Fr General stresses shared mission and common discernment in first visit to JCAP

Fr Arturo Sosa SJ has sparked renewed vigour in the Jesuits and their collaborators in Asia Pacific with his first visit as Superior General to Indonesia, Cambodia and Singapore.  In each country, he met with Jesuits and collaborators, learning from them about their context and giving them much food for thought with his reflections on the world today and the response of the Society of Jesus from the 36th General Congregation.  In Singapore, he also joined the Major Superiors of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific in their bi-annual assembly from July 18 to 21.

Forming Ignatian leaders for mission

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Are leaders born or made? This question has long been debated by experts around the world.  Some claim that some people are natural leaders while others insist that becoming a leader is a process.  Whichever the case, it cannot be denied that there are no perfect leaders and that, whether you are a born leader or had to learn how to lead, there is always room to become better at leading.  This is the premise that grounds the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific’s Leadership Development Programme (LDP) launched in December 2015.

Eleven Jesuits ordained as deacons in the Philippines

Eleven Jesuits were ordained to the Order of Deacons on October 29 in the Church of the Gesu, Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines.  The new deacons are Soo Young Park, Changmo Cho, Chang-hyon Lee, Kyoung-Woong Peter Park, Anthony Ochen, Leslie Joseph Bingkasan, Stephanus Advent Novianto, Harvey Mateo, Martin Licup, Felipe Yohan Jr and Roseller Atilano Jr.

New Superior for Jesuits in Malaysia and Singapore

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On November 8, Fr Christopher Soh SJ officially becomes Regional Superior of the Malaysia-Singapore Jesuit Region (MAS), taking over from Fr Colin Tan SJ who has completed his six-year term.

Fr Soh was ordained on July 30, 2005 and professed his final vows on July 4, 2011.  He is a popular homilist, and his blog, “Breaking The Word”, began as a response to people asking for a copy of his homilies.

Doing, giving and seeking the “more” in MAGIS

More than 200 young pilgrims from provinces and regions within the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) have just spent a week learning what it means to be Magis. MAGIS is a Jesuit-organised international meeting of young people from all over the world held in conjunction with World Youth Day. The MAGIS programme helps to prepare them for the experience of World Youth Day by offering them an opportunity to share in a unique experience on three distinct levels: individual growth, relationships with God and others, and intercultural dialogue.

Opening our minds to unlock our potential as a society

This World Refugee Day, the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) has called for everyone to embrace refugees as part of their communities by providing them with opportunities to grow and contribute to society. This means not only giving them a safe place to stay but also ensuring that they are protected from all forms of evil, including poverty, isolation, exploitation, misconception and neglect.

Formators and formation at AIR

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.

 

Providing a spiritual space for people to encounter God

posted in: Province News, Spirituality | 0

The Jesuit spirituality centre in Singapore turns 25 this month. The Centre for Ignatian Spirituality and Counselling officially opened on October 21, 1990, two years after Fr Paul Tan SJ, then Regional Superior of the Jesuits in Malaysia and Singapore, decided to convert the students’ hostel at Kingsmead Hall into a Jesuit novitiate and spirituality centre. Singapore was changing and growing rapidly, and the Jesuits saw in this the need to provide for the spiritual needs of the people.

Kicking up a storm with “The Tempest”

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After almost 30 years, Shakespeare returned to the stage in Kuching thanks to the students of St Joseph’s Private School, a Jesuit-run institution in Malaysia.  The 100-strong cast and crew dazzled audiences at the Archdiocesan Curia and Cathedral Parish Centre (ACCPC) of St Joseph’s Cathedral with their performance of a modern English version of William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”.

Brothers by blood and by vocation

posted in: Formation, Province News | 0

In the front row pews during evening mass at the Church of St Ignatius in Singapore on July 26, family members gathered to celebrate the ordination to the priesthood of two not-so-young Jesuits.  It would be typical to see both men seated amidst their respective families ready in turn to offer them up to the rest of the Church. What was not so typical was that it was just one family – with both Jesuits seated on either side of the same mother, and among the same siblings and relatives – supporting them into the service of ordained ministry.