The Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) has launched a new Apostolic Plan approved by Fr General Arturo Sosa SJ that will guide the mission in Asia Pacific from 2021 to 2025.
The plan establishes the conference’s desire “to walk in a journey of conversion and synodality as we commit ourselves to the urgent call of poverty and reconciliation with creation in Asia Pacific”, and to “seek to collaborate especially with the youth, with the Church, with other faiths, and with those in civil society engaged in similar concerns”. It noted that, “Ignatian Spirituality is the gift we share and the charism in which we desire to grow.”
Building on the gains of the JCAP Apostolic Plan 2014-2019, the plan includes 10 strategic priorities, namely:
- committing to the call of poverty and reconciliation with creation;
- deepening in and sharing our charism of Ignatian Spirituality;
- collaborating with the youth and integrating vocation promotion in this ministry;
- walking with the Church through the promotion of synodality, leadership, and safety in ministry;
- strengthening our mission with regard to serving the Chinese people;
- strengthening the governance of developing regions/missions (Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia-Singapore, Cambodia, Timor-Leste, and Laos);
- discerning new governance configurations for the aging provinces (Japan, Chinese, Australia, and the Philippines);
- promoting leadership, planning, and synodality across provinces, regions, apostolates, and networks;
- strengthening the formation of Jesuits and mission partners; and
- consolidating and reimagining the theological centers.
For more than a year, JCAP engaged Jesuits and companions at various levels in the conference in spiritual examen and discernment of God’s call for the next five years.
“[The plan] is a fruit of a long process of discernment in common starting in 2018,” says JCAP President Fr Tony Moreno SJ. “It was an experience of synodality, of walking together, and listening to one another, of discerning as one body, and being guided by the Spirit.”
Throughout the planning process, the Universal Apostolic Preferences served as an overarching orientation whilst the ground realities of Asia Pacific, including the evolving impact of Covid-19, formed the dynamic context of the mission.
In his letter approving the plan, Fr General Sosa cited, among others, serving the Chinese people and reaching out to those of other faith traditions as apostolic endeavours that have special relevance to JCAP. He also identified as outstanding highlights of the plan “the strong and lengthy list of initiatives in sharing Ignatian Spirituality as a way to God; the extensive use of examen in the different priorities; the continuing focus on and ongoing formation for Jesuits and partners in mission, especially in leadership; synchronisation of the JCAP Apostolic Plan with the apostolic plans of individual units in Asia Pacific, as well as growing collaboration among the units; and the identification of responsible teams to lead the implementation”.
Fr General Sosa also stressed the importance of ongoing observation and reflection on how the current pandemic is changing many things, as well as creating a culture of vocation promotion that involves all communities, Jesuits, and partners in mission.
Fr Moreno states that the plan will be adjusted and further developed as progress is reviewed moving forward. “It remains to be an organic roadmap for JCAP since down the line there are uncertainties, new developments, and unforeseen realities in the light of the pandemic,” he says, adding: “The tasks may seem overwhelming, but it is the Lord of the harvest who will animate us to labour in his vineyard despite our fragilities and sinfulness.”
The release of the plan coincides with the start of the Ignatian Year on 20 May. “Beginning with the celebration of the fifth centenary of St Ignatius’ conversion, the launching of this plan is most fitting and timely,” says the JCAP President. “We are invited ‘to see all things new in Christ’ as we pray over our own transformations at different levels: personal, communal, and institutional. I do hope that this will be a transformative moment for us, Jesuits and companions in mission, in Asia Pacific.”
To read the JCAP Apostolic Plan 2021-2025, click here.