World Congress of Alumni 2021

With little more than a year to go before Barcelona becomes the venue for the World Congress of Jesuit Alumni/ae, and after these days of confinement, reflection and a special feeling of solidarity, the organizers of the Congress want to share with all the alumni, teachers, members and friends of the Ignatian community, a message: "Values unite us, the future moves us".

The Congress has already launched its web page http://www.jesuitsalumnibcn2021.org where interested people will find information about the event and how to participate in it.

Barcelona 2021 is presented as a process of reflection and dialogue on the value of the Jesuit Alumni collective and the actions to be undertaken. The objective is to vitalize the potential of our network and thus be able to respond to the challenges of today's society, inviting everyone to participate, to live reconciliation and to jointly promote the value of unity and action among all the alumni of the world and especially the young.

The World Congress of Jesuit Alumni/ae will be held in Barcelona from 14 to 18 July 2021 and will be part of the commemoration of the 5th Centenary of the conversion of Saint Ignatius, Ignatius 500. The Congress will be preceded by a pilgrimage at dawn on 13 July from Montserrat to the Cave of Saint Ignatius in Manresa. It will be a moment of encounter to follow together the steps of the path that Saint Ignatius walked 500 years ago.       

The next day, Father General Arturo Sosa SJ will participate in the opening of the Congress and will direct his reflections on the challenges and actions that the alumni have before them, in the framework of the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus. During the days of the Congress, the problems facing society today and the elements that help our action and its transformation will be addressed, combining the knowledge and experiences of speakers of significant relevance, with the debate and interaction of the participants of the Congress in co-creation workshops.

Among the topics discussed will be ecology, migrations, the role of women in society and the Church, technology, the potential of religions in reconciliation or social innovation as a tool for social transformation. All of this, taking into account the tools for action and transformation such as education, the professional environment, the social and educational development of vulnerable communities or collaboration and networking.