The humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, international disaster relief and Child Safeguarding were top of the agenda for the Xavier Network Directors when they met in Nuremberg last week.

Founded in 2004, the Xavier Network is an international mission and development partnership between 13 Jesuit organisations united in their commitment to global justice. All are passionate in their belief that they can achieve more together than by working separately. In total, the members support pastoral, development and aid projects in 87 countries working in partnership with local, mainly Jesuit partners.

The Network has four Working Groups which focus on Emergencies, Volunteers, International Programming and Advocacy. In addition, members are committed to three strategic partners: Fe y Alegria in Africa, Jesuit Refugee Service, and the Amazonian project with the CPAL conference.

Three main priorities were discussed at the Nuremberg meeting:

(1) The Safeguarding of Children: we approved a policy and protocol for the implementation of procedures for the protection and promotion of a culture of Safeguarding both in our own organisations and in those of our international partners. Emer Kerrigan from the Jesuit Missions office in Ireland led the discussion and was warmly commended on her skilful steering of the discussion.

(2) Advocating for a more just world: Xavier Network members share a commitment to advocacy not least in response to the recently published Universal Apostolic Preferences. We discussed specific examples of recent advocacy including work led by the Hakimani centre in Nairobi and Fr Joerg Alt from the German mission office on Tax Justice. We also discussed how we work together with GIAN (the Global Ignatian Advocacy Network) and were joined by Fr Xavier Jeyaraj from the Social Justice and Ecology Desk in Rome.

(3) Reviewing our response to recent humanitarian emergencies (mainly in Asia), and how we might respond to the crisis in Venezuela.  Fr Tom Smolich, International Director of JRS talked to us about the potential synergies between the Xavier Network and Jesuit Refugee Service International.

Fr Klaus Vathroder SJ, Coordinator of the Xavier Network said:

“The Xavier Network is a thriving example of Jesuit networking. Our meeting in Nuremberg was historic because of the commitments we made to building a safeguarding culture for children at home and overseas, advocating for justice on several fronts, and working together with global Jesuit partners to strengthen our impact.”

While originally conceived as a European Network of Mission Offices and Jesuit NGOs, the Xavier Network now includes members from Canada and Australia. In Nuremberg, we also welcomed several invited guests from the United States, South Korea and the Claver Network (Development offices of CPAL) in South America. Our aim continues to be to build alliances with like-minded partners across the Jesuit world so that we can strengthen our networking and increase the impact and reach of our work.