Fr Adolfo Nicolás, the Superior General, needed five adjectives to describe the Indonesian Jesuits as he was asked to conclude the dialogue during the dinner with the Jesuits and some invited guests on July 18. Those adjective are friendly, generous, adaptable, hospitable and dedicated.
The JCEAO Consultation on Islam, held in Yogyakarta, July 21-22, gathered six Jesuits active in the study of Islam and engaged in solidarity actions with Muslims: Heru Prakosa and Greg Soetomo (Indonesia Province) hosted, Aloysius Mowe (Malaysia), Albert Alejo and Rene Oliveros (Philippines), Dan Madigan (Chair in Islamic Studies at Georgetown U) and Mark Raper, President of JCEAO.
The consultation proposed to build a network that will help Jesuits and companions of Asia Pacific gain a better understanding for Muslims and of the role of Islam in our region. Other goals include: engaging in dialogue with Muslims in ways that enhance our own faith and challenge our theological understanding; gaining greater understanding of religious fundamentalism and its strength in Asia Pacific; and supporting solidarity with Muslim brothers and sisters in Asia Pacific on behalf of human rights, peace and good governance.
From 11 – 14 July Father General will visit the Philippine Province to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the return of the Jesuits to the country (see further on) and the founding of what is today the Ateneo de Manila University. In 1768, the Jesuits of the Philippine Province, 154 in all, were expelled by order of King Charles III of Spain. They returned almost a hundred years later, in 1859, with the intention of evangelizing the southern island of Mindanao. Besides undertaking this pioneering missionary work, in December of the same year they assumed responsibility for the Escuela Pia, later renamed Ateneo Municipal. The present day Ateneo de Manila University has a student population of over 18.000. The Sesquicentennial Anniversary Eucharistic celebration will be held on July 12; Father General will be the principal celebrant. About 4.000 people, including 200 Jesuits, are expected to participate. The next day Father Nicolás will deliver the keynote address on: "Issues and challenges in Jesuit education today" before a group of Jesuits and their lay collaborators from the five universities, one college and other schools of the Philippine Province.
The Jesuits are celebrating their 150 years of service in Indonesia on 19 – 20 July at Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta. The Jesuit modern mission there (long after St Francis Xavier served in Celebes and Mollucas in 16th century) began on 9 July 1859 when Frs Martin van den Elzen and John Baptist Pallinckx (NER) arrived in Batavia (Jakarta).
Jesuit Scholastics Managamtua Simbolon, Bagus Taufik Dwiko Nanda Pratisto, Budi Nugroho, Handy Lenggawa, Rumanto, and Suharyadi will be ordained priests by Mgr Ignatius Suharyo, Archbishop of Semarang at a Eucharistic celebration on Wednesday, at 9:00 a.m. 29 July, in St Anthony Church, Kotabaru, Yogyakarta. (Contributor: Fr Priyono Marwan)
Fr Adrianus Suyadi, Country Director, Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Indonesia, writes on the IDP’s and refugees in Indonesia and the government’s policy and behavior towards them.
Indonesian Province happily welcomed six Myanmarese and four Thai scholastics at Robert Bellarmine College Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta. They arrived in Jakarta on May 16 and spent their morning visiting some Jesuit formation houses there. They left for Yogyakarta in the afternoon of the same day. On May 18, they began their Indonesian language courses at Sanata Dharma Language Center.
Sanata Dharma University (SDU) offered three batches of workshop on student Ignatian accompaniment on May 16, 23 and 30. The workshop participants, coming from all twenty-five SDU departments, learned how to carry out the accompaniment in the spirit of care for person (cura personalis) in a challenging and broken world. As faculty members, they creatively designed the accompaniment through their respective study subject (classroom) management.
Wedabhakti School of Theology (WST) at Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta held a study day on Contextual Christology in April 24 – 25 on the occasion of its 25th anniversary. Fr JB Heru Prakosa (IDO) and Fr Bismoko Mahamboro, LTh, presented their papers in the seminar on Local Ecclesiologies in Dialogue at Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley (JSTB) on May 28 – 31. The seminar was also attended by Fr Mario Francisco (PHI), President of Loyola School of Theology, Manila.
The film On Power to Will for Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) (24 minutes) produced by Studio Audio Visual Puskat,Yogyakarta Indonesia got the first award in the category “Awards of Distinction” during the International Catholic Film and Multimedia Festival in Niepokalanow, Poland in May 2009.