N. 124 - April 2019
Newsletter for Salesian Missionary Animation
Publication of the Missions Sector for the Salesian Communities and Friends of the Salesian Mission
Dear confreres, dear friends,
As we approach the celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection, here is
Pope Francis whispering a Beatitude to us yet again:
"Blessed are those who are in tears, for they will be comforted."
"Being able to cry with others – this is holiness." [GE 76]
This is exactly what Salesian missionaries did and still do today. They
succeeded to cry, because "they stayed with us", said the theme of
Salesian Mission Day 2017. They remained and they wept with so many
ethnic minorities in the Amazon – they brought salvation to many, bring-
ing Jesus to them. At the time of the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone (2012), the Salesian missionaries stayed
on and wept with them - they were able to save so many lives. A Salesian missionary cries alone today inside
his hut in the Palabek refugee camp (Uganda), faced with the extreme suffering of the last and the least:
"They devour my people as though they were bread", says the psalmist (53.4).
The Salesian missionary, therefore, shares the anxieties and hopes of peoples not yet evangelized (see Consti-
tutions 30) and, "sharing their problems and sufferings, invokes for them the light and strength of His
presence" (C95).
Knowing how to cry with others, particularly with the young who are suffering
– this is the expression of a missionary and Salesian heart.
Fr. Guillermo Basañes SDB
Councillor for the Missions
From 2 to 5 March, the Missionary groups of the
Salesian Family in Angola, animated by the FMA and
SDB, held at Luanda a seminar on the Initial Procla-
mation of Jesus Christ. This was a follow-up of the
Seminar on this theme at Johannesburg last year (13
-19/08/18).
The core of the event was a search for new ways
and methods, and to generate fresh impetus and
enthusiasm to bring the person of the Lord to the
thousands of people in our parishes, small Christian
communities, primary, secondary and professional
schools, our university, social services, oratories,
youth centres and through our Social Communica-
tion.
The great challenge we face is to approach those
who are far from the Lord and from the Christian
community. We need to reinvigorate and revive
those who have moved away or have allowed the
flame of their faith to gradually fade away. We need
to ask ourselves how the various sectors of our mis-
sion can be truly missionary instruments of the Lord.
How can they, through the witness of charity and
the joy of Christian and community life, awaken a
fascination for the person and the mystery of Jesus?
How can they announce him?
Salesians (SDB and FMA), missionary animators and
pastoral ministers from all over the country reflect-
ed on "Initial Proclamation and the Salesian mission".
Seminars of this type have been organized in many
other provinces, and in various cultural contexts, as
a means of maintaining our focus on the core of our
mission: The proclamation of Jesus Christ!
Witness of Salesian Missionary Sanctity
Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni SDB, Postulator General for the Causes of Saints
The Servant of God Antonieta Böhm (1907-2008), Daughter of Mary Help of Christians, German by origin
and missionary in Latin America. She was fortunate to live in places replete with memories of Laura
Vicuña. In 1988 she participated at the beatification of this young girl at Colle Don Bosco. She also
knew the Salesian brother Blessed Artemide Zatti. In 1973, Sr. Ersilia Crugnola gifted her a little statue
of the Madonna and invited her to use it to bless people in Mary's name. Mother Antonietta said: "From
the first blessing right up to now, the Madonna has worked day and night and so her mission goes on
through the post, fax and e-mail, and it arrives in numerous places in Mexico and in many other parts of
the world."
