austraLasia 1059
South Asia Region Team Visit: "Grateful for the
magnificent past, but..."
NEW DELHI: 2nd March 2005 -- The context of the SA
Team Visit remains that of celebration of 100 years of Salesian presence and
work in India. It is a celebration of gratitude, something that the 'Bosco
World' exhibition, opened yesterday in the basement of the Provincial House in
Delhi, highlights: the personal, caring attitude of Salesians, their easy
identification with the young, family spirit, the option for rural settings, the
prayer and work and, dare we say it, the hope.
But hope that is realistic. As the Rector Major
reflected on the second day of work in the Team Visit, a day that included an
open forum where some of the hard issues were raised (provincial culture,
inculturation in formation, spiritual direction), he indicated, along the lines
of Fr. Alencherry's reflections on the future in India, that while we are to be
grateful for the past we are now directed to the future - how do we want to be
known in India in the years to come (the challenge to find a Salesian Indian
identity)? What kind of Salesian presence do we want to set up - simply
activities, or do we want to change society?
The RM's own reflections probed a little further -
'Let's look at Constitution 3, the inseparable elements, lived in a single
movement towards God and towards our brothers. Our mission sets the whole
tenor of our lives! That's the core of it all. We could be
distracted by non-essential elements".
The RM invited gathered provincials, council members, to
focus on the mission, rather than the activities. The option for the
marginalised, for example is not something for some of our works, but something
for our mission wherever we are.
In the course of the afternoon, the new Don Bosco movie,
this time in English version, was distributed. The RM in his reflective
intervention drew on the movie as an example of how doing flowed from Don
Bosco's being, of how he was a person always 'becoming', never at a single
moment complete, as is the case with us all. Ongoing, continuing
formation, then, is the principle of our Salesian lifetime. it is there to
make us fit for the mission, be it in terms of spiritual renewal, professional
updating, educational competence.
The Team Visit participants take a short break on 3rd
March for some local (New Delhi-based) visiting, and a chance to gather strength
for the remaining sessions.
__________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian
Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based
in Rome. Try also www.bosconet.aust.com and Lexisdb. A revised version of eaostatsv2bn is also available from
this URL