Quarterly Bulletin

As part of the 20th Anniversary of the existence of JCTR this year, Privilege Haang’andu, S.J., interviewed some of the founding fathers of the Centre. This was in order to find out the original vision of JCTR and see how this has changed over the years.

This year is a special one for the JCTR and the entire Zambia-Malawi Province of the Jesuits. It is exactly twenty years ago that the JCTR was born, a dream that was conceived by the Province.  Eventually, from small beginnings, that dream took profound shape in giving witness to the mission of the Society of serving the cause of social justice through critical analysis and reflection, education, and advocacy.

In my view, the Province can be happy looking at how closely the JCTR has endeavoured in the last two decades to realise that dream. Certainly, a lot more can and ought to be done.

But now we can look back in gratitude to God and to the efforts of many of our companions and collaborators for their commendable work.  Certainly the JCTR has made a great impact on structural reforms to promote concrete differences in people’s lives in Zambia and Malawi and beyond.

I was privileged to speak to two of the key original dreamers of the “JCTR-dream.” (The third one, Des O’Brien, S.J. is celebrating and praying for us in heaven!).  The following presents my conversation with Clive Dillon-Malone, S.J., and Charlie Searson, S.J.  

Priva: Dear companions, JCTR celebrates, this year, twenty years of its existence.  What was your original dream or idea about this Province project?

Clive: My original dream was that a Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection might help what would become a future Province to reflect on its various apostolic works from the perspective of our faith and to share this reflection with our brother Jesuits. As the “Centre” had then no physical location, a periodic Bulletin was intended as the means for stimulating this reflection and for sharing it in writing. “Theological Reflection” was not intended to be an exercise in formal theology but rather an expression of the manner in which our Christian faith is alive and active in the works that we do.

When Pete Henriot, S.J. took over as Director of the JCTR from Fr. Varaprasadam, S.J., the first Director, the  small  beginnings of an     institutional    Centre     were

located at St. Ignatius Parish in Lusaka and later transferred to a larger premise at Luwisha House, Lusaka. Under Pete’s direction, JCTR underwent some radical changes which benefited from his long experience as Director of the Centre of Concern in Washington, DC, USA.

Whereas the earlier stages of JCTR were more inward looking with reference to Jesuits in Zambia, the Centre gradually became more outward looking with reference to the wider social implications of our works with reference to faith and justice. Justice issues came to be more explicitly focused on, and the Centre began to recruit more lay staff as different dimensions of justice and cultural issues began to emerge.

The JCTR Bulletin became more technical and academic in its coverage of material and it expanded its scope for non-Jesuit writers as well as for a wider national and international circulation of the Bulletin. Although not intended, this seems to have had the effect of discouraging some Jesuits from writing in view of the higher standards expected.  Parish and other works may have found themselves unintentionally excluded. 

In addition to the JCTR Bulletin, a periodic Supplement for Jesuit consumption only was intended to retain some of the original focus of the Centre’s dream. Also, periodic gatherings of Jesuits in Lusaka and elsewhere are convened to share their experiences on a variety of issues.

Charlie: The beginning of the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection was a very modest idea which was contained in a short written proposal that was sent to the Province Congregation of 1987. It proposed that the Province begin a “Centre for Faith and Justice.”

This was in line with what the Jesuits from all over the world gathered in the 32nd General Congregation wrote in 1975:

The mission of the Society of Jesus today is the service of faith, of which the promotion of justice is an absolute requirement. This is so because the reconciliation of people among themselves, which their reconciliation with God demands, must be based on justice. (Decree 4.2) 

What does it mean to be a companion of Jesus today? It is to engage, under the standard of the Cross, in the crucial struggle of our time: the struggle for faith and that struggle for justice which it includes…The Society of Jesus chooses participation in this struggle as the focus that identifies in our time what Jesuits are and do.   (Decree 2.2-3)

In the light of these statements it seemed clear that the Province of Zambia (as it was then before it became the Province of Zambia and Malawi) was called not only to proclaim the word of life and of salvation but to address, in the light of the Gospel, the poverty in which most of our people in Zambia, then and now, were living.

By the term “justice in the light of the Gospel,” we understood that we were called by our faith to address poverty issues not only by responding to the needs of the people we met in our Parishes, both rural and urban, but by addressing the systemic reasons which had led to such poverty in the first place.

The proposal sparked a lively debate at our 1987 Province Congregation. Jesuits were concerned that when we spoke out we would do so with some authority and accuracy. Individual Jesuits could see the need for speaking out but were hesitant to do so because they did not have sufficient economic background to speak with some competence and expertise.

Others were concerned that when the Province addressed the issues of poverty in public that we would do so as men of faith and as men of the Gospel. It was also felt that what was spoken should not only be academically competent but it should draw on the rich life experiences of Jesuits in parishes, in schools and in other pastoral situations and on our daily contact with our people.

