Paraguay – Social Delegates hold Assembly in Paraguay
Par Carmen de los Ríos
Social Delegate – CPAL
After almost three years of virtual meetings, the Social Delegates of the various Provinces of the Society of Jesus in Latin America and the Caribbean held their Assembly on 3 and 4 March at the Holy Martyrs Retreat House in Asunción, Paraguay.
Xavier Jeyaraj SJ, Secretary of the Justice and Ecology Secretariat of the Curia (Rome) - SJES; and Roberto Jaramillo SJ, President of CPAL also participated. They worked in an atmosphere of prayer, fraternity and search for God's will.
Xavier Jeyaraj SJ, Secretary of SJES, acknowledged that, in social commitment, Fathers Javier Campos SJ and Joaquín Mora SJ from Mexico, and Stan Swamy SJ from India, gave their lives to proclaim the Gospel by standing by the most vulnerable people and their just demands; their martyrdom makes our commitment fruitful. Quoting Fr Arrupe he announced: "To be just, it is not enough to refrain from injustice. We must go further and refuse to play its game: to replace self-interest with love as the driving force of society". Democracy, leadership and governance. Violence (silent wars). 2. Inequality. 3. The environment. Exploitation of mineral and natural resources. 4. Migrants, refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).
The President of CPAL, Roberto Jaramillo Sj, encouraged the Social Delegates to have a permanent attitude of listening to the situation of the most vulnerable populations, recognising that, although all apostolates have a social dimension, the direct social apostolate is important and indispensable, it makes us valid interlocutors in the work for justice. "The social apostolate can be a minority apostolate and was so even in the time of St. Ignatius, it was and continues to be essential to the Society of Jesus". The participants committed themselves to "do good for good" and to "continue to carry the fire of Fr Arrupe SJ and Fr Janssens SJ", great promoters of the social dimension in the Society.
The Social Delegates presented the context of the social apostolate in each of their countries, agreeing on the complex and conflictive scenario of LAC, where it is necessary to rebuild trust, work in networks, not to support polarisation but to build bridges, strengthen organisations, walking with the poor and vulnerable in their search for a hopeful future.
During the conference, the participants updated the document "Functions of the Delegates of the Social Apostolate in the Provinces". They evaluated the Work Plan implemented in 2021-2022 and discussed ways forward for the Action Plan 2023-2024.
During the conference, the Social Delegates were able to strengthen their identity as animators of the Apostolic Body for the integration of faith, justice and reconciliation, and were motivated to promote social commitment in a provincial and interprovincial way, promoting the articulation of the provinces with the various networks of the CPAL.
Source : jesuitas.lat
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