austraLasia #2814
Team Visit
HUA HIN: 5 March 2011 -- With the South Asia Team Visit drawing to a close (today) and the imminent movement of the Rector Major and some of his Council to Bangkok and thence on to Hua Hin, where others are already gathering, the East Asia-Oceania Team Visit (although the GC Agenda notes it as 'East Asia'; hope they haven't forgotten Oceania!) is about to start. What is a Team Visit, anyway? We hear a lot about it, but only a few ever get to see one, so it may leave the rest a little uncertain as to what goes on there. Assuming we'll get as little news from them as this one proceeds, we may be able to fill that out for you in practice, but in the meantime....
The TV came about during Fr Ricceri's time as Rector Major, and has stayed with us ever since. At no point across that 30 year period has it ever been introduced into the Constitutions or Regulations. It simply remains as a useful tool for the Rector Major and his Council, and takes on a particular slant according to the direction the RM and Council of the day want to give it.
Almost always the TV comes around the mid-term mark, and hence functions as a way of seeing how the previous General Chapter is being implemented, but it also has an eye on the next, so the occasion is used to explore what might be possible major topics and issues for, in this case, the 27th General Chapter. This is done mainly by listening to where provinces are at at the moment and where they hope to be heading, so a lot of work has been done by each Provincial with his Council in the run-up to the Team Visit.
At the same time, the opportunity to bring all or most of the Provincial Council to an extended session with the Rector Major and a number of his Council - and in this case it includes a time of retreat/spiritual reflection as well as the 'business side' - gives a charismatic boost to the entire Region. The business side of the event also focuses on this kind of thing - charismatic identity, apostolic zeal and religious discipline.
Each region or particular zone (some regions, like the over-extended Europe North Region are broken up into more homogenous groups) is also assigned one or two special topics. In the case of EAO these 'primacy of God and charismatic identity', and 'evangelisation in a non-Christian context'. While the first of these might seem to be a common topic, it is not necessarily the case for each of the TVs; Italy and the Middle East, for example, is to look especially at responsibility for initial and ongoing formation and vocational fidelity, on the one hand, and 'heeding the Church's pastoral guidelines' on the other.
As things get under way on 8 March, no doubt we will glean a little more. Any meeting takes on its own very particular shape as determined by the people actually there and the issues they raise. Let's keep them prayerfully in mind.
_________________
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 . RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2011 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
Team Visit
HUA HIN: 5 March 2011 -- With the South Asia Team Visit drawing to a close (today) and the imminent movement of the Rector Major and some of his Council to Bangkok and thence on to Hua Hin, where others are already gathering, the East Asia-Oceania Team Visit (although the GC Agenda notes it as 'East Asia'; hope they haven't forgotten Oceania!) is about to start. What is a Team Visit, anyway? We hear a lot about it, but only a few ever get to see one, so it may leave the rest a little uncertain as to what goes on there. Assuming we'll get as little news from them as this one proceeds, we may be able to fill that out for you in practice, but in the meantime....
The TV came about during Fr Ricceri's time as Rector Major, and has stayed with us ever since. At no point across that 30 year period has it ever been introduced into the Constitutions or Regulations. It simply remains as a useful tool for the Rector Major and his Council, and takes on a particular slant according to the direction the RM and Council of the day want to give it.
Almost always the TV comes around the mid-term mark, and hence functions as a way of seeing how the previous General Chapter is being implemented, but it also has an eye on the next, so the occasion is used to explore what might be possible major topics and issues for, in this case, the 27th General Chapter. This is done mainly by listening to where provinces are at at the moment and where they hope to be heading, so a lot of work has been done by each Provincial with his Council in the run-up to the Team Visit.
At the same time, the opportunity to bring all or most of the Provincial Council to an extended session with the Rector Major and a number of his Council - and in this case it includes a time of retreat/spiritual reflection as well as the 'business side' - gives a charismatic boost to the entire Region. The business side of the event also focuses on this kind of thing - charismatic identity, apostolic zeal and religious discipline.
Each region or particular zone (some regions, like the over-extended Europe North Region are broken up into more homogenous groups) is also assigned one or two special topics. In the case of EAO these 'primacy of God and charismatic identity', and 'evangelisation in a non-Christian context'. While the first of these might seem to be a common topic, it is not necessarily the case for each of the TVs; Italy and the Middle East, for example, is to look especially at responsibility for initial and ongoing formation and vocational fidelity, on the one hand, and 'heeding the Church's pastoral guidelines' on the other.
As things get under way on 8 March, no doubt we will glean a little more. Any meeting takes on its own very particular shape as determined by the people actually there and the issues they raise. Let's keep them prayerfully in mind.
_________________
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 . RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2011 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
