Jesuits in Southeast Asia will be taking a more active role in the fight against human trafficking, which Pope Francis recently called “a despicable activity, a disgrace for our societies, which describe themselves as civilized”.
“To be man of the Spiritual Exercises and of the Constitutions” is the grace asked by those participating in the Cardoner Week, a new on-going formation programme in the Indonesian Province.
The Province members of batches 1963 to 1999 (the year they joined the Society of Jesus) participate in this Monday to Friday programme to better understand their lives in the dynamic of St Ignatius’ life, to practice more creatively the Spiritual Exercises, and to be personally more familiar with the Jesuit Constitutions and related documents.
The torrential rain that hit the Indonesian capital and its surrounding areas for two consecutive days (January 16 and 17) caused massive flooding in Jakarta, Bekasi and Tangerang. According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), 32 people have died and 33,502 people have been displaced.
The Jesuit Conference Asia Pacific (JCAP) continues to seek venues to strengthen reflection, and network through participation in formation programmes, and institutional and province reviews. In Asia Pacific, there are continuous challenges of social and environmental injustice, limited basic education for the poor, and the needed revision of values in a culture of consumerism.
Reconciliation with Creation is a priority for the Society of Jesus and a key concern of the Indonesian Province. Scholastic Billy Aryo Nugroho SJ reports on a Go Green course that was conducted for Jesuit scholastics in Jakarta.
Seventeen Jesuit scholastics were ordained deacon in Manila on September 8. They were an international group from nine Provinces and Regions in three Conferences, Asia Pacific, South Asia and Africa. Six of the new deacons are from the Philippine Province and the other 11 from Arrupe International Residence (AIR).
In June, a group of Jesuit scholastics and priests spent a week in a Islamic boarding school in East Java, as part of the Indonesian Province’s efforts against religious radicalism, one of three concerns the Province has made a priority. Scholastic Billy Aryo Nugroho SJ recounts his experience.
From June 17 to 23, 16 Jesuit scholastics and two priests lived in Islamic boarding school, pesantren in Indonesia. The pesantren was named “Tebu Ireng” and is located in Jombang, East Java.
At the International Colloquium on Jesuit Secondary Education in Boston, Fr Danny Huang SJ, Regional Assistant for Asia Pacific, posed 10 points of reflection from the Procurates, that he said would be useful to discuss in Jesuit schools, Provinces and Regions.
1. Apostolic instruments
Do we understand ourselves and function as apostolic missions? How?
Students from five countries in Asia Pacific gathered in the Philippines in July for a reflective and experiential forum designed to give them an understanding of what it means to be Ignatian leaders.
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.