2023
Missions, Maps & Mediators
Let's rewind to a magical exploration of Latin America in the Nottebohm Room. Mirela Altic took a close look at Jesuit maps from the seventeenth century. Francismar Alex Lopes de Carvalho examined the conversion of local people in the Amazon region and found that it was not a one-way street. This was followed by a panel discussion with our two guests led by Christiane Stallaert.Listen here...
2021
New date New Year's Event
UCSIA would organize a New Year’s event in the baroque Jesuit Saint-Carolus Borromeus Church in Antwerp on 20 January. The programme: speeches and a violin concerto with baroque music by the Antwerp composer Henri-Jacques De Croes, performed by the string orchestra ‘Le Pavillon de Musique’, under the guidance of Ann Cnop. Due to the new corona measures, this event will be postponed to 23 June 2022.
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Jesuit Architecture in the Crosshairs of Confessional Politics
Art historian Evonne Levy (University of Toronto) took us on a journey through the key episodes in the politicized interpretation of European Jesuit architecture in the 19th and 20th centuries at the Jesuit heritage summer school.Watch the webinar...
Virtual tour 'Passion: Histories of the Heart'
In the spring, the Religious Bodies team and UCSIA organized the exhibition 'Passion: Histories of the Heart' in St Paul’s Church in Antwerp. It tells the complex stories of the heart in Catholic symbolism, devotion and mysticism in the 19th and 20th centuries. The emotional meanings of the mortal hearts of believers and the divine hearts of Jesus and Mary take centre stage in a multilayered view of religious images, objects and practices.
You can now visit the expo online...
Behind the Scenes of 'Passion. Histories of the Heart'
The Religious Bodies team takes you behind the scenes of the creation of the Antwerp city walk and exhibition in St Paul’s Church. They share their thoughts on the methods, sources and historiographical fields they used to tell the complex stories of the heart in Catholic symbolism, devotion and mysticism in the 19th and 20th centuries. The emotional meanings of the mortal hearts of believers and the divine hearts of Jesus and Mary take centre stage in a multilayered view of religious images, objects and practices.Watch the webinar...
2020
New vision statement 'Jesuit Heritage'
What does the UCSIA theme ‘Jesuit Heritage' embrace? What topics are selected and why? What will we highlight in the coming years?
Read the new vision statement.....
Self-sacrificing love in the workplace
The chairman of the SCRIBANI network, political philosopher Patrick Riordan SJ, is an expert in Catholic social doctrine. In this article he starts from the commitment of the health workers in the current crisis to highlight the principle of priority of labour over capital, a central theme in the doctrine. It was published on April 20th in the online journal of the Brittish Jesuits ‘Thinking Faith’.
Read the article...
Don’t give up hope! Insights-from 'Laudato Sí' in times of crisis
Martin Maier SJ, Secretary of European Affairs of the Jesuit European Social Centre, analyses the health crisis today in the light of Pope Francis' encyclic 'Laudato Sí'. How can the recommendations in the encyclic inspire us to rethink the current model of globalization?
Read the article...
Webinar Fr. General on the mission of the Society of Jesus post COVID
On 30 April Fr. General Arturo Sosa sj gave a webinar on caring for the mission of the Society of Jesus post COVID following his letter of 25 March.
Watch the video
or read the text...
Pope Francis urges to reflect on “life after the pandemic”
In the wake of Easter, Pope Francis wrote a letter to the popular movements and organizations that keep the society going today, in the struggle against COVID-19. In this letter, he urges us not to fall into former routines at the end of this crisis, but to ask ourselves how we can do things differently.
Read the blog and reply...
Fr. General Arturo Sosa sj on the Covid-19 Pandemic
On 24 March Fr. General Arturo Sosa sj published a video message on what the COVID-19 epidemic showing us about ourselves, the world and the path to God.
Watch the video...
Corona virus
Due to the outbreak of the corona virus, we decided to cancel all UCSIA events in March. Our coworkers will be working from home as much as possibe, so our opening hours will be limited.
Read more...
2019
ARIA Art Festival
Louise Nelstrop and Pol Herrmann were inspired by the female mystics Hadewijch and Porete. They made a short film, partly because of financial support by UCSIA, about contemporary artists (Wim Henderickx, Anne-Mie van Kerckhoven, Aline Kiner, An Pierlé, Hendrik Vanden Abeele) interpreting and mediating the mystics.
They were counter-institutional figures writing about love; that makes them very appealing to artists. The film is a portrait of 5 famous artists who tell us about the mystics and their relevance today. The artists relate to them in a whole new way.
The film will be projected at the yearly ARIA art festival ‘Integrated’ from 7-8 November 2019 in De Singel (Antwerp). This year’s theme is ‘Radical Imagination’. For more information and tickets, click here.