For Jesuit communities across the world, the 200th anniversary of the restoration of the Society of Jesus on August 7, 2014, is not only an opportunity for celebration but also for reflection. French Jesuit Father Pierre de Charentenay SJ guided the Philippine Jesuit Province in a Province Recollection centred on the restoration earlier this year.
The Jesuits in Cambodia are exploring spirituality as a new ministry in and for the Cambodian Church. A Spirituality Committee was established in May 2013 to investigate the needs of the Cambodia Church in this area and in what ways the Society of Jesus can respond to these needs. In his letter announcing the committee, Fr Oh In-don SJ, the Delegate of the Korean Provincial to the Cambodia Mission, said that with this committee, “we are entering a new phase of serving the Cambodian Church”.
Annie Abuca, currently the Grade School Assistant Principal for Administration and Supervision at Sacred Heart School – Ateneo de Cebu, Philippines, reflects on her experience of the recent Workshop on Ignatian School Leadership for leaders and administrators in Jesuit schools across the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific.
The Chinese and Irish Provinces have collaborated to make Sacred Space, the world’s leading interactive guided prayer site available in China for the first time.
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.
In launching its new Graduate Certificate in Leadership, Spirituality and Organisational Practice, Sentir is bringing together some of the best knowledge from around the world linking Ignatian spirituality to people’s working lives.
The Dean of Sentir, Fr Michael Smith SJ, says the course is unique in bringing together the tools of organisational development and the Spiritual Exercises.
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.
Pope Francis celebrated Mass with his fellow Jesuits on January 3, in the mother church of the Society of Jesus, the church of the Gesù, in Rome. The Mass marked the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus and gave thanks for the enrollment of the first Jesuit to be ordained a priest, Fr Peter Faber SJ, in the list of the saints. About 350 Jesuits were present.
In his homily, Pope Francis spoke of the particular way in which the Jesuit Order is marked – and desires to be signed – by the name of Jesus: “To march,” he said, “beneath the standard of His Cross”.
More than 140 years after he was beatified, Peter Faber is now a saint. The announcement was made on December 17, Pope Francis’ 77th birthday, and is something of a gift to his fellow Jesuits for whom Faber is a well-loved role model.
With Faber’s “equivalent canonization”, the pope extended his devotion to the universal Church and inscribed him in the catalogue of saints, bypassing the Vatican’s typical procedures for sainthood which include ascertaining two miracles to their intercession.
The British Jesuit Provincial, Fr Dermot Preston SJ, recently delivered a lecture as part of the Faith Matters series in Westminster Cathedral in London.