austraLasia #1745

EAO Provincials and Provincial Economers meet in Melbourne

MELBOURNE: 3rd February 2007 -- Provincials and Provincial Economers from around the East Asia-Oceania Region have been flying into Melbourne Airport from every part of the region for the five day meeting which has begun today, 3rd February at Ascot Vale, a suburb of Melbourne located handily not too far from the freeway leading from the airport.  This is the first Australian-based regional meeting of the kind in the past ten years and, in fact, the first there for the 'new' EAO Region which came into existence as a result of the GC25 decision to cut the cloth of the then Australasia region a little differently, leaving South Asia (effectively India, Sri lanka, Myanmar) as an independent region.
    The meeting is structured broadly around the GC26 theme units but with ample opportunity for specifics within the region, which will include an evaluation of the growth and potential for the region. From the General Council there is, obviously, the Regional Councillor, Fr Vàclav Klement (worth noting here, for the uninitiated, that Vàclav is his Christian name and Klement the surname), but also Fr Gianni Mazzali, Economer General,who was fortunate enough to celebrate his 'umpteenth' birthday in Melbourne!
    Melbourne in February is, to put it mildly, a little warm, especially since it seems to have clearly noted the recent damning report on human-induced global warming.  Participants at the Melbourne meeting are in for 39 degrees centigrade and that's only an estimate.  If they have not heard of the traditional Australian clerical garb of shorts and t-shirt, they will soon see it in action!
    The 'urgent need for evangelisation' theme will give opportunity for a closer look at evangelisation experiences in the Asian and Oceanian context - including a look at the recent Congress on this theme held in Thailand and the upcoming World Youth Day in Sydney in mid-2008. The Feb 5th 'need for recruitment' theme will feature a Salesian cultural day with lunch for participants at the Australian Catholic University and Eucharist and Dinner at Auxilium College Lysterfield, the retreat centre for the province and novitiate for when there are some.
    austraLasia will keep readers in touch with some of the developments from the meeting as things proceed.
    For those who know the Region's best-known and long-revered 'secretary' at many levels, Bro Peter Swain, suffering from advanced stages of cancer and recently laid low by a heart attack, Bro Peter is now back 'home' in John Paul Village, part of the Salesian parish complex at Engadine, Sydney, where he is making progress according to his overall condition.  A little weak, Fr Klement, indicates, but in good spirits and has not lost one tack of interest in everything happening around the Region - and at the Pisana!  Keep him in your prayers.
   ___________________
  AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific.  It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome.  For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use BoscoWiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm A separate service entirely is called F/OSSERVATORE to help us keep abreast of trends in the digital world.  To contact austraLasia by voice on Skype, the Skype name is austraLasia.