As a child, Sr Wei Wei spent a summer listening to Bible stories elaborated by a young volunteer in a market place in her village. “She used Bible pictures and we children enjoyed it like that,” she recalls with a … Continued
Women religious partnerships with JRS have become a vital element in aiding displaced people wherever there is need. This was the case 37 years ago, when then Jesuit Superior General, Pedro Arrupe SJ, galvanised the international Jesuit community to aid … Continued
The Jesuit social service centre in Taipei has a “little” ambassador. Twenty-seven-year-old Lily jumps at the opportunity to introduce Rerum Novarum Center whenever she hears of women who are abused by their employers. Looking at her now, few would guess … Continued
“How are you, my love/ I hope you are well/ Do not worry about me/ I am getting by.” The poignant lyrics of “Kumusta ka aking mahal?” (How are you, my love?) were a fitting end to the concert organised … Continued
“What we saw and experienced in the camps was beyond comprehension,” reported Fr Dunstan Vinny Joseph SJ, Socius of the Myanmar Jesuit Mission upon returning from a visit to the Rohingya camps in Bangladesh. “The new arrivals, who have already … Continued
Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Australia and Jesuit Social Services have joined other Catholic organisations in expressing grave concern for the humanitarian crisis on Manus Island and calling for the Australian Government to resettle in Australia the refugees and asylum seekers … Continued
“Returning to Rerum Novarum Center is like coming home,” said Hanh. Hanh and many other migrant workers like her who had sought the comfort of the shelter consider Rerum Novarum Center, the Jesuit social work in Taipei, their “mother’s home” … Continued
Australian Jesuit Provincial Fr Brian McCoy has announced a project to bring together the Jesuits’ concerns for Indigenous Australians and asylum seekers, which he describes as “the bookends of rejection” in Australian history.
The first bookend, Fr McCoy said, is the arrival of the First Fleet of convicts and military from Britain in what is now Sydney in 1788.
Once a year, the lilt of the t’rung and the rise and fall of the sounds of the danbau transport audiences at a charity concert in Tokyo to the mountain regions of Vietnam. The performers are Vietnamese migrant workers in Japan, and this year’s concert featured a choir called “Cecilia”, that usually serves at the Vietnamese Sunday masses at St Ignatius Church next to the Jesuit Tokyo Social Center.
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.