By William Bole

Fathers Ambrose Pinto and William Toner -- Jesuits in New Delhi and Dublin, respectively -- have seen contrasting sides of the morally mixed and highly ambiguous reality that is called globalization.

As director of the Indian Social Institute, Father Pinto has witnessed, and chronicled, the involuntary displacement of thousands of families from ancestral tribal lands in India -- a wrenching process rooted in the economic force and logic of globalization.

Father Toner, who directs the Center for Faith and Justice in Dublin, lives in a country that comes about as close to an unmitigated, or at least unpredicted, success as one will find in the global economy.

Yet the two came together for eight days in September at a meeting in Washington where they and other Jesuits grappled with a deceptively simple question: What in the world is going on?

The gathering at the U.S. Jesuit Conference and Georgetown University marked the beginning of a structured conversation, as part of a cooperative Jesuit initiative called the "Global Economy and Cultures Project." Directors of a dozen Jesuit social research and action centers, on five continents, attended the meeting. They represented a third of the centers involved in the three-year project.

Much of the September 10-17 consultation was devoted to reflections on a set of narratives compiled by each of the participating centers. These are stories of globalization and specifically its impact on cultures. The Woodstock Theological Center in Washington has collected the 40 narratives and also prepared summaries of each story. The center is coordinating the overall project.

The directors drew on a field of combined Jesuit experience that seemed as complex and varied as the phenomenon of globalization itself.

At one end, Father Pinto's work with indigenous communities uprooted by economic development projects has given him a distinct perspective.

"It [the globalization process] does provide a better quality of life for the already rich. But as for the poor, it is destructive of their cultures and their communities," he said in an interview. "If you don't look at this reality from the perspective of victims, you're not looking at it ethically or morally."

Living in Ireland -- up until fairly recently an economic backwater -- Father Toner understandably comes from a different horizon. Not only enjoying amazing rates of economic growth, the Irish are also exporting their traditional culture.

"Where I come from, the people are all pro-globalization. Nobody is critical of globalization," Father Toner said. He added, "I accept that it's doing a lot of harm in a lot of countries. But I don't think it's inevitable."

Adding further texture to the discussions were the post-colonial, native African perspective of Father Muhigirwa Ferdinand, S.J, of Congo; and the post-Communist perspective of Father Stanislaus Opiela, S.J., a Polish native working in Moscow. Other countries represented included Brazil, Philippines, Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe, Canada, and France.

Though thinking from within various horizons, participants proceeded in true Ignatian form. They consciously followed the Jesuit method of discernment, and didn't leap to conclusions as a group. In the end, they found unity and depth.

After four days of reflection on the data of experience, they began arriving at preliminary understandings of what's happening in the global arena. On the last day, they unanimously approved the circulation of what is being described as an "informal report" on the consultations.

"Fundamentally, there is something that is extremely positive about this whole movement of making the world one," said Father Ricardo Falla, S.J., who coordinates the Central American Province's Social Apostolate Commission, in Honduras. "It's an expression of Creation, God's creation. This is good.

"But as in Creation, there is also sin. This whole thing could be used to dominate" and suppress people and cultures, he said. Father Falla added that North Americans and Europeans look at this reality primarily from a Creation perspective, while people who live in the periphery tend to focus on the sinful side, from the perspective of those who are suffering.

The final product of the collaboration in 2001 will be a document that presents ethical guidelines for leading actors on the global stage, "something with teeth in it," said Father Gasper F. Lo Biondo, S.J., an economist and Woodstock senior fellow who is facilitating the effort. These global players range from policy makers and business executives to trade unions, non-governmental organizations, and other institutions, he explained.

The Global Economy and Cultures Project has its genesis in the 34^th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus, held in 1995. In its decree, "Our Mission and Justice," the congregation stated that while globalization may produce many benefits, it could also result in "injustices on a massive scale."

Among other signs of these times, the document pointed to economic structural adjustment programs (of particular consequence in Africa) and "market forces unfettered by concern for their local impact." The congregation also warned against an unhealthy, homogeneous "modernization" of cultures.

During GC 34, Father James L. Connor, S.J., Woodstock's director, began talking with his counterparts about the possibility of joint endeavors involving Jesuit social centers. From those conversations in Rome came the idea of a collaborative focus on globalization.

The first phase of the project -- the narratives - included the September consultation. In the next stage, participants will seek an inclusive understanding of the globalization process -- aided by an Internet "chat group" being set up to continue the conversation. After that, they will evaluate and validate these understandings, and then, finally, unveil a statement of their experiences, findings, and recommendations.

In his concluding reflection, Father Connor underscored a fundamental conviction of Christian and Ignatian spirituality.

"However sinful a situation is, however oppressive an experience might be, Christ is there present, working, struggling, shaping, calling out to us for our active companionship with him," he said.

"We need to look for Christ in the ambiguous, painful, exploitative situations in our economy and cultures and world. And we need to do this together, because it is a communal or corporate discernment."

William Bole is an associate fellow of the Woodstock Theological Center.