With its sprinkling of graffiti and grey, decades-old façade, the head office of Kuangchi Program Service (KPS) looks anything but the home of a pioneer. Yet by religious broadcasting standards, this Jesuit television studio in central Taipei – now 56 years old – remains light years ahead of the pack when it comes to gaining entry to the world’s most populous nation. KPS takes a softly-softly approach with China, and it’s about to do so again.
The Chinese Province is offering a 10-day introduction to China for Jesuits interested in learning about the country and the Society’s mission there.
China is one of the apostolic preferences of the Society of Jesus, and the Jesuit Chinese Provincial Fr John Lee SJ said that the aim of China Contact Programme is to provide young Jesuit priests and scholastics with “a better knowledge and first-hand experience of China” as well as “form better and solid young Jesuits for foreign mission in our Society today, especially for the China mission”.
Teachers from Jesuit schools in Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau, Timor-Leste and Cambodia, including four Jesuit priests and one scholastic, recently gathered in Sydney, Australia, for an Advanced Ignatian Teaching Programme. The five-day workshop, which began on November 11, was conducted by teachers and staff of St Ignatius College, Riverview.
A Jesuit based in China has written a book aimed at helping companies to review and better exercise their corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the Chinese context. Fr Benoit Vermander SJ’s latest book, Corporate Social Responsibility in China, is a practical, business-oriented book that takes into account China’s classical and contemporary thought on CSR. It is the result of a research and collaborative process initiated and led by Maverlinn, from 2011 on, and supported by industry leaders.
What is the face of the Apostleship of Prayer in Asia? This was the main question delegates at the 5th Apostleship of Prayer Asian Conference had to address as they gathered to discuss how to re-create the apostolate.
Fr Thierry Meynard SJ, director of the Beijing Centre, spoke to Erenlai Magazine about his interest in China, the importance of learning about China and the services provided by The Beijing Centre for Chinese Studies, a Jesuit work founded in 1998.
The Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific recently held its first Formation for Jesuit Formators seminar. Held from August 5 to 16 in the Philippines, the seminar is the first of three modules that will be conducted in three consecutive years. The 22 formators who participated are current and future formation directors and staff of novitiates, scholasticates and seminaries in the Conference. They hail from nine provinces and regions – Indonesia, Korea, China, Australia, Myanmar, Timor-Leste, Malaysia-Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
Communicators from across the Asia Pacific region had a first-hand look earlier this month at the vital role the Jesuit film production studio, Casa de Produção Audiovisual (CPA), is playing in telling the story of one of the world’s newest nations within the country. Twice a week, CPA produces Tetum language programs that appear on prime time television in the country, each reflecting on East Timorese culture and history.
In late June, Singapore suffered from the worst ever haze in its history. The haze came from forest fires in Sumatra, across the Malacca Strait. A row broke out between some government officials in Singapore and Indonesia.
There was much delight at the recent JCAP Education meeting in two significant developments.
Fr Christopher Gleeson SJ, JCAP Education Secretary and meeting chairman, shared that the group learnt a good deal from inaugural Principal, Fr Plinio, about the beginning in January of the new school in Timor-Leste, Colégio de Santo Inácio de Loiola.