Membership dues 2014

Brussels, 31 March, 2014

Dear Brother and Sister Alum,

Peace and blessings to all of you in your association from all of the members of the World Council of the World Union of Jesuit Alumni. As president of WUJA, I would like to first thank you for your continuous support of WUJA. Without you, we would not be where we are standing. Also I would like to ask for your relentless involvement and for your contribution through the payment of the annual dues, the primary source of funding of the operating budget of WUJA.

All of us, as former students of the Jesuits, have been greatly gifted by this education. We are called to use what we have received from our education to serve the world and each other; first in the whereabouts of our daily lives as parents, professionals, citizens – where we are. But we are also called to move to the frontiers of human experience in whatever we are doing and wherever we are. In a globalized and connected world we can only do this by working together and supporting each other as one body that can be counted by more than ten million alumni that have graduated from a Jesuit institution united by the values of our Jesuit education. One of the primary goals of the work of WUJA, is to add value to your association and all of your alumni and is to network between us to learn from each other and to support each other.

The World Union of Jesuit Alumni was established in 1956. At first, a primarily European organization, it now enjoys the dynamic and fruitful growth and involvement of hundreds of associations and federations from across the globe. Throughout our history we have had the strong support and encouragement of the Society of Jesus and especially of Fathers General Pedro Arrupe SJ, Peter-Hans Kolvenbach SJ and now of Adolfo Nicolás SJ. The latter has been very clear in his message to us: “You, the Alumni, don’t need us anymore, but we, the Jesuits, need you.”

The vision that inspires WUJA can be found in Decree 4 of Jesuit General Congregation 32, the document that commits the Society of Jesus to the service of faith and the promotion of justice.

“We should pursue and intensify the work of formation in every sphere of education… We shall contribute to the formation of those who by a kind of multiplier-effect will share in the process of educating the world itself.”

Father Adolfo Nicolás S.J. expanded on this theme in April 2010 when he addressed a global gathering of Jesuit higher education. He noted that the 35th General Congregation observed that “in this global context, it is important to highlight the extraordinary potential we possess as an international and multicultural body.” He added: “It seems to me that, until now, we have not fully made use of the extraordinary potential for universal service.”

Alumni answering this challenge of universal service, is what WUJA is all about. WUJA exists to facilitate all of our alumni work in all of our institutions as we enable the extraordinary potential of our alumni to come alive in the making of a just world. Imagine, there are more than ten million Jesuit alumni across the globe. What a potential for service, for the “Magis”!

If WUJA is to serve you, we need your involvement, information, interest, talent and financial help. At this time, I am asking that you pay the institutional dues to WUJA for 2014 and, if you have not done so yet, and have the financial means to be generous, for 2013. They amount to 150 U$D or 100 € for a high school association, 300 U$D or 200 € for a university (or other higher education) association. Income from dues is one of two main sources of revenue for WUJA. An invoice for the dues, and instructions for paying them, is attached.

The other is that those of us, who are officers or on the World Council, pay our own expenses, sometimes with the support of the local associations or federations. We are a volunteer organization, we have no paid staff. In order to get some flavor of what we do go, please visit our website. I hope you will have some time to explore it, familiarizing yourself with the organization. Second, I hope you can find some time to read the current issue of The Jesuit Alumnus, which is available on our website.

Furthermore your feedback will be highly valued. All the members of the World Council would appreciate any comments from you on how WUJA could be of help to your association and alumni and about what you, your association, or some of your alumni could contribute. Most importantly, how can we work to develop a deeper understanding of the universality of Jesuit education and of its tremendous richness as we look for ways to be men and women for and with others?

Please write to me, e-mail me at alain.deneef@wuja.org or call me via via Skype (alain.deneef) with any questions and suggestions. I hope to meet you in the future while I am President of WUJA. The Council will meet next May of 2014 in Cleveland, the city that will host the IX World Congress in July 2017, to discuss the ways to move these ideas forward.

Yours sincerely,

Alain Deneef
President, WUJA