This year’s East Asia Theological Encounter Programme (EATEP) will be held from August 1 to 24.
EATEP is a Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific programme that adds to the theological formation of young Jesuits. It focuses on Asia theology, inculturation of the Catholic faith and inter-religious dialogue, and includes an immersion experience in Buddhism. It is held at the Seven Fountains Spirituality Centre in ChiangMai, Thailand.
If the JCAP major superiors needed a reminder of the extent of and differences in our Conference, the last two locations for our biannual meeting certainly provided that. The island Republic of Palau, population 20,600, is a vastly different locale from that of our previous assembly held last July in Macau, a part of China, population over 1.4 billion.
“To be man of the Spiritual Exercises and of the Constitutions” is the grace asked by those participating in the Cardoner Week, a new on-going formation programme in the Indonesian Province.
The Province members of batches 1963 to 1999 (the year they joined the Society of Jesus) participate in this Monday to Friday programme to better understand their lives in the dynamic of St Ignatius’ life, to practice more creatively the Spiritual Exercises, and to be personally more familiar with the Jesuit Constitutions and related documents.
Three Jesuits were ordained to the order of the presbyterate and four Jesuit scholastics ordained deacons in Vietnam on December 3, 2012, the Feast of St Francis Xavier, the Patron Saint of Missions and of the Society of Jesus in Vietnam. Bishop Peter Nguyễn Văn Khảm, auxiliary bishop of the Saigon Archdiocese presided at the Holy Mass and ordination held in Epiphany Parish, Thủ Đức (Ho Chi Minh City). Four other religious were ordained deacons in the same Mass.
The Jesuit Conference Asia Pacific (JCAP) continues to seek venues to strengthen reflection, and network through participation in formation programmes, and institutional and province reviews. In Asia Pacific, there are continuous challenges of social and environmental injustice, limited basic education for the poor, and the needed revision of values in a culture of consumerism.
The Conference team is expanding and strengthening. Consultations between the President and Provincials over several months have resulted in the missioning of Jesuits from various Provinces to core positions in the Conference. This generosity of spirit will greatly help the Conference to keep the Society in Asia Pacific oriented towards the service of faith and the promotion of justice.
The appointments announced by Conference President Fr Mark Raper SJ in December are:
Rectors and Formation delegates across the Conference of Asia Pacific gathered in Manila recently to discuss how to form Jesuits for the needs and contexts of the globalized, interconnected world we live in today.
Jesuit scholastics in the Loyola House of Studies located in the Ateneo de Manila University campus have embarked on a series of initiatives to raise awareness about care for the environment in community lifestyle and house management.
Reconciliation with Creation is a priority for the Society of Jesus and a key concern of the Indonesian Province. Scholastic Billy Aryo Nugroho SJ reports on a Go Green course that was conducted for Jesuit scholastics in Jakarta.
Seventeen Jesuit scholastics were ordained deacon in Manila on September 8. They were an international group from nine Provinces and Regions in three Conferences, Asia Pacific, South Asia and Africa. Six of the new deacons are from the Philippine Province and the other 11 from Arrupe International Residence (AIR).