austraLasia 1359
Council approves conclusions from EAO Region study
ROME: 16th December 2005 -- The Rector Major and his
Council have approved the exhaustive study they have made of the EAO
Region since it came into existence in 2002. This study was done
in the context of the study of all regions of the Congregation and in
the light of the Rector Major's intentions, by now nearly complete, to
visit all Provinces throughout the world to gain firsthand
knowledge. A report on this study, with its conclusions, was
drawn up in the October 'skeleton' meeting of the General Council and
has now been approved by the plenary Council meeting several days ago.
The report notes the varying alterations to what has
settled now as East Asia Oceania - over 40 years it has carried various
titles, at one time, the various circumscriptions belonging effectively
to a worldwide Anglophone region. The decisive moment in the new
region was earlier this year at the Team Visit in Hua Hin: a true sense
of region, growth in cooperation, and a clear wish for coordination
were all expressed there and summed up in a statement of vision and
mission.
An obvious datum of the region is that the Salesians
are clearly 'missionaries of the young', be it schools, oratories,
parishes, or so many other settings. There is a felt need for the
Salesians so busily engaged, to live their consecrated lives as
missionaries 'inter gentes'. When one looks at the Church and the
Congregation in the region, one sees how diverse are the cultures and
peoples, their religions or lack of it. Oceania, and Asia, is a
huge sea of islands and continents and particularly in the latter area,
Asia, the majority of cultures are ancient, profoundly religious, but
not Christian.
Challenges there are, and these were highlighted in
three groups : (1) Spiritual and charismatic - cultural, personal and
institutional. Culturally, the danger is to be swamped in material and
secular realities, forgetting the primacy of God. Personally, the
danger is that of seeking social status - a state of life rather than a
project of life. Institutionally, the tendency is noted of a
weak, formal sense of belonging to the Congregation, a formation
problem, really. (2) Pastoral and evangelising: culturally the danger
of individualism, personally the danger of activism, and
institutionally the danger of resistance to change. (3) Religious life
and community: culturally the difficulty of expressing our consecrated
life in a joyful, credible witness to the Gospel, personally, the
temptation to justify cultural elements which do not sit well with our
Salesian life, institutionally, the urgent need to redimension works to
regain community life and quality service of the mission.
The response to these challenges is to take up the
call from the Team Visit 2005 at Hua Hin: primacy of spiritual life, a
planning mentality, a commitment to formation, growth in the sense of
common endeavour for the mission. From these flow certain
practical elements - strengthened spiritual life through lectio divina,
community Eucharistic celebration, daily examen, reflection, sharing,
prayer with the young; planning mentality achieved by way of the
various projects - provincial, community, personal; formation
strengthened through closer attention to Salesian study programmes
(e.g. new course at UPS), study of Don Bosco and the charism,
interprovincial cooperation, continued attention to formation at all
levels; growth in common endeavour through use of social communication
media (including austraLasia!), collaboration with personnel for China
Services, solidarity between provinces, and support from the Centre for
provinces with particular difficulties.
There is more, but that's the bulk of it!
___________________________
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