1630 Blessing of DB CLAY site and communications centre
austraLasia 1630

Blessing of Don Bosco CLAY site and Communications Centre

CEBU: 18th August 2006 -- August 16 saw the formal blessing of the re-located Don Bosco Centre for Lay Adults and Youth (DB-CLAY cf. ala #1421 and #1334) as well as the Communications Centre.  Both are now located in the Don Bosco Missionary Seminary compound at Talisay City in Cebu.  Present for the blessing were the Provincial of the Southern Philippines, Fr Arthur (Julius) Sanchez and the Regional for EAO, Fr Vaclav Klement, along with 15 volunteer formators from CLAY, various members of the SDB and FMA communities, novices, aspirants and postulants stemming from Philippines, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan.
    The Social Communication Office was also transferred from the Don Bosco Technical College to this new location.  The Communications delegate for the province is Fr Fidel Orendain. This office or more properly now a centre, is closely integrated with a variety of formation activities now that it is closer to CLAY, the Seminary and the Youth Ministry office for the province.
    The property on which all these activities are located once belonged to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.  30 years ago they sold the property to the Salesians where it now accommodates the retreat house, seminary, some 36 aspirants and postulants, novitiate and now, of course, CLAY and Communications.
    The day following the blessing, Fr Klement met with the CLAY formators.  He met with the 12 core group members and saw the range of activities already carried out for 2006, then discussed the 5 year development plan which will be carried through with the help of Misereor. CLAY is led by a lay director, Mrs. Lori.
    Amongst the achievements of the past four years of CLAY's existence are a weekly formation gathering based on the Memoirs of the Oratory, held each Tuesday often with the presence of the Salesian novices. This gathering enables a deeper sharing of viewpoints from the religious and lay perspective. Modules on Salesianity have already been developed for levels 1-10.  DB CLAY has gained wide acceptance in the province and for that matter in the local area and is seen as a model for lay formation in the province.  Its formators are open to learning techniques of other lay formation enterprises within the Salesian world.  The Rector Major's guidelines for Salesian Studies, recently released, will also be a guiding beacon for CLAY.  In many ways the GC26 convocation letter, with its emphasis on a living Don Bosco, fire and zeal, fits neatly with what CLAY has already been doing, especially not just studying Don Bosco but bringing him alive in the face-to-face experience of lay and religious in exchange.
    So far CLAY has trained around 30 people, involving five groups of the Salesian Family.
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