VISION MISSION OBJECTIVES
FROM FR. VINCENT J. DUMINUCO, S.I.
It is with joy and hope for the future that I have accepted Fr. General's reassignment as his Delegate to your World Union. Your organization has grown over the years through reflection on your experiences and decisions. Your structural and substantive decisions at the Sydney Congress can enable you to move ahead with greater effectiveness in cooperation across borders in pursuit of your goals that will help you and your sisters and brothers in need.
I have been impressed by the energy and effort that your new President has devoted to the World Union. This is the third issue of ETC that he has published in a new and attractive format. He has met with Fr. General to clarity goals and procedures for cooperative work with the Society of Jesus. He has been in contact with members of the Council of the World Union to facilitate sharing of information and plans. He is already in contact with the International Association of Jesuit Business Schools to bring the fruits of their research to the attention of your membership. And he has traveled to South Asia, Europe and parts of Latin American in order to be in personal contact with our alumni/ae, learning of their efforts first hand and suggesting possible ways to enhance their programs.
But no one person can do it all. The strength of the World Union consists in cooperation at the local, national and international levels. Many have already begun programs to help our alumni/ae through seminars or workshops on family, professional ethics, spiritual retreats, media, technology, etc. These have gone quite well, often with the participation of knowledgeable professors or experienced professionals from Jesuit universities, colleges, schools, social centers, media centers and the like. Motivated by the Sydney Congress resolution, we see that some national federations are establishing twinning relationships. Local and international efforts for the poor grow. Truly there is much to encourage us here. It would not be faithful to the whole picture, however, if I didn't note that some have yet to begin.
Perhaps Jesuit Alumni Counselors can be of help in offering information about people who can be available for programs of ongoing formation or about areas of the world where twinning relationships might be most helpful. Please don't hesitate to ask your Jesuit Counselor for help in these matters.
I pray often for all of you, that God will give you wisdom to know those things that will truly help you to grow in and through cooperation and service of others, and courage to incarnate your hopes and plans in effective ways.
All God's Blessings!
Several years ago, I conducted a research project that involved interviews with 150 American men and women, ages 40 to 55, who had lost their white-collar managerial jobs and were in an involuntary state of career transition. They were out of work and on the street, victims of what business writers came to call "downsizing." The American economy was at that time, according to the London Economist, in a condition of "corporate anorexia."
I wanted to learn from these displaced managers how they coped with what for most was a personal, family, and career crisis. I wanted to discover what sustained them as they traveled the uncertain road to re-employment. I especially wanted to identify the principles that drove them and their job-search strategies. This research project put me in touch with several very interesting Jesuit alumni. One of them told me that in an effort to boost his spirits in this very dark period of his life, he found himself falling back on lessons learned in humanities courses three decades earlier at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
During his search for work, said this financial services executive, "l kept coming back to my college English courses and a line from G. K. Chesterton’s ‘The Ballad of the White Horse. He remembered that line as: "They harden their hearths with hope." The line, as Chesterton wrote it, reads: "And Alfred, hiding in deep grass,/ Hardened his heart with hope." The man I interviewed explained that he understood these words to mean, "Don’t tell me it’s not going to work. I can do it."
Elsewhere, in his famous 1905 book Heretics, Chesterton wrote: "Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all.... Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances which we know to be desperate."
As men and women who bear the stamp of a Jesuit education, what values might you be expected to carry with you into the 21st century? Would hope and humor be among them as they were and continue to be for the Marquette alumnus just described?
Permit me to tell you the story of another Marquette alumnus whom I interviewed in the course of my study:
This 51 -year-old man was president and chief operating officer of a small graphics company located in the suburbs of Chicago. He reported directly to a working chairman. Just before he was ready to leave home for work one morning, his wife passed along some bad news she had received the day before: She had breast cancer. Her husband was stunned, saddened, and understandably upset. He wanted to stay with his wife that day, but it was simply impossible. An important meeting was scheduled with people coming in from out of town; he absolutely had to attend.
When he arrived at work, his chairman saw that something was wrong. "John," he said, "you look upset. What’s the problem?"
