FIJI COMMUNITY ATTRACTS INTEREST
Julian Fox
SUVA: 10th June -- 'attracts interest'...not from the bank, unfortunately. But from young Fijians who are beginning to show an interest in Salesian life and work. The weekend past saw six candidates living in to 'come and see'. Three of these are from the Catholic Teachers' College, two of whom are in their final year there. Of the other three, two are engaged in studies at the University of the South Pacific and a third is discerning an already developed journey along the road to priesthood - witht he knowledge and indeed the blessing of the local bishop.
It is early days, and the community here has quite deliberately not made this move in the first two and a half years of its existence, but the call to hold a 'come and see' opportunity came from the candidates themselves and had reached a point where to delay them further would not be sensible, since there are yet others 'out there'.
Given that we have had the time to think this through, and in the knowledge that a firm footing in Fiji needs to ensure that our side of the call-response dynamic is on solid foundations, the community has developed a plan to deal with 'come and see' candidates - a weekend of the kind just completed, a two week segment for those who have gone a step further by way of formal request by letter, a monthly accompaniment program for those who have requested the opportunity and, towards the end of the year, a promise to look at the possibility of pre-novitiate for those who have faithfully completed these early steps.
It at least augurs well that those initially interested have either begun a vocational journey of work for young people, or have involved themsleves in the wider activities of the community (camps, picnics, prison visits, study programs) and have moved into tertiary studies themselves with some sort of goal in mind.
