The many different nations, universities, colleges, and schools which you represent are a concrete manifestation of the universality of your commitment. The common bond that you share - namely, your formation in a Jesuit school according to the spirit of Ignatius - provides the unity within your diversity. Your unity respects both freedom of conscience and the amazing spectrum of gifts the Lord has given to each of you. Thus, among you are people from every walk of life, every profession. Among you, too, we discover the ríchness and variety of ways in which you relate to God. With you, I pray that these days together may be a time for increased mutual understanding, a time of unity and hope, as well as a time to plan strategically at the dawn of a new millennium.
STRATEGIC CONGRESS
This Congress has been described as "strategic." A strategy is a careful plan, employing one’s experience and resources, to achieve a goal. What is that goal? As former students you join together for a variety of reasons - to recall the experiences and ideals of your youth, to share in professional development, to assist your school and its students through financial aid and personal service in order that new generations might have opportunities to grow with a worldview and excellent formation for all aspects of life as you did. These are admirable reasons for an Alumni Association for any school or college. But as Jesuit alumni and alumnae you are called to a goal beyond this.
The pursuit of each student’s intellectual development to the full measure of one’s God-given talents rightly remains a central goal of Jesuit education. Its aim has never been simply to amass a store of information or to prepare for a job, though these are important in themselves and useful to emerging leaders. The ultimate aim of Jesuit education is, rather, that full growth of the person which leads to action, especially action which is suffused with the spirit and presence of Jesus Christ. The goal of action, based on sound understanding and enlivened by contemplation, urges students to self-discipline and initiative, to integrity and accuracy. At the same time, it judges as slip-shod or superficial ways of thinking unworthy of the individual and, more important, dangerous to the world he or she is called to serve.
Fr. Arrupe, my predecessor, formulated that goal as becoming "men and women for others’ - highlighting the Ignatian ideal of service. In developing this goal he pointed to the need for all former students to humanize the world. Since Fr. Arrupe’s death his formulation has become more urgent in light of the unspeakable inhumanity we have witnessed in Rwanda and Burundi, in Bosnia and Bangladesh. to mention only a few examples. But more subtle and therefore more treacherous to the human quality of life are ingrained prejudices based on status or caste or race. And in very recent years the dominance of economic systems purporting offer hope mad only a bandful more prosperous while making even under the well-know gap between the rich and the poor.
Somehow we must break through the cycles of injustice to enable human persons to enjoy their birthright as children of God. You are gifted people. God has blessed many of us with life and love and family and friends - with a good education and profession - with talents which enable you to appreciate creation in all its splendor and possibilities.
In Sacred Scripture all gifts, talents. wealth move in a circle. First there is the openness to see that the gift is from God. Then the gift is received and appropriated. Next, one grows through the gift by sharing it with others. Finally, the gift is returned to God through praise and thanksgiving. But at the moment when sharing should take place, there can enter the great temptation to hold on to the gift and to turn it into a means of accruing personal power. And thus the desire to seek more and more power through wealth becomes insatiable. Thus the seeds of injustice are sown.
As alumni and alumnae of Jesuit schools, colleges, and universities, you are called by the Society of Jesus to be men and women who reflect upon the reality of the world around you with all its ambiguities, opportunities, and challenges in order to discern what is really happening in your lives and the lives of others, to find God there and to discover where he is calling you, to employ criteria for significant choices that reflect Godly values rather than narrow, exclusive self-interest, to decide in light of what is truly for the greater glory of God and the service of those in need, and then to act accordingly.
VALUES
You are called to make these choices from among competing values. A value literally means something which has a price, something dear, precious, or worthwhile and hence something that one is ready to suffer or sacrifice for. A value gives one a reason to live and, if need be, a reason to die. Values, then, bring to life the dimension of meaning.
The key problems that face men and women today on the brink of the twenty-fírst century are not simple.
What single profession can legitimately pretend to offer comprehensive solutions to real problems like those concerning genetic research, corporate takeovers, definitions concerning human life—its start and its end—homelessness and city planning, poverty, illiteracy, developments in medical and military technology, human rights, the environment, and artificial intelligence? Solving the problems which these disciplines raise requires empirical data and technological know-how. But the areas also cry out for consideration in terms of their impact on men and women from a holistic point of view. So they demand spiritual perspectives as well, if the soluctions are not to remain sterile.
