January 23, 2012 Continuing to serve the poorest of the poor
Banteay Prieb, a training centre set up by Jesuit Service Cambodia for Cambodians maimed by the war or by landmines, celebrated its 20th anniversary on December 20, 2011.
The Centre of the Dove, as it is called in English, is located in a former military communication centre, prison and Khmer Rouge killing field. But the centre has transformed the former place of fighting and killing into a place for peace, justice and reconciliation.
In the beginning, most of students were former soldiers from four different groups who had been physically disabled during the war and went to Banteay Prieb hoping to learn technical skills. Upon arriving at the centre and finding that they had to live with their opposition in the same place, all their anger and fear came back. It was not at all easy for them to live with their enemies. But the reality of all of them being physically disabled made them slowly start talking and eating together and they eventually became good friends.
Today, as Cambodia has slowly found peace and there are fewer and fewer victims of war and landmines, the centre mostly takes individuals with physical disabilities due to accidents or diseases such as polio.
More than half of the students are polio victims, many from poor families across Cambodia. During the 25-year civil war, most children were not able to get the polio vaccine and so contracted polio, which is why the centre considers polio victims to be indirect victims of war.
Although Cambodia is developing rapidly and the people have more opportunities for education and work, those with disabilities are still the most marginalized people in the country. For example, 40 percent of the centre’s students are illiterate, and the average education level is below high school.
Twenty years after its establishment, Banteay Prieb continues to be true to its original purpose, which is to serve the poorest among the poor. Everything in Banteay Prieb is dedicated towards the realisation of peace: personal, family, communal and national, and the Khmer characters beautifully integrated into the wing of the dove in its logo mean “Everything for Peace”.
The anniversary was celebrated with alumni, staff who are mainly former students, and other supporters. It also marked the graduation of 100 students − 27 women and 63 men all with physical disabilities. They received certificates, both from Banteay Prieb and from the Cambodian Ministry of Social Welfare, acknowledging their completion of a full year of training in Electronics, Mechanics, Sewing, Agriculture and two years of training in Sculpture.
The anniversary was an occasion to reflect on what has been done, what is being done and what will be done in the future.
Steps into the future began the next day with the opening of Craft Peace Café, a social enterprise project to create more jobs for graduates of Banteay Prieb. The Café will sell products made by the Banteay Prieb staff and students in the school, and provide a platform for interaction and the exchange of life-stories between artisans with physical disabilities and customers.
For more information on Banteay Prieb, go to www.banteayprieb.org
For more information on Jesuit Service Cambodia, go to www.jesecam.org
January 19, 2012 University donates land to flood victims
The Jesuit-run Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, has taken a lead role in responding to devastating floods that hit the country in late December.
The floods inundated the city on the night of December 17, submerging houses up to their rooftops and claiming the lives of nearly a thousand people. Hundreds more families were left homeless, and lost nearly all their material possessions.
The university set up a relief centre to receive donations of food, water, medical and other supplies to distribute to the victims of the floods.
It also opened up its campus as an Evacuation Centre to provide shelter for families without homes. Staff and students volunteered in buying, packaging and distributing relief goods, and in caring for evacuees. University medical personnel were deployed to provide first aid and trauma debriefing.
In addition to this support, the University has offered five hectares of its property in Lumbia to be used as a resettlement area for families who have lost their homes. Around 500 homes will be built on the site, in association with the local government and NGOs.
University President Fr Roberto C Yap said the institution was committed to ongoing support for the affected families.
‘Let us pray that the Christ-child who pitched his tent among us bless this project that it may truly help alleviate the suffering of our brothers and sisters’, he said.
Jesuit Mission is accepting donations towards the relief efforts at Xavier University. Donate online, selecting ‘Greatest Need’ on your donation form. All such donations will be given to the Philippines relief appeal.
December 20, 2011 Donate to the Philippines flood appeal
Xavier University, Cagayan de Oro city, has set up a relief centre to receive donations of food, water, medical and other supplies and distribute them to victims of the Philippines flood disaster. Donations to support their efforts can be made via Jesuit Mission's online donation facility. Please select GREATEST NEED as the cause you would like to donate to. All donations made under this category will go to Jesuit Mission's Phillipine flood appeal.
