Jesuit Summers

As most of the northern hemisphere moves into its summer break, Jesuits (and particularly Jesuits in formation) take up various summer programmes and apostolates. Some of my noviceship class (almost entirely based out of London) will be going to (or organising!) language schools; some are going on pilgrimage; most will do a little travelling; one is going to Malta to work with Jesuit Refugee Service.

Here in India, the summer programme is over (summer months here are April-May) and most of the scholastics are back to school/regency/studies etc. Between home visits (my parents were down for the summer), I joined the scholastics of the Kerala Province for part of their well-organised summer programme. Along with two Kerala scholastics, I gave a spoken English course to postgraduate students of the Jesuit-run Loyola College in Trivandrum. Most of these students came from very underprivileged backgrounds and went as far as they did in their education only through sheer determination and hard work. I was very impressed by their work ethic and willingness to learn even when some of the exercises (like tense-syntax drills) must've been quite tedious. They also cooperated magnificently with our instruction that they were not to speak in any language but English throughout the course (even in their own rooms or on calls home). I also attended a week's course on Social and Cultural Analysis with the other scholastics. Speakers included M.K. George SJ (Director, Indian Sociological Institute, Bangalore), Prof. Skaria Zechariah (retd. Professor, Kalady Sanskrit University and faculty member at the Jesuit Regional Theologate in Kalady), Baby Chalil SJ (Director, Tribal Development Institute, Wayanad) and Ms Vijitha (a Calicut-based women's rights activist). There was a lot of serious food for thought in those sessions and highlighted the need for Jesuits today to be truly 'men of depth' (in sociology, economics, cultural studies, media studies etc.) for our mission, particularly among and for the poor, to be successful. Following the course, I attended the inaugural ceremonies of the Golden Jubilee of the Kerala Province (although the history of Jesuit activity in the Kerala region goes back to St Francis Xavier himself). The highlight of the ceremonies was the 12-hour Adoration the day before the inaugural function and the inauguration Mass itself - concelebrated by five bishops from two rites! Immediately after the celebrations, I joined the Kerala scholastics for a specially-organised annual retreat - which was a retreat of Movement and Dance (report on that later).

I am now back at the Jesuit HQ in Calicut gathering all my visa documentation together to return to London in autumn.