"l just got some bad news," John replied. "Pat has breast cancer."
"Well, John," the chairman responded, "maybe you ought to get all your bad news on the same day. I’m afraid I’ve got to let you go."
John was reeling-for the second time within only a few hours. Although he had received a handsome raise just weeks before, he decided not to fight the dismissal. He later told me that he realized he had been trapped for some time in a dysfunctional situation. Best to break away promptly, he thought, and get home to take care of his wife. As if he needed further proof that he was working for the wrong organization, John soon discovered that his contractually assured 12-month severance period had been unilaterally cut to six, and the 100-per-cent of compensation that was to continue for a year in the event of involuntary separation, had been unilaterally cut in half.
These anecdotes from the lives of Jesuit alumni prompt me to put our keynote question another way: What might the great educational tradition that helped shape your minds and hearts during your student years expect of you now by way of contribution - through your minds and hearts, and your very lives - to the culture of the next millennium, to your family culture, your business culture, your national or professional culture? What will you bring to any sphere of influence that might be yours?
What is distinct about the shared meanings and values that are yours as Jesuit alumni and alumnae? Perhaps you have not in the past given that question much thought. Perhaps you would not come to immediate agreement now on a precise answer to that question. Perhaps you would find it difficult or impossible, even after careful reflection and with the best of intentions, to come to any agreement on this point. Meanings of great significance to some may be of little importance to others. Values firmly held by some of you may be disvalues in the eyes of others.
In August, 1992, a discussion paper drafted by a group of faculty and administrators at Georgetown, the oldest (1 789) Jesuit university in the United States, was presented to the campus community as a baseline document for the development of a strategic plan for the entire University. This document reaffirmed "the Jesuit conception of education as pursuit of knowledge in service of the world." lt spelled this notion out in the following words that I find compelling and offer now as a point of departure for this keynote address:
Georgetown seeks to be a place where understanding is joined to commitment; where the search for truth is informed by a sense of responsibility for the life of society; where academic excellence in teaching and research is joined with the cultivation of virtue; and where a community is formed which sustains men and women in their education and their conviction that life is only lived well when it is lived generously in the service of others.
Notice the four themes:
The conviction that life is lived well only when it is lived generously in the service of others.
Reduce these four themes to fours words: Commitment, Responsibility, Virtue, and Service; There you have four keystones that might serve well as building blocks for this keynote address.
There will be hesitancies and contingencies, I suspect, surrounding any effort to identify a set of meanings and values universally shared by Jesuit alumni worldwide. But this is not to say the effort should not be made.
Where, then, can we begin?
"To help souls" is the expression found most frequently in the writings of Ignatius when he wanted to describe the purpose of the "company" he established - the movement known now worldwide as the Society of Jesus, the Jesuit order. "Helping others" is the way contemporary Jesuits would want to explain whatever it is they are doing in a variety of ministries in all corners of the world, and doing it all "for the greater glory of God."
The most remembered words of Pedro Arrupe will, I believe, prove to be those he spoke to the Tenth International Congress of Jesuit Alumni of Europe in Valencia, Spain, on July 31, 1 973. After noting that "education for justice has become in recent years one of the chief concerns of the Church," he said: "Today our prime educational objective must be to form men for-others; men who will live not for themselves but for God and his Christ-for the God-man who lived and died for all the world; men who cannot even conceive of love of God which does not include love for the least of their neighbors; men completely convinced that love of God which does not issue in justice for men is a farce."
Both themes-helping others, and becoming men-and-women-for-others-are today not simply descriptive, but definitive of Jesuit life and work. They are intended to be a formative influence in the minds and hearts of those who are touched by Jesuits, Jesuit ministries, and Jesuit institutions. And all three - Jesuits, Jesuit ministries, and Jesuit institutions - are expected today to be faithful extensions of their Jesuit heritage by focusing on service and working for justice.
The question before us today is whether or not all Jesuit alumni are ready to permit themselves, as men and women who bear the stamp of a Jesuit education, to be described as truly concerned with "helping others" and defined as men and women for others. lf not all, most? If not most, then what might be done to plant this heritage in the minds and hearts of those who remain untouched by these themes?
