ENSEMBLE TOGETHER CONCORDES
Index



EDITORIAL

It's Christmas time
I like to wish all our worldwide alumni and alumnae a beautiful and joyous season and a very prosperous new year. Although we have many alumni/ae who are not Christians and for whom Christmas don´t have a meaning, I hope they also join us in giving each other best wishes.
Being close to the end of the year, it is an appropriate time to make a balance of our achievements and our "performance" as a person and a collective reflection on our contribution, through our alumni/ae association, to the well-being of the most needed in our societies. It is important that we all feel that we have done something worthwhile for our community, that we have contributed to achieve the social objectives of our associations as active members.
Although we requested each association to send a report, through your Council Member, of the activities during the year, to consolidate them in a single report, we just received less than five. This situation is discouraging since we are loosing the opportunity, sharing the reports, to benefit other associations in the world with the actions that you are doing in your country. It´s not too late yet, so please send your activity report to your Council representative as soon as possible. Other association will appreciate your caring.
What is important is that you as a person look back at the year that is ending and be happy with what you have done for others. I wish all of you to be grateful with your own personal quest and that you have grown as a human being by sharing with others your good fortune of being well educated and a person of honor. Let´s all work on our own personal plans for next year. Let´s promise us to work with our alumni/ae association to help others and in that way enrich our existence.
To all of you, your family and close relatives my best personal warm wishes for a year 1999 full of good things and happiness.
Fabio Tobón
President WUJA


LETTER FROM FR.PETER HANS KOLVENBACH


To The alumni/ae attending the XI Latin-American Congress in Bahía Brazil. Sept.1998
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
I salute you on the opening of this XI Congress of Alumni/ae of the Jesuits. I am sorry that I could not be with you in that significant meeting due to may duties in Rome. I count on your understanding.
My delegate, Fr. Vincent Duminuco, will inform me of the progress that you achieve during the Congress. I pray to God that your reflections and commitments of action help develop and ingrain the fundamental resolutions taken during the World Congress held in Sydney last year.
In that Congress I expressed the desire of the last General Congregation of the Society of Jesus that we the Jesuits be men for and with you, our lay partners. The association and federation of Jesuit alumni/ae are organizations that belong to you. We are ready to cooperate with you. The Society of Jesus can and must help you with the ignatian inspiration, the permanent spiritual formation, to establish fraternities with other alumni/ae to benefit the poor and marginalized or offering counsel and help when we are asked to. In any case we like to share with you the precious gift that we have received: The ignatian spirituality and its call to a profound commitment to the service of God´s people.
I have recently written to all Jesuit Provincials asking them to look for all possible ways of cooperating with you in your lay mission. We want to respect your responsibility and commitment as lay, members of Alumni/ae Organizations of Jesuits, run and directed by yourselves. We don´t want to take away from you the direction of your associations, we want to help you to accomplish your mission. So I urge you to take the initiative for a joint work. I request that you ask without hesitation when you believe we could help you.
Some of your organizations have already started excellent programs of continuous formation and also have developed "professional bank data" of great effectiveness. Others work without personal interest for the poor and with them. Many help their own schools and universities in their service to the new generations. Might God help you all with abundant blessings for these and other generous services that you all offer working for a better world.
But some of your organizations are still in the process of defining their projects and programs. I hope that this Congress will inspire you and give you the strength to start your work.
I ask the Lord to bless you all, your families, your schools and universities and all the efforts that you do to cooperate in the service At Majorem Dei Gloriam.
My greetings with all affection in our Lord
Peter-Hans Kolvenbach S.J.
Superior General Society of Jesus


