Reflections

It will be almost five years since we, as Jesuits, discerned and were missioned to work on the four Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs), one of which was ‘care for our common home’ (UAP4). In light of what Pope Francis has done with LD after eight years of LS, it is an opportune moment for us Jesuits to review where we are now on our four apostolic preferences.

If the victim is left alone, the abuse continues. However, if victims have not only one person but a whole network of courageous solidarity in their own community and institution, there is a much greater chance that they will step forward.

The slogan proposed by Pope Francis for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees in 2023 is "Free to choose whether to migrate or to stay". From 2021 to 2022, we updated the situation of forced migration on the Continent through joint research of both [Jesuit] Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean and of Canada and the United States.

After decades of its promotion by Paraguayan activists, the International Day of Friendship was first recognized by the UN General Assembly in 2011 in the hopes that the promotion of friendship between the various nations and cultures of our world might lead to greater peace.

In today’s world, the myth of ‘development’ is projected as the central value, measured by society’s performance as quantified in terms of Gross National Product, Net National Product, material growth of the economy, standard of living measured in terms of goods and money, etc. This emphasizes the superficial ways of ‘having’ than the more fundamental levels of ‘being’.

If you measure the social impact of your training, actions/programs/interventions, and policies, make sure you do not use as indicators the number of times that you have given interviews in the press or on TV, the number of courses given, the enrollment rates in your workshops, the number of safeguarding diplomas conferred, etc.

On May 16th, we celebrate the International Day of Living Together in Peace, but what is the significance of this celebration in Europe today, especially in our work with refugees and forced migrants?We are invited to live together in peace, accepting differences and having the ability to listen to, recognize, respect, and appreciate others, as well as live in a peaceful and united way.

A machi (Mapuche spiritual authority) said about the illnesses that people are going through today: "If you want to heal yourself, you must learn to let your spirit reach your body because it tends to walk faster than the spirit walks".

The theme for World Water Day this year is “accelerating change.” Be the Change you want to see in the world” - Rapid, transformative change is needed and everyone can play their part. Every action – no matter how small – will make a difference.”

So often, those of us engaged in justice work consider ourselves the “good guys.” It’s those “other” people, we think, who are the problem: the ones who don’t acknowledge racism or climate change;

The General Assembly recognises that social justice is indispensable to achieving and maintaining peace and security within and among nations. "Justice cannot be achieved in the absence of peace and security or respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The Arsenal Consulting, an internationally renowned digital forensic firm in its recent report states that digital evidence used to arrest senior human rights defender Father Stan Swamy in the Bhima-Koregaon case was planted on his computer’s hard drive. This report follows previous reports which documented digital evidence planting on the devices of co-defendants Rona Wilson and Surendra Gadling.