Salesians 2012 %28en%29 :: 'Salesians' Magazine

Expand document

Collapse document

Salesians 2012 %28en%29

1 Pages 1-10

1.1 Page 1

1.2 Page 2

1.3 Page 3

1.4 Page 4

1.5 Page 5

1.6 Page 6

1.7 Page 7

1.8 Page 8

1.9 Page 9

1.10 Page 10

2 Pages 11-20

2.1 Page 11

2.2 Page 12

2.3 Page 13

2.4 Page 14

2.5 Page 15

2.6 Page 16

2.7 Page 17

2.8 Page 18

2.9 Page 19

2.10 Page 20

3 Pages 21-30

3.1 Page 21

3.2 Page 22

3.3 Page 23

3.4 Page 24

3.5 Page 25

3.6 Page 26

3.7 Page 27

3.8 Page 28

3.9 Page 29

3.10 Page 30

4 Pages 31-40

4.1 Page 31

4.2 Page 32

4.3 Page 33

4.4 Page 34

4.5 Page 35

4.6 Page 36

4.7 Page 37

4.8 Page 38

4.9 Page 39

4.10 Page 40

5 Pages 41-50

5.1 Page 41

5.2 Page 42

5.3 Page 43

5.4 Page 44

5.5 Page 45

5.6 Page 46

5.7 Page 47

5.8 Page 48

5.9 Page 49

5.10 Page 50

6 Pages 51-60

6.1 Page 51

6.2 Page 52

6.3 Page 53

6.4 Page 54

6.5 Page 55

6.6 Page 56

6.7 Page 57

6.8 Page 58

6.9 Page 59

6.10 Page 60

7 Pages 61-70

7.1 Page 61

7.2 Page 62

7.3 Page 63

7.4 Page 64

7.5 Page 65

7.6 Page 66

7.7 Page 67

7.8 Page 68

7.9 Page 69

7.10 Page 70

8 Pages 71-80

8.1 Page 71

8.2 Page 72

8.3 Page 73

8.4 Page 74

8.5 Page 75

8.6 Page 76

8.7 Page 77

8.8 Page 78

8.9 Page 79

8.10 Page 80

9 Pages 81-90

9.1 Page 81

9.2 Page 82

9.3 Page 83

9.4 Page 84

9.5 Page 85

9.6 Page 86

9.7 Page 87

9.8 Page 88

9.9 Page 89

9.10 Page 90

10 Pages 91-100

10.1 Page 91

10.2 Page 92

10.3 Page 93

10.4 Page 94

10.5 Page 95

10.6 Page 96

10.7 Page 97

10.8 Page 98

10.9 Page 99

10.10 Page 100

11 Pages 101-110

11.1 Page 101

11.2 Page 102

11.3 Page 103

11.4 Page 104

11.5 Page 105

11.6 Page 106

11.7 Page 107

11.8 Page 108

11.9 Page 109

11.10 Page 110

12 Pages 111-120

12.1 Page 111

12.2 Page 112

12.3 Page 113

12.4 Page 114

12.5 Page 115

12.6 Page 116

12.7 Page 117

12.8 Page 118

12.9 Page 119

12.10 Page 120

13 Pages 121-130

13.1 Page 121

13.2 Page 122

13.3 Page 123

13.4 Page 124

Salesians 2012 %28en%29

1 Pages 1-10

▲back to top

1.1 Page 1

▲back to top

1.2 Page 2

▲back to top

SALESIANS 2012

1.3 Page 3

▲back to top

1.4 Page 4

▲back to top

SALESIANS 2012

Cover:

Don Bosco of Tonj

† Fr John Lee Taeseok

(1962 - 2010)

Table of contents

SALESIANS 2012 02

» Editorial: Presentation

» Rector Major: Being Salesians Today!

» Salesians in the world by nation

SALESIANS 2012

RETURN TO DON BOSCO 10

» Don Bosco Birth Bicentenary

» Valdocco’s Basilica – 100 Years

» Don Bosco’s University

» Totus Tuus: Salesian Family a Marian Family

» Mary Help of Christians Association (ADMA)

» Salesian Bulletin at the Service of Life

» Called to Holiness

CREATING A CULTURE OF VOCATION 26

» Words and Ways

» Come and See!

» Following in His Footsteps

» Volunteer, Vocation and Missionary Movement

» Annual Altar Server’s Pilgrimage

» The Proof is in the Pudding

» Never Forget to Play!

» World Youth Day, a Celebration of Faith

» Salesian Youth Movement at the Feast of Faith

» “You are God’s hope and ours too”

» Voluntary Service Brings Hope Again

» Youth Forum: Come and See

English edition, December 8, 2011. Rome

1.5 Page 5

▲back to top

SALESIAN VOCATIONAL STYLE 52

» I Will Be With You

» A School with a Mission Vocation

» A week in the Salesian Mission

» Journey to the Soul’s Centre

» Catechists in Mission

» Helping us Pray Today

» Parish Missionaries Respond to God’s Call

» Come and See the SYM

» Rock Out Youth Poverty

» Salesian Network Keeps Schools Closely Linked

» Children Looking for God

SALESIAN VOCATION TODAY 76

» Don Bosco Žepče

» Prague: Encountering Today’s Youth

» Connecting the World: Medellin to Sihanoukville

» Priests’ Films Promote Rights and Evangelization

» Sixty Years Sowing Life

» Leading to the Future

» Alborada is a Lively Place!

» Proclaiming the Word in Kiriwina

» Good Morning Tale with a Twist

» Evangelisation by Example

» Project Life – Home for Young Refugees

INSPIRING TESTIMONIES 100

» “If your leg doesn’t heal, no Profession!”

» Youth Leader Becomes a Salesian

» “I will give you shepherds after your own heart”

» “What God has planned for you no one can take away”

» Volunteer Forever!

» From Vietnam to Japan – with Love

» Peace is Possible When Church Takes the Lead

» Don Bosco’s Dream in a Chinese Woman’s Son

» Don Bosco of Tonj: “The vocation of every Salesian is

tied to Mary Help of Christians”

Fr Filiberto González Plasencia, sdb

General Councillor for SC

Dear friends,

“Nobody trod yesterday, nor treads today, nor will tread to-

morrow the same path that I am treading now. God ensures that a

new ray of sunshine and a virgin path lies ahead for each of us”

(León Felipe).

We each have our story to tell if we wish to: the story of our

life, our particular calling, a story of the lights we have received and

the road we have taken.

Our story is our own unique one because it is a response to a

personal call. Contrary to the pragmatic view of things, it is not

woven of simple facts, free or paid for. It is woven of: important si-

lences where we listened in all humility; our openness to dialogue

and understanding; the risky decisions we have taken in order to

move on. ese are what set us on the road and measure the extent

of our sharing. We will usually understand only at the end what our

calling and response was, what the road and its point of arrival really

are - and not always everything even then. Such was the case for

Don Bosco when at the end of his life, old and ill, he said: “Now I

understand; it is She who has achieved everything”.

e theme running through the Magazine this year is life as a

vocation. It is a pleasure to be able to present you with these testi-

monies of religious, priests, and lay people. ey are simple testi-

monies of people who may be on in years, or may yet be young,

men and women, responding to the call they have received in one

or other part of the world where they were sought out.

e common factor in them all is a generous and uncondi-

tional commitment, cheerfulness, a desire to share their passion for

God and for the very poor. God and the poor have become their

call, their response and the meaning of their lives. You will also dis-

cover the testimony of those who give their life fully to the end: until

their health is spent and the seed buried in the ground. ey are

alive in those who receive them and they live on beyond those who

immediately know them.

All these people know that they are not alone and cannot

remain alone. ey are joined by people who love Don Bosco and

his plans for the young, people who in various ways and means re-

spond to their own calling to help poor young people.

We are oﬀering you the Magazine this year not just with the

intention of showing you ways to contribute or respond but also as

a way of saying thank you for the vocation that you have so gener-

ously joined with ours.

December 8, 2011

redazionerivistesdb@sdb.org, www.sdb.org, ©Direzione Generale Opere Don Bosco SALESIANS 2012

1.6 Page 6

▲back to top

RECTOR MAJOR

Today Being Salesians

Being Mydearfriends,Igreetyouwiththe

sentiments of Don Bosco himself;

may the New Year be filled with all the

good things you expect from life.

Salesians It gives me pleasure to oﬀer you,

once again, this overview of the

Salesian Congregation by way of our

‘Salesians 2012’ magazine. This year it

Today! Fr Pascual Chávez V., sdb

Rector Major

is particularly focused on the idea of

vocation. This is one way of respond-

ing to the appeal which the Lord con-

tinually makes to every young person

in the world: “Come and See”.

But what does it mean to be

a Salesian today?

Let me answer this by telling you some-

thing of the story of my own vocation

and of my personal experience of invit-

ing others to follow Jesus.

I belong to a large family of 12 children:

6 boys and 6 girls. I am the eighth. I

have to confess that even though my

SALESIANS 2012

1.7 Page 7

▲back to top

Having a vocation means that life has meaning, and this means

it has direction, goals to achieve and enormous energy, the result

of motivation.

family is a very Catholic family, and the bishop,

priests, sisters visited home, it never occurred

to me that I might be a priest. And in fact,

other than myself, no-one else in the family

became a priest or sister.

So what happened for me to

make this decision?

Something very simple! When I was just

eleven, a pupil at the Salesian school in Saltillo

in the north of Mexico, my mum suddenly fell

ill and died two weeks later. Three days before

she died, however, I was able to talk with her.

I wanted some money to buy a pair of runners.

I loved playing games, especially basketball.

She said to me: “But do you know how I’ve

always asked God if one of my sons could be

a priest? I have had six boys and not one has

gone to the seminary”. And just wanting my

runners, I said: “And I’m the one!” She smiled

and gave me the money for the shoes. As I

have said, she died three days later. The most

interesting thing about this is that I asked for

a pair of runners and I got a vocation!

In fact a few days later I went to talk to my

teacher and told him simply that I wanted to

be a Salesian priest. I certainly did not mention

the talk with my mum. I did this only 14 years

later, the day of my ordination. That is when I

told my father, brothers and sisters: “Maybe

you want to know how I ended up a priest”.

And I told them.

ing, and this means it has direction, goals to

achieve and enormous energy, the result of

motivation. This is because we have a reason

for being who we are and doing what we do

happily, optimistically, convinced that we are

useful.

I really think the general problem for young

people is not brought about by seeking drugs,

or the result of alcohol, or confusion about

their sexuality, but rather the lack of meaning

and motivation in life. This is why they fall for

the temptation to exploit the present, experi-

ment with strong emotions, or just live indif-

ferently.

By becoming a Salesian I wanted to give my

whole life to God on behalf of the young, like

Don Bosco.

Once I had completed my formation in

Guadalajara, and immediately after ordination,

I was sent to do my Licenciate in Sacred Scrip-

ture in Rome, at the Pontifical Biblical Institute,

then Jersualem at the Hebrew University. I

became a Professor in Biblical Studies and

Rector of the Theologate in Tlaquepaque-

Mexico for nine years, then Provincial of

Now I can see how God has guided me

through life! He really has been wonderful

with me! I am not referring to the fact that I

happen to be Rector Major of the Salesians. I

am speaking of the gift of a vocation, because

it is the most wonderful gift the Lord gave me

other than the gift of life and faith.

Having a vocation means that life has mean-

SALESIANS 2012

1.8 Page 8

▲back to top

SALESIANS 2012

Guadalajara for another six years. Once

I had completed this service I finished

my Doctorate in Biblical Theology at

the Pontifical University of Salamanca.

Just at that point I was elected as a

member of the General Council, as Re-

gional for Interamerica which takes in

a good 18 countries from Canada to

Bolivia. Then in the General Chapter

(2002) I was elected Rector Major. How-

ever, my mission has always been the

young. They are my vocation, my raison

d’etre.

I am so happy with and proud of my

Salesian vocation that not only am I not

ashamed to be a Salesian, but I want to

invite young people whom I consider

suitable for this vocation to become

Salesians, because I want the best for

them, and I want them to be as happy

as I am.

I can tell you that amongst my students

and the boys at the oratory where I

worked, and amongst the volunteers

who were helping us, there are a

number to whom I made the proposal

and who responded positively.

And do you know where this decision

came from? From personal experience.

Amongst the boys in the basketball

team at school where I was teaching

during my time as a Practical Trainee

was one who went to the De La Salle

Brothers school, and while I was doing

my theological studies he wrote to tell

me he was joining them; I asked myself

at that point why I had not invited him

to be a Salesian! I said to myself: “From

now on I am going to be clear and

make the oﬀer”. It was a lesson I

learned well and it had good results.

Someone might ask: “how diﬃcult was

it for you to suggest a vocation to reli-

gious life in today’s context? How do

you invite young people to follow

Jesus if this also means going against

the dominant culture. Are there places

in the Salesian world where this kind of

vocation promotion actually works?”

In the West, especially in aﬄuent coun-

tries, there are a number of factors

which work against consecrated life:

fewer people demographically speak-

ing (fewer children for society means

the same for the Church); secularism

which makes it more diﬃcult for reli-

gious proposal and response; aﬄuence

that makes life easier; so it is counter-

cultural to organise your life around

sacrifice and renunciation, or definitive

commitment, as well as the fact that

the State is now self-suﬃcient and can

carry out all the kinds of work that

seemed to be for religious to do

(schools, hospitals…).

Elsewhere in the world, though, there

are things that run in favour of conse-

crated life: the youth ratio is higher, the

cultural background has remained re-

ligious fundamentally, there is poverty

of a kind that makes us think about

how to help people, especially the

really poor and needy, and the State

does not have the resources to do it.

For example at the moment most

Salesian vocations are coming from

India, Vietnam, East Timor, and some

countries in Latin America. In Poland

too and in the Ukraine there are voca-

tions.

One case worth noting is Vietnam, the

1.9 Page 9

▲back to top

I am so happy with and proud of my Salesian vocation

that not only am I not ashamed to be a Salesian, but I want to invite

young people whom I consider suitable for this vocation to become Salesians,

because I want the best for them, and I want them to be as happy as I am.

province growing faster than any other in rel-

ative terms. A communist country, then, a to-

talitarian regime, also predominantly Buddhist,

and we have 400 aspirants to Salesian life, all

of them university students, showing a high

level of perseverance.

So it seems that consecrated life is much more

likely in poor countries, but this does not

mean to say that the Salesian vocation has no

place in aﬄuent, developed nations; you find

Salesians in just about every such country. It

means that consecrated life has another func-

tion there, to be a visible, credible, legible sign

of God in a godless society where people live

Being as if God did not exist. It can be a sign to the

extent that it is truly countercultural, with a

gospel-based identity strongly focused on

God, witness to communion and total dedi-

cation to the other.

Salesians In our case, it is enough for there to be young

people for there to be a reason for us to be

there and to continue oﬀering young people

the possibility of being a Salesian, as I am

doing right now, with you.

Today! Do something wonderful with your life!

Courage! Give God a chance and you will see

that he will not disappoint you.

1.10 Page 10

▲back to top

SALESIANS 2012

Netherlands 43

Belgium 215

Poland 975

Germany 303 Czech Rep. 149

France 178

Austria 83 Slovakia 208

Switzerland 20

Hungary 39

Slovenia 87

Andorra 5

ItalySa2n4M11arino

Croatia 82

4MoBnotse.nHeegrrzo.

