(ANS – Hyderabad) – After a gap of five years on 4-5 July 2014, the Salesians of Don Bosco of the Indian provinces came together again at Don Bosco Navajeevan Hyderabad to confirm the relevance and urgency of their social ministry in the region. The meeting was attended by 13 stalwarts from the different parts of the country.

The group met with a lot of enthusiasm. Each one present had been actively involved in various social justice and human rights activities. All work on community based programmes with their reach on the larger canvass of the state, the nation or the world. All in agreement that the present situation did not warrant any complacency. The participants acknowledged that the advent of Pope Francis gave them both the personal example and the manner of going about the work with the disadvantaged people of India.

A large part of the discussions were on the Salesian context. The participants were conscious of the fact that the real purpose of the congregation was to serve the disadvantaged, especially the young people, so that these would live in dignity. Being Gospel based everyone stressed the democratic style of functioning where equality mattered. They said that equality is to be manifested in participatory processes, and that such democratic and rights based approach needed to be manifest in the Salesian style of functioning and formation.

The participants reiterated the 2009 Forum Statement regarding the Aims, Areas of Involvement, Identity and Membership of the forum: Salesian Family Members with lay collaborators and associates from the larger secular forum seek to promote a secular and inclusive approach in building a people’s movement that is rights-based, and following the Preventive System Spirituality. Through the apostolate and formative processes, they seek to promote a society based on social justice, human rights, inclusion and participation of all, especially the disadvantaged people, women and young people.

To increase the communication among the members the forum decided to prepare a directory of activities and network contacts; morevore it was established to formulate a set of statutes in the format proposed for Don Bosco Networks. A statutes committee was set up with Frs Thomas Pallithanam, Godfrey D’Sa and John Tharakan as members. After various levels of consultation, the finalized statutes will be presented to the Salesian Provincial Conference of South Asia by November this year for approval.

The members endorsed the SSF “Expression of Assurance of Collaboration” among the Don Bosco Networks. Fr Edwin Vasanthan was elected as the new Forum Contact Person, while the same Local Contact Persons continue in their roles.

Published 07/07/2014