'austraLasia' #60
AUSTRALASIAN PROVINCIALS LOOK TO 2000
from a 'fly on the wall'!
MANILA: 21st March -- Provincials from throughout the Asia and
Australia region met at Alberione Oasis outside Manila on 11th-12th
March. Fr. John Van Ty from Vietnam was unable to attend, but present
were the two new Provincials - Fr. Philip Somchai, Bangkok and Fr.
Patrick Buzon, Cebu. Prominent on the meeting's agenda were important
gatherings in the region as the Year 2000 approaches: the Brothers'
Meeting in Melbourne in February 1999 and the Team Visit for the
Region's provincials and provincial councils at Chung Chou, Hong Kong in
February 2000. The Brothers' Congress will consider Don Bosco's vision
of the brother and the opportunities and challenges it provides for the
brother in 2000 and beyond. The Team Visit will look at the Salesian
Community as an animating nucleus, and the question of inculturation of
the Salesian charism in its life and mission.
As yet unresolved is the matter of inter-provincial conferences and
commissions. In general the feeling is to delay the introduction of
statutes and complex mechanisms but encourage the coming together of key
persons and roles from the quite culturally and geogrpahically disparate
elements of the region.
