PJF Board Lowers the Service Fee
to Three Percent

In order to respond to concerns raised on the service fee charged to donations coursed through the Philippine Jesuit Foundation (PJF), the PJF Board of Trustees decided in its August 8, 2008 meeting to lower the fee from seven percent (7%) to three percent (3%), on the assumption that the Universities will cover any shortfalls prorated according to the volume of donations received.

TASK FORCE NOAH
For the victims of Typhoon Frank
In a memo to the Philippine Province,
Fr. Provincial Jose Cecilio Magadia has stated:

The recent typhoon wreaked a terrible cost in terms of lives lost and properties/homes damaged or destroyed. Iloilo, where our own fledging Ateneo has been struggling to establish a new campus, has been especially hard hit by this calamit. While we are thankful that our Jesuits and personnel are safe, we cannot ignore the daunting task of rebuilding and repair that they and their kababayan will have to face in the days ahead. Much of the province is flooded, without electricity and short of drinking water. Local resources strain to cope with the many needs.

With this in mind, I encourage all our Province communities and works to offer what they can in solidarity with the people of Iloilo. Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan and Operation Noah at Ateneo de Manila University are workind to address the situation. Fr. Manny Uy, Vice Superior and Director of our works in Iloilo, pleads for those in Iloilo and Panay. “We are in need of food, especially canned goods, clothing, and water. We will coordinate the distribution of foods with the Jaro Archdiocesan Social Action Center. Donations may be sent to: Ateneo de Iloilo/Sta. Maria Catholid School c/o Fr. Manny Uy, S.J. or Bro. Arthur Nebrao, S.J., 139 General Blanco St., Iloilo City. Tel. (033)337-5532; (033) 338-2245; Fax. (033) 336-2903; Email: anebrao@gmail.com

Donations can be sent to Iloilo by sending your check to Philippine Jesuit Foundation.

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Next Provincial Named
Excerpt from
Fr. Daniel Huang's letter dated 10 May 2008:

It is with great joy and gratitude to the Lord that I wish to announce that, in his letter dated 9 May 2008, Fr. General Adolfo Nicolas has “decided in the Lord to appoint” as the next Provincial of the Philippine Province

FR. JOSE CECILIO J. MAGADIA, S.J.

In his letter, Fr. General asks me to extend his “thanks and encouragement to Fr. Magadia as he prepares to assume this very important service to the universal Society, and to his Jesuit brethren and all your lay colleagues in the Philippine Province and its apostolates.”

Fr. Magadia will assume office some time in early June, after his Installation, the date of which be announced to the Province soon.

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OUR NEW JESUIT GENERAL:
Father Adolfo Nicolas, S.J.
By: Fr. Daniel Huang, S.J.

The day after the election of Fr. Adolfo Nicolas as Superior General of the Society of Jesus, many of us here in Rome find ourselves deeply grateful for the guidance of the Spirit. We believe in faith that it was the Spirit who led us to choose Fr. Nico--as we fondly call him in our part of the world--as the 29th successor to St. Ignatius. This past week, the newspapers in Italy had come out with lists of possible generabili. It is surely significant that Fr. Nicolas was never mentioned!

A Man of God

Fr. Nico embodies for many of us the primary quality St. Ignatius stipulates as desirable in the man who is to become General: that he be a man “closely united with God our Lord.” “Tell me,” an elector from Europe asked me soon after Nico’s election, “have we elected a saint?” Whatever the answer to that question, many have noticed and wondered at the serenity and joy that Nico radiates. There is a wholeness, a centeredness, a freedom about him that point to spiritual depth.

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How to Make a Donation to the Jesuits in Mission in the Philippines

The Executive Secretary of the PJF responds:

Many of you have asked how to make contributions to Jesuits or Jesuit ministries -- e.g. schools, elderly or infirm priests and brothers, social apostolates, etc. Please click the "I Will Help" option on the above menu.

We are currently unable to accept credit card donations or bank-to-bank transfers. However those of you who wish to make regular donations can instruct your bank to send automatic recurring payments by check payable to the Philippine Jesuit Foundation, at whatever interval you wish. This would be especially appropriate for those donors supporting long-term scholarships or scholarship programs.

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Ateneo de Davao University’s Engineering and Physics Division Teams Up to Design and Fabricate “Proudly Filipino Made” Physics Laboratory Apparatus

Although it is not uncommon to see knit socks with the label one-size-fits-all, or nylon briefs labeled unisex, yet in education this is not feasible. On the collegiate level each discipline has its own unique pedagogical methods to maximize student comprehension. For Physics this comes down to teaching with-toys.

The college Physics faculty swears by this proposition. Chalk-boards, white-boards, even Power Point presentations do not fully suffice. Hands-on (and minds-on, too) experience in the laboratory is an essential ingredient for grasping scientific principles and abstract formulas. However in the laboratory the question is "hands-on what"?

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