Giving testimony to the power, beauty and joy of following Jesus
Fr Franz Magnis-Suseno (IDO) was born as Count von Magnis in 1936 in Silesia, Germany. In 1955 he became a Jesuit priest and later went to Indonesia, where he still lives and works as a priest and university professor. In 1997 Father Magnis-Suseno, who studied theology, philosophy and politics and had by then obtained a doctorate in theology, took out citizenship in his adopted country and chose the additional Javanese name of Suseno. In 2001 he was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. He was interviewed in early January by representatives of the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
Sch Ladislas Nsengiyumva (CHN) joined the Scholastics and Brothers-in-Formation Assembly in December 20, 2010 – January 2, 2011. It was centered on the theme of Interreligious Dialogue. Bro Ladi wrote, “We started from sharing in groups about our personal experiences with Islam in our own countries followed by a three day live-in experience with Muslim youths in Pesantrens (Schools teaching Islamic Studies). This combination of sharing and experience led me to realize how little and often distorted was my knowledge about Islam. I personally knew that there were two categories of Muslims – moderate and radical Muslims – but I had never had the opportunity to sit together with any of these two groups. This time, I had the chance not only to share meals with the moderate Muslims, but also to pray together in their Mosque. It was for me an eye opening and heartwarming experience.”
The first big eruption of Mount Merapi was on the 26 October. A lot of people living as close as 10 km to the volcano were evacuated to safer areas. Like many other students in Yogyakarta, the Jesuit scholastics were still going to school on the following days, viewing the volcano spewing ashes which made a 2 km column of cloud, as they were riding their scooters to the campus.
The year of 2010 is a special year for Studio Audio Visual (SAV) Puskat. In this year SAV Puskat celebrates the 40th anniversary (1970-2010). The celebration is on every 15th of August.