YOUR CHILDREN'S VALUES


One of the most puzzling and disturbing experience parents have today is trying to understand their adolescent children. Typically under the best of circumstances adolescence is a trying, a confusing time for a growing person too. We readily recognize the teenager's conflicting needs to conform and to be an individual, the struggles with emerging sexuality, the thirst for order and simultaneous rebellion against rules, the pervasive lethargy punctuated by brief moments of athletic super-performance, the need for friendship and concomitant fear of vulnerability to others, the quest for meaning. Much of this confusing collage would have been true when I was growing up. But then there were supportive structures that provided a context for more constructive growth things like stable nuclear families and the extended family living nearby, a common set of values and assumptions flowing from a more consistent religious and/or civic milieu, clearer boundaries for acceptable behavior, an attitude of trust in significant institutions.
But today, as revealed very recently in the international Survey of Values of Youth, individualism, a stress upon the supreme values of the individual as key decision-maker, and concern for self development as the primary value becomes all but an absolute. Relationships between persons are increasingly reduced to an instrumental level `What can I get out of this relationship?" This seems to be reflected even in young people's attitudes toward marriage: their reluctance to enter into its commitments and responsibilities (We're "living together."), and their readiness to abandon a spouse if all is not well. The very concept of a binding life-long commitment seems incomprehensible to many young people, whether that commitment be in marriage or in religious life.
But there is a price to be paid for the me-first priority. The strong sense of self-interest is matched by an underlying loss of coherence. In wishing to develop and further the sense of self and the authenticity which goes with it, the links of common life based on a shared narrative or explanation of what life is really all about are loosened. This, together with the drive of each sector of human living for its own authority and competence, leaves the individual in a place not only of considerable excitement, but also of anxiety and fear of isolation. At the heart of this conflict of values, lies a deep desire to be in touch with the underlying coherence and meaning of life, the existence of which most people seem to be instinctively sure. The pathway to deeper growth in other words, is the exploration of a mystery not the answering or explaining of a problem.
Two important implications for parents flow from this. In the first place we must be constantly aware of the moments in life when young people are open to this "mystery." There are times when the questions, which for so long remain unformulated, begin to reach the surface of conscious reflection with greater insistence. Some such times are obvious because of the drama they involve and the way in which they touch the very fact of life. For some time now studies have explored the significance of the experiences of birth, sickness and death as key moments in the human person's search for coherence and compassion. But other moments are also important, and often form the starting point and the dynamic of that search for deeper coherent growth: among them is the confusing and turbulent experience of adolescence. Life is full of such experiences, which challenge the personal synthesis by which we may have lived to that date, or which reveals the absence of any such synthesis. These are the moments when the door for deeper human formation is wide open. We have to be alert to these moments of Chaos.
The second key aspect of awareness which must always accompany this, is the fact that people today are open to such approaches only from those whom they know and in whom they have some initial trust. Both research and experience suggest that this means primarily someone from within their own family or friendship network, or teachers who show personal interest in students, persons sufficiently close to have an initial "entree".
I think it must be clear that the challenge to Jesuit education I have in mind is not one of offering an "apologia" for values. One of the features of individualism, and the personal autonomy it espouses, is that exclusive appeals to "objective truth" tend to fall on deaf ears. What we must seek, therefore, is not to bring people to agree with what they perceive as our "personal convictions," but rather for them to explore with us the central, life-giving mystery of God, and God's creation in its many aspects, to be discovered in key moments of family life or in the study of the gamut of subjects taught in our schools, colleges, and universities. The entry points into such exploration are much less those of rational argument than of the appeal of goodness and love, the raising of the senses, and the attractiveness of beauty, the example of fairness, the witness of sacrifice.
This, of course, is not new. It is the emphasis given by Pope Paul VI in his encyclical, Evangelii Nuntiandi in which he reminded us that the quality and coherence of the witness is what will attract attention, especially of the young. In that encyclical the Pope reminded us that "Today young people do not listen seriously to teachers, but to witnesses; and if they do listen to teachers it is because they are witnesses. "
Father Vincent Duminuco S.J.


