Three weeks after Typhoon Haiyan (“Yolanda” in the Philippines) wreaked widespread devastation on the Philippines, the survivors are slowly beginning to pick up the pieces.
The official death toll of 5,500 as of November 27 makes the typhoon the deadliest storm in the country’s history – and the number of dead is expected to increase.
The Philippine Jesuits have been walking in solidarity with some 3,000 families whose lands and livelihoods are threatened by the construction of a special economic zone in the Aurora province of the Philippines.
Teachers from Jesuit schools in Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau, Timor-Leste and Cambodia, including four Jesuit priests and one scholastic, recently gathered in Sydney, Australia, for an Advanced Ignatian Teaching Programme. The five-day workshop, which began on November 11, was conducted by teachers and staff of St Ignatius College, Riverview.
A call has gone out for donations for the relief efforts for survivors of the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck in Central Visayas earlier this month, affecting more than 3 million people. The refrain, “Tabang Visayas” (Help Visayas), is being used by Jesuit work Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan (SLB) and Ateneo de Cebu as they work together to respond to cries for assistance from the affected communities in Bohol. Donations will be used to provide for the immediate needs of the least and unreachable communities in the province of Bohol.
What is the face of the Apostleship of Prayer in Asia? This was the main question delegates at the 5th Apostleship of Prayer Asian Conference had to address as they gathered to discuss how to re-create the apostolate.
Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU) in the Philippines has been working with the St Aloysius Gonzaga English Language Institute (SAG) in Myanmar to enhance its capabilities.
Ateneo de Naga University has begun a three-year celebration of its 75th anniversary in 2015. University president Fr Primitivo Viray Jr SJ said that they are in the process of looking back at their own history as well as looking forward to the future, which he considers their frontier.
Xavier University undergraduate Mary Joy Conquilla never dreamt that she would ever build a house as a gift, but she recently did just that in a Jesuit education programme conceived to encourage students to apply Ignatian pedagogy in their everyday lives.
The Jesuits in the Philippines have called for support for the people affected by the recent standoff between the Philippines government and a Muslim separatist group in Mindanao. In a letter dated September 13, Philippine Provincial Fr Antonio Moreno SJ said, “I strongly appeal to our Jesuit communities, ministries and partners in apostolates to pray for peace, perhaps organizing or joining prayer assemblies, initiating or participating in discussion groups and inter- faith initiatives that promote solidarity.”