Indonesian scholastic Tiro Daenuwy SJ shares what he learnt from his immersion experience in an Islamic boarding house in Garut, West Java, Indonesia. The five-day immersion held from July 29 to August 2 is a vital part of the Asia Pacific Theological Encounter Programme, a formation programme in contextual theology with a focus on Islam that is conducted annually by the Jesuits in Indonesia. Part 1.
Thirty-eight students from Jesuit universities in four Asian countries gathered in Yogyakarta, Indonesia for this year’s Service Learning Programme (SLP), hosted by Sanata Dharma University. The theme this year – Serving the City, Serving the People: Developing Youth Social Movement within the Urban Communities – was inspired by a growing concern that city development is happening without citizen involvement.
The programme employed the Ignatian Pedagogy Framework of Context-Experience-Reflection-Action-Evaluation.
“I have a big dream for my son. I myself wish to be an educated man, and I want my son to become one too. I want him to get opportunities that we couldn’t get,” says Peter, a community organizer from Kachin State, internally displaced in Myanmar.
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.
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.
Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Indonesia has launched a social media campaign ahead of the celebration of World Refugee Day on Monday, June 20.
The initiative seeks to gather messages of support by asking people on Facebook to post a photo of themselves alone or with friends holding a personal statement of encouragement for people who have been displaced because of war, natural disaster or prejudice and oppression in their home countries.
In May 2015, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) approached the Jesuits in Jakarta for the help of Myanmar scholastics as translators for its interviews with Myanmar citizens who had been enslaved in the Thai fishing industry. Several scholastics did so, among them Simon Kam Sian Muan, who is now back in Myanmar for his Regency. He shares here what he learnt from the experience.
Tokyo is gearing up for the 2020 Olympics. While athletes are training hard, the Japanese government is working equally hard to get the facilities ready in time. To do so, it has recently relaxed immigration procedures to allow more foreign workers to work on the construction of new olympic venues. It has also introduced new regulations for foreign domestic helpers from the Philippines and Vietnam, easing the situation in the previously restricted sector. With this, sources say that this service industry will be worth 600 billion yen (US$5.45 billion) in the near future.
The Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific is inviting Jesuits, collaborators and friends to participate in a conference on sustainability. Entitled A Call to Dialogue on the Sustainability of Life in the ASEAN Context, the meeting will be held in Sanata Dharma University in Yogyakarta from August 8 to 10, 2016.