A magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit Haiti on August 14, 2021; its people need your help. To date, over 2,200 people have died with many still missing. More than 12,200 have been injured and close to 50,000 families rendered homeless. The Xavier Network is responding to this emergency by launching a global fundraising effort to support the response and recovery efforts by Jesuits and Jesuit organizations in Haiti.     Funds will be used by local Jesuit partners, including Foi et Joie and Service Jésuite aux Migrants, to support the two regions most affected by the earthquake and tropical storm Grace – Sud and Grand’Anse. With a Foi et Joie school and a Jesuit parish in these regions, a Jesuit Bishop Rev. Gontrand Décoste in the affected diocese of Jérémie, and many Haitian Jesuits born and raised in this part of the country, the Jesuits know the area and its people well. Response will take place in two phases: emergency relief and recovery. During the emergency relief phase, partners will organize to distribute clothing, food, household goods and hygiene products to meet the most immediate basic needs of the population. In the recovery phase of this disaster, Jesuit organizations will implement mid-to-long-term strategies focused on the reconstruction of homes and schools, and helping people rebuild their lives.   Donate Please support our Jesuit partners on the ground as they help the people of Haiti. Donate to any of the members of the Xavier Network listed below so we can all help the people of Haiti recover from the latest natural disaster to hit the country. ALBOAN (Spain) ENTRECULTURAS (Spain) Canadian Jesuits International (Canada) Jesuit Missions (UK) Jesuitenmission (Austria)  

Members of the  Xavier Network (XN) met in Portugal this fall, from 4 to 9 of October  for a three-day workshop on child safeguarding (CS) followed by the directors  meeting. The meetings were held at Torre d´Aguilha Seminar, located in Cascais municipality, around 20 Km west of Lisbon. The participants included directors of the different member organizations in Europe, Canada and Australia, as well as personnel working in international programs and with volunteers.  The goal of the Child Safeguarding workshop was to get a deeper understanding of safeguarding issues; to reflect on our role and responsibilities; as well as to develop skills and strategies for the implementation of policies and procedures to ensure the protection of people in our care. The sessions were facilitated by Emer Kerrigan, of the Irish Jesuit Mission office  and CS coordinator for the XN, and Brian Cranmer, CS advisor of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS). The group benefitted from the invaluable presence of Fr Kyara Corbinian SJ, AOR development director and Fr Augostine Ekeno SJ, Parish Priest of St. Teresa’s Reconciliation Parish in Rumbek and Director of Multi-educational and Agricultural Jesuit Institute (MAJIS) in South Sudan. The workshop was a dynamic and pedagogical experience that allowed participants to build better knowledge and skills on how to identify child abuse and, more importantly, how to work together to prevent it. It created a respectful and safe environment where participants exchanged ideas, experiences and concerns about the implementation of the policies. Following the workshop, directors and some programs staff met to discuss issues of common concern to the members of the network with the objective of strengthening  our cooperation. Fr Kyara Corbinian SJ and Fr Augostine Ekeno SJ gave a presentation about the emergency response in South Sudan, which has been made possible thanks in part to support from the Xavier Network.  Emer Kerrigan from the Irish Jesuit Missions helped the group assess our progress in implementing the CS commitments made in the previous meeting. Maria del Mar Magallón, director of Alboan and Pablo Funes, international programs coordinator of Entreculturas gave a summary of the XN common projects: the Panamazon Initiative and Fe y Alegria Africa. Fr Tom Smolich SJ, JRS International Director joined the meeting via Zoom for a Q&A session on the proposal to strengthen JRS country offices. Pablo Funes from Entreculturas gave an update about the XN emergency projects in Philippines, Nepal, Venezuela and Mozambique/Zimbabwe. The group also heard from  Fr Jorge Serrano SJ,  Assistant Treasurer for Development Resources,  who gave a update on the current state of development work following an international meeting held in Rome last May. Fr Peter Rozic SJ, Social Apostolate Delegate of the Conference of European Provincials,  shared information about the 50 Jubilee of the Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat to be celebrated in Rome.  We also reviewed the progress of  the different XN working groups (programs, advocacy, volunteers and advocacy) and the XN involvement in other international groups such as GIAN Justice in Mining and FACSI. In a separate session, the directors, following a communal discernment process, they reflected through spiritual conversation on the common vision guiding the Xavier Network, the ways in which God is calling the network to walk with people who are excluded and how we can respond more to the needs we see. It was a rich exchange which affirmed the way in which this network has grown in depth and has become an important  space not only for common action, but for reflection and visioning on how to live  our shared mission of justice and solidarity.

The humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, international disaster relief and Child Safeguarding were top of the agenda for the Xavier Network Directors when they met in Nuremberg last week. Founded in 2004, the Xavier Network is an international mission and development partnership between 13 Jesuit organisations united in their commitment to global justice. All are passionate in their belief that they can achieve more together than by working separately. In total, the members support pastoral, development and aid projects in 87 countries working in partnership with local, mainly Jesuit partners. The Network has four Working Groups which focus on Emergencies, Volunteers, International Programming and Advocacy. In addition, members are committed to three strategic partners: Fe y Alegria in Africa, Jesuit Refugee Service, and the Amazonian project with the CPAL conference. Three main priorities were discussed at the Nuremberg meeting: (1) The Safeguarding of Children: we approved a policy and protocol for the implementation of procedures for the protection and promotion of a culture of Safeguarding both in our own organisations and in those of our international partners. Emer Kerrigan from the Jesuit Missions office in Ireland led the discussion and was warmly commended on her skilful steering of the discussion. (2) Advocating for a more just world: Xavier Network members share a commitment to advocacy not least in response to the recently published Universal Apostolic Preferences. We discussed specific examples of recent advocacy including work led by the Hakimani centre in Nairobi and Fr Joerg Alt from the German mission office on Tax Justice. We also discussed how we work together with GIAN (the Global Ignatian Advocacy Network) and were joined by Fr Xavier Jeyaraj from the Social Justice and Ecology Desk in Rome. (3) Reviewing our response to recent humanitarian emergencies (mainly in Asia), and how we might respond to the crisis in Venezuela.  Fr Tom Smolich, International Director of JRS talked to us about the potential synergies between the Xavier Network and Jesuit Refugee Service International. Fr Klaus Vathroder SJ, Coordinator of the Xavier Network said: “The Xavier Network is a thriving example of Jesuit networking. Our meeting in Nuremberg was historic because of the commitments we made to building a safeguarding culture for children at home and overseas, advocating for justice on several fronts, and working together with global Jesuit partners to strengthen our impact.” While originally conceived as a European Network of Mission Offices and Jesuit NGOs, the Xavier Network now includes members from Canada and Australia. In Nuremberg, we also welcomed several invited guests from the United States, South Korea and the Claver Network (Development offices of CPAL) in South America. Our aim continues to be to build alliances with like-minded partners across the Jesuit world so that we can strengthen our networking and increase the impact and reach of our work.

