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