austraLasia 1387

Rustles of spring in wintry Milan as EAO missionaries return 'home'

MILAN: 12th January 2006 --  Rustles of spring, or would it be a wafting of strange aromas, a mixture of pastries, pizza and printing ink which have stirred up Milan in recent days as two long-serving EAO missionaries return 'home'; 'home' because that's their diocese or region of birth, but their heart remains in Thailand or in the Philippines, of that there is no doubt.  Fr Mario Sala, 40 years in Thailand, but more recently in the 'economato' at the Pisana, has transferred to Sesto San Giovanni in the Milan Province.  He described his move yesterday, before departure, as a 'new springtime' in his life.  He goes there to be confessor to a very large school, 1700 pupils plus.  Fr Sala spent a good part of his life in Thailand.  He did his novitiate there in 1960, and after his theological studies in the Holy Land, returned to Thailand.  He was Provincial Economer there for a short period and then carried on his financial management skills in Rome for nine years.  Thai students in Italy made the Pisana 'Mecca' over that time, which speaks volumes not only for Fr Sala's love for Thailand but the Thai's love for Fr Sala!
    Fr Gianluigi Colombo made headlines when he returned to Milan recently, which is probably appropriate for a man who has run a printing press and pizzeria in downtown Makati for many years.  He is home on extended furlough, for medical reasons.  Corriere della Sera, the Milan daily, described him as 'Il Commendatore', which he isn't of course, but they believe he should be, describing him as having 'all the entrepreneurial optimism of the Lombard in Italy's enterprising hey-day in the '60s'.  That figures.  He left his home province of Milan in the '60s for practical training in Canlubang.  For the past 13 years at least he has run the printing side of things at Makati's Salesiana Publishers HQ.
    Asia's loss, Milan's gain, it seems, on both accounts.  austraLasia wishes them well.

VOCABULARY
Rustles of spring: a musical allusion to a piano piece, Fruelingsrauschen, by Christian Sinding, Norwegian Composer 1856-1941.
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