Munich/Rome - Fr. Jan Roser SJ was confirmed as Provincial of the German Province of the Jesuits. Superior General Fr. Arturo Sosa SJ has now officially appointed him Provincial, until July 31st he was according to the title still Vice-Provincial. Reason for this new arrangement is the death of the previous Provincial, Fr. Johannes Siebner SJ. Roser had taken over the leadership of the German Province on March 18th until further notice, after Father Siebner had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. In a letter to Jan Roser the Superior General of the Jesuits has now communicated the confirmation of the leadership of the German Province. In this letter he stresses that the Province needs an efficient leadership in order to found the new Central European Province in April 2021. As future Provincial of the new Province to be founded the General had only recently appointed Fr. Bernhard Bürgler SJ, who will take office on the day of the foundation, April 27, 2021. In his letter Sosa also paid tribute to Roser for his commitment in the past months: "I would like to express my gratitude for the readiness and generosity with which you have accepted this challenge in a truly extraordinary and difficult situation. I am deeply grateful for the way you have faced up to this responsibility." Father Jan Roser SJ was born in 1969 in Freiburg i.Br. and entered the Society of Jesus in 1996 after his high school graduation and first years of study. He studied philosophy and theology in Freiburg, Munich and Paris. From 2014 to 2019 he was Spiritual Rector of the Catholic Academy Hamburg and pastor of the French speaking Catholics of Hamburg. Since September 2019 he was Socius of the Provincial and Superior of the Formation Community of Aloisius Gonzaga in Munich.

A pilgrimage movie on the footsteps of St.Ignatius. 2021/22 will see a worldwide commemoration of the famous pilgrimage of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. On the eve of the jubilee year, a documentary titled Camino Ignaciano was filmed this August. The movie recalls the journey of the founder of the Jesuit order from Loyola to Manresa, and is planned to be screened at the 500th anniversary celebrations of the renowned event worldwide. The 90 minutes documentary, recorded at historic sites in Spain, will present how a pilgrimage may become a spiritual journey. In the movie a Jesuit guide, José Luis Iriberri SJ accompanied the spiritual exercises of four Hungarian pilgrims. He walked with them the way Saint Ignatius set foot on 500 years ago from Loyola to Manresa, and at the same time will guide the viewers on their inner journey. Following the still less known route of Camino Ignaciano in Spain, the viewers may become acquainted with the spiritual and visual beauty of the pilgrimage and also become familiar with the Saint Ignatian spirituality. José Luis Iriberri SJ is a master in counselling at Ramon Llull University, Barcelona. He is the founder and director of the bureau of Camino Ignaciano, and is the co-author of books on the route. He guides pilgrim groups several times a year. The director of the film is the Hungarian Ferenc Tolvaly, the director of El Camino and other pilgrimage movies. The creative director is the Hungarian Lajos Kovács SJ, doctor of communication sciences, professor at Corvinus University of Budapest. He has also worked as a television director and a cameraman. The premiere is scheduled to the spring of 2021, the opening of the Jubilee Year of Saint Ignatius. The script was approved by father Iriberri and the leadership of the Hungarian Province of the Society of Jesus; the latter is the patron of the film, providing professional counselling for the project. Video with Fr. José Luis Iriberri

Continue your studies or find another job? Engaging in a relationship or giving your life to God? The Déclic (Click) Year is a course offered to 22-32 year olds by the Magis network. A new edition is launched at the beginning of September. Led by Jesuits, religious sisters and lay people of Ignatian spirituality, the Déclic Year is part of the dynamics of the Synod of Bishops on youth, faith and vocational discernment. Valentine, who lived this year "not like the others" testifies to his journey and the fruits he received. "I wanted to do the Déclic Year because I felt within me the desire to advance in the discernment of my vocation, in the broadest sense of the term. I had the impression that I had many options open to me without being able to know which one(s) was the one(s) that corresponded best to me. A year of discernment while staying in my daily life was something perfect. Indeed, I did not necessarily have the time to take a year's break from my studies to make these choices. That's the advantage of the Year at a Glance: everything is organized to walk with others while continuing one's professional and personal life. For this, we have spiritual accompaniment wherever we are, as well as, if we wish, a team of young people who participate or not in the Déclic year, with whom we meet about once a month. The Déclic Year is about walking with other young people to find out what Christ's will is for me. I greatly appreciated the fraternity that was created among us. We did not know each other when we arrived at the first weekend, and strong bonds were formed as we went along. The fruits were many, but I think that the most important thing for me was to put Christ back at the centre of my life and to learn to listen to Him again. This year requires a certain commitment, precious time to move forward with Christ and so that, little by little, our relationship with the Lord becomes incarnate in our daily lives. Valentine,Student The testimonial of Valentine Other testimonials  