Let me state the obvious. Not all Jesuit alumni are Catholic; not all are Christian. There are Jews, Hindus, Muslims, and Buddhists on our alumni rolls, as well as men and women of relatively unknown faiths or of no faith at all. They have, however, at least two things in common: possession of the same human nature, and the experience of a Jesuit education intended to nurture and release their unique human potential.
As I indicated earlier, the explicit expectation of Jesuit education today is to nurture in its students a commitment to be men and women for others. This is a value commitment, a commitment to work for justice and peace, a commitment (for those who profess the Christian faith) to the service of faith through the pursuit of justice. And implied in all of this is a requirement on the part of each to respect the faith commitments of all.
Reflect with me now on commitment, responsibility, virtue, and service. And ask, as you reflect, whether and why Jesuit education is truly the "pursuit of knowledge in service of the world."
First, commitment. Although we normally think immediately of commitments to a person or cause, it is wise to pause to think of what, if anything, we have to commit. What we have to commit, of course, is the self - your self, you have a self, your own self, to commit. The person with no real self to commit is a person of no character, a person of no depth. Jesuit education focuses on the care of the person and the cultivation of one’s personal human potential. Jesuit alumni are persons who are taking a voyage of self discovery. They have a place to stand. They have a sense of place in the human community and the world of ideas. They hold common ground from which they can exercise "their conviction that life is only lived well when it is lived generously in the service of others."
So think today about commitment and the self you have to commit.
Responsibility is our second keystone; recall that it is responsibility "for the life of society" that the Georgetown statement emphasized. Those who have a place to stand, who, as Robert Bolt wrote of Thomas More, know where they begin and where they leave off, have a responsibility to help society by doing what they can to halt the drift, to offer direction and guidance through the participation of their committed selves in the flow of history.
"Some are guilty; all are responsible" was the wise remark of Rabbi Abraham Joseph
God, in the Jesuit view, is to be found and served in the work of building not a Tower of Babel, but a New Jerusalem, a better society. And this construction project is undertaken by exercising responsibility for the life of society.
Third, virtue. The word means strength. Who among us is strong enough to meet the challenges of life unassisted? And what assistance can substitute for the help of God?
Jesuit education is education of the heart, cultivation of the will, development of the mind; it is a celebration of the person -body and soul, mind and heart- striving for excellence.
The virtues are essential ingredients of a Jesuit education. Faith, hope, and love are called theological virtues because their ultimate object is God. All three of these virtues are part of a Jesuit education, which, as every scribbling schoolboy jotting "A.M.D.G." on the top of an assignment sheet knows, is provided ad maiorem Dei gloriam, for the greater glory of God. Nor will any Jesuit alumnus fail to recognize traces of the so-called cardinal virtues in his or her educational experience: prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude were laced through the lessons, highlighted in the literature, and embodied in the lives and good example of the teachers, the dedicated providers of Jesuit education.
Keenan’s "virtue ethics" would leave it to each culture to "fill each virtue with its specific material content and apply it practically" to local conditions. Accordingly, Jesuit alumni would be men and women of virtue even though culturally diverse. Their virtues would, in Keenan’s words, be "about right actions coming from rightly ordered and virtuous persons."
Our fourth keystone is service, which for Jesuit alumni might be thought of as both action-turning talent inside out-, and attitude-facing outwards. Recall that we are considering "the Jesuit conception of education as pursuit of knowledge in service of the world." Once that knowledge is acquired, the pursuit turns to service, to searching out and meeting human need.
An old African proverb advises, "God gives nothing to those who keep their arms crossed." So open up your arms to others; reach out to others with a helping hand. Jesuit alumni who are educated to become mean and women for others are men and women of open arms.
Your Jesuit education has prepared you to raise your head above the short-term chaos to notice that there are connections waiting to be made. You can make them. Helping others is the way to make those connections real. Never forget that "helping others" along with becoming " men and women for others" are the characteristics that define the common ground on which Jesuit alumni worldwide are proud to stand.
