austraLasia #2908 Pride of Australia 'Inspiration' Award for key
Salesian partner in mission
MELBOURNE: 23 August 2011 -- At an Award Luncheon in
Melbourne, hosted by the Herald-Sun newspaper on Tuesday 23
August 2011, Mr. Ashley Trethowan, Camp Ministry Director
for the Don Bosco Camp at Safety Beach Dromana, a seaside
area less than an hour's drive from Melbourne city, has been
awarded the Pride of Australia 'Inspiration' medal. The
Inspiration medal is one of ten such awards presented to
Australia's 'unsung heroes' by the Herald-Sun, after a
lengthy process of selection from amongst other likely
candidates. Other Award titles include 'Courage', 'Young
Leader', 'Outstanding Bravery, and even 'Child of courage',
this year won by a 10 year old.
Ashley, who with his wife Andree and one
of their three daughters is currently returning from WYD in
Madrid (with many of the leaders whose preparation is cited
as motivation for the Award), was unable to attend the
Luncheon and Award-giving ceremony. Another daughter,
Jessica, 'stood in' for him.
Newspapers rarely get the facts
completely right, but that in no way detracts from the
significance of this Award. The correct elements are that
Ashley (who considers that he 'represents' so many in
receiving the Award, first amongst them his wife, Andree)
has spent twenty years as the overall onsite person
responsible for the development of the Don Bosco Camp, which
has a history going back more than 50 years. It is correct,
too, that with his wife, the Salesians, and other close
collaborators (the Camp is under the direction of the
Provincial House Community) Ashley has built up the camp as
a form of Salesian ministry par excellence, at the
same time offering an "affordable school holiday camp" and
much more besides, especially developing a leadership
programme which includes "giving youth at risk a chance to
better their community", as the citation puts it. The Award
would seem to suggest that the camp's activities are
entirely boys only and 'at risk' ones at that. This is not
correct. It is but one aspect. The camp has been developed
to adequately cater for both genders. The leadership
programme in particular has developed fine young Catholic
leaders of both genders and from all walks of life, many of
whom have contributed more widely than their own community.
The programme has become the backbone of the developing SYM
in the Australia- Pacific Province and of the Cagliero lay
missionary project, assigning numerous candidates as lay
missionaries to posts especially in South East Asia and the
Pacific region.
What the Award does not mention is the
depth of commitment to and understanding of the Salesian
mission shown by this couple (Ashley and Andree) from the
outset of their marriage, when they sought to create a
genuine mission-minded and active lay community around them.
This they have achieved perhaps in ways they could not have
imagined at the time - not only have they constantly had
other like-minded couples involved over the twenty years,
but many of the leaders they have trained have themselves
demonstrated similar motivation, occasionally forming ad hoc
small Christian communities for a time. Ashley and for that
matter Andree too, have been involved at other levels in the
Province. Before they met they were, separately, printer and
journalist, and that formidable 'team' as it became,
associated directly with the Salesian Bulletin under Fr
Frank Freeman's leadership, has played no small part in the
quality of that magazine. Ashley is also a Salesian Past
Pupil of Salesian College, Sunbury. _________________ 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
. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click
on austraLasia 2011 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS
orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from
there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle.
Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
