At the beginning of September our community in Australia gathered on Regional Chapter to reflect on the past in order to look forward into the future. Theme of our Chapter was taken from the Year of Grace “Starting afresh from Christ”.
Before our formal meeting sessions we welcomed Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB who in reflections before our chapter shared with us few thoughts on religious life and introduced the theme of the Year of Grace.
In his reflection he spoke about faithfulness in three aspects: to be faithful to our origin, to our history and to our present time in order to fulfil our mission and call. He challenged us with the thought taken from one of the general superiors of the Salesians who said that we need “return to Christ and return Christ into our lives”. In our planning for the future of our presence in Australia we need to remember whom we proclaim and who stands behind our call and mission endeavours as Salvatorians.
Under this inspiration we carried our sessions with reflection on our ongoing formation, our Salvatorian family and our apostolic life. Chapter meeting was also a time for the election of the new Regional Council. Fr Karol Kulczycki was elected again as a Regional Superior and will be supported by council members: Fr Bronisalw Pietrusewicz, Fr Stanislaw Bendkowski, Fr Zygmunt Smigowski and Fr Dariusz Krzysztalowicz.
In concluding reflection to our Chapter we can go back to the inspiration for the Year of Grace that comes from the Apostolic Letter of Blessed Pope John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte (2001). In that letter, he strictly cautioned the Church “that there is temptation which always besets every spiritual journey and pastoral work: that of thinking that the results depend on our ability to act and to plan. God of course asks us really to cooperate with his grace, and therefore invites us to invest all our resources of intelligence and energy in serving the cause of the Kingdom. But it is fatal to forget that ‘without Christ we can do nothing’” (cf John 15:5) (NMI, 38).
With this reflection we want to continue our Salvatorian call and mission in Australia.