MAGIS Italian Jesuit Missions Network

MAGIS Italian Jesuit Missions Network
Abbreviation MAGIS
Established 1988 (1988)
Location
President
 Fr. Nicholas Gay, SJ
Director
 Ambrose Bongiovanni
Immersion
 Renato Colizzi, SJ[1]
Sponsor
 Italian Jesuit Province
Main organ
 Italian Jesuit Missionaries
Affiliations Jesuit, Catholic
Staff
Fifteen
Volunteers
Nine
Website MAGIS

MAGIS Italian Jesuit Missions Network (Movimento e Azione dei Gesuiti Italiani per lo Sviluppo) was founded in 1988 by the Italian Province of the Society of Jesus to coordinate the province’s international activities in solidarity with the most disadvantaged peoples, promoting intercultural and interreligious dialogue and integral development.[2]

Programs

Literacy along with education for development are a primary focus of MAGIS, with attention to the most vulnerable groups,[3] along with their health and social services, human rights protection, and sustainable development. MAGIS looks to involve the local communities in their own planning and development, and also educates the Italian people in the dynamics of working toward a more just world.[4] MAGIS is a member of the European Jesuits' Xavier Network[5] and Italian Coalition on Education for All. MAGIS operates in 25 countries with 35 development projects.[6]

Through education for development abroad, MAGIS hopes to involve the young in their country's process of just and sustainable development.[7] It would empower them personally and orient them toward action for change through an interdisciplinary approach, with specific courses on development in which the teaching staff and parents are also involved.[8]

MAGIS sponsors programs to foster a missionary spirit in Church communities in Italy, including ecumenical cooperation in Christian mission. Programs involve reading from Scripture and dialoguing on early Christian missionary experiences; relating global trends in development to the potential of specific groups to learn and embrace the universal mission of the Society of Jesus;[9] and sponsoring development projects, campaigns, magazines, and events, to promote the community's growing awareness.[10]

MAGIS has a warehouse in Gallarate, Italy, where volunteers conduct promotional activities and collect things to supply the needs of people worldwide, like school and hospital equipment and medicine, sewing machines, tractors, and cars.[11]

MAGIS through it member groups and Jesuit missionaries provides insertion experiences in work abroad.[12] It also furnishes placement at home and abroad for young men and women ages 18–29 who are a part of the Italian government's year-long National Civil Service program with its broad range of objectives consistent with those of MAGIS.[13]

The efforts of MAGIS abroad include support of clinics and health programs; agricultural programs including improved productivity through local associations, cooperatives, and marketing; advocating for the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples; improved water supplies; and education including teacher training.[14]

The magazine Italian Jesuit Missionaries reports on Jesuit works and serves as a voice for those abroad who are often overlooked by the commercial media. MAGIS also maintains a website with extensive coverage of its own works as well as the works of other social and development organizations in which the Italian Jesuits are involved.[15]

References

Coordinates: 45°27′59.21″N 9°11′29.31″E / 45.4664472°N 9.1914750°E / 45.4664472; 9.1914750

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