ULAANBAATAR and HONIARA: 3rd February 2006 -- The
various reports of what communities did on Don Bosco's Feast day are
trickling in. Here are two from the Region's extremities,
Mongolia and Solomon Islands. Mongolia: where it is c-c-c-cooold at this
time of the year! In fact the community celebrated the Feast on the
24th, because it was easier that day to bring the various individuals
together from the three presences in the country, along with staff and
youth. They came together in the Don Bosco Industrial Training Skills
Centre in Ulaanbaatar. In the morning the Bishop and Prefect
Apostolic of Ulaanbaatar, Most Rev. Wenceslaus Padilla CICM celebrated
the Mass and remained with the group. He reminded everyone that
'the characterstic spirit of a Salesian House should be like that of a
family, and offered FAMILY as an acronym: F for father, A for and, M
for mother, I for I, L for love and Y for you. Thus in a Salesian House
each one needs to respect and love the other and this makes your Youth
Centres and Technical Schools so different, something already proven in
Mongolia where the Don Bosco school is already one of the best in the
country'. After Mass, everyone went off to one of the mountain
slopes nearby for a snow picnic. You could check out the pics on
the DB Mongolia website at www.dbmongolia.org Solomon Islands: where it never snows, is
always hot but certainly rains a lot (at this time of the year)!
Archbishop Adrian Smith SM told the assembled Salesians, volunteers,
guests on 31st 'to be happy, tolerant and search for inner truth'. The
Archbishop dwelt on the readings for the Feast, highlighting vision,
charism and hope: ' We are born free and religious life is to enable us
to live free, and in this freedom serve God', he said. The
liturgy was coordinated by Brother Shinici Suzuki sdb and followed by a
delightful supper with songs and games interspersed.
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