austraLasia 1591
Dili's First Communions, Solemnity of Corpus Christi, and the Body of Christ in action
DILI-COMORO: 21st June 2006 -- The Solemnity of Corpus Christi could not be celebrated with the usual diocesan procession of the Blessed Sacrament because of the constant danger of violence in the city, but the situation did not prevent 58 children from celebrating it with the reception of their First Communion at Mary Help of Christians Church in Comoro in this capital city.
Preparation for the event had started in October 2005 when hundreds of children began attending catechism classes in view of their Communion. These classes for most came to an abrupt end on 28th April as they fled to safety. For the 58 children who sought refuge in Don Bosco or stayed in homes nearby, the preparation continued. In fact it intensified into daily afternoon catechism classes as they had nothing else to do. Most of the catechists who prepared them were also refugees, so they had time and facility to do the job.
On the afternoon of 17th June, the children made their first confession in a community celebration along with their parents, then on Sunday 18th they received their Best Friend through the hands of the Parish Priest, Fr Manuel Fraille. It was reminiscent of the 1999 diaspora where refugees in Kupang, fleeing the events of that time, also prepared their children for First Communion.
Amongst other significant events in the week past have been the visit of the First Lady, Mrs Kirsty Sword Gusmao, who came to kick off (our correspondent doesn't indicate if literally or not) the East Timor World Cup bid for the under 15s and under 13s! The tournament was sponsored by Catholic Relief Services USA. Team names were Brazil, England, Italy, Spain, Portugal, etc.
The Minister for Education also visited the Centre to congratulate the children for going to school amidst all the disturbance. At present, school children numbers have risen to over a thousand, obliging the headmasters to split them into morning and afternoon sessions.
Yet a third event for the week, already reported, was the setting up of a 'tent city'. UNHCR have in fact erected 100 tents at Don Bosco. Meanwhile, the youth have taken a leading role in running the Refugee Centre. 78 young people from the Don Bosco Technical Centre and the parish now literally run the Centre. Under the able leadership of Fr Justiniano de Sousa and Bro Adraino de Jesus, Bro Tomas Alves and Bro. Octaviano Sequeiram these youths carry out several tasks: distribution of food and other supplies to refugees, monitoring and recording refugee data, making announcements and paging people, security, setting up tents, and even occasionally as peace-makers when quarrels break out in the Centre.
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___________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com Try out BoscoWiki to be interactive. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm A separate service entirely is called F/OSSERVATORE to help us keep abreast of trends in the digital world.
Dili's First Communions, Solemnity of Corpus Christi, and the Body of Christ in action
DILI-COMORO: 21st June 2006 -- The Solemnity of Corpus Christi could not be celebrated with the usual diocesan procession of the Blessed Sacrament because of the constant danger of violence in the city, but the situation did not prevent 58 children from celebrating it with the reception of their First Communion at Mary Help of Christians Church in Comoro in this capital city.
Preparation for the event had started in October 2005 when hundreds of children began attending catechism classes in view of their Communion. These classes for most came to an abrupt end on 28th April as they fled to safety. For the 58 children who sought refuge in Don Bosco or stayed in homes nearby, the preparation continued. In fact it intensified into daily afternoon catechism classes as they had nothing else to do. Most of the catechists who prepared them were also refugees, so they had time and facility to do the job.
On the afternoon of 17th June, the children made their first confession in a community celebration along with their parents, then on Sunday 18th they received their Best Friend through the hands of the Parish Priest, Fr Manuel Fraille. It was reminiscent of the 1999 diaspora where refugees in Kupang, fleeing the events of that time, also prepared their children for First Communion.
Amongst other significant events in the week past have been the visit of the First Lady, Mrs Kirsty Sword Gusmao, who came to kick off (our correspondent doesn't indicate if literally or not) the East Timor World Cup bid for the under 15s and under 13s! The tournament was sponsored by Catholic Relief Services USA. Team names were Brazil, England, Italy, Spain, Portugal, etc.
The Minister for Education also visited the Centre to congratulate the children for going to school amidst all the disturbance. At present, school children numbers have risen to over a thousand, obliging the headmasters to split them into morning and afternoon sessions.
Yet a third event for the week, already reported, was the setting up of a 'tent city'. UNHCR have in fact erected 100 tents at Don Bosco. Meanwhile, the youth have taken a leading role in running the Refugee Centre. 78 young people from the Don Bosco Technical Centre and the parish now literally run the Centre. Under the able leadership of Fr Justiniano de Sousa and Bro Adraino de Jesus, Bro Tomas Alves and Bro. Octaviano Sequeiram these youths carry out several tasks: distribution of food and other supplies to refugees, monitoring and recording refugee data, making announcements and paging people, security, setting up tents, and even occasionally as peace-makers when quarrels break out in the Centre.
Click here to comment on this item.
___________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com Try out BoscoWiki to be interactive. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm A separate service entirely is called F/OSSERVATORE to help us keep abreast of trends in the digital world.
