are the Jesuits in the Philippines going bankrupt? how did that happen?
there are two (2) things that bothered me with that post by xyz1two3, an author in this blog :
- the jesuits sold xavier house, a landmark with a lot of history not only for the jesuits but also for the country
- “Reuter said he fully understood that the SJ had run into serious financial need to sustain its operations.”, taken from the PDI news article.
how do we read the second one? the Society Of Jesus in the philippines is on the brink of bankruptcy? the jesuits seem to be selling property to generate cash. in business, that can be called a fire sale.
how can an educational institution who prides itself in having the best business management course and the best MBA course in the country that produces many captains of philippine business as graduates for generations get itself into “serious financial need”? the ateneo are very good teachers, they can teach and train its students to be the country’s most successful business managers but it cannot apply what it teaches to themselves?
that is a very shocking thought!
anyone know anything about this? who manages the finances of the school? did they invest heavily in US financials and the US stock market?
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from PDI, april 1, 2009 issue:
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Fr. Bobby Yap, treasurer of the Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus, confirmed plans to sell the Sta. Ana property and other Jesuit-owned real estate “in light of financial problems the province is facing.”
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From Fr. Jose Cecilio Magadia, provincial superior of the Jesuits in the Philippines: “It brushes aside the reality that the province is in [dire] financial straits, exacerbated by the ongoing world financial crisis,” he said.
read in full here: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090401-197310/SM-wont-acquire-Father-Reuters-home
read related post. click here: https://wawam.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/jesuits-sell-xavier-house-the-house-where-3-points-of-history-were-made/ or scroll down.
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WAWAM! after hours 
you have to stop being so sensationalist. i understand it gets you clicks, but things like this are the equivalent of an online tabloid.
the information is in a national broadsheet and have used a direct quote from it.
when you read “SJ had run into serious financial need to sustain its operations”, it does read like the SJ is about to go bankrupt, doesn’t it? how else can you interpret that sentence? officials of SJ have confirmed the society is in “dire finanacial straits” – from the provincial superior himself. (PDI, april 1 issue). also the SJ treasurer confirmed the same thing.
how is this being sensationalist? where is the exageration?
@ chill: in today’s PDI, the top officials of the Society Of Jesus themselves have confirmed the post here and the PDI article as true. they are factual.
you might find the topic “sensational” as it might affect you emotionally, but it is factual. it just may be your emotions kicking in.
i find it very distrubing, too. but those are the facts.
this is shocking. never in my wildest dreams did it ever occur to me that our beloved jesuits are having financial problems.
you must understand that the “Jesuits” and the “Ateneo” are two distinct even if related entities. The “Jesuits” don’t live off the Ateneo. The Ateneo is a free-standing institution and corporation that has its own finances, operations, etc. It must sustain itself. What earnings it has go to the Ateneo. Not to the Jesuits.
“Jesuits” have to earn for their living. What salaries they have go to their respective communities. In the past few years however, the gulf between what Jesuits earn and what they spend have widened considerably. Medical costs for the old and infirm have skyrocketed. The formation of young Jesuits has also become very expensive. Plus there are other apostolic works that are subsidized by the Jesuit Province (our school in Culion for example). So, the Ateneo may look prosperous; it is after all a first class educational institution. But Jesuits do not live off the Ateneo, but from their salaries earned as teachers, administrators, etc.
I hope this clarifies the matter.
why shouldn’t the jesuits live off ateneo? ateneo is run by jesuits. if the jesuits go bankrupt and is forced to leave the philippines, won’t the jesuits who run ateneo leave with them?
the jesuits must have a share of profits from all the schools ran by the jesuits. even private multinational companies charge royalties from their foreign subsidiaries.