches out to address the skills and education needs of a growing number of indigenous youth in upland communities in central Mindanao, Philippines. The youth are encouraged to bring their knowledge and learnings into their personal vision and to use these to help sustain their families as well as the broader community in Upper Pulangi.