Quite recently, I had lunch with a Jesuit alumnus who is a well known and influential journalist in Washington. I asked him what he values from the eight years of Jesuit education that ended for him about 35 years ago. He replied by remarking that he had noticed over the years the he had something that graduates of other very good schools did not possess. "You taught us to take a set of facts, connect those facts, and draw right conclusions," he said. "You taught us how to think, how to reason through the facts." That response would match up with the post- graduation experience of many Jesuit alumni.
Forging connections and using reason would figure often in alumni responses to the question of what they gained from their Jesuit education. In the replies of younger alumni, phrases like commitment, responsibility for the life of society, the cultivation of virtue (especially justice), and the conviction that life is lived well only when it is lived generously in the service of others -phrases like these- are now occurring with more frequency and are likely to be heard more often as the great tradition of Jesuit education that brings us together here in Sydney moves forward into the unknown future.
These, in my view, are a few of the values that, in the expectant theme of the World Congress, Jesuit alumni/ae will bring with them into the 21st century. In doing so, they will extend the influence of both Ignatius of Loyola and Pedro Arrupe. Whatever they do to preserve and expand the Jesuit heritage will indeed be done, as are all things authentically Jesuit, for the greater glory of God.
(*)Professor of Management and Rector of the Jesuit Community - Georgetown University - Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
As a result of a joint work between the President, Fr.Duminuco and the Council members of our World Union, the following Mission, Vision, Values and Objectives for the W.U. were developed.
We expect that this set of values will help the different Alumni/ae Federations and Associations to develop their own. There is still a chance for comments, and /or amendments. Please don’t hesitate to send your comments.
By the year 2 003, the World Union movement will be consolidated in every country and continent under the terms of Ignatian inspiration and will group most of the Alumni/ae worldwide. The W.U.J.A. will become an effective extension of the lay work of the Society of Jesus and will work towards a shared vision of common concern.
The World Union works among Jesuit Alumni/ae worldwide to promote the ideals and philosophy of the Society of Jesus, namely to advocate the development of men and women for and with others. In doing so, each association should work to support the marginalized in the societies in which they live and to promote ongoing growth in awareness of issues, opportunities and challenges through their experience of study, seminars and service and through relationships with other Jesuit Alumni Organizations around the world.
The World Union should regard its work as an ongoing education activity of the Society of Jesus and shall seek the participation of the alumni/ae in programs that develop ethical and professional values among them, giving them a chance to growth through service to others.
The main objectives of the World Union are:
VALUES
The World Union must work to find a common vehicle of expression by people of all faiths and religions. We have to be committed for a better world by changing the present structure where a large section of the world’s population lives below the poverty line.
The WUJA adopts : Accountability, Morality, Decisiveness and Generosity (AMDG) as the essential values of the Jesuit alumni/ae. By honoring this values of life and through our commitment to serve the society, we have to give leadership and work as a catalytic agent for economic and social changes.
This values should be promoted as:
Australia
The Australian Jesuit Alumni Association (AJAA) has had a busy year to date. The National Committee met in March in Sydney to discuss the year ahead. We welcomed Mr. Jack Bowen as our new Victorian Representative for Victoria and are looking forward to a Leadership course he has organized for young adults in August, entitled "Leadership and Responsibility". New South Wales will also run a Leadership Course in September. Early each year we hold a Leadership Retreat Weekend at the Jesuit Villa House in Gerroa, south of Sydney. This year we held another successful weekend with wonderful young adults who have all previously completed a Leadership course. We try to maintain ongoing contact and information.
The annual Women’s Day of Recollection was held in May at the Jesuit retreat House, Canisius College. This is a quiet day of reflection away from the daily routine in the home and workplace, giving time to call God into their lives closely while they pray for their families, their gifts and their faith. A weekend Retreat for Men was held also in May at Canisius College, entitled "Men at Mid-life", giving men time to stop and with God’s help, take stock and asses their lives and this time of mid-life.
A dinner-Speaker evening was held in May with a wonderful speech from The Honourable A. M. Gleeson AC, Chief Justice of New South Wales, who has since been appointed at the Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia. We were very privileged to be addressed by this leading Australian, giving us the benefit of his learned views.