Witnessing Washi's wrath and aftermath
The cruel paradox in disasters caused by flash floods is that water is the first thing that becomes scarce. In the Philippine city of Cagayan de Oro, mortuaries could not even wash the mud off dead children so they could be quickly identified by parents, [writes Fatima Measham in Eureka Street.
December 19, 2011 Giving thanks for a great year
Jesuit Mission’s year has been capped off with a tidy stocking-filler – one worth almost $250,000, which will ensure the ongoing success of its overseas projects in the New Year.
The Director of Jesuit Mission, Fr Phil Crotty SJ, received a cheque for $248,857.39 from the organisation’s Executive Committee at a function in Sydney last week. The funds were raised during the year through a range of initiatives including the Sydney Golf Day, the Card Day, the Xaverian Car Raffle and the ever-popular Indian Bazaar, which celebrated its 60th anniversary this year.
Fr Crotty thanked volunteers and supporters for the role they had played in assisting disadvantaged people, particularly in South East Asia and India. People responded generously to Jesuit Mission’s famine appeal earlier this year for people living in the Horn of Africa.
‘Half of the money has gone to famine relief, and the other half has gone to schools in a refugee camp. When the children in those schools have learnt to read and write, they will be set free’, said Fr Crotty.
Jesuit Mission has also been instrumental in the establishment of Marsi Marsal, a school for Santal children in the village of Kajarkilo. Illiteracy provides an open invitation, said Fr Crotty, for crooked merchants to cheat the poor, and to do so ruthlessly. Construction of the school was completed three years ago under the guidance of Australian Jesuit Fr Hans Hendricks.
‘Initially it was a struggle to get the village people to understand how important it is to send their children to school. As Hans said when he started the primary school, “no one really wanted to attend. The children are needed at home as cowherds”’’, said Fr Crotty.
‘But with your help, the primary school was built, and it now includes a flourishing high school filled with Santal children who couldn’t read and write. They pray every day in thanksgiving for all of you.’
The Chairman of Jesuit Mission’s executive Committee, Darcy Hall, also praised volunteers and supporters for impressive fundraising results.
‘It builds a great sense of community to get together for a common cause that’s close to all of our hearts’, he said. ‘The results from the bazaar were excellent, especially in this post-GFC and pre-next GFC climate!’
September 14, 2011 Prayers result in another fine Indian Bazaar
It was the miracle that no-one had expected: a sunny, cloudless day that arrived after weeks of inclement weather, and just in time for the 60th annual Indian Bazaar, which was hosted by St Ignatius’ College, Riverview last weekend.
‘I thought the bazaar was magnificent’, said Fr Phil Crotty SJ, the Director of Jesuit Mission as he thanked God and the prayers of his predecessors Frs Tom O’Donovan and Gerry Drumm for the good weather that seems to grace the event each year.
Helping to celebrate the special milestone was the Provincial of Hazaribag in India, Fr Francis Kurien SJ. Visiting Australia for the first time, he was joined by Australian Jesuits Fr Geoff Meagher and Fr Tom Keogh, who both work in India. The bazaar was established 60 years ago to generate support for the mission in Hazaribag, which had been established by a group of Australian and New Zealand Jesuits.
‘We look forward to this date in Hazaribag – all the Jesuits are very aware of it, and we pray for its success’, said Fr Kurien.
‘And we are aware that we’re now supporting many of the missionaries where Jesuit Mission is involved: Cambodia, Myanmar, East Timor, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Africa and the Australian Indigenous mission.’
The proceeds from the Indian Bazaar – Jesuit Mission’s largest fundraising event – go to support its projects in these countries, and are generated through a range of stalls, auctions, raffles and even a talent competition. A wide range of devoted co-missionaries, - including so many parents and friends of a number of Jesuit and Ignatian schools - work hard throughout the year to contribute to the success of the event.
