First historical meeting SDB - FMA provincial council VIE
Tam Ha, Vietnam, 11 December 2016 -- For the Salesian Family of Vietnam it's really a happy and meaningful day, to experience for the first time in history a joint Provincial Council meeting of Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA) and Volunteers of Don Bosco (VDB) held at FMA Sisters Provincial House in Tam Ha on December 11, 2016.
The meeting lasted about four hours in a cordial, open and fraternal family spirit. We started to talk about a long term collaboration for the benefit of the youth in Vietnam. We also discussed about the possible collaboration in variety of fields, such as Formation, Social Communication, Salesian Family, Youth Ministry and Missions. The meeting was concluded with a nice lunch.
We also decided to have the meeting once a year, dealing with concrete topics of collaboration and animation among us.
Thanks God for this new behavior, and we hope it be a good way of understanding and collaborating.
To the VIE (Vietnam - Mongolia) SDB province belong 318 professed members and 12 novices, to the VIE (Vietnam) FMA province belong 241 professed members and 36 novices.
4228(I)_Starting afresh with Jesus
First Meeting of the 3 Provincial councils of SDB, FMA and VDB in VietNam
TAM HA - December 11, 2016: At 8:00 AM of the Third Sunday of Advent, the first and historical meeting of the 3 provincial councils of the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA) and the Volunteers of Don Bosco (VDB) was held at the provincial house of FMA Tam Ha, Thu Duc district.
Present at the meeting were Fr. Joseph Nguyen Van Quang, provincial of SDB, Sr. Vu Thi Kim Lien, provincial of FMA, the superior of VDB in VietNam and all councillors of the three provincial councils. The total number of the participants was 21.
The meeting started at 8:00 AM as scheduled in which the participants spent time to exchange ideas on what they have been done together in the past years concerning the Formation, Youth Ministry, Social Communications, Salesian Family. They also discuss about the common concerns and the possible plan of the year 2017, especially the course of Youth Ministry which will be held by the end of September 2017 by Fr. Fabio Attard, the general councillor for Youth Ministry.
The participants also discuss about the schedule of welcoming the visit of the Rector Major in February 2017. Fr. A.F Artime, Rector Major of SDB and the Superior of the Salesian Family in the world, will come to VietNam from Feb. 20, 2017 to Feb. 27, 2017. During one week, he wants to meet all the members of the Salesian Family in VietNam, including the Salesians, the Daughters Mary Help of Christians, Volunteers of Don Bosco, Past Pupils, Cooperators, especially the Youth.
This will be the first visit of the Rector Major in VietNam, so the meeting of the Salesian Family with the Rector Major will be organized in Saigon, Dalat, and in the North of VietNam (Thai Binh diocese).
By the end of the meeting, 2 things were chosen by common consent:
· The meeting of the 3 provincial councils will be held once a year by the end of May or the beginning of June. So the next meeting will be in May or June 2017.
· Formation and Youth Ministry Delegates of the 3 provincial councils will come together to exchange views on the youth service, and then propose as the theme for the next meeting.
Fr. Peter Chinh, SDB