'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.