Rebuilding lives and rekindling hope. This is the motto of the Philippine Jesuit Prison Service Foundation Inc (PJPS) based in the New Bilibid Prisons Reservation, the national penitentiary. Like other Philippine prisons, the inmates are crammed in hot, dark and poorly ventilated cells.
The prison compound has a capacity of about 10,000 inmates, but it is housing more than 24,000. The overcrowding means the inmates have to sleep in shifts.
The prison ministry is the focus of the latest issue of Promotio Iustitiae painting, as Social Justice and Ecology Secretary Fr Patxi Álvarez SJ said, a picture of the quiet work Jesuits and lay collaborators have been doing to serve people in prison.
“The Jesuits, and the laypeople that they collaborate with, have a longstanding tradition of serving people in prison, dating back to the first companions of Jesus,” said Fr Álvarez.
Ateneo de Davao University is building a new campus for its senior high school that is being touted as the first environmentally responsible school in the Philippines. The campus has been designed to create a contemporary, sustainable and transformative learning environment following Pope Francis’ environmental directives in his encyclical, Laudato si’. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on February 15 and the school is expected to be completed in May 2019.
Gratitude and joy for the love of God recently inspired two young Jesuits to write a song. Deacon Soo Young Theodore Park SJ from Korea and Scholastic Jun-G Bargayo SJ from the Philippines say the song Kutafuta Mungu (“Finding God” in Swahili) was a gift for them as 2017 began.
The inspiration to compose the song came the night after Soo Young’s diaconate ordination.
Those not able to watch “Ignacio de Loyola: Soldier, Sinner, Saint” in theatres will soon be able to watch it in their homes with the commercial release of the DVD on February 18 in the Philippines and in spring in North America.
Produced by Jesuit Communications Foundation (JesCom) Philippines, the feature film is a modern look at the story of St Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, often called “The Saint of Second Chances.”
The Philippine Jesuits have joined the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in condemning efforts to revive the death penalty.
The Asia Pacific Tertianship programme includes a two-week Christmas exposure programme during which the tertians spend two weeks with various communities. They offer this joint reflection on the experience.
Much has been written about migrant workers and their lives and trials working in foreign country. What is often overlooked, however, is what happens to the children who are left behind by their migrant worker parents.
How do the children cope with the absence of one or both parents? How are these children perceived by a society that still values traditional family and gender roles? To what extent does migration change the idea of child welfare or parenthood?
#sfxjcap2016. In October this hashtag began appearing in Instagram as students, faculty and staff of Jesuit schools in Asia Pacific posted photographs of themselves and their friends in front of the Educate Magis map in their schools. The photos were entries to the St Francis Xavier Global Network Instagram Competition.
Educate Magis is an online community that connects educators from more than 2,000 Jesuit and Ignatian schools all over the world and the map shows the rich diversity and wide reach of the global network of Jesuit schools.
Drought and flooding are the two most significant ecological challenges in Asia Pacific, according to participants in the first Reconciling with Creation Reflection Workshop. According to the workshop report released in October, drought was foremost in the minds of the participants, named by 11 people from eight countries. Flooding was a close second, named by 10 participants from six countries. But these are just two of the host of ecological challeng