PNG, Solomon Islands Salesians hold convention

The National Faith
  • Salesians in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands held a provincial chapter convention in Port Moresby last week.
    The theme was: “What kind of Salesians for Melanesian youths of today?”
    In his convocation letter to the Salesians, the Rector Major, Fr Angel Fernandez Artime asked for the contributions of young Salesians to suggest proposals for drafting a new profile for the Salesians today.
    Fr Ariel Macatangay included the topic of the Salesian profile as part of this year’s seminars.
    The seminar took place on March 21 and 22, while the practical training seminar was held on March 24 and 25.
    The confreres in quinquennium consisted of three priests and one lay Salesian from PNG, Vietnam and Congo. The four practical trainees came from India, El Salvador, Indonesia and Japan.
    Both groups agreed with the top three from the six aspects of Don Bosco proposed by the Rector Major, and chosen by people of the vice-province:
  • Man of profound faith;
  • Apostle of the young always faithful, always flexible and creative; and,
  • Apostolic passion for youth.
    The practical trainees, being closer to the current generation of youths, focused more on the aspect of Don Bosco’s apostolic passion for youth.
    Fr Gilbert Pano, in his second year as a Salesian PNG priest and newly assigned as Economer at Don Bosco Araimiri, said: “What I like most is the sharing of the confreres, that I get to know the difficulty and challenges one is experiencing and comparing to my own.”