The education secretaries within the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) are increasingly acting and growing as a network. Participation from provinces and regions with schools is strong and the meeting has shifted from mainly sharing updates to discussing areas of possible collaboration and matters of common concern.
On March 19 around 100 people congregated in Wisma Hijau, Depok, Indonesia to celebrate my 50 years of service with Bina Swadaya (self-reliance development). This is a charitable organisation based in Jakarta which runs 17 companies whose profits go to various social projects. It owes its foundation to a Jesuit priest, Fr John Dijkstra.
Visitors to Taiwan are greeted at the Taipei airport by signs welcoming migrant workers to the island country. The authorities provide a lot of information to migrant workers, on their rights as well as precaution measures in place, upon their arrival to the country, even before they meet their agencies or employers. In a country with 23 million people, the presence of more than half a million migrant workers is no small figure.
It was in this setting and context that this year’s Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific Migration Network meeting was held from April 21 to 23.
Jesuit scholastics are invited to join a four-week programme designed to guide them in examining issues of Asian theology, and understanding interreligious dialogue and the inculturation of the Catholic faith in Asia. They will do this through an intensive experience of Buddhism in the specific context of Thailand, which is predominantly Buddhist.
Now on its 10th year, the 2015 East Asia Theological Encounter Programme (EATEP) will be held from July 22 to August 17 at the Seven Fountains Spirituality Centre in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
What do Pope Francis’ visit to Korea, interreligious dialogue, social justice, Jesuit formation, and religious life have in common? They are some of the significant moments for the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific in 2014 and the ones we have chosen to highlight in our 2015 annual report. As is our practice, we also have a reflection from our President Fr Mark Raper SJ on the year that has passed.
The Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) is developing a protocol that outlines steps for Jesuits in responding to disasters in this part of the world. Responses to catastrophic events are collaborative in nature, joining local efforts and guiding important international support. This is an ongoing process with other organisations and there is much learning from the experiences of Jesuits on the ground. The effort is also to find ways to collaborate across different phases in disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) that demand a wider range of coordination beyond disaster.
Development officers in our Conference left their meeting in Cambodia with renewed spirits and a fresh understanding of their work. Meeting together and sharing both successes and challenges had helped them realize that they are engaged in a common effort to support the mission not only of their own Province, but that of the Society in Asia Pacific and the world. Fr Jorge Serrano SJ, Assistant Treasurer for Development Resources in Rome, had challenged them not to focus only on raising money, but rather on winning committed partners for the common mission.
During Advent we are invited to remember that God came to us in Jesus. We are invited to live in hope and to remain alert for his second Coming at the end of time. The early Christians thought this second Coming would be soon, but we have been waiting for more than 2,000 years and perhaps some of us have become less alert to this possibility.
Yet God did come and is among us now. Between God’s historic coming in Jesus and the final coming of Jesus is the eternal now of God. God lives among us now, and He will come to bring this world to completion.
An online programme to train sustainability coordinators in Jesuit schools and institutes within the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific has been launched.
Young Jesuits are being invited to participate in a one-month programme designed to help them understand the lived reality of Islam in our world. The Asia Pacific Theological Encounter Programme (APTEP) was developed by the Jesuits in Indonesia to help the Society of Jesus respond to the challenges of the Church in the area of interreligious dialogue, especially in Asia. It will be held from April 20 to May 20, 2015 in Indonesia, which is home to the world’s largest Muslim population.