3262 FIN Province holds congress on new Evangelization
austraLasia #3263

 

FIN PROVINCE HOLDS CONGRESS ON NEW EVANGELIZATION

BATANGAS (PHILIPPINES) 13 August, 2013- The FIN Province held a Congress on New Evangelization on August 2-4, 2013 with some 140 participants representing all sectors and Salesian houses of the Province. The three-day affair,  held at Lima Park Hotel in Malvar, Batangas, was the collective response of the Province to the challenges of the General Chapter 26 and the Synod of Bishops on New Evangelization.

The congress began with the lectio divina, facilitated by Fr. Francis Gustilo SDB, followed by an hour of prayer before the Eucharistic Lord.

Fr. Eligio Cruz SDB, FIN Provincial Superior, the convenor of the congress, appointed Fr. Vicente Cervania SDB (Vice-Dean of Don Bosco Center for Studies) as chairman. Fr. Renato De Guzman SDB (a peritus who attended the recent Synod on New Evangelization) served as the process facilitator of the congress.

The goal of the congress was “to create an environment for the New Evangelization that leads to positive personal and social transformation.” The output of the congress would steer the FIN Province towards new evangelization by providing guidelines for the planning of the different commissions appointed to animate the various ministries.

No less than His Eminence Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, archbishop emeritus of the Archdiocese of Manila, came to celebrate the Eucharist at the close of the congress.

After the congress, the Province is expected to come up with a handbook and an “Integrated Pastoral Plan” detailing the FIN Province journey to new evangelization; this will serve as a fitting gift to St. John Bosco on his 200th birthday.

Among those invited as observers were representatives from the FIS Province, the FMAs, the Cooperators, the DB Volunteers, the Past Pupils, and the Association of Mary Help of Christians..