1 ASSOCIATION OF SALESIAN COOPERATORS ▲back to top World Council World Executive Secretary Via della Pisana, 1111 - 00163 Roma (ITALIA) 2 tel: +39.06.6561.2636 fax: +39.06.6561.2679 ▲back to top e-mail: cooperatori@sdb.org

Address by the

Salesian Cooperators World Coordinator,

Mrs Noemi Bertolato,

to GC27

My dearest brothers in Don Bosco,

It is a great pleasure and honour for me to be here today and, as well as my personal and affectionate greeting to you, I also bring you the sincere and heartfelt greetings of all Salesian Cooperators, who look upon this General Chapter with brotherly and sisterly interest.

In November 2012, as perhaps you already know, we completed an important period of reflection, study and renewal when those of us taking part in the World Congress, presided over by our beloved Rector Major, Fr Pascual Chávez, finally approved the Project of Apostolic Life. Following that we then received the Decree of approval from the Holy See last June.

While a significant moment in itself, it needs to be thought of as a first goal because now a further and more basic scenario opens up for the development of the Salesian Cooperators: that of disseminating this document and seeing that everyone gets to know it in depth. Renewal of the Association should not lead us away from the main approach drawn up by our Founder, indeed should be a most relevant way for us to achieve greater awareness of the lay, everyday nature of our charism, of our belonging to Christ’s Church and within that to the Salesian Family.

The strong need for discernment that every member who took part at whatever level in revising the PAL had, is to be seen and interpreted as a desire for growth in our involvement, and a shift to a more ‘adult’ view of the apostolic involvement of each Salesian Cooperator. It was a task we carried out together, a keen effort we prayed much over so that the Holy Spirit might breathe fully in us to achieve an objective which might truly be a consistent response on the part of those who “work in the Kingdom on behalf of and for the salvation of the young”.

One item I would like to stress is the communion of intention we experienced with the many delegates (SDB and FMA) who accompanied our work with their specific contribution sharing their experience in a fraternal way and thus ensuring the “sure and stable bond” we have with the Salesian spirit.

We have also been able to count on the full support of the Rector Major, Fr Pascual Chávez, our beloved Superior, and that of his Vicar, Fr Adrian Bregolin. They have never left us feeling that we are doing this alone, but followed the entire process of renewal with fatherly attention.

The particular cultural and social circumstances we are going through, with their various facets and dimensions, challenge us strongly and encourage us to radically live out the spirit of the Beatitudes, seeking to discover in each individual, especially in so many young people who are foreigners, excluded, abandoned, poor in body and soul, the hidden face of Christ who is hungry, thirsty, naked, in prison, sick, a victim of any kind of violence or abuse.

We cannot be content with minimal, superficial involvement, just a façade: we need to be fully committed and stand with those who are weak with renewed vigour. We need to be consistent builders of peace in a society overwhelmed by violence and selfishness, promoting justice and the rights of individuals in order to bring the spirit of the Gospel to bear, or in other words to serve, as Jesus taught us to do, putting on the apron of availability, acceptance and the joy of forgiveness.

The educational abundance of our charism and experience will support us on this journey if we draw deeply from Don Bosco’s teachings and if we practise the “Da mihi animas, coetera tolle” consistently and consciously, giving credible testimony that we have encountered Love and that we wish to bring this to our brothers and sisters.

In this journey which, as the PAL reminds us, is a ‘way to holiness’, it will be ever more necessary for you to be at our side, spiritually accompanying our growth, our ongoing formation, always respecting the autonomy and specific nature of our respective roles. This is why I ask you, fraternally:

• To help us carry out the ambitious programme of renewal from within this globalised society of ours, bringing it the Good News of peace, grace, forgiveness, sharing, especially with the world of the young;

• To be truly in communion with us, as brothers, in prayer and formation, in understanding the Word and the Magisterium, in carrying out concrete projects in various places;

• To revive relationships between Cooperator Centres and Delegates, especially in local situations where there is much greater need felt for communion in mission;

• To support us, finally, as we live out this time between now and the Bicentenary of Don Bosco’s birth with childlike love, so we can arrive at 2015 with full awareness of the great Salesian mission and with real prospects of having an impact on the social fabric by standing with young people as they find themselves, live according to their calling, and fit into society constructively as key players in their own right.

Let us work courageously together at their side and let us truly serve the Lord beneath the maternal gaze of Mary, our Teacher and our Guide.

I take the opportunity, on this solemn day, to express the gratitude of all the Salesian Cooperators for the affection, constant closeness, secure guidance that the Rector Major, as true father of the Salesian Family, has shown us over these years and with this keen sense of gratitude I assure you, in my name and the name of the entire Association that we will accompany you with our prayer wherever the Lord and Don Bosco calls you. It is our fond desire that you continue to be a luminous and timely point of reference for confreres and for us Salesian lay people too.