Serbia 7

Kosovo

Vatican 12

Albania 12

Canada 26

Malta 31

U. K. 82

Ireland 56

USA 251

Spain 1160

Portugal 98

Tunisia 3

Morocco 3

Mexico 360

Cuba 16

HaiDti o69minican Rep. 130

Puerto Rico 28

Honduras 13

GuEaltSeamNlviaCcaladoarsoa9trga5u4Ra3Pica1an7a2m2 a

Colombia

Dutch Antilles

Venezuela 199

326

Ecuador 185

Peru 157

Brazil 761

Cape Verde Is. 5Senegal 11

Guinea Conakry 10

Mali 15

Burkina Faso 9

Sierra Leone 8

Liberia 6

Ivory CoasGt 3ha6nTaog7o260

Bolivia 166

LEGEND

1001 -

501 - 1000

251 - 500

101 - 250

51 - 100

11 - 50

1 - 10

No Salesian

(Data from Annuario 2011)

SALESIANS 2012

Paraguay 94

Chile 180

Uruguay 102

Argentina 474

2 Pages 11-20

▲back to top

2.1 Page 11

▲back to top

SALESIANS IN THE WORLD BY NATION

Sweden 6

LitBheulaanruias917

Ukraine 38

Moldavia 4

Russia 53

Bulgaria 8 Georgia 3

Turkey 7

Azerbaijan 10

Lebanon 6Syria 8

Israel 58

Egypt 28

Kuwait 5

Iran 3

Pakistan 5

Nepal 13

India 2504

Chad 11 Sudan 14 EritreYae2m4en 4

C. African

Ethiopia 117

Republic 8 S. Sudan 13

Dem.

Rep. of

Congo 231

Kenya 78

Uganda 14

Rwanda 55

Burundi 14

Tanzania 65

Sri Lanka 65

Angola

Zambia

Malawi 8

Madagascar 96

Zimbabwe 7

Namibia 3

S. Africa 44

Mozambique

Swaziland 7

Mauritius 4

Mongolia 11

China 104

Indonesia 45

Korea 116

Japan 111

Taiwan 19

Philippines 282

Guam 3

E. Timor 146

Papua New Guinea 30

Solomon

Islands 6

Australia 79

Samoa 11

Fiji 13

New Zealand 2

SALESIANS 2012

2.2 Page 12

▲back to top

SALESIANS 2012

2.3 Page 13

▲back to top

RETURN

DON BOSCO

Don Bosco Birth Bicentenary 12

Valdocco’s Basilica – 100 Years 14

Don Bosco’s University 16

Totus Tuus: Salesian Family a Marian Family 18

Mary Help of Christians Association (ADMA) 20

Salesian Bulletin at the Service of Life 22

Called to Holiness 24

SALESIANS 2012

2.4 Page 14

▲back to top

RETURN TO DON BOSCO

2011 - 2015: Preparations for the Bicentenary

of Don Bosco’s Birth

1. Don Bosco’s story

16 August 2011 - 15 August 2012:

“A systematic plan for the study and assimila-

tion of Don Bosco…e study of Don Bosco is an

essential condition in order to be able to communi-

cate his charism and propose his current relevance”.

2.5 Page 15

▲back to top

2. Don Bosco’s Pedagogy

16 August 2012 - 15 August 2013:

“Nowadays a deeper understanding is needed

of Salesian pedagogy. In other words we need to

study and apply that updated preventive system de-

sired by Fr Egidio Viganò… developing its great im-

plicit principles, modernising concepts, guidelines

and interpretations so as to express the basic ideas

in a modern manner”.

3. Don Bosco’s Spirituality

16 August 2013 - 15 August 2014:

“Perhaps this is an aspect of our founder that

has not been studied at suﬃcient depth. He was a

man totally intent on work. We have no descriptions

of his interior development, nor has he left us any ex-

plicit reflections on his spiritual life”.

SALESIANS 2012

2.6 Page 16

▲back to top

RETURN TO DON BOSCO

Italy

100 Years

Valdocco’s Basilica

by Fr Natale Maﬃoli, sdb

One hundred years ago, July 13, 1911, the

Church of Mary Help of Christians in Valdocco

received the title Basilica. It finds a place in the heart

of every Salesian around the world.

One summer’s day, an elderly grocer trundling

along in his cart saw the massive scaﬀolding rising

in the midst of the Valdocco fields and became cu-

rious.

“What’s going on?” he asked one of the stone

masons.

“We are building a large church for Our Lady!”

“And who’s finding the money?”

“Don Bosco. But he is scraping together donations

from everywhere”.

The man was silent a moment, then called the su-

pervisor and gave him all the fruit in his cart so he

could share it amongst the builders and then,

wanting to give a hand himself, with the help of

some others he heaved a large stone onto his

shoulders and started climbing the scaﬀolding. The

poor old guy was trembling all over under his

heavy load, but sweaty and breathless he got to

the top. He lowered the stone in place and said

cheerfully: “Now I can die happy because I hope

that now I can somehow be part of all the good

this church will achieve”.

Don Bosco never said: “I’ll do this or that…” He

always said: “Mary Help of Christians will do this and

that…”

Together, Mary and Don Bosco built a beautiful

church!

SALESIANS 2012

2.7 Page 17

▲back to top

Neither land nor money

Since the early 1860s, Don Bosco had

dreamt of building a church of consid-

erable size; the reason he gave initially

was that the church of St Francis of

Sales, built between 1851 and 1852,

was too small. This what he told Fr Paul

Albera one evening in December 1862:

“I’ve been thinking, our church is too

small, and may not hold all the young-

sters, or they’ll be too packed in. So

we’ll build another one, a bigger, more

beautiful one. We will call it Mary Help

of Christians”.

On February 1, 1863, Don Bosco res-

olutely began planning the new

church, although the land he was

dreaming of building it on was not his

and he lacked a plan, but he sent out a

large number of circulars to ask bene-

factors to help.

The excavations were partly begun in

autumn; winter passed then work was

taken up again in March 1864.

Towards the end of April, at the invi-

tation of the foreman, accompanied

by his priests and many of his boys,

Don Bosco went down the excava-

tions to place the foundation stone.

After this was done, to show how

pleased he was he turned to Buzzetti

the foreman and said: “I want to im-

mediately oﬀer you a deposit for this

wonderful eﬀort”. So saying, he pulled

out his wallet, opened it and poured

into Buzzetti’s hands everything it

contained, all of 40 cents. “Don’t

worry” said Don Bosco, “Our Lady will

take care of providing the money we

need for her church”. “And Mary", Don

Bosco wrote later, “wanted to give a

hand herself and make it known that

since it was in her honour, she

wanted to build it herself: aedificavit

sibi domum Maria. Oh, how many

have had recourse to Mary Help of

Christians, making the Novena and

promising a donation if they obtained

the grace they were asking for!”

Devotion pictured

Don Bosco was no connoisseur of art,

but had a strong sense of the potential

of a religious building for strengthen-

ing memory, and of sacred art for con-

veying a message. He entrusted the

task to architect Antonio Spezia, who

had been a long-time friend of his.

For the Church of Mary Help of Chris-

tians, Spezia drew inspiration from the

facade of the Basilica of St George the

Great in Venice, by Venetian architect

Andrea Palladio. In five years, the

church was complete and was conse-

crated on June 9, 1868.

After the consecration of the church

the time for thinking about some inner

adornments began. Don Bosco cer-

tainly had a precise iconographic plan

in mind: he wanted, through the paint-

ings over the altars and various devo-

tions, to communicate a message, oﬀer

the faithful more than just saints to ad-

dress their prayers to, but examples to

follow.

In June 1868, at the time of the conse-

cration, the large painting by Thomas

Lorenzone was already in place, pictur-

ing Mary Help of Christians with the

baby Jesus in her arms, surrounded by

the Apostles and Evangelists; over the

altar dedicated to St. Joseph, in the left

transept, he placed a canvas featuring

St. Joseph and the Family of Nazareth,

also by Lorenzone. Then, proceeding

towards the back, where we find the

altar dedicated to St. Anne, he placed a

painting by Giovanni Battista Fino

which had the education of the Virgin

as its subject.

The final work, completed after Don

Bosco’s death, was the decoration

around the dome, the Help of Chris-

tians in her glory. This project, designed

by artist Giuseppe Rollini, goes back,

however, to Don Bosco himself.

Between the 1920s and 1930s the

Salesian superiors wanted to enlarge

and re-design the basilica for the beat-

ification and canonisation of Don

Bosco.

The blessing of the enlargement, and

of the monumental altar to St. John

Bosco and the marble additions to the

sanctuary took place June 9, 1938, re-

calling the the fiftieth anniversary of

Don Bosco’s death. With the start of

World War II work slowed down, creat-

ing all kinds of diﬃculties, especially fi-

nancial ones, but on December 19,

1942 the chief foreman, Carlo Cussetti,

declared the work completed with final

touches to the main altar.

SALESIANS 2012

2.8 Page 18

▲back to top

RETURN TO DON BOSCO

Italy

Don Bosco’s University

by Fr Renato Butera, sdb

There is one place in the Salesian

Congregation with a very special

meaning, characterised by its interna-

tional nature and what has always

been called ‘family spirit’in the Salesian

tradition. Those who live and study

there know this. They do not need to

belong to the Salesian Family. The stu-

dents, as they themselves tell us, expe-

rience and share it with others who

have made the same choice, a choice

which means being formed as individ-

uals and as professionals for the future

in one of six faculties at the Salesian

Pontifical University (UPS), Rome: (The-

ology, Educational pedagogy and psy-

chology, Philosophy, Canon Law,

Christian and Classical Literature, Com-

munication Studies, to which we can

add the Youth Ministry and Catechetics

Schools). The UPS was founded as an

institute in 1940. On May 24, 1973,

Pope Paul VI elevated it to the status of

University with his Motu Proprio, ‘Vitae

Magisterium’.

Now over these 70 or so years of its ex-

istence, the UPS has delivered to soci-

ety, the Church, the Congregation, the

Salesian Family, not only well-devel-

oped human beings, but also a host of

pastors and leaders, professionals and

experts, in short, the ‘good Christians

and upright citizens’ whom Don Bosco

dreamt of, who contribute to building

up a ‘civilization of love’ (Paul VI). The

popes, Benedict XVI in particular, have

highlighted the mission and the spe-

cific role that the UPS plays in the

Church and society: the special atten-

tion given to the study and resolution

of issues concerning educational and

pastoral activity, especially among the

young and ordinary people, according

to the spirit of Don Bosco.

Many vocations, priestly, religious and

lay, have been formed in it. They come

from all corners of the earth and from

every continent. Students at the UPS

come from at least 90 diﬀerent coun-

tries: a range of cultural expressions

united by a single creed which makes

the educational mission of the Univer-

sity even more universal in nature. This

feature makes it special when it is com-

pared with many like institutions.

The UPS is therefore Don Bosco’s Uni-

versity in the fullest sense, not only be-

cause it deals with approximately 2000

students each year (not counting the

thousands enrolled in the 28 centres

connected with it), but because it

forms teachers, youth leaders, experts

who in turn devote the wisdom and

competence they have gained to the

service of the multitudes of young

people they discover when they return

to the place from which they came and

for which they have now been pre-

pared.

Academic life at the UPS applies Article

SALESIANS 2012

2.9 Page 19

▲back to top

40 of the Salesian Constitutions as its

basic criterion: “a home that welcomes,

parish that evangelises, school that pre-

pares for life, and a playground where

friends can meet and enjoy them-

selves”.

The UPS is a ‘home that welcomes’,

where people study in a spirit of

friendship and solidarity, and are cer-

tain to find someone they can count

on. The University has a Pastoral Team,

a volunteer group which is especially

helpful for students with diﬃculties

typical for someone arriving in a

country for the first time, barely

knowing the language or finding

themselves in an academic structure

with quite diﬀerent requirements

from high school. This kind of wel-

come is experienced, for example, on

the day that graduating students wel-

come the ‘newbies’ and show them

around the university.

The UPS is also a ‘parish’ which evan-

gelises through its care and develop-

ment of personal spirituality and

oﬀers communal services such as

daily Mass, confessions, monthly re-

treats, opportunities for deepening

faith or accepting a lay calling such as

that of the Salesian Cooperator. Then

there are particular experiences such

as the traditional Lenten Wednesday

services.

The UPS is also a ‘playground’ for cul-

tivating friendship in a happy spirit

through moments of celebration like

the ‘Meeting of Peoples’, or fellowship

festivities for the the feasts of Don

Bosco and Mary Help of Christians, or

Christmas preparation, or hiking trips

in and around Rome, curriculum days.

And above all, the UPS is a ‘school

that prepares them for life’, its specific

function. It does this through the vari-

ety and seriousness of its formation, its

attention to scientific and cultural

progress and instances which give life

meaning. It is inspired by an all-round

humanism which fosters eagerness in

students and puts them at the heart of

its intellectual and research eﬀorts.

So the UPS aims clearly at being, and is,

Don Bosco’s University not only for

youth, but is youthful in its approach,

where the human being comes first

and above everything else. This is no

mere slogan, but an intent, a willing-

ness and – we believe – also a reality

that supports and becomes the atmos-

phere of its university education.

SALESIANS 2012

2.10 Page 20

▲back to top

RETURN TO DON BOSCO

Poland

Totus Tuus:

Salesian Family a Marian Family

6th International Mary Help of Christians Congress

Czestochowa, Poland

ere is a lively devotion to Mary Help of Christians

in the Salesian Family because of Don Bosco’s wish

that it be so.

SALESIANS 2012

The 6th International Mary Help of Christians Con-

gress, a Salesian Family event promoted by the As-

sociation of Mary Help of Christians (ADMA), took

place from 3-6 August 2011 at the Shrine of the Black

Madonna, Czestochowa. The Salesian Family regards

devotion to Mary under the title of Help of Christians,

as one of the charismatic characteristics of its

common spirit.

The Congress motto, ‘Totus tuus’, while reflecting the

holiness and Marian devotion of Blessed John Paul II,

also expresses our childlike trust in Mary Help of

Christians as we walk the way of faith with Her, de-

fending the important values of life, family, education.

This way we renew our commitment to being au-

thentic disciples and passionate apostles who bring

the Gospel to the young.

There is a lively devotion to Mary Help of Christians

in the Salesian Family because of Don Bosco’s wish

that it be so. He built the Basilica of Mary Help of

Christians in Turin, encouraged prayer, founded Con-

gregations and groups dedicated to Her in the

awareness that Mary has been the inspiration and

support of Salesian work.

Since 1988 five International MHC Congresses have

3 Pages 21-30

▲back to top

3.1 Page 21

▲back to top

been held: Valdocco in 1988, on the occasion of the Cente-

nary of Don Bosco’s death; Cochabamba (Bolivia) in 1995;

Seville (Spain) in 1999; Valdocco again in 2003 for the cente-

nary of the coronation of the statue of Mary Help of Christians

in the Basilica; Mexico City in 2007.

The Association of Mary Help of Christians (ADMA), founded

by St John Bosco in 1869, oﬀers a way to holiness and apos-

tolate through the Salesian charism. In the Salesian Family

the Association emphasises and spreads Eucharistic worship

and Marian devotion for the evangelisation and advance-

ment of ordinary people and youth most in need.

