Third Announcements

The Third Announcements

In the province newsletter of May 16, Fr. Tom Dunne made two more personnel announcements. These had been expected for a long time because the whole province already knew that Bro. Robert Malusa and Bro. Minh Dang had applied for and been accepted for the foreign missions.

Finally has come word of the decision of the Rector Major on which missions they are destined for:  Bro. Rob for Zambia and Bro. Minh for the Middle East.

Bro. Rob, a coadjutor brother, is a native of Long Island, N.Y.  He made his first profession of vows in 2006 and his perpetual profession last August (see perpetual vows). Since 2008 he has been CYM at St. Philip Benizi Parish in Belle Glade, Fla. He served as a Salesian Lay Missioner in Sierra Leone in 2002-2003, which provided the germ of his religious vocation.

Bro. Minh came to the U.S. as a Vietnamese refugee and grew up in Northern Virginia. He made his first vows in 2009 as a brother studying for the priesthood (see first vows). He has completed his practical training as a teacher at Salesian HS in New Rochelle and Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J. He will begin his theological studies in September at the Ratisbonne Institute in Jerusalem, coincidentally in his new province,

The Zambia Province (technically, still a "vice province") was created in 1994 and includes not only Zambia but also Malawi and Zimbabwe. Last Dec. 31 it numbered 75 professed SDBs and 8 novices. The professed included 7 coadjutors, 31 seminarians, and 37 priests. The provincial house is in Lusaka.

The Middle East Province was erected in 1902 and includes works in Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. The provincial house is in Bethlehem. Not counting students from other provinces, there were 105 professed SDBs and 0 novices on Dec. 31: 12 coadjutors, 11 seminarians, and 82 priests.

Both Bro. Rob and Bro. Minh will be part of the Society's 144th Missionary Expedition, which will receive orientation this summer and be solemnly sent off by the Rector Major on Sept. 28 from the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin, in keeping with Salesian tradition going back to 1875.