austraLasia #2646
Bishops galore! Oceania, now Turin
SYDNEY, ROME & TURIN: 19 May 2010 -- The arrival of bishop (in fact now coadjutor archbishop ) Francesco Panfilo in Rome these days - he had just come from Sydney - is a reminder of two significant events involving a goodly number of Salesian bishops.
The first of these events has already concluded: the Assembly of the Federation of Bishops Conferences of Oceania. For those who have little knowledge of what countries actually make up the 'continent' of Oceania, bishops from each of the following were in attendance: Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Guam, Kiribati (which includes Nauru in its diocese), Marianas Islands, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Wallis & Futuna, Samoa, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Tonga, Tahiti. Three Salesian bishops are represented in that group - Tim Costelloe, Australia, Luciano Capelli, Solomon Islands, and Francesco Panfilo, Papua New Guinea. The Salesians are present in six of the eighteen countries named above, but the membership of both the Assembly and the 'continent is a little wider still: we need to include American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia (Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae), and who knows we might still have missed an island or two!
The Bishops' Oceania Assembly, this time held in Sydney, is a four yearly affair and also had representation from the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences and from East Timor. If we wanted to consider Salesian Bishops from that wider area, then we would need to add in a further nine who are resident in Asia (three in the Philippines, two in Vietnam, and one in each of Myanmar, China, Thailand and Japan), though these were not present in Sydney.
The Assembly, with the help of various speakers, including religious and lay, considered the missionary life of St Paul, often only heard about "in the unwinnable spot in the second Reading!", preaching today in the context of media saturation, sacraments, especially Eucharist in lonely, isolated outposts where it is difficult for Catholics to have access to a priest, and of course the Sisters of St Joseph spoke about the process which will lead to the Canonisation of Mary McKillop in Rome on 17 October 2010. The overal theme of the Assembly was 'Taking the message of Christ forward'.
Meanwhile, a similarly-sized number of bishops (just under 100) will be gathering in Turin from 21-25 May around the Rector Major and his Council for at least the second occasion when all Salesian bishops have been invited by the Rector Major, though as one wag quipped it has to be at least the third time, since we know Don Bosco invited the then Bishop Cagliero! You can follow the programme and the list of participants for this meeting from here. Ten of the twelve EAO bishops will be in Turin for the occasion.
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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 . Use Bosconet-wiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2009 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
Bishops galore! Oceania, now Turin
SYDNEY, ROME & TURIN: 19 May 2010 -- The arrival of bishop (in fact now coadjutor archbishop ) Francesco Panfilo in Rome these days - he had just come from Sydney - is a reminder of two significant events involving a goodly number of Salesian bishops.
The first of these events has already concluded: the Assembly of the Federation of Bishops Conferences of Oceania. For those who have little knowledge of what countries actually make up the 'continent' of Oceania, bishops from each of the following were in attendance: Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Guam, Kiribati (which includes Nauru in its diocese), Marianas Islands, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Wallis & Futuna, Samoa, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Tonga, Tahiti. Three Salesian bishops are represented in that group - Tim Costelloe, Australia, Luciano Capelli, Solomon Islands, and Francesco Panfilo, Papua New Guinea. The Salesians are present in six of the eighteen countries named above, but the membership of both the Assembly and the 'continent is a little wider still: we need to include American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia (Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae), and who knows we might still have missed an island or two!
The Bishops' Oceania Assembly, this time held in Sydney, is a four yearly affair and also had representation from the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences and from East Timor. If we wanted to consider Salesian Bishops from that wider area, then we would need to add in a further nine who are resident in Asia (three in the Philippines, two in Vietnam, and one in each of Myanmar, China, Thailand and Japan), though these were not present in Sydney.
The Assembly, with the help of various speakers, including religious and lay, considered the missionary life of St Paul, often only heard about "in the unwinnable spot in the second Reading!", preaching today in the context of media saturation, sacraments, especially Eucharist in lonely, isolated outposts where it is difficult for Catholics to have access to a priest, and of course the Sisters of St Joseph spoke about the process which will lead to the Canonisation of Mary McKillop in Rome on 17 October 2010. The overal theme of the Assembly was 'Taking the message of Christ forward'.
Meanwhile, a similarly-sized number of bishops (just under 100) will be gathering in Turin from 21-25 May around the Rector Major and his Council for at least the second occasion when all Salesian bishops have been invited by the Rector Major, though as one wag quipped it has to be at least the third time, since we know Don Bosco invited the then Bishop Cagliero! You can follow the programme and the list of participants for this meeting from here. Ten of the twelve EAO bishops will be in Turin for the occasion.
_________________
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 . Use Bosconet-wiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2009 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