3.2 Page 22

▲back to top

RETURN TO DON BOSCO

Mary Help of Christians Association

A born organiser, Don Bosco did not

leave devotion to Mary Help of

Christians simply to something spon-

taneous. He gave it stability with an As-

sociation which took her name. First-

hand witnesses saw in this institution

one of the initiatives most dear to Don

Bosco and the one with the widest

impact after that of the two religious

Congregations and the Cooperators

Association.

When presenting important docu-

ments, Don Bosco attributed the Asso-

ciation’s origins to “repeated requests”,

coming“from all parts and from people

of all ages and every circumstance”

during and after the construction and

consecration of the Church (now Basil-

ica) of Mary Help of Christians. He re-

ferred to the associates as “people

united in the same spirit of prayer and

piety paying homage to the great

Mother of the Saviour invoked under

the beautiful title of the Help of Chris-

tians”.

The following were proposed as the

aims of the Association:

» zeal for an increase in piety, spirituality,

worship: “to promote the glories of the

divine Mother of the Saviour”(art. 1);

» “spread devotion to the Blessed Virgin

and veneration of Jesus in the

Blessed Sacrament” (art. 2);

» make use of “words, advice, good

works and influence to promote dig-

nity and devotion in the novenas,

feasts and solemnities that occur

during the year in honour of the

Blessed Virgin Mary and the Most

Holy Sacrament” (art. 3);

» encourage “the spreading of good

books, pictures, medals and leaflets,

by taking part in processions in

honour of Mary most holy and the

Blessed Sacrament and by encourag-

ing others to do likewise; frequent

SALESIANS 2012

3.3 Page 23

▲back to top

Communion and attendance at Holy

Mass; bring Viaticum to the dying”

(art. 4);

» make great eﬀorts “never to blas-

pheme or engage in talk contrary to

religion, and do their utmost to pre-

vent those under their charge from

doing likewise; they will also do all

they can to remove obstacles in the

way of the sanctification of Sundays

and Feast days” (art. 5).

The means were basically an intense

life of personal piety: “Sacraments of

Confession and Communion once a

fortnight or once a month, and assist at

daily Mass if one’s duties permit”(art. 6);

for the ordinary faithful, suitable brief

prayers were suggested in the morning

and evening, and for priests, the inten-

tion of praying at mass for all the mem-

bers of the pious Association: “These

prayers”, he pointed out, “will serve as

a bond to unite all the members so that

they form a single mind and soul and

give due honour to Jesus hidden in the

Eucharist and his august Mother, and

participate in all the good works done

by each member” (art. 7). Eight articles

under the heading ‘Spiritual Advan-

“ose united in the same

spirit of prayer and piety

paying homage to the great

Mother of the Saviour invoked

under the beautiful title of the

Help of Christians”.

tages’ dealt at length with the spiritual

growth of the members.

To increase the expansion of the Asso-

ciation Don Bosco managed to have it

erected as an Archconfraternity, with

the faculty of aggregating to it similar

associations already in existence or

later to be erected. This was granted by

Pius IX with the brief Sodalitia Fidelium

of 5 April 1870, which, however, limited

the aggregation to the archdiocese of

Turin. With a subsequent brief Exposi-

tum Nobis of 2 March 1877 the faculty

was extended to all the dioceses of

Piedmont. After the death of Don

Bosco, Leo XIII, first with the brief Ad-

motae Nobis preces of 25 June 1889,

granted the faculty of aggregation to

all the similar associations “erected or

to be erected in any church or public

oratory belonging to the Salesian Soci-

ety wherever they may be”; then with

the brief Cum multa of 19 January 1894

he conferred in perpetuo on the Rector

Major of the Salesians and his succes-

sors the faculty of being able “to validly

and lawfully erect other associations of

the same name, and institute them in

any place where houses and churches

of the Congregation existed and ag-

gregate the associations erected to the

above mentioned Archconfraternity”;

two years afterwards with the brief

Sodalitas of 25 February 1896 he

granted the Rector Major and his suc-

cessors the faculty of “aggregating to

the same Archconfraternity”, estab-

lished in the church of Mary Help of

Christians in Turin, other associations

with the same aims and of the same

kind canonically erected in any church

or diocese.

Finally, the Sacred Congregation for

Religious with a rescript of 31 July

1913 granted the privilege that the

Rector Major might canonically erect

the Mary Help of Christians Associa-

tion also in the houses of the Institute

of the FMA and aggregate them to

the Primary Centre in Turin.

SALESIANS 2012

3.4 Page 24

▲back to top

RETURN TO DON BOSCO

Brazil

Salesian Bulletin

at the Service of Life

by Fr Nivaldo Luiz Pessinatti, sdb

A conscious choice

If great challenges or catastrophes

lead to unusual solutions, life’s daily

routine does not always oﬀer provoca-

tion for changes that often are just as

necessary. The press, which comes

from the same monotonous daily

routine, seems to be included in this

list. But the multiplier eﬀect of the

press might be considered as one of

the major transforming events of

mankind.

Don Bosco understood this and

quickly put in place the use of this in-

novative communications solution. He

also gave it a life and shape which was

completely Christian.

The Salesian Bulletin, now appearing

in many languages and hues, confirms

the soundness and appropriateness of

this innovative Christian solution.

In February 1902, the Portuguese lan-

guage Bulletin informed Brazilians, the

Portuguese and their colonies of the

vitality and strength of a work which

had and would continue to have a

long story to tell.

The first Portuguese edition spoke elo-

quently and accurately of all the ingre-

dients and the wonderful treasury of

Salesian initiatives in Europe and the

Americas: texts full of detail, of life, and

high definition photos are some of the

indicators of this quality communica-

tion. Leafing through the first edition

(Year 1, no. 1 February 1902) and com-

paring it with those that followed, we

find ourselves faced with an account

of involvement in real life: news, testi-

monies of missionary dedication, arti-

cles by teachers, young people, lay

and religious.

More than being a simple depository

of ‘exotic’ cultural curiosities, this vehi-

cle of communication became a true

harbinger revealing projects dedi-

cated to the good of ones neighbour

and the defence of the lives of so

many people: one only needs to think

of how the ‘missions’ were presented.

During the diﬃcult period of the First

World War, publication of the Salesian

Bulletin was interrupted. Just the same,

little by little, it returned to being a reg-

ular bimonthly of improved graphic

quality. The interruption to publication

during and after the Second World

War was longer: almost ten years!

From this unfavourable set of circum-

stances however, opportunity arose,

and was immediately taken advan-

tage of, to diversify and decentralise

the Salesian Bulletin’s publication.

In 1950 Salesian Brazil began publish-

ing the Brazilian Salesian Bulletin: Year

1, Number 1, drawn up, laid out and

printed in Sao Paulo, under the direc-

tion of the Provincial, Fr John Resende,

allowed it to be translated into Brazil-

ian Portuguese and style, while still

SALESIANS 2012

3.5 Page 25

▲back to top

maintaining its strict links with the

Salesian charism.

2012 sees an uninterrupted series of 62

years of publication.

From 1957 to 1972 the magazine ran

under the name of ‘Salesian Magazine’.

The change was intended to overcome

the reductive sense of ‘bulletin’ in

Brazilian Portuguese. But for the first

number in 1972, the original title came

back: Salesian Bulletin, and it remains

thus until today.

Successes and challenges

Development, dissemination and use

of the Salesian Bulletin were and are still

the constant concerns of its editors.

Over a long period the Brazilian edition

was sustained by the eﬀorts and good

will of a single editor. Now the editorial

team is made up of SDB and FMA and

a Salesian Cooperator. The desire for

greater professionalism has been con-

stant: journalists, graphic designers,

printing, distribution.

For a good number of years the

Salesian Bulletin print run was some

20,000 copies. In the last five years it has

reached 100,000 copies. Also, in collab-

oration with the RSE (Salesian Schools

Network), it has produced a collection

of comics on the lives of Saints, Salesian

and other.

So there has been significant increase;

nevertheless the challenge of dissemi-

nation remains along with its use by

Salesian communities, meaning that

the Salesian Bulletin be seen as an in-

strument of Salesian formation and in-

formation for broad use in Salesian

educational and pastoral settings.

Various initiatives and strategies have

been suggested to parishes, schools

and social works, so the Salesian Bul-

letin may be used as a tool of Salesian

communication. Provincials are in-

volved in oﬀering various kinds of sup-

port: motivating their communities,

expanding circulation etc.

An online Salesian Bulletin has been

seen as an important goal. But the reg-

ular, flexible nature of such a tool re-

quires new planning, a new platfrom

and new professional types for it to

become a true portal of reference for

Salesian communication in Brazil: it is

already under construction.

We have an important indicator of its

significance: some Masters candidates

at Brazilian Universities have chosen

the Brazilian Salesian Bulletin as their

topic for academic research either in

the communication or the social wel-

fare field.

In the meantime the Brazilian Salesian

Bulletin, through its bimonthly appear-

ance, is committed to being a tool fo-

cused on the service of life.

SALESIANS 2012

3.6 Page 26

▲back to top

RETURN TO DON BOSCO

Called to Hholiness

In the light of the Strenna for 2011 we are reminded that our basic call is to holiness.

e Postulator General’s Oﬃce is grateful for some of the stages reached by various

Causes and invites poeople to get to know and to pray to these witnesses who have

taken up the Gospel appeal. “Come and See”.

24 September 2010: Andrej Majcen

Ljubljana Rakovnik (Slovenia) - opening of

the Diocesan Inquiry into the Beatification of

Servant of God Andrej Majcen SDB (1904–

1999), priest and missionary, ‘Salesian patriarch’

in Vietnam.

29 October 2010: Augustus Arribat

On 29 October 2010, the Positio concerning

Augustus Arribat SDB (1879-1946) was delivered.

With his smiling, open demeanour, this son of

Don Bosco never alienated anybody. His slight

frame and ascetic looks might remind one of the

Curé d’Ars, but his smile and kindness were truly

Salesian.

18 February 2011: Constantine Vendrame

Shillong (India) – the Diocesan Inquiry con-

cerning Servant of God Constantine Vendrame

SDB (1893-1957) came to a close. He was a mis-

sionary who worked solidly at forming lay cate-

chists to evangelise their communities. As a good

Salesian he set in motion and followed up weekend

Oratories, and educated hundreds of children. He

exercised his Catholic Faith amongst Hindus,

Muslims and Methodists alike.

SALESIANS 2012

by Fr Pierluigi Cameroni, sdb

27 April 2011: Stephen Sándor

On 27 April 2011, the Positio regarding

Stephen Sándor SDB (1914-1953) was delivered.

He was a Salesian Brother, a martyr. His constant

concern was to be faithful to his Salesian vocation

as a Brother. Instead of fleeing abroad, he remained

in his country to save Hungarian young people.

24 May 2011: Jan Swierc

Conclusion of the Diocesan Inquiry into the

martyrdom of Servants of God Jan Swierc SDB

and his 7 companions, from the Krakow

Province, martyred at Auschwitz, and Franciszek

Miśka SDB, from Piła Province, martyed at

Dachau. ey were witnesses to Christ in one of

the darkest hours of human history.

3.7 Page 27

▲back to top

23 October 2011: Louis Guanella

Canonisation of Blessed Louis Guanella

(1842-1915). He was won over by Don Bosco

and his charism and founded Congregations ded-

icated to the education of the young, helping the

mentally ill, supporting the elderly especially

when they had nobody else.

7 June 2011: Anna Maria Lozana Díaz

Agua de Dios (Colombia), the opening of

the Diocesan Inquiry into Servant of God Anna

Maria Lozano Díaz (1883-1982), co-foundress of

the Institute of the Daughters of the Sacred

Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Drawn to the charism

of Blessed Louis Variara, she became his disciple

and faithful follower.

27 June 2011: Laura Meozzi

Laura Meozzi FMA (1873-1951) was de-

clared Venerable. She was the pioneer of the FMA

presence in Poland, and though experiencing ex-

treme poverty she opened houses for all kinds of

needs: orphaned or neglected children, young

girls, postulants and novices, Sisters; also for

refugees, the persecuted, sick...

3.8 Page 28

▲back to top

SALESIANS 2012

CREATING

A CULTURE

OF VOCATION

Words and Ways 28

Come and See! 30

Following in His Footsteps 32

Volunteer, Vocation and Missionary Movement 34

Annual Altar Server’s Pilgrimage 36

The Proof is in the Pudding 38

Never Forget to Play! 40

World Youth Day, a Celebration of Faith 42

Salesian Youth Movement at the feast of Faith 44

“You are God’s hope and ours too” 46

Voluntary Service brings hope again 48

Youth Forum: Come and See 50

SALESIANS 2012

3.9 Page 29

▲back to top

SALESIANS 2012

3.10 Page 30

▲back to top

CREATING A CULTURE

OF VOCATION

Australia

SALESIANS 2012

Words and Ways

by Fr Frank B. Freeman, sdb

A visiting speaker, a revolutionary if not by

reputation certainly by name, was address-

ing a class of senior students on the need for dras-

tic social reform and the need for fire-eating

leaders to foment it. “Tell me,” he said, “Is there any

one of today’s leaders you would die for?” To his dis-

appointment silence reigned in the classroom. Until

one student spoke up, “No, but I am looking for some-

one to live for”. A lively discussion broke out among the

students, oblivious now to the visiting speaker, as to how

to discover such a person to live for. Names of recent rev-

olutionary leaders, who had strutted the world stage, were

thrown up for discussion but so many of them, after enjoy-

ing popular support, proved to have feet of clay. On obtain-

ing power, how quickly they adopted rich and opulent life

styles. Their self-aggrandising ways belied their fine words to

the masses: certainly not the type worth living for, let alone

dying for.

The visiting speaker felt he had been sidelined. In order to regain

their attention he put the question, “and how do you propose to

discover this real person you want to live for?” “Easy,” said the

same student, “Let’s see how he really lives behind the façade

of his revolutionary talk. Let’s see if his ways match his words”.

History is full of such leaders not worth dying for and

also leaders well worth living for: the New Testament

shows us two such leaders.

John the Baptist, that fiery revolutionary, whose mettle

was tempered in the hardness of the desert environment

over long years, was no dissembler. His revolutionary call

to repentance matched his lifestyle. Naturally enthusiastic

young men were attracted to him as the fulfilment of

their ideals for a better society, a man they could live

for.

But one day their leader did an uncharacter-

istic thing for one gathering disciples for a

mission. He pointed out one greater than

himself who was worth living for. “Behold

the Lamb of God… One greater than I. I am

not worthy to undo his shoe straps”. Now

some of his disciples, attracted by the idea

4 Pages 31-40

▲back to top

4.1 Page 31

▲back to top

At all times his words matched his ways.

He invited them to come and be with him;

they “came and saw where he was staying

and many remained with him”.

of following a greater personage, fol-

lowed him from a distance. Then Jesus,

aware that they were following him, di-

rectly questions them: “What are you

looking for?” Eager to know more

about him they ask him: “Rabbi, where

do you live?” Jesus then gives them an

invitation,“Come and see”. They “came

and saw where he was staying and

they remained with him”.