For Ignatius the test of effective Iove is to be found in deeds, not words. Real love involves self-sacrifice. Thus what we do becomes the litmus test of our verbal assertions of love. Ignatius frames questions of love concretely: "What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ?, What should I do for Christ?
JESUIT ALUMNI RESPONSE
At the conclusion of the 4th Congress of the World Union of Jesuit Alumni at Loyola-Bilbao in 1991, the summary resolution passed called for Concrete action in response to this Ignatian challenge. It reads:
Ongoing formation involving Ignatian discernment of the signs of the times and concrete service of others are essential to our lives and our work together. In order to move ahead in this area:
SPECIFIC AREAS OF CONCERN
In practical terms, the Jesuit vision calls for a commitment to work for peace where vested interests are fomenting unrest in order to sell armaments. The Jesuit vision calls for a commitment to honesty in situations where corruption flourishes. to preservation of the environment where opposing forces stand for ever greater consumerism, to respect for peoples of different beliefs where radical forces are for suppressing minority opinions and rights. The Jesuit vision calls for a commitment to the preservation of indigenous peoples against cultural forces that consider themselves superior, to equal treatment for both sexes in a world where women are often given second-class treatment and are even destroyed before birth. The Jesuit vision calls for a commitment to an equal standard of education for all in situations where the majority are given poor education or no education at all, to the family in an atmosphere where more and more families are breaking up, to a just economic policy that benefits all sections of society and not only certain better off sectors. to mass media that portray values of honesty, compassion, and understanding rather than values of consumerism, hedonism and based judgments.
But the task of working for a more just world obviously calls also for the commitment of every man and woman of good will. Naturally, we Jesuits are looking to our alumni and alumnae, already introduced to the Ignatian vision at school or college, to join in this commitment to help create a more just world. We expect that our own alumni and alumnae, as individuals and responsible citizens of their nations, will take the lead in this challenging and difficult task of bringing justice and true freedom to every citizen.
Of course, the task is immense. But a former student of a Jesuit college or school is not alone. At present about two million students are studying in Jesuit educacional institutions in sixty-six countries around the world. Alone, a dedicated individual can do much, and we are grateful that we have numerous examples where one person’s actions have influenced thousands of others. The expectation surely is that in your work, in your family. in your neighbourhood, you will take the lead. But while I hope that this Congress will give you new enthusiasm as individuals, I also feel confident that the Congress will be a means of giving added life to Alumni Associations to work concertedly; possibly as independent organizations, but also as part of national federations for the cause of a more just society.
Among the strategies you will consider at this Congress, in light of new technologies for instant communication and increasing awareness of our relationships within the human family, would it be worthwhile to take up the possibility of twinning your associations or federations as a policy of the World Union? Further, is it worthwhile now to make your voice heard as the World Union of Jesuit alumni in the halls of internacional policy-making groups as well as internacional service agencies by becoming organized as a "non-governmental organization" of the United Nations?
PARTNERSHIP: SOCIETY OF JESUS - ALUMNI/AE
At the recent General Congregation of the Society of Jesus, a commitment was made to effective cooperation with our lay colleges. In this landmark decree of the Society of Jesus, there is an explicit commitment simultaneously to respect the roles of lay people in directing this organization and a commitment and responsibility of Jesuits to accompany you in a supportive role.
Specifically, we have seen impressive examples of growth and cooperation in some parts of the world since the last Congress of the World Union, where alumni and alumnae together with Jesuit Provincials and/or their delegates have worked to set up plans for ongoing formation of alumni and alumnae and needed service to the poor and refugees. If invited, the Society of Jesus can help in a variety of ways—identifying and facilitating contacts with lay people and Jesuits who are experts in evolving matters of interest to alumni and alumnae in order that they may be informed of developments in significant fields of rapid change in today’s world. But, in addition to ongoing educacional opportunities, the Society may be of assistance to you in helping to identify specific areas of need. both locally and internationally, which may become a focus of twinning or project cooperation in service to our neediest sisters and brothers.
These are but a few examples of how we can work together more effectively. The possibilities are limited only by our imagination and courage. Be assured that we Jesuits are committed to accompany you in your ongoing growth and your service to others.
