Reports Of Sal.del.meet 1

Minutes of the First Meeting of the Provincial Delegates of Salesian Brothers of South Asia Date

: 2nd January 2009

Venue

: The Provincial House, Chennai – 10

Agenda:  Election of the Chairperson  Fixing the date and venue of the first meeting The first meeting of the provincial delegates of the Salesian Brothers met on 2nd January 2008 (1.30 P.M) at T.V. Hall of the provincial house Chennai. The meeting began with silent prayer invoking the help of the Holy Spirit to elect the Chairperson. Bro. Gregory Chinnabathuni, Provincial delegate of Hyderabad Province briefed about the office of the Chairperson and enlightened everyone about his activities. Bro. Edwin proposed the names of Bro. Gregory to be the Chairperson but he expressed some difficulties then Bro. Ramesh proposed the names of Bro. Johnny and Bro. Antony but both of them requested the group to choose someone else because of their assignments in the province. Thus the next chance was given to Bro. Ramesh Durairaj of Mumbai Province, he willingly accepted to be

Chairperson of the Salesian Brothers of the South Asia. So the members congratulated and assured their co-operation. Then the chairperson-elect requested the delegates to have a secretary and he proposed the name of Bro. Edwin for it and he willingly accepted it. After the election the chairperson-elect consulted the group regarding the date and venue of the first meeting. The members proposed the provincial house, Mumbai as the venue. The date is tentatively fixed to 18th April 2009. With a short prayer by the Chairperson-elect the meeting got concluded.

Minutes of the Second Meeting of the Provincial Delegates of Salesian Brothers of South Asia Date

: 18th & 19th April 2009

Venue

: Don Bosco Technical Institute, Kurla - Mumbai

Agenda:  Input session on Returning to Don Bosco by Fr. Steve R  Revising the Statement and Resolution of the 6th Congress of SB of South Asia  Action Plan for the Coming Year 2009 - 2010 The following Members present for the 2nd meeting in Mumbai were Bro. Paul G. SDB – INK Bro. Edwin A. SDB – INT Bro. James M. SDB – INP Bro. Anandraj SDB – INM Bro. T.V. Johny SDB – INC Bro. Angelus T SDB – ING Bro. Ramesh D. SDB – INB Bro. Grogory C. SDB – INH Bro. Antony Tigga – INN, Bro. Biju – IND, Fr. John Berger – INC who were not present due to some inconveniences. Resourse Persons Bro. Savio D. - INB Fr. Steve Rodrigues SDB – Borivali, Mumbai. Bro. Meril R. SDB - INM

The Provincial delegates of Salasian Brothers of South Asia arrived on 17 th April 2009 at Salesian Provincial house, Matunga, Mumbai. They were formally welcomed by Fr. Provincial and the community for a solemn dinner at Provincial House. After which the brothers moved to Don Bosco Technical Institute Kurla. The Day began with a Morning Prayer combined with Holy Eucharist celebrated by Rev. Fr. Adolph. In his homily he narrated some incidents on the life of Bro. Buzzetti to shed some light on the Identity of the vocation of a salesian brother. He added that the perception of a person decides his happiness not what he has or has not. The meeting began at Board room of Kurla Engineering College at 9.00 A.M. Fr. Mario the Rector of the house welcomed the delegates for the national meeting. Then Bro. Ramesh the Chairperson of the Salesian Brothers of South Asia welcomed Fr. Michael Fernandes the Provincial of Mumbai and requested him to address the participants. Fr. Michael in his introductory talk told the participants to study the action plans of each province in detail, which were discussed during the group discussion of the provinces during 6th congress of Salesian Brothers of south Asia. Further he insisted to plan meticulously to concretize them, for which monitoring is very important. He then illustrated a couple of points which were necessary to attract the vocation to salesian brotherhood. The first one was the Visibility of Salesian Brothers. He quoted the example of sisters who make themselves visible in the parish by taking catechism classes and visiting families to draw vocations for their congregations. The second was Professionalism of Salesian Brothers. Which was a sine qua non to render qualitative service to the youth in the modern scenario. Then the provincial delegates shared what they have implemented after the congress in their respective provinces and the action plans for coming year. Bro. Johny – INC  Bro. Johny said in comparison with the previous years now the candidates understand the vocation of a Salesian brother in a better manner because of the meaningful celebration of the Brothers day at Savio Bhavan – Azimganj with pre-novices and the candidates.  He suggested to have a common Aspirantate in one place for the vocation of Salesian Brothers of India.

Bro. James Marcus – INP  Bro. James said that during the vocation camp at least one brother will be present to explain the vocation of Salesian Brothers.  Special efforts will be made to make the parents to understand the vocation of Salesian Brother.  A video presentation is made use to propagate the vocation.  The Brothers day is celebrated in the province of Goa on 2nd October. Bro. Angelus - – ING  The Province of Guwahati has already made arrangements to send the brothers for spirituality courses and upgrading courses on media, technology etc.  Salesian Brothers are well placed in the province so as to have better visibility. Bro. Ramesh – INB  The province of Mumbai had organized 2 meetings to formulate the action plan for first two years at the individual level, Province level, and Zonal level keeping the Resolution of the congress as the point of reference.  In the province on 15th March the Brothers day is celebrated in the communities while on the province level it is celebrated on 19th March. Bro. Edwin – INT  The Province has already charted the future plan for all the brothers.  The Brothers are placed as members of different commissions. Bro. Anand – INM  Keeping in mind the resolutions the Brothers Congress a brother is appointed in the Provincial Council.  The brothers day is celebrated in all the communities on 4th Dec [Feast of Bl. Rinaldi] Bro. Paul – INK  We planed to celebrate the Brothers day on 4th Oct in the formation houses. [Aspirantate, Pre-Novitiate, and Novitiate]  During the intensive preparation to the pre-novices before the novitiate one day is assigned for an input session on Salesian brother vocation.

 During vocation camp a brother will be addressing the boys on SB

At 3 o’clock Fr. Mario the Rector of the House accompanied us for the tour of the entire campus and explained to us the various courses offered for the youth of this locality. Some Suggestions  The Chairperson should represent at the SPCSA. [To present the concerns and issues of the brothers of South Asia]  Some Corpus fund should be made available for the activities the South Asian Commission of the Brothers. Observations  The convener of the Congress should be called for the SPCSA meeting before and after the meeting. [To present the budget and report of the Congress]

Agenda for the next meeting in Kolkotta On 7 & 8 November 2009 • Evaluation of the previous meeting • Five year Plan for each Province • Video on Salesian Brother – India • A study of Post formation house – Kalyani