Two weeks ago, November 7-8, the two provincial councils of the SDBs in the United States met for our annual meetings.\u00a0\u00a0 We from the west, \u00a0flew out a day early for our own provincial council meeting before joining the Eastern Provincial Council.\u00a0 And, several of us stayed two extra days afterwards to visit our men in formation in Orange, New Jersey.<\/p>\n
The joint council meetings took place at Stony Point where the Salesians run a large retreat center. \u00a0\u00a0The community directs youth retreats and hosts many adult retreats.\u00a0\u00a0 The Salesian community also houses several elderly confreres.\u00a0\u00a0 We are very grateful for the hospitality offered to us both by the Provincial Council and by the local Salesian community.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Our stay and joint interactions were quite enjoyable and enriching.\u00a0 \u00a0Our sincere THANK YOU to all who contributed in making our stay and gathering a success.<\/p>\n
Our joint meeting with the two provincial councils is scheduled for an annual gathering, usually in the Fall.\u00a0\u00a0 We alternate locations, one year in the East and one year in the West.\u00a0\u00a0 The agenda items usually deal with sharing information on happenings and events related to both provinces and the United States.\u00a0\u00a0 We also share and investigate possibilities for greater collaboration and possible influence as a Salesian presence in this country.<\/p>\n
Some of the agenda items this year covered our Extraordinary Visitations (Fr. Tim Ploch did the Eastern Province Visitation and the West had Fr. Maria Arokiam Kanaga as its Extraordinary Visitor).\u00a0 Both Visitations took place in the Spring of 2019.\u00a0\u00a0 Fr. Tim Zak, Provincial of the New Rochelle Province and I shared some of the \u201ctake aways\u201d from our visits.\u00a0\u00a0 We found similar challenges in both provinces:\u00a0 lack of sufficient vocations, less personnel, aging confreres, inter-cultural communities, our challenge in working with the laity and empowering them so that our Mission can continue, finances and living our Religious Life with greater depth and authenticity.\u00a0\u00a0 As joint councils we also discussed our joint formation programs led by our Formation Delegates:\u00a0 John Itzaina and Steve Ryan.\u00a0\u00a0 We shared our youth ministry programs and events, led by our youth ministry delegates:\u00a0 Al Vu and Abraham Feliciano.\u00a0\u00a0 We discussed some Safe Environment issues, reported on our Inter American Provincials meeting in Quito and did some planning for our next Directors Workshop in July 12-18, 2020 in Stony Point. There was also time for open forum and informal dialogue.\u00a0\u00a0 All of our days began with Morning Prayer and Eucharist.<\/p>\n
Like so many of our joint meetings, either with the SDBs from both provinces, the SDB and FMA from the West or the delegate meetings held throughout out the Inter American Region (all in the Fall), it is not so much that we go away with having organized common plans or events, but rather it is the coming together to share, to encourage one another in our role as leaders, to learn from each other and experience the unity of our Salesian Congregations.\u00a0\u00a0 During these days we become a living sign of unity and collaboration and brotherly\/sisterly friendship and camaraderie.\u00a0\u00a0 At the end of these gatherings, despite the traveling and time away from other urgent matters, I leave grateful for being Salesian and energized to work with greater gratitude and enthusiasm on creating these similar experiences in our province and in our communities.<\/p>\n
Let us keep our Salesian Sisters from the Western Province in prayer during this week.\u00a0\u00a0 They are gathered in San Antonio, Texas, at their provincial house for their Provincial Chapter.\u00a0\u00a0 We pray for the success of these days, that their gathering will produce good fruit for their communities, their mission to the young and their growth as a province.<\/p>\n
These days I am at the Provincial House in San Francisco.\u00a0\u00a0 I will try to visit some of the northern communities during these days (today I visit St. Luke\u2019s in Stockton.<\/p>\n
Please keep our Youth Ministry Department, Social Communication Department, and our young people attending the NCYC (National Catholic Youth Conference) being held in Indianapolis from Thursday, November 21 to Saturday, 23.<\/p>\n
During the month of November, besides Thanksgiving Day and days of vacation and family gatherings, we remember those who have died.\u00a0\u00a0 We in the provincial house often remember those who have died, not only by reading from the Salesian necrology but remembering those names sent to us to be placed in a basket underneath our chapel altar.\u00a0\u00a0 We also intentionally celebrate the Mass for the deceased and add frequent intercessions on their behalf.\u00a0\u00a0 Let us do the same in our communities and wherever we may be-remembering our deceased loved one in prayer and giving thanks to God for so many who have loved us and influenced us to be better men and woman and more meaningful signs to the young of God\u2019s love for them.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cEternal Rest grant unto them, O Lord!\u00a0 And, Let perpetual light shine upon them.\u201d<\/p>\n
With warm regards and gratitude,<\/span><\/p>\n Fr. Ted<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Salesian Sisters and Brothers, Two weeks ago, November 7-8, the two provincial councils of the SDBs in the United States met for our annual meetings.\u00a0\u00a0 We from the west, \u00a0flew out a day early for our own provincial council meeting before joining the Eastern Provincial Council.\u00a0 And, several of us stayed two extra days afterwards to visit our men in formation in Orange, New … Continuar leyendo Provincial Letter: November 19th, 2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":10336596,"featured_media":2466,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20310044,69785],"tags":[686820593,100143],"class_list":["post-2464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-province-news","category-provincial","tag-provincial-letter","tag-sdb"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/salesianbulletin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/img_6835.jpeg?fit=4032%2C3024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p59ePG-DK","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10336596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2464"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2468,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2464\/revisions\/2468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}