CONCLUSION
My colleagues. my friends. we have one God and a whole world of neighbours. Let us be imaginative and courageous in going about our Father’s business together. striving, even with much sacrifice, to promote justice of every kind, especially on behalf of the unnumbered poor around you and across this beautiful, tragic world. Let us strive to promote that justice in love which is, at one and the same time, the dream of God for us and our own clear responsibility.
BRAZIL
The Brazilian Federation is actively working in the preparation of the XI Latinamerican Congress to be held in Salvador Bahia from 3 to 6 September of this year. Under the slogan of "The challenge to serve in the new millenium", the Congress will request every country to present its experiences and the programs outlined for the new millenium and the objectives or targets they will pursue to help the most needed in their regions. The associations will be requested to present facts of their work and not only ideas.
The second part of the Congress will be devoted to group work to explore different areas of possible work such as education, health, politics, art and culture, apostolic work, citicenship and ethics, social promotion and help to the alumni. At the end of the group work, it is expected that there will be goals and strategies defined for the future work.
For more information on the Congress, please contact MrPedro Reis Lima Netto, Secretary of ASIA Brazil at :
Av.Tancredo Neves,1485, Ed.Esplanada Trade Center,SI.1305,Iguatemi
41820-021,Salvador,Bahia - Brazil
Tel/Fax 071-3414 544
INDIA
The second National Jesuit Alumni Congress in India was held on 22-24 January 1999 in Calcutta, under the organization of Associations of St.Xavier’s college, St.Xavier’s Collegiate School and St.Lawrence High School. The central organization committe was headed by Fr.A.Bruylants, S.J. The committe outlined a programme for the congress.. At this Congress the constitution of the Indian Federation was ratified and they finalized concrete strategies for implementation at local and international level
It is important to note that the congress kept in mind concrete issues of justice and growth towards more global development and welfare of the larger mass in India, and developed a forum to help redress concrete issues of injustices in public life, at local and national levels.
USA
The US has been active in an attemp to create a national alumni organization, under the name of U.S.Congress of Jesuit Alumni (USCJA).
It is expected that most of the secondary schools and universities participate in the movement. This is an important trial since there is not a national movement in the US and usually, the alumni are very close to their alma mater but not to this type of organizations.
Good luck to them. We hope to see an strong US movement at our next World Congress in Calcutta on the year 2003.
AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jesuit Alumni Association (AJAA) has been very active after the World Congress held in Sydney. Last year they held a Fathers and Sons Retreat, a Men at Mid-life Retreat, a Dinner-Speaker evening and a Leadership group mass and Christmas gathering.(The Leadership group is made up of 25-35 year old men and women that have completed one of the leadership courses over the last 5 years).
Another development coming out of the World Congress, is that they have set up a liaison with the "Asylum Seekers Center"in Sydney and they are appealing to their members to assist in various capacities. The center provides support and assistance to onshore refugee applicants while they wait for the government to assess their case. The Asylum is an special project of Uniya-Jesuit Social Justice Centre and is a good example on how the Jesuit Alumni organizations could engage together with the Society of Jesus in joint projects for the needed.
COLOMBIA
The Colombian Alumni/ae Associations have been working very hard towards the consolidation of the Colombian Federation.
During this period the Alumni/ae Association of Colegio San José in Barranquilla became active and is working to regroup all the Jesuits Alumni/ae in the north coast of Colombia.
If you would like to keep receiving the ETC bulletin, please fill out this form and mail or fax it back to:
Fabio Tobón
Cra. 37 52 - 95
Santafé de Bogotá D.C., - Colombia
Fax: (571) 222 14 35
E-mail: info@jesuitalumni.org
Name:_______________________________________________________________________________
Institution:___________________________________________________________________________
Address:_____________________________________________________________________________
Phone:_______________________________________________________________________________
Fax:_________________________________________________________________________________
E-Mail:______________________________________________________________________________
Comments on ETC:_____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
How many people read your ETC:________________________________________________________
When you read this ETC, please pass it along to your friends, reproduce it, inform your community, college, university of the World Union events. It is important that as many Alumni as possible receive the news. We also would appreciate your comments and contributions !!!!