JAKARTA: 10 April 2010 -- The Silver Jubilee Salesian
celebration in Indonesia, now at its high point with the presence of
the Rector Major, has many fascinating features, but one mark of
Salesian inculturation was highlighted on 8 April, at the solemn
concelebrated Mass in Indonesian at St John Bosco Parish; 'Giù
dai colli' accompanied by the anklung, the typical bamboo instrument in
the archipelago - and for that matter beyond.
The Rector Major concelebrated with the Provincial,
Fr Calleja, the Regional Fr Andy Wong, the founder of the Salesian
presence in Indonesia, Fr Carbonnell and some 30 other priests.
Besides his visits to Salesian settings both SDB and
FMA, and encounters with the Salesian Family generally, a particular
note for these Jubilee celebrations has been the recognition of the
wider Church in Indonesia. On 7 April, the Apostolic Nuncio,
Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, himself a Salesian 'past pupil' in that he
attended the Salesian oratory in his youth, invited the Rector Major
and a number of professed confreres to a grand supper at the Nunciature
in downtown Jakarta, as an expression of esteem, in the name of the
Pope and the Church in Indonesia, for the Salesian work over 25
years. For his part the Rector Major expressed his joy that the
Salesians have been able to work for young people and the poor through
their various institutions in Indonesia. He presented the Nuncio
with a medal of gratitude.
Following the Mass on 8 April, other representatives
of the wider Church joined the Salesians in a celebration in the
Mazzarello Hall, with Indonesian music and dances to accompany the
festivities. The Bishop of Banjarmantin, South Kalimantan, joined
the lsit of Bishops requesting the Salesians to come to their Diocese.
The personal secretary of Cardinal Julius Darmaatmadja,
Archbishop of Jakarta, extended the congratulations of the Indonesian
Church, especially in the Archdiocese of Jakarta, to the
Salesians. The Rector Major, acknowledging all of this said that
the best gift of the evening, however, was the letter of application he
had received from ten young Indonesian Salesians to go to the missions.
The Rector Major's visit has included a half day of
Recollection preached for confreres from both Indonesia and East Timor
- a number of Rectors and members of the Provincial Council had come
across from East Timor for the occasion. Speaking to confreres, the
Rector Major highlighted the key events of this 'happy time' in
Salesian history when we have been celebrating the 150th of the birth
of the Congregation, now the centenary of the death of Blessed Michael
Rua and we are already on the way to the bicentenary of Don Bosco's
birth in 2015. Commenting on the current centenary, Fr
Chávez said "The more I know Don Rua, the more I admire Don
Bosco. The Congregation would not have existed without Don Rua".
In all of these celebrations, the Patron of the
Province was not forgotten. At the postnovitiate chapel, where the
recollection was held, the Salesians gathered around the altar to
honour St Callistus Caravario and at the same time continue celebration
of the Resurrection which, for Fr
Chávez is, as he put it "the feast which is the source of our
Salesian vocation....we believe in the Risen Lord; only the one who
loves Jesus and follows him in the way of the cross will rise with him,
as in the case of Callistus Caravario. When a Salesian dies
working for souls, the Congregation has earned a great triumph".
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