On Tuesday, September 10, 2019, a new superior begins his service to the community of the Curia Generalizia in Rome. After consultation and with the support of his counsellors, Father General has appointed Fr. Benoît Malvaux, a member of the Francophone Western Europe (EOF) Province, the Curia’s new superior. Benoît Malvaux was born in Belgium in 1960. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1983 and was ordained in Brussels in 1993. He pronounced his final vows on November 5, 2000. Fr. Malvaux has a doctorate in canon law from Saint Paul University (Ottawa) and has taught canon law and ecclesiology at a number of universities; he is currently a lecturer at the Gregorian University. Previously, he was the superior of a community in Brussels (from 1997 to 2002), and he has been Director of the International Lumen Vitae Institute. He assumes the position of superior of the Jesuit community in the Curia “in conjunction with his other duties.” Indeed, Fr. Malvaux is the Procurator of the Society of Jesus, the person who deals with issues related to canon law and the law of the Society. Members of the community welcomed Fr. Malvaux warmly during the Eucharist which marked the beginning of his term as superior.

On Saturday, September 7, the Jesuit University of Namur inaugurated its new astronomical observatory. It has returned to its historic place, where the former dome of the Jesuit Fathers' Observatory was erected in 1882. The University Observatory is named after Antoine Thomas, a Jesuit missionary, astronomer and mathematician born in Namur in 1644 and who was an imperial astronomer in Beijing. By naming its observatory after the Jesuit Antoine Thomas, the University of Namur places this project at the heart of the scientific and educational history of Namur and associates with it the values of openness and sharing embodied by this symbolic figure of the region. At the inauguration Naji Habra, Rector of UNamur, said: "This Jesuit missionary taught many students in college and university. He had an undeniable didactic sense and pedagogical ability, a curiosity and a willingness to meet others and share his culture, whether in Namur, Lille, Coimbra in Portugal or Beijing in China. These qualities are also found in our professors, who are not only outstanding researchers, but also teachers involved in their educational mission". This local pedagogical observatory is now accessible to students, researchers, primary and secondary school students and all the curious who would like to learn about astronomy. On the occasion of this inauguration, the exhibition "From the City to the Stars" was also launched, which will allow people in Namur to discover the history of the observatory in collaboration with the Jesuit astronomer and the university, until 7 December 2019.

3D formation (in English 3S) is a three years program in Croatia for the integral development of human personality. The goal of the program is the formation of a young Christian offering to him/her an environment for personal development, growth in faith and responsible engagement in the society. 1st D stands for duh (in English: Spirit) and is directed to personal knowledge about himself/herself: Who are we and what can we offer to others? Which are our personal strengths and weaknesses. This includes group work and experiments. 2nd D stands for dušu (in English: Soul) offers the basics of Ignatian Spirituality and Retreats, working on our personal relationship with God. 3rd D stands for društvo (in English: Society) offers collaboration in different projects and associations in which someone can be effective for the other. Young people from 18 to 30 years old are involved in this program which starts this autumn. Photographs have been taken during last course which ended in June this year. The whole program is run by Jesuits who are involved in youth apostolate within the Student Catholic Academic Centre, based in the Palmotićeva community in Zagreb and around the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. The program has been extended and will start also in two other cities: Osijek and Split. For more information: www.skac.hr Here are some testimonies of participants who finished the whole three years program: “This year has brought to me a lot of good things in every aspect of my life-in my relationship with my family, others and God. ‘The door’ toward merciful Jesus gradually has become more and more open when I started to know and accept myself better and have become a mature person.” “The whole program is very meaningful, and I have felt the working of the Holy Spirit throughout the whole year; every part of the program is special. I have noticed many changes in my life, especially I managed to deal with my fears which were deeply rooted in my life and prevented me from using my talents and being more open to Jesus and others. I feel free now.” “It is an excellent way which has helped me in my formation as a person and Christian and it has given me an opportunity to remain faithful to God and to live real values and virtues.” “You are loved and supported. This helps you to love and support others.”

