JCAP Formation Delegate Fr Norris Seenivasan SJ of the Malaysia-Singapore Jesuit Region was one of the early residents of the Arrupe International Residence. As a scholastic, he called AIR home from 1993 to 1997. In 2015, as AIR celebrates its 25th anniversary, he recalls how the house of formation helped him become the Jesuit he is today.
Myanmar Scholastic Pius Than Naing Lin SJ is one of the newest members of the Arrupe International Residence (AIR) in the Philippines. As the international house of formation celebrates its 25th year, he shares how life in AIR is broadening his perspective.
Philippine Jesuit Provincial Fr Antonio Moreno SJ was a member of the first Arrupe International Residence community. As AIR celebrates its 25th anniversary, he shares some of graces and challenges of living in the multicultural Jesuit house of formation that AIR was established to be.
Fr Ignatius Tambudzai SJ of the Zimbabwe-Mozambique Jesuit Province is one of the newest members of the community in Arrupe International Residence in the Philippines. He shares this reflection on his first months living with Jesuits from different parts of the world in this international house of formation as it celebrates its 25th year.
This year marks the 25th year of the establishment of Arrupe International Residence (AIR) as a formation house in Manila for Jesuit scholastics across Asia Pacific. The house was built in 1990 when Fr Daven Day SJ was President of what was then the Jesuit Conference of East Asia and Oceania. It grew from a felt need for a common Juniorate in this part of Asia and began as a house for philosophers, theologians and a couple of juniors.
The Philippine Jesuit Province celebrates this year the Golden Jubilee of its theologate which, in the five decades since it was established, has contributed to the intellectual and spiritual growth of 17 bishops, about 1,200 priests, 1,500 religious sisters and brothers, and 800 laypeople.
Australian scholastic Andy Nguyen SJ is putting his training as an architect to good use in Timor-Leste, where he is doing the second year of the Regency stage of his formation. He is coordinating the various Jesuit design and construction projects in the country. He shares this reflection of his experience since arriving in the country in April this year.
Korean Jesuit Mincheol Kim was ordained deacon on September 5. Before his ordination, he went to Taiwan for his Arrupe Month, a period of reflection and discussion that prepares Jesuit scholastics for ordination. He shares three fruits of his Arrupe Month experience from July 16 to August 8.
To foster collaboration at various levels between the Chinese, Japanese and Korean Jesuit Provinces, the three provincials have decided to set up an annual conjoint summer Arrupe Month. The first conjoint Arrupe Month was held from July 16 to August 8, 2015 at the newly built Franciscan spirituality centre in the small and quiet historical township of Daxi in Taiwan, 30 km south of Taipei.
Taiwanese Scholastic Aloysius Hsu SJ shares his experience of Vipassana Meditation and the 2015 East Asia Theological Encounter Programme (EATEP) held from July 22 to August 17 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. EATEP is a programme of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific that provides Jesuits in formation with opportunities to deepen their dialogue with other faiths, particularly Buddhism, and to enrich their perspectives on theology in Asia.