austraLasia 825
Easter Growth in East Boroko
PORT MORESBY: 10th April '04 -- Whichever way one looks at it, the Salesian complex at East Boroko shows signs of growth. The heart of Salesian activity in PNG, East Boroko contains the Delegation House, Savio House (aspirants and prenovices, postnovitiate), DBTI a technical institute for training technical teachers, a Sunday Oratory.... the Salesian Sisters. And this Easter, for the first time, the Holy Week ceremonies have been conducted not in the small chapel but in the newly constructed gymnasium, open to Oratory members and local Catholic families.
East Boroko, on the somewhat scrubby outskirts of Port Moresby, also has a Caritas Sisters secondary school for girls, staffed by Korean Sisters of the Congregation founded by Mons. Cimatti from Japan. The Salesians provide chaplaincy to this work as well.
The two most notable areas of growth in recent years have been the construction and staffing of DBTI and the development of initial formation, in terms of personnel, candidates and planning.
DBTI Institute has 438 students and 20 staff, with Fr. Alex Garcia as Dean; it offers bachelor and diploma courses to young men and women. These teachers-in-training come from all over PNG. A number of them, understandably, eventually find employment in Salesian technical institutes around the nation.
DBTI has been one solid source, too, for initial formation to Salesian life. There are 23 aspirants at Savio House, all students at DBTI, 2 prenovices and 6 postnovices, 5 of whom are PNG nationals. In addition there are two temporarily professed Brothers in residence, one from Australia (Samoa, actually) and one from Vietnam. This is a marked increase in numbers in initial formation over previous years. The postnovices study at Bomana Seminary (interdiocesan with a number of Religious congregations also) where 4 Salesians also lecture , including the man in charge of Salesian formation at Savio House, Fr. Luciano Odorico.
The signs of growth are all there, perhaps looking at 30 or more aspirants per year and a regular flow of novices, all of which will place new requirements for personnel. Clearly the construction which for some years has been the Delegation House, might well need to give way to a psotnovitiate centre. In the meantime, the new DelegationCentre under construction is slated to open some time in July.
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