ANAWIM


My heart echoes the Magnificat of Mary, in thanksgiving for the opportunity to speak before you in this 5th World Congress of Jesuit Alumni. Fr. John Phelan, SJ, the Director of Alumni Affairs at the Ateneo de Naga, Philippines, informed me that this congress, as he knows it, is a grand reunion of the "old boys". He said that the delegates may be surprised to find a woman among the ranks of Jesuit alumni. I am deeply grateful to the Jesuits who opened The Ateneo de Naga for women in 1953 and has educated more than 4,500 of us since then. Thank you for the warm welcome you have given us and for making us feel "one of the boys."
The late Rev. Fr. Louis Paulussen, SJ, wrote that "if we want to live who we are, we have to go back to the source and drink." The "source" he is referring to is the SPIRITUAL EXERCISES OF ST. IGNATIUS—a tool and a treasure we hold dear in our hearts as alumni of Jesuit schools. Our Jesuit friends and mentors once more affirmed the centrality of this source -this common gift to us- when they offered us an opportunity to "drink" last week, through the Retreat and Communal Discernment Course and International Formation Encounter organized by the Christian Life Community. My experiences in these courses have been most fruitful and I believe that this congress is another occasion where we can come together and "drink" in the Ignatian tradition. And having "drunk" from our source, we might welcome the next millennium with the mission at heart and the values that will mark the Jesuit alumni as true sons and daughters of Ignatius.
In your kit you will find a brochure of the PAGBICOL FOUNDATION. The name is taken from PAG-ASA, meaning HOPE. PAGBICOL is a group organized by 27 Jesuit Alumni in 1988 who is on mission to be men and women for the Upland farmers, Fisherfoik, Indigenous people and the women of the second-most depressed region in the Philippines. The Mayon volcano with the most perfect cone in the world stands as a symbol of our region. However its beauty is overshadowed by the poverty experienced by more than half of its population.
What values are operative in this type of communal response? What values can we bring into the next century as we continue to journey with them?
During my immersion with our indigenous communities, I asked one of the tribal leaders "if you were to choose tribal laws that you would wish be passed on from generation to generation, what would these laws be?" With deep conviction he said: "Only one - the Law on Land. No one person can own land. "Why?" I asked. "Because you cannot own anything that outlives you. The land belongs to the race."
That evening as I reflected on my day and on what he said, it dawned on me that if I died tonight, all these things that I owned will outlive me in a way. This was a turning point in my own life. The communities taught us that only when we have an attitude of stewardship, can we shift to talking about sustainable development. They own land communally. Land is life. The technocrats predict failure. How can 426 farmers own land together? But I clearly remember their harvest song: "While we plough the fields and make them fruitful, we stand only as stewards, hopeful." We feel one with our brothers and sisters half around the world when they proclaim that we do not inherit the land from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children.
The revolution of 1986 empowered us and we discovered the best in the filipino spirit. For three days the world watched a small nation, not only change an unwanted leadership but also give birth to a faith that does justice. Today we continue to draw strength from that moment of triumph as we continue to confront the present day injustices with the two principles of non-violence:
The power of truth and the strength of love
 Three years ago one of our farmer leaders was killed when he talked to illegal entrants to the communal farm. When we laid him to rest that Easter Sunday, the farmers listened to and believed the gospel: "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground, it will not bear fruit." The thousand hectares of farmland had become sacred by the blood of their leader. The poor became our teachers. They continue to be our teachers as we struggle to handle tension between values that develop a sense of community and those that develop a sense of organization.
As we journey together to follow Christ more closely in a world of constant tension, we turn to our tool and our treasure - the Spiritual Exercises. When choices have to be made, we draw inspiration from the prayer of Archbishop Oscar Romero from El Salvador: "The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. We may never see the end results but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers not master builders. We are ministers not messiahs."
The simplicity of the poor reminds me constantly of what Nino Aquino wrote while he was in prison: "When it gets too dark, you begin to see the stars." Wasn't this the same truth that St. Ignatius discovered after Pamplona? When he lost Pamplona, he found God! We too know this, don't we? When we hit bottom, we can strike gold. The gold is a deep relationship with Jesus who invites each one to partake in His redemptive work.
Following our tradition, let me close by inviting you, as Ignatius suggests in the Contemplation of the Mystery of the Incarnation, to imagine the Trinity looking down on the world and feeling compassion at the condition of the people. The Trinity invites a young peasant girl named Mary to be the mother of the Word. Let us listen intently to the dialogue within the Trinity and wait to hear Mary's "Fiat" in response to the divine desire to free humanity from darkness, poverty and powerlessness. With Mary's "Yes", Hope was born.
Ignatius proposes that we conclude the contemplation with a prayerful conversation with God which may run like this:
"My friends, I have heard you ask the question `WHAT VALUES DO WE BRING INTO THE NEXT CENTURY?' Here is My answer."
You are concerned with the hungry in the world, millions who are starving and you ask, "What can I do?"
FEED ONE.
You grieve for the unborn children murdered everyday and you ask:
"What can I do?"
SAVE ONE.
You are haunted by the homeless poor who wander city streets. And you ask:
"What can I do?"
SHELTER ONE.
You feel compassion for those who suffer pain, sorrow and despair and you ask:
"What can I do?"
COMFORT ONE.
Your heart goes out to the lonely, the abused and the imprisoned and you ask:
"What can I do?"
LOVE ONE.
Remember this my friends, two thousand years ago the world was filled with those in need, just as it is today. And when the helpless called out to me for mercy, I sent a Savior.
HOPE STARTED WITH ONLY ONE.
Thank you.
Jean N.Llorin
Philippine Delegate at the 5th World Congress of Jesuit Alumni/ae - St. Ignatius College, Sydney, Australia


