austraLasia
#1752
Formation looms large in
concluding sessions of EAO Provincials' meeting
MELBOURNE: 7th February 2007 -- While the Economer General was shaking hands with a
kangaroo* in the country town of Ballarat (and visiting a gold mine where,
unfortunately, the gold has now run out!), the EAO Provincials were taking leaps
of their own in the direction of a more coordinated regional approach to
formation. It was the final day of a long and fruitful gathering in Melbourne,
and included some useful reflection on a range of issues, one of them being the
constant financial demands on a region that is forced to travel to keep
together, and travel across 'lanes' that are amongst the world's most costly.
This gives rise to interesting anomalies - it is cheaper to fly
Melbourne-Singapore-Perth than it is to fly internally from Melbourne to
Perth!
Given the current meeting in Rome of key formators
from a number of Salesian Regions (none from EAO however), it was perhaps most
appropriate that this Melbourne meeting set up a regional formation committee
for the first time - and elected its first coordinator in Fr Tim Costelloe who
presently holds that role for the AUL province. That achieved, a number of
details were ironed out for both objectives and procedures for this commission,
including times and places for the first meeting. A meeting will be scheduled
for later this year, possibly in Jakarta. January of next year is likely to be
an opportunity to bring together Rectors of formation communities in the
region.
One other important step taken has been to set up
a mobile formation team - a small group of experts who can be available to move
around the Region according to need. It is seen as a way to maximise the
expertise in a region with limited resources overall. This team, currently with
membership suggested from Japan, Australia and Philipppines (N), will meet later
this year.
*The
photo is available on www.sdb.org - go 'organization'-'provinces'-Australia' and
select 'foto' (yes, sorry - it will be in English shortly); second to the
right.
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