The RM recalled his previous visit to the Province six years ago in November 2016, which he described as a time for learning about the Province and six years later, he observed that it is growing. He said, “After six years of observation, I can say that the Province is growing. I shall make a few recommendations to the Province; For the last six years, the Province has gone into many frontiers and opened many communities. At that time, the Province had 18 houses with two confreres in the communities. With a worldwide vision, I can say that approach is dangerous. It is dangerous because if one confrere gets sick, the other is overburdened. This reality is common in many Provinces of South Asia, particularly in India. The Province has made a great effort to make communities numerically consistent. The Province continues to be young and beautiful. We need to grow in a solid way of strengthening our communities.”

The RM quoted an example from the Book of Daniel about a statue with clay feet. “The Province has become more solid and more stable. The Province has become self-sufficient, effectively continuing the mission of Don Bosco. The Province has a variety of missions serving all kinds of people. I am content with the mission of the Province,” said the Rector Major. He said it is painful when a confrere leaves the Congregation and saddening when a confrere continues to be a priest but leaves the Congregation. However, the Province can take up new missions with sufficient vocation.

The RM presenting the statistics of the Province and exhorting the confreres, said, “we must not lose hope when the number is declining in terms of vocations”. According to him, the Salesian Provinces in India are undergoing tremendous changes. India, with a number of confreres, has reached 3000 this year in the South Asia Region. “You have reached the highest possible reach. Having reached there, we need to consider a dark reality,” opined the Rector Major. He said that, in India, 5 Provinces are not growing in numbers. That should not discourage or become pessimistic but acquire the lucidity of mind to understand what is happening today. It is time to be creative in our approach to the mission. For the present generation, the classical model of the aspirantate may not be suitable, he said. “We may have to shift from a classical model to a new model to inspire young people to choose the Salesian way of life”, suggested the RM. Quoting the sociological changes of the African continent, expected to have 4,000 confreres in about 12 years, the Rector Major further cautioned, “one thing is to have the name Salesian, but what is more important is that we form Salesians. If we don’t care about formation, we will fall into the danger of having two or three Congregations.”

He shared a few more observations about the Province. “In these two days of my visit to the Province, I have seen the conditions of the youth. There are two special strengths of Salesians in India; The first is the brand name of Don Bosco. When we use the name Don Bosco, even the airport doors open. The second strength is that the world knows the work of the Salesians carried out for young people.” He encouraged everyone present to work with transparency and harmony, noting, “All that you have in your Province is very rich. We must guarantee the most essential to the poorest young people.”