WANTING TO BE PRESENT IN SOLIDARITY AND COMPASSION

IGNATIAN FAMILY ENCOUNTER and WORLD SOCIAL FORUM

Nairobi

17-19 January 2007

 

“As the Risen Lord, he is now present in all who suffer, all who are oppressed, all those whose lives are broken by sin. As he is present, so too we too want to be present, in solidarity and compassion, where the human family is most damaged” (GC 34, D 2.4)

 

 

1. Introduction

 

By calling Jesuits and apostolic partners ‘servants of Christ mission’, GC 34 defines our apostolic identity in terms of service. Starting from the foundational moment of Ignatius vision at La Storta, Christ’s call to Ignatius is understood as calling him to be “servant of his mission, to labour with him under the same Cross until his work is accomplished” (D 2.4). 

 

In the tradition of the Spiritual Exercises, the mission of Christ is understood as a response of the Blessed Trinity to the sins and miseries afflicting our world. The Incarnation, and his public life labouring to bring the Kingdom through word and deed is an expression of his service to the Father. We are asked to imitate him, and hence we become companions of Jesus in carrying out this mission. “As companions of Jesus our identity is inseparable from our mission” (D 2.4).

 

This Workshop, in the context of Africa, attempts to recover this foundational experience of Ignatius as a beacon illuminating the spiritual and social transformation we are struggling to achieve.  This is in line with GC 34 which asserts that structural and social transformation begins with spiritual conversion: “The promotion of justice requires, before all else, our own continuing personal conversion--finding Jesus Christ in the brokenness of our world...under the standard of the Cross.” (D 3.17).  The pre-forum workshop thus offers an opportunity for the universal Society of Jesus to rejoice with the graces that Jesuits and the people of Africa have received, share their achievements, re-discover the source of our spirituality in the apostolic activities we are engaged in and respond to current and future challenges. We are aware that the integral development of the peoples of Africa has become an international apostolic priority of the Society.

 

This is the first time that the World Social Forum will take place in Africa. The WSF is an open forum bringing together diverse categories of people and organisations including social activists, community leaders, grassroots organisations, NGOs, trade unions, university students, academics and others. The WSF sessions are meant to prompt reflections on global organisational structures and their implications on the majority of people in the globe. The expected outcome is that the reflections would provoke informed actions at  local, national and global levels through an inter-web of networking and solidarity.

 

Since its inception in 2001 in Porte Alegre, Brazil, Jesuits and their collaborators, hereby referred to as the Ignatian Family, have been participating in WSF advocating for better living standards and transformation of unjust social, economic and political and structures that continue to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.  The Society has since taken a deliberate decision to collaborate with social movements all over the world to bring social change. In the Acts of the first meeting of the Social Apostolate Coordinators, it affirmed that Jesuits, as an international body, “must actively participate (becoming members whenever appropriate) in social movements like the World Social Forum and international summits on ecology, sustainable development and other issues organised by various UN bodies where civil society organises parallel encounters.” The Assistancy Coordinators of the Jesuit Social Apostolate at their annual meeting in Rome in 2005 decided to support any initiative that Jesuits in Nairobi may like to undertake.

 

2. Objectives

 

The general objective is to strengthen the Social Apostolate (peace and justice work) in Africa and increase international cooperation with Africa. The importance of Jesuit/Ignatian participation at the WSF-Nairobi may be summed up in four main points –

 

Ø                        It is the first event of this kind to take place in Africa and Africa is an apostolic priority for the Society of Jesus

Ø                        It is an occasion to generate enthusiasm and collaboration among Jesuits and collaborators in the African Assistancy;

Ø                        It is a unique chance to transmit to the whole world the hopes of the Society of Jesus: Africa and the Africans have something to contribute to the world, and as subjects they will take their own destiny in their hands.

Ø                        The WSF offers an opportunity for broader networking and advocacy in changing the social, economic and political situation in Africa

 

In the context of the joys and sufferings of the peoples of Africa, the Workshop aims specifically at,

 

Ø                        developing the Ignatian perspective (spirituality) or value-framework that has been guiding the Ignatian family’s apostolic commitment to the transformation of individuals and communities,  and providing an opportunity for African Jesuits and members of the Ignatian Family engaged in social Apostolates (Ministries) to reflect on our Ignatian vision and our apostolic activities motivated by this vision and plan accordingly our joint collaboration and action (Internal objective).

 

Ø                        strengthening the existing apostolic initiatives for social transformation and planning an effective partnership and networking among them and allowing members of the Ignatian family during the WSF to interact with other international members of the family, establish networks with other institutions and organisations and provide visibility to our activities in Africa. (External objective)

 

3. Methodology

 

To achieve the internal objective:

 

Ø                        Pre-forum

 

The Pre-forum will provide a platform for a deeper reflection and exchange on Ignatian spirituality and values as well as on specific social issues of concern for Africa and the entire globe as well.  It will be an opportunity to share experiences on regional problems from a local and global perspective thanks to the participation of African and non-African delegates. The Pre-forum will be also be an occasion to strengthen our networking and make our social Apostolate more effective and relevant to the challenges of the times.

