The First GEX Japan Working Team Meeting filled with Hope and Expectation
By Mr. Chihiro Okawa
Don Bosco Past Pupil
Tokyo, Japan, 26 November 2017 -- One month after the annual board meeting of the Federation of Don Bosco Alumni Japan, the first GEX Japan working team meeting was held on 25th November at SITEC (Suginami, Tokyo). The team is composed of 16 Past Pupils of Don Bosco from 5 Salesian Schools in Japan, and the GEX Delegate is Fr. Shin Mishima, SDB (Youth Ministry Delegate).
The working team is made of 3 small teams, Social Communication, Asia-Oceania Congress in Japan 2020 with Finance and Incorportation. Yesterday, 2 captains, 2 leaders and 1 member from Salesian Polytechnic (Tokyo), Osaka Seiko Gakuin (Osaka), and Salesio Gakuin (Yokohama), and Fr. Mishima attended the first meeting.
Fr. Vaclav Klement, EAO Regional Councilor and Fr. Mario Yamanouchi, Provincial SDB Japan were also there to share some helpful latest information about GEX and Don Bosco Past Pupils in the other provinces of the EAO region and around the world.
Fr. Klement emphasized some points. First, DB past pupils have to know they are an essential member of the Salesian Family. Second, past pupils have to be provided with appropriate formation on Salesian Spirituality. In most of the 23 EAO countries including Japan, Catholics are minority and most of the past pupils are non-Christian. So non-Christian past pupils can play more important roles in various area of Salesian Ministry cooperating well with SDBs or other Salesian Family group members.
Participants eagerly talked about especially how to solve problems on Social Communication and Finance. We finally agreed that the most important for the Federation is to be faithful to the Spirit of Don Bosco - that is Assistence with the Young and for the Young in need. For sharing the information and calling for more Past Pupils to cooperate and contribute, we are going to make the official website of the Federation as soon as possible. In the near future we are going to plan some assistance and meaningful events for the interaction of present students of five Salesian Schools in Japan (e.g. Joint Volunteer Activity, Sports Competition, etc).
The whole meeting time was filled with hope and expectation, and we are already looking forward to the next! Please keep praying for us!
NB: GEX means Giovani Ex-Allievi (Italian) or Young Don Bosco Alumni (English). The World Confederation of DB Alumni has a double structure: in each continent there is one World Councilor for the Adults and one World Councilor for the Young Alumni (GEX)
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