Our community MAGIS for young people (high school students) led by the Jesuits in many parts of the PME province (Southern Poland) had to face pandemic restrictions on summer activities. Unfortunately, we had to resign from our annual big events: 10 days of retreats and a festival - Ignatian Youth Days, which gather about 400 participants every year. After discerning, searching and asking God what we might do in this situation, we decided to do something simple, but with the same Ignatian dynamics that young people can experience every year in Magis. There were also many voices from our young friends who asked us to organise something that would help them to refrain from using laptops and the Internet after months of online education. For many of them, our Ignatian retreats were the only time they could leave home this year. One of the several events taking place in the local Magis communities was a one-week retreat at the Jesuit villa in Stara Wieś (27 July - 2 August). The communities of Magis from Krakow, Bytom and Gliwice went together to celebrate this special time of intense prayer, sport and friendship. Indeed, we remained safe and healthy, sharing our faith and enthusiasm. 

José de Pablo will be the new CLC World Vice-Ecclesiastical Assistant. On Friday, August 28, the Christian Life Community announced the appointment of José de Pablo, SJ as the new Vice-Ecclesiastical Assistant for the world. This appointment will take effect on September 1. In a published letter, the community announces the profile of its new assistant, a Spanish Jesuit who will combine this dedication with his recent assignment to Manresa, where he will collaborate in the Sanctuary of Santa Cova during the time of celebration of the centenary of the conversion, Ignatius 500. Fr. José de Pablo and the CLC-Exco The main task entrusted to José de Pablo is to accompany the World CLC Executive Council in its discernment and decision-making processes. To this end he will participate in the bimonthly meetings of the World ExCo - which are held online - as well as the annual meeting of the Council. He will also participate in the next General Assembly - scheduled for 2023. As part of his role, he will be available, in contact and dialogue with the World Ecclesiastical Assistant (Father Arturo Sosa). He will also have to maintain a regular dialogue with the President and Executive Secretary of CLC. Finally, the Vice-Assistant is expected to help deepen CLC's institutional dialogue with the Society of Jesus, and to accompany CLC's relationship with the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. We wish CLC the best of luck and we wish José the best of luck in accompanying this lay and Ignatian apostolic body in his mission and his following of Jesus.

Br. Michael Schöpf SJ has been appointed Deputy International Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) and will begin his new task in Rome on January 1, 2021. He was with the Jesuit Refugee Service in Brussels for ten years, six of them as director, is chairman of the advisory board of MISEREOR, the development cooperation agency of the German Bishops' Conference, and member of the advisory board of JRS Germany. Today he works for Jesuits Worldwide, the German Jesuits' work for international solidarity. At the beginning of August you were appointed deputy director of the International Jesuit Refugee Service. You will begin your new task in January 2021 in Rome. How do you feel about the new challenge? It was a great surprise! Something familiar, familiar is coming back, now on a global level. And at the same time I feel the changes of the last years, which also lead me to new challenges: an increased polarization in public opinion or new situations like climate change, which forces people to flee. What does this appointment mean for you in an international context? Before the novitiate [the two-year probationary period when I entered the Order] I studied philosophy at the University of Munich. At 26 I went with JRS to Africa, to Kenya and later to Uganda and Rwanda. I found that I felt comfortable in a cultural context that was not mine, and so I decided to continue to look for my way in social and human rights oriented fields of work. With us Jesuits this area is called social apostolate. This path led me to JRS Europe from 2005 to 2014, including 6 years as director based in Brussels. At present I am with the Jesuit Mission and also teach in a master's course in Würzburg in the subject of migration studies. My involvement with Misereor also helps me to see our world as one in which we are all dependent on each other. The fact that I was chosen for this leadership position challenges me to apply much of what I have learned and experienced in a global context. What did you take away from your time at JRS in Brussels? During this time I learned the necessary tools and I know what it means to expand an office, to establish structures for efficient cooperation between countries and to engage in advocacy work for refugees. It was very important for me to learn what exactly happens in the individual countries in Europe, how the people who came to us live, what is needed and where the problems were. We gathered information and experience in accompanying people, and then developed concrete