New provincial Delegate for DB Past Pupils: from the AUL provincial circular
Melbourne, Australia, 30 December 2016 -- After due consultation with the members of the Provincial Council and with Fr Peter Hoang, Provincial Delegate for the Salesian Family, the Provincial AUL has appointed Mr Ashley Trethowan as our Provincial Delegate for Salesian Past Pupils from the commencement of 2017.
Mr Ashley is a Past Pupil of Salesian College Sunbury (Melbourne) and a former President of the Australian National Past Pupils’ Association, and brings a wealth of experience and expertise to this role, as well as a great love for Don Bosco and the Past Pupils of Don Bosco throughout the world. In fact, he recently represented our Australia-Pacific (AUL) Province at the 11th EAO Congress for the Salesian Family Past Pupils in Dili, Timor Leste in early October this year. Congratulations, Ashley!
Mr. Ashley - Sharing about the 11th EAO Salesian Family Past Pupils Congress 2016
.... The Past Pupils Congress is held every four years and this was the fourth one I have had the pleasure of attending. My first was in 1984 in Bombay - India. I was part of the organising committee for the 1988 congress that was held in Melbourne and, as National President of the Australian Past Pupils, I delivered one of the keynote addresses at the 1992 Congress held in Macau. Back then it was known as the Asia-Australia Past Pupils Congress. It has been 20 years since Australia has been represented. So we couldn’t very well complain about having our country removed from the title.
Timor Leste is a very Catholic country with a big Salesian heart. There was a long list of VIPs representing the Government and all Salesian Past Pupils. Every sector of the society, Government, Church, Military, business and education has been formed and influenced by Don Bosco. And like the running of the country, all had their say at the congress.
The World Confederation is not just well organised with great aims and plans; it has quality leadership. They are making things happen on a global level. The Past Pupils are an enormous group in the Salesian Family with over 100,000 registered members from more than 100 countries. Worldwide, many millions of people have received a preparation for life based on the principles of Don Bosco’s Preventive System in a Salesian oratory or school. If you have an interest, check out the new web site www.exallievi.org
After the Congress, I spent a week at Don Bosco Technical School, Manila. This is a very new school in its third year of operation. St Francis de Sales is quoted as saying ‘You should pray for an hour a day, unless you are very busy, then you should pray for two hours.’ With close to three hours of prayer a day, this is an extremely busy and productive community of students and Salesians.
Many things impressed me about this newly born community: Let me say - one hundred boys and girls aged 15-18 all boarding away from their family and village. They are eating three good meals a day. All are studying to be electricians in well equipped facilities and following a solid curriculum. The students clean the school, help out in the kitchen and the gardens and wash all their own clothes by hand. They happily move tons of concrete and building materials together. They play sports and music together. All of them are surrounded by Prayer and Salesianity.
It was a real pleasure to spend time with this joyful, happy, healthy, confident, hardworking, resilient, motivated and funny group of young people: all honest citizens and good Christians in the forming. They are future Don Bosco Past Pupils, who will go on to shape and grow the newest nation on earth, Timor Leste.
It was a great experience to meet so many people from Asia and all over the world with that common Joy of Salesianity and friendship. This was my first trip to Timor Leste, but hopefully not my last. This new country, the poorest in Asia, has a long way to go in terms of economic growth, but it has a very firm Salesian foundation to build upon. Mr Ashley, Australia DB Alumnus
Related article: AustraLasia (October issue - EAO Regional Congress of Salesian Family Past Pupils: I-II-III)
