Vocation guidance is an important sector under the Salesian Youth Ministry. In fact, all our educational and pastoral activities have their final end towards this: helping the young to discover, develop and grow in their vocation. Our Constitutions Art. 37 speaks of it as ‘the crown of all our educational and pastoral activity.’ The ambient and climate which will foster this discovery is that of a family, where they feel loved and accepted. The chief agent in this process of Vocation Discernment is the young people themselves, but we the Salesians who work with them and for them must help them to realize the plan of God in their lives.
As Salesians we encounter the young people in various situations. Some of them we meet in their workplaces, some in schools, colleges, while others in the streets. These encounters must become for them a life-changing experience. For this to take place we need to be constantly reminded that we owe a duty to the young: they have been placed in our path by the Lord. As we work in close collaboration with them, this must ultimately help the young people to waken themselves to the call, the way of life that God has for them, while paying attention to all aspects of their personality. Therefore, vocation guidance is precisely to waken and to illumine the vocational call in the young people, helping them to discover it and to strengthen it, while we accompany and help them in its realization.
In our Salesian houses and institutions, we try to help the young in this regard. As we mingle with them we try to help them discover themselves and God’s plan in their lives. The Salesian Youth Ministry in our Province under the leadership of Fr. Salew Peter SDB is going all out visiting schools and other institutions and meeting young people to help them.
One very important sector under the Youth Ministry, and particularly under the vocation guidance is helping the young to see whether they have a call to religious life. This delicate task is assigned to Fr. Philip Kamei, who is the vocation promoter of the province. He is assisted by Fr. Ngasami Joseph for the Manipur region, Fr. Angel Kuldeep Nayak for the East Arunachal region, Fr. Hilarius Ekka for the Assam Region, Fr. Avay Kumar Baxla and Fr. Stanis Xess for the Jarkhand-Orissa region. Together with all these regional vocation promoters, we as a team try to reach out to the young who particularly show signs of interest in joining the Salesian Congregation. We regularly keep in contact with those boys who show interest, and we also get the collaboration of the Parish Priests of the different parishes in our effort to reach out to those who show signs of a Salesian vocation.
In our province, as a yearly practice we have two vocation camps annually usually in the month of September- October. In these camps we get boy from schools and parishes who stay with us for about 3 to 4 days in a lived- Salesian experience. Those who are selected from these camps they come to our apostolic school in the following year for their studies. Another camp that we conduct is usually in the month of March-April for the post-matric students. This is specifically for boys who have given their matriculation examinations and who are desirous to join us. In the past two years we have christened this camp as ‘Springtime Together with Don Bosco’ and the responses have been good and encouraging. From this camp the selected boys come to our aspirantate at Rua Home Jorhat, Assam.
It must also be stated that our institutions: parishes, schools and boardings where we share our lives with the young people have been seed beds of vocations to Salesian life. We have had many boys joining us from these institutions because they have seen and witnessed the life and charism of many edifying confreres. However, we need to work harder so that we attract more and more of the young people who come into contact with us.
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Contact Address
Fr. Philip Kamei SDB
Vocation Promoter of the Province
St. Mary’s Church
PB 275, Itanagar – 791 111
Ph No: 6909110698
Email: philipousdb@gmail.com