JESC Weekend training at La Pairelle. The weekend-long spiritual and theological workshop at La Pairelle near Namur, has concluded. This year’s topic on “Europe and the long-term global challenges” draw over 40 people to learn about, discuss, and influence the future of the European continent and the E.U., and the challenges faced by continent and Union. Like last year, the weekend workshop was introduced by Marie de Saint-Cheron and Martin Maier SJ, representing the co-organisers of the event: The “Passion for Europe”-group and the Jesuit European Social Centre (JESC).  The workshop then started off with a keynote speech by Pierre Defraigne, the Executive Director of the “Madariaga – College of Europe” Foundation, who discussed the immediate paradoxical nature of a diverse Europe needing unity to sustain the political and cultural variety found on the continent. Mr. Defraigne then gave an analysis of challenges as a result of the current European systems and conditions, and of the challenges that are likely to appear following his predicted structural changes in Europe. Ms. Eleonora Vitale (JESC) gave a reaction speech, listing a few examples of European challenges within defence, lack of proper market harmonisation and the European tech sector deficit in comparison to the US and China. A short discussion between them followed, and based on this began a session of open debate. This was the foundation of the working groups of attendees, who would each debate and discuss the topics of the sessions, and present their conclusions to the moderator team responsible for the Sunday concluding session. On Saturday, two panels were hosted on the topics of “Europe, trustee of a universal common good”, and “Europe, promoting a fair society; overcoming our differences”. Each panel consisted of motived high-level speakers from the EU institutions and the branches of advocacy surrounding them. The full list of speakers, moderators and topics can be found here. Following each panel was a group discernment process, where each section of the attendees would contribute to the debate during the group discussion sessions. Saturday evening concluded with a piano concert by pianist Maxence Pilchen in the crypt of La Pairelle, followed by an informal meeting at the La Pairelle library/bar. Wrapping up the session, Peter Rozic SJ of JESÒC and recent reinforcement to JESC Botond Feledy, presented the conclusions of the attendee groups, first focusing on the topics and conclusions that were shared among each of the five attendee groups, and then opening the floor for additional speific input to be carried on as output after the workshop. The results of these disusions, and minutes of each panel period, will be available at www.passionforeurope.com soon. Both the Jesuit European Social Centre and the “Passion for Europe”-group would like to extend a heartfelt token of gratitude to the many participants of this year’s workshop at La Pairelle, both as speakers, moderators and attendees, and hope that the workshop will bear fruit in the near and far future for the betterment of the European project. We pray that much productive discernment come from this session, and that we may continue to host workshops like these for many years to come.

Annual report JRS. 2018 has had an end-of-cycle tone for this European Regional Office. With the conclusion of the projects Protection of External Borders and Communities of Hospitality, we have closed a long cycle of three years that has focused our action, jointly with our partners, on protection of human rights at the external borders of the EU, and meaningful encounters between forcibly displaced people and their new communities in Europe. In fact, the topic of Protection is the focus of this Annual Report. The Protection of External Borders project has allowed us to realize, with concern, that the external borders of the EU are still a grey area in terms of law enforcement and the effective protection of human rights for those who arrive. Although the EU has been equipping itself with different legal instruments to ensure that protection is carried out with high standards, the reality at border posts, unfortunately, remains clearly poor.  JRS experience protecting refugees and asylum seekers in Europe was very broad in 2018. Projects sheltering vulnerable people in countries such as Macedonia, Serbia, and Greece, and visits to migrants in detention centres to provide them with legal assistance, are only a few examples of the scope of this work. Every year, the Annual Report is an opportunity to acknowledge the effort and generosity of our many benefactors, staff and volunteers. To them we offer our most sincere gratitude.  bit.ly/AnnualReportJRS-E

For the second consecutive year, the Celorio retreat house (Asturias, Spain) has organized at the end of august a series of Ecological Spiritual Exercises. Inocencio Martín SJ is the promoter of this initiative which is taking shape in this wonderful and unique environment. José Ignacio García SJ and Félix Revilla SJ have guided this shared experience with 18 participants, two Jesuits and the rest lay people from several places of Spain. The exercises are developed looking for parallels between the exercises book and the encyclical Laudato Si'. It is not difficult to find the points in common from the Principle and Foundation to the contemplation to reach Love. This means that there does not have to be parallel lines in the experience. Key concepts such as "to love, to reverence and to serve", "to use things as much as possible", "contemplatives in action", "inhabited and worked presence of God in creatures", "the two flags", the three ways of humility, the binaries, the gaze of Jesus on the world and history and so many others, find in the Laudato Si’ an extraordinary and natural accommodation. Also part of the experience is the possibility of sharing one's personal experience and the work in which each one carries out his activity, together with some formation through the "talks". The Celorio retreat house will continue to offer this experience. Next year it will be at the end of July and Manolo Rodríguez Carrera SJ is the person responsible for reserving the places.