More than 100 Jesuits attended the Province Villa in Baguio City, April 5-11. Fr Manuel Perez, Minister of Ateneo de Manila University’s Jesuit Residence, was in charge. Fr Manny added a special attraction to the festivities when he pronounced final vows there on April 7.
Fresh faces are filling up the novitiates across Asia Pacific. Last February, Korea accepted five novices. In March, Indonesia welcomed 12 and Australia has three. Philippines has added five. And by the end of April, three more will be in the Myamar Novitiate. Thank you God for these abundant gifts!
An abridged version of the Philippine Jesuit magazine The Windhover is now available online. By subscribing to the magazine, you will help support the mission and ministries of the Jesuits in the Philippines. For inquiries, you may write to: editor.magazine@gmail.com
From February 3 to 7, Tinnah, Amity, and I joined around 3,500 young people in the Manila Meeting of the Taizé Pilgrimage of Trust on Earth. Young people from all over Asia and other continents attended, to pray and share about their faith and life experiences with others. It was really an experience—praying for an hour or even more three times a day, being in silence with thousands of people, conversing with different people about one God, and listening to the reflections of the Taizé Brothers.
An environmental scientist with experience in disaster mitigation, Fr Pedro Walpole (PHI) talks about founding Environmental Sustainability for Social Change, a group using scientific data on the environment to advocate for changes aimed at making poor communities less susceptible to natural disaster. He also talks about his experiences working in an area wracked by conflict. The two-part video was recorded at the Jesuit Social Services All Staff Day, 12 December 2009. View Part 1.
Fr Primativo Viray (PHI) invited Fr Pedro Walpole (PHI) to the Juniors’ Social Forum. The day’s discussions with scholastics raised significant questions about poverty and how those who are bound to the land are poor, since they receive no benefit from society for the quality of ecological services drawn from their areas yet destroyed by others. It also drew people to consider how they might better seek experiences in reading the signs of the times in what they want to do and analyze what could be just and effective action.
“Conversations 2009” in Davao amongst the universities and apostolates brought a clear focus to what Jesuit institutions can do, even though they may not seem to be the experts. Clearly it is everyone’s concern and interest to adapt in the face of climate change. Davao, already expecting to have a dryer climate in the future, is sure to draw up numerous responses.
Thank you for your concern, prayers and support
for the victims of the flood brought about
by Tropical Storm Ketsana (‘Ondoy’) in the Philippines.
On September 12, Filipino scholastics Cristopher Fajardo, Joseph Haw Jr., Gilbert Emmanuel Levosada, Marlito Ocon, Alberto Paurom, Roy Cenon Ragas, and Karel San Juan were ordained deacons at the Church of the Gesu, Ateneo de Manila. The ordaining Prelate was Most Reverend Francisco Claver, S.J., D.D., Emeritus Apostolic Vicar of Bontoc-Lagawe.
Flooding in Manila is not a surprise and the extent of it should not be surprising either if we pay any attention to what we are hearing about climate change every day. The problem is we don’t know where it will hit exactly and how and when. Though there is much local adaptation, many people still get caught unfortunately in deadly circumstances. We do not adequately know our landscape and susceptibility to flooding and we are not adequately relocating peoples’ lives and livelihoods. People in Manila might be led to believe this is the worst, but we are far from it.