The Jesuit Order has always been reknowned for its educational and missionary work. But for the last 450 years, it has also been committed to work in the social sector, in what is now referred to as the Jesuit Social Apostolate.
Throughout the world, Jesuits and their co-workers are involved in a broad range of different social programs. This range from direct grass roots involvements with the poor and the disadvantaged, through to social institutes that reflect on the social concerns of a particular society and work to bring about change.
Jesuit Social Services aims to reflect the specific Jesuit or Ignatian value base within its ministry by combining both of these different areas of involvement: grass root ministry and social policy and public advocacy and research.
In the last thirty years, forty members of the Jesuit Order have been executed in response to their commitment to bringing about a more just social order.
The Jesuit Order takes this commitment very seriously.
Within Australia our closest social ministries include the Corpus Christi Community at Greenvale, a community of homeless alcoholic men, and the work of a small number of Jesuits working directly with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, in Alice Springs and Darwin.
An important commitment of the Jesuit Order throughout the world is through the Jesuit Refugee Service and in some small ways, Jesuit Social Services aims to support this work by its involvement in providing practical assistance to persons seeking refuge or asylum in Australia. |
Fr Ian Dillon SJ
Jesuit Social Services Chaplain
Fr Adolfo Nicholas SJ
Jesuit Superior Genral
|
|