PUBLIC DIMENSION AND COMMUNICATION ON JESUIT ALUMNI/AE


(following is the presentation made by the President of the World Union at the XI Latin-American Jesuit Alumni/ae Congress held in Bahía Brazil on September 1998.)
 We have always affirmed that the Jesuit Alumni/ae are a great force and that working together we could have a great influence in today´s world. Although this might be true, let me question the real participation of our alumni/ae in a local, national, continental or worldwide association of Jesuit alumni/ae. We are some three million Jesuit alumni/ae but how many of them participate in our local or world associations? How many of them live their own private life according with the Ignatian values that were though to us in school?
We are called Jesuit alumni/ae for the only reason that we finish our studies in a Jesuit educational institution, but this is not enough. We have to "live" every day with the real meaning of this word. We have to know with how many alumni/ae we really count and how many of them are ready to practice in their own life the Ignatian principles. I have always questioned what is the difference between our World Union and the power and influence that organizations like "Rotary International" or "Lyons" have. The members of those organizations are from different backgrounds, they do not have a common education and principles, and in despite of it they are powerful, they run a good organization and they have influence in their societies.
One of the founders of the Latin-American Confederation, Mr.Ramón Remolina of Perú, used to say that the real difference between those organizations and ours is that they have and they share a "common social goal" and they fight to do good in the community where they belong. That social compromise maintains they united and give them the strength to act. What do we have to do in order that our alumni/AE have this commitment and live according with the Ignatian values?
Our national associations and federations have worked to create new programs to help the most needed in their communities, but we have not been able to influence our societies. There have been some good programs but they have not been enough. We have not used our alumni/ae associations as a forum to be heard in the public life of our countries. We, in general maintain a low profile. We don´t have programs in favor of the ethics, solidarity and well being of our citizens. We practice the Ignatian principles many times as individuals in private but we don´t practice them in our public life. We see sometimes how some of our alumni/ae reach high public posts in our societies and they forget our educational, spiritual values and our commitment with the ethics and solidarity with the most needed. They only remember how to benefit themselves from the opportunity. We don´t have a "public dimension" to be identified with.
Jesuit education teaches us to be leaders in our private lives and to extend it to our societies in our public life. In every action that we take in our private life, in our community and in our family life we must be leaders and we have to take decisions and positions regarding our countries' political life. In a way we have been "cowards" and we have not taken stands in matters pertaining our own countrie´s life. We have refused to participate and we have opened the space to the mediocre to take our places.
We have to be faithful to ourselves and to our Jesuit education. We have a commitment with the society since as Jesuit alumni/ae we are privileged. We have to show our leadership through our good work for the poor and the needed. We must not accept social injustice and we have to protest against it. We must be committed to the well being of our fellow citizens and to mankind.
Let me mention here the values that our World Union has taken. They are Accountability, Morality, Decisiveness and Generosity (A.M.D.G.) in these values we expressly included our ethical commitment not only in our private but also in business and in our professional and public life. We must remember as St.Ignatius said that "The prove of real love must be found in deeds not words".
Communications is another important aspect of our alumni/ae associations. It is important that we think about it and we find ways in which our associates participate more actively. In my experience with the Jesuit alumni/ae associations in Colombia, with the Latin-American confederation and with the World Union I have found that our communications are weak and they are usually a one way system. We send bulletins, publications at a high cost and there is little or no response.
To collect articles is a titanic enterprise. Very few participate and care to share their experiences with others. Maybe our real problem is that we have not learned the way to "reach" our alumni. We have not been able to get their commitment with our associations. I believe that our alumni are not active and don´t commit themselves since it is more confortable not to take action. The associations must live and work but somebody else must do the job. It´s a cultural approach that we must change in the new generations.
In our communications we also have to reach our communities. We must find ways to expose our ideas and thinking to the community in which we live. We must use radio, newspapers etc. to protest when social injustice is practiced. In some countries we have seen that radio and TV programs are being promoted by our alumni/ae associations as a way to make their voices publicly heard.
Propositions.
I would like to share some ideas regarding these two important aspects of our associations: Public Dimension and Communications. I would like you to consider these possibilities and to use them, as you believe to improve the reach of your associations. Our efforts to get the cooperation and active participation of our alumni/ae must be permanent. Sometimes we feel frustrated and discouraged but we must continue with our efforts. Let´s keep on working thinking that our actions are done At Majorem Dei Gloriam.
Fabio Tobón


