austraLasia
#1745
EAO Provincials and
Provincial Economers meet in Melbourne
MELBOURNE: 3rd February 2007 -- Provincials and Provincial Economers from around
the East Asia-Oceania Region have been flying into Melbourne Airport from every
part of the region for the five day meeting which has begun today, 3rd February
at Ascot Vale, a suburb of Melbourne located handily not too far from the
freeway leading from the airport. This is the first Australian-based
regional meeting of the kind in the past ten years and, in fact, the first there
for the 'new' EAO Region which came into existence as a result of the GC25
decision to cut the cloth of the then Australasia region a little differently,
leaving South Asia (effectively India, Sri lanka, Myanmar) as an independent
region.
The meeting is structured broadly around the GC26
theme units but with ample opportunity for specifics within the region, which
will include an evaluation of the growth and potential for the region. From the
General Council there is, obviously, the Regional Councillor, Fr Vāclav Klement
(worth noting here, for the uninitiated, that Vāclav is his Christian name and
Klement the surname), but also Fr Gianni Mazzali, Economer General,who was
fortunate enough to celebrate his 'umpteenth' birthday in
Melbourne!
Melbourne in February is, to put it mildly, a
little warm, especially since it seems to have clearly noted the recent damning
report on human-induced global warming. Participants at the Melbourne
meeting are in for 39 degrees centigrade and that's only an estimate. If
they have not heard of the traditional Australian clerical garb of shorts and
t-shirt, they will soon see it in action!
The 'urgent need
for evangelisation' theme will give opportunity for a closer look at
evangelisation experiences in the Asian and Oceanian context - including a look
at the recent Congress on this theme held in Thailand and the upcoming World
Youth Day in Sydney in mid-2008. The Feb 5th 'need for recruitment' theme will
feature a Salesian cultural day with lunch for participants at the Australian
Catholic University and Eucharist and Dinner at Auxilium College Lysterfield,
the retreat centre for the province and novitiate for when there are
some.
austraLasia will keep readers in touch with some of
the developments from the meeting as things proceed.
For
those who know the Region's best-known and long-revered 'secretary' at many
levels, Bro Peter Swain, suffering from advanced stages of cancer and recently
laid low by a heart attack, Bro Peter is now back 'home' in John Paul Village,
part of the Salesian parish complex at Engadine, Sydney, where he is making
progress according to his overall condition. A little weak, Fr Klement,
indicates, but in good spirits and has not lost one tack of interest in
everything happening around the Region - and at the Pisana! Keep him in
your prayers.
___________________
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