This year’s annual report puts the spotlight on two firsts for the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific. The JCAP Leadership Development Programme was launched in December 2015 and the fourth (and final) module was held in Seoul, South Korea in mid-May 2017. The Jesuit Conference-wide youth ministry also began in 2015, with the core team pulling off a successful Magis Asia Pacific gathering in Yogyakarta, Indonesia fr
Establishing protocols and procedures for the safeguarding of minors is not as easy as installing a software application. Protecting minors in Jesuit institutions from sexual abuse needs careful evaluation of how Jesuits and collaborators operate in their apostolates, discernment on policies and steps to take when cases arise, reparation when mistakes and harm have been done, and willingness to change and provide structures for children to grow fully.
Jesuit Refugee Service Australia has teamed up with Refugee Council of Australia to create a programme that gives young people the chance to meet a refugee and hear first hand the reasons why people are forced to flee their homes.
“We’re seeing the biggest migration crisis since WWII, and yet, it’s not the voices of those being forced to flee their homes we hear, but the voices of the powerful. At JRS we believe this needs to change,” said JRS Australia in its website.
General Congregation 36 (GC 36) dominated Jesuit life during 2016. The theme, “Row into the deep”, was derived from a message of Pope Francis to the Society of Jesus in 2014, echoing Jesus’ call to his disciples to “put out into the deep”. In the Congregation logo, the IHS represents the Society’s boat in the Church; the waves are the troubled seas of our times into which Jesuits are invited to row with faith.
International Jesuit leader Fr Arturo Sosa has expressed his support for a new Jesuit Social Services programme aimed at tackling violence and helping men and boys build better relationships with those around them.
Jesuit Social Services CEO Julie Edwards announced the new programme, The Men’s Project, at the organisation’s annual dinner on March 25, which also celebrated the organisation’s 40th anniversary.
The Men’s Project aims to help boys and men live responsible, accountable and healthy lives, and build loving relationships with those around them.
Indonesian scholastic Tiro Daenuwy SJ shares what he learnt from his immersion experience in an Islamic boarding house in Garut, West Java, Indonesia. The five-day immersion held from July 29 to August 2 is a vital part of the Asia Pacific Theological Encounter Programme, a formation programme in contextual theology with a focus on Islam that is conducted annually by the Jesuits in Indonesia. Part 2.
Thirty-eight students from Jesuit universities in four Asian countries gathered in Yogyakarta, Indonesia for this year’s Service Learning Programme (SLP), hosted by Sanata Dharma University. The theme this year – Serving the City, Serving the People: Developing Youth Social Movement within the Urban Communities – was inspired by a growing concern that city development is happening without citizen involvement.
The programme employed the Ignatian Pedagogy Framework of Context-Experience-Reflection-Action-Evaluation.
It was a bright sunny Wednesday afternoon that saw about 160 Magis/World Youth Day delegates from Asia Pacific gather in the courtyard of Ignatianum University in Krakow. For many, it was a happy reunion of friends met at the first Magis Asia Pacific held last Christmas and for others, an introduction to the new Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific Youth Ministry.
The two and a half weeks of MAGIS and World Youth Day have greatly influenced my spiritual mind and my point of view of the world. When I first saw the poster for the meeting, I was in Paris, France studying as an exchange student. Thinking that it would be difficult to attend since I was not with the Korea group, I envied those who could participate in it and quickly forgot about the event.
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.