New Superior for Salesians in Southern Africa

by Admin · April 17, 2023

By Fr Francois Dufour SDB – Fr Václav Klement is the new provincial of the Southern Africa province of the Salesians of Don Bosco, consisting of South Africa, Eswatini and Lesotho. He was installed for a six-year term by the Superior General of the Salesians of Don Bosco.

Fr Klement was born on October 7, 1958, in Brno, then Czechoslovakia, and began his Salesian consecrated life during the former totalitarian regime.

He made his first profession in 1982, then left his country for Italy, crossing the Alps to pursue his vocation as a missionary ad gentes for the Africa Project. However, at his perpetual profession in Rome in 1985, he was incardinated into the province of South Korea, and immediately after his priestly ordination on May 25, 1986, he began his missionary life in Seoul on August 11 that year.

During his 16 years of missionary life in South Korea, until 2002, Fr Klement was engaged in pastoral care for young people at-risk, in a secondary school as a catechist, and then as Rector of Seoul’s “Mother House” of Daerim Dong. He rapidly became fluent in speaking Korean. From 1996-2002, he served as superior of the province of the Holy Korean Martyrs.

In 2002, Fr Klement was elected as the regional councillor for the newly-formed East Asia-Oceania region of the Salesians.

After six years, he was elected in 2008 as general councillor for the missions worldwide and in 2014, as councillor for the East Asia-Oceania region.

In 2020, Fr Klement was appointed extraordinary visitor “ad nutum et pro tempore”. Just before receiving his appointment as superior of the Southern African province, he completed three extraordinary visitations to the province of Zambia, Poland and East Africa.

The Salesians in Southern Africa have welcomed Fr Klement’s appointment as provincial leader. He comes with a wealth of experience as a missionary and as a leader in the congregation, having spent over 16 years on the Salesians’ general council. The local Salesians pray that he may be instrumental in revitalising the Salesian charism among them, and that they may see much growth in the mission of Don Bosco over the coming six years.