austraLasia 1214
Sisters Announcers of the Lord: when SAL really means Salesian.
ROME: 28 July 2005 -- The Salesian Family has grown by one more member group, though for many who have known the Sisters Announcers of the Lord in China Province, they have always been part of the Salesian Family. They were, after all, the result of the Spirit moving through the saintly Bishop Versiglia, who asked Fr Ignazio Canazei to draft a set of Constitutions which would reflect Don Bosco on the one hand, and St. Therese Lisieux, patroness of the Missions, on the other.
Today, in Rome, the usual path to formal recognition as members of the Salesian Family came to fruition. The General Council, according to guidelines set out in ASC 304 in 1982 and finally established in ACG 363 in 1989 as normative, recognised not only the various required aspects: ecclesial recognition, lived experience of the Salesian vocation, growth both internal and in terms of spread, autonomy, but also the significance of this moment as the Salesian presence prepares to celebrate its China centenary.
By no means a large group (the Sisters are less than 30 in number, most in Hong Kong but one community in Calgary, Canada), it is also a fact that the Sisters have shown growth rather than decline since being incardinated in Hong Kong in 1958. They are always part of Salesian Family activity in Hong Kong, especially in education, have an ecclesial assistant who is a Salesian, and have had since the beginning - to which we can add the fact that their charismatic founder is a recognised Saint of the universal Church. There just was never any doubt that SAL meant 'Salesian' for these Sisters! Article 4 of their Constitutions reads: "In every circumstance the members must serve the Lord in holy joy, proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom with words and actions, and so tend to the ends established by the Founder: 'They will be distinguished for their zeal in the salvation of souls and in giving greater glory to God'." It is all so redolent of St. John Bosco.
The Spirit has made one final move, it seems, on behalf of the Salesian Family and the SAL, and given a special gift for the centenary of the arrival of Bishop Versiglia in Macau in 2006.
_____________________
Sisters Announcers of the Lord: when SAL really means Salesian.
ROME: 28 July 2005 -- The Salesian Family has grown by one more member group, though for many who have known the Sisters Announcers of the Lord in China Province, they have always been part of the Salesian Family. They were, after all, the result of the Spirit moving through the saintly Bishop Versiglia, who asked Fr Ignazio Canazei to draft a set of Constitutions which would reflect Don Bosco on the one hand, and St. Therese Lisieux, patroness of the Missions, on the other.
Today, in Rome, the usual path to formal recognition as members of the Salesian Family came to fruition. The General Council, according to guidelines set out in ASC 304 in 1982 and finally established in ACG 363 in 1989 as normative, recognised not only the various required aspects: ecclesial recognition, lived experience of the Salesian vocation, growth both internal and in terms of spread, autonomy, but also the significance of this moment as the Salesian presence prepares to celebrate its China centenary.
By no means a large group (the Sisters are less than 30 in number, most in Hong Kong but one community in Calgary, Canada), it is also a fact that the Sisters have shown growth rather than decline since being incardinated in Hong Kong in 1958. They are always part of Salesian Family activity in Hong Kong, especially in education, have an ecclesial assistant who is a Salesian, and have had since the beginning - to which we can add the fact that their charismatic founder is a recognised Saint of the universal Church. There just was never any doubt that SAL meant 'Salesian' for these Sisters! Article 4 of their Constitutions reads: "In every circumstance the members must serve the Lord in holy joy, proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom with words and actions, and so tend to the ends established by the Founder: 'They will be distinguished for their zeal in the salvation of souls and in giving greater glory to God'." It is all so redolent of St. John Bosco.
The Spirit has made one final move, it seems, on behalf of the Salesian Family and the SAL, and given a special gift for the centenary of the arrival of Bishop Versiglia in Macau in 2006.
_____________________
