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JRS - Jesuit Refugee Service

History of JRS Asia-Pacific

(preserved from http://www.jrs.th.com/history.htm - now defunct)

I. Beginnings of Jesuit Refugee Service Asia-Pacific (1981-1983)

II. Establishment And Growth (1983 - 1985)

III. The Consolidation of JRS (1985 - 1989)

IV.  Jesuit Refugee Service Asia-Pacific - Conclusion

IV. Conclusions 

1. Beginnings of JRS-AP


2. Establishment & Growth


3. Consolidation of JRS


4. Conclusion


The history of JRS is the history of refugees. Until there are no more refugees, there can be no satisfactory conclusions to the story of JRS. I would like to conclude this history, however, by picking up some of the issues which have recurred during the last decade. These issues are best put in the form of tensions with which JRS has had to grapple, and which in my judgment illuminate its development.

The diminishment of refugees

The first conclusion, however, is simply a statement of fact. As JRS has developed and expanded, the situation of refugees and asylum seekers in the region has worsened. If Fr. Arrupe had hope in 1981 that the Jesuit commitment to refugees would be a short-term response to an emergency, subsequent developments would have taught him better.

This is not to say that JRS has been ineffectual, but only that story of its development gives no cause for complacency or self-congratulation. JRS was founded to meet a need, which has grown rather than diminished during its life time. Indeed it has become acute in ways that would have been inconceivable ten years ago.

Jesuit network and Jesuit relationship

A constant tension in the development of JRS has been in its twofold character. It is a network of Jesuits and their publics; it is also a network of Jesuits in relationship with others working with refugees. Both aspects of JRS have been important: the former if refugees are to benefit from the resources of the international Society, and the latter for the service of refugees in the field.

For the most part this tension has been creative. Both networks have expanded. This has been clear at the meetings, where each year JRS has been owned a little more fully by all its members. The field network could not now be seen as one in which Jesuits are the core and others are fringe players, as might have been possible when few other than Jesuits were members of JRS.

The development of the field network, however, has not been simply a matter of numbers. It expresses also deepening friedships between JRS workers, and the ways in which each member supports others in their spiritual and affective life. Even in pastoral care of volunteers, Jesuits and non-Jesuits have complementary roles. Similarly, the community life at camps needs to be described in ways that encompass the contribution made by all workers. The development in these areas has been vividly shown in the process of discernment at the Border.

The network between Jesuits and their publics has also grown, although perhaps less strikingly. The naming of so many national coordinators of JRS and the involvement of Jesuits in different provinces has been a signs of commitment. But the original vision of work with refugees as a commitment of ecah province and of individual Jesuits still outpaces the reality. The most probable future path of JRS will be for coordiantors to identify particular needs and to ask for correspondingly precise forms of service from the provinces.

JRS has much to learn about becoming a network of Jesuits and their publics from its sister organisation, MRS. The success of MRS in animating local networks and encouraging a commitment to refugees among the Sisters of Mercy in Australia owes much to the local base of the Congregations and to their characteristic ways of working.



Organisation and network

There has also been tension in the development of JRS between two understanding of its character. It can be seen as a network of Jesuits in relationship, or it can be seen as an agency. This tension has been focussed most clearly in the growth of the office.

The stronger and the better endowed the office, the more likely it is that the initiatives of individual workers and the smaller contributions of other Jesuits and their publics will not be given full value. JRS will be seen as an organisation which discharges the commitment of the Society to refugees, so that the commitment on the local provinces will be limited to providing Jesuits on request. The potential contribution of Jesuit publics throughout the world will then be lost to refugees.

On the other hand, the effective service of refugees has demanded that JRS carry out many functions which demands a strong office. The importance of coordiantion, collection of information and of monitoring new situations have led to requests for an even better endowed office. This movement stands in tension with the vision of JRS as a network of people in face to face contact with refugees.

The same tension can be seen in the development of programmes in camps. The more coordinated and the better supported is Jesuit work, the more JRS will be seen as an agency. Its flexibility and resoucefulness will be defined by its capacity to supply the enterprise with appropriate resources.

This tension must be preserved. The health of JRS will be measured by the commitment to refugees made by local provinces and their publics. It is gauged also by the initiative taken by the local JRS workers. Bu the flexible office with its specialised functions has arisen to meet the deeper needs of refugees. So far, the development has been healthy. But because institutional solidity can so easily overshadow the importance of personal networks, the development of these aspects of JRS needs constantly to be reflected upon.

Individual initiative and corporate responsibility

The history of JRS has also pointed to a tension between the individual autonomy of its workers and the corporate responsibility entailed in flexibility and in taking common positions.

