Online retreat will mark 30 years of Jesuit Refugee Service

This November 14th we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Jesuit Refugee Service. We recall fondly Father Pedro Arrupe’s sound advice to “pray, pray much” as he encouraged the struggling first generation of JRS team members in Southeast Asia to bring the overwhelming challenges of their new apostolic work to the Lord in prayer.

Three decades later, we once again invite our JRS family — current and former staff members, Jesuits, friends and colleagues—to reflect prayerfully on the ways in which we discover the presence of God in our ministry with refugees and displaced persons.

In honor of our 30^th anniversary, Jesuit Refugee Service/USA is introducing a free 30-day online retreat that links Ignatian Spirituality to the plight of refugees and vulnerable migrants.  It’s an easy way for people to fuse spirituality and social justice into your day .

The retreat will go live on November 1, and will be prominently linked on our home page.

The retreat links the Spiritual Exercises to the plight of refugees and vulnerable migrants and provides an easy way for people to fuse spirituality and social justice into their days.

Jesuit Superior meets JRS staff after recent visit to Sri Lanka

Fr. Adolfo Nicolas S.J., Father General of the Society of Jesus, visited the Province of Sri Lanka last month. While visiting the region of Colombo-Galle, Father Nicolás stressed several themes particularly dear to him: depth of commitment, creativity and life in the Spirit, and inserting these into the specific reality of Jesuits in Sri Lanka today.

He noted that technology can be a powerful aid to serious intellectual work and to the strengthening of commitment but that it can be a temptation to superficiality. He concluded by saying that unless religious life shows such experiential commitment it will have little to say to Asia so steeped in deep and ancient religious traditions.

Fr. Adolfo Nicolás S.J. is introduced to Jesuit Refugee Service staff by JRS International Director Fr. Peter Balleis, S.J., Thursday, March 11, 2010 at the Curia in Rome.

The meeting with the Jesuits of Kandy district was an opportunity to highlight the challenges the Society faces in Sri Lanka.  He called attention to the promotion of dialogue between the north and the south of the nation and among factions who are in conflict.  It is necessary, he said, to build bridges and form alliances that will promote a just society.

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About Jesuit Refugee Service

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JRS speaker discusses human rights and Catholic social teaching

Acclaimed refugee rights activist Katrine Camilleri, Ph.D., assistant director of Jesuit Refugee Service in Malta, visited Loyola University New Orleans on Tuesday, Nov. 17, to deliver the last lecture of the People on the Move conference. Her talk, “Refugees and Asylum Seekers: Human Rights and Catholic Social Teaching.”

Camilleri is the 2007 recipient of the U.N. Refugee Agency’s Nansen Refugee Award, which is given to individuals or organizations that have distinguished themselves in work on behalf of refugees. Camilleri’s recent work has focused on helping refugees and asylum seekers who are detained in Malta. Despite threats and arson attacks on her home and vehicle, Camilleri has been successful in influencing government policy and continues to be at the forefront of the battle to improve conditions in detention centers in Malta.

Creighton lecture showcases Jesuit Refugee Service

Creighton University’s 51st annual Alpha Sigma Nu William F. Kelley S.J. Endowed Lecture will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3, at the Hixson-Lied Auditorium of the Mike and Josie Harper Center for Student Life and Learning. The lecture is free and open to the public.

The featured speaker will be the Rev. Don Doll, S.J., internationally known photojournalist, and holder of the Charles and Mary Heider Endowed Jesuit Faculty Chair at Creighton. He will present a slideshow titled “Jesuit Refugee Service: The New Missionary Venture of the Society,” documenting the work of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in many of the more than 50 countries where it operates.

Urgent appeal to aid Sri Lankans

The fighting has ended in Sri Lanka but many civilians remain in precarious situations.

Since the end of fighting in Sri Lanka on May 19, more than 260,000 displaced persons remain in camps in the northern part of this island country. Tens of thousands are in need of medical attention, due to the effects of starvation, exposure, illness and injury sustained during the fighting. JRS in Sri Lanka reports an urgent need for temporary shelter, food, clean water and basic medical supplies in Vavuniya, Mannar, Jaffna and other locations. Since January 2009, JRS has been providing and distributing cooked food, dry rations, and non-food items including clothing; and attending to the sick, pregnant women and new mothers, and the elderly. JRS is also assisting with education and school supplies.

Priest who worked with JRS dies in Sri Lanka

One of the seven priests who remained with trapped Sri Lankan refugees through the end of the fighting between government forces and separatists rebels, died on the battle’s last day, and was buried Tuesday.

Father Mariampillai Sarathjeevan

Father Mariampillai Sarathjeevan, 41, opted to stay with the people trapped in the “safe zone” until the May 18 end of the civil war between Sri Lanka’s military and the rebel Tamil Tigers, despite the danger as the conflict moved into the zone.

He died as the battle ended, struck by a heart attack as he left the war zone with the last refugees. Read the full story on the Zenit website here.

Fr. David Manuelpillai wrote this “tribute to the legacy of Rev. Fr. Mariampillai T. Sarathjeevan.”

The past few weeks have been catastrophic and have left the Tamil population of the island of Sri Lanka devastated. The lives of the Tamil people are filled with moments of abject suffering and destruction. Every day we have been hearing disturbing accounts of deaths and injuries. Church bells have been tolling incessantly bringing news of the death of beloved ones to the people. On the 18th of May, the bells of Jaffna Cathedral brought the news of the untimely death of the young and dynamic priest, Rev. Fr. Mariampillai T. Sarathjeevan, submerging the people of Jaffna in the sea of sorrow. Is he dead?

JRS Thailand reaches out to migrant children

The Bangkok Post has an excellent story about Jesuit Refugee Service/Thailand and their efforts at one of six learning centers for Burmese children supported by JRS.

In 2002, the JRS initiated the learning center program after recognizing the difficulties migrant children face in attending Thai schools. It helps build and maintain community-based learning centers, support teachers salaries, provide school uniforms, books and sporting gear, and grant scholarships to outstanding students to study in Thai schools.

Since 2006, the program has added the learning of Thai language in order to prepare Burmese children to attend Thai schools. Teaching Thai language is an effort to enable the youngsters to communicate in Thai, adjust to Thai culture and choose to further their studies in Thai schools.

JRS: a vocation to transform the world

Fr. Elías Lopez-Perez, S.J., Assistant International Director of Jesuit Refugee Service, describes the people who work for JRS as a passionate, committed group who “want to change things in the world” and heal wounds of violence.

In short, he says, people who work for JRS still believe in miracles. Fr. Lopez-Perez also discusses the central role of accompaniment in the JRS mission. He notes that the Gospels encourage us to welcome the stranger, and this is the good news to counter the racism and xenophobia at work in the world.