eNews Bulletin December 2011
| From the President | ||||||
Remembering the meaning of Christmas
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| JCAP News | ||||||
Applications open for 2012 EATEP
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| From the Provinces | ||||||
Appeal for funds to help victims of Typhoon Washi
Typhoon Washi slammed ashore on Mindanao island in the dead of night, sending torrents of water and mud through riverside villages, drowning scores of people as they slept, and sweeping houses out to sea. Read more | ||||||
A wisdom story to encourage peace
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Reflections on Christmas Island
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A rich blend
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Proclaiming the Gospel from the market place
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Australian Jesuit named Boston College Gasson Professor
The Gasson Chair is held by a distinguished Jesuit scholar in any discipline and is the oldest endowed professorship at Boston College. Read more | ||||||
| From the Ministries | ||||||
Education of the head, the heart and the hands
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Prison Ministry perseveres as prisons flood
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The road leading to Pattum Thani PrisonFor the members of the Jesuit Prison Ministry team, continuing to visit prisoners took will, determination and faith. The pictures below show the road leading to Pattum Thani Prison, Central Correctional Institution for Young Offenders, on Nov 22. Read more | ||||||
Balancing environment and economics
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Youth learn to grow crops sustainably
In October, 30 youth from Upper Pulangi, Bukidnon in northern Mindanao spent 10 days learning about these crops, how to produce them and how to do so with a sense of environmental stewardship. Read more | ||||||
| Other Jesuit News | ||||||
The holiness of Fr Arrupe
In a letter to the Society on November 17, Fr Anton Witwer SJ said the General Curia had received a number of enquiries about the introduction of a case for beatification for Fr Arrupe. Read more | ||||||
| Appointments and Opportunities | ||||||
Roles in AV production in Timor LesteTwo leadership roles – Director and Executive Producer - are open in Casa de Produção Audiovisual (CPA), the first non-profit audiovisual production house in Timor-Leste. Read more | ||||||
| Conference Calendar | ||||||
JCAP Upcoming Events December 2011 - January 2012 The JCAP Office will be closed from 23 December 2011 - 02 January 2012 for the Christmas holidays.
The complete JCAP calendar can be viewed here. | ||||||
In many Asian cities, Christmas means more lights and special offers in the stores. Cultural and commercial symbols get confused with truly Christian ones. The meaning of the holy season is easily missed and is a great loss, for the claim that God entered our history in this way sets Christianity apart from all other religious traditions. God became one with us in order to show us what it means to be truly human. 
The East Asia Theological Encounter Programme (EATEP) in 2012 will be held from April 16 to May 14. The programme, which is in its seventh year, will be held at Seven Fountains, the Jesuit spirituality centre in Chiangmai, Thailand. 
Xavier University is appealing for funds to help the victims of Typhoon Sendong (International Name: Tropical Storm Washi), which struck the southern Philippines on December 17, causing flash floods and landslides.
Much wisdom can be taught and learnt from stories, and a Jesuit scholastic hopes that his story, “A Fading Dream of an Orphan”, will make people reflect on and act against the destructive nature of war. 
At the age of 70, when most people are retired or taking it easy, Australian Jesuit Celso Romanin SJ responded to an urgent call from Jesuit Refugee Service Australia for a priest to provide pastoral care to the detainees on Christmas Island. He had eight years of experience with refugees in Australia, Asia and Africa, yet the prospect of going to Christmas Island at his age was daunting. 
Ignite café, Jesuit Social Services’ new hospitality training space, officially opened on November 19 with a full house gathered for this and the formal launch of the Mount Druitt Hub community space. The guests included Tony Burke, the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Water, Population and Communities; the Member of Parliament for Chifley, Ed Husic; and Blacktown Mayor Alan Pendleton. 
Catholics should be using cinema and culture to dialogue with other faiths, and we should be doing so in the market place, said President of SIGNIS World Augustine Loorthusamy in his keynote address at the SIGNIS Asia Assembly in Nepal in October. 
Fr Christopher Willcock SJ, an award-winning Australian composer of music for churches and concert halls, has joined the Boston College community as the Thomas I Gasson SJ Professor for 2011-12. He is presently a member of the United Faculty of Theology in Melbourne where he teaches courses in liturgy.
In a speech delivered at the recent Sophia Symposium in Tokyo, Fr Mark Raper SJ, President of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific, argued for a view of education as “formation for decision and for action: education of the head, the heart and the hands”. 
At the height of the floods in Thailand in October and November, the Jesuit Foundation Prison Ministry continued to reach out to the many prisoners it has befriended in the country’s overcrowded prisons. Vilaiwan Phokthavi, Director, Jesuit Prison Ministry tells us how the floods affected prisoners in three prisons. 
The Philippines island of Mindanao will soon launch a major island-wide undertaking that shall focus on ensuring integration of Mindanao’s economy and environment to achieve sustainable development. Jesuit research institute 
Abaca, coffee and rubber are three very different crops that can make a difference to the indigenous communities in Mindanao – both economically and socially.
The International Postulator General for the Society of Jesus has called for information about the life and holiness of Fr Pedro Arrupe SJ, to determine whether a cause for sainthood can be made.