austraLasia
#1761
Australian-Pacific
province: more than a subtle shift, a reality.
MELBOURNE: 14th February 2007 -- Writing to his confreres, in fact from the Thai
Province where he is currently preaching retreats, Fr Frank Moloney, the AUL
provincial, has asked confreres in his province to refer, from now on to the
'Australian-Pacific' province rather than the 'Australian' province, suggesting
that 'it is always good to reflect in your title what you really are!'.
The Salesian presence in this province, geographically, numerically, and for its
multi-cultural outreach in ministry is far far more than 'Australian'. In
fact in some 80 years of Salesian presence in the Pacific, and on the Australian
continent in particular, it is possibly true to say that a confrere has rarely
if ever found himself in a community of just one culture - certainly this writer
has never been in such a community in 40 or more years of Salesian life, and
that is discounting the last three in an obviously multicultural
setting.
The Australian-Pacific province has
responsibility for three Pacific nations - Australia, Samoa, Fiji, and at any
one time there are likely to be Salesians of this province at work in nearby
Pacific nations (e.g. PNG where there is currently one in Practical Training) or
whose responsibilities have them regularly travelling within the region
(retreats, Mission and Development Office). The Rectors in both Samoa and Fiji
are Pacific islanders. The novice master in Fiji is a Pacific islander -
with four novices from Samoa. Recently Bro. Paselio Tevaga (Samoa) made
his final profession in Fiji into the hands of the Vice provincial Fr John
Papworth, becoming yet another fine product of a long line of outstanding young
men to join the Salesians from the South Pacific zone in particular. There
are constant requests from Bishops elsewhere in the Pacific for Salesian
presence.
The provincial made his comment in the context
of a recognition, strengthened at the recent meeting of EAO provincials and
provincial economers in Melbourne, that the Australian-Pacific province has
begun to enthusiastically and creatively embrace its participation in the EAO
region. For many years AUL was aligned with the then anglophone region,
and similar shifts of major cultural proportions have been made by other
erstwhile members of that region - USA, UK, Ireland, South Africa, to name some.
The province has recently opened a new and major
multicultural venture in the inner Melbourne suburb of Brunswick, already a
Salesian Parish which has welcomed Anglo.Irish, Italians, Lebanese, Samoans into
its midst - and now in a special way Vietnamese. Fr Them, the VIE
provincial, recently concelebrated a Mass welcoming the beginning of a regular
Vietnamese Mass under the new parish priest of North Brunswick, Salesian Fr
Anthony Quang. Fr Quang has set up a large Vietnamese Centre in Brunswick,
an educational centre with English, Maths and Vietnamese classes all
well-attended. He is assisted in this venture by other Salesians and a
Salesian Sister. It is a work of the Australian-Pacific province. The
nearby Parishes of Clifton Hill and Collingwood, both relatively inner-city and
multicultural in their own right, have recently been handed over to the
Salesians by the Archbishop, thus clearly marking what has been an already long
and faithful service, especially with Italian and Chinese immigrants, to those
who were once quaintly called 'new Australians'. Clifton Hill, a post
novitiate formation centre, also currently hosts young Salesians from Thailand
and Vietnam.
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