This tension was already inherent in the beginning of JRS. For it was formed to coordinate initiatives already taken by individual Jesuits and by particular provinces. As internal relationships have become more complex, however, and the call to take strong positions on violation of refugees human dignity has grown, so has the pressure to emphasise the responsibility of the individual to the group.

This pressure has perhaps been intensified by the incorporation into JRS of religious whose forms if government are capitular, and of lay people. To belong to JRS commits workers to reflect and deliberate together before taking decisions which can be binding. The processes of discernment are perhaps early steps in a movement towards corporate structures. They will demand great flexibility and the capacity and willingness to pray and share faith and experience together.

The tension between individual initiative and corporate responsibility will continue within JRS. For its character as network demands a high degree of personal autonomy, but the demands of refugees and a flexible response will increasingly demand that it take corporate positions which bind individuals, and maintain the ability to move easily from filed to field.



Pastoral care and professionalism

JRS has also experienced tension between the priestly character of ministry, expressed in a pastoral and spiritual presence to refugees consistent with a leisurely amateurism in work, and professional, well evaluated attention to their needs. In the early JRS meetings, a distinction was drawn between "being with" refugees and "being for" them. Like most ideologically based distinctions, the choice was never absolute, but it did indicate well the two emphases.

This tension has seemed less pressing recently. The claim that our programmes should be undertaken reflectively, defended by appropriate criteria and evaluated rigorously, is generally accepted. While it is recognised that the appropriate criteria are not necessarily those developed for other situations, the claims for pastoral presence do not justify the unexamined life.

This tension, however, is still felt at some points. It has been of great benefit to encourage short term volunteers to work with refugees despite their lack of experience or appropriate qualifications. Jesuit scholastics and brothers have brought a commitment to refugees back into their own provinces, and have strengthened the Jesuit network. The value of these short term commitments continues to commend them. But they need also to benefit the refugees with whom they work. For this reason, the screening and preparation of all volunteers has remained of great importance.

Long term needs and immediate response

JRS was founded as an immediate response to a horrifying situation. Volunteers came to work with refugees in desperate need and stayed with them even after their lives were no longer immediately threatened by starvation or lack of shelter. From immediate needs they turned to meet deeper needs. Throughout its history, JRS has tried both to meet refugees immediate needs and to intervene in ways which promise long-term benefit. So far, the former goal has been met more satisfactorily.

To look to the longer term has many consequences. To collate and distribute information has demanded as expanded office. It may call for a different balance between presence in the field and reflection upon it. It demands that people reflect on their demanding work in the light of its political context, a difficult task even in times of leisure. It will mean that programmes must be developed by criteria which lie outside the professional disciplines which volunteers bring to them. For the solidity and professional competence of programmes can make refugees lives appear normal. The underlying evil of their situation can be ignored.

This tension between the immediate needs of refugees and the longer term response will be felt more strongly in the coming years. For it is forced upon JRS by the changing and deteriorating situation of refugees themselves. This will force hard choices and the development of a hard love based on rigorous ethical analysis.

Evangelical Poverty and Development

These tensions can be expressed also in religious terms. The call of the Gospel to follow the poor Jesus in weakness leads to a simple identification with refugees in their poverty. It endorses less easily a well-endowed and resourceful support for them. Yet this too is necessary. Neither side of the tension can simply be dismissed.

In the early years of JRS, when simple pastoral presence to refugees and companionships with them in their difficult lives were emphasised, the evangelical goals shone out clearly, although even then they stood in some tension with the collection of large amounts of money for refugees. But in more recent years, as programmes are more richly endowed and better coordinated, JRS has taken on the appearance of a wealthy organisation.

While this has undoubtedly been in the interest of refugee because it makes available services which enhance their dignity, the risk remains that the solidity of the enterprise will distract the eyes both of workers and of refugees from the deeper values which motivate our service and underline our common dignity as human beings.

Directions And Movements

Finally, these tensions have given rise to two movements which may control the future development of the work with the Burmese has emphasised the advantages of the collection of information and coordination over the development of large programmes in camps. Over recent years JRS has developed a greater capacity to work reflectively. This tendency should become more manifest in coming years.

Secondly, this development will be demanded by the movement towards a more public and critical role. The specific contribution of JRS will be to develop a moral voice in a debate increasingly dominated by purely pragmatic and selfish concerns. Any credible moral position must be based on first hand experiences of refugee life and on deep and well-informed reflection. This will call for a renewed emphasis upon the network of Jesuits and their publics, as well as for an increasingly specialised office and a more flexible presence in the field.

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Last modified: 13/05/14

All photos by Richard Rowat unless otherwise specified