The offer

Well this morning it came: the offer. I was working on preparing the list for the semester exams when the dean called me in his office "for a moment". He asked me to seriously consider joining the faculty of the UPS on a full-time basis. He told me that the general council really is looking toward India for the next center of Salesian spirituality, and therefore that Berkeley will get scant support. On the other hand, the provinces outside of India would continue to send people to Rome and to the UPS. In terms of people who are fully trained and fluent in Salesian Spirituality, there are only two, the dean said, who are "working age": Aldo Giraudo and myself.

Will my California province have a plan to sustain the center for Salesian studies ad Don Bosco Hall in as part of the GTU in Berkeley? Or is the dean of the theology school here correct when he says that our center is finished in terms of being able to offer programs to Salesian Religious? "Let Berkeley develop programs for laity: the future is there," he said, "but your future is here".

Hmm… I knew this was coming, but I'm a little surprised by it all the same.