A hundred and fifty years ago, some

young men, living in the industrialised

city of Turin in Northern Italy, were at-

tracted to a young priest who was

making great eﬀorts to help young

people to survive amid all the injustices

and exploitation of employers anxious

to make great profits. He, Don Bosco,

had arrived in the city having been

moulded by a lifetime of the rural

poverty and hardships of the times.

Living with them, he shared with them

not only his few worldly possessions

but the love of his own mother. He

taught them basic skills to better their

chances of employment and to

become good Christians and better cit-

izens. At all times his words matched

his ways. He invited them to come and

be with him; they “came and saw

where he was staying and many re-

mained with him”. They saw in him,

and in his mission, a person well worth

living for.

We, today’s Salesians of Don Bosco,

are their successors. We have learnt,

through our family history, how he

lived. We have heard his invitation

“Come and see”. With our idealism, we

“came and saw where he was staying

and remained with him”.

In our schools, our youth centres, our

missions and parishes, we are Don

Bosco’s revolutionaries, working for

youth who are at the mercy of exploita-

tion by a materialistic society whose

godless gospel is a great hoax: namely,

that power, possessions and pleasure

give happiness.

So, to today’s youth, we issue the same

invitation of Jesus and Don Bosco:

“Come and see”, for here are leaders

well worth living for.

SALESIANS 2012

4.2 Page 32

▲back to top

CREATING A CULTURE

OF VOCATION

Portugal

COME AND SEE!

by Fr João de Brito Carvalho, sdb

The Rector Major’s Strenna was dis-

seminated, in its essentials, in July of

the previous year, and became the

point of departure for planning at

province and local level. This allowed us

to see that the provincial and local

communities, pastoral and educative

communities and Salesian Family

Groups could take up the Rector

Major’s Strenna as a reference point for

the school year and other pastoral ac-

tivities throughout the year.

‘Come and See’ culture in

Portugal

In early January 2011 we published

1,500 pamphlets containing the Rector

Major’s commentary on the Strenna.

This pamphlet aimed at ensuring that

a copy was in the hands of every par-

ticipant when the Strenna was pre-

sented. On 15 January more than 600

people came together at Fatima (SDB,

FMA, other member groups of the

Salesian Family, and other lay people

who share responsibility with us) in

order to get to know its key idea:

“Come and See”. The commentary on

the Strenna was presented in summ-

mary form by the two provincials (SDB

and FMA) then further illustrated by a

DVD which the Congregation pro-

duced and sent around the world. The

meeting was coordinated by the na-

tional delegate for the Salesian Family.

As part of the plan to encourage a“cul-

ture of vocation” in each local commu-

nity, the Provincial, during his canonical

visitation to the communities, pre-

sented the Strenna and commentary

to the SDBs, lay partners, SF Groups,

Salesian Youth Movement, Parish

groups and so forth. Vocation teams in

each community were particularly in-

volved in this work. The DVD was espe-

cially useful, in its entirety or part

thereof.

In order to broaden the reach of the

Rector Major’s reflections, a copy of the

Strenna commentary was sent to key

civil authorities in the country, to dioce-

san bishops and to other provincials of

male and female religious communi-

ties.

At the Youth Ministry level

At national level, the province vocation

team supported local communities in

letting the Strenna be known, and in

accompaniment of youngsters show-

ing seeds of a calling to consecrated or

priestly life.

SALESIANS 2012

4.3 Page 33

▲back to top

The main activities undertaken by the

Youth Ministry Team were as follows:

Don Bosco Meetings: an initiative

which took place this year in various

communities to present the Salesian

vocation to young people through

regular meetings;

24 October 2010: a National youth

gathering in Mogofores as part of

the national Salesian Family Pilgrim-

age to the National Shrine to Mary

Help of Christians;

22-23 January: FlashBosco (for

teenagers) North and South;

5 February: Pre-teens Meeting, North

and South;

9-10 April: Easter for Youth – a youth

retreat at Fatima;

14-15 May: National SYM Day which

coincided with the 59th Salesian

Family Pilgrimage to Fatima – in-

cluding a youth forum on the

Strenna;

10 June: Province Day where young

people involved in the vocations dis-

cernment process were also invited;

18-22 July: National SYM Camp for

pre-teens and teenagers, with voca-

tion culture as its main theme.

Salesian Family Groups

Under the guidance of the National

Salesian Family Council, which meets three

times a year, the idea of a culture of voca-

tionwastakenup. Thisbecamepartoffor-

mation occasions and Salesian Family

retreats and was the central theme for the

two national pilgrimages to the Mary Help

of Christians Shrine at Mogofores and the

international Shrine at Fatima.

4.4 Page 34

▲back to top

CREATING A CULTURE

OF VOCATION

Thailand

Following in his footsteps

by Fr Dominic Savio Amnuai, sdb

“Come and See” is the Salesian 2011 Strenna.

It is the appeal from our Rector Major to

work for vocations in the Salesian world. It is

the Call for all of us to return to St John

Bosco, our founder, and to go back to Jesus

our teacher of Love, in order to know what

Don Bosco thought, what he said and

what he did, and follow his steps in our

Salesian daily life.

Nowadays the Salesian Congregation

in ailand has four centres of

vocational guidance to form our

youth to become Salesians

and to continue our

Salesian works in

the future:

St Theresa of the Infant Jesus

Centre (Hua Hin) founded in 1947

(1947-1970) and closed for around

ten years (1971-1980). en it

opened again in 1981 and continues

as an aspirantate for youth from all

over ailand, except Chiang Mai

Diocese. Our aspirants here study at

Hua Hin Vitthayalai School.

St John Bosco Centre (Doi

Saked Chiang Mai) founded in 2009

is also an aspirantate for youth from

Chiang Mai Diocese. ey study at

Sarasat-Chiang Mai School.

SALESIANS 2012

4.5 Page 35

▲back to top

Holy Family Centre (Nazareth

Banpong) founded in 1990, is an as-

pirantate for older young people

completing their secondary studies.

ey study at Sarasit School Ban-

pong.

St Peter’s Postnovitiate (Sam-

pran) founded in 1977, is the house

for Postulants, Novices and Post-

Novices. ey study philosophy at

Saengtham College.

From

these four

centres for young

people who wish to

follow in Jesus’ footsteps,

our youth have the chance to

form themselves in the Spirit of

Don Bosco. Everyday, they have

time to study, learn the Salesian

Spirit, practise it in various fields and

find their real vocation as Salesians.

We say that “these centres are the heart

of our Salesian Congregation”.

SALESIANS 2012

4.6 Page 36

▲back to top

CREATING A CULTURE

OF VOCATION

Ecuador

Vocation and Missionary Movement

by Fr Juan Cárdenas, sdb

Rafael Correa, the current President

of the Republic, is one of the more

than 2000 young people who in their

earlier years left home for a year for ex-

perience as a Salesian volunteer in the

mountainous Cordillera de los Andes

region at Zumbahua, an indigenous

community and mission station 3,500

metres up.

Gabriela Jiménez, after a formation

process was sent to the Ecuadorian

jungle to share the Salesian spirit with

the indigenous Achuar at the Wasak-

entsa mission.

The Salesian volunteer movement in

Ecuador, involving a full year of service,

began in 1971. Four decades later it has

undergone a process of evolution and

consolidation as an opportunity for

social commitment for young people.

Since 1980 FMA communities have

opened their doors to take in young

female volunteers and now take part

in a joint eﬀort with their Salesian

confreres. Somewhat later, in the 1990s,

the Daughters of the Sacred Hearts of

Jesus and Mary came in on the scheme

and set up a formation process known

in Spanish as JUVOMI - Juvenil (Youth-

ful), Vocacional (Vocational), Misionero

(Missionary). The volunteer movement

envisages three stages, a ‘before’ (pre-

volunteer), a ‘during’ (the actual time as

a volunteer) and an‘afterwards’(“volun-

teers forever” or VPS in its Spanish

acronym). Most of the young volun-

teers come from Salesian communities

and their works.

The volunteer movement now has a

strong social, church and vocational

component.

» volunteer activity is presented as an

opportunity for citizen involvement

with a view to strengthening the

social fabric, solidarity and democ-

racy.

» young volunteers are sent to 40

Salesian communities and 8 female

religious communities which are not

Salesian but are in the local church.

Here they work in close collaboration

and develop a true sense of Church.

SALESIANS 2012

4.7 Page 37

▲back to top

e volunteer movement plays

a major role in allowing young people

to have an experience of life helping

those who are very poor.

In the past twenty years the volunteer

movement has been a unique source

of vocations for the Province. Fr

Marcelo Farfán, the Provincial, indicates

that as part of the Province Vocation

Plan the volunteer movement plays a

major role in allowing young people to

have an experience of life helping

those who are very poor; they “come

and see” and while some then choose

to be Salesians, everyone has a very real

experience of Don Bosco in their life.

What started out as a personal initiative

then became a province and even an

inter-province choice. We currently

have a single Salesian Family-wide vol-

unteer project, one that works towards

teamwork in all respects: leadership,

coordination, communion and re-

sources, in order to strengthen the mis-

sion volunteer movement in Ecuador.

Both male and female volunteers are

in roughly equal numbers, and twice

yearly we send out some 80 to a

100 young volunteers. Similarly, the

Province also welcomes international

volunteers from Austria, Germany, Italy,

the United States. We see to it that

young people are part of the life and

activity of the communities, and in an

appropriate setting for an apostolic

experience and a life of faith. We also

do our best to see that they are per-

sonally accompanied. It is a chal-

lenge to accompany young people

as they conclude their experience as

volunteers, to see that they become

active citizens who maintain a Christian

viewpoint on life.

SALESIANS 2012

4.8 Page 38

▲back to top

CREATING A CULTURE

OF VOCATION

Poland

Annual Altar Server’s Pilgrimage

by Bro. Robert Gajewski, sdb

The annual Altar Servers Pilgrimage (Known as

PIM in Polish) is an extensive gathering of Altar

Servers from the Salesian Province of St. John

Bosco in Wrocław, Poland.

For the past 30 years, in the first days of May, the

youngsters have been coming to spend a few

days at the Sanctuary of Our Lady Help of Chris-

tians in Twardogóra to celebrate what it means to

be an Altar Server and to compete in all kinds of

games.

Over this period we estimate that some 20,000

young altar servers have taken part in an event

that normally sees around 700 coming together

annually.

The gathering is an enormous logistic enterprise.

The 100 or so organising staﬀ and referees are

young Salesians who eﬀectively run the entire

event. The altar servers are accommodated in dif-

ferent locations in Twardogóra: schools, kinder-

gartens and dormitories.

The games take place in the town at diﬀerent

sport facilities and in the oratory at the church.

The participants are recruited mostly from our

Salesian centres but also include representatives

SALESIANS 2012

4.9 Page 39

▲back to top

e participants are recruited

mostly from our Salesian centres

but also includes representatives from

non-Salesian parishes.

from non-Salesian parishes. They have a wide

choice of 30 diﬀerent games, both individual and

group, in 4 age categories as well as all kinds of

other activities, sports, liturgy, quizzes on the lives

of the Saints. Every day the altar servers attend

Mass. Evenings are dedicated to so-called ‘cultural

recreation’ (music, fun games, acting) as well as

spiritual formation (evening prayers, church serv-

ices, ‘goodnight talks’).

The annual PIM Pilgrimage in May is the crowning

eﬀort for these altar servers. In the course of the

year, in diﬀerent places of our Province, mini-gath-

erings of the kind take place where the youngsters

take part in diﬀerent sports: football, volleyball,

basketball, swimming. There is also place for spiri-

tual and liturgical formation. The points which the

diﬀerent teams collect at these mini-events are

then added to the main event in May so we could

say that the idea of the festival is kept alive

throughout the whole year rather than just for a

few days in May.

People from the local community and the city

council as well as our benefactors and volunteers

are involved in the organisation of the event.

The Pilgrimage has its own anthem, logo and its

own internet website: www.pim.salezjanie.pl

SALESIANS 2012

4.10 Page 40

▲back to top

CREATING A CULTURE

OF VOCATION

Malta

The Proof is in the Pudding

by Fr Paul Formosa, sdb

Run by an experienced team of lay youth leaders under the direction of Fr Paul For-

mosa SDB, the Salesian Pastoral Youth Services (SPYS) seeks to develop and imple-

ment a programme of holistic formation for young people; this is achieved through

a number of seminars and other activities aimed at gathering young people

from all walks of life.

For a number of years now, one of the main activities undertaken by SPYS

has given Maltese young people the opportunity to go on voluntary work

experiences abroad with other Salesian communities, focussing on com-

munities in developing countries. In fact, SPYS has, over the years, forged

a very strong relationship with a number of Salesian communities in India

and Ghana, although it has also sent volunteers to other member organ-

isations of Don Bosco Youth-Net ivzw, which encompasses Salesian or-

ganisations from 13 EU countries.

The journey does not however start and end with the experi-

ence away from Maltese shores. Rather, at SPYS we consider

the experience to be a journey that commences well in

advance of the visit to the overseas community. A

meeting is in fact held at the beginning of the year

to inform prospective volunteers about the types

of experience that SPYS can oﬀer, and in which

interested youths get the chance to listen to first-

hand experiences and start to get a better appre-

ciation for voluntary work and for the Salesian

spirit.

This is then followed by a series of activity-filled sessions,

during which the prospective volunteers are given the op-

portunity to learn about Don Bosco and the preventive

system, and discover and reflect on a number of situations

and experiences that they may encounter along the journey,

for example being in a diﬀerent culture, or being in a com-

munity which lacks a number of luxuries that are taken for

granted in the volunteers’ day to day lives. They are also

given the opportunity, through sessions aimed at identi-

SALESIANS 2012

5 Pages 41-50

▲back to top

5.1 Page 41

▲back to top

fying their inner skills, to discover them-

selves (and their creative selves!) in new

ways they hadn’t previously explored.

The truth, however, is that no amount of

preparation sessions can come close to

matching the experience itself. While each

experience is like no other, all former

volunteers share many things in

common: they all thoroughly enjoy

the experience with the children,

be it telling jokes, making children

smile, playing games, giving ed-

ucational talks, painting faces,

helping the children with some

homework, making arts and crafts,

or teaching!

Truth be told, however, it is gener-

ally the case that the real students

turn out to be the volunteers

themselves, because for every

little bit of English, or mathemat-

ics that they teach the children,

the same volunteers learn a lot

more in respect of appreciation

of the many things they have got

but often, however, take for

granted. They may say that the

proof is in the pudding, but we

like to think of the proof as being

volunteers returning to Malta

humbled by the experience,

and keen to return again on

another future voluntary

work experience!

SALESIANS 2012

5.2 Page 42

▲back to top

CREATING A CULTURE

OF VOCATION

Bolivia

Never Forget to Play!

by ea Ricchiuto

I made the mistake a few times, and I will never

make it again. I forgot to play. When I became frus-

trated with the girls during estudios, my first thought

was get to my computer and it will all be better. My

computer is my link back to my life in California, but

that currently isn’t my home. My home is in Bolivia,

and I can’t run away from it by turning on a computer.

Estudios ends at 5:00pm and Rosario begins around

6:30 pm. This leaves the girls an hour and a half to

gather their clothes from the line, eat a snack (me-

rienda), and most importantly play. This is the best

time to play because the girls are just released from

sitting, and they are ready!

