East Asia - Oceania Region

Conclusions of the study of the Region made by the General Council

in the intermediary session from 10 - 19 October 2005

The skeleton General Council, in the intermediary session held from 10 -19 October 2005, examined the situation of and future prospects for the East Asia-Oceania Region. The study of the report presented by the Regional Councillor enabled an awareness of the first steps taken by this Region set up by GC25, to identify the challenges which have emerged. It also enabled the Council to propose some working guidelines to help with the consolidation and development of the Salesian charism in the Region.

The Region, about to celebrate the centenary of the arrival of the first missionaries in China - Macau (1906), the longest-standing of the presences in this area, is actually spread over 20 countries with many relatively recent presences. Over the past 40 years, the ten circumscriptions of the Region have altered their state of belonging at least 4 times. GC25’s choice of creating an autonomous Region appears to be responding better to the needs of the different Provinces, Vice provinces and Delegations.

In the first 4 years of this new Region we saw many advantages in being able to accompany the individual circumscriptions more closely, and in coordinating the whole. The first Team Visit, in 2005 (Hua Hin - Thailand) was a decisive event, during which a true sense of Region, a growth in cooperation, and a clear wish to have coordination were achieved, all expressed through the Vision - Mission statement.

Looking at the situation of the Salesians in the different realities in East Asia - Oceania, one immediately becomes aware that the confreres are ‘missionaries of the young’, and of the need they have to live their consecrated life as missionaries ‘inter gentes’. The Catholic Church, and as part of it Consecrated Life and the Salesian Congregation, is living immersed in an Ocean of diverse peoples, ancient religions, and cultures which are profoundly religious in their roots, but not Christian.

This makes a commitment to inculturation more pressing, in order to implant Salesian life in various contexts, with a Christian and charismatic identity and paying attention to cultural diversity. At the same time, its being a minority amongst these populations requires Salesian presence in the Region to take up a decisive commitment to making the confreres’ and communities’missionary spirit grow, and to developing the missionary dimension of the Salesian vocation.