From the Director's Desk...

I  want also to take this opportunity to thank publicly the donors who support this program with such incredible generosity and kindness.  They prefer anonymity, but I commend them to the grateful prayers of all our "Woodstock family" for the $225,000 they are providing each year for over 20 years for this stipulated purpose: "to support the work of the Center in providing a Visiting Fellows Program for Jesuit and lay persons working overseas and to support Jesuits in their international work."

Over the past four years, we have had 17 fellows from 13 countries who have spent all or most of an academic year here at Woodstock thanks to this fellowship program.  It has also supported 30 Jesuits from around the world who partici-pated in our two conferences in September, 1999, and October, 2000, on the influence of globalization on local cultures.  The Visiting Fellows Program is building up a network of serious scholars to address urgent issues related to international development in the fullest sense of the word: material and economic, political and social, cultural and religious.  Each one of these facets of human life is, of course, intimately interrelated with the others.

You will see that interrelationship in the conversation on human development in this issue of the Report.  I was struck particularly by the following: 

1)  What a devastating and lasting influence slavery and colonialism have had on human society.  There's a lesson here for globalization.

2)  Family is central to more aspects of human development than I had ever imagined.

3)  The proper role and appropriate balance of business and government in human development are very complex and quite confused at the present time.

4)  "Conversation" is crucial as a metaphor (and a reality) for the economy, public policy processes, family life, and educational and religious experience.

We have chosen to talk about human development as our topic, because it is especially important to the work of the three international visiting fellows who are with us this year. Moreover, at the recent international conference of our Global Economy and Cultures program, I heard them speak of their personal experiences in this area with eloquence and insight.   I realized then that it might prove both interesting and productive to explore this topic with them at greater length.

Since nothing herein is the "last word," we hope this issue of the Report arouses conversations galore in the homes, the rectories, and the communities of all our readers.  Please feel free to send your thoughts to our visiting fellows at: wtc-vf@georgetown.edu. 

Many prayers for a Blessed Christmas.

  James L. Connor, S.J.