NEWS FROM THE WORLD

AUSTRALIA
THE AUSTRALIAN JESUIT ALUMNI ASSOCIATION 1998 REPORT
As the year draws to a close, the Committee of the AJAA will hold the Annual General Meeting and will assess the past year and plan for 1999.
Looking back, it has been a busy year and what stands out is the formation work covered in our leadership courses for young adults. One was held in Melbourne, Victoria and one in Sydney, New South Wales. A brief report on each follows.
MELBOURNE AJAA LEADERSHIP EVENING 5.8.98 - "LEADERSHIP AND RESPONSIBILITY"
Robert Harvey and Ray McLean, from St. Kilda Football Club, presented an excellent program on how one can make a difference. The presentation dealt with the steps involved in change, both within oneself and one's organization or business to improve performance and so promote God's redemptive activity in the world.
The presentation was wonderful illustration of how, by taking responsibility for one's actions, ones character and the culture of a group can be radically improved.
SYDNEY AJAA YOUNG LEADERSHIP DAY
Four Alumni/ae from Loyola College (now Loyola Campus), Mt. Druitt, attended the World Congress of Jesuit Alumni/ae last year and during this following year these four have gathered a group around them and have formed the "Loyola Campus Alumni Association (LCAA). They have a great love for their school and wish to continue their association not only with it but with Ignatian Spirituality. They are an impressive group and a credit to Loyola's former and present Headmasters, Fr. Ross Jones SJ and Fr. Brendan Kelly SJ and their Staffs.
On Saturday 26 September the AJAA held a Young Leadership Course, welcoming twelve of these young alumni/ae of Loyola College. Fr. Des Dwyer SJ led the day and was assisted by Frances and Damian Scroope and Robyn Treseder. The day's course covered; identifying one's gifts, achieving and maintaining a balance in one's life, goal and goal setting, leadership, how faith fits into one's life, and praying in the Ignatian tradition. There was also discussion and direction on subjects raised by the participants, as areas of concern. The day concluded with Mass.
Mrs. Robyn Traseder
Council Member WUJA

