(ANS – Guwahati)– The Salesian Brothers of the South Asia Region held a four-day congress at Guwahati from 30 December to 3 January. The Congress took place for the first time in the Don Bosco Management Institute at Kharguli in the Guwahati Province, on the banks of the great River Brahmaputra.  The participants numbered about 160.  The theme of the Congress was “Be Holy”. This theme was studied in preparation for the Bicentenary of the Birth of Don Bosco in 2015. 

The President and organizer of the Congress was Bro. Angelus who is Manager of the Don Bosco Technical School at Maligaon, Guwahati.  In his words, “The objective of the Congress was to re-read Salesian history and obtain a true image of ourselves from the point of view of the entire context of the Salesian Mission.”

Secretary of the Congress was Bro.  Edwin Arokiadoss, Director of Street Children Work in Trichy. He drew attention to a special aspect of this 7^th Congress, namely the presence of a delegation of four invited confreres from the Africa-Madagascar Region:  Bro. Samuel Olu Job (Ghana ), Bro. John Njuguna (Uganda), Bro. Mulugete Woledemeskel (Etiopia) and the Vice-Provincial of AFW, Fr Silvio Roggia.

A survey on the Salesian Brother had been conducted among the various groups of the Salesian Family (Priests, Brothers, other religious, young people, parents and lay people). The results of this survey were studied and discussed at the meeting. The participants examined the reality of “this genial creation of Don Bosco” – the Salesian Brother, who works side by side with the priests in our mission on behalf of poor and abandoned young people.

 The first Brothers Congress was held in 1982, at the historic Marian shrine of Bandel on the banks of the River Hoogly and a congress has been held every four years since then. On this occasion the participants included about 120 Salesian Brothers from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Others present included the twelve Salesian Provincials from the South Asia region, as well as eight Rectors from the main formation communities – novitiates, post-novitiates, studentates of theology and centres of ongoing formation.

Published  03/01/2014