austraLasia 1280
ASC Council meets in Vietnam
HO CHI MINH CITY: 11 October 2005 -- In a full day last Saturday, that may prove a watershed for the Association of Salesian Cooperators in Vietnam, Fr Vaclav Klement, Regional councillor for East Asia Oceania, placed the local movement, its problems and its possibilities, firmly in the context of the larger movement - the growth and direction of the worldwide Association as well as regional developments. In conveying the greetings of the Rector Major to Cooperators who had gathered for the occasion, he centred on the call for them to fix their gaze on holiness, the practical holiness evident in lives such as those of Don Bosco - the permanent model, Mamma Margaret - the first Cooperator, Attilio Girodani - the only lay male model amongst the Salesian saints.
The ASC in Vietnam has seven already established centres, and intends to bring three more into being. In fact they only have a formal history of a decade in the country, and due to circumstances this has sometimes been a rocky road. There is a good understanding on the part of ASC members that now is the time to rejuvenate the face of the Association, something that can only happen in conjunction with the wider Family. The determinant, as always, will be initial and ongoing formation. And obviously the several challenges that confront the Association in its local social, religious and political context need to be addressed.
A question frequently raised, both in local centres and in the context of parish, is the readiness of the ASC to take up the mission of family apostolate and faith education of the young. Returning once more to the wider context, Fr Klement demonstrated the degree of assistance that is available - the regional website already contains a wide range of materials for use in formation, a plan had already been developed in view of the 2004 Seoul Congress with 2007 as its arrival point, a clear structure of leadership, along with Family Delegates is already in place.
An opportunity now presents itself for 2006 - The RM's Strenna, with its focus on the family, an opportunity for relaunching the Cooperator vocation and family apostolate, and Don Bosco's preventive spirituality as something to be shared with the local Church.. Fr Klement passed on the information that 110 Salesian Bishops worldwide have urged the Holy Father to speed up the process of Mamma Margaret's Beatification, something the Holy Father has replied to informally in discussion with Fr Chavez, indicating that not only would there be no obstacle but that it would seem desirable.
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ASC Council meets in Vietnam
HO CHI MINH CITY: 11 October 2005 -- In a full day last Saturday, that may prove a watershed for the Association of Salesian Cooperators in Vietnam, Fr Vaclav Klement, Regional councillor for East Asia Oceania, placed the local movement, its problems and its possibilities, firmly in the context of the larger movement - the growth and direction of the worldwide Association as well as regional developments. In conveying the greetings of the Rector Major to Cooperators who had gathered for the occasion, he centred on the call for them to fix their gaze on holiness, the practical holiness evident in lives such as those of Don Bosco - the permanent model, Mamma Margaret - the first Cooperator, Attilio Girodani - the only lay male model amongst the Salesian saints.
The ASC in Vietnam has seven already established centres, and intends to bring three more into being. In fact they only have a formal history of a decade in the country, and due to circumstances this has sometimes been a rocky road. There is a good understanding on the part of ASC members that now is the time to rejuvenate the face of the Association, something that can only happen in conjunction with the wider Family. The determinant, as always, will be initial and ongoing formation. And obviously the several challenges that confront the Association in its local social, religious and political context need to be addressed.
A question frequently raised, both in local centres and in the context of parish, is the readiness of the ASC to take up the mission of family apostolate and faith education of the young. Returning once more to the wider context, Fr Klement demonstrated the degree of assistance that is available - the regional website already contains a wide range of materials for use in formation, a plan had already been developed in view of the 2004 Seoul Congress with 2007 as its arrival point, a clear structure of leadership, along with Family Delegates is already in place.
An opportunity now presents itself for 2006 - The RM's Strenna, with its focus on the family, an opportunity for relaunching the Cooperator vocation and family apostolate, and Don Bosco's preventive spirituality as something to be shared with the local Church.. Fr Klement passed on the information that 110 Salesian Bishops worldwide have urged the Holy Father to speed up the process of Mamma Margaret's Beatification, something the Holy Father has replied to informally in discussion with Fr Chavez, indicating that not only would there be no obstacle but that it would seem desirable.
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