A message from Fr Endashaw Debrework SJ, Regional Director of JRS Eastern Africa, on the Feast of St Ignatius.
Today [31st July] is St.Ignatius Feast Day, the day we commemorate the life of the founder of the Society of Jesus. This is a perfect occasion to reconnect with our roots as JRS. Much of what makes JRS unique has to do with the particular Ignatian worldview, a worldview infused with the spiritual revolution that St. Ignatius started.
Photo: Paul Jeffrey. 2018
On Monday [23 July 2018] there was vicious spate of violence and destruction of property in a series of targeted attacks on humanitarian assets and compounds, in which more than eight agencies including the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) were heavily affected.
Between fighting in Sudan and civil war in South Sudan, violence has become a sad fact of life for hundreds of thousands of refugees in Maban county.
A humanitarian crisis of shocking proportions is currently unfolding in South Sudan, the world’s youngest country. Heydi Foster, CEO at Misean Cara, recently visited refugee camps in Maban County.
“I witnessed extreme levels of suffering. Imagine fleeing violence in your home country only to find yourself caught up in a civil war. Many children have grown up in this dire situation. Not knowing a normal childhood, and never experiencing life beyond the confines of the camp.”
Fr Stephen Chow SJ and Amanda Bermingham
Stephen Chow
The new Provincial of the Chinese region, Stephen Chow SJ has strong links to Ireland and is in his own words ‘the product of a Jesuit education’. He was in Dublin last week to visit Irish Jesuit Jimmy Hurley SJ, who is back home after spending many years in Hong Kong where he is fondly missed by the community.
Tony O’Riordan SJ has been appointed as leader of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) team in Maban, South Sudan. In an effort to share his experiences working with refugees and internally displaced people, he has created a personal webpage entitled ‘Spes Mundi’ (Latin for ‘Hope of the World’). He hopes through this platform to connect with his network of relations, friends, and ‘friends he has not yet met’, and to invite readers to provide practical help for the JRS project.
