The
General Superior of the Society of Jesus, Father Adolfo Nicolás, recently visited
Pakistan, where he blessed the Province Mission in Lahore, led by Australian
Jesuit Renato Zecchin.
Four
Jesuits serve at the Mission, which is part of the Sri Lankan Province, working
in the field of education. Fr Nicolás was en route from a visit to Sri Lanka, a
country which shares Pakistan's precarious political state, including the rise
of fundamentalism.
'These
visits confirm the general impression of other visits', said Fr Nicolás. 'At
the level of individual Jesuits I find our men excellent, dedicated, with many
good talents and spiritual gifts. In smaller regions, like these two, I also
find a lack of resources. One consequence is that it becomes especially
difficult to plan and to discern according to our priorities. This applies
especially to formation as an investment in depth for our life and apostolate.'
Fr
Nicolás added that Jesuits needed to continue offering a consistent and
credible witness if they wanted people to pay attention to them as a group of
religious with a spiritual message and with hope.
He
said that while the Jesuits' presence in Pakistan is extremely modest, he hoped
the Society will feel the need and the responsibility to help strengthen this
small presence. 'I am convinced that it has an important role to play. Vis-à-vis
the Muslim majority, a Christian presence can be a source of inspiration that,
as such, will always include a challenge to be genuine, to live faith in depth
and to deal with other human beings with compassion, generosity and fairness. We
can encourage and cooperate with the many Religious and lay persons who want to
transform Pakistani society for the better.'
Footnote: Australian Jesuit and Islamic scholar Fr Herman Roborgh SJ
was at the Mission during Fr Nicolás visit. During his time there Fr Herman
worked on the Islamic section of the Loyola Hall Robert Butler SJ library, gave
a seminar on Dialogue to the Juniorate Program Sisters at Loyola, and helped
with Urdu masses at St Anthony's Church.
Pictured: Fr Adolfo Nicolás, centre, visits locals along with Australian Jesuit Fr Renato Zecchin, right.