The Society of Jesus has administered Colégio de São José at the request of the Bishop of Dili since 1993. However, CSJ is and continues to be a school of the Diocese of Dili. Direction of CSJ will revert to the Dili Diocese at the end of 2011, but our work in education in Timor Leste will continue.
Fr Mark Raper SJ has issued a statement in Timor Leste regarding the Society’s position on Jesuit education in the country.
The Jesuit mission in Asia Pacific flows from a centuries old vision. In 1540, the very same year the Jesuits were approved, Francis Xavier was sent to Asia. He arrived in Goa in 1542, in Japan in 1549, and died at the border of China in 1552. Now Jesuits in Asia Pacific number almost 1800, including those still in training. They serve in some 15 countries of this region, both in the intensely populated countries of Asia and in tiny Pacific nations.