Major English Language Symposium on 'Da Mihi Animas' at
Berkeley
BERKELEY (US): 31st July 2007 -- Salesians from a number of
English-speaking parts of the world (but not only) recently mounted a
major symposium on 'Da mihi animas', attended by and with contributions
from a number of confreres from the USA, Hong Kong, Australia,
Thailand, Ireland, the Middle East, the UPS, Peru and the UK. The
symposium was held at Don Bosco Hall, Berkeley USA, from 18-25 July.
The
former Australian Provincial, Fr Ian Murdoch who had been one of the
key organisers of the symposium, presented it as a an opportunity for
those who normally spoke English to offer a valuable contribution from
their own perspective to the wider discussion of fundamental Salesian
issues.
Fr Joe Boenzi, who teaches both at Don Bosco Hall in
Berkeley and
at the UPS, offered a contribution drawing from his extensive
association with studies on St Francis de Sales, and spoke in
particular on the de Sales' family motto, 'neither more nor less' and
his episcopal motto 'let it not be destroyed, concluding with the motto
more closely associated with Don Bosco but quoted as being applied by
St Francis de Sales, 'Give me souls'. We have his friend, Bishop Camus'
, word for that.
Fr Francis Preston, Rector of the Studium
Theologicum Salesianum,
Ratisbonne, in Jerusalem offered a 'Holy Land perspective', insisting
on the fundamental importance of the Ministry of Jesus in defining the
Salesian perspective. This was followed up by a contribution from Fr
Arthur Lenti, the doyen of Salesian Studies at Berkeley and in the
English-speaking world, He offered a major study of 'Da mihi animas'
showing how it summed up Don Bosco's work as priest, educator, founder
and missionary.
Fr Paddy Hennessy, Ireland, presented a youth
ministry perspective
with responses from Fr Savio Hon, China province and Fr John Dickson,
GBR province. The picture that emerged was a world of young
people in
search of values and meaning, with Salesians offering an holistic
concern integarting the personal, spiritual and moral in the lived
educational experience of community in a Christian context.
The 'lived' element was likewise experienced in the
surroundings, community and prayer experience of the Symposium itself. _________________ AustraLasia is an
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