By Br. Bosco Hai SDB

Dalat, VIE Province, 07 November 2023 - Since it would be impossible for confreres to be all present in Ho Chi Minh City at the conclusion of the Extraordinary Visitation, the Provincial of VIE, Fr. Barnaba An Phong Le, organized a meeting of confreres after the extraordinary visitation to the communities in a region. On November 3, 2023, the confrères of 5 communities in the region of Lam Dong gathered at the Don Rua Post-novitiate, Dalat, as the concluding gathering of the Extraordinary Visitation of Fr. Alfred Maravilla, the General Councillor for Missions, to the Salesian communities of the Lam Vien highlands region.

The two highlighted topics of the gathering were: (1) the distinction between missionary spirit and missionary vocation and (2) the charismatic identity of Salesian parishes.

The Extraordinary Visitor emphasized that the missionary vocation is God's call not to all but only to some Salesians. However, the missionary spirit must be present in every Salesian wherever they are since, as Fr. Egidio Viganò has pointed out, it is an essential element of the Salesian charism. The missionary spirit is characterized, among others, by the passion for evangelization, the Oratorian heart, and generous availability of the "ci vado io" ('I will go' wherever I am sent). If the missionary spirit is weak or absent in a Province, stressed Fr. Maravilla, then there will be little or no pastoral initiatives; there is a danger of sterile pessimism and tomb psychology. Then, the movement of confrères in the Province becomes difficult.

All of the confreres working in the five parishes and quasi-parishes in the district of Lam Dong were also invited by the General Councillor for Missions to gather at least twice a year to seriously evaluate their charismatic identity and study the Document published by the Youth Ministry Sector "Identity of Parishes and Shrines entrusted to the Salesians" which is already translated into Vietnamese.

Since all the Salesian parishes in the Lam Dong district are the type of mission bases for the evangelization to the K'Ho indigenous people, which is a major group of indigenous peoples in this highland, it obviously becomes a missionary work of the Province of Vietnam. Therefore, Fr. Maravilla stressed that the work among the K'Ho indigenous people has to be considered a special apostolate compared to other works in the Province. This implies, he underlined, that confreres who will be assigned among the K'Ho people have to be adequately prepared in understanding their language and culture. Moreover, it is crucial to have an overall plan for this missionary region in regard to preserving, fostering, and promoting the local K'ho language and culture.

During the concluding Eucharist, Fr. Alfred Maravilla invited the assembly to remember with gratitude the confreres, living and deceased, who suffered to be faithful to Don Bosco and the Congregation after the union of the country in 1975. "Their suffering and sacrifices are the foundation of the flourishing Province of Vietnam today", he said in his homily. The gathering concluded with a fraternal lunch.

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