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Interview
In response to the needs of today, Fr
General has restructured the Secretariats
at the Curia in Rome. An important step
has been the creation of the ‘Secretariat
for Collaboration with Others’. Fr Anthony
da Silva of the Goa Province is the first
Secretary to take on this new mission. In
a conversation with Luke Rodrigues, he
shares his vision and dreams with Jivan:
Tony, please share with the readers
of JIVAN about your life and work before
taking up this new assignment in Rome
in 2012.
As many of the readers in South Asia
probably know, I spent more than 20 years
of my Jesuit life teaching at JDV Pune. My
specialization is in Psychology and I taught
generations of Indian Jesuits in the Faculties
“No future
without
collaboration”
Interview with Anthony da Silva SJ,
Secretary for Collaboration with Jesuits and Others
You have been travelling widely
since starting your work in March 2012.
What are your observations about
collaboration in the Society?
In my travels I am delighted to find that
collaboration is already taking place widely
in the Society, though I must hasten to add,
rather unevenly. At the risk of sounding
too simplistic, I feel that in areas where the
Society is growing, in Africa and Asia, there
seems to be less appreciation for the need
to invite others to collaborate in our mission.
May be there is a smug feeling that since
Jesuit numbers are large and adequate
for the mission at hand, we do not see
at present the need for lay collaborators.
Some Jesuits in the “growth prone areas”
may even see collaboration as a strategy
for Jesuit collaboration, since the concept
could mean many things to many people.
A second priority is to do a “mapping” of
collaboration projects and practices in the
various Assistancies of the Society. Thus,
it would then be possible to support and
encourage a culture of collaboration in
places where this may be weak; likewise
the prevalent “best practices” in collaboration
of some Provinces could be offered as
possible models for others. A third priority
is to encourage Provinces to develop shortterm
“formation modules” for collaborators
based on Ignatian spirituality but in keeping
with their cultures and religious traditions.
A fourth priority is to explore ways of
possibly increasing the participation of our
collaborators in decision-making bodies
of theology and philosophy. In 2005 I was
appointed the Provincial of Goa Province
and on completion of my term in 2011,
Father General asked me to take up this
new mission at the Curia in Rome.
The Secretariat for Collaboration
has been newly set up by Fr General.
You are the first Secretary. How do you
see your role?
I see my role principally as one of
animating and inspiring Jesuit Provinces
and Conferences to facilitate as well as
strengthen this important dimension of
collaboration in their various apostolic works.
In the globalized world of today there is no
future without collaboration. The pay back
on “stand alone” style of functioning is
sorely limited itoday. Instead, a new culture
of collaboration, networking, and team work
can be a more effective way of the realization
of the kingdom of God among the people of
the 21st century. Working in partnership with
fellow Jesuits, with lay people, with Religious
women and men inspired by Ignatian
spirituality, as well as with others of different
faiths and cultures can be a challenging new
way of being Jesuit.
evolved to suit the needs of the diminishing
Society in the West. While diminishment
may have initially driven some Provinces
to greater collaboration with lay partners,
General Congregations 34 (1995) and 35
(2008), have urged all Jesuits to embrace
collaboration as part of the vision of Vatican
II which emphasizes strongly the role of the
people of God in the mission of the Church.
Collaboration is, therefore, not to be seen as
a strategic response to diminishment, nor a
way of maintaining existing works, but an
invitation to all to share in what Fr General
Nicolàs calls, the missio Dei (the mission of
God). The missio Dei is simply too large for
individual Jesuits!
What are some of the immediate
priorities of your Secretariat?
After many meetings and discussions
here at the Curia and also during visits in
some parts of the Society, many thought it
would be most helpful to first have a clear and
well-articulated concept of collaboration; this
means, focusing on the theological, spiritual,
cultural and social science underpinnings of
collaboration. In this context there is also a
felt need for a well-worked out “taxonomy”
at various levels of the government of the
Society.
Do you have any special message
for the Jesuits of South Asia?
Since the South Asian Assistancy is
now the largest in the Society with a total
of 4036 Jesuits, the Society looks to these
Jesuits to vigorously encourage and support
collaboration in its apostolic Works. The
challenge in South Asia is to package the
Ignatian vision and mission of the Society
in terms of its multi-cultural and multireligious
environment, so that collaborators
find these meaningful and inspiring. Also, a
second challenge for South Asian Jesuits is
to foster greater collaboration between the
various ministries both within a Province and
between Provinces of South Asia as well as
East Asia.
After reading this interview, if our
readers want to get in touch with you,
how could they contact you?
My email address is: collab@sjcuria.
org I would be happy to respond to your
readers. Thank you for this opportunity to
share my vision with Jivan.
•
JIVAN: News and Views of Jesuits in India OCTOBER 2012 21