austraLasia 1375
Consecrated Secular Life: the EAO story with reference to CDB and VDB
ROME: 3rd January 2005 -- The Volunteers With Don Bosco, or CDB (Con Don Bosco) as their initials indicate, are just bringing their Third General Assembly to a close in Rome. Who are they? What are they about? Do they have anything to do with life in our Region? What is their connection with the VDB or Volunteers of Don Bosco?
Both VDB (women) and CDB (men) are, broadly speaking, Secular Institutes, though the latter are still on the way to that formal juridical recognition, their story being much shorter than the VDB's who could take their history back to about 1917, though 1964 and 1978 are the two most recent prominent dates of foundation and formal recognition. CDB's go back to 1994. Both share another common characteristic in that their foundation is tied closely to a Rector Major - Rinaldi in the frist instance and Viganò in the second. VDB's number 1300 plus, over five continents, CDB perhaps around 70, in the Americas, Europe, Asia. Both groups, in style fully Salesian and fully ecclesial, throw a particular light on the nature of Salesian consecrated life, perhaps making the famous 'grace of unity' a starker reality still, with the balance they need to place on being fully immersed in the world and fully immersed in God. 'It 'aint easy'!
That's the general overall story - you could go to either Bosconet (especially past austraLasias) or the Rome portal site to fossick out a little more information of a general kind or, if you have that excellent 200 page 'The Salesian Family of Don Bosco' in your community library, find all the founding details of both groups.
In EAO the CDB story begins in Korea, Autumn 1999, when a Salesian Brother offered the possibility of this style of consecrated life to two young men. There, as elsewhere, there is a Salesian Ecclesiastical Assistant. They remain just a small group of three, two in temporary profession, one in his third year of formation.
Perhaps the story of the VDB is especially illuminating for the region, though the VDB (and CDB) have slightly different ways of naming their circumscriptions. The VDB story in the region begins with a zealous Sicilian missionary in China, Don Gaetano Nicosia, in Macau. In 1978 a Philippines 'zone' was set up, and this includes an Australian VDB. Some comparative numbers are interesting, especially if one considers them in terms of scale: there are 52 VDBs in the Philippines zone (they call it Asia Region 1) - and 300 SDBs in the same zone. There is an Asia Region 2 also (Korea, HK, Macau, Thailand, Vietnam) with 64 VDB. All up, in East Asia-Oceania there are 120 VDBs and 1300 SDBs. Contrast this with India where there are 10 VDBs and 2,600 SDBs. You see what we mean by scale - there is something happening here.
The growth of the Salesian consecrated secular vocation in certain areas is tied to many factors. Zealous and well-chosen assistants, the availability of formation materials in a common language (English for our region), strong reciprocal relationships with the Salesian Family. There are wider ecclesial factors in play too: 'new evangelisation' from Pope JPII and 'Church as a creative minority in the world' from Ben.XVI. There is also the new 'inter gentes' mentality pressing all Christians to be missionary and perhaps stronger in Asia than in Europe. And one could add, in the light of a recent coming together of consecrated persons from all over the world to discover the 'passion' for God, the 'passion' for humanity, that where the Salesian vocation has demonstrated such intense passion....enthusiasm, zeal, fire in the belly (as in the case of some great missionaries, but not only), the Salesian vocation in its many forms has flourished.
Yesterday the 3rd General CDB Assembly elected its World Moderator (or Moderator General - they have yet to settle on English terminology) and other Council members. There was one change in Council membership. Terms are for four years. It will be an intense four years as they seek to grow and to obtain the desirable formal ecclesial recognition of 'Secular Institute',
__________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/rssala.xml
Consecrated Secular Life: the EAO story with reference to CDB and VDB
ROME: 3rd January 2005 -- The Volunteers With Don Bosco, or CDB (Con Don Bosco) as their initials indicate, are just bringing their Third General Assembly to a close in Rome. Who are they? What are they about? Do they have anything to do with life in our Region? What is their connection with the VDB or Volunteers of Don Bosco?
Both VDB (women) and CDB (men) are, broadly speaking, Secular Institutes, though the latter are still on the way to that formal juridical recognition, their story being much shorter than the VDB's who could take their history back to about 1917, though 1964 and 1978 are the two most recent prominent dates of foundation and formal recognition. CDB's go back to 1994. Both share another common characteristic in that their foundation is tied closely to a Rector Major - Rinaldi in the frist instance and Viganò in the second. VDB's number 1300 plus, over five continents, CDB perhaps around 70, in the Americas, Europe, Asia. Both groups, in style fully Salesian and fully ecclesial, throw a particular light on the nature of Salesian consecrated life, perhaps making the famous 'grace of unity' a starker reality still, with the balance they need to place on being fully immersed in the world and fully immersed in God. 'It 'aint easy'!
That's the general overall story - you could go to either Bosconet (especially past austraLasias) or the Rome portal site to fossick out a little more information of a general kind or, if you have that excellent 200 page 'The Salesian Family of Don Bosco' in your community library, find all the founding details of both groups.
In EAO the CDB story begins in Korea, Autumn 1999, when a Salesian Brother offered the possibility of this style of consecrated life to two young men. There, as elsewhere, there is a Salesian Ecclesiastical Assistant. They remain just a small group of three, two in temporary profession, one in his third year of formation.
Perhaps the story of the VDB is especially illuminating for the region, though the VDB (and CDB) have slightly different ways of naming their circumscriptions. The VDB story in the region begins with a zealous Sicilian missionary in China, Don Gaetano Nicosia, in Macau. In 1978 a Philippines 'zone' was set up, and this includes an Australian VDB. Some comparative numbers are interesting, especially if one considers them in terms of scale: there are 52 VDBs in the Philippines zone (they call it Asia Region 1) - and 300 SDBs in the same zone. There is an Asia Region 2 also (Korea, HK, Macau, Thailand, Vietnam) with 64 VDB. All up, in East Asia-Oceania there are 120 VDBs and 1300 SDBs. Contrast this with India where there are 10 VDBs and 2,600 SDBs. You see what we mean by scale - there is something happening here.
The growth of the Salesian consecrated secular vocation in certain areas is tied to many factors. Zealous and well-chosen assistants, the availability of formation materials in a common language (English for our region), strong reciprocal relationships with the Salesian Family. There are wider ecclesial factors in play too: 'new evangelisation' from Pope JPII and 'Church as a creative minority in the world' from Ben.XVI. There is also the new 'inter gentes' mentality pressing all Christians to be missionary and perhaps stronger in Asia than in Europe. And one could add, in the light of a recent coming together of consecrated persons from all over the world to discover the 'passion' for God, the 'passion' for humanity, that where the Salesian vocation has demonstrated such intense passion....enthusiasm, zeal, fire in the belly (as in the case of some great missionaries, but not only), the Salesian vocation in its many forms has flourished.
Yesterday the 3rd General CDB Assembly elected its World Moderator (or Moderator General - they have yet to settle on English terminology) and other Council members. There was one change in Council membership. Terms are for four years. It will be an intense four years as they seek to grow and to obtain the desirable formal ecclesial recognition of 'Secular Institute',
__________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/rssala.xml
