This week, Fr Arturo Sosa SJ, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) made public the Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs), which resulted from a two-year period of reflection, or discernment, by its members and have been approved by Pope Francis.

The UAPs are spiritual and practical guidelines which will provide the framework on which the work of the Jesuits will be based from 2019 to 2029. They will inform the strategic direction of all organisations comprising the Jesuit global network during that period.

A first-year home economics class in Belvedere College, Dublin has donated more than €2,000 towards the building of a science classroom in the Adjumani refugee settlement of northern Uganda. Pagarinya School provides secondary education to children who live in the settlement, who have relocated there with their families to escape the conflict in neighbouring South Sudan.

Their teacher, Divinia Lyons was one of a group of teachers from Irish Jesuit schools who visited the region in November 2017, on a trip which was led by Education for Justice Coordinator, Krizan Vekic.

Irish Jesuit Tony O’Riordan was on RTÉ’s Today with Seán O’Rourke while on a short visit home to see his family last week. He discussed his work with the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) South Sudan, and the insights he has gained during the year he has spent in the war-afflicted country.

Fr Alfred (Freddie) Deignan SJ, of the Irish Jesuit community in Hong Kong died, aged 91, on December 11, 2018. As Principal of both Wah Yan Colleges and Chairman of the Jesuit Board of Education he was an influential figure in education whose presence will be greatly missed. RIP.