SEOUL: 30th April '04 -- Yesterday afternoon, 29th April, at Aaron's House near Seoul, South Korea, the 5th Regional Cooperators' Congress opened with 180 participants present.  Some 50 of these are SDB or FMA delegates, accompanied by Cooperators from Manila, Cebu, Korea, China, East Timor, Thailand, Japan, Australia and Vietnam.  Fr. Vaclav Klement, Regional Councillor for EAO, and Fr. Stjepan Bolkovac, World SDB Delegate, were also in attendance.

 

The central theme for the next five days is 'autonomy in communion'.  This is supported by themes of formation, growth in local autonomy and, understandably tied to autonomy in practical terms, economics!  The latter issue, however, is presented within a solid biblical framework drawing on Israel's constant need to face up to its obligations to the poor and disenfranchised, and linked then to Don Bosco's own practice as eventually enshrined in Cooperator Regulations for Apostolic Life.

 

Today, 30th, the entire group will go on pilgrimage to Seoul, to the site of the Korean Martyrs, and then to several SDB communities working for poor young people.

 

As is always the case with meetings in Asia, the linguistic challenges are considerable: 6 simultaneous interpretations are required for all key moments (Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Thai and English), but the facilities at Aaron House are hi-tech.

 

Korea's four SDB novices are also taking part, along with their novicemaster, ensuring that future Cooperators will have the support of well-trained and enthusiastic Salesians.

____________________________________