29/07/2026
A significant and beautiful chapter has just concluded in Manila, Philippines, where leaders of the institutions participating in the Collaborative Theology Initiative (CTI) gathered to continue and deepen a shared vision: to form together the theologians and ministers whom the Church and our world need today.
This meeting builds on the momentum of the recent CTI Summer Programme hosted by Hekima University College in Nairobi, which brought together 28 students from several institutions and continents. Over several weeks, they shared a rich experience of theological formation, prayer, intercultural dialogue, engagement with African realities, and friendship in the Lord. It was a powerful expression of what theological formation can become when it transcends geographical and institutional boundaries and places itself at the service of a truly universal mission.
The just concluded Manila meeting brought together leaders representing the international network of Jesuit theological institutions engaged in CTI, including Hekima University College in Nairobi, Loyola School of Theology in Manila, Jnana-Deepa in Pune, Boston College’s Clough School of Theology and Ministry, the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in Berkeley, Regis St. Michael’s in Toronto, and the Delegate of Father General for Formation, alongside other partners in this shared journey. This diversity of continents, cultures, and ecclesial experiences reveals the richness of a theology shaped through encounter, dialogue, and mutual listening.
The Manila meeting offered us an opportunity to reflect on the journey we have travelled together, to discern its fruits, and to look toward the future with renewed hope. We deepened our commitment to building bridges among our institutions, contexts, cultures, and theological traditions, so that our diversity may become a genuine source of richness at the service of the mission.
CTI reminds us that no institution can carry the mission alone. Our future lies in collaboration, in the generous sharing of our resources and gifts, and in the courage to imagine together a theology that is deeply synodal and intercultural, rooted in the realities of our peoples, and open to the challenges facing our world.
We leave Manila grateful for the journey already travelled and, above all, filled with hope for all that remains to be built. When we choose to walk together, boundaries become places of encounter, our differences become sources of fruitfulness, and our institutions become partners in one shared mission.
May the Lord continue to guide CTI and make this collaboration an instrument of communion, transformation, and hope for the Church and for the world.
AMDG
Fr. Marcel Uwineza, SJ
