JESEDURIO 2017 just began on 15th October and will last till 21st October 2017. There are altogether 115 participants including the resource persons and Fr. General.
Fr. David Laughin SJ, Fr. Vincent Shekhar SJ, F SJ are the resource personsr. Benedictus Hari Juliawan SJ, and Fr. General Arturo Sosa SJ are the resource persons of the Conference. It is truely an international Jesuit Educators conference, as the participants are from all corners of the world.
Rio is an ideal place to have this serious meeting, reflections, discernment and action plan. We are 11 from South Asian Conference in the Conference.
About the statue of Christ the Redeemer
Standing with his arms spread and casting a watchful eye over Rio de Janeiro from the 700m- (2,296.6 ft.) tall Corcovado Mountain, Christ the Redeemer is one of the most recognised and photographed monuments in Brazil. It has been crowned one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, and is the fourth-largest statue of Jesus in the world (the largest being the Christ is King statue in West Poland).
The Christ the Redeemer is the largest Art Deco statue in the world. It was designed by Polish-French sculptor Paul Landowski, before being constructed by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa in collaboration with French engineer Albert Caquot. The face was the work of Romanian artist Gheorghe Leonida.
The idea of building a Christ statue was first suggested in the mid-1850s to honor Princess Isabel, the princess regent of Brazil and the daughter of Emperor Pedro II, but the idea was dismissed. It wasn’t until 1920 that the idea resurfaced from the Catholic community, and was finally accepted and put into practice.
The statute stands at a mighty 30m (32.8 yds.) tall on top of an 8m (8.7 yds.) pedestal base. It has an arm span of 28m (30.6 yds.) and weighs a hefty 635 metric tons (699.9 short tons). This is made even more impressive by the fact that it was constructed in parts before being carried up Corcovado Mountain.
The design of the statue was chosen as a symbol of peace among a selection of possibilities. Other options included a Christian cross, Jesus with a globe in his hands and a pedestal symbolising the world.
The construction began in 1922 and took nine years to complete. It cost $250,000 (£200,000 – equivalent to $3,300,000 [£2,643,716] in 2015) to build, and was funded by the Catholic community in Brazil.
Since then, it has needed several renovations due to weather exposure, noticeably in February 2008 and January 2014, when lightning strikes damaged parts of the statue including dislodging a finger. The original pale stone of the Christ is no longer available in sufficient quantities to renovate it, so replacement stones are an increasingly darker hue.
Rio is known for this great, beautiful and peace symbol, Christ the Redeemer. I am happy to be here to relish the mesmerising atmosphere of Rio....!
