As the Jubilee Year of Hope draws to a close, what has been its impact in the Church from a global perspective? To look back over this year can be disheartening and can even lead to disillusionment as we watch the carnage of global warfare and the despicable arms trade that maliciously feeds these conflicts. How can our global community not rise up in horror at such atrocities and cry out for justice? Yet it seems those voices are muted these days, and in some places deliberately silenced.

The eminent theologian, the late Jürgen Moltmann, in one of his last works The Spirit of Hope – Theology for a world in Peril (2019) reflected on the despair that confronts our global community:

Human life is in danger. It is not in danger because it is mortal. It is in danger because it is no longer loved, affirmed, and accepted. The French author Albert Camus wrote after the Second World War “This is the mystery of Europe : life is no longer loved!”

Moltmann goes on to reflect on our recent period:

The 20th Century was a century of mass exterminations and mass executions. The beginning of the 21st century saw the private terrors of senseless killings by suicidal assassins. A new religion of death confronts us – an ideology of terror… As one young terrorist messaged after the massacre in Madrid “you love life; we love death”.

This madness of violence and desecration of life seems to be escalating in significant places in our global community. What is the response of consecrated religious? Wherein lies the hope?

Recently I had the privilege of visiting the Philippines: Cebu and Southern Leyte. There I became immersed in the hope that consecrated religious and dedicated lay partners in mission are witnessing to by being among the poorest of the poor. I stayed for a short time with Divine Word Missionaries in Cebu and there I met Fr Heinz Kulüke SVD, a former Superior General of their order. His life has been marked by his commitment to live amongst those dispossessed by the society that should be caring for them. He lived for a significant time in the garbage dumps in Cebu city. In 1980 a small group of people driven by poverty started to settle in these areas and the numbers have grown incrementally, now numbering 600 people. In June 1991, Heinz decided to live amongst them, despite the objections of members of his community, who were worried about his health and the impact of disease, which is so prevalent in these places. He began to scavenge with the people each day, to sort through the refuse of garbage and pulled out glass, metal caps, plastic and any items that could be recycled. Many of those working alongside him were children as young as six! They earned enough to cover the cost of a daily portion of rice for a family of five. (Glimmers of Light and Hope- Stories from the Periphery, Heinz Küluke SVD, 2025).

How can a society even allow this happen? The poor are mostly invisible because of where they live: out of sight and out of mind. Yet here in their desperation emerges a community of families looking out for each other, trying to eke out an existence from the trash of society.

Heinz became a presence, like so many of our religious around the world who spend time understanding the plight of poverty and what causes it.

The same place that I visited recently in the Philippines, has now been ravaged by natural disasters. Last week Cebu and Negros were hit by Category 4 Typhoon Kalmaegi (locally known as Typhoon Tino), and this week the northern Philippines has been lashed by Typhoon Fung-wong. Both regions have suffered significant damage, displacement and loss of essential services, with millions left homeless and with limited access to food, clean water and basic supplies. Where is the hope of the Jubilee year in such devastation?

Yet if hope is understood as presence, as Heinz witnessed to, religious who are with our suffering brothers and sisters, are a sign of hope. The Good Samaritan Sisters have been ministering on the island of Negros for a number of years. The Sisters of the Good Samaritan Kinder School, established to serve the poor families of the squatter district in Bacolod, has been ravaged by the recent typhoon. Yet, the sisters are present in a real and tangible way, supporting the communities in their devastation and raising money to help with the long road to recovery. Perhaps you might consider donating to the Good Sams Foundation Philippines Emergency Appeal?

On November 7th Pope Leo XIV met with participants in the 65th General Assembly of the Italian Conference of Major Superiors (CISM) at the Vatican. In his address, the Pope highlighted how synodality can help them in their mission and governance, in order to avoid “self-referential tendencies” or “stagnation” and to inspire hope in other religious members.

He reminded religious of our innate calling :

“Ultimately, it is a journey of purification,” the Pope said, adding that the aim is to make “individuals and communities increasingly free in goodness, both in terms of personal growth and the exercise of charity.

As our religious institutes face challenges ahead, there is amongst us the emergence of a humble, compassionate way of being, that calls us to embrace our vulnerability. It is this stripping away which now enables us to be led into a new place of being sister and brother to each other and in so doing, avowing that human life is “loved, affirmed, and accepted”, as Moltmann stated.

Our communities have the potential to witness in the simple and often unseen ways to a life that becomes a beacon of hope for our neighbourhood, our local ministries and our society. May this Jubilee Year of Hope be a recommitment by us all to wake up each morning and find hope in our daily encounters.