St Ignatius Parish

When Ignatius and the early companions began this new order, which was called “the Company of Jesus”, which we now call “The Society of Jesus”, commonly known as Jesuits, they saw their mission as the service of Faith. This mission ultimately became linked with the promotion of justice, as its integrating principle. So recently when the Jesuits gathered in Rome, firstly to elect a new superior general, Adolfo Nicolas, and then look at what new directions our mission should take, they listened carefully to the Pope, as he told them the church needs the Jesuits to be true to their mission. He said:

“Your congregation takes place in a period of great social, economic, and political changes; sharp ethical, cultural and environmental problems, conflicts of all kinds, but also of more intense communication among peoples, of new possibilities of acquaintance and dialogue, of a deep longing for peace. All these are situations that challenge the Catholic Church and its ability to announce to our contemporaries the Word of hope and salvation.” So taking this as a starting point the boys got together and gave us a document on Mission, which has as its sub-title “Sent the Frontiers”, and even the name is a challenge.

So the invitation is to examine what these frontiers might be in our world of today. When we began our mission in Northern Uganda, it was kind of easy to define the frontier. The end of the road was a place called Moyo, and where we began our work, Adjumani, was the end of the world. There was no infrastructure, no roads, no electricity, no education, very primitive medicine, hardly any law and order, overrun by rebels... But let's ponder a bit, is this what the real frontier might be?

Jesus admonishes us in the Gospel: “Do not be afraid of those who can kill body but cannot kill the soul; fear, rather, the one who can destroy both body and soul”.

The question for us is what can destroy both body and soul? What are the forces in our world that are denying people the possibility of their right to live and develop their own cultures? Where are the blockages to reconciliation, either between peoples, or with those who have been hurt? Maybe the frontiers become the ways to build bridges across barriers, of addressing the “erosion of traditional religious beliefs, and the tendency to homogenise cultures... giving rise to a variety of forms of religious fundamentalism”. (decree 3, #22)

Maybe the challenge of confronting these new frontiers is addressed to us here, to examine our quality of life, the care of the environment, the effect of globalization which seems to be a massive force that excludes and exploits the weak and the poor, which intensifies exclusion on the basis of religion, race, caste and gender.

The decree continues:

“Our response to these situations must come from our deep faith in the Lord who calls us to work with others for the Kingdom of God, for the establishment of right relationships among people and with creation. In this way we cooperate with the Lord in building a new future in Christ for a 'globalization in solidarity, a globalization without marginalization”. (#30)