How we manage our natural resources on this planet, and do so in an inclusive way, is the challenge of present and coming generations. A three-day conference on Transformative Land and Water Governance held in the Philippines in May sought to address this challenge.
In the mathematics of synergy, 1 plus 1 does not equal 2, but 3 or more. The sum total of the experience and practical know-how of the group is greater than just the added up experience and contributions of the individuals. This was the case at the recent Development Officers meeting, which brought together representatives from Singapore, Malaysia, China, Korea, Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Timor Leste, and Australia with Karen Goh from JCAP and Fr Jorge Serrano SJ from the Curia in Rome joining as resource persons.
The Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Fr Adolfo Nicolás, has appointed Fr Petrus Sunu Hardiyanta to succeed Fr R B Riyo Mursanto as Provincial of the Indonesian Province of the Society of Jesus.
Fr Sunu is finishing his doctoral studies in System Ecology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, where he did his Master’s degree in 2007. His thesis dissertation is on the Mangrove Ecosystem under the Netherland Fellowship Programme.
Fr General Adolfo Nicolás has called for a gathering of Provincials from around the world. The meeting will be held from January 18 to 25, 2015 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, which is the world’s most populous Islamic country. The location provides a “unique opportunity to become aware of the challenges that interfaith dialogue presents to the Society in its service to the whole Church and to mankind,” said Fr Nicolás.
It was a hot day but that did not bother the group of men who were setting up a tarpaulin tent. Along the sides, some women were cooking lunch over an open fire for their husbands. “Tomorrow is the last day of school. The kids will have their report delivered and then a long break until February,” said Klemens, the head of the community here. In the past year, the children had learned how to read, write and do simple mathematics in the makeshift wooden building they call school, located in the middle of an oil palm plantation in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia.
Ten Jesuits recently spent 10 days learning about liturgical music, actually composing pieces as an assignment. They learnt about about the principles of liturgical music and musical composition, teaching music and conducting choirs. They were asked to write songs for liturgical use, which were performed in a recital and used at the Mass at the conclusion of the workshop.
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.
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.
Xavier University undergraduate Mary Joy Conquilla never dreamt that she would ever build a house as a gift, but she recently did just that in a Jesuit education programme conceived to encourage students to apply Ignatian pedagogy in their everyday lives.
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.