By Fr. Arun Michael Charles SDB
EAO Regional Coordinator for Missionary Animation
EAO, 12 August 2024 -- The Joint regional meeting of the Provincial Delegates for Missionary Animation (PDMA) of the two regions of East Asia - Oceania and South Asia took place in Hua Hin, Thailand from 7-11 August 2024. The participants started arriving on the 6th of August and were welcomed by the Salesians of the Province of Thailand. The opening mass on the 8 August was celebrated by Fr. John Lissandrin, SDB (PDMA of Thailand). The nine sessions with group discussions were very interactive and vibrant because the participants represented 25 Provinces / Delegations. There was a rich sharing of experiences, the best practices and challenges involved in missionary animation in the two regions.
In his presentation Fr. Alfred Maravilla SDB emphasized the importance of collaborative animation. He stressed that the missionary spirit is the fundamental element of the charism transmitted by Don Bosco to the Salesians and to the Salesian family.
The meeting drove home a message to all the participants that an authentic Salesian Missionary animation has two purposes: 1. Keep the missionary spirit of Don Bosco alive in every Salesian and in the Educative Pastoral community. 2. Foster in every Salesian the openness to discern, if God is calling him to commit himself for life to the missionary vocation.
Indeed, missionary animation is not limited to celebrations or occasional activities. It is a continuous process of raising missionary awareness in every province/delegation and educative pastoral community. It fosters a sense of initiative, a capacity to dream and take a risk, an openness to other cultures and people, a sense of belonging to the wider Salesian world and solidarity with the poor and the marginalized.
The PDMAs were enriched by each other not only during the formal group discussions but also during their informal moments. The meeting was an opportunity to know each other, learn from one another and develop a sense of understanding the need to be more aware of what is happening in the Salesian world. The sentiment that they belong to a worldwide Congregation, fostering the missionary spirit under different circumstances, gave all a sense of solidarity with the Salesians working in various parts of the world.
The PDMAs of each of the two Regions also had opportune moments to meet by region and evaluate the missionary animation in their respective Provinces / Delegations for the previous year and to plan for next year. The PDMAs were also tasked to prepare their six-year plan for missionary animation i.e., 2025-2030 and present it at the next PDMA meet in November 2025.
The Cultural show on the 9th of August, presented by the students of our Salesian school at Hua Hin was spectacular and well-prepared. All the delegates were extremely pleased by the preparation and the hospitality of the Salesian Province of Thailand and especially of the Salesian community of Hua Hin who went out of their way to make the participants experience Thai hospitality. When asked for the reason for such generosity, one of the Salesians explained: "To us in Thailand every guest is like God visiting us, so we take care of the guest".
