Learning to be “networked”
In early October, delegates from various provinces and regions convened at Kampoeng Media in Yogyakarta for a transformative four-day conference focused on the Jesuit social apostolate. Keynote speaker Julie Edwards set the stage by discussing the evolution of social ministry within the Society of Jesus, referencing the establishment of Global Ignatian Advocacy Networks since a pivotal 2008 meeting in Spain. Fr. Benny Juliawan explored the implications of the digital economy, highlighting both the opportunities and precarious conditions it creates for workers, while JCAP President Fr. Jun Viray emphasized the need for greater collaboration among ministries and external organizations. The conference concluded with participants engaging in reflective exercises, yielding powerful metaphors—such as bridges and gardens—to represent their collective vision for the future of JCAP’s social ministries.
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Artificial intelligence is often presented as an immaterial technology, yet it rests on a very concrete infrastructure: devices, data centers, and networks whose manufacture requires minerals such as tin, gold, cobalt, lithium, and copper. For this reason, reading AI from the perspective of socio-environmental justice means looking toward the territories where its supply chains begin: communities marked by conflict, precarious economies, ecological damage, and violations of human rights.
The Jesuits for Climate Justice Campaign (JCJC) presents this updated Statement for COP31, informed the outcomes of the Bonn Climate Conference (SB64) in June, and the First Conference on the Transition Beyond Fossil Fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia in April. As people of faith, we reaffirm our urgent responsibility to protect our common home and defend climate justice.
From July 21 to 26, Fr. Roberto Jaramillo, SJ, Director of the Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat (SJES) of the General Curia of the Society of Jesus, visited the Mexican Province to gain firsthand knowledge of the work carried out by its social apostolate and to strengthen dialogue around the Society's social mission.
SJES, South Asia organised a three-day convention under the theme our role in nation building in Kodaikanal, Madurai province. A total number 115 delegates participated including Jesuits and the lay collaborators from 19 provinces. The convention was inaugurated by Mr. Sachitanantham, member of Parliament representing the local constituency. He called for a collective response to burning issues of the country. The president of the conference appreciated the committed service of the Jesuits in social action and invited them to be strategic in their response.
Magnifica Humanitas offers us — especially those of us who work in education from a tradition of faith and commitment to justice — a profoundly enriching challenge. It calls us to govern AI with wisdom: to build the structures that protect the dignity of the most vulnerable; to form persons capable of thought and decision; and to ensure that the organization of our own institutions is coherent with what we teach.
In Europe today, a refugee is identified first by a biometric system, before the perilous journey they endured to flee danger is heard. At the United States border, an asylum seeker may be told to seek protection through a phone application before a human being listens to how their rights were violated by violence and persecution that brought them there.