On March 05, Sch. Roy Cenon Ragas (PHI) was appointed Coordinator of the Scholastics and Brothers-in-Formation Circle for the coming year. We are grateful to Sch. Alvin Ng Sze Syn (MAS) for successfully leading the group last year. And our thanks and prayers for Sch. Ragas for his availability in accepting this new responsibility.
The past holiday season was celebrated by the Arrupe community in several ways. For some, the Christmas season was a time for rest, while for others it was a busy season for many different reasons.
Before the Christmas break, some of our Philosopher brothers had to write a synthesis paper, in an attempt to answer in their own terms the question, “What is Philosophy?” While some of our brothers had to write several papers during the Christmas break as assignments.
On December 22 to January 3, the 10th Scholastics and Brothers-in-formation Circle (SBC) Meeting was held at the Good Shepherd Catholic Seminary in Melaka, Malaysia. The theme of the meeting was “Migration, Urbanization: Our Vision, Passion, and Compassion in the Jubilee Year of the First Companions”.
On October 21, Fr Jim Meehan (PHI), departed for Chiang Mai, Thailand to attend a four-day meeting of the Asian Liturgy Forum. This forum brings together representatives of various local churches to discuss the progress of liturgical renewal throughout Southeast Asia. About fifty persons attended the meeting, including delegates from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Cambodia, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Thailand. After the meeting, Fr. Jim made his eight-day Annual Retreat at Seven Fountains, the Jesuit Retreat House in Chiang Mai.
The Jesuit Youth Commission of the Chinese Province is very happy to announce that the well-crafted documentary Life to the Full: The Jesuits of East Asia and Oceania, a production of JESCOM Foundation and Jesuit Conference Of East Asia and Oceania, is finally released in Chinese subtitles!
The content describes the apostolic works of the Jesuits of East Asia and Oceania. The program includes the following segments:
On October 28-29, the Secretaries of our Assistancy came together for a two-day meeting at JCEAO Office with Fr. Adolfo Nicolás. Frs Pham Minh-Uoc and Tom Steinbugler also joined them.
The first edition of the EATEP was held last July 27 – August 30, 2006. There were seven Jesuit scholastics in the program who are all in theological studies with varying degrees of previous exposure to other religions: Danang Bramasti (IDO), Anthony Cao Thang (VIE), Peter Do Quang Dung (VIE), Hiroshi Katayanagi (JPN), Joseph Ngo Viet Tan (VIE), Bei Witono (IDO), and Taiju Yamanaka (JPN). The participants had positive comments about the program. The Vietnamese profited from the exposure to another (Thai) culture and to Theravada Buddhism (in contrast to Hinayan Buddhism in Vietnam).
The Tertianship has been moving on smoothly since it began on September 10. The time has now come for the key-event of the whole program, the Long retreat, which is taking place during the month of November. As in the past years, the group will have the long retreat in our Novaliches Novitiate, at the same time as the novices and other seminarians. After the retreat, the Tertians will be probably full of zeal for mission and ready to move into some isolated towns and villages of Northern Luzon for the Christmas Ministries. A prayer please for a spirit-filled retreat!
Our two junior brothers Peter and John are adjusting well in their new community life at Arrupe. Besides their daily Junior program routine, they are also engaged in their language studies that will equip them for academic formation. Our old timers, the philosophers and theologians, constantly give them help and support.
Aside from the daily examen, our philosopher brothers Francis, Aloysius, PJ, Andrew and the two Pauls are busy as usual with their philosophy papers, exams, researches, etc, without losing much of their hair.
The residents now have a deserved and long expected semester recess of 3 weeks from October 21 to November 9, 2006.