programmes of support. For example, we conducted a study on detention pending deportation in cooperation with the University of Vienna. We wanted to show: this is what deportation detention looks like from the perspective of the people concerned. And this must be the starting point for politics if it is to be credible - for us and for the fugitives. We ourselves are only taken seriously if we take other people seriously in their dignity. Of course, we then made concrete proposals for legislation on this basis. Were there any programs that you introduced with particular commitment? In some cases we started with very small initiatives. One of our first projects was a training concept for all those who worked in deportation prisons: for police officers, administrative officials, volunteers and church employees together. It was important for us to bring all participants into conversation with each other and to encourage them to change their perspective. Above all, however, it was also important to adopt the perspective of the detainees. Another problem we tackled at European level was that of so-called destitution. The legal situation gave the refugees neither an opportunity to work nor any social benefits. The lack of a work permit led to various problems for those concerned, such as no health insurance. They could not even take responsibility for their own lives. We noticed these problems and mobilised society in various countries. Through seminars, we have raised awareness of the effects on the lives of those affected and called for a political will to shape the situation. During your time as director of JRS Europe, were there any transnational programs outside the EU? The JRS was then active on both sides of the European external borders. One focus of our work was to develop programmes to help people on the external borders who were directly suffering from the effects of European isolation. And for us Europeans, it was about perceiving this reality as it is, not just as I like to imagine it, for my self-protection. As a European region of the JRS, we have been able to work together on the points where we can amplify the voices of those who have fled, also by accompanying people on both sides of the borders and confronting both realities. What new aspects compared to your work in Europe do you want to bring to the global level? I stopped working in Brussels 6 years ago. Now that I am returning to the work of JRS, our society is much more polarized. The concerns of refugees are perhaps immediately clearer than before. But also the need for reconciliation with them and with ourselves! For this we need a new perspective on human dignity, theirs and ours. It is time to engage in even more dialogue with the refugees. During a visit to a deportation prison a few years ago, a wave of aggression struck me. Those who were held and crammed together there also blamed me for their desperate situation, and I found myself a part of the system that kept them there. On leaving the deportation prison I met a young man who behaved differently, sitting alone and withdrawn in a quiet corner. When I approached him, he calmly said that he was preparing for an English lesson which he was about to give to others. "This is how I maintain my dignity in this situation," he explained his commitment to me. "And so I help the others at least a little, because then they might even be able to read the letters of the government that decides their fate." I could see that he had reconciled himself with his situation and that he was able to do something that would bear fruit for others and therefore for him as well. He had succeeded in creating new life. I would also like to contribute to this with my work. This experience made clear to me the power of reconciliation. What is the prerequisite for reconciliation? It requires the readiness for genuine encounter. I must be ready to let myself be changed by the encounter. To be ready to see reality from the perspective of the other person. Detention pending deportation is not an unfortunately unavoidable measure to prepare for departure. It is experienced as a fundamental intervention in a person's freedom, which brings his or her life to an indefinite halt. How would I feel if I had fled from violence and then were in prison, not knowing what to do next? How would I look into the eyes of a person who has had exactly this happen in my country? Many of our policies make such people invisible: in prisons, beyond our external borders or through forced poverty. Reconciliation can begin where I am ready to engage with this reality and allow myself to be changed through encounter. I am given a new gift to myself. What is JRS' place on the international level? JRS is an organization that can respond to need in many ways. Through concrete projects, through public relations work and also through the experience of reconciliation. We need a strong structure and many partners that enable us to help people in need professionally. Above all, however, we need people who are prepared to accompany fugitives on a daily basis and to allow them to change. This experience is open to everyone, with any religious or ideological background. It is an invitation to enter into a relationship. The JRS lives from these relationships and can only this way be a credible voice in the concert of the many organizations and associations that make up the International Refugee Regime today. People notice immediately whether an aid programme or a political demand comes from this