(ANS – Siliguri) – Nazareth Bhavan, the Salesian Novitiate of Kolkata province in Siliguri, organized a daylong seminar on the Salesian Brother on 29 November 2014, where both the novices and Salesian Brothers presented papers on the vocation, identity and apostolate of the Lay Salesian.

by Cl. Lazarus Lepcha, SDB

Bro. Johny Thaiparambil’s key note address “Salesian Brother: a challenging vocation to respond to the needs of today’s young people,” paved the way for the rest of the lively sessions. Besides the presentation of his own personal story of living the vocation of the Lay Salesian with joy and contentment, he clarified the rather oft misunderstood vocation of the Salesian Brother. “Vocation is the individual and specific call of God, to be a priest or a brother, but the choice is ours,” said Bro. Johny. The anthem of the Salesian Brothers with the lyrics “We are the Salesian Brothers together following Jesus,  Don Bosco’s way”, added colour to the dynamic keynote  address, unambiguously projecting the identity of the Brother.

Brothers Lawrence Mondol and Roy John Thirumalachalil as moderators of the eleven sessions of the day, assisted the participants to delve into the research works of novices on various themes, such as Vocation of a religious brother in the church, Vocational identity of the Salesian Brother and his apostolate, characteristics of the Lay Brother and his spiritual life.

Novices Emmanuel Nayak and John Rabha gave a brief summary of the lives of Bl. Zatti and Venerable Simon Srugi projecting the idea that the vocation of the Brother offers a clear way to achieve sanctity, while doing ordinary things during the course of the day.

The panel discussion in the evening centred on personal vocation stories. Some of the Brothers shared stores of their vocation, expressing happiness and contentment for their calling as Salesian Brothers.

The seminar was an eye-opener to most of the participants concerning the completeness and meaningfulness of the vocation of the Salesian Brother, placing it along with the priestly vocation. As the panel discussion came to a close, the Vice-Rector Fr. Motilal Kisku, thanked Fr. Johny the chief mentor of the seminar, the panelists and the novices, bringing the day to a very happy conclusion.

Published 10/12/2014