Jesuit Mission
CURRENT NEWS at JESUIT MISSION
Jesuit Mission Newsletter
The Winter edition of the Jesuit Mission newsletter has just come to hand and can be read by following this link: JM Winter 2023.
JESUIT MISSION – EMERGENCY ACTION WITH UKRAINIAN REFUGEES
In May, Jesuit Mission held a webinar to discuss the amazing work of Jesuit Mission Romania in response to the outflow of refugees from the conflict in the Ukraine.
Jesuit Mission has delivered 40,000 services to 22,000 refugees. In May, 185 staff members were engaged, two thirds of whom were Ukrainian.
With restrictions on men leaving the Ukraine, many families are split geographically. Jesuit Mission provides educational, psychological and recreational services and material assistance.
Jesuit Mission addresses challenges such as providing the refugees with a lifestyle affordable for beneficiaries and staff members. The Government allows refugees to remain in Romania for 12 months, but doesn’t support Jesuit Mission or non-government organisations directly. Therefore, donations to support Jesuit Mission’s work are highly valued.
The resilience of refugees inspires the generosity and compassion with which Jesuit Mission delivers services to the Ukrainian refugees in Romania.
For information on ways of donating to Jesuit Mission’s work with Ukrainian refugees, check out https://jesuitmission.org.au/give/emergency-action/
The webinar is still available to view on-line at https://jesuitmission.org.au/webinar-june/
JESUIT MISSION – General Introduction
(Images from Jesuit Mission website)
Since the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) was formed back in the mid sixteenth century, it has developed a strong focus on both missionary and educational work. It was those twin pursuits which enabled St Patrick’s College to be established in Melbourne in the mid nineteenth century when the town was in its infancy. Although the first Jesuits to Australia came from Austria, the early teachers at the College came from various parts of Ireland to provide educational and spiritual assistance to the young boys of the fledgling city. Those dual goals were understood by, and passed on to, the students in their formative years at St. Pat’s.
After completing their secondary schooling, many of the boys undertook studies for either education or the priesthood. Of the latter category, a significant number trained to become Jesuits. Once ordained, most followed one of the two principal paths to which the Jesuits were committed: teaching or missionary work (the latter commenced in 1951). Others became academics within the field of theology, or worked as spiritual studies leaders or priests in suburban parishes. The first Patrician to become a Jesuit was Fr. John McInerney (brother of Tim, one of our ‘Notables’) who entered the novitiate in 1871. And the first Patrician to become a missionary in India was Bill Dwyer in 1951, while he was still a novitiate – and he’s still there!
Fr. Bill Dwyer
(Image: Union of Catholic Asian News www.ucanews.com)
College graduates who devoted their life to missionary work, initially in Hazaribag (India) in 1951, received particular and ongoing recognition at the school in subsequent years. Many students were proud to be known as a brother or close relative of a Jesuit who was working in one of the many overseas mission locations. This connection lead naturally to a desire to support those past students in their work and the communities they helped. One of the ways in which that happened was in the many forms of fund-raising activities in which the boys became involved. Notable among these was the voluntary work undertaken each year for the Maytime Fair, held at Xavier College, with students, both past and present, lending a hand at that major event.
Alongside this specifically financial activity, there were regular reports and newsletters from abroad describing the work of Patricians who were devoting their life to helping people in towns and villages with health, education and other day-to-day matters, in addition to the spiritual. The annual Patrician yearbook often included articles about those overseas workers.
The College closed at the end of 1968 but that did not signal the end of Patrician interest in and support for those Jesuit missionaries. The Old Collegians’ Association continued to be significant contributors in the running of the Maytime Fair, in both physical and financial involvement. But their contributions were not limited to the once-a-year activity – individually, there were many past students who made annual donations to the Jesuit missionary effort. This financial support has continued right up to the present day, even though the Association no longer helps out with the actual running of the Maytime Fair (largely because of the increasing age of even the youngest of our past students!).
The focus of that commitment over the decades from St. Pat’s has been the Australian arm of the international Jesuit Mission organization, located in Sydney. It is to that body that all donations from Patricians are sent each year. Those who wish to send a donation to Jesuit Mission through SPOCA can access, and then download, the relevant form here.
Jesuit Mission is one of the important bodies to which SPOCA is proudly connected, along with the educational institutions which we support in many ways, as described elsewhere in this section. Much more about Jesuit Mission can be found on their website at https://jesuitmission.org.au/.