SJ Fr Provincial lays out challenges
for mission areas, AdZU included
Developing
the Jesuits and their lay partners for the ministry and for leadership roles
was one of the challenges ahead identified by Jesuit Father Provincial Jun
Viray, SJ, in a meeting with heads of offices of the Ateneo de Zamboanga
University this afternoon at the Multi-Purpose Hall of the Faustino Saavedra
Building.
The
meeting, which forms part of the Provincial’s annual visit to the Jesuit
communities and their mission areas in the country,
gives the Provincial a glimpse of the state of their apostolates such as AdZU
under the leadership of Father President Karel San Juan, SJ, together with the
Jesuit community in Zamboanga, with VP for Higher Education Fr Louis Catalan,
SJ, as its Superior.
The
valuable presence of Jesuits in the University particularly in the work of
Formation was among the issues brought to fore at the meeting. Fr Provincial
responded with the promise of sending to AdZU its “corresponding share of
Jesuits,” but at the same time reported the dwindling population of the Society,
with majority of its members in their 70s and 80s.
He
then shared the plan among the five Ateneos in the country, to establish the
Ateneo Leadership Institute for the formal training of lay partners in the
mission on the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the
Jesuits, and to develop in them a deep understanding of the charism of the
Society.
He
also reported that a document is currently being drafted to examine Jesuit
education for the next decade. It seeks to answer questions such as what kind
of school system is best suited for a Jesuit educational institution such as
AdZU, among others. He added that with the recent publication of the Universal
Apostolic Preferences by the Superior General Fr Arturo Sosa, SJ, all apostolic
works of the Society have to align to the UAPs.
