AO
Economers meet in Dalat DALAT:
10 October
2013
-- Perhpas
we are so used to reading Hua Hin, Makati, Melbourne... that
we might
jsut miss the significance of this one first off. Yes, Dalat,
Vietnam
and in some ways the throbbing heart of EAO - if we judge it
on
missionary output. But of course this time around it is not
'missionary
output' but another kind of input/output that is under
consideration.
Anyone around EAO having problems this week getting a little
extra cash
for whatever? There's a good reason - your provincial economer
is not
at home!
All but one of the EAO Provinces has
a representative at the Dalat meeting being held from 7-11
October.
Other than the host Province, the meeting is bneing organised
by the
Economer's Department from Rome under the general guidance of
Fr Peter
Gozdalski. Bro Jean Paul (Blue short centre of the first pic
above)
arrived a little late due to other commitments in Rome.
Other than the usual issues of economer's reports, and
understanding
this role in an ever-changing global as well as local
financial world,
the EAO Economers have looked at the question of evangelical
poverty as
it was identified in GC26 and will come up again in GC27.
There has
been a strong emphasis on updating the economer's role in line
with the
insistence on our offering a more credible witness of our
religious
life.
An important aspect of this meeting as in meetings of other
services
and dimensions of Salesian work is the mere fact that the
economers can
talk to one another and share difficulties, solutions and
strategies.
They have looked at a Code of ethics, transparency and being
accountable, all balanced with the need to be self-sufficient
and
self-reliant.
Thursday 10th October saw them take a short break in the
afternoon for some cultural visits.
