This month we remember Pedro Arrupe, the 28th Superior General of the Society of Jesus who died on February 5, 1991 aged 83. An incredibly charismatic general, he spent the last 10 years of his life confined in the infirmary, patiently enduring the debilitating effects of a cerebral stroke.
In June, a group of Jesuit scholastics and priests spent a week in a Islamic boarding school in East Java, as part of the Indonesian Province’s efforts against religious radicalism, one of three concerns the Province has made a priority. Scholastic Billy Aryo Nugroho SJ recounts his experience.
From June 17 to 23, 16 Jesuit scholastics and two priests lived in Islamic boarding school, pesantren in Indonesia. The pesantren was named “Tebu Ireng” and is located in Jombang, East Java.
Filipino Scholastic Mark Lopez SJ shares on his experience of a five-day Vipassana Meditation Retreat he did in Chiang Mai last summer under the Venerable Abbot Piyatassi Bhikku. The retreat was part of the month-long East Asian Theological Encounter Programme, which provides Jesuits in formation with opportunities to deepen their dialogue with other faiths, particularly Buddhism, and to enrich their perspectives on theology in Asia.
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?
Once in a while, someone comes along and flashes a light on things that make others uncomfortable. May we never exchange light for darkness.
Death in the forest
British Jesuit scholastic Stefan Garcia was in the Philippines when Tropical Storm Washi struck, and witnessed the destruction it caused. Stefan is half-Filipino – his mother is English and his father is Filipino – and he grew up in Cebu.
He reflects on his recent visit home.
During the penitential season of Lent, Thinking Faith will be reflecting upon the ‘seven deadly sins’ by relating each of them to a film. It begins with a look at the powerful thriller Seven, starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, and examines the history of the seven deadly sins, asking what accounts for their perennial attraction.
Fr Nicholas Austin SJ
When the rector of the Jesuit scholasticate in Tokyo, Fr Juan Haidar, asked me whether I was interested in volunteering for relief efforts of Caritas Japan, I initially hesitated since my command of the Japanese language is not good. Yet I felt moved to respond despite this disability and despite the risks.
She sat quietly at the corner bench. The crowd was pressing in that small omise (a videoke snack bar which draws memories from times past when entertainers/ talents came in droves to almost all corners of Japan to earn a living, in an illusive quest for a dream, most of which turned to a nightmare). But, these are different times. The omise was not for “happy hour”, rather to break the sad news that not much of control is being gained over the nuclear reactors affected by the tsunami.
A group of volunteers from Tokyo spent the last week of March in Sendai, helping out at the emergency centre set up by the Sendai Diocese with the cooperation of Caritas Japan to coordinate humanitarian aid operations in Sendai. Among them was Fr Yasunori Yamauchi, one of our newly ordained Jesuits in Japan. He shares his reflection here.