(ANS - Rome)- The 27th General Chapter elected Fr Václav Klement as Regional Councillor for East Asia-Oceania. For Fr Klement this is a return to the region where he was Councillor from 2002 to 2008.
The Rector Major first thanked Fr Andrew Wong, outgoing Regional, for the generosity and willingness with which he served the region in the past six years.
Fr Klement accepted saying, "Thank you for your confidence. With the help of Saints Versiglia and Caravario who gave their lives in our region, I accept."
Born on 7 October 1958 in Brno, in what was then Czechoslovakia, he lived for 26 years unable to profess his faith openly because of the communist regime. He entered the Salesian Congregation secretly and made his religious profession on 4 September 1982. He studied officially at the diocesan seminary, concealing his Salesian vocation even from his parents. In August 1984 he fled to Rome where he received his baccalaureate in Theology and began studying Social Communication at the Salesian Pontifical University.
He was ordained priest in Rome on 25 May 1986 and was incardinated in the Province of Korea, where he worked with young people in a professional training centre in Seoul. In 1995 he became Rector of the formation house at Dae Rim Dong in Seoul.
He became Provincial in Korea in 1996. In 2002 he participated in GC25 and was elected councillor for the new region of East Asia and Oceania. At the 26thGeneral Chapter he was elected as Councillor for the Missions.
Published 28/03/2014
