East Timor Region (ETR)

In Fr General’s letter to Fr Nicolas last August 11, Fr General appointed Fr. John Mace as Regional Superior of East Timor, extending his personal thanks and encouragements to Fr. Mace. To Fr Mace our gratitude for his generosity in accepting this new mission and our prayers that he be guided and strengthened by the Holy Spirit in facing the challenges of the Region. Fr Mace will officially begin his duties in mid-November 2006.

On June 3, Fr. Dibyawiyata, Local Superior, wrote: It has been more than one month that we have been living in our Loyola residence with a much bigger community. The number of refugees has been changing depending on the situation.

Sch. Bert Boholst wrote on May 31: Here is an update of what is going on at Colegio de Sao Jose (CSJ), East Timor.

So far, we are the only school in the whole of Dili where classes are going on, in the middle of hearsays, chaos and danger. The local newspapers have noted it and even the international media came to our school. Fr. Edu (Ratu Dopo) is on the move, giving almost daily briefing to students and faculty.

The East Timores Jesuits celebrates mass for the martyrs, on Wednesday, September 28, 2005 Fr. Carolus Albrecht Karim Arbi, SJ and Fr. Tarcicius Dewanto, SJ, both are martyrs in East Timor, who died in 1999. They were buried in the compound of the Jesuit Residence, Taibesi Dili.

Fr. Nicolas and his Socius are away from the office, from September 16 until September 30, visitng East Timor for some meetings with several apostolate groups. Another important event during this visit will be the last vows of Fr. Lalo Lebron Casanello, SJ on September 27.