It was further stated that the conclusions of any research should be fed back to our men and their people in the parishes, schools and other situations.  Thus, the proposed centre would be continuously seen to be working alongside our men in the field.

The concern that the proposed centre be firmly rooted in the Gospel led to an amendment which stated that the new centre’s name be changed to a “Centre for Theological Reflection”. This reflected the mandate from the Pope Paul VI to the Society of Jesus when we were called on in particular to “combat atheism” and also the call in General Congregation 32 to engage among our many tasks in “Theological Reflection.”

With those comments and changes the Provincial Congregation recommended that the Provincial consider whether this proposal was feasible or not.  This led to setting up of a small team to carry out a feasibility study. This was completed in due course and recommended that the Provincial assign one Jesuit to begin the Centre. 

The feasibility team also tried to spell out the meaning of the term “theological reflection.” It quoted one author who contrasted “theological reflection” with the regular theology that we are used to. Normally we expect theology to emerge from the Seminary, a Theologate, or a University. It tends to be scholarly and academic. Beginning from the data of Revelation, Scripture and Tradition, it seeks to explore the Church’s understanding of divine Revelation.

But “theological reflection” has a different starting point: it tends to start from the lived daily experience of ordinary people, especially those who suffer from poverty and injustice. It then proceeds to analyse such daily experiences from the point of view of the Gospel  and Revelation and to see what meaning the Word of God has for such situations. The essential difference in the two methods is the starting point and therefore the conclusions.

In 1988 when the Provincial was ready to start the Centre, there was one Jesuit available for this new assignment. Father Varaprasadam from the Madurai Province, India, had recently come to Zambia. He readily agreed to this new assignment.

He first began, following the guidelines laid down by the Province, to make a tour of the different communities and apostolates of the Province. In his meetings with the Jesuits he laid out his vision for the Centre along the lines that had been agreed upon. He also managed to solicit the views and concerns of the members of the Province.

This led to the first issue of the Bulletin of the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection. With these meetings and the first edition of the Bulletin, what is now a household name in Zambia had begun!

Priva: Today, twenty years down the line, do you feel that the original dream has been realised?

Charlie: I think in many ways the original dream, as set out above, has indeed been realised. JCTR has become well known, both nationally and internationally, for its competent and well researched articles. Through its various teams and task forces, people know that when JCTR takes a position on a particular issue the research will have been done and will have been done well.

Due to the Centre’s emphasis on Catholic Social Teaching (CST), I think people can be in no doubt that the statements produced and the positions taken are based on the Social Teaching of the Church. They therefore grow out of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Clive: Although its physical premises (offices at Luwisha House) are still rather inadequate in terms of its growth, JCTR has taken on more of an institutional face and has become more internationally recognised for its involvement in faith and justice issues in Zambia and wider. In many ways, JCTR has taken on the perspective of its Director and has become more open to Faith and Justice issues within a more global framework.

A significant indicator of its success in this respect is the regular coverage given to its activities by The Post, a national newspaper which in the past was noticeably      anti-religious.     The JCTR has now become a household name for current comment on socio-economic issues such as the Jubilee debt campaign and the Basic Needs Basket.

The JCTR has kept a conscious focus on the “preferential option for the poor.”  While many might not even identify it as a religiously motivated institution, its activities have continued to retain the dimension of “theological reflection” in terms of a faith perspective.

Priva: What more of your original idea could JCTR still be pursuing?

Charlie: By necessity, as JCTR has grown over the last 20 years, it has developed a life and a competency of its own. 

This is good and is how it should be. However there is a two-fold danger in this process.

In the light of this 20 year review, it might be good to do what the founder Fr Vara did and to once again visit the various communities of the Province. Let JCTR ask the communities the same question and see if indeed there are issues which the Jesuits “in the field” would like the Centre to address.

In addition, the community members, individually and collectively, could be asked if they feel that this is “their” Centre.  They could be asked if they feel that the issues dealt with by the Centre are the issues that concern the majority of Jesuits and the people the Jesuits are dealing with.

Finally the Jesuits could be asked if they feel that their Centre has been successful? Do the Jesuits feel that the Centre has brought out some issues of national importance? Has it been successful in resolving them?

In addition they could be asked: “Do you, the Jesuits of the Province of Zambia-Malawi, feel ownership of JCTR? How could your sense of ownership be deepened?”

Clive: My dream for the future would be that, in addition to its present valuable activities, a way might be found for greater mutual interaction between our other Jesuit ministries and JCTR. I would hope that it might be perceived by the Province at large as a focal point for theological reflection on all of our works.  Thus a greater number of Jesuits might benefit from its expertise.  For this to occur, much will undoubtedly depend on the strength of Jesuit personnel in JCTR in the future.

Privilege Haang’andu, S.J.
JCTR Staff
Lusaka