Often, our mission is not only the aim of our efforts, but also the instrument of our own formation. We are formed for the mission, by the mission, in the mission. At least, that was how I felt about my regency in East Timor.
Jesuit Refugee Service Europe has launched a campaign called “I Get You” to map, network and strengthen local initiatives of refugee welcome in Europe.
Across Europe, citizens have opened their doors to people in search of safety – migrants and refugees – sharing meals, learning languages and simply being together. The goal of I Get You is to identify and bring together community building initiatives for local citizens and refugees in nine European countries.
The Jesuit Refugee Service in Europe has launched a new campaign entitled “Journeys of Hope”. Through it, JRS Europe aims to highlight the individual voices, hopes and dreams of people seeking a new, safe life in Europe, by recounting their personal stories and experiences.
The Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice in Dublin, Ireland has embarked on an extensive review of the needs of young adults aged 18 to under 25 in Irish prisons. This is a first for young adults in Irish prisons and is aimed at influencing policy and how the prison service responds to the specific needs of this group. Due to be published in the next couple of months the report highlights key issues and provides policy recommendations.
A painting thought to be of St Francis Xavier SJ – and believed to have been lost almost 250 years ago – has been rediscovered at the Royal Scots College, Salamanca in Spain.
Brussels, 19 October 2015 – Hospitality and generosity should be at the centre of our response to the increased arrivals of refugees in Europe, say a group of leading European Jesuits in a statement released today. The statement acknowledges work done over past decades with refugee and migrant communities by Jesuits and those working with them and calls for renewed energy and vision in building active solidarity and hospitality with forced migrants.
At our annual meeting with Fr General in Rome this month, the six Jesuit Conference presidents identified significant strategies that are bearing fruit for greater solidarity among Jesuits and our colleagues globally, and planned new cooperative measures. Since the primary goal of conferences concerns mission, we dealt with questions such as restructuring of governance arrangements, solidarity in sharing resources across the Society, cooperation in the formation of Jesuits and promotion of studies in Ignatian spirituality.
On the morning of April 7, 2014, Dutch Jesuit Fr Frans Van der Lugt was beaten by armed men and killed with two bullets to the head in Syria. Fr Frans had worked in Syria since 1966 and, despite the dangers, insisted on remaining in the city of Homs in solidarity with the people who could not leave the city. “I don’t see Muslims or Christians,” he said a couple of months before his death. “I see, above all, human beings.”
Fr Frans worked hard to bring Syrians of different backgrounds together and encourage dialogue between them; his favourite word had been “forward.”
The British Jesuit Provincial, Fr Dermot Preston SJ, recently delivered a lecture as part of the Faith Matters series in Westminster Cathedral in London.
The Jesuit Provincials of Europe and the Middle East, together with the Provincials of Africa-Madagascar, issued a statement on migration and asylum on October 25, 2013. That same day, the Provincials of Europe and Middle East also issued a declaration on Syria.
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