In his letter dated 4 May 2020, Father General Arturo Sosa SJ informed major superiors of the creation of the Solidarity in Formation (SIF) Council. Its purpose is to help him discern priorities and respond in the best way possible to the more difficult situations around the world, and secure the provision of stable funds to sustain the long process of Jesuit formation. In the same letter, Father General laid down the principal guidelines in his decision-making emerging from the work of the Council:
- Each province or region is responsible for covering the costs of the initial formation of its members, i.e., Novitiate, First Studies, Philosophy, Theology, Tertianship, and Special Studies;
- The provinces and regions, as members of a single universal body are, at the same time, jointly responsible for helping to ensure the best possible formation for all those in formation in the universal Society.
The goal of the Global SIF Program is for the provinces or regions to acquire financial stability to meet the costs of initial Jesuit formation. Thus, they are each expected to build up their Arca Seminarii or Formation Fund.
How has the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) organised its response to achieve the goal of the programme? As early as 2014, the conference at its assembly in Davao City in July agreed to raise USD 20 million to 25 million for the SIF Fund from its different units. The timetable was originally about 15-20 years but has since been revised to 10 years, beginning in 2015 until 2025. The agreement was in response to the letter dated 12 January 2013 of then Superior General Fr Adolfo Nicolas SJ on Proposals for Greater Solidarity in Formation Funding in Asia Pacific.
The amount that the JCAP member units have since then committed to raise is USD 25M distributed as follows:
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- USD 10M to be shared equally between Arcae Seminarii of Myanmar and Timor-Leste.
- USD 15M to establish a Common Formation Fund to be held in trust by JCAP on behalf of Arrupe International Residence as the common formation house of scholastics in the Asia Pacific Region.
Annually, the member units contribute to the SIF Fund either directly or indirectly. Directly through a pre-determined financial contribution, and indirectly through sponsorship by a host province of formands doing studies in their institutions, like the Indonesian Province. Either manner contributes to building up of the Arca of regions with greater need.
Until recently, there had been inter-province cooperation with JCAP as beneficiary of scholarship grants coming from Europe and the US for a number of Arrupe scholastics. This constituted significant support especially for regions with weak Arca Seminarii. Father General has also made a three-year commitment of formation funds to help build up the Arca of regions like Myanmar, Timor-Leste and Thailand, and the Vietnamese Province.
With the strengthening of the Global SIF Program, there is greater awareness that the responsibility of supporting the formation needs of Jesuits is a common undertaking. A province’s or region’s Arca is not for its own exclusive use. Ultimately all Arca belongs to the Universal Society. The programme is the Society’s mechanism for a more even distribution of resources especially for the provinces or regions in greatest need.
Why the diligent care and effort in the administration of the Solidarity in Formation fund? First, because we recognise that these resources are received as alms from generous benefactors, so it is only fitting that they be administered in the spirit of evangelical poverty. St Ignatius of Loyola himself went begging and depended on the patronage and benefice of generous supporters and sharers in his mission for the Church. He was filled with deep respect and gratitude to these givers. Furthermore, and just as important, it is because these resources are to be used to form future generations of Jesuit companions in the service of the People of God. JCAP has grown to approximately 1,600 Jesuits or about 10 per cent of the total number of Jesuits in the world precisely because of the support of benefactors in the formation of our men religious.
Fr Vidal Gornez Jr SJ is the treasurer and development officer of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific.