Oceania visit a first by Salesian head

Salesians rector major Fr Angel Fernandez  Artime plays the guitar at the Don Bosco Institute at Henderson in the Solomon Islands. Fr Václav Klement is second from the left.

by PETER GRACE
The Salesians believe they have a bright future in New Zealand, according to the rector major of
the congregation, Fr Angel Fernandez Artime.

Salesians rector major Fr Angel Fernandez  Artime plays the guitar at the Don Bosco Institute at Henderson in the Solomon Islands. Fr Václav Klement is second from the left.

Salesians rector major Fr Angel Fernandez Artime plays the guitar at the Don Bosco Institute at Henderson in the Solomon Islands. Fr Václav Klement is second from the left.


Fr Artime visited the two Salesian communities in Auckland in mid-May — his fifth stop in a six-country visit to Oceania.
The Society of St Francis de Sales (Salesians) arrived in New Zealand only five years ago, the Spanish-born Fr Artime told NZ Catholic in an interview through a translator on May 13.
“We are very grateful for the warm welcome and support during those five years, both from Bishop
Patrick Dunn and from the Catholic community of Auckland,” said the rector major. The Salesians, he said, wish to be deeply rooted in the local Church.
He confirmed there had been no New Zealand men ordained to the Salesian congregation yet, but that
was a dream they had. “We have the hope that it will happen, and especially based on the intercultural richness of the Catholic community [in Auckland], since we are an international society.”
There is also a strongly felt need to form in Auckland the first groups of well identified Don Bosco past pupils and Salesian cooperators. The Salesian youth movement is preparing its first “Kiwi Bosco” — to be held in 2016 or 2017.
So far the Salesians in New Zealand are only in Auckland — Avondale and Massey.
Fr Artime said he had been struck by the fact that in visiting St Paul’s Catholic Primary School in Massey, in west Auckland, there had been 42 nationalities among 400 children.
The children seemed to have a handle on the approximate age of the congregation. One girl at the
school asked Fr Artime: “Rector major, are you already 200 years old?”
The congregation grew out of the work of St Don Bosco, who in 1845 opened a night school for boys in Valdocco, Italy. The Rule of the society received papal approval in 1873.
The society has a fourfold outreach: the education and training of boys, missionary work, the education of adults, and the distribution of good literature.
Fr Artime said this is the first time a rector major of the order had visited the Oceania province. Not only did he want to know the reality of each place and the animation of the Salesians in each specific place, but he wanted to give a sign according to the mentality of
Pope Francis — “to make those who are considered the least because they are so far away to know they have a central place in the heart of the Salesians”.
Fr Artime explained that there are 15,000 Salesians of Don Bosco around the world, “and among those are 2000 brothers, 11,000 priests, and 2500 on the way to becoming priests”. There are also religious sisters, 12,700 belonging to the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA).
However, they are informally called “Salesian Sisters”. There are another 28 groups which form further groups of Salesian families. Around the world there are more than 300,000 members of those different groups, he said.
NZ Catholic asked Fr Artime if the perception that the Salesians of Don Bosco had been touched less by the sexual abuse scandal in the Church than many orders and dioceses, was correct.
Even a single case was a great tragedy, he replied.
“With Pope Francis, we condemn those that happen.”
He conceded that the Salesians were not as much affected by that abuse — and recognising that the
height of abuse occurred 30 to 40 years ago. “But, of course, always it’s a grave sin. Especially because Salesians commit ourselves for the way we dedicate our lives for the defence of young people and children.”
The congregation believes that the system of Don Bosco with the three pillars — reason, religion and loving kindness — is a strength.
“We believe it’s more than an education method. It’s a certain philosophy of education, and the experiences are telling us that it has a great appeal also for today.”
Fr Artime is the 10th rector major of the congregation, meaning he is the 10th successor of St Don Bosco.
He explained that he was selected during General Chapter No. 27, February to April 2014. “This is a world assembly every six years, usually with about 215 delegates from all around the world.”
This means his leadership term will run until 2020.
“When our chapter is convoked it’s the supreme authority in the congregation. So after the election of the rector major, and also another 13 members of the general council, this general council with the rector major is responsible to animate and govern the worldwide congregation,” he said.
Fr Artime was to spend three days at the Oceania provincial headquarters in Melbourne after leaving New Zealand. He had already visited Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Fiji and Samoa.
Fr Artime’s translator was the regional councillor for East Asia and Oceania, Fr Václav Klement, who is also based in Rome.

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