experience. How will you organise your work in Rome? My wish is to continue to work together with the teams in Rome and in the field on what the JRS is and where our identity together with the refugees is taking us. For this it is important to constantly question how we can be present in the lives of these people. The current developments present us with new challenges: How can we deal with the consequences of the Corona pandemic in such a way that everyone can find a future perspective, including the refugees? This is about access to health care, education and means of income generation. Specifically, how can we perhaps link the emergency aid that is now needed with microcredit programmes in such a way that people can once again lead independent lives? To do this, we need local partners who have experience with the topic of "livelihoods", and the solutions will be different in each country. I see one of the main tasks of the international office of JRS as being to support the initiatives on the ground and the joint reflection of our experiences, also beyond the technical aspects. In my previous work at the Center for Global Issues in Munich, I was very much concerned with the issues of value formation and migration. I was a regular visitor to a shared accommodation for refugees. Of course, this often involved everyday conflicts and questions of daily life together. The people had very different ideas about this. This soon led to the question: What is really important to me personally? What is essential and especially valuable for me? A question that for many of us, myself included, is not easy to answer! But in the places where conflicts arise, it becomes clear that something is really at stake, because otherwise I would not insist on my position. Here the central question is: how do we want to live together? At the global level, we are currently struggling with exactly the same question: how do we want to live together, when we are beginning to realise how closely our destiny and our future are linked worldwide? In the environmental field, in the concern for vital goods, this is perhaps particularly evident. In the shaping of trade policy we are far less prepared to acknowledge that there can only be joint development. And the experience of refugees, their request to us for protection, often painfully points out to us the fundamental contradictions in our actions. This could be the starting point for a common search for life, just as the young man in deportation custody did. This is an invitation to open oneself to life and to allow it to be given beyond one's own limits! This invitation applies to the personal, social and political space. How will you bring the topic of climate-induced migration to the table? We can already see today how climate change is increasingly forcing people to adapt or look for a livelihood elsewhere. This reality will certainly become even more important in the future, triggering migration movements within a country or in an international context. It is interesting to see how the many small movements and initiatives from the environmental sector are becoming increasingly networked. It's all about the "tipping point": the point at which the many actors acquire such a weight that they have a global voice and, together, a global influence. Especially as a church organization we can learn a lot from the cooperation with these groups and the networking and perhaps go even more into the public sphere: For we too need the many movements and initiatives that, on a global level, make the situations in which refugees have to live today safer. This is also the aim of the two "Global Compact", the worldwide agreements for the protection of migrants and refugees, which are, however, so far nothing more than voluntary declarations of intent. We still have a lot of progress to make at global level, and the issue of climate-induced migration is one that makes this particularly clear. What is without alternative for you? There is no alternative to accompanying refugees, wherever they may be; and our commitment to provide concrete help for refugees and to do so in such a way that their voice and experiences can be heard in as many places as possible. I think we need a clear orientation for this today, which grows out of freedom: a freedom in which I can search for more life, for others and for myself, because I know that it was given to me myself. Accompanying fugitives can become a source of this freedom and renew it again and again. This freedom also has a direction, because it is and remains a search for life. For an organisation like the JRS, I believe this means that there is a clear anchorage and direction for the teams and the work. At the same time it is about implementing personal change in the encounter with each other, in the common search for life, also as a continuous process. We can only grow together in our humanity. What inspires you outside of your work? Cooking! Often something new, but also by recipe, when I expect many guests. It is a nice relaxation because it is very creative. What does it taste like when I do something different? What colours are on the plate? What can I make from what is currently available? It is also a nice opportunity to make others and myself happy. Here, too, you need an idea and a lot of flexibility in the implementation... Your favourite drink? Tamarind juice. This is a discovery from my time in Brazil! Wonderfully refreshing. The interview was conducted by Martina Schneider in August 2020