ARGENTINA
Father Carlos Cravenna, counselor of the Argentinian Federation sends the following report:
From September 3 to 6, the XI Latin-American Congress took place, organized by the Brazilian Federation in Salvador, Bahía. From Argentina there were several delegates who benefit of the exchange of experiences from the delegates from other countries.
The Association of alumni/ae of the Universidad Católica de Córdoba is being formed at this stage, inspired in the associations of Universidad Javeriana in Colombia and The Universidad del Valle del Río Sinos (UNISINOS) en San Leopoldo, sur del Brasil. The objective of this new association is to channel the joint forces of all the alumni/ae to do social work of service and commitment with the community and to give the means to alumni to enrich their espiritual life in the Ignatian inspiration.
Help from all alumni is needed to update the addresses of everyone. There is also the intention to publish a bulletin with news that will be the way of communication with their affiliates and a Website will also be established.
We would like to take this opportunity to say hello to all our Ignatian brothers all over the world.

AFRICA
We have supported numerous activities of the Society within the country particularly The New Loyola Jesuit College at the Nation's Capital. Also, we conducted a Workshop / Seminar on Justice and Peace issues in Nigeria during November 1997. Donated to local school for the blind.
We have highly interest in twinning. Currently cooperating with the National Chaplain of the Alumni/ae in developing local chapters for continuos growth.
Our members have expressed interest on our bank of professionals providing career counseling to local schools especially those located in disadvantages communities. Twice sponsored and conducted retreat for spiritual development of Alumni/ae and the community at large.
Mr. Sina Buraimoh
Council Member WUJA

THE UNITED STATES
Mr. John Riley, member of the World Union Council sends his report:
I am most familiar with the Boston College Alumni activities. We have been stressing service projects for the last 5-6 years. Some include:

  1. "Second Helping" - A program supported by the Alumni associationin conjunction with the Greater Boston Food Bank, which funds two refrigerated trucks to pick up unused food from Boston hotels and restaurants and deliver it to local soup kitchens, food pantries, and shelters for the poor.
  2. "Clean Sweep" - A program run by alumni (particularly young alumni) that collects unwanted items from the dormitories of graduating BC seniors at the end of the school year to donate to area shelters and social service agencies. Collected items range from food and clothes to furniture, books, computers, and sports equipment.
  3. "Jamaica Service Trip" - A week long service trip for 15-20 alumni to Jamaica to work with the Jesuits serving the poor in that country. The tripis usually coordinated to overlap with a similar trip by BC students.
  4. "Christmas in April" - BC alumni participate as a team in this national project that spends a Saturday in April renovating homes of poor or elderly neighbors.
  5. Nativity Preparatory School and Mother Caroline Academy - BC students and alumni volunteer tutoring and organizing activities for middle school students in these two schools designed for inner-city students at risk.
(Note: The Nativity schools (Boston, New York, Milwaukee, Baltimore, etc.) might be a good subject for an article in themselves. They are Jesuit-sponsored schools for inner-city middle school students. They are staffed by Jesuits and full-time volunteers (many Jesuit alumni) and have proved to be an exciting and effective model for addressing the problem of poor inner-city education in the US. I taught at and was on the Board of Nativity Prep in Boston, so let me know if you would like more information.)
I am sure that there are many similar service projects undertaken by the alumni of the other Jesuit schools in the US - this is just a sampling. We hope that improved communication among the alumni associations will encourage greater participation and provide the various associations ideas of service projects that worked in other cities.
One of the exceptions to the institution-based alumni associations that Ron Ferreri talked about is the Jesuit Alumni in Arizona (JAA) group run by Robert Kaiser and Fr. Edward Callahan, SJ. I had the opportunity to attend a talk presented to the group by representatives of the Vatican Observatory in Tucson, Arizona, which is run by Jesuit astronomers. Not only was the talk fascinating, but also the JAA is an interesting model for us as we try to unite Jesuit alumni from all schools in the US.
Finally, Mr.Ferreri (the other W.U.Council member from the U.S.) may have told you that we are attending a national meeting of Jesuit high schools in January to promote the idea of a US Jesuit Alumni Association. We will keep you posted.
Warmest Regards,
Mr. John M. Riley
Council Member WUJA



