ESSC - 1. Jesuit Scholastics Social Apostolate Summer Program Mindanao Philippines

1. Jesuit Scholastics Social Apostolate Summer Program Mindanao Philippines

Friday, 10 July 2009

Loyola Heights is still quiet; the scholastics are back from their summer work where they seek to develop further skills in social program implementation and management like meeting documentation, village water system manual, sarisari store bookkeeping, project review evaluation and reporting.

All returned safely from their time in Mindanao each with a story or two to tell. Sch. Ro Atilano saw the Pacific for the first time off of Leyte as he visited Panaon Island and the three major landslide sites of the 2003 and 2006 disasters. He shared six main insights: (1) In disasters, it is the poor that are mostly affected. (2) Livelihood is one, if not the most, important factors in considering areas for relocation. (3) Empowering the people through capacity and capability building can help sustain the life of a community in a relocation site. (4) Disaster is perceived as God's plan. Yet, for the people, it is the same God who does not abandon them in these times of trial. (5) Disaster is only considered as such if lives are lost in the incident. (6) Government has the primary responsibility to address the needs of disaster victims. These thoughts were drawn from what was experienced or understood by the actions undertaken in many of the post-disaster sites where sadly much as yet has to be accomplished.

Schs. Jun-G Bargayo and Philip Yohan were in the Cotabato, in the areas of Rentil and Ranao in Upi and of Matuber and Tubuan in Datu Blah Sinsuat seeing the formulation of Barangay Development Plans and implementation of water systems, while drawing up posters for training. They lost their cell phone along the road and the process of negotiations to find it was a learning experience of relationships and trust across cultures. They helped evaluate the development in the program and its difficulties so that the work could be concluded.

Schs. Neil Pagalan and Madz Tumbali stayed with an upland community, Bendum, on the margins of Malaybalay City to engage the youth and help them with the "favorites" of algebra and English. This was accomplished with much enthusiasm. The experience of working was very enriching and easy for the youth as Neil and Madz built relationships with openness and active response. Given the uneasy peace in the area they responded to the shifts by creating an engaging and promising environment.

We started the program with a workshop for the scholastics and some staff that included several steps:

historical overview of the social context
discussion on ‘faith that does justice'
reflection time on the questions we might ask in the areas of: socio-cultural, economic, political and historical in order to understand the real issues
discussion on globalization and marginalization
review of the different degrees of GC 32, 34 and 35

Afterwards participants were asked to be prepared to

make a summary statement of their experience
draw out specific insights they can stand by and make a value statement
keeping at hand the Gospel each day as they journeyed with some consideration as to "where I find myself at the end of the experience."

In the final gathering we asked, "what did we learn from the summer engagement?"

We are often caught with themes and concepts narrower than the 'Sign of the Times' and this was an occassion to reflect more broadly on lifes experience how we seek to save. Social apostolate is not one of many apostolates, it is a way of experiencing, thinking, reflecting and acting that is crucial to the personal development of all Jesuits and their communication with others.Yet it need occassion for focused learning and capacity development.

What helps us develop beyond the mere "experience" of summer social apostolate?

Deeper reflections of a particular social problem before the summer, engagement and some projections ahead of critical area engagement are important during formation. Also the critical dialogue of our times between theological and social reflection still lacks the appreciation of methods and review for the greater witness of the Church in the world. The response has to be more than charitable; some greater appreciation of the social sciences is necessary, requiring intellectual understanding and theological integration along the way. In today's world social analysis is a critical and active experience that must feed into social theology, which can be seen an orientation of all theologies: an aspect of basic direction for all. If such social analysis is not learned in JP years there is little chance of a well developed social theology except for those that go on for further theological studies. These scholastics take this challenge forward!