We continue Formation Work for our Members, with more to follow in the second half of this year. The National Committee will meet again in July for their own Day of Formation, a Business meeting and Mass. It is a valuable day for each committee member, their faith, their commitment and the AJAA.
Robyn Treseder - Council Member - Oceania
Madagascar
Father Raymond Rambatoson S.J. has been appointed as Bishop for the southern part of Madagascar replacing Fr. Rabeony, who was the bishop there since 1989. Fr. Rambatoson is also the delegate of the Jesuit Alumni/ae movement in Madagascar. He is also the director of the technical school in Saint Michel College and a member of the directorate of the college, where there are 4 Jesuits and 4 alumni/ae.
The Alumni/ae association is reviewing what they did last year and they are discerning what their objectives are and how they should cope with the objectives of the World Union. Congratulations.
India
Dear Fabio, the three Alumni/ae associations of Calcutta, India, have formed a joint committee (COJAC) to plan far in advance our next World Congress in 2 003. The associations are St. Xaviers College (Cal) Alumni Association (SXCAA), St. Lawrence Old Boys Association (SLOBA) and Alumnorum Societas (ALSOC) St.. Xavier´s School Calcutta Old Boys’ Association. Father A. Bruylants, is the President of COJAC which is working hard for the success of our Congress.
On April 4, the President of the World Union met with Cojac to review the working plans for the next Congress. Mr. Tobón expressed satisfaction and insisted on working together for the next Indian Nationals and for the World Congress and assured his fullest support and cooperation.
A great news from India is that a group of 15 boys and 2 teachers of St. Xaviers' School, Calcutta visited Belvedere College, Dublin, Ireland on a Student Exchange Programme for the boys to see the culture of the West They were hosted by the students' families. The Belvedere College Union also played its part in partly financing the programme. On their way back, the group stopped at London and were hosted by the European Chapter of Alumnorum Societas (ALSOC), known as X-ACE. The trip ended with a gala dinner with the members of X-ACE.
I feel, you will agree with me, Fabio, that this is worth quoting at the next issue of ETC, as it is certainly an example of "twinning" of two alumni associations, viz. Belvedere College Union and Alumnorum Societas.
Kalyan Chowdhury - Council member South East Asia
USA
Following is a report of the action taken by the U.S.
An appeal has been issued to all alumni associations of the secondary schools to pay the $100 dues assessment from the World Union. Regis High School will act as the collection point for the money until we learn the address to which the dues payments should be directly made. John Riley and I have also appealed to these groups for a contribution of $100 each to help us provide funds to develop the United States Congress of Jesuit Alumni. Similar efforts will be made with the universities.
We plan to attend a meeting of the alumni officers of the Jesuit Secondary Association Schools in January, 1999 to present our case and seek additional involvement to help plan a national meeting of U.S. Jesuit Alumni in 2001. If our plans proceed as expected, we shall invite other North American alumni to join us.
Ron Ferreri - Council member North America
Latin America
The preparation of the XI Latin-American Alumni/ae Congress to be held in Salvador Bahia from 3 to 6 of September, is well under preparation. The Brazilian Federation expects this Congress to be an important one for our Federations and Associations in our Latin Countries. Under the slogan "The challenge to serve in the new millennium", it is expected that more than 450 delegates from all over Latin America will attend. There are some countries still not reported. Mr. Pedro Reis Lima Neto, President of the Brazilian Federation and member of the Council of the World Union invites everyone to joint the Congress. For more information please contact Pedro at : asiabr@ ongba.org.br or fax: 071-3414 544.
On Saturday July 11, the President of the World Union met in Cali, Colombia, with Father General, Peter Hans Kolvenbach, and all the Provincials from Latin America.
It was very satisfying to see that they gave us half an hour to talk about the World Union, in despite of their busy schedule. The talk with the Provincials was open and the President requested all of them to appoint their delegates in each country to work together with the alumni/ae. They also requested us, the alumni/ae, to take the lead and to demand from them, their cooperation. Finally they promised to try to attend our XI Latin Congress in Bahia.
