Our Relationship with Colombia
 In the year 2000, the Oregon Province signed a far reaching agreement with the Jesuits of Colombia. The Colombia and Oregon Twinning Agreement recently re-negotiated by Fr. John Whitney of Oregon and Fr. Gabriel Ignacio Rodriguez of Colombia, is a landmark in the history of Jesuit province Twinning Agreements.
The Oregon/Colombia Twinning Agreement not only connects both provinces to the international perspectives called for by the Society — Fr. Whitney also sees the TA as a process that will reshape how each province educates Jesuits in formation and how institutions in both countries plan future apostolic initiatives. Talks are underway about how to achieve bi-lingual and bi-cultural education for novices and scholastics in each province. Exchange trips by province leaders from Oregon and Colombia in the 2004-2006 time frame are also helping establish the direct contacts between province assistants making joint apostolic planning possible.
Another major dimension of the Twinning Agreement is the development in both provinces of projects on Regional Sustainable Development (RSD). Colombia ’s project on RSD called Suyusama (slide show) is in its first year of operation. The Oregon Province has appointed a task force that will make recommendations to the provincial by April of 2006 on how Oregon should proceed with a project in our own region.
In November of 2005, John Whitney and Gabriel Ignaico Rodriquez sent official letters to the members and collaborators in their provinces with information about the Twinning Agreement. These letters invite a careful reading of the TA and reflection on how its implementation can be strengthened at the local level in the communities and apostolates across both provinces.
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