THE IAJBS AND THE WUJA


On October 4 there was a meeting in New York, U.S.of the World Union of Alumni of Jesuit represented by Mr. Fabio Tobon, the President of the WUJA, Tom Bausch, the Executive Director of the International Association of Jesuit Business Schools (IAJBS), Fr. Vincent Duminuco, S.J., Fr. Kolvenbach's representative to the WUJA and Ron Ferreri, one of the two North American representatives to the Executive Council of World Union.
We met to discuss how the WUJA and IAJBS might benefit one another and in so doing benefit Jesuit Alumni/ae both in the U.S. and worldwide.
The IAJBS has chapters throughout the world and presents a good opportunity for the WUJA to take advantage of its structure. With its goal of making business management a vocation and profession and the programs it sponsors, the IAJBS provides mutual reinforcement plain to the WUJA. E.g., the IAJBS sponsors faculty exchanges programs and provides aid from the European & U.S. Schools to institutions in developing countries, Uganda and Chile and at Peking University where an MBA Program is in place with the assistance of 25 U.S. Jesuit Schools providing faculty. In essence they are formation and twinning programs.
The WUJA which has spread beyond its European origins after 1987 has two main objectives: ongoing formation and service to the poor based on the ideas of Fr. Pedro Arrupe. It is in the interest of all Jesuit alumni/ae to continue their spritiual formation through seminars and similar programs which foster the development of the Ignatian vison, particularly in the workplace. Service to the poor takes the form of recruitment of professionals to provide pro bono service to the poor and twinning with associations in developing nations.
Both of these objectives are realized in the activities of the IAJBS, described above, and in the activities of the Woodstock Business Conference, a U.S. organization, which seeks to bring business colleagues together to discuss issues present in the work place and to guide their actions by employing ethical principles.
In both of these instances alumni have gathered with non alumni in organizations which transcend the normal association boundaries to which alumni, particularly alumni of US institutions have become accustomed. They succeed because they have something to offer their members which they do not get elsewhere.
The WUJA plans to utilize these organizations to strengthen its appeal to alumni/ae throughout the world. It can publish the papers from IAJBS meeting in ETC and encourage local associations to create business ethics committees and to establish chapters of the Woodstock Business Conference type groups, thereby demonstrating to individual institutional associations that it has something to offer which they cannot.
Mr. Ron Ferreri
Council Member WUJA