August 3, 2011 Urgent appeal for famine victims
Jesuit Mission and JRS Australia have pledged their support for a famine appeal launched by the Jesuit Province of East Africa and JRS East Africa. The Eastern Africa Province’s Famine Relief Project hopes to raise desperately needed funds to assist the victims of a famine that has been triggered by the worst drought in half a century in the Horn of Africa.
In an appeal letter the Provincial of East Africa, Fr Agbonkhianmeghe
E. Orobator SJ and the Director of JRS East Africa, Fr Frido Pflüger SJ, said that the famine is threatening the lives of more than 10 million people in a region already beset with displacement. They have labelled it a ‘humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportion.’
‘[It] has triggered a mass movement of people in the region, especially from Somalia to Kenya and Ethiopia. Years of conflict and sporadic droughts have displaced nearly two million Somalis and the figures are rising quickly. By 20 July this year, more than 120,000 Somalis had fled into Kenya and Ethiopia. This month as many as 3,000 have been arriving daily into the two countries.’
Fr Orobator and Fr Pflüger say that if action isn’t taken immediately, the famine will spread to the rest of southern Somalia.
'We realise that the scope of this crisis far outweighs our local human and financial resources, but inaction is not an option at this time. Our hope is that this [fundraising] initiative will make a small but meaningful difference in the race to save the lives of innocent victims of this humanitarian crisis.’
The Eastern Africa Province’s Famine Relief Project will provide relief materials for a targeted group of the most vulnerable persons in collaboration with religious congregations and dioceses in some of the worst hit areas of northern Kenya. Relief food items such as maize, beans, millet, sorghum, soya, cooking oil and nutrifit will be purchased and distributed to families in these areas through a network of parishes and schools.
Donations marked Famine Relief can be posted to Jesuit Mission, PO Box 193 North Sydney 2059, or can be made online here (please select 'Africa' from the drop-down box).
August 3, 2011 Volunteers thanked at feast day mass
The small band of volunteers that has powered the Jesuit enterprise in India for the past 60 years was thanked for their generosity during the annual St Ignatius Feast Day mass held at Jesuit Mission in Sydney earlier this week.
The Director of Jesuit Mission, Fr Phil Crotty SJ, said they were the embodiment of St Ignatius’ discernment of God’s spirit.
‘Ignatius said that if God is in our hearts and we listen to him, we can’t go wrong’, said Fr Crotty. ‘I’m sure that’s what has inspired this little community here. It has been the powerhouse of the Jesuits in India for 60 years, and it is now the powerhouse of the Jesuits in Cambodia, in Pakistan, in East Timor.’
One of the longest-serving volunteers with Jesuit Mission, Joan Benaud, reflected on more than four decades spent supporting the organisation, starting out as a young mother and finally ‘resigning’ three years ago when her eyesight started to fail.
‘You can’t imagine what it used to be like back then, in 1964’, she recalled. ‘Fr James Dynon was the mission director in those days. He asked me if I could come and do some typing for him once a week. After I started here I had a baby. I used to have him in his basket on the table. He’s 46 now.’
Times have changed: computers have replaced typewriters, and ladies no longer sew pyjamas to sell at the Indian Bazaar. But the spirit of commitment remains, not least among the youngest group of volunteers – students from Campion House at St Ignatius’ College, Riverview who come back each year to serve lunch and help clean up after the event.
‘They’ve been doing this for seven or eight years, and I still tell
them each year that they’re serving the people who serve this organisation, and it’s nice for them to be waited on for a change’, said James Rodgers, Riverview's Director of Students and tutor at Campion House. ‘And I tell them they’re not just here to serve food, but also to engage with people. It’s good to think of other people on a day like this.’
By Catherine Marshall
August 3, 2011 Remembering Fr Lius Ruiz SJ
Renowned Jesuit missionary Fr Luis Ruiz has died at the age of 97 in Macau. Fr Michael Kelly SJ remembers him as ‘one of the greats’, a man who was a giant not because of his words, but because of the size of his heart.
Another of the greats of the Church of Asia has gone to his rest:
Luis Ruiz SJ. He wasn't a great intellectual whose writings illuminated the minds of many like Karl Rahner; he wasn't a public figure whose interventions shaped the destiny of nations like Bishop Cisco Claver in the EDSA event in Manila in the 80s. He was a giant because of the size of his heart - it was as big as a horse.
