On May 31, 2014, the Yap Catholic High School (YCHS), located on a small Micronesian island in the Western Pacific Ocean, celebrated its first graduating class. Jesuit missionaries first established a mission in Micronesia in the late seventeenth century. At the end of the World War II, the mission was placed in the hands of American Jesuits. Now Jesuits serve in a number of ways on the islands of Pohnpei, Chuuk, Guam, Yap and Palau.
The Loyola School of Theology (LST) in Manila has begun offering a theology programme through which students, especially Jesuit scholastics, can engage with Asian contexts.
Annie Abuca, currently the Grade School Assistant Principal for Administration and Supervision at Sacred Heart School – Ateneo de Cebu, Philippines, reflects on her experience of the recent Workshop on Ignatian School Leadership for leaders and administrators in Jesuit schools across the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific.
In March, the Macau Ricci Institute (MRI) devoted its MRI Seminar to the Suppression and Restoration of the Society of Jesus. The one-day seminar focused first on the Suppression of the Society in Europe, and on the last Jesuits who survived in Beijing, China. It presented the historical background and encouraged reflection on this from the perspective of the Jesuit Chinese Province and then from the Macau perspective. It also addressed the question of the Restoration and its manifestation throughout the art and architecture of the new Society of Jesus in Macau and China.<
Fr General Adolfo Nicolás delivered the opening address at a recent Pontifical Gregorian University event held to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Jesuit-run Sophia University in Tokyo. A former student of Sophia in the 1960s and a former provincial of the Japanese Province, Fr Nicolás spoke on Sophia’s contribution to the mission of the Catholic Church in Asia.
Fr Nicolás urged Japanese Catholics to promote religious sensitivity in their country and not to lose hope because they represent a small minority of the country’s population.
As Myanmar emerges from decades of military dictatorship, the scramble is on among young Burmese to educate themselves so that they might take advantage of the economic growth that is already transforming the country.
Myint Myint Maw is acutely aware of the advantages that education can bring: she was one of the few children lucky enough to complete their high school education in the village of Popa near the ancient, pagoda-dotted city of Bagan; and she emerged from university a few years later with an engineering degree.
The Jesuit education project will be located in Sisophon, Banteay Meanchey Province. In a letter to members of the Cambodia mission and collaborators, Fr Francisco Oh In-don SJ, Delegate of the Korean Provincial to the Cambodia Mission, said “it was very clear that we Jesuits should serve poor children first”.
It was a hot day but that did not bother the group of men who were setting up a tarpaulin tent. Along the sides, some women were cooking lunch over an open fire for their husbands. “Tomorrow is the last day of school. The kids will have their report delivered and then a long break until February,” said Klemens, the head of the community here. In the past year, the children had learned how to read, write and do simple mathematics in the makeshift wooden building they call school, located in the middle of an oil palm plantation in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia.
What is the role of Jesuit universities in Asia? What are the challenges they face in Asia where Catholics, indeed Christians, are a minority? These questions and more were discussed at the symposium organized by Sophia University as part of the university’s centennial celebration.
In launching its new Graduate Certificate in Leadership, Spirituality and Organisational Practice, Sentir is bringing together some of the best knowledge from around the world linking Ignatian spirituality to people’s working lives.
The Dean of Sentir, Fr Michael Smith SJ, says the course is unique in bringing together the tools of organisational development and the Spiritual Exercises.