Vocation camps in India report encouraging response

(April 29, 2010) Salesians of Delhi province have reported enthusiastic responses to their regional vocation camps conducted in five central Indian states.The vocation camp in Gumla, a remote district of Jharkhand, had 49 young men wanting to offer their lives to Jesus and the Gospel, a Salesian web site reported. “Prayer and hard work will always evoke a generous response in young people to follow our way of life,” said Father V.P. Jose, rector of Don Bosco school in Gumla. The regional vocation camps, designed to be of short duration of just three full days, is a mix of spirituality and utter fun, but they are focused to help a young person hear God`s call, he added.
The camps began immediately after the board exams in the last week of March. By April , last week, the vocation promotion team had travelled five states with six camps. Brother Mani Bhushan, who has been in the camp team for the past two years, said the slogan of the camp is “Friends, holiness is possible.” This slogan has attracted young people, who want to try their hand at being Salesians and missionaries, he added.
Father Shilanand Kerketta, the vice-provincial, said the camps give them a taste of prayer, of love for the sacraments and the word of God. We provide the environment and the rest is God’s work.
More than a hundred young men have signed up for the vocation camps this summer, despite April temperature hovering around 40-45 degrees in most part of central India.