OMAEC CONGRESS LISBON OCT 1998


(our World Union was represented at this Congress of the Alumni /ae Associations of Catholic Education by Mr. Gianni Galloni of Italy and Mr.Laurent Gregoire. Following is the report of Mr. Gregoire)
As promised, some information about the OMAEC Congress in Lisbon:
The Congress was interesting and quite well organized. It is important to mention that Felipe Garedo, Portuguese Jesuits alumnus, has taken an important place in the organization of the Congress; he was in particular responsible for all bus travels between the Airport and the hotels.
We were about 120 participants, with a majority of women (same number as in Rome in 1995) but it was very disappointing that nobody came from Africa and from Asia (except Lebanon). Some people came from North America and Australia, about 20 people from Latin America (majority from Argentina), the rest from Europe (mainly South Europe).
As I know, we were eight Jesuit Alumni: F. Garedo, G. Galloni, V. Gallinoni, D. Larcher, L. Grégoire, and three young members of the OMAEC Youth Committee: two from Italy and one from the US (currently student in Italy). Some other participants were Jesuit alumni but representing other alumni associations, in particular: Trish Burns, President of the World Association of Alumnae of the Sacred Heart, and Antoine Chamoun, resident of the Lebanese `Lasallian Alumni.
The theme was "Catholic alumni commitment: discernment and action for human dignity". It was introduced by a "White book" with a list of current alumni activities. The Jesuit Alumni Associations were quoted only twice: the Sydney Congress and the activity of the Italian Federation. An important conclusion of this "White Book" was that all alumni act more and more closely with their Congregations (which is the case for us).
We had two interesting main lectures: one about the globalization by a French economist, G. Marc, and one about the dialogue between philosophy and religion by Mgr J. Policarpo, patriarch of Lisbon. These lectures were followed by eight minor speeches to witness personal commitments, as my political involvement for the European unification.
The President of the World Family Union (World Federation of the Catholic Family Associations), who is a former Portuguese Family Minister made an interesting speech. She presented herself as alumna of the Sacred Heart and of the Jesuits.
The eight young people present from OMAEC Youth Committee made also interesting speeches about their concrete activities, in particular in the humanitarian field or for the World Youth Days in Paris in 1997. Unfortunately, there was no time for other discussions: it means that 90% of the participants have no opportunity to speak during the Congress (except for private discussions). It is clear that people ask now for more conviviality in such congresses.
Mgr. Guiberteau, OMAEC assistant, gave the conclusions of the Congress. Three Christian convictions for our commitments: Necessity of dialogue between men, No peace without justice, and We are preparing a `New World'.
OMAEC formal meetings
The first day of the Congress, we had a quick meeting of the OMAEC Executive Committee (where I represent our World Union). It was only to confirm different decisions: At the end of the Congress, we had a very long meeting of the OMAEC General Assembly (where G. Galloni was your official representative but all Congress participants could attend). 95% of the Assembly was to report the activities of the OMAEC representatives in the different international Institutions and of a lot of members of OMAEC.
The financial OMAEC report was very poor, with an annual budget of about 10 000 $.
For the election of a new President for OMAEC, it was very simple: there were officially 5 candidates but 4 withdrew their candidatures and the 5th, Antonio Guilhermino Pires, was simply elected by cheers !
Conclusions
  1. A quite interesting Congress but a disappointing Assembly.
  2. OMAEC has still to confirm its world representativity and its dynamism (A good comparison could be with the situation of the World Union of Jesuit Alumni till the Versailles Congress in 1986).
I hope that this report gives you a good idea of these 4 days.
Yours sincerely,
Laurent Gregoire.


AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE


The following is an important message for those wishing to destroy the work of their alumni/ae association:
Ideas on how to see an association fail.
  1. Dont't visit your association regularly. Just go there when you have a claim to make.
  2. If you participate in any activity of the association point out the faults in the organization to those who have been working hard for the success of the event.
  3. Never take a responsibility. Remember that is easier to criticize than to act.
  4. If you are asked for an opinion don't say anything. Afterwards give a "lecture" on how things must be done.
  5. Don´t do more than is strictly necessary. If you see that your association is being run by an enthusiast group of alumni/ae working hard, let everyone know that they are a close circuit that doesn´t aloud anybody else to participate.
  6. Never read the association's bulletin or the news that you receive. Affirm that neither one have interested news and furthermore claim that you don´t receive them regularly.
  7. If you are invited to take a post in the board of the association don´t accept and then criticize the board for wanting to take all the responsibility.
  8. When you have a personal problem with one of the board members, try to take revenge from the whole association.
  9. Threat the association and send letters accusing the board members.
  10. Suggest, insist and demand that the association realizes events. When they are organized, don´t show up.
  11. If you receive a survey asking for your opinion, don´t answer it. Let the board guess what your needs and desires are.
  12. After all this "spontaneous" cooperation, when the association suspends its work, the publications and events and when it dies, you can then say with pride "didn´t I told you ?".
Taken from the bulletin "Sanfrativo" of the Alumni/ae association of the School San Francisco Javier, Sao Paulo Brazil.
XI Latin American Congress of Jesuit Alumni/ae. Bahia, Brazil. September 1998