The Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific is inviting Jesuits, collaborators and friends to participate in a conference on sustainability. Entitled A Call to Dialogue on the Sustainability of Life in the ASEAN Context, the meeting will be held in Sanata Dharma University in Yogyakarta from August 8 to 10, 2016.
Jesuits and Buddhist monks and nuns came together in early March to share and dialogue on ecology and religions in a workshop organised by the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific.
Organised locally by Fr Lawrence Soosai SJ of the Patna Jesuit Province, the three-day workshop was held in India, in the city of Bodhgaya where the Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment, and which is one of the holiest of Buddhist cities.
Fr Claudiu Jani Miklós SJ from the Independent Region of Romania was one of six tertians in the recently concluded 2015 to 2016 Asia Pacific Tertianship in the Philippines. Before tertianship, Fr Miklós was Spiritual Director of the Diocesan Roman Catholic High School Hám János of Satu Mare for four years. He shares with us a reflection on his tertianship experience.
The Christian-Buddhist Workshop group of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) has produced its first book, to showcase its work over the last several years and to encourage younger people to study Buddhism. Titled The Buddha and Jesus: An anthology of articles by Jesuits engaged in Buddhist Studies and Inter-religious Dialogue, the collection of 16 essays discusses Buddhist traditions, inculturation, meditation methods, issues in Chinese Buddhism, doctrinal interpretations in early Buddhism, the spirituality of indigenous peoples and more.
Fifty years ago, the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) embarked on a new mission through the initiative of Fr Pedro Arrupe SJ, then Superior General of the Society of Jesus. After providing liturgical renewal for missionaries for more than a decade, it changed its purpose in 1966 to providing programmes for renewal and aggiornamento in the spirit of Vatican II.
Sustainability is a hot word today among scientists, economists, politicians, religious leaders, and others especially concerned with humanitarian values. It has been linked to economics, ecology, social welfare, social justice, gender equality, financial security, conserving energy, eradicating poverty, and, of course, finding meaning in life. And it is a topic of concern for the Jesuits engaged in dialogue with Buddhists.
Are there lessons to be learnt from a silver jubilee? In a typically Jesuit fashion, Fr Renato Repole SJ, Rector of the Arrupe International Residence (AIR), looked back on the recently concluded celebratory activities spread out over the last seven months, and asked himself, “What have we learned and gained from the whole experience? What did it mean for us at Arrupe?”
Go, set the world on fire! On January 3, 70 young people, set out to do just that in their home countries – Cambodia, Korea, Myanmar, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Indonesia – after nine days spent in the first Magis JCAP, held at Omah Petroek in Kaliurang Yogyakarta.
This August will see an estimated 100 Jesuits, collaborators and friends converging in Indonesia to reflect, discuss and explore actions on sustainability of life in the ASEAN context. The meeting will be the largest collaboration across sectors in the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific in recent years.
Advent and the approach of Christmas bring a message of hope. As the sun will surely rise, so will the Son of Justice. The downtrodden will be saved and peace established. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace forever. The Lord, our best teacher, will come, Isaiah the prophet assures us: “He who is your teacher will hide no longer, and you will see your teacher with your own eyes. Whether you turn to right or to left you will hear this voice behind you saying ‘This is the way, follow it’” (Isaiah 30:21).