A group of prominent legal, human rights and social services organisations has urged Australia’s Attorneys-Generals to increase the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12.
Australian scholastic Andy Nguyen SJ is putting his training as an architect to good use in Timor-Leste, where he is doing the second year of the Regency stage of his formation. He is coordinating the various Jesuit design and construction projects in the country. He shares this reflection of his experience since arriving in the country in April this year.
The impact of the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe has jolted Australia into realising that it needs to respond more urgently and generously to the humanitarian disaster caused by the Syrian conflict. Jesuit Refugee Service Australia (JRS) welcomed on September 8 the Australian government’s determination to provide further assistance to those fleeing conflict in the Middle East.
JRS urged the government to increase immediately the current annual humanitarian intake from 13,750 to at least double that, given the scale of the current crisis.
On September 8, Fr Brian McCoy, Provincial of the Australian Jesuit Province, flagged the release of the Province Policy for Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults. The document is addressed to all Province members and personnel.
The recent Jesuit Social Services study of disadvantage, Dropping off the Edge 2015 has aroused widespread interest in Australia.
Delegates from across Asia Pacific gathered in Melbourne for a three-day meeting recently, sharing experiences and building bridges between the diverse social communication works in the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific.
Earlier in July, Jesuits and their representatives from around the world met in Melbourne, Australia to develop ways to expand collaboration among Jesuits in higher education. Fr Joel Tabora SJ, a speaker during the conference and current chair of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU-AP), shares here some of his insights following the international event.
We, the major superiors of the Jesuit Conference Asia Pacific, sincerely and enthusiastically welcome Pope Francis’ new encyclical Laudato si’ (On the Care of Our Common Home). He draws attention to the urgent need for reconciliation with creation, already one of our apostolic priorities in Asia Pacific. We urge all the members of our Conference, our colleagues, and all those we seek to serve to make a thoughtful and generous response to the Holy Father’s plea.
The Catholic Alliance for People Seeking Asylum (CAPSA) in Australia was officially launched at the start of World Refugee Week (June 14 to 20) in the country. Backed by leading Catholic peak organisations and convened by Jesuit Social Services, CAPSA aims to change hearts and minds across Australia in support of the abolition of harsh asylum seeker policies.
The initiative wants to build on work being done in Catholic schools, parishes and organisations across Australia.
Visitors to Taiwan are greeted at the Taipei airport by signs welcoming migrant workers to the island country. The authorities provide a lot of information to migrant workers, on their rights as well as precaution measures in place, upon their arrival to the country, even before they meet their agencies or employers. In a country with 23 million people, the presence of more than half a million migrant workers is no small figure.
It was in this setting and context that this year’s Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific Migration Network meeting was held from April 21 to 23.