From May 14 to 18, 2019, the Jesuit Education Secretaries flew into Taipei for their annual meeting.
This year the meeting was focused on: (a) the global event being hosted by Indonesia next year, the II COLLOQUIUM JESEDU JOGJA 2020, where about 500 leaders of Jesuit schools from around the world are expected to congregate in Jogjakarta, Indonesia, and (b) the concrete ways in which the recently announced Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus can be promoted by our schools.
The group took the opportunity to visit St. Ignatius High School (徐匯中學), where the education secretaries learned about the school’s flagship formation program called LIFE EDUCATION. The campus tour was capped with a sumptuous Chinese banquet courtesy of the Chinese Provincial, Fr. Stephen Chow SJ.
Apart from the annual reports from the Provinces and the Regions, the meeting featured a discussion on the newly announced Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus. To concretize the conversations, the education secretaries identified what they considered “crucial threats” and “promising opportunities” in their work of education.
These served as the context to the discussion of the UAPs.
The discussions were rich and full of fresh insights that should guide our schools in concretizing these apostolic preferences this decade. The conversations about the UAPs are expected to continue among our schools.
The meeting proceeded smoothly and yielded rich insights. We thank our hosts, Fr. Stephen Chow SJ, and the Jesuit communities of Holy Family Parish and Tien Educational Center in Taipei!