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Newsletter for Salesian Missionary Animation
A Publication of the Mission Department for the Salesian Communities and Friends of the Salesian Mission
Dear con-
freres and
friends of the Sale-
sian missions!
In almost all
houses of forma-
tion that I have
visited I am asked
if a temporary
missionary com-
mitment – for a specific period – is
possible. While the sending of fidei
donum diocesan priests since Pius XII
(1957) is a temporary agreement, in
the Salesian tradition a temporary
missionary commitment is envisioned
only in exceptional cases, such as
when: (1) a Provincial wants to facili-
tate the discernment of the missionary
vocation of a confrere by sending him
for 1-2 years in the missions; (2) a
senior confrere would like to be a mis-
sionary for life, but is not sure of him-
self; (3) and there is a specific need
and urgent task in the missions
(formation or teaching, specific works
that require a specialist, etc). In these
cases, an agreement is signed be-
tween the two Provincials (Regulations
151.
While the missionary volunteer service
is a commitment for a few years, the
missionary vocation is a gift of self ad
gentes - ad exteros - ad vitam. To
be a Salesian missionary - educator
and pastor in another culture - implies
a commitment for life because the
path of inculturation does not end in a
few years, it is a commitment for life.
We pray for new missionaries during
the Course for New Missionaries from
September 4 in view of the 144th Sale-
sian missionary expedition on Septem-
ber 29th!
Fr. Václav Klement, SDB
Councillor for the Missions
With the simple people I learnt
to see how God works in our context
T he presentations during the Course for New Missionaries in
Rome and Piedmont, with the topics related to culture, had
created in me the right attitude towards other cultures and
new realities. It is so easy to judge with our own criteria, so when I
arrived in Guatemala I took a listening attitude by trying to see the
work that God had done in this part of the world. So I learnt to look at
reality with the eyes of faith that knows how to look beyond what is
merely empirical and is open to the huge potentials inscribed in that
reality. With openness, talking to many people, being in contact
with their reality, I began to grow as a priest and as a Salesian.
I happened to talk to a 15 year old school boy, and, hence, this
means that he was economically well off. The things he told me were
like cold showers: “in Europe you waste money on useless things while
that money could allow us to study. I am lucky because I have food at
home and I have someone who worries for me, but I cannot study com-
puter science at the university because we do not have enough
money.” After this first shower he continued, “ ... I heard that from
you give corn to the animals. Here it is our staple food and sometimes
the only food. Those who are fortunate will have three daily meals ...
Here many kids are starving and would rather die than live starving! ...
You say that in Europe there is a crisis. But is it not that, in fact, you
are just used to having too much, and now that you need to review
your consumer spending you consider it an incredible thing?”
But here I also met people who, in spite of the difficult situa-
tion, know how to build a better world. I was struck by a lady who
welcomed to her home an abandoned child and took care of him just
like her own son. She explained: “my husband left me 11 years ago
with two children. I have no idea where he is or what he’s doing. I
have experienced what it means to be rejected by those who should
love you, and when a neighbour asked me to take care of their child
because they were leaving for the United States and could not take
him with them, I never doubted even an instant”. She is an example of
a woman who knows how to share despite not having a lot, and one
who has not closed her heart to love in spite of her own woundedness.
Thanks to the Course for New
Missionaries I have developed
the sense of wonder of what
surrounds me, and so I learnt to
see with the eyes of faith that
God acts in this culture and re-
ality. I'm really happy with the
gift of God making me realise
how important our ministry is
and how great God’s gift is by
calling me to be a missionary !
Fr. Giampiero De Nardi
Italian, missionary in Guatemala
