East Timor Region (ETR)

Fr Ruedi Hofmann (IDO) had a fall. The wound he received became infected and he was hospitalized to take care of it. The main concern was his being allergic to antibiotics. They’ve solved that problem somehow. Hopefully, by this time he’s back in the Jesuit residence.

Fr John Mace returned from Rome on March 13. He shared his impressions of the GC and gave a short explanation of the six GC documents at the Community Meeting on March 25.

• Fr Jose Martins traveled to Singapore on November 12-21 for a health check up.
• Fr Filomeno Abel traveled to Rome November 19-30 to participate in a meeting of the Pontifical Council on Peace and Justice.

Bishop Alberto Ricardo gave his consent for Father General to canonically erect the Lahane House as a Jesuit Community in preparation for its becoming a novitiate.

Bro Duong Tha departed on Sunday, October 14, for Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, where he will participate in the SEARSOLIN course at Xavier University after some months of English study.

Father General has approved the establishment of a novitiate in East Timor in 2008, likely in April. He has further approved the appointment of Fr Joaquim Francisco da Silva Sarmento as Novice Master and Fr Leonardus Dibyawiyata (IDO) as Socius to the Novice Master. We will use the house in Lahane for the first two or three years until we have experience to know what we need for a permanent novitiate. We have already begun the search for this permanent site.

Last August 10 –18, twelve Jesuits made their annual retreat at the Dare Retreat House, with Fr John Mace giving points once a day.

Our celebration of the Feast of St. Ignatius began with a 9:00 a.m. mass in our garden for Jesuits and the friends and families of Jesuits. About 13 Jesuits concelebrated the mass together with two priests and one deacon of the Dili Diocese. All remained after mass for merienda and conversation. In the evening we hosted Bishop Alberto Ricardo and priests of Dili at dinner.

Fr John Mace just appointed Fr Emil Denemark (KOR) as local treasurer, replacing Fr Dibyawiyata (IDO) who will leave for a year’s sabbatical at the beginning of August.

Entrance to the Novitiate

Last April 22, Edgerio Martins, Julio Sousa, Marito Monteiro and Silvestre de Jesus officially began their two years of novitiate in Singapore.

In the evening of March 25 a despedida was held for Fr Lalo Lebron, who will depart for Suai on Wednesday, March 28.

Fr Joseph Phuong (VIE) will return on Friday, March 30, after his Tertianship in Manila and his visit to Vietnam.  He will then go the next day to Suai for Holy Week.  He will return to Dili right after Easter.  Hopefully, he will have his new assignment soon after that.