Congratulations to Fr Chris Wilcock (ASL) on the world premiere of his a capella setting of Cardinal Newman’s text Peace at last, which was beautifully sung by the Newman College Choir from the dining room dome at the end of a College council dinner on March 26.
The Jesuits first went to Sri Lanka hundreds of years ago, not long after the time of Francis Xavier in the 16th Century. Many Sri Lankans became Catholics. The Jesuits opened parishes, schools and colleges, especially for Tamil migrants from India, who worked as labourers in the tea and coffee plantations. After independence, the previous balance between the two ethnicities of Sri Lanka, Tamils (of Sri Lankan origin) and Sinhalese, became more and more distorted.
"We have watched with consternation the sudden and violent eviction of what remained of the Dey Krohom community over the Chinese New Year weekend. After nearly a month of protracted negotiations between the residents, the 7NG Construction company and the Municipality, aimed at finding a mutually agreeable settlement of compensation claims, the company unilaterally withdrew from the discussion and the suspended eviction order was implemented by law-enforcement agencies."
It was announced this week that Fr Frank Brennan (ASL) will lead a public consultation on Australia’s opinion on human rights. The consultation will ultimately decide if Australia will have its own bill of rights. The announcement, made by Attorney-General Robert McClelland, came with high praise from many circles, including the legal profession and all sections of the media. (Source: Social Apostolate Headlines, December 2008)
Special congratulations to Sister Mary Denise Coghlan, AM, who was officially presented with the Order of Australia at a ceremony at the Australian Ambassador’s residence on Wednesday.
Australian ambassador Margaret Adamson presented the award on behalf of the Governor General of Australia to Sister Denise for “service to international humanitarian aid.”
The Ignatian Advocacy Workshop, held in El Escorial, Spain from November 10 – 16, was described as a success by Fr Fernando Franco, director of the Social Justice Secretariat. He said: "The fruits of the Workshop have gone beyond our expectations.
In Myanmar, 2.3 million people were affected by cyclone Nargis. Millions lost their shelter, especially the ‘squatters’ who did not have a land and occupied some of the unhealthy lands as their shelter base.
There were many others who lost their near and dear ones killed in the cyclone. Where the parents died, the children have aged overnight, thrust with the responsibility of surviving and supporting other siblings.
From May 26 to 31, the Assistancy coordinators of the Social Apostolate were gathered in Rome for their annual meeting.
After re-establishing itself in Dili, East Timor in October 2007, the Jesuit Refugee Service embarked on a journey to provide emergency community assistance to the internally displaced people (IDP) in Dili. It was decided to start small due to the instability of the political and security situation. JRS selected six camps for the displaced people hosted by the religious congregations/Catholic Church, namely, the Fransiscan’s Convent in Taibesi, the San Jose Jesuit High School, Canossian’ s Convent and the Minor Seminary all in Balide, and the Canossian’s and Salesian’s School in Comoro.
The office’s operations in Manila will be closed by the end of December 2008. Its services will continue to be rendered by the St. Alberto Hurtado Center for Pastoral and Social Service in Vietnam, with r Truong Thanh Tam (VIE) as the Director.