Once they have all had their snacks, the numbers start

to gather and the screams are heard across town. The

girls have a few diﬀerent games they love to play, but

most importantly they just love to scream. I now

remember why I love working with my all boys

camp… no screaming. The big girls are very athletic

so I stay out of all the games they play, to avoid a ball

being pelted at my head. It’s a special version of

dodge ball that scares me!

I stick to the little ones during this time because they

have an energy level that is astonishing. A few days

ago I was lucky enough to enjoy the company of 5

little ones and a soccer ball. It began with us kicking

the ball in a circle, which turned into‘monkey-in-the-

middle’, with all the girls trying to get the ball away

from Becca (volunteer from WA) and me. In the end I

was dribbling around and through the girls, as if they

were cones that were trying to trip me. I was holding

my own until the swarm around my feet grew so

large that I could barely move without stepping on

SALESIANS 2012

5.3 Page 43

▲back to top

them. The best part of it all was their incredible

laughs!

Estudios is the hardest part of my day, but if I remind

myself that I get to play, it some how makes it all

better. I no longer retreat to my computer for comfort.

I play! It is easy to run away to my room and only

come out when needed, but that isn’t why I am here.

I am here to love and show these youth what love is.

I realize more than ever that my six months here are

very short. I complain about missing people, but it’s

only for six months that I will be missing my family,

my fiancé and my friends. I will miss these kids for the

rest of my life.

I am learning many lessons that I wouldn’t learn any-

where else in the world. I was placed in Hogar Casa

Main in Santa Cruz, Bolivia for a reason. I will never

know the exact reason, but I know that I am doing

what the Lord has asked of me. The Lord works in very

mysterious ways, and I am watching his blessings in

front of me every day. Every time I have a problem

with a girl I remind myself that she was placed here

for a specific purpose, and it might be for me to help

her or her to help me. Every laugh and giggle brings

me that much closer to God. After being here at the

Hogar, I will never again forget to play!

After a month long formation with

VIDES, ea Ricchiuto was sent as Salesian

Lay Missioner to Bolivia in mid-January

2011.

SALESIANS 2012

5.4 Page 44

▲back to top

CREATING A CULTURE

OF VOCATION

Spain

WYD World Youth Day,

a Celebration of Faith

SALESIANS 2012

5.5 Page 45

▲back to top

World Youth Day was described by Benedict XVI as ‘a celebration of faith’.

The reason is clear: these events breed an atmosphere of joy, sharing and enthusiasm

that offers both a wealth of opportunity to reflect and, above all,

encounter Jesus through the sacraments and prayer.

The Madrid World Youth Days were no exception. Young people from all over the world gath-

ered to listen to the Successor of Peter and receive guidance from him on how to be a Catholic

in the modern world. And while young people readied themselves for the occasion – through

catechesis, confession, Masses, Stations of the Cross and much more – they gave colour to

the city, welcomed strangers, made new friends, sang and danced in the streets and

subways,… expressed, that is, the joy of living that is characteristic of young people when

they have dreams and believe in something (or better yet, Someone) to hope for.

SALESIANS 2012

5.6 Page 46

▲back to top

CREATING A CULTURE

OF VOCATION

Spain

WYD MADRID 2011

e Salesian Youth Movement at the feast of faith

by Gian Francesco Romano

The WYD kind of scene is just made for a sit-

uation like the Salesian Youth Movement

(SYM), a movement which grew out of Don

Bosco’s educational style and has always inte-

grated enthusiasm and devotion, festivity and

prayer, the pro-activity of youth and confi-

dence in their pastors and teachers. The SYM

found Madrid to be a natural habitat, and in

the encounters with the national delegations,

seeing the circumstances of other young

people and movements, listening to key fig-

ures of the Movement such as Fr Pascual

Chávez and Mother Yvonne Reungoat, and of

the Church in the Pope and the bishops, the

SYM found new stimulus and strength for the

challenges ahead.

There were some very special moments for

the Salesian Youth Movement at this year’s

World Youth Day. The ‘Steadfast in Faith’ Vigil

and Festival was certainly one of them.

Salesian Youth Ministry in Spain, which in-

cludes the Salesian Sisters, started working on

it two years in advance: two years of work for

an event which lasted, all up, for about 8

hours. That might seem a huge investment of

resources – human, time and of course

money – but it was aiming for incalculable re-

sults. And it left the 7,000 young people who

thronged the huge courtyard at Atocha with

a heartfelt conviction, a sense of family and

unity, and something to remember forever:

that it is wonderful to be involved as young

Catholics working for the salvation of other

young people, and that the journey, if you

are in the company of a group of friends as

vast as the world is vast, is both joyful and ex-

citing.

The goal was achieved. During the afternoon

Festival the youth witnessed the beauty of

SALESIANS 2012

5.7 Page 47

▲back to top

the variety of people and traditions,

songs and dances, stories and art, and in

the evening program – centred on the

Gospel passage of the house built on

rock – and in the words of Fr Chávez and

Mother Yvonne – they acknowledged

their concerns and responses to them; in

Eucharistic adoration and prayer they

found the true reason for their pilgrim-

age.

Something similar happened on Satur-

day 20 August, before and during the

prayer vigil held at Cuatro Vientos. In the

morning the SYM youth from all around

the world gathered at the College at

Carabanchel to make the pilgrimage to-

gether to the former Madrid airport. It

was an opportunity to have fun again

with organised dances, but mostly it was

time for thinking about commitment,

pledges made by the young people

before returning to their countries: to

go out and meet other young people,

support them in their diﬃculties and

walk with them on their journey of faith,

foster opportunities for volunteer activity,

create strong bonds and a sense of be-

longing, give witness, evangelise and

show what it means to be happy as a

young Catholic.

listen to an 84 year old man, except for

the firm faith and conviction that this

man would lead them to Jesus? And

what else could provide the strength to

sing for the Pope and pray through a

raging storm, kneeling in the mud that

ruined their sleeping bags and clothes?

Only the enthusiasm and the joy of

being so many and so diﬀerent, yet

united by the same faith. And how does

one understand why hundreds of thou-

sands of young people, almost as one,

suddenly knelt for Eucharistic adoration,

forgetting all the context and practical

diﬃculties around them, unless one im-

putes a firm faith? There is no doubt that

World Youth Day in Madrid was a true

celebration of faith.

Later in the day the ‘steadfastnes in faith’

of all young people – not just the SYM,

but all those present at Cuatro Vientos –

emerged in pure form, in its entirety and

for the world to see on television. With-

out faith, in fact, one could not explain

what happened. What could urge half a

million or more young people to remain

several hours under the scorching sun to

Fr Soler Rosendo,

National delegator for Youth Ministry

Spain

SALESIANS 2012

5.8 Page 48

▲back to top

CREATING A CULTURE

OF VOCATION

Chile

“You are God’s hope and ours too”

Rector Major’s visit to Chile Salesian Province

by Fr Juan Bustamante, sdb

Y“ oung people from the Salesian

Youth Movement, come and see!”,

the Rector Major, Fr Pascual Chávez,

shouted, and a thousand young people

immediately got on their feet, came

down from the stands and gathered

around Don Bosco’s successor. Without

a doubt, this was the moment that best

described the Rector Major’s encounter

with the members of the Salesian Youth

Movement (SYM) on Saturday 26 March

in the context of his visit to Chile. From

there on it was a joyful. festive, en-

counter involving Don Bosco’s repre-

sentative today and today’s youth.

One by one the Rector Major answered

the questions from the youngsters, talk-

ing to them in their midst, just as if he

were meeting up with good friends

who had not met for some time. “I really

am very happy spending this time with

you, because you are the raison d’etre of

my existence; you are God’s hope and

ours too, and that’s why I love you all so

much” said Fr Pascual.

One of the questions was about conti-

nuity – how they could carry their SYM

spirituality forward into adulthood. Fr

Pascual answered by saying that the

SYM was just one stage in a boy’s or a

girl’s life, where they experience fascina-

tion for Don Bosco and his spirituality,

and where they form a group to ensure

they are not alone. “If you only knew

how many youngsters today live alone,

and then you look around to see how

SALESIANS 2012

5.9 Page 49

▲back to top

many have come together here to

share love and life, faith and everything

that Don Bosco means for us… how-

ever, it is one more step, since we are

not going to stay young forever. The

most important thing is that the SYM

helps you to make courageous and

decisive life choices, as did Laura

Vicuña, Dominic Savio, and Ceferino

Namuncurá”.

The Rector Major also told them that

life could be lived in two ways: perfunc-

torily, or creatively. “Living it perfuncto-

rily”, he said “is like just going to the

oﬃce where what you do may have

little bearing on how you really live.

Jesus tells us ‘My Father is always at

work and so am I’, meaning that if we

are creative we are always generating

something new, our own life, our envi-

ronment, whatever surrounds us. I

would like to finish my life having been

fruitful, having really created some-

thing, not simply by passing through

life without leaving a footprint, and it all

depends on how we experience what

we do”.

He finished by recalling that Don Bosco

did things in such a way that his

youngsters became apostles of other

youngsters, young people for the

young: “Today, like yesterday”, he

added, “the only alternatives are wel-

coming ones: family, an intense spiri-

tual atmosphere which is able to

generate ideas for being committed,

generous”. He called on young people

to be giants, with everything depend-

ing on our ability to oﬀer them high

goals for them to achieve.

“e most important thing

is that the SYM helps you

to make courageous and

decisive life choices, as did

Laura Vicuña, Dominic

Savio, and Ceferino

Namuncurá”.

SALESIANS 2012

5.10 Page 50

▲back to top

CREATING A CULTURE

OF VOCATION

Japan

Voluntary Service brings Hope Again

by Fr Daniel Masaharu Torigoe, sdb

The strong earthquake and subse-

quent tsunami which struck the

Japanese archipelago on 11 March

were the most devastating events to

have hit the country since the end of

the Second World War.

In the diﬃcult situation after the

tsunami there is a glimmer of light and

hope in the solidarity and readiness of

young people to help. “In this tragedy,

one of the most moving things has

been the generous response of the

young Japanese” Fr Yasutaka Mura-

matsu, Provincial Secretary and Dele-

gate for Salesian Voluntary Service told

the Fides Agency at the time.

“Young people, Christians and non-

Christians, are getting together and

they want to go to the stricken areas at

once to oﬀer their services, their energy

and their enthusiasm to help the vic-

tims, giving some hope through their

smiles. It is very moving to see how

much love they have for their neigh-

bours. It is a lesson for all of us educa-

tors”.

Some young students from Salesio-

Gakuin High School in Yokohama have

undertaken to help as far as they pos-

sibly can in the rebuilding of the areas

hit by the earthquake and the tsunami

back in March 2011. This is something

which gives fresh hope to the local

people and makes the young people

involved reflect and grow in maturity.

Fr Daniel Masaharu Torigoe is the Prin-

cipal of the school in Yokohama. Like all

the members of the Japanese Salesian

community not directly aﬀected by the

disaster, right from the beginning he

tried to make himself useful in helping

and comforting people from the most

northerly regions hit hardest by the

earthquake, the tsunami, and then the

nuclear danger.

“However, in the early months the con-

sequences of the devastation and the

fear of radioactive contamination pre-

vented us from taking young people to

the area. We had no real idea of what

sort of help we could give. On my own

I visited the area in May to find out

what could be done, but the whole city

was destroyed, nothing remained,

everything had been swept away.

There was no place for the students or

young people who were not profes-

sionally qualified”, the Salesian said.

As the months passed, the situation

improved and the Salesians found a

safe place where they could work with

the students. In fact in Shiogama city,

in the diocese of Sendai, a diocesan

Voluntary Service Centre was set up

supported by Japan Caritas which was

being coordinated by a Salesian,

Brother Francesco Fukagawa.

In June Fr Torigoe suggested to the

young people that they should

become personally involved in the re-

construction of their country and pro-

vide moral support for the victims.

“Surprisingly”, he says, “more students

than I expected wanted to take part

and I divided them into four

groups, with five students and a

teacher in each”.

On 12 July the first group

left for Shiogama City;

the second were

there between 19

and 21 July, the

SALESIANS 2012

6 Pages 51-60

▲back to top

6.1 Page 51

▲back to top

“I received a lot from people here, I was encouraged by their smiles,

their positive ways of looking at the reality, their living together,

helping each other”.

third between 25 and 27; the final

group went from 18 to 20 August.

Under the supervision of Brother Fuka-

gawa and other leaders, the young

people spent two whole days cleaning

up the houses, the streets, the beaches,

clearing the grass, collecting bags of

sand, clearing mud from the drains and

visiting old people left alone.

life” one of the young volunteers said.

“First of all, I thought I was going to do

a lot of work for people. But there

were so many things to do. And I

couldn’t do much. On the contrary, I

received a lot from people here, I was

encouraged by their smiles, their pos-

itive ways of looking at the reality, their

living together, helping each other”,

another says.

The experience made a great impres-

sion on the youngsters: “I noticed

what they lost is not merely their

property, but their memories, their

own lives. I felt bad about me having

my home and living a comfortable

“What we did seems to be insignifi-

cant”, said a third, “nonetheless, what

we did does not mean nothing at all.

We can hand good will over to the

ones who come next. And then it will

turn out to be significant!”

SALESIANS 2012

6.2 Page 52

▲back to top

CREATING A CULTURE

OF VOCATION

Uganda

YOUTH FORUM: COME AND SEE

One way to listen to God’s call through the disciples

and find a way to respond.

by Fr Jean-Paul Ruriho, sdb

The Youth Forum in Africa Great Lakes Province is a wonderful

opportunity for reflecting on the Rector Major’s Strenna with young

people.

This particular forum, held towards the end of December 2010 at the

Salesian Parish in Bombo, Uganda, was the second such forum

organised by the Province.

The young people came from three countries in the Province: Burundi,

Rwanda and Uganda. All told there were 300 youngsters, and they

came together for three days to reflect on the Strenna for 2011 and

especially to see how they could respond to it in their own lives.

After listening to what was presented to them, they had time to share

their experiences with the Salesians in their various countries.

SALESIANS 2012

6.3 Page 53

▲back to top

Our encounter with God:

An encounter with the Salesian

charism, the appeal to become

involved with the Church

In a family atmosphere, the young people were

reminded several times of Biblical examples

speaking of the encounter between God and

man, amongst others the case of Samuel, and the

Virgin Mary when she was asked to become the

Mother of God. For ourselves it is anchored in the

fact that we seek the meaning of who we are and

we look for meaning in our lives. The first part of

the Rector Major’s Letter speaks of “Come”, an in-

vitation to come to the Lord who calls us daily. But,

as was the case for the people in the Bible, we

need someone to help us listen more attentively.

Coming from Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda, each

one had made a long journey in order to listen

more attentively to the Lord.

One could see that the Forum was a unique occa-

sion for the young people to make new connec-

tions, share the same charism, even though they

were coming from diﬀerent countries.

The youngsters were reminded that their en-

counter with God has to be realised through their

daily life. Each person need only open his or her

eyes to see the ways God manifests himself.

“Dear young people, the Salesians who are with

you in the classroom, on the sports field, in the

playground, are real invitations to you to come”,

the Rector Major indicates through the Strenna.

“You too can stay with the Salesians after meeting

them. Staying with the Salesians today means re-

sponding to the appeal that the Lord makes to

you every day: you can stay by becoming a

Salesian of Don Bosco, Priest or Brother, Salesian

Sister, Salesian Cooperator or by taking an active

part in associations animated by the Salesian spirit,

or simply by diﬀerent life choices in which you can

radiate the Salesian spirit received during the time

spent with the Salesians”.

