austraLasia #2534
  (Note: in the first place apologies for long breaks in service, due simply to a lengthy series of meetings 'ex sede' which had to be prepared for, managed, then followed up, along with the travel involved. This period also included the inevitable computer crash - everything has been restored, thanks to back-up, except emails from 18th to 25th October. If anyone has austraLasia's from nos. 2527-29 kept somewhere, could you please send them to me! Otherwise I'll simply renumber recently sent items from 2527 onwards and forget those three even existed! Oh and next week is not going to be much better! Will possibly be away from connections yet again - but don't let that stop you from sending stuff along. We'll get to it eventually)

A wealth of good material

ROME: 5th November 2009 -- The last two weeks have everything except dull, and there is some excellent material of value to readers, which can be listed below, so read on!

* The SC meetings recently reported on, involving SC delegates, Centres of formation to SC and SB editors from South Asia has produced a very much distilled set of deliberations, a number of which would have wider application than simply South Asia.  But there is also an almost verbatim record of the discussions which led to these, over a period of six days. Everything can be found in the SDL SSCS collection at the link indicated. Convergence, cooperation, teamwork across a broad and variegated reality were the watchwords of this period, so a perusal of the material might be of considerable interest to provinces generally - and given that two EAO representatives were contributing to these discussions, there is a clear link with our own circumstances, at least in general terms, especially if you are interested in the area of formation: there were some enlightening discussions on that topic (as it has to do with communications, structures and the like).

* Rua: the kind of cooperation indicated in the previous paragraph has been in action amongst austraLasia readers.  Some months ago Francois from AFM was looking for a novena for Rua.  We put out an appeal. Various readers, not just from our region, offered their bits and pieces - nobody has a fully-fledged novena, but as a result of what came in and their local needs, AFM have now drawn up a novena with attached materials (readings and the like).  At least for 2010 this may serve as a good basis. The same link (ignore the fact that one item looks like a PPT...that's a glitch, it's really a doc file) contains a very useful summary by Braido/Motto on Rua in English, possibly more useful than all the lengthy books put together (!) and Paul VI's homily for the Beatification, though you could find another version of that in the Salesian Offices booklet.

* Collects of recent 'Beati': only in Latin and Italian - both texts 'official'.  But it may help people who are forever looking for this kind of thing.

* Not available on SDL (until we get a streaming server!) but another result of cooperation across readership is the possibility of a DVD copy of the old b/w version of Don Bosco so loved by many confreres from years past. A confrere from Cambodia was looking for it - an email to GBR and IRL soon indicated that a DVD version could be available.  Once I get the DVD and take a look at it, if the quality will stand a few copies, we could make it available on request.

* FMA response to typhoons in the Philippines: The Philippines have been through a watery and windy hell over past months.  Now the FMA have put together a 56 page booklet documenting their response to typhoon victims. At the moment this is kept in the 'region' collection under EAO (maybe we need a Salesian Family collection?).

In the meantime, other bits of info that have come in, but lacking sufficient time to put it together into a news item.  FIN recently held a special Assembly looking at initial formation in the context of new realities (read new technologies, amongst other things). Something of a first for the region in many ways, and worth looking at. Hope to put this together by way of a simple report (thanks Angel) over the next two days.
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 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 . Use Bosconet-wiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2009 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there.  Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org

Title: australasia 2534
Subject and key words: Varia
Date (year): 2009
ID: 2000-2099|2534