austraLasia #2286
Vietnam's 5th Missionary Day response to the 'ad gentes' appeal
HCM City: 8th November 2008 -- The Provincial House at Xuan Xiep, HCM City saw, on Friday 7th November, an extraordinary gathering of 300 SDBs, novices and prenovices, plus a further 30 members of the Salesian Family (FMA, VDB, SCs) and 40 parents of current missionaries 'ad gentes'. What brought this huge group together was the Fifth Vietnam Province Missionary Day, prepared by the province missionary animation commission headed by Fr Joseph Tuan, the Rector of the Dalat post novitiate community. He was assisted by all four formation houses in the province.
The by now annual event is a particular way of praying for Salesian Family missionaries from Vietnam - no fewer than 50 of them at the moment including 40 SDBs, 9 FMAs and 1 lay person - and to encourage new missionaries 'ad gentes'.
On this occasion the event was graced by the presence of the Missions Councillor, Fr Klement, who is no stranger to the Province, obviously. He gave thanks for the extraordinary outpouring of missionary fervour in this province, made possible by the great growth in vocations. The great number of Vietnamese Salesian missionaries began in 1999. 42 of the 50 have been sent since that date, to 17 countries around the world.
Fr Klement spoke of the heart of Don Bosco the missionary, and the expression of the Da mihi animas in missionary fervour in the Congregation since 1875. He reminded his listeners (the entire province!) of the appeal of the Rector Major during the 139th missionary expedition, where 15 of the 28 missionaries were from Vietnam, for an extraordinary 140th expedition in 2009.
The Provincial, Fr Them, further challenged the listeners and seemed prepared to go as far as accepting God's will should an entire batch of post novices offer themselves! Between himself and Fr Klement they fielded many practical questions on matters such as language preparation, working to inspire the 450 university students in Salesian care with missionary fervour, and how to maintain missionary fervour all year long rather than just on specific occasions like this day.
Two other important events took place that day - a Eucharist celebrated by the provincial in the parish church, during which 5 candidates presented their applications for the missions, and an historic first gathering of 40 plus parents of SDB missionaries abroad with the Missions Councillor, Formators and Mission animation Delegate for the province.
_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use Bosconet-wiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2008 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
Title: australasia 2286
Subject and key words: EAO Provinces VIE missionary fervour
Date (year): 2008
ID: 2000-2099|2286
Vietnam's 5th Missionary Day response to the 'ad gentes' appeal
HCM City: 8th November 2008 -- The Provincial House at Xuan Xiep, HCM City saw, on Friday 7th November, an extraordinary gathering of 300 SDBs, novices and prenovices, plus a further 30 members of the Salesian Family (FMA, VDB, SCs) and 40 parents of current missionaries 'ad gentes'. What brought this huge group together was the Fifth Vietnam Province Missionary Day, prepared by the province missionary animation commission headed by Fr Joseph Tuan, the Rector of the Dalat post novitiate community. He was assisted by all four formation houses in the province.
The by now annual event is a particular way of praying for Salesian Family missionaries from Vietnam - no fewer than 50 of them at the moment including 40 SDBs, 9 FMAs and 1 lay person - and to encourage new missionaries 'ad gentes'.
On this occasion the event was graced by the presence of the Missions Councillor, Fr Klement, who is no stranger to the Province, obviously. He gave thanks for the extraordinary outpouring of missionary fervour in this province, made possible by the great growth in vocations. The great number of Vietnamese Salesian missionaries began in 1999. 42 of the 50 have been sent since that date, to 17 countries around the world.
Fr Klement spoke of the heart of Don Bosco the missionary, and the expression of the Da mihi animas in missionary fervour in the Congregation since 1875. He reminded his listeners (the entire province!) of the appeal of the Rector Major during the 139th missionary expedition, where 15 of the 28 missionaries were from Vietnam, for an extraordinary 140th expedition in 2009.
The Provincial, Fr Them, further challenged the listeners and seemed prepared to go as far as accepting God's will should an entire batch of post novices offer themselves! Between himself and Fr Klement they fielded many practical questions on matters such as language preparation, working to inspire the 450 university students in Salesian care with missionary fervour, and how to maintain missionary fervour all year long rather than just on specific occasions like this day.
Two other important events took place that day - a Eucharist celebrated by the provincial in the parish church, during which 5 candidates presented their applications for the missions, and an historic first gathering of 40 plus parents of SDB missionaries abroad with the Missions Councillor, Formators and Mission animation Delegate for the province.
_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use Bosconet-wiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2008 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
Title: australasia 2286
Subject and key words: EAO Provinces VIE missionary fervour
Date (year): 2008
ID: 2000-2099|2286
