Four young Australians have high hopes for a Living Laudato Si’ Spirituality for Action Workshop in the Philippines.
The Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) workshop, with the theme ‘Deepening our work through the Universal Apostolic Preferences’, will bring together young and emerging leaders from across the region.
Over the three-day August 2019 workshop, participants will deepen their knowledge of ecology across Asia-Pacific; reflect on Pope Francis’ ecological teaching Laudato Si’; hear Jesuit wisdom/experience; and explore how as individuals and groups, they can live Laudato Si’.
This residential workshop involves living simply and learning from indigenous people of northern Mindanao.
The four Australian participants are:
Alma Gatica, a 34-year old Sydney woman who is currently a fundraising and development coordinator at Jesuit Refugee Service. Alma’s upbringing in Guatemala and employment experiences have shown her that environmental degradation and resource scarcity exacerbate conflicts in the poorest nations and are a catalyst for forced displacement.
She said: ‘This is a wonderful opportunity to learn and reflect on Laudato Si’, and to participate in the dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet.’
Timothy Weber, a 22 year-old man from Melbourne and a member of the Hawthorn Parish, where he has volunteered as a catechist, in youth ministry and soup van programs. He is currently studying to be a high school teacher at Australian Catholic University.
Tim said he hopes the workshop experience will enable him to ‘develop a greater understanding of the Asia-Pacific and of the challenges that face our region’. He expects to be able to apply his learnings both in his teaching career and throughout the rest of his life.
Teriza Mir, a 19 year-old woman from Sydney and a volunteer at The Cardoner Project.
Through Cardoner, she contributed to a six-month project in Sri Lanka.
She said: ‘I believe the workshop will provide me with greater insights and tools as to how I can combine my desire to improve the lives of the disadvantaged, and to help ensure the future of our planet, with my faith, and hopefully how I can instigate change in my community in that way.’
Josh Lourensz, a 30 year-old man from Melbourne who is employed at Jesuit Social Services where his main role is coordinating the Catholic Alliance for People Seeking Asylum (CAPSA). He is also a member of the Society of St Vincent de Paul and is currently a part of a working group investigating a national ecologically just social procurement framework.
Josh is aware of the difficulties individuals face in trying to live in a just and environmentally sustainable manner both in developing and developed countries. He said: ‘I want to be a part of structured, careful, radical change — so that we, together, can make a society where it is easier to be good. ’
In preparation for the workshop, the participants will meet each other in a video conference where they will discuss the pre-workshop reading and their expectations for the workshop. They will also have a video conference in the weeks after their return to discuss learnings, wisdom and practical action in the Jesuit ministry with which they are associated.
This will be an opportunity for them to review what they wrote on their application form about the ways they anticipated they would give back to their Jesuit ministry.
The four were chosen from ten applicants. Lawrie Hallinan, Chair of the Province Reconciliation with Creation Advisory Group said: ‘Our selection panel was thrilled to have so many enthusiastic and high-quality applicants — although it made the final decision very difficult.’
Young adults were invited to apply to participate in the JCAP Living Laudato Si’ workshop as a way of addressing both the Universal Apostolic Preferences and the priorities in the Australian Jesuit Province Apostolic Plan 2019-24. It is hoped this will become an annual project.