SALESIANS 2012

6.4 Page 54

▲back to top

SALESIANS 2012

I Will Be With You 54

A School with a Mission Vocation 56

A week in the Salesian Mission 58

Journey to the Soul’s Centre 60

Catechists in Mission 62

Helping us Pray Today 64

6.5 Page 55

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATIONAL

STYLE

Parish Missionaries Respond to God’s Call 66

Come and See the SYM 68

Rock Out Youth Poverty 70

Salesian Network Keeps Schools Closely Linked 72

Children Looking for God 74

SALESIANS 2012

6.6 Page 56

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOSCAALTEISOINAANLS S2T0Y12LE

Austria

I Will Be With You

by Ms Sophie Wöginger

Pupils at the Dominican school in

Vienna attend presentation of the

Bible published by Don Bosco Press for

children and had a chance to meet the

author, the Bishop, and a Salesian

who sang with them.

“Every story in the Bible has a happy

ending. God always has the last word”,

the auxiliary bishop of Vienna,

Stephen Turnovsky (46 years of

age) told the 150 children

packed into the Centre.

Dressed in black, at the

centre of the ‘Don Bosco

Haus’ hall in Vienna, he

was smiling. Bearing the

title ‘I will be with you’

the new Children’s Bible

was being presented. It

is published by Don

Bosco Verlag.

Bishop Turnovsky, for his part, is the

bishop responsible for Youth Ministry

in the Diocese.

Initially the bishop was sitting along

with the pupils. Fr Alfons Friedrich (52

years of age), the Director of Don

Bosco Verlag, Munich, was conducting

the morning’s events. When invited to

come forward, the bishop expressed

his gratitude for the event. He said

that he loved the bible very much. “If

I had to choose a book to keep, I

would choose the Bible. I have read it

from beginning to end. It is a moving

and wonderful book”.

The other guest was Fr Rudolf Os-

anger (60 years of age) Salesian Provin-

cial, Austria, who was very happy to

accept the invitation. The children

were immediately taken by his happy

smile. They were not yet aware that

Fr Rudi was the composer of

many of the hymns they knew.

Some of these were sung

during the Mass they had just

attended. Fr Osanger knows all

about how to address young-

sters: “I have brought something

for you to sing today and I have

discovered that you already know

it pretty well. Your teacher whis-

pered this to me”. And smiling, the

provincial took his guitar and began

to sing Freude kann Kreise ziehen. The

children began to dance and clap

their hands. “All together”, Fr Osanger

cried in a loud voice and everyone

SALESIANS 2012

6.7 Page 57

▲back to top

"If I had to choose a book to keep, I would choose the Bible.

I have read it from beginning to end.

It is a moving and wonderful book”.

sang one more verse at the top of their

voice.

The presentation went on. Lene Mayer-

Skumanz is a children’s author and very

well known in Austria. Fr Friedrich, as

the Director of Don Bosco Verlag has al-

ready been involved in publishing some

of her works, including a life of Don

Bosco. Both were very happy with this

new Bible. Lene Mayer-Skumanz, as-

sisted by an actor, recited a number of

passages from it. Later she signed and

wrote notes in the new books.

Little Paul, speaking for all the children,

handed over a gift copy, though a little

nervously, to the bishop. Fr Friedrich

spoke to the bishop at the conclusion:

“May I ask you to give a blessing” and

Bishop Turnovsky turned to the chil-

dren: “I invite you to focus and think for

a moment, prepare for the blessing”. He

bowed his head briefly and raised his

hand for the blessing making the Sign

of the Cross: “May Almighty God bless

you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen”.

The children were given a Holy Picture

with a prayer. This was to put in their

new Bible. It would remind them of the

day the bishop was with them.

SALESIANS 2012

6.8 Page 58

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATIONAL STYLE

Argentina

A School with a Mission Vocation

by Juan José Chiappetti

Victorica is a city located in the west-

ern zone of La Pampa province, and

is the main habitation in steppe lands

that look more like desert than green

prairies for grazing cattle or for cultiva-

tion.

The Salesians arrived in 1896 and little

by little began a missionary eﬀort that

covered an area of some 400 square

kilometres. From there they extended

their eﬀorts to a further seven localities.

“This is a Christian community that has

given much help to the work of the

missionaries, and many have gone out

from here to evangelise Santa Isabel

and the Salado coast”, says Fr

Jorge

Ledesma, the Rector of this Salesian

community.

The Salesian Family here lives in a state

of ongoing mission at work especially

through the parish and school with

youth groups and projects. But the

highpoint of this mission eﬀort has

been achieved by setting up a mission

school with few similar precedents

around the world.

A new kind of school

In 2008, taking advantage of

charismatic common eﬀort

and the fact that they

were close by one another, Don Bosco

and Mary Help of Christians Colleges

set up a school bringing together both

these branches (SDB and FMA) of the

Salesian Family. One school holds the

secondary while the other has the pri-

mary classes and together they make

up more than 650 students, boys and

girls, most of them from struggling

families. The Salesians of Don Bosco

(SDB) and the Salesian Sisters (FMA)

have come together in this endeav-

our after a time of discernment

that began years back, resulting

in a new work which is much

more than the simple sum of

its parts.

Going much further

than their original

institutes, the decision

meant not only better

study opportunities for

those enrolled but that

students, teachers and

parents together have

SALESIANS 2012

6.9 Page 59

▲back to top

Don Bosco’s presence in these parts has a special character because the

Salesians and Sisters are working side by side with youngsters and

adults, helping to build a more just and inclusive society

an educational and institutional setting

that is much stronger than it was

before.

Regarding primary education in partic-

ular, the experience has been most sig-

nificant since it has combined the two

primary sectors to achieve a much

more complete result. As the principal,

Amalia Martínez, and vice principal, Pa-

tricia Manso put it: “Coming together

was much easier than we had imag-

ined it would be. Working together this

way was and still is a unique experi-

ence, since it was the first time this had

been achieved, but more importantly

because of the way it strength-

ened our sense of community

and taught us how we must

help each other increasingly

each day”.

here are lower middle class or poor, so

fees are accessible for them – no more

than 40 pesos. We keep them low so

that school fees are no barrier to

anyone wanting to come to the

school”. But in all this however “in the

idea that we put to students and their

families”, the missionary nature of the

school holds particular relevance: “in

mission territory, formal education

cannot avoid this side of things”.

Don Bosco’s presence in these parts

has a special character because the

Salesians and Sisters are working side

by side with youngsters and adults,

helping to build a more just and inclu-

sive society. “The dream is that, as a

community made of of Salesians, Sis-

ters and lay people we can continue to

work together in ministry. We provide

communion and involvement so that

we are all building Church together,

and we grow together”, says Sister

Susana Sotelo, Superior of the FMA

community.

For her part, Silvia Torres, staﬀ

representative and member

of the secondary pastoral

team comments that “many

SALESIANS 2012

6.10 Page 60

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATIONAL STYLE

France

A week in the

Salesian Mission

by Fr Jean-Noël Charmoille, sdb

For the past eight years, each year one

Salesian school benefits from a week

of ‘mission’: a team of 15 to 20 Salesians

(SDB and FMA) who come from the var-

ious places where they work and pro-

vide leadership, time for reflection

and celebration involving young

people and adults. The idea is

to change their daily lives

and provide some im-

petus for a pastoral

approach.

A mission was once seen as a week of

preaching, confessions and celebrations

in a parish led by a Religious, often

maybe a Capuchin or a Franciscan. In our

Province, not all schools have the benefit

of a religious community. The catechist

has usually been replaced by a school

pastoral leader, a lay person formed for

the task, but often formed for a com-

pletely diﬀerent role.

The adult teams running the schools are

the ones who have to look to the spirit,

the school climate, often without much

remuneration, and they are taken up

largely by matters of daily management.

So to provide support, give ideas, give a

boost to the adults and give the students

a sense of meaning at the heart of their

scholastic endeavours, the idea came

about to set up ‘Salesian missions’. The

idea took on: many schools have sought

to benefit from this much appreciated

pastoral push.

A courageous kind of

leadership which has borne

fruit

When a school is chosen, we start by

preparing the teachers and school man-

agers. We explain what will happen: they

need to accept our timetable for the

week, since the school routine is going

to be completely upset. We take a ‘play’

approach for the students: the ‘mission-

aries’ move through the classrooms or

they catch up with everyone in the play-

ground or in the gym. A main topic is

SALESIANS 2012

7 Pages 61-70

▲back to top

7.1 Page 61

▲back to top

chosen, then developed according to

its diﬀerent aspects: personal or human

point of view, point of view of meaning

or values, religious point of view. There

are varied approaches: activities and

small groups, sharing ideas around a

story, wide games, vigil, celebration…

Everyday in the courtyard or during

lunch time the Salesians and Sisters

mingle as part of the life of the school:

they are closer to the young people,

share their games, their questions, their

problems. Many question the meaning

of their lives but without knowing who

to talk to about it. It becomes an incred-

ible opportunity for dialogue. The God

question is never far away, and the ‘mis-

sionaries’ are not slow to raise it. What

place does the ‘Other’ have in my life?

Why do we have talents if we don’t

share them? How do we find signs of

God in our lives? If they are not yet ready

for a Eucharistic celebration, celebration

can take other strong symbolic forms:

sharing, forgiveness, solidarity…

Life, faith, every topic is

tackled

The leaders try to loosen the tongues

of the young people, and adults as well.

During the exchanges, once confi-

dence has been established, the ques-

tion of vocation comes up, and often

enough a youngster will pose a per-

sonal question:“What does one have to

do to become a religious?” Then there

are informal moments, personal proj-

ects to be expressed: “Well, I’d like to

be a specialist teacher for the handi-

capped, like my mum”. And then there

are comments about the Religious

who run the event: “They were great!

We thought they’d all be oldies like in

the parish!”

One Principal told us: “As Principal, I

appreciate this formidable work by

the Salesians, and thank them very

much. I was able to see our students

diﬀerently: some who were timid

shone out, others who seemed more

normally boisterous showed wisdom…

to put it bluntly, I was surprised. The

adults too were great, taking part in

the games and working in with the

mission, each in his or her own way,

either by helping the students in their

activities, or helping out with the lo-

gistics. Finally, speaking personally, I

was able to talk very freely about God

and the youngsters’ faith with the

Salesians: it has been personally en-

riching”.

In many schools, the ‘mission’ has

given a boost to the pastoral plan,

adults have got going again, relation-

ships between them and the kids has

improved, the climate has changed.

Each one comes to understand better

what Salesian pastoral leadership is all

about, the reference to Don Bosco is

clearer, and is owned once again.

We are now preparing for the eighth

year of this mission. It will be in Alsace,

at a technical school.

SALESIANS 2012

7.2 Page 62

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATIONAL STYLE

Kenya

Journey to the Soul’s Centre

I“ t was the best experience I have had

in my young life” remarked one

youthful participant in a leadership-

cum-retreat at Don Bosco Youth Edu-

cational Services (DBYES). In our busy,

modern world, it can be diﬃcult to find

space and time to stop, reflect and be

still. This is precisely what DBYES oﬀers.

Its serene and peaceful surroundings

welcome anyone who wants to stop

and take stock of life. Here one finds

true pilgrims to the soul’s centre, or

people who seek a way to their future.

DBYES oﬀers variety: residential confer-

ences, retreats, various seminars, all

aimed at helping anyone, especially

young people. Whether in the chapel,

or out in the garden, these beautiful

by Fr Sebastian Koladiyil, sdb

surroundings far from the hustle and

bustle of life could be just the ticket to

help one get in touch with oneself and

nature, and renew ones strength for re-

turning to the demands of everyday

life.

DBYES was established in 2000 when

the Salesian Theologate at nearby

Utume was moved to a newly built lo-

cation. DBYES is a youth-friendly centre

focused on empowering, accompany-

ing and animating young people,

youth ministers, catechists, teachers,

SALESIANS 2012

7.3 Page 63

▲back to top

DBYES can also be considered a religious theme park

with its specialised reflection walks for youth and adults

where one can take an inward journey, physically, through

the prayer garden.

parents and other leaders by training

them in life-skills: self awareness, self as-

sertiveness, self esteem, care for the

body, interpersonal skills, communica-

tion, stress management, problem

solving, goal setting, planning, decision

making, caring for the spiritual self, ca-

pacity building, leadership training,

value education, time management,

study methods, handling emotions,

career guidance, relationship and

friendship skills, peace building, inter-

personal skills, media education, know-

ing ones sexuality and living with

diﬀerences so as to transform the soci-

ety. All these are oﬀered at the one-day

morning-to-evening, or residential fa-

cilities.

Campus Ministry, School Chaplaincy,

Youth counselling and School Retreats

are oﬀered on a regular basis and

on special request. Each year DBYES

reaches out to thousands of college

and school students, parish youth,

teachers and youth minsters.

Some 20 kilometres from Nairobi’s cen-

tral business district, in the tranquil and

picturesque outskirts at Karen, DBYES

can also be considered a religious

theme park with its specialised reflec-

tion walks for youth and adults where

one can take an inward journey, physi-

cally, through the prayer garden dedi-

cated to the memory of Fr Philip

Valayam, murdered as he was returning

to DBYES after midnight Mass in 2005,

or through multimedia oﬀerings. There

is a journey of self-discovery, ‘River

Mee’, the journey into ones origins;

‘Nazarene Lane’, the journey of life; the

‘Road to Youth, Teen Commitment’, and

a beautiful chapel filled with rich

African art. The prayer garden at DBYES

is truly a place where “Come and See”

becomes a lived reality.

SALESIANS 2012

7.4 Page 64

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATIONAL STYLE

Guatemala

Catechists in Mission

by Fr Heriberto Herrera, sdb

Catechists, men and women, are the

Church’s real treasure in the

Salesian mission in Carchá and Raxruhá,

Guatemala.

The word “catechist” may mislead us

unless we know something of the truth

of this in the Salesian mission. The

native catechist is someone who has a

vocation as a religious leader, who

takes on the task of encouraging the

community in an ongoing way.

There are catechists with already

dozens of years of service behind them.

They receive no financial remuneration

for their work. They work as a team.

They enjoy prestige in their commu-

nity.

The catechist team coordinates and

encourages Sunday religious services.

Ordinarily, they preside at the service

because of a shortage of priests. When

visiting the communities, catechists

oﬀer invaluable support.

Catechists specialise in particular kinds

of catechesis: there are catechists for

the younger children, older youth, bap-

tisms or marriages, the sick, the elderly,

and musicians. Catechists also cate-

chise other catechists as trainers. To this

we can add their role as extraordinary

ministers of the Eucharist: The most

faithful and those with the most pres-

tige in the community accept this role.

How many catechists are there in our

Salesian mission? Not even the mis-

sionaries themselves know exactly how

many there are. A rough estimate

SALESIANS 2012

7.5 Page 65

▲back to top

shows that the number is at least four

thousand. It seems an exaggerated

figure but that’s the promising reality

of it. In fact, the preference now is to

talk about ministers instead of cate-

chists.

To look more closely at the phenome-

non, we can picture this scenario. The

priest comes to a community one

Sunday (called a centre, because it

brings together several nearby villages).

