The social apostolate needs to be approached from the perspective of Ignatian Spirituality, which provides a new way of seeing all things. Fr Patxi Alvarez SJ, Director of the Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat in Rome, made this point at the JCAP Social Apostolate meeting in August.
Typhoon Vicente reached Hurricane Signal 10 overhead as the half yearly Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) Major Superiors’ assembly continued calmly indoors in Macau’s Colégio Mateus Ricci in the last week of July. From the meeting room window, the bright umbrellas of some of Macau’s annual 30 million visitors could be seen at the Ruins of St Paul, a reminder of the 500-year Jesuit history integral to the identity of the former Portuguese colony that is now a Special Administrative Region of China.
Students and teachers from Jesuit and Partner Schools across Australia took part in a Timor Leste Immersion over the school holidays in July. A group of 16 students from eight schools, with three teachers, participated in the programme. Stella Korlaki, a teacher at Xavier Catholic College in Hervey Bay, describes their experience.
We arrived in Darwin in two different groups. Little did we know that we would develop close and supportive friendships through our shared encounters in East Timor.
Construction has begun on the Instituto de Educação Jesuíta in Timor Leste.
For the first time in the history of the Society, Jesuit educators across of the world gathered for an International Colloquium on Jesuit Secondary Education. The intent of the Colloquium was to strengthen the network by providing a platform to share ideas, discuss common strengths and challenges, examine our Jesuit mission and identity, and focus on how Jesuit school educators can prepare students to become global leaders. Australian Jesuit Fr Quyen Vu, who has been missioned to work on the education project in Timor Leste, reflects on his experience.
The Jesuits in Timor Leste marked a major milestone on July 14 when they broke ground for the educational institute they are building in Kasait, 18 km west of Dili.
Construction of phase 1 of Instituto de Educação Jesuíta is scheduled to begin at the end of July. The first phase consists of what is needed for the secondary school unit of the institute to open in time for the new school year in January 2013 – the road and entrance, some classrooms and other teaching facilities, and an administration block.
Jesuit Refugee Service Asia Pacific has published a practical guide for advocates of asylum seekers and refugees in five countries in Southeast Asia. Entitled “The Search: Protection Space in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, The Philippines and Cambodia in Practice”, the document will help advocates in these countries to give accurate informat
The Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific has produced a modest 16-page annual report, simply titled “Jesuits in Asia Pacific 2012”.
Casa de Produção Audiovisual (CPA) has been awarded the Next Generation Prize for its programme, The Youth Parliament, at Prix Jeunesse International 2012 Munich, Germany.
The Jesuit educational project in Timor Leste is well underway. The original plot of 7.1 hectares has been extended to 8.44 hectares with the purchase of an adjacent piece of land. A solid fence surrounds the property located in Kasait, in the village of Ulmera, 18 km from Dili. The time spent sourcing for water yielded excellent results that will ensure that Instituto de Educação Jesuíta has more than enough fresh water to meet its needs.