It meant three days with no Internet connection or cellular phone signal, but 35 people from 10 countries within the Jesuit Conference Asia Pacific (JCAP) happily gathered in a rural part of the Philippines for an ecology workshop in early June. They worked together, shared experiences, and developed 60 joint actions for strengthening networks, collaboration and communication as communities of practice.
Cardinal Charles Bo, Archbishop of Yangon, opened the 50th Anniversary Mid-Year Celebration of the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) on June 18 with affirming words recognizing EAPI’s significant role in the growth of the Church across Asia. The Cardinal, an EAPI alumnus himself, shared his testimony on the transforming impact of the institute in the lives of the participants and the life of the Church.
The environmental problems we face today are complex and the Church’s concern is shared by other faiths. In Islam, for example, we can find some principles of environmental ethics that deal with nature and creation. These principles are: tawhîd (God’s unity), âyat (sign of God’s presence), mîzân (balance), khalifat (God’s vicegerent) and amânat (trust).
The education secretaries within the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) met from May 30 to June 2 in Siem Reap, Cambodia to discuss, among many things, possible projects for collaboration. Guiding the discussion around how members of the Asia Pacific network of Jesuit schools can assist and support each other’s projects was the new JCAP Coordinator for Basic and Secondary Education, Fr Johnny Go SJ, who took over the role from Fr Christopher Gleeson SJ recently.
What kind of leader do we need to continue our service of faith and the promotion of justice? First, one who understands context in leadership and next, one who is able to move forward on mission development. Which is why this was the focus of the second module of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific’s Leadership Development Programme held in Chiang Mai, Thailand from May 15 to 21. The first module held last December focussed on the importance of context in leadership.
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.
For Fr John Mace SJ, Cambodia was but the last way station in a decades-long journey in service of the Society of Jesus and the universal mission in Asia. He had spent the last four years serving as Secretary to the Delegate of the Korean Provincial to the Jesuit mission in Cambodia.
Jesuits and colleagues in the Asia Pacific region are gathering in the Philippines next month to discuss and share how transformed lifestyles are moving a more meaningful and effective response to environmental and social concerns in their ministries. The three-day environmental reflection workshop will be held at the Culture and Ecology Centre in Bendum, Bukidnon from June 6 to 10, and is organized by the Reconciliation with Creation programme of the Jesuit Conference Asia Pacific (JCAP).
In our latest annual report, we look back on a year of key milestones throughout the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific, recall the Pope’s visit to the Philippines, review the history of the Arrupe International Residence, continue our dialogue with Buddhism, and learn about the impact of the Spiritual Exercises in China. Also, JCAP President Fr Mark Raper SJ reflects on the Conference’s growth and the importance of collaboration in mission.
Asia Pacific has been dubbed the world’s engine of growth, but at what and whose cost?
China has been hailed by the world as an economic success story. Three decades of uninterrupted growth has lifted more than 600 million people out of poverty, and although there are still roughly 150 million people living in poverty in the country, China’s economic success is the envy of the developing world.