Fr C.M.Paul again does what he normally does best: get people to re-think (perhaps not always in the most pleasant manner, but the task is done!). Here's the link of what I'm now referring to: Pot Shot at Salesians. This is a write-up by a journalist about the casket of Don Bosco doing the rounds in India, presently in Mumbai. He questions the whole exercise and challenges the Salesians to do something better and 'alive' than carry around the remains of a dead man.
The first line of his write-up was what found me agreeing to him; but when I started re-reading again, (since I did not find any connection between what he began with and what he continues) I found that I had misread it. Perhaps if Mr Allwyn, the author had begun challenging the Salesians to answer the question, 'Where and how are the Salesians making a direct impact on public issues, given the power and influence they wield?' I'd have truly found the content more appropriate and meaningful.
Personally speaking, I have no great enthusiasm for this 'casket movement'. Of course, my reasons have nothing to do with Don Bosco or my vocation as a Salesian Brother; but just that I'm not for fanfare, or blowing our own trumpet before we do something! Furthermore I hate crowds and mega events. I prefer calm, peaceful, serene moments, for that's when there's real inward change and progress. A hysterical 'change' most often does not last long.
That Salesians need to do something better than rally around the casket... well, I'd look at it as only the initiation of a rejuvenation. Not the end, not the beginning, just the end of a beginning... the journey is far from over! I look forward to something new emerging out of this visit of Don Bosco... from myself as well. Or else, I think we will just sit back after our initial steps in the race of time, only to find ourselves far behind the society and most dangerously, all by ourselves.
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