The Argentinean Jesuit Alumni/ae Federation met in San Miguel (Buenos Aires province) on June 26 - 28, 1998. The main purpose of the meeting was to get together all the Associations in Argentina to consolidate the federation in that country. According to Mr. José María Candiotti, President of the Federation, and member of our World Council, the meeting was a complete success. They worked out programs to better serve the needed in their country, following the resolutions approved in the World Congress in Sydney.
In Colombia the Associations from the Jesuit Schools and Universities met in Medellín, July of 1998, to sign the creation of the Colombian Federation of Jesuit Alumni/ae. It was two and a half days in which they also worked out different programs to help the refugees and needed in the country.
We have received several letters of encouragement since our last message published in ETC in April 1998. We would like to thank our friends, benefactors and those who have sent donations in the first months of 1998.
We feel encouraged to continue our efforts. No great leap of imagination is needed to decide what we need to do. In June we received the Servir magazine from the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) with an appeal for help for refugees and displaced persons and an alarming item entitled "1998: The Public Is Losing Interest in Refugees" (waning interest, drop in government aid, budget cuts in key services such as education, social services, legal assistance, border closings, etc.). It is therefore becoming increasingly urgent for the JRS to act.
The JRS has asked all those who have helped it in the past (including the Foundation itself) to remember the world's refugees in their prayers. The JRS would like us all to put our time, our heart and our ability at their service, to carry on helping it so that it can "continue to attend to the refugees, serve them and defend their rights (...) Your help will enable us to respond quickly to any new needs that arise, to go where others cannot or will not go, and to provide assistance as quickly as possible. The JRS is capable of identifying the needs in the field, and to cater to them quickly and efficiently. With your help, and the help of Catholic agencies such as Caritas, we have set up a network of people who can accompany refugees no matter where they are. Your help will increase the flexibility of JRS members. Your donations will help us continue our important work in responding to needs that are not met by Catholic agencies: pastoral work, individual and personalized aid and the training of our own team members. Your donations will also help us cover any future needs that may arise, whether for a group or a specific individual, for example widows, orphans, and all those who try to escape their ordeal by crossing borders illegally."
Our council discussed this appeal and immediately decided that the Foundation should take the task to heart. We are asking this year's donators to allocate the larger part of their donation to the JRS programme in Africa, particularly that in the great lakes region where we know of Jesuit fathers and friends who are working for the JRS. We learned through an item in the JRS magazine that a young former pupil from Ireland is working there. We helped this young volunteer six years ago when he went to work with the refugees in Guatemala, and read in a previous issue of Servir a heart-rending account of his experience there. We have also, thanks to donations given earlier this year, been able to continue supporting the French team of the Young European Volunteers (an organization that is becoming increasingly international) and to set up a new programme in Romania where former pupils and a Belgian Jesuit have begun the construction of a home for orphaned children and adolescents.
The facts are clear: the world's refugees are in dire need of help. The Foundation's ambition is to increase its efforts in its work alongside the JRS. But this will only be possible if our friends, our supporters and our donators increase their commitment to helping us provide fellowship and solidarity for the poor and the refugees of this world. These efforts are part of the Resolution 11 of Sydney (« Arrupe dollar ») that we discussed in the April 1998 issue of ETC. We would like to give warm thanks in advance for your attention, your encouragement and your help.
Laurent Grégoire and Eric de Langsdorff
Donations can be sent, preferably in dollars, to the following account in Luxembourg:
ASSOCIATION PEDRO ARRUPE, Credit Européen, 52, route d'Esch, L-2965 Luxembourg - Account n° 11-263-648.
The Foundation also has an account in French francs in France: Caisse Centrale des Banques Populaires, 115, rue Montmartre, 75002 Paris - Account n°: 200 1234 0.
Mail is to be adressed to Eric de Langsdorff, 9 rue de l’Amiral d’Estaing, 75116 Paris (France). Tel: +33/1/47.20.16.15 - Fax: +33/1/47.20.18.38 - E-mail: eric.delangsdorff@wanadoo.fr