The baptism catechist speaks to the

parents and godparents who have

been preparing for the sacrament. The

paperwork is done by the catechist.

The marriage catechist does similarly

for couples preparing for their wed-

ding.

Another catechist presents a sheet with

a carefully prepared list of the Mass

servers.

The music catechist has written down

all the hymns to be used at Mass.

The children’s catechist already has

them organised in the pews, singing or

acting out biblical scenes.

The ushers have prepared the decora-

tion of the church, and along with their

wives they have already prepared the

lunch for the whole assembly.

After Mass, several catechists (adult or

youth) go to the microphone to inform

the community about upcoming

meetings or activities.

It is clear that the future of missionary

vitality lies in this legion of generous

catechists. The challenge is to pro-

vide a solid formation, so they can

successfully express the essential

content of Christian faith in their own

culture.

There have been various eﬀorts in this

regard. Young catechists in December

prepare the courses to teach the fol-

lowing year. Along with the priest they

identify the most important issues.

They then develop the content as a

team, develop training materials and

schedule the group meetings. It is ad-

mirable they way they show their abil-

ity to give life to the faith. There is

nothing of the tedious, classic bore-

dom that the word ‘catechetics’ some-

times evokes.

SALESIANS 2012

7.6 Page 66

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATIONAL STYLE

United Kingdom

Helping us Pray Today

Working in a Salesian School – Working from the Heart

SwF atch & byFrAnthonyBailey,sdb

orty years ago, our schools in Great

Britain were well-staﬀed with Salesians of

Don Bosco (SDB). As the number of voca-

tions fell and Salesians began to retire from

event, we did not close any of our secondary

schools. Today we have more students in our

schools than ever before. Most of our

schools have lay leadership and staﬀ and

teaching, we began to consider what to do they are very much Salesian schools. We

with our schools. We even raised the ques- now know that we were asking ourselves

tion, how many SDBs do we need to teach the wrong question. We should have asked

Pray in a Salesian school to keep a school

‘Salesian’? It was felt, at the time, that

the answer to this question

would determine which

schools we would

have to close.

the question, How do we support our

Salesian schools to ensure that they remain

Salesian?

A Salesian province has a duty to support its

schools. Staﬀ have a right to know what is

In the expected of them when they are appointed

to work in a Salesian school. Every province

will have devised various support systems

for its schools. One small part of that

Don

Bosco

support is in the work of publi-

cations. For the last ten

Publication

years the staﬀ of

Don Bosco

Publi-

Swatch & Pray by David O’Malley SDB

SALESIANS 2012

7.7 Page 67

▲back to top

marises the essentials of our Salesian Pre-

ventive System, is given to everyone who

works in our Salesian Schools. However,

when we display our books at teacher

conferences we make this booklet avail-

able for anyone to take, free of charge.

Participants at conferences always appre-

ciate a gift.

While being aware of the needs of the

staﬀ and young people in our own

Salesian schools, most of our publications

have a wider remit; they are designed for

all Christian schools. For example the

book entitled The Christian Teacher: Shep-

herd of Loving Kindness by David O’Malley

SDB, while being firmly based on Salesian

principles, is widely appreciated in Chris-

tian circles and is used in teacher-training

courses.

cations have sought to

provide some of this

support by encouraging

Salesians to collaborate in

the creation of publications

which staﬀ will welcome,

since these publications will

help them in the education of

the young people entrusted to

them. Some publications have

been written specifically for the

staﬀ in our Salesian schools, for ex-

ample the booklet Working in a

Salesian School – Working from the

Heart. This short booklet, which sum-

A recent interesting development has

been the introduction of Swatch & Pray, a

60 page card-resource of prayers, actions

and reflections for use with young

people. It brings together the Church tra-

ditions of praying with the body and with

the heart. These prayers are designed to

be used in large groups, small groups or

individually. The swatch can be given to

an individual to choose a prayer or the

leader may select an appropriate prayer

for that day. The activities and reflections

lead from life experience into prayer. We

have had a very positive response to

Swatch & Pray from many Catholic schools

and orders from Anglican schools. All

enjoy praying in this Salesian way.

SALESIANS 2012

7.8 Page 68

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATIONAL STYLE

Dominican Republic

Parish Missionaries

Respond to

God’s Call

SALESIANS 2012

7.9 Page 69

▲back to top

e main objective of the group is holiness through the practice of virtue,

and salvation of one’s neighbour through a life of intense apostolate

in a parish setting.

The Caribbean nation of Santo

Domingo has been blessed by the

presence of great missionaries who

planted the seeds of the Gospel, as

did St John Bosco, in such a fruitful

way that it produced a hundredfold.

Such is the case of Fr Andrés Németh

Herczeg, a Hungarian missionary

with typical Salesian ingenuity who

worked tirelessly for the salvation of

souls and, as one of his most precious

legacies, left a group of women who

consecrated themselves to God in

and from the world, cooperating in

the building of God’s kingdom: they

called themselves Parish Missionaries

of Mary Help of Christians.

On 8 December 1961 as part of the

celebrations for the Solemnity of the

Immaculate Conception, St John

Bosco Parish in Santo Domingo was

the setting for the first group of

young women to pronounce vows of

poverty, chastity and obedience, and

thus consecrate themselves to the

Lord to serve him as Parish Missionar-

ies of Mary Help of Christians. Thus a

Secular Institute dedicated to parish

work came into being.

The main objective of the group is ho-

liness through the practice of virtue,

and salvation of one’s neighbour

through a life of intense apostolate in

a parish setting. They work for the

poorest of the poor, especially young

people of all ages, and in the spirit of

Don Bosco’s charism.

The apostolic zeal which they have

embraced has enabled them to

immediately spread the kingdom

through their work in the parish, a

work of teaching catechetics in for-

gotten slum areas and in public

schools, as a faithful response to God’s

call. They believe He has invited them

to become holy by giving their lives

to develop a future for people who

were born without true knowledge of

Him. They are currently working in

by Fr Pablo Abreu, sdb

Holy Family, Doña Chucha parishes,

Altagracia Boys Town and St Do-

minic’s School, all in the Dominican

Republic’s Capital.

They are at the service of the Church,

taking in orphan children, the ex-

tremely poor or at risk. They oﬀer

them a place to live, food, education,

health, recreation, and a well-rounded

human and religious formation, both

personal and social, but they espe-

cially oﬀer them the love that has

been denied these children.

As Luke’s Gospel puts it, these

women accompany and await the

Lord (cf. Lk 8: 1-3): they have experi-

enced a personal encounter with

Jesus through their eﬀorts to turn

sorrow into smiles. From this en-

counter they gain the strength, rein-

forced by charity, which turns them

into authentic proponents of the

Gospel, which says: “Look, there is

the Lamb of God” (Jn 1:36).

SALESIANS 2012

7.10 Page 70

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATIONAL STYLE

Canada

Come and See the SYM

by Fr Michael Pace, sdb

The tension between a ‘maintenance’ and a

‘mission’ Church is written into our Salesian DNA.

Don Bosco’s pedagogy built on sacramental pillars,

our devotion to the Pope, and our trust in Mary Help

of Christians make us ‘at home’ in a maintenance

church, while our youth-centred ‘da mihi animas’

urges us to be cutting-edge in facilitating the

encounter between youth and Christ.

SALESIANS 2012

This tension finds healthy resolution

in the Salesian Youth Movement

(SYM). More than any one ‘work’ ever

could, the SYM reflects a church that is

harmoniously ‘maintenance and mis-

sion’. This is the kind of church the

young need to experience when they

come and see the Salesians.

In Toronto, for example, we have only

one Salesian work: St. Benedict Parish.

It is a fine work, but a come and see lim-

ited to it would be incomplete because

it cannot adequately express the scope

of the Salesian mission carried out in

Toronto. The Salesian mission passes

through the work, but is not limited to

it. On the other hand, when we invite

the young to come and see expres-

sions of the SYM, they experience a

vast network of evangelization eﬀorts

8 Pages 71-80

▲back to top

8.1 Page 71

▲back to top

that, while based at St. Benedict,

reaches far beyond the parish’s

boundaries, possibilities and person-

nel.

A few examples will suﬃce to illus-

trate this point. The Salesian Leader-

ship Retreat (SLR) is a three-day

‘baptism’ in Salesian youth spirituality.

Annually, it reaches 120 Toronto high

school students. Originally animated

by the SDBs, it has been kept alive

over the past ten years by dedicated

lay teachers from 8 non-Salesian

schools, none of which have a

Salesian on staﬀ, and all but one of

which lie outside our parish bound-

aries.

Summerdaze Day Camp is a six-week

summer ‘Oratory’experience that has

become a school of formation in

Salesian youth ministry. Campers and

counselors ‘graduate’ from it imbued

with the Preventive System, and go

on to become protagonists who de-

velop other youth ministries both in

the parish and beyond.

Noteworthy also are the ‘salesianized’

ecclesial movements that enrich the

Toronto SYM. The Don Bosco Council

of the Knights of Columbus has a

strong Salesian identity, while the

youth branch of the Knights draws its

inspiration from the saint whose

name it bears: Dominic Savio Squires

Circle. Our pan-Canadian World Youth

Day (WYD) group coordinates young

people from three Salesian works in

Surrey (British Columbia), Toronto

(Ontario) and Montreal (Quebec). This

Canadian group joined other national

SYM groups in Spain in August 2011

to experience the SYM at the interna-

tional level.

Finally, the SYM introduces Toronto

youth to fruitful SDB-FMA collabora-

tion. VIDES opens the doors to the for-

eign missions, while Duc in Altum has

forged SDB-FMA links in the service of

spiritual accompaniment and voca-

tional discernment.

Clearly, the SYM opens a broader

window onto the Salesian mission

than any one work ever could. Imag-

ine what kind of fruit a come and see

might bear if every confrere asked

himself: What can I do to develop the

SYM? What will I do to develop the

SYM?

SALESIANS 2012

8.2 Page 72

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATIONAL STYLE

United States

Rock Out Youth Poverty

by Delano Perera

On a wet

Sunday, January 30,

2011 many teens gathered

together at Saint Joseph’s

Salesian Youth Renewal Center to

take a stand against world poverty.

The day was filled with talks, music,

food, exhibits, and Mass to finish the

day.

I was born in Sri Lanka, where I have

seen many poor people on the

streets. This event reminded me

how lucky I am to have a roof over

my head and food on my plate.

When I first heard about the

recession, I wondered if I

would end up on

the street, just

the people I had seen back in Sri

Lanka. Sometimes it is so easy to

forget the poor on the street.

The food served that day was not any-

thing fancy. It was food that a poor

person would eat in a regular day:

peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,

plain bread, beans and tortillas, rice

with yams, fruits, and boiled potatoes.

Not the most pleasing food, but it was

truly a reminder of how blessed we

are.

Both of the guest speakers spoke to us

about how poverty and disease take

millions of lives each year. What really

touched me was when I heard that 93

percent of the world’s population

makes less than 50 dollars a day.

We ended the day by

celebrating

mass and the feast

of Saint John Bosco,

who lived in the 1800s and

brought the poor boys oﬀ the

streets and gave them a home.

Even though Saint John Bosco has

passed away, his spirit will always be

in those who serve the poor. He is

truly a perfect model for us. It is some-

times easy to forget about the poor

and abandoned. This event woke me

up and energized me to work for

the poor and follow Don Bosco.

We have to “See Don Bosco and

Be Don Bosco”. Let’s try to

end world poverty by

2015.

Delano Perera is a third

year student at St. John Bosco

High School, Bellflower, CA.

SALESIANS 2012

8.3 Page 73

▲back to top

SALESIANS 2012

8.4 Page 74

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATIONAL STYLE

Brazil

RSESalesian Network

Keeps Schools

Closely Linked

Rede Salesiana de Escolas

Nearing ten years of existence, the Salesian Schools Network

strengthens links between the educational institutions which make it up,

inspiring action focused on educational management and investment

in the ongoing formation of teachers.

by Fr Nivaldo Luiz Pessinatti, sdb and Ms Ana Cosenza

Almost a decade has passed since the Salesians of

Don Bosco and the Salesian Sisters took on the task

of building up an educational network bringing together

their schools throughout Brazil in a proposal based on

the pedagogical principles left them by Sts John Bosco

and Mother Mazzarello. It has been a long slow road in-

volving more than 100 schools belonging to the RSE en-

couraging them to adopt the proposal, and in turn

contribute their experience to building up the Network.

By now well consolidated, the Network provides conti-

nuity for the consistent work carried out by its governing

board (currently made up of Fr Nivaldo Luiz Pessinatti,

SDB, and Sister Ivanette Duncan, FMA) and has entered

a new phase. “It is time to complete this project, to help

schools on a day to day basis, showing that networking

also uses the same teaching material”, says the super-

intendent of the Network, Professor Dilnei Lorenzi.

The new challenges for the RSE include greater focus on

educational management, strengthening links between

schools and investing in ongoing formation of staﬀ.

Educate by evangelising and evangelise

by educating

“Today the discussion is not about whether or not we

should network, since this is already a reality. It is a case

of how to do things better, with greater awareness for

quality schooling”, says educational leader, Kátia Stocco

Smole. This is why the challenge in the educational field

is, amongst others, the constant updating of teachers. In

2011 it has involved both national and local levels, serv-

ing approximately 5,100 teachers.

SALESIANS 2012

8.5 Page 75

▲back to top

“Educate by evangelising and

evangelise by educating”.

“e Network aims to give this

motto greater consistency,

by showing how it needs to be part

of the school routine”.

If excellence is a teaching goal, the major diﬀerence of

RSE comes from the fact that quality teaching is

achieved when it brings with it the Salesian charism.

So says Pastoral Care Coordinator, Antonio Boeing. For

him the main challenge is to make the whole school

understand what it means to “educate by evangelising

and evangelise by educating”. “The Network aims to

give this motto greater consistency, by showing how

it needs to be part of the school routine. It does not

matter whether one is a teacher or a coordinator,

teaches Religion or Physics: no-one can ignore the

principles of Salesian education”.

Network management

The project of integrated administration began to be im-

plemented in RSE in 2010. Its aim was to promote best

practice in management and extend the network con-

cept to administration. The first step therefore was a di-

agnostic one for educational institutions. This phase has

already begun, with survey data on the school, city and

region where the school is, the competition it faces etc.

The reports produced will be the basis for the other

phases of the project: implementation of management

software, definition of a centralised model of operations

and deployment model of management control.

The other challenge for the RSE is to consolidate the brand

of Brazil’s major Catholic school Network, highlighting the

diﬀerences in its pedagogical and pastoral approach both

for its own and its external public: the eighty five thousand

students in the Network today. The 2011 communication

campaign took the line that the young people, from the

many regions of Brazil, are key players, by highlighting

issues such as ethics, awareness, solidarity, innovation and

entrepreneurship.“We have demonstrated the role of the

RSE in guiding and preparing a new generation of citizens

for Brazil’s future”, concluded the Communications and

Marketing head, Célio Ballona Júnior.

Preparing teaching materials in today’s digital language

is the new task for all network professionals and ‘enthu-

siasm for life’ remains the slogan and horizon for this ed-

ucational eﬀort being built up collectively.

