austraLasia #3059
"I am often struck by the radical message of the Gospel..."
LONDON: 27 April 2012-- Shaun Larcom studied for a doctorate at University College London. There he met Fr John Dickson SDB, Rector of the Battersea Salesian Community and a chaplain at the University. Fr Dickson introduced him to Fr John Cabrido, a Filipino Salesian who stayed in Battersea last year while publishing his doctorate in the UK. We thank Shaun for sending us the following article and photographs: (This article courtesy of GBR website)
For my PhD fieldwork in late 2010 I was hosted by the Salesians of Don Bosco in one of the remotest parts of Papua New Guinea. Owing to their generous welcome, I was able to base myself at their community house in Kokopo where they run the agro-technical college Vunabosco. Their welcome and assistance was the passport that enabled me to conduct empirical research for my PhD in a country where it is notoriously difficult. But perhaps more importantly, it also gave me a chance to experience the life of the Salesian missionary community and to see their work at first hand.
I first became interested in Papua New Guinea after working as an economist in Port Moresby on loan from the Australian Treasury. At the time many of my Papua New Guinean colleagues had been victims of robbery and car-jackings, and had to take extraordinary steps to limit their movements to protect themselves and their families. I also learned of many personal and family tragedies caused through violence. After a few years of thinking about it, I decided to begin a PhD at University College London on Crime and Legal Pluralism in Papua New Guinea and soon after I got involved with Newman House (London's Central Catholic Chaplaincy). Fr John Dickson SDB, one of Newman House's chaplains asked me to present my research topic at NewLaw, a seminar series he had established for law students. A month or so after he informed me that Fr John Cabrido SDB was visiting his community from Papua New Guinea and arranged a meeting. Not only did Fr John Cabrido give me a warm invitation to visit, within a couple of weeks he had organised a two month itinerary for my fieldwork, including hosts, guides, translators, and transport. Given the many difficulties involved, almost no empirical legal research has been conducted in Papua New Guinea over the last couple of decades, so Fr John's assistance was invaluable. Importantly, one of the key findings of my econometric analysis is that education seems to play a much greater role in reducing the propensity to engage in payback killings than harsh criminal penalties.
I am often struck by the radical message of the Gospel and how non-radical my own response can be. The same cannot be said for the Salesian missionary priests and brothers that I met and lived with. They really have embraced Christ's radical challenge to give up all they have and to come follow Him. Leaving the comforts of home, including their families and friends, they live a life of service and prayer that reminded me of descriptions of the early Church in the Acts. Furthermore, they take up this call in extremely difficult conditions, including threats to their personal security. At the time, the community at Vunabosco consisted of priests and brothers from the Philippines South Korea, Kenya, India and Papua New Guinea. This in included Father Tim, one of Barcelona's Football Club's greatest fans and Brother Otto from Papua New Guinea, who took me on an unforgettable a trip to his home village of Tarkis. Waking early and after prayer and Mass (which many students also attend), each day is devoted to ensuring the students gain the very best education, ranging from ordering in food for the students, participating in afternoon sport, to taking classes themselves. Furthermore, they each undertake their day's work with great enthusiasm and generosity of spirit.
The Salesian schools and technical colleges in Papua New Guinea are oases of peace and education in an otherwise often harsh and violent world. Vunabosco gives a chance for many young men to gain an education that they would not otherwise have. Being a non-selective school, they take as many students as they can, regardless of their academic ability. In a country where secondary and technical education is reserved for the very few, they provide a vital service to the New Guinea Islands. The students gain an excellent education, despite very limited resources, that helps them flourish and serve their communities when they return home. Many of the school's students are in their twenties due to the Bougainville conflict (1989-2001) which saw the almost complete destruction of the island's infrastructure, including its schools, and during which the bulk of the population fled to the mountains to seek refuge from the fighting. One of the former students from Bougainville that I met returned to his home village and built a hydroelectric generator from scraps which provides regular electricity to his whole village.
Click here to comment on this item, or here to assist with Glossary. You will need to enter 20eao02 when asked for a password.
