PARANAQUE CITY: 9 February 2103
--
The journey of the congress on the New Evangelization in the
FIN
Province has just begun as the first pre-congress on new
evangelization
wrapped up on 7 February at the Seminaryo ng Don Bosco.
A three-part series of pre-congresses on New Evangelization
has been
calendared which aims to come up with propositions for the
Provincial
Chapter in April.
This is in view of the New Evangelization Congress that will
take place
in FIN by the second half of this year.
In keeping with its Provincial Chapter 2010 strategies, the
Congress on
New Evangelization aims “to assess, create awareness, own, and
set
directions to respond to the urgency of creating an
environment that
leads to positive personal and social transformation.”
The fruit of the Congress is an Integrated Pastoral Plan for
the New
Evangelization in the FIN province for 2013-2015 which is the
FIN’s
gift to Don Bosco on the bicentenary of his birth come August
16, 2015.
The now concluded first pre-congress involved those of the
formation
houses and provincial services sectors. Next week, the parish
and youth
center sectors will have their turn. The school sector will be
the last
to have its pre-congress by next month.
Among the participants in the recently concluded pre-congress
included
the rectors, formators and even formands of the prenovitiate,
postnovitiate and theologate seminaries in the FIN. The
provincial
services sectors which include the social commission, finance,
among
others, were represented by both Salesians and lay mission
partners.
Fr. Fidel Orendain of the neighboring FIS was invited to be an
observer
of the process. He noted that “the past three days became a
beautiful
avenue for the participants to think out of the box”
vis-à-vis the task
for the new evangelization. He also affirmed the preparatory
steps
which were taken by the organizers as “well-sequenced and
community-based,” which “harmonizes with the (provincial)
chapter
preparations.”
Among the members of the preparatory group for the Congress on
New
Evangelization includes Fr. Renato de Guzman, who was one of
the
invited auditors in the Synod on the New Evangelization held
last year.
Fr. Vic Cervania of the Institute of Catechetics and Youth
Ministry of
Don Bosco Center of Studies is the chair of the organizing
team for the
congress.
The presence of the lay mission partners who were competent in
their
respective fields enriched the discussion.
Fr. Eli Cruz, FIN provincial, summed up into three the
roles we
need to play in responding to the challenges of the new
evangelization:
prophet, mystic and servants.