SALESIANS 2012

8.6 Page 76

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATIONAL STYLE

Burkina Faso

Children Looking for God

by Bro. Jacques Nagalo, sdb

SALESIANS 2012

On 3 April 2011, more than 330 children gathered in Saint

John’s Church, Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso), a small

mission station belonging to St Dominic Savio Parish, for the

2011 ‘March for God’ organised by the children’s coordina-

tion team. Accompanied by their leaders and group lead-

ers, the children came from the oratory, as well as

catechetics and youth groups, and were organised into

seven groups identified by diﬀerent-coloured badges. They

headed out for Koﬃn, a small village at the northern exit of

Bobo. after deacon Paul-Frédéric, from the diocese, gave

them blessing to send them on their way. Bubbling with

excitement, the pilgrims headed out in search of God.

Hymns and prayers marked their progress as they covered

the kilometres. The children sang happily and with their

normal enthusiasm.

Along the way there were seven pauses for prayer. Once

they had arrived at Koﬃn, after some welcomes, they care-

fully followed the presentation by Brother Christopher sdb,

a practical trainee. He based it on the message by Pope

8.7 Page 77

▲back to top

Benedict XVI for the World Vocations Day. Tactfully, and

despite his lack of practice, the speaker won the attention

of the youngsters and helped them understand the es-

sentials of the Pope’s message. It was an opportunity for

them to better understand some matters concerning vo-

cation.

Everyone then went into their groups to answer some

questions on the topic that had been presented. Mid-

morning, Fr Paul sdb, the local Youth Ministry Coordina-

tor, presided at the Mass. The liturgy was led by the

young people themselves. Following the Mass a cut

lunch as well as food oﬀered by the Youth Team was

shared between friends and with the leaders. Various

games, songs and some time to relax filled the remainder

of the day. In mid-afternoon 30 of the youngsters set oﬀ

on the return journey, happy to have spent a pilgrimage

together for a day seeking God. Did they find him? The

million dollar question! The future, and each one’s voca-

tional story will tell!

SALESIANS 2012

8.8 Page 78

▲back to top

SALESIANS 2012

SALESIAN

VOCATION

TODAY

Don Bosco Žepče 78

Prague: Encountering Today’s Youth 80

Connecting the World: Medellin to Sihanoukville 82

Priests’ Films Promote Rights and Evangelisation 84

Sixty Years Sowing Life 86

Leading to the Future 88

Alborada is a Lively Place! 90

Proclaiming the Word in Kiriwina 92

Good Morning Tale with a Twist 94

Evangelisation by Example in ZMB 96

Project Life – a Home for Young Refugees 98

SALESIANS 2012

8.9 Page 79

▲back to top

SALESIANS 2012

8.10 Page 80

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATION TODAY

Croatia

Don Bosco Žepče

by Fr Tihomir Šutalo, sdb

The Salesians arrived in Bosnia at the

invitation of the Archbishop of Sara-

jevo and the local Croatian Govern-

ment. They wanted to oﬀer signs of

hope to a suﬀering population, to

people uncertain as to what the future

held in store. In 1997 construction of

the new Centre was begun and the

Salesians began their pastoral work by

taking up their activity in a school – it

was a State school.

Political, financial and social uncertainty

were in abundance, but with the help

of Providence, the work began to grow.

Many people and organisations from

the international community have

become part of the project, and we

can truly say that we have been

touched by the hand of Provi-

dence in such

a way that by 1999 a Technical Institute

opened with the first 72 pupils, and the

following year a Secondary school.

School Centre

Today, 16 years after the first Salesians

came, and after 11 years of KŠC Don

Bosco activity amidst young people in

Žepče, we can proudly show how

much has been built up for so many

and what we are continuing to achieve

in the Institute. The school is by now

nearly 80% complete in construction

terms. It is well equipped and certainly

much better equipped than the state

schools in the same area. The School

has 60 staﬀ, most of them with the ap-

propriate degrees and training for their

various subject fields.

The Secondary school has 200

pupils, and

the Technical school 350 pupils, distrib-

uted as follows:

» 4 classes of economics (4 year)

» 4 classes of mechanics (4 year)

» 3 classes involving hydraulics welding

and turning – 3 year)

» 3 classes of electronics ( – installation

and autoelectronics – 3 year)

We are unable to respond to everyone

who seeks a place, since so many fam-

ilies seek a better future for their chil-

dren through our schools. The chief

diﬃculty is that 80% of our pupils who

complete their secondary and univer-

sity preparation, or work preparation,

leave the country (for Croatia, Italy, Ger-

many) and often they do not return.

This is a problem for us because we are

aware that the young people do not

see any hope if they remain in their

own country.

SALESIANS 2012

9 Pages 81-90

▲back to top

9.1 Page 81

▲back to top

Oratory – Youth Centre

Thanks to a project sponsored by VIS

and financed by the Italian Ministry for

Foreign Aﬀairs, and after we built an

area where young people could come

for activities, we have begun an oratory

with youngsters from the local area,

and we try to bring in as many as pos-

sible from the urban area. This charac-

teristic Salesian oratory work in Bosnia

and Herzegovina was unknown in the

area before the Salesians came, so we

are pioneering activity of this kind. At

the moment our main concern is to

open our doors to everyone who

wishes to come and be part of a wel-

coming, calm place where everyone

can find something that responds to

their tastes. Our weekend oratory at-

tracts some 250 youngsters with a

team of leaders to look after them. The

second characteristic activity is forming

leaders and educators in general so

that in the future we will have a team

to whom we can entrust the future

work for young people. At the core

of our weekend oratory work is the

Sunday Mass which is a time for meet-

ing up and sharing in the community

around the Lord.

Our challenges

The small religious community is made

up of three priests and a brother in

practical training, who do their best to

be Don Bosco for today’s youngsters

through their witness and tireless

eﬀort. But there are still diﬃculties in

the nation, many uncertainties, many

things lacking which aﬀect the nation’s

youth, many of whom do not believe

that they can hope to achieve much

more than simple survival if they remain

there. Of the 30,000 inhabitants 5,500

are of school age – primary, secondary.

This indicates that the youth population

is about a third of the total. But what

awaits them afterwards? What are the

education models in place? What will

society give them? What kind of adult

models do they have? Unfortunately

the answers are somewhat limited and

not acceptable for us as Salesians. We

would like to oﬀer them alternative

models and life choices, help them see

and believe that the future is especially

in their hands. The Lord never tires of His

people, and will continue to be the Lord

of history depsite human sinfulness.

Don Bosco Žepče is just one of the

drops of Divine Mercy that has fallen in

this beautiful place, a paradise that

human wickedness has turned into a

vale of tears. Such is the story of civilisa-

tion, but one redeemed by the Lord,

where through and at times despite us,

He is still present.

SALESIANS 2012

9.2 Page 82

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATION TODAY

Czech Republic

Prague:

Encountering

Today’s Youth

SALESIANS 2012

The Salesian Province based in Prague

was freely able to recommence its activities in 1990,

after the long period of the communist regime. The

Province was founded in 1927 and after a period of

expansion and new foundations (Frystak, Ostrava,

Praha, Pardubice), it was repressed by Nazism and

then completely dispersed after the advent of the

communist regime in 1948. All communities were

closed and declared to be outside the law by the So-

cialist State. Many confreres were arrested and

thrown into prison or concentration camps for

many years. For a good 40 years everyone had to

adopts a style of life so diﬀerent from the religious.

Despite all this, many confreres remained faithful

to their vocation and worked secretly as Religious,

also carrying out a work of vocation ministry. New

priests were ordained to work with the young, espe-

cially during holidays, but also during the year.

After the fall of the regime in 1989, Salesians

continued their work with the young and set up an

9.3 Page 83

▲back to top

oﬃcial novitiate, full of candi-

dates in the first years following the fall of

the regime. Salesians from Bohemia returned

to the houses where they had worked, including

during the period between the two World Wars

(Praha, Brno, Ostrava, Pardubice) and founded

Salesian communities in two other cities (Teplice,

Ceske Budejovice, Zlin, Plzen).

The main area of Salesian work today is in

youth centres (in some cities the Salesians work for

Gypsy youth), then parishes, social communication

(Portal Publishing House in Praga, Don Bosco

Media Centre in Brno, TV Noe in Ostrava, Jabok

School for social pedagogy and theology), missions

In Bulgaria, a country where the majority of the pop-

ulation is Orthodox, at Kazanlak, Stara Zagora, a

work for Gypsies.

Ten years after setting up new foundations for

Salesian and community life, here too Religious Life is

undergoing the same challenge which worries all of west-

ern Europe: the drastic decrease in vocations. Despite this

Salesians are working with many young collaborators, to

organize volunteer movements for young people who are sent

around the world, known as SADBA and Cagliero. The

Province also welcomes other volunteers coming from abroad

to help in Salesian work.

To foster new vocations, the Salesians are organising reflec-

tion days for vocational discernment (COME IN, meetings with

SDBs, Salesian spirituality gatherings).

SALESIANS 2012

9.4 Page 84

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATION TODAY

Colombia - Cambodia

Connecting the World:

by Fr Albeiro Rodas, sdb

In November 2010, Laura Villadiego, a reporter

from EFE (Spanish language News Agency,

equivalent to Reuters, or API in English), visited

the Social Communication and Journalism Sec-

tion of Don Bosco Technical School in Si-

hanoukville. The resulting article, Periodismo

joven en el corazón de Camboya (Youthful

journalism in the heart of Cambodia)

was reproduced by newspapers

such as El Mundo and El Tiempo in

Spain, and Latin America. The

Spanish media were amazed at

how Don Bosco Tech had man-

aged to open a school of journalism

and communication in a country

with not a few diﬃculties in freedom

of expression and at how young

people from vulnerable communities

were able to access technologies and

information.

The attention of the press attracted

the attention of the radio and I re-

ceived some calls from Colombian

radio stations wanting to know about

the project. Before returning on holi-

days to Medellín (a journey that took some

50 hours from Phnom Penh, through Bangkok,

Frankfurt and Bogotá), I was contacted by

Medellín City Mayor. “Could you oﬀer

some workshops in communica-

tion to our Fuerza Joven pro-

gramme?” My answer, as a

Salesian, was of course “yes”.

Force) is a program set up by Medellín’s Mayor

for young people from the poorest quarters of

the city, victims of urban violence or vulnerable

youth who might otherwise end up in gangs.

Don Bosco Parce

I called my experience with Fuerza Joven, Don

Bosco Parce. ‘Parce’ is Colombian Spanish slang

for ‘friend’in Medellín. Every morning a car from

the municipality with some program leaders

picked me up from the family home in Barrio

Castilla and brought me to another barrio in the

city to meet a group of youths involved in a re-

socialisation program. I asked however that the

groups be small, between 15 and 20 each, so the

youngsters could better profit from the experi-

ence.

I began with a cultural exposition about Cam-

bodia and our communication training program

for young people like them. These Medellín

youth from the poorest barrios - portrayed very

often by the media as violent and the inspiration

of several movies on urban violence - were ob-

viously quite curious about this ‘newcomer’.

Then there were the stories of young people like

‘Fuerza Joven’ (Youth

SALESIANS 2012

9.5 Page 85

▲back to top

Medellin to Sihanoukville

them, living precisely on the other side

of the planet (Cambodia is 12 hours

time diﬀerence from Colombia), to

gradually draw their attention. Many of

them had more than one tattoo on

their bodies and now they wanted

their names in Khmer!

After the cultural section on Cambodia

and many questions from my ‘parces’,

we came to the communication work-

shop. I explained to them that we

cannot not communicate. Everything

in our society means communication

and every community develops its

own codes of information.

Then I explained what I managed in

Cambodia in our social communica-

tion and journalism section.

What must we, as young people, com-

municate?

There are four elements we, as

young people,

must communicate in order to im-

prove our standard of life, make peace

and exchange our gangs for video

cameras, the Internet and the like.

1. Hope: We should communicate

hope for our society with our values

and talents. As young citizens, we

should show our cities to the world.

2. Development: We talked about

improving our standard of life as every-

body’s right.

3. Tenderness: Tenderness means

beauty and aesthetics. The transforma-

tion of Medellín is a good example over

the last two decades. We have built

great parks, libraries and tourist com-

pounds in poor and marginal places

that made the city more attractive and

international.

4. Tolerance: We should communi-

cate tolerance. It is respect for the other

as he or she is. We give importance

to humanity.

We love everybody because every

person is a son or daughter of God, so

everybody is my brother and my sister.

To end the workshop, we created a

video. The Parceros of Medellín sent

messages and questions to their

Cambodian peers in Sihanoukville.

They talked about their city and their

own traditions. In April, once I crossed

three continents once more, back to

Cambodia, I filmed the Cambodian

youth answering and sharing with their

Medellín friends.

We hope that these experiences of

communication with young people

will bring good results to our societies.

I oﬀered the municipality of Medellín

the possibility of a youth program like

this with something else in mind. The

social communication and journalism

section’s aim is to create leaders in

communication to multiply the expe-

rience. It would be a dream to create a

Don Bosco Parce social communica-

tion section in Medellín if we

get the required support.

Don Bosco dreams all the

time… all the time…

SALESIANS 2012

9.6 Page 86

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATION TODAY

India

Priests’ Films,

Promote Human Rights

and Evangelization

by Fr C.M. Paul, sdb

Two Catholic priests dabbling in mainstream

cinema for almost a decade claim their two

feature films help indigenous people gain dig-

nity and assert human rights. The two Salesian

filmmakers have been working for over two

decades among the Kokborok people of

Tripura in northeast India bordering

Bangladesh. Their first film, the 132 minute

‘Mathia’ (2002), creates awareness of the social

evil of witch-hunts, while the second 95

minute film ‘Yarwng’ (2008) highlights the

plight of people sacrificed on the altar of de-

velopment. They are Guwahati Salesians,

Joseph Kizhakechennadu (producer) and

Joseph Pulinthanath (director).

Fr Pulinthanath has teamed up with a third

award-winning Salesian filmmaker, Fr Jiji Kala-

vanal, of DB IMAGE Kochi for a docufilm enti-

tled ‘The HAND of Don Bosco’. The shoot

covering seven states of Northeast India

(Assam, Arunachal, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizo-

ram, Nagaland and Tripura) is a homage to

Salesian pioneers, on the eve of the first-ever

Don Bosco Relics Pilgrimage to Northeast India

which began on 1st May 2011.

When ‘Mathia’ (Bangle) won first prize at the

Niepokalanow (Warsaw) festival 2004, Tripura

State’s first international film award, the Kok-

borok Sahitya Academy (Literary Society) or-

ganized a public event in the state capital

Agartala to congratulate the crew.

The Minister for Tripura State Tribal Welfare, Mr.

Aghore Debbarma, granted INR 200,000 (4,000

SALESIANS 2012

9.7 Page 87

▲back to top

“Our eﬀort has not been to make a film

that people will necessarily like but to make a film

that will hopefully excite”.

Euro) as a lifeline to salvage the priests’ sinking

motion picture company “Sampari Pictures”, rid-

dled with huge debts.

Six years on, the priests’ second film ‘Yarwng’

(Roots) received Tripura’s first national film award

from the President of India, Mrs. Pratibha Patil, 19

March 2010, in Delhi.

Evangelization through culture

promotion

“See, cinema is a lot about images and no image

is neutral. The very process of engaging oneself

