By KOR SC team
Daejon, South Korea, 6 September 2022 -- Korea Provincial Community Day 2022 was held from the afternoon of Friday, 2 September to noon Saturday, 3 September at the Jeongnim-dong Community in Daejeon City, where the Korean Novitiate is located. More than 100 confreres attended this important event, with very few who had difficulty attending due to health reasons. For the last two years (2020 and 2021), face-to-face meetings were difficult due to COVID-19, so were conducted only online. Therefore, this provincial community day was the first time in three years to personally meet almost all confreres in one venue. It was a time for many confreres, starting from the initial formation candidates and confreres up to the elderly members, to gather and share the family spirit and fraternal love.
The beginning of the meeting was a time to listen and discuss together about being ‘Missionaries in the digital space' (Formation and Social Communication sector) according to 10 prepared questions. The large Assembly broke into the local community groups to share some creative ideas about our formation in the digital continent. Then followed the evening prayer and Goodnight given by Fr Timothy Choi, the SDB provincial. Dinner time was followed by the joint Rosary walking around the compound of Daejon house in the pleasant autumn fresh air. Back to the meeting hall all Salesians listened to Fr Moses Yoon, Moderator of the recently celebrated 17th Provincial Chapter. It was a good time to catch up with the ongoing issues of the whole provincial community, reshaping of the mission and main deliberations of PC17.
A very precious family time started at 9 PM in the Auditorium Hall with time fo fellowship and sharing in a family spirit, sitting around 10 different tables. While watching the 'Academy' performance of some larger and youthful communities we shared fraternity and took some quiz questions together, with abundant prizes. It was a time of fun, chatting with many confreres of a different generation, some of them hadn't met each other for a while. At the peak of this time was a Silver Jubilee celebration of religious vows of four confreres, with their short sharing.
The next morning began with the Eucharist with Father Provincial as main celebrant and after breakfast all confreres gathered for the whole morning around the playgrounds and enjoyed a variety of games like volleyball, baseball, and soccer. Senior members also watched the games and cheered like young people. On one side of the playground during game time, the confreres from the local community were preparing a barbecue. Last moments of this event was a good lunch. Then each of the 13 communities left for their respective places.
The Korean province currently comprises 99 confreres with perpetual vows, 11 confreres in temporary vows and 6 novices. There are also 3 prenovices and 3 aspirants attending the Catholic University with another one still in military service. That makes a total of 110 professed SDB members and 12 not-yet-professed young people in the first stages of initial formation.
All Salesians were energized and strengthened in their vocation thanks to this 'special' provincial community day celebrated together after 3 years. Each one was eagerly waiting for this occasion to meet each other, talk and reconnect old friendships with each other. The Joy of being one family becomes our strength. Also the announcement of upcoming canonization of Blessed Artemides Zatti gave a special air to this memorable provincial event. Hopefully up to 13 Salesian Brothers may be able to join the Canonization event in Rome.