The Xavier Network, which comprises 13 Jesuit mission and development organisations across Europe, Canada and Australia, is launching its new website on Friday, 1 December. This is in anticipation of the Feast of St Francis Xavier, the patron saint of missionaries and one of the founding members of the Society of Jesus, on 3 December.  The new website will inform people about the work that the Xavier Network does through the collaboration of the members.  It is also a portal which links people to the work that each individual Jesuit organisation does.  The new website link is here: https://xavier.network/ The Xavier Network was set up to help our member organisations work together to increase the impact of our activities on behalf of vulnerable people around the world. The members collaborate in response to humanitarian emergencies, share a common approach to working with key Jesuit partners, and share our experiences, training and best practice in areas like volunteering.  We are also working together to advocate on behalf of the poor and marginalised for a more just world. The 13 members of the Xavier network are: Jesuit Missions (Britain) ALBOAN (Spain) Canadian Jesuits International (Canada) Entreculturas (Spain) Fundacao Goncalo de Silveira (Portugal) HUBEJE (Belgium) Jesuitenmission (Austria) Jesuitenmission (Germany) Jesuiten Weltweit (Switzerland) Jesuit Missions (Australia) Jesuit Missions (Ireland) MAGIS (Italy) Oeuvre des Missions Catholiques Francaise d’Asie et d’Afrique (France)   The Coordinator is Fr Klaus Vathroder SJ, Director Jesuitenmission (Germany) For further information, please contact Stephanie Beech, Communications Officer, Jesuit Missions (UK)

Meeting of the Xavier Network in Madrid. The Directors of the Xavier Network - European Jesuits Mission Procures and Ong’s - met this September in the shadows of the grand palace at El Escorial near Madrid. Casting a different, yet pleasing, shadow over the meeting was GC 36 with a vision that places “faith, justice and solidarity with the poor and the excluded as central elements of the mission for reconciliation.” In recent meetings, the Directors have been wrestling with strategic questions about how we can create greater coherence within our work, where we can complement the Church’s mission, and how we can have a greater impact. Three key topics were discussed at the meeting: first, advocacy. GC 35 recognised advocacy as “a fundamental tool for the development of the mission of the Society of Jesus.” We heard from Fr Xavier Jeyaraj from the Social Justice Secretariat in Rome that Fr General has also affirmed the importance of advocacy to the Society of Jesus. With this in mind, we confirmed that advocacy is indeed a key part of the Network’s mission.  Xavier helped us discern how best the Network can work with the Global Ignatian Advocacy Network (GIAN) promoting greater synergies between the different GIAN groups.  We also analysed a survey by all member organizations which identified the themes, capacities and strategies to help us take forward advocacy. We described the kind of advocacy we do as “bare-foot advocacy” i.e. bringing the voice of marginalised communities to people in the North.  As Jesuit organisations based in the North, we have the capacity to bring people from the North and the South together.  We also share a desire to build the capacity of Jesuit partners in the South to do advocacy in their countries. Finally, we developed the concept of the Xavier Network being a “catalysing” and “facilitating” influence on others.  The emphasis here is not on doing advocacy for our partners but on assisting and empowering them to do so themselves. Our second topic was the Safeguarding of Children and Vulnerable adults.  We recognised that this touchstone issue is one that demands our attention and, as GC 36 states, is a key issue.  The Xavier Network is committed to ensuring minimum standards are established and adhered to in our own organisations and in the partnerships we have around the world.  Earlier in the year, the Network conducted an audit of our partners to find out what policies and capacity they have in place in regard to Safeguarding practice.  The results of the Survey were shared with Fr Danny Huang at the Curia in Rome. He expressed his support for the Network’s approach and encouraged us to continue to assist partners to take up this most important of justice issues. Our third topic was responding to Humanitarian Emergencies. For the final session of our meeting, we adjourned from the splendour of El Escorial to the different but equally splendid office of Entreculturas.  Here we were joined by many staff from Entreculturas  and others working on the front line in recent emergencies: Fr Pau Vidal from South Sudan; Fr Marcos Recolons from Haiti; and Fr Roy Sebastian from Nepal to name three.  We were profoundly encouraged to hear about the ways in which Jesuit partners are responding to recent humanitarian crises, but also challenged to look for ever more effective ways of collaborating. The meeting concluded with a renewed energy and determination to continue our efforts. Whilst working together within any network requires patience, persistence and vision, there is no doubt that the Xavier Network is an increasingly effective Jesuit response to some of the most pressing problems of our age.  Our mission is not to duplicate what others are doing but to bring our own resources – human, financial, intellectual and organisational – to bear on what Jesuits and their lay collaborators are doing in every corner of the earth.