“It is outrageous that new cluster munitions are still killing people in Syria and Yemen in 2016 and causing so many new refugees,” said Sr Denise Coghlan RSM, Director of Jesuit Refugee Service Cambodia.
The Cluster Munitions Monitor for 2016 released on September 1 documented this use and also the progress being made in stockpile destruction, clearance and assistance to enhance the quality of life of the survivors.
It was a bright sunny Wednesday afternoon that saw about 160 Magis/World Youth Day delegates from Asia Pacific gather in the courtyard of Ignatianum University in Krakow. For many, it was a happy reunion of friends met at the first Magis Asia Pacific held last Christmas and for others, an introduction to the new Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific Youth Ministry.
When the Jesuits in Cambodia gathered for the usual days of prayer, discussions and celebrations in honour of St Ignatius this year, one interesting outcome was the decision to practise a unified, symbolic action to strengthen the Jesuit witness of working for ecological conversion. Such would be a communal response to the Holy Father’s invitation towards care for our common home in Laudato si’. So, during the meeting held from July 27 to 29, they decided that this symbolic action would take the form of giving up the use of plastic straws.
More than 200 young pilgrims from provinces and regions within the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) have just spent a week learning what it means to be Magis. MAGIS is a Jesuit-organised international meeting of young people from all over the world held in conjunction with World Youth Day. The MAGIS programme helps to prepare them for the experience of World Youth Day by offering them an opportunity to share in a unique experience on three distinct levels: individual growth, relationships with God and others, and intercultural dialogue.
This World Refugee Day, the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) has called for everyone to embrace refugees as part of their communities by providing them with opportunities to grow and contribute to society. This means not only giving them a safe place to stay but also ensuring that they are protected from all forms of evil, including poverty, isolation, exploitation, misconception and neglect.
For Fr John Mace SJ, Cambodia was but the last way station in a decades-long journey in service of the Society of Jesus and the universal mission in Asia. He had spent the last four years serving as Secretary to the Delegate of the Korean Provincial to the Jesuit mission in Cambodia.
On January 21, more than 170 Montagnards (Degar Christians) were granted the chance to a fair asylum process by the Cambodian government. They had fled to Cambodia from religious persecution in Vietnam in late 2014 and 2015. Many had endured imprisonment, torture, harassment and violations of their land rights.
This government decision was welcomed by the Jesuit Refugee Service, which has been accompanying the Montagnards since they arrived in Cambodia.
Go, set the world on fire! On January 3, 70 young people, set out to do just that in their home countries – Cambodia, Korea, Myanmar, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Indonesia – after nine days spent in the first Magis JCAP, held at Omah Petroek in Kaliurang Yogyakarta.
Filipino scholastic Richard Fernando SJ lived in Arrupe International Residence (AIR) from 1994 to 1995. He went to Cambodia for his Regency, and died in Banteay Prieb at the age of 26 while trying to prevent a student from releasing a grenade at the vocational institute. As AIR celebrates its Silver Jubilee, we remember one of the house’s martyrs.
Jesuit Refugee Service /USA will commemorate 35 years of working alongside refugees and the displaced on December 1, and present Sr Denise Coghlan RSM with the JRS Accompany Award. Fr Pedro Arrupe SJ founded JRS in November 1980, in response to the exodus of refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia.