(ANS – Seoul) – Archbishop Savio Hon SDB, Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, who is visiting South Korea, met with the Salesian Family at the Provincial house in Seoul, on 12 July. The Nuncio for Korea and Mongolia, Archbishop Osvaldo Padilla was present with him and spoke appreciatively of the Salesian apostolate.

Archbishop  Hon Tai-fai was on his way back from Mongolia where he had been for celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the Church there. In South Korea - a country he had visited four times during his period as Provincial of the nearby China Province, - his three day stay-over in Seoul had been a busy one, meeting Church officials and visiting various institutions. But he did not forget to make the Salesian Family happy by meeting with them. More than 150 people from the Salesian Family groups in Seoul came to meet him:  Salesians, Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Sisters of Charity of Jesus, Salesians-Cooperators, Volunteers of Don Bosco

"One time you were our neighbour in the Hong Kong Province, now, your Excellency, you have responsibility for the missionary aspect of the Universal Church. We are very grateful for your visit and ask you to share the joy you have found in working to build the Kingdom throughout the whole Church”, Fr Stephen Nam, the Provincial, said while introducing the Archbishop to everyone present.

Speaking in a simple, friendly and humorous manner Archbishop  Hon Tai-fai spoke about his vocation and his present mission to bring the Lord's love to people, as Don Bosco did. "I received three Fs from the Salesian Congregation. The first is Faith. I was not a Catholic when I first went as a child to a Salesian School. My education there gave me the faith and baptism. And Formation: the Salesian system not only enabled me to achieve academic success, gaining my doctorate in Dogmatics, but it also taught me about true happiness in life, showed me the way to sanctity. And finally Fervour, by teaching me about passion. According to the Salesian Constitutions, we are the signs and bearers of God's love to our young people. Now I'm doing this for the world, to all peoples in the way my Salesian upbringing taught me." With these words he expressed his appreciation for the Salesian Family, and encouraged all participants to be proud of belonging to one or other group of the Salesian Family.

Speaking about the Chinese Church, Archbishop Hon asked his listeners to pray that right relationships may be restored between the Holy See and China. He also asked them to pray for Bishop Ma, recently ordained in Shanghai and suffering for the Church.

Archbishop Padilla revealed his affection for the Salesian Family and spoke of his own vocational story and the fact that he had once considered becoming an SDB when he was a student but that having made another decision, now as Nuncio Apostolic he always visits the Salesian houses in the country where he is working.

Published 13/07/2012