Jesuits from Asia-Pacific in the Time of Laudato si’: Reconciliation with Creation

Abstract

Jesuit Conference Asia-Pacific established a “Reconciliation with Creation,” a comprehensive program that aims to enable greater environmental awareness and participation in caring for all forms of life. As part of this program, Jesuit pastoral ministries with the poor and beyond are integrating social and ecological objectives. Meanwhile, Jesuit schools are embarking upon a new learning curve with many new social engagements and technologies that may enact greater ecological integration and accountability. Likewise, as part of this initiative, Jesuit communities themselves are learning to audit their consumption and waste. Climatic events, as those that have devastated many different communities that this conference represents, are currently the focus of many Jesuit institutions as they seek to develop protocol beyond relief to disaster risk reduction (drr). Accordingly, in order to address this urgent challenge, sustainability science needs to adapt so that it becomes problem-focused, and a critical element in this endeavor is the capacity of Jesuit institutes to network and collaborate with others. Grounded in gratitude and engaging with hope, “Reconciliation with Creation” is essentially an invitation to act that concurrently seeks to gradually deepen the experience of the sacred.