 

To achieve external objective

 

Ø                        Ignatian Family at the WSF

 

In order to foster dialogue and sharing among IF members the delegation will be hosted in one single venue and will meet daily to discuss and share lessons learned and experiences of the WSF.  There will also be daily meetings to reflect on the daily events of the day and the Ignatian calling in social ministries.  The Ignatian Family will participate in events organized by other institutions and organization. The family will be part of the larger Catholic coordination body and will mutually participate in each other’s activities. 

 

To achieve the twin objectives outlined above, two complementary types of sessions are planned - plenary and workshop.

 

Plenary Sessions

 

·                Each day will start and end with a plenary session.

·                The starting plenary will develop the Ignatian framework to guide our reflections in the various workshops.

·                The closing plenary will provide a moment to share the work done in the specific Workshops  and discern our way ahead.

 

Workshops

 

The pre-forum workshops will deal with five main themes specially significant for Africa but having also an international dimension. Each of these five workshops will be organised by five different organisations within the Ignatian Family (JRS, AJAN, CLC/CEPAS/CEFOD, HIPSIR, and IJND).

 

The Pre-Forum Encounter will be guided by a Steering Committee (SC). In the afternoon of the third day, following a simple methodology of common discernment, the SC will suggest a methodology for discerning, first within the workshop-groups and then at the plenary, on the most pressing concerns for the Ignatian family in Africa and the world. This process may lead to adopting a few strategic choices in our common apostolic endeavours.

 

Presentation of a joint Seminar/Workshop at the WSF

 

The Ignatian Family will have a Workshop/Seminar (3 hours) presentation on one of the days of the WSF.  This event will be officially registered with the organisation of the WSF. The presentation will be based on the five thematic discussions at the pre-forum.  The five topics at the pre-forum will provide the case studies for reflecting on the emerging spirituality (and values) for social action. On the basis of the reflections of the five workshops, this joint effort would attempt to reflect in public on the cross-cutting Ignatian spirituality for social action.

This will contribute to the public debate on social issues and gain mileage on the visibility of Ignatian institutions and their activities. The presentation will be based on one or several thematic discussions at the Pre-forum. 

 

 

Themes for the Plenary

 

In our desire to be present in solidarity and compassion as one Ignatian family to the achievements and opportunities in Africa we may consider three Ignatian principles that may illuminate our daily reflections and our discussion in the Workshops.

 

(1)                    Discerning and reading the signs of the times. For Ignatius, every apostolic decision was preceded by discernment and prayer. He reminds us repeatedly in the Spiritual Exercises of the need to examine our life and see where the Lord is calling us. He writes, for example that “he who is giving the Exercises ought not to influence him who is receiving them” (15th Annotation). To be able to make a good election each one has “to come to the contrary of what he is wrongly drawn to” (16th Annotation). Discernment is not only an individual but a communitarian exercise.

 

Apostolic efficacy depends also in being capable of reading and interpreting the signs of the time (Meditation of the Incarnation). Our spiritual transformation may start by asking some questions: to what extent are our apostolic choices the result of serious analysis, and prayerful communitarian discernment? Given the challenges of our times, what commitment is the Lord calling us to? To what an extent are we aware of the ‘spiritual’ dimension of our service, of the source and inspiration of what we do?

 

(2)                    The Ignatian way of proceeding. GC34 D13 attempted to describe the Ignatian way of proceeding, that is, a set of Ignatian values that should guide our apostolic commitment. We need to reflect to what an extent they form part of our life and of the apostolic strategies we follow. We need to examine the extent to which we have shared them with our partners in our social institutions or centres. We need also to reflect on the way in which they have been integrated into our plans and projects. This clearly involves a reflection on the Ignatian pedagogy to be followed in social transformation and carried out in dialogue with other religions and cultures.  In particular, the call of the ‘magis’ during the Spiritual Exercises calls us to make offerings of great generosity.  Sometimes we are overwhelmed by the situations that confront us, but the Lord calls us to perseverance and persistence in faith. While we need to be open to hear the voice and follow the path of God, we are also called to be generous in committing ourselves to effecting social change. We may ask ourselves: Individually and as an apostolic body, are we ready to move and go where nobody else goes? Are we a credible Body?

 

(3)                    One universal Body: While rooted in local conditions, the Society of Jesus is one “universal body” at the service of Christ. While fostering communities ad dispersionem, the Society must be capable of working apostolically in an integrated manner. More specifically, as an Ignatian family we need to profit from collaboration and synergies particularly given that “to prepare our complex and divided world for the coming of the Kingdom requires a plurality of gifts, perspectives, and experiences, both international and multicultural.” (D 26.16) We may ask ourselves: what have we achieved in working as a body, as an Ignatian family in Africa? What opportunities for partnership have we missed in effecting social change? How do we live the tension between the ‘local’ and the ‘universal’? What are the steps we need to take? What would we expect from the rest of the Society outside Africa?