Trustee of the British Jesuit Alumni/ae Charitable Trust (BJACT) and Secretary of the Stonyhurst Association, David Hurst (OS70), relates his experiences at the eleventh World Union of Jesuit Alumni/ae (WUJA) Congress in Indonesia
‘United in spirit. Leading with purpose’
Dignitaries open the WUJA Congress XI
When I asked the organiser of the WUJA XI Congress at the Sanata Dharma university in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, how the event compared with the last congress in Barcelona in June 2022, he replied without hesitation, ‘more smiles and more hugs!’
After travelling for over three weeks via Hong Kong and Sydney where I visited my 35 year old, now-resident son and also John Browne, former Head at Stonyhurst and now settling into his new role as Principal of St Aloysius College, I arrived in Yogyakarta, the vibrant royal city and cultural heart of Java, to attend the eleventh Congress of the World Union of Jesuit Alumni/ae.
With John Browne and Fr Richard Leonard SJ in Sydney
Catholicism is one of six approved religions in Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, with slowly growing numbers of around 3% of the approximately 288 million overall population – that is nearly nine million Catholics!
The World Union of Jesuit Alumni/ae (WUJA) is the global organisation that connects and unites alumni/ae of Jesuit schools and universities worldwide to promote Jesuit values. This eleventh Congress marked a significant milestone commemorating 70 years since WUJA was founded in 1956 at a congress held on the 400th anniversary of the death of St Ignatius of Loyola on 31 July 1556.
Subsequent WUJA Congresses have been held at Jesuit schools or colleges in Sydney in 1997, Kolkata in 2003, Bujumbura in 2009, Medellin in 2013, Cleveland in 2017 and in Barcelona in 2022 which I attended. The next congress will be in India in 2030.
The statistics at this biggest-ever WUJA Congress were impressive with over 700 participants from 30 countries, many local student volunteers, a lot of Jesuit priests and a large cadre of global alumni/ae under 35 years of age.
I attended the congress as a delegate, unofficially representing the six alumni/ae associations of UK Jesuit schools: Old Aloysians (Glasgow), the Stonyhurst Association, Old Ignatians (Enfield), Old Wimbledonians and two closed schools, Old Mountaineers (Mount St Mary’s; closed July 2025) and the Beaumont Union (closed July 1967).
The venue: Sanata Dharma Catholic University, Yogyakarta
Concelebrated Mass – with church backdrop, choir and two orchestras!
The Sanata Dharma university, formerly a teacher training college, is a private, Catholic university run by the Society of Jesus in Indonesia. We were hosted in the huge auditorium whilst upstairs a large, specially-commissioned wooden relief sculpture recognised the attendance by dignitaries at the congress, including the Sultan of Yogyakarta and the Superior General of the Jesuit Order, Fr Arturo Sosa SJ.
Themed giant wooden relief sculpture!
I was privileged to be in a private audience with Fr Sosa at which he delivered three key messages, “get to know and trust each other in order to combine ideas collaboratively across national boundaries, work together in a synodal way by listening and learning new ways to educate students at Jesuit institutions, and use developing technologies, including AI, for good purposes.”
In addition to the congress Masses, live music by school choirs and orchestras and presentations on stage, delegates were escorted to visit Ganjuran Catholic Church, Borobodur Buddhist temple, De Britto Jesuit College and the Prambanan Hindu temple complex for cultural experiences, dinners and a wide variety of Javanese dance, music and theatrical ‘shadow puppet’ entertainments, including a last-night laser light show and disco!
Manifesto for the Future
Before the closing Mass, on the morning of the final day the panel on stage presented the Manifesto for the Future as determined by the Congress Committee.
1. Recognise and strengthen global alumni/ae networks
2. Empower leadership amongst young alumni/ae
3. Promote peace through building dialogue
4. Care for our common home
5. Follow the principles of advanced ethical leadership
6. Create a global Jesuit digital platform
7. Identify and respond to social and economic needs at four different life stages
8. Promote lifelong Ignatian formation
9. Strengthen partnerships with Jesuit institutions and the wider church
10. Congress committee to prepare and share a measurable action plan
Take-out message …
The overall message of the Congress was to share the values of a Jesuit education and to demonstrate the strength and commitment of Jesuit alumni/ae worldwide.
The committee declared at the end that global alumni/ae associations have a duty to collaborate to realise the Ignatian mission.
For examples of collaborations between both schools and alumni/ae associations globally, please ask David at dthurst52 @gmail.com
The closing Mass
The Congress closed with a final concelebrated Mass with a school orchestra and choir playing Handel’s Allelujah Chorus and then another school gamelan orchestra performing an energetic rendition of Mission Impossible!
An unexpected sense of humour was shown by the Rector of the local De Britto Jesuit College in his existential sermon at the final Mass on Sunday morning when he reflected on finding the meaning of life which he said, as all fans of Douglas Adams know, is … ’42’!
The same priest then inspired the congregation with the Jesuit exhortation, ‘the Mass is ended - go forth and set the world on fire!’
So, ‘terimasaki’ to the Indonesian congress team. In Bahasa this means ‘thank you’ or, literally, ‘received with love’ to which the reply is, ’sama, sama’ or ‘I love you back’. Amen to that!
… farewell from our smiling volunteers
My personal overall impression of travelling 22,638 miles on 9 flights with 8 stop-offs over 30 days has been the smiles and warmth of the congress volunteers, the kindness of strangers worldwide to this old man with a walking stick and (sadly) the ubiquity of the mobile phone in hand.
For a more detailed version of this report, please email David at dthurst52@gmail.com