Amidst fear and flight, hope: ET's first Cooperators
make their promise
DILI: 30th April 2006 -- Early this morning, at the
Mary Help of Christians Parish Church, Comoro, Dili, 3 couples made
their promise as Salesian Cooperators at a Mass presided over by Fr
Callejas, Superior of the vice province, and accepted by Fr Klement,
Regional Councillor, in the name of the Rector Major. The moment
was an historical one as it is the first formal promise amongst this
group of the Salesian Family in Timor Leste, ITM vice province.
Timor Leste has had a Salesian presence for 60 years, but no formal
preparation of the Association of Salesian Cooperators until now.
Congratulations were also received from Philip Yu, the EAO ASC Regional
Councillor who resides in Hong Kong.
The event made history in terms of context,
too. News media have already reported on the disturbances
associated with a dispute amongst members of the armed forces,
essentially the sacking of 591 soldiers, which has led to rioting, a
number of deaths and the burning of 100 or more homes in the capital
Dili. Two agencies, including AAP, have given either vague
reference to 'hundreds taking refuge in Church property' or specific
reference to 'Dom Bosco Seminary' (sic) where President Xanana Gusmao
yesterday addressed the crowd and urged young people, particularly, 'to
remain calm and rebuild peace in this country'.
The seminary is not a seminary and it is Don Bosco,
not Dom Bosco of course, and it is at Comoro, where we find the
Provincial House, a parish, a communications centre, technical centre
and reception centre. Well, for the past several days it has
truly been a reception centre - for around 5,000 people, many of them
families of the parish who have fled their homes in fear of further
rioting and burning. In fact it has been the largest gathering of
'refugees' around the city - some had gathered at the airport, several
hundred in the US Embassy, others at the police HQ and others again at
the FMA community residence and grounds. This is the third time
large crowds of people have taken refuge at DB Comoro: first in 1999,
then last month and again this month.
The witness of our Salesians in all of this has been
outstanding, especially when water and food in these circumstances is
limited. The Principal of the DB Training Centre, Bro Adriano,
has had to carry much of the burden of organisation, since most of the
priests have been involved around the city in parish duties - a
decision had been made to continue to provide normal masses and
services for people at this crucial time. So Bro. Adraino has
organised the logistics with help from NGOs and Embassies, including
toilets from the NZ Embassy, other help from the Red Cross.
During the height of the disturbance, which has now largely settled
down, some 30 people were injured during the shooting and again it was
Bro. Adriano who organised the transportation to the hospital.
Amidst all of this, then, the First Promises by 3
couples, their subsequent sharing of their vocational journey and the
later blessing of the Statue of St. John Bosco at the entrance to the
compound was a moment of hope that helped vanquish fear - they
certainly didn't ask for an additional 5,000 guests for the occasion,
but perhaps that too was a blessing in disguise!
For further comment on this article, please feel
free to add your own reflections or reactions or information at BoscoWiki
austraLasia page.
__________________
AustraLasia
is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific.
It also
functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please
contact admin@bosconet.aust.com
Try out BoscoWiki
to be interactive. For RSS feeds, subscribe
to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xml
