Annual meeting of the Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat

From May 13-17, the Secretaries of the Social Apostolate from each Conference, the facilitators of the four initiatives of the Global Ignatian Advocacy Network (GIAN), the members of the Advisory Council and the core team of the Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat met at the General Curia of the Society of Jesus in Rome.

We looked with gratitude at the past and recent history of our social ministries in the places where we are. We reviewed how we articulate our work to connect local challenges and efforts with global dynamics that affect us. We also noted that the immense diversity of situations in which our work unfolds in Provinces, Conferences and apostolic services is also reflected in the way we organize the articulation of our work at the regional and global levels. Nevertheless, we felt that we are members of a single apostolic body, called together to collaborate effectively for the integral development of all humanity, in the name of faith in Jesus Christ and our ecclesial belonging.

With the prospect of celebrating in 2025 fifty years of GC 32, ten years of the encyclical Laudato Si’ and the Jubilee Year, we renew our desire to continue to be ever more generous in the “service of faith, of which the promotion of justice is an absolute requirement, in as much as it is part of the reconciliation of people required by their own reconciliation with God”.