austraLasia #2307


Boys Town, Engadine responds to #2304

SYDNEY: 8th December 2008 -- On a day when, in 1842 on 8th December, Don Bosco claims his work really began with an encounter with Bartholomew Garelli in the sacristy of Turin's St Francis of Assissi Church, Jim Doyle from Boys Town Engadine, a work that the Salesian Australia-Pacific Province holds to be of emblematic importance, writes in response to austraLasia 2304 (the forthcoming 'Malta Conference'). He asks several questions which may well find further response from readers, in which case either contact Jim directly, or do so through austraLasia if that is your preference. Jim visited Turin and that spot a year ago. It is fresh in his mind. Read on:
    "...two of the Boys Town managers went [to St Patrick's, Malta] in October and were quite impressed. They also travelled to Scotland where they delivered a workshop at an International Conference. They also visited universities and welfare programs in Belfast (Uni of Ulster) and Sweden (Lunds).
    The Boys' Town model of service delivery is unique and is generating interest in a number of places. The model really began with Fr Dennis Halliday's vision [note: Fr Halliday SDB was director of Boys Town for many years. He died at the relatively young age of 50 a decade ago, of motor neurone disease], though it is probably more sophisticated now than he would have imagined. [You can find out about this model from the excellent, informative website www.boystown.net.au ].
    The managers were also able to visit some of the Bosco sites you showed us on pilgrimage last year [Jim is referring to a Salesian pilgrimage by heads of schools and other Salesian institutions from the province to both Annecy and Piedmont, where they were able to absorb so much of the Salesian spirit in the wider sense].
    One of the challenges for Boys' Town is to find other agencies that do similar work. We do not fit comfortably into the network of schools, nor do we fit neatly into a welfare framework. This has challenges because I think great gains can be obtained when you are part of an effective network. Unfortunately both Education and Welfare operate as silos in many ways, and organisations like us that have a foot on both camps struggle for seats at the table, let alone contributing to a relevant network agency.
    So finding St Patrick's is potentially of great benefit for us. The managers came back with a host of things we could learn, but we also reckon we could help them a bit too. It is an absolute bonus that they are Salesian, so there is real potential to collaborate.
    You may know of other Salesian places around the world that do similar work. [And of course that is true - some of you are reading this item right now. Please respond! This includes our Indian readers]. Some, like the school at The Becchi, do a great job with disadvantaged kids, though they don't have much of a therapeutic component.  St Patrick's has the school and a strong therapeutic component, just like us, though we are lucky because we also have a strong family involvement. Do you know of other places that have a school in a therapeutic setting? We would love to make contact with other similar places".

    The email goes on to explain that having already sent three people on the long road to the rest of the world, BT may not have the resources to do so again next March but they will certainly be looking to a video link with Malta next year. In the meantime, the issue is at the heart of the Salesian charism and deserves attention and, if possible response from appropriate people and institutes.  Over to you the reader.  Jim Doyle can be contacted personally at Jim@boystown.net.au
  _________________
 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 Bosconet-wiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2008 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there.  Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org

Title: australasia 2307
Subject and key words: EAO Provinces AUL Boys Town
Date (year): 2008
ID: 2000-2099|2307