HO CHI MINH CITY: 11 October 2005 -- In a full day last
Saturday, that may prove a watershed for the Association of Salesian
Cooperators in Vietnam, Fr Vaclav Klement, Regional councillor for East
Asia Oceania, placed the local movement, its problems and its
possibilities, firmly in the context of the larger movement - the
growth and direction of the worldwide Association as well as regional
developments. In conveying the greetings of the Rector Major to
Cooperators who had gathered for the occasion, he centred on the call
for them to fix their gaze on holiness, the practical holiness evident
in lives such as those of Don Bosco - the permanent model, Mamma
Margaret - the first Cooperator, Attilio Girodani - the only lay male
model amongst the Salesian saints.
The ASC in Vietnam has seven already established
centres, and intends to bring three more into being. In fact they
only have a formal history of a decade in the country, and due to
circumstances this has sometimes been a rocky road. There is a
good understanding on the part of ASC members that now is the time to
rejuvenate the face of the Association, something that can only happen
in conjunction with the wider Family. The determinant, as always,
will be initial and ongoing formation. And obviously the several
challenges that confront the Association in its local social, religious
and political context need to be addressed.
A question frequently raised, both in local centres
and in the context of parish, is the readiness of the ASC to take up
the mission of family apostolate and faith education of the
young. Returning once more to the wider context, Fr Klement
demonstrated the degree of assistance that is available - the regional
website already contains a wide range of materials for use in
formation, a plan had already been developed in view of the 2004 Seoul
Congress with 2007 as its arrival point, a clear structure of
leadership, along with Family Delegates is already in place.
An opportunity now presents itself for 2006 - The
RM's Strenna, with its focus on the family, an opportunity for
relaunching the Cooperator vocation and family apostolate, and Don
Bosco's preventive spirituality as something to be shared with the
local Church.. Fr Klement passed on the information that 110 Salesian
Bishops worldwide have urged the Holy Father to speed up the process of
Mamma Margaret's Beatification, something the Holy Father has replied
to informally in discussion with Fr Chavez, indicating that not only
would there be no obstacle but that it would seem desirable.
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