Road Signs

Expanding the Global Vision of Holy Cross

by Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J.

In January, Fr. McFarland, president of the College, traveled to Indonesia to investigate a new study abroad program. He shared these insights with HCM upon his return.

A year ago, when the Society of Jesus elected as its new superior general, Adolfo Nicolás, a Spaniard who had spent most of his years as a Jesuit in East Asia, particularly Japan and the Philippines, it reflected a global consciousness in keeping with both the earliest tradition of the Jesuits and our mission today.

The Formula of the Institute, the founding document of the Society of Jesus, proclaimed that Jesuits are “obliged by a special vow … to go … even [to] those who live in the region called the Indies. …” Indeed, within 10 years of the founding of the Order, St. Ignatius sent one of his closest companions, St. Francis Xavier, to the “Indies.” Xavier traveled to India, then on to Japan, and ultimately to an island off the coast of China, where he died trying to gain entrance to that great land. Over the next two-and-a-half centuries, thousands of Jesuits followed, working in the Indian subcontinent and throughout East Asia, including China. Their approach was always to seek to understand the language, culture and customs of the people to whom they were sent, in order to establish common ground and cast the Christian message in terms that were understandable and compelling to them.

Today the Society of Jesus is truly a global Order. The Jesuits who met in Rome in February 2008 to elect a new General represented almost every country on the planet. They were aware that their mission was global as well. “Serving Christ’s mission today,” they wrote in their document on Jesuit identity, “means paying special attention to its global context. … Our mission of faith and justice, dialogue of religions and cultures has acquired dimensions that no longer allow us to conceive of the world as composed of separate entities; we must see it as a unified whole in which we depend upon one another.”

At Holy Cross we understand that we must move to a more global focus also. Not only does our fidelity to our Jesuit mission require it, but so does our commitment to our students’ success and their effectiveness as future leaders in society. In a world increasingly interconnected by ever more sophisticated and accessible computer and communications technology and by vast waves of immigration driven by economic, political and religious forces, it is imperative that we prepare graduates to understand, appreciate and function in different cultures.

There are a number of ways in which we are pursuing that important goal. It is present in the curriculum in many ways, most notably in Montserrat, where The Global Society is the theme of one of the five clusters, and cross-cultural elements are important in many of the courses and activities in the other clusters. We see the greatest impact, however, in our Study Abroad programs. These are true immersion programs, in which our students are expected to enter as much as possible into the culture of the host country, taking regular courses at a local university in the local language and living with local families or in dormitories with regular students at the university. This can be a daunting challenge, but the results are remarkable. Students gain a comfort and competence in the new culture, along with a breadth of vision and maturity that clearly set them apart from their classmates who stay at home.

In recent years, we have been expanding the Study Abroad programs outside of the traditional European sites to Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia. Thus last January, I accompanied Mark Lincicome, director of our Study Abroad programs, and Susan Rodgers, a professor of anthropology at Holy Cross, on a visit to Indonesia to investigate the possibility of opening up a new program there. Indonesia offers extraordinarily rich and enlightening possibilities for our students. It is a vast land, encompassing thousands of islands spread over five time zones. Its 200 million people represent a wide variety of languages and cultures. Though it is officially a Muslim country, there are strong Hindu, Buddhist and Christian influences, and a healthy practice of inter-religious dialogue, in which the local Jesuits are heavily involved. It has many of the challenges of a developing economy, but also the youth, energy and growth of an “Asian Tiger.”

We already have several strong ties to the country. The strongest is through Susan herself, who specializes in Indonesian culture. She has worked there for many years and has an extraordinary knowledge of its people, history, languages, traditions, customs and religions. We have also developed extensive connections with the Indonesian Jesuits and Sanata Dharma, the Jesuit university in Yogyakarta, across the island of Java from the capital Jakarta. Several of the Jesuits, including Fr. Paul Wiryono, the current president of the university, have taught at Holy Cross as International Jesuit Fellows. Fr. Wiryono has been especially interested in building the relationship between our two institutions. In particular he has asked our help in developing his psychology faculty so that they can offer graduate programs, which would be an important advancement for the university and a significant service to the community there. Susan and a number of our psychology faculty have been helping with that. The last two summers there has been a faculty exchange between the psychology faculties at Holy Cross and Sanata Dharma, with Holy Cross faculty traveling there the first summer and Sanata Dharma faculty coming to the College last year. This has helped the Sanata Dhama faculty develop their scholarship into publishable form, further their professional development and incorporate the latest developments in the field into their curriculum, while the Holy Cross faculty learned a great deal about the psychological issues that arise and how they are dealt with in a very different culture in the developing world.

The other important connection we have with Indonesia is through the arts, especially in Bali. For more than 10 years we have had a rotating professorship in Balinese dance and music at Holy Cross, and some of the most respected artist/scholars in Indonesia have occupied it. This has helped us build a good relationship with the ISI, the most prestigious art institute in the country. During our visit to Bali, I. Made Bandem, the current holder of the professorship, who was home for the Christmas break, hosted us for a spectacular party, including a lavish performance of both classical and contemporary music and dance, put on by some of the region’s top performers. There we were able to meet many members of the local artistic and intellectual community as well as a number of very interesting visitors.

We found all the elements we need for a study abroad program that would give students a meaningful and informative experience. Sanata Dharma has the personnel and programs in place to teach Indonesian language and culture to English speakers. To complement the classroom work, there would be many opportunities for our students to participate in research and service projects with Sanata Dharma faculty and students, particularly in some of the rural Christian villages in the area. We also found a number of families with whom our students could live during their time at the university. After a semester at Sanata Dharma, the students would be prepared to go on to Bali to study art and culture.

Our trip to Indonesia was another step in building a global vision for Holy Cross, drawing on both our exceptionally accomplished faculty and our rich Jesuit heritage.

Special Note: Although the July 17 bombings in Jakarta did not affect any areas where Holy Cross students would go as part of a study abroad program, the College is monitoring the state of security in Indonesia very carefully. Any future decisions about sending students to Indonesia would be made with their safety and security utmost in mind.