This August will see an estimated 100 Jesuits, collaborators and friends converging in Indonesia to reflect, discuss and explore actions on sustainability of life in the ASEAN context. The meeting will be the largest collaboration across sectors in the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific in recent years.

Titled “A call to dialogue on sustainability of life in the ASEAN context”, the meeting involves nine areas in which the Jesuits in Asia Pacific work – Dialogue with Buddhism, Dialogue with Islam, Indigenous Ministry, Social Apostolate, Migration, Reconciliation with Creation, Higher Education, Basic Education and Formation.  It will be held in Sanata Dharma University, the Jesuit university in Yogyarkarta, from August 7 to 10.

What do we mean by sustainability?  Sustainability is more than environmental devastation, says Fr Jojo Fung SJ, a member of the organising team. “Sustainability is about literally everything. The horrible refugee crisis in Europe shows us of the extent of the challenges in front of us.”

Fr Fung added that the many challenges are bitter reminders for us to be stewards of God’s creation (Genesis 2:15), to live a sustainable life for “planet earth and its ecosystem in our common home.” Pope Francis echoes that courageous challenge, “Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life.” (Laudato si’ #207)

Using the pastoral spiral, a framework used to animate pastoral, academic or community action, the meeting will take the participants from first hand experiences of practices that ensure sustainability of life in marginal communities to critical analysis, discernment and theological reflection to envisioning the future.

At the end of the meeting, the participants will be challenged to come up with a plan of doable strategies for the next five years. The main outcomes envisioned are:

1. That the concept of sustainability of life be translated into the policies and program of studies and activities of Jesuit institutions and works
2. That Jesuits, other Religious and seminarians be encouraged to learn more about the mystical cosmologies of marginalised communities in ASEAN and that this will flow into their personal prayer and communal worship.
3. That each participant experiences a conversion to a lifestyle where “less is more” (Laudato si’ #222) and become less addicted to unbridled consumption and more grounded in the spirituality of sustainability in which “the Spirit of life dwells in every living creature” (Laudato si’ #80, 88) and that  “the universe unfolds in God, who fills it completely” (Laudato si’ #233).
4. That each participant begins to exercise an “ecological citizenship” and practice “environmental responsibility” (Laudato si’ #211)

Pope Francis reminds us in Laudato si (#211) that “little daily actions” can transform the world. At Arrupe International Residence (AIR), the residents have begun responding in a humble way by turning off unnecessary lights to save electricity, separating refuse, printing on both sides of a sheet of paper, making fertilizer from leaves, etc.  AIR resident Scholastic Bernadus Christian Triyudo Prastowo SJ acknowledges that these are very small steps but feels that “if we can promote or encourage others to do the same, the result can be good and this is precisely what Pope Francis said, “to live a prophetic and contemplative lifestyle” of “less is more” (Laudato si #22).