austraLasia #1839

Today's novice is still 'connected'!

DAEJON: 4th May 2007 -- Whoever said novices spend their days planting cabbages upside down and casting their eyes to the ground?  Korea's ten Salesian novices are just about halfway through their year, and sat down recently (April 30th in fact), for a chat and a reflection on what the temptations for novitiate life are for today's connected candidate.
    As one put it "We're allowed to use the internet for ministry purposes....and my hand goes to the football first"!  In fact, the discussion revealed that many of today's 'temptations' are tied in with digital communications media, as well as print.  However, these are the medium, really.  Behind it all lies a rapidly secularising culture, and Korea is a good example of that, producing its own set of anti-obedience, anti-poverty, anti-chastity values.  South Korean society is a society where, by and large, there is plenty of well-being and plenty of desire for it.  Today's novices are likely to have done their fair share of skiing, playing baseball, have their ipods and what not, since they are no different in those regards, than their peers.  What is different is what they have now chosen to follow.  As another novice put it, "Overcoming this or that small temptation - to have, to want more... - for me is to become freer in our consumerist and materialistic society".
    The Korean novitiate is attached to an apostolic community in Daejon.  It has been in Daejon for the past 15 years, having previously been located in Seoul. The community apostolate involves caring for youngsters from low income families, as well as a Group Home for youngsters from broken families.  This becomes an inspiration for the novices - they also help at weekends by visiting the tow juvenile reformatories in Daejon.
    The novice master is Fr Stefano Yang, and the Rector of the community Fr Marc Cuvelier.  On the occasion of this reflection and chat with the novices, the visitng Regional, Fr Klement, used the opportunity to present the idea of a personal plan of life, not only as a way of dealing with temptations, but of planning spiritual growth into the future, and all this in the context of Korean life and the strong Confucian values that influence it, some of those most helpful, but others a challenge to modern day consecrated life.
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