Energised and inspired by its first experience of MAGIS in Madrid in 2011, the Korean Province is deep into preparations for MAGIS-World Youth Day (WYD) 2013 in Brazil. Fr Joseph Songyong Choe SJ shares their preparations with us.
Korean Scholastic Benedict Kim Kundong SJ shares his encounters with people and places in a trip he made around Myanmar, after his regency in Yangon.
Father Francisco Oh In-don has been appointed Delegate of the Provincial of Korea for the Cambodia Mission. Korea Provincial Fr John Sin is to decide when Fr Francisco will take over the office of Delegate.
Fr Francisco will take over from Fr Gabriel Je Byong-young who has dedicated himself for the last six years to consolidating the foundation and systemising the administration of the mission.
The Jesuits and partners in Cambodia continue to discern the way forward in education. In October, four educators from the various parts of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific visited Cambodia as part of the Cambodian Mission’s Preparatory Planning Mission (PPM) team. The local members of the PPM included three Jesuits, Frs OH Indon and Gabby Lamug-Nanawa and Br Ham Toeun, and two partners, Sr Ljudmila Anzic (Salesians) and Br Terry Heinrich (Marists).
As we look towards Christmas and the hope the birth of Jesus brought us, we remember that in Korea, a Jesuit will be spending his Christmas in prison for standing up for justice.
Korean Jesuit Fr Lee Young-chan and five other peace activists were detained by the police on October 24. He had been protesting the excessive force used by the police in detaining a woman activist, and when the police manhandled him, they claimed his resistance amounted to violence. On Oct 26, the court upheld his arrest and denied him bail. His trial is ongoing.
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:
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).
The Shimonoseki Labour Education Centre (LEC) in Japan and the Jesuit Research Centre for Advocacy and Solidarity (JAS) in Korea jointly held an Anti-nuclear Peace Conference in July. LEC Director, Fr Hisashi Hayashi SJ, hosted Jesuits and peace movement members from the two countries for the two-day meeting that began after breakfast on July 12.
The joint sponsorship is a result of the recent agreement between the Korea and Japan Provinces to heighten the level of inter-Province cooperation.
At the International Colloquium on Jesuit Secondary Education in Boston, Fr Danny Huang SJ, Regional Assistant for Asia Pacific, posed 10 points of reflection from the Procurates, that he said would be useful to discuss in Jesuit schools, Provinces and Regions.
1. Apostolic instruments
Do we understand ourselves and function as apostolic missions? How?
The social apostolate needs to be approached from the perspective of Ignatian Spirituality, which provides a new way of seeing all things. Fr Patxi Alvarez SJ, Director of the Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat in Rome, made this point at the JCAP Social Apostolate meeting in August.