By Fr. Bernard P. Nolasco, SDB

K' Long, Vietnam, 12 November 2017 -- Fr. Joseph Nguyen Van Quang, SDB, the Provincial Superior of the Vietnam Province, opened this wonderful Sunday by presiding over the 7:00am Holy Mass with all the participants of the EAO Region Joint Meeting of the Commission on Youth Ministry and Commission on Social Communications.

Before going for breakfast, the traditional group picture taking was done in front of the main building of the retreat house.

The morning session began at 9:00am with a brief inspirational messages by Fr. Fabio Attard, SDB, the General Councilor for Youth Ministry, and Fr. Filiberto Gonzalez, SDB, the General Councilor for Social Communications. After addressing the plenary, Fr. Fabio invited the assembly to divide into four groups and share within these small groups the present state of collaboration between the two commissions that is present in their respective provinces. After the morning break, the participants gathered for a plenary session to listen and react to the reports of the different groups.

In the afternoon, the assembly welcomed Fr. Vaclav Klement, SDB, the Regional Councilor for the EAO Region. Fr. Fabio and Fr. Filiberto took turns in presenting in the plenary session the Youth Ministry Frame of Reference and the Salesian Guidelines for the Social Communications, respectively. A lively and very interactive Open Forum took place after Fr. Fabio and Fr. Filiberto gave their presentations.

After the afternoon break, the participants were asked to go to their respective groups to discuss and give some proposals for the common and concrete action on how to strengthen and spread the pastoral model of the Congregation through the two commissions. After half an hour of group discussions, the participants again gathered in a plenary session to share their respective groups’ top two suggested proposals.

In the evening, a small group composed of the secretaries of the four small groups and the regional coordinators of both commissions met together with the secretary of Fr. Fabio and the secretary of Fr. Filiberto to streamline into two or three the eight proposals from the four groups. These proposals will be brought to Rome by the two General Councilors for further discussions and approval.

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