Coming to Macau as a refugee from China himself, he brought solace, comfort, food and shelter to thousands escaping persecution when Mao finally put paid to the corrupt and failed rule of Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek.
An interesting point in his life came when he was sent from Spain to Cuba as a Jesuit student for the priesthood and as part of his normal Jesuit training. He was appointed to teach in the Jesuit College in Havana.
He loved Cuba and the students he taught. He had a special affection for one who was the leading student of his year - President of the Sodality of Our Lady, champion of the baseball team and chief student officer in the school's cadet corps: Fidel Castro. He found Fidel a most attractive young man and was proud of what he had achieved in ridding Cuba of the detested and irredeemably corrupt Battista regime.
He loved Cuba and was torn when asked to go to do his theological studies prior to ordination in Shanghai. But the genius of Luis was the way he reinvented himself as the carer for succeeding generations of those who were neglected and in need - the physically and intellectually disabled, those suffering from chronic diseases that also separated them from families and communities with Hansen's disease (leprosy) and in recent decades those with HIV Aids.
Macau, the size of a postage stamp (12 square miles) and asleep under the benign neglect of its Portuguese colonial rulers for 50 of Luis' 60 years living there, was a hive of creativity and a base for extensive outreach to those in need far distant from its borders. Mao's China was full of propaganda. Unique in human history, China was created by its spin doctors as the first civilisation to have no gambling, no prostitution and to have eliminated many of the diseases that have plagued humanity since before history was recorded.
Prime among these was Hansen's disease (leprosy). With the wave of a magic wand, the Great Helmsman of the People (aka Mao) had swept away that particular pestilence. Not so, of course. But, against all odds, it was Luis Ruiz's extraordinary blend of dogged perseverance, utter sincerity and boundless compassion that managed to have comfort and care brought to those suffering the disease in remote and secluded parts of southern China. In the face of official denial, the fear the Chinese authorities had of losing face if the reality were exposed and his being a Catholic priest in very Communist China, Luis broke down all barriers to addressing the needs of the ill.
But an equally great challenge awaited him in the 80s and 90s – HIV/AIDS. The disease was officially non-existent in oh-so-pure China and therefore not to be acknowledged and treated. Not so for Luis. His work encompassed many hundreds of centres across the length and breadth of China.
It was St Francis of Assisi who is alleged to have said, ‘Preach the Good News always. Use words if necessary’. Luis was what that meant - he heard the Word of God and did it.
June 27, 2011 Timor president praises missionaries
Timore Leste president Jose Ramos Horta has praised the work of many Catholic missionaries who lived and worked with the local population before independence from Indonesia.
In a speech to mark the National Day, Horta recalled an Italian Salesian priest, some Canossian nuns, three Portuguese Jesuit missionaries in addition to another German Jesuit, who was assassinated in 1999, Fides reports citing Province Express. Parliament has proposed to give citizenship to a group of these missionaries, delivering the first Timorese passport on the 90th birthday of Father João Felgueiras.
The three Portuguese missionaries, Father João Felgueiras, Father Jose Martins and Brother Daniel de Ornelas (deceased), arrived in the country in the early 1970s and remained there for over 24 years during the Indonesian invasion of the island.
Thanking the Prime Minister for granting citizenship, Father Felgueiras stressed the need to “encourage other religious men and women religious to leave for Timor, to evangelize a growing number of children, so they themselves can take on the role of leaders in faith in this far corner of the world”.
The Jesuits have long been involved with the people of East Timor, both before and after the independence of the country, particularly through education at San Jose High School in Dili, entrusted to them in 1993 and will return to the diocese at the end 2011. The commitment of the religious in the sector will continue with a new project already in the starting phase in the west of Dili.
The Jesuits are also present in the parish of Railaco and a community center in Suai, and are also responsible for the pastoral and health care and education of children in the village. Many young people of East Timor have entered the novitiate and are currently studying in the country to continue the mission of the Society of Jesus.
SOURCE The missionaries working in the country have been recognized as “heroes” by Parliament (Fides)
