Sch Chrysostom B. Exaltacion will spend his regency with the Chinese Province, while Sch Erik John J. Gerilla is assigned to East Timor. Thank you, Philippines, for sharing your people with other EAO units.
The month of November has been a month of blessings for the Arrupe International Residence Community in many ways.
In the first week of the month the Rector, Fr Matsumoto (JPN), and Fr Jimmy Meehan (PHI) made their annual retreat. In the absence of Fr. Matsumoto, Fr Bill Currie (JPN) led the community as an acting rector.
On November 12 we started our classes and life began to move as usual.
After a thorough evaluation and much reflection, JCEAO and the South Asia Conference decided that the inter-assistancy tertianship program, based in Sri Lanka, would resume on September 2008. Fr John Joseph Amalados (AND) would be the Director, and Fr Laurentius Priyo Poedjiono (IDO), Co-director. As of date, Fr Vinai Boonlue (TAI) and Fr Petro Young-min Choi (KOR) have signed up.
The month of October has been one of the busiest months for the Arrupe community. From October 1 –10, Fr Adolfo Nicolas officially visited the Arrupe community, spending sufficient time for personal chat with each member of the community. Our heartfelt thanks to Fr Nicolas for listening to our concerns.
East Asia Theological Encounter Program Tentative dates for 2008 are: January 10-February 14, 2008; April 9- May 9, 2008; July 25- August 24, 2008. Programs will go depending on the number of applicants. Visit the website http://www.freewebs.com/johnjshea/ for application forms and syllabus. On the site, you will also find a bibliography with pictures of previous programs and lists of EATEP alumni.
The EAO Tertianship has been on for almost three weeks already. After the closing down of the Sri Lanka Tertianship for this year, the present group has reached its maximum of ten members, with a composition that reflects the colorful universality of the Society: one tertian is from Ethiopia, one from the States, one from Italy, one from India, two from Singapore, two from Korea (one of them is applied to Japan), and two from the Philippines.
Schol Richard Anthony (MAS) will be ordained a deacon on October 20, 2007 (Saturday), 10:00 a.m., at St. Augustine’s Church, Oakland, by Archbishop John R. Quinn.
On July 31, the Adhi Luhur Jesuit High School at Nabire (Papua) in cultural way celebrated Saint Ignatius day with a blessing of the Le Cocq d’Armandville chapel in its campus.
Fr Provincial Priyono Marwan presided the Eucharist in the beautiful 300-seat chapel. Fr Le Cocq d’Armandville SJ died in Papua in 1896 (www.usd.ac.id/adhiluhur/Kolese.html).
Every major ancient religion featured the practice of a deliberate journey to a specific holy place in quest of special blessings. In acting out this sacred ritual, pilgrims recreated the essentials of a hero’s journey which stands for all the partings we must do in life, all the separation we must undergo in order to find our way again to new life, new challenges and higher danger.
On September 8, Schs Matthew Hsu Shen-yi (CHN), Jerome Guevara (PHI) and Boniface Pak Yong-chol (KOR) were ordained deacons in Fu Jen, Taiwan by Cardinal Paul Shan. On the same date, Schs Emmanuel Alfonso (PHI) and Xavier Olin (PHI) were ordained deacons by Archbishop Leonardo Legaspi in Naga City, Philippines.