austraLasia 1256
Getting the kids to church, Part II: Mongolia
DARKHAN: 22nd September 2005 -- Yesterday it was Japan, today Mongolia. How does a Salesian parish-oratory-whatever get youngsters to church when they are not even Catholics, not even Christians? Fr James Cheruvathur offers some thoughts on this - in a place where they are not yet at the stage of altar boys.
"The children come to our daily oratory, of course, only to play. But they go home with a different attitude learned there. Firstly all are welcome, they can com any time. So the impressions they receive are seen on the following Sunday , during the Holy Mass. Some come with their parents or friends. As a nation, we in Mongolia are still feeling the impact of the communist mentality. So we need people's co-operation. Our Mongolian staff and our children are the best means of evangelisation at present as they can hear and see from the three Salesians in Darkhan, our new Salesian presence in Mongolia.
This is the first Catholic presence too, in that city. Five months back , no one had ever heard of the Catholic Church,in this part of Mongolia. Now we regularly see 40 to 50 people on Sundays. The children lead the readings and the singing. We have thirty children as day-scholars in our school too. We have begun computer class, English-1 and English -2 classes as well. Parish work is the main agenda for the Salesians here.
The name 'Don Bosco' now stands for the young and it resounds in the Darkhan city and amongst the people as well. We dream with the children about tomorrow's future church here.We play and pray with them.
As winter is fast approaching, now it is already zero degrees at night or below zero with a 'high' of +5 during the day in Darkhan. We are preparing a good, warm study hall for our children. Kindly pray for our mission in Darkhan, Mongolia.We thank the good Lord for all his blessings and graces.We rely on your precious prayer and support. Thanks".
Fr James Cheruvathur sdb
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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 RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/rssala.xml If you subscribe, email this information and your name will come off the regular email list. RSS eliminates problems such as multiple mailings, viruses, email bloat. Think about it!
Getting the kids to church, Part II: Mongolia
DARKHAN: 22nd September 2005 -- Yesterday it was Japan, today Mongolia. How does a Salesian parish-oratory-whatever get youngsters to church when they are not even Catholics, not even Christians? Fr James Cheruvathur offers some thoughts on this - in a place where they are not yet at the stage of altar boys.
"The children come to our daily oratory, of course, only to play. But they go home with a different attitude learned there. Firstly all are welcome, they can com any time. So the impressions they receive are seen on the following Sunday , during the Holy Mass. Some come with their parents or friends. As a nation, we in Mongolia are still feeling the impact of the communist mentality. So we need people's co-operation. Our Mongolian staff and our children are the best means of evangelisation at present as they can hear and see from the three Salesians in Darkhan, our new Salesian presence in Mongolia.
This is the first Catholic presence too, in that city. Five months back , no one had ever heard of the Catholic Church,in this part of Mongolia. Now we regularly see 40 to 50 people on Sundays. The children lead the readings and the singing. We have thirty children as day-scholars in our school too. We have begun computer class, English-1 and English -2 classes as well. Parish work is the main agenda for the Salesians here.
The name 'Don Bosco' now stands for the young and it resounds in the Darkhan city and amongst the people as well. We dream with the children about tomorrow's future church here.We play and pray with them.
As winter is fast approaching, now it is already zero degrees at night or below zero with a 'high' of +5 during the day in Darkhan. We are preparing a good, warm study hall for our children. Kindly pray for our mission in Darkhan, Mongolia.We thank the good Lord for all his blessings and graces.We rely on your precious prayer and support. Thanks".
Fr James Cheruvathur sdb
___________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/rssala.xml If you subscribe, email this information and your name will come off the regular email list. RSS eliminates problems such as multiple mailings, viruses, email bloat. Think about it!