_________________
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
"I am often struck by the radical message of the Gospel..."
by Shaun Larcom
LONDON: 27 April 2012-- Shaun Larcom studied for a doctorate at University College London. There he met Fr John Dickson SDB, Rector of the Battersea Salesian Community and a chaplain at the University. Fr Dickson introduced him to Fr John Cabrido, a Filipino Salesian who stayed in Battersea last year while publishing his doctorate in the UK. We thank Shaun for sending us the following article and photographs: (This article courtesy of GBR website)
For my PhD fieldwork in late 2010 I was hosted by the Salesians of Don Bosco in one of the remotest parts of Papua New Guinea. Owing to their generous welcome, I was able to base myself at their community house in Kokopo where they run the agro-technical college Vunabosco. Their welcome and assistance was the passport that enabled me to conduct empirical research for my PhD in a country where it is notoriously difficult. But perhaps more importantly, it also gave me a chance to experience the life of the Salesian missionary community and to see their work at first hand.
I first became interested in Papua New Guinea after working as an economist in Port Moresby on loan from the Australian Treasury. At the time many of my Papua New Guinean colleagues had been victims of robbery and car-jackings, and had to take extraordinary steps to limit their movements to protect themselves and their families. I also learned of many personal and family tragedies caused through violence. After a few years of thinking about it, I decided to begin a PhD at University College London on Crime and Legal Pluralism in Papua New Guinea and soon after I got involved with Newman House (London's Central Catholic Chaplaincy). Fr John Dickson SDB, one of Newman House's chaplains asked me to present my research topic at NewLaw, a seminar series he had established for law students. A month or so after he informed me that Fr John Cabrido SDB was visiting his community from Papua New Guinea and arranged a meeting. Not only did Fr John Cabrido give me a warm invitation to visit, within a couple of weeks he had organised a two month itinerary for my fieldwork, including hosts, guides, translators, and transport. Given the many difficulties involved, almost no empirical legal research has been conducted in Papua New Guinea over the last couple of decades, so Fr John's assistance was invaluable. Importantly, one of the key findings of my econometric analysis is that education seems to play a much greater role in reducing the propensity to engage in payback killings than harsh criminal penalties.
I am often struck by the radical message of the Gospel and how non-radical my own response can be. The same cannot be said for the Salesian missionary priests and brothers that I met and lived with. They really have embraced Christ's radical challenge to give up all they have and to come follow Him. Leaving the comforts of home, including their families and friends, they live a life of service and prayer that reminded me of descriptions of the early Church in the Acts. Furthermore, they take up this call in extremely difficult conditions, including threats to their personal security. At the time, the community at Vunabosco consisted of priests and brothers from the Philippines South Korea, Kenya, India and Papua New Guinea. This in included Father Tim, one of Barcelona's Football Club's greatest fans and Brother Otto from Papua New Guinea, who took me on an unforgettable a trip to his home village of Tarkis. Waking early and after prayer and Mass (which many students also attend), each day is devoted to ensuring the students gain the very best education, ranging from ordering in food for the students, participating in afternoon sport, to taking classes themselves. Furthermore, they each undertake their day's work with great enthusiasm and generosity of spirit.
The Salesian schools and technical colleges in Papua New Guinea are oases of peace and education in an otherwise often harsh and violent world. Vunabosco gives a chance for many young men to gain an education that they would not otherwise have. Being a non-selective school, they take as many students as they can, regardless of their academic ability. In a country where secondary and technical education is reserved for the very few, they provide a vital service to the New Guinea Islands. The students gain an excellent education, despite very limited resources, that helps them flourish and serve their communities when they return home. Many of the school's students are in their twenties due to the Bougainville conflict (1989-2001) which saw the almost complete destruction of the island's infrastructure, including its schools, and during which the bulk of the population fled to the mountains to seek refuge from the fighting. One of the former students from Bougainville that I met returned to his home village and built a hydroelectric generator from scraps which provides regular electricity to his whole village.
Click here to comment on this item, or here to assist with Glossary. You will need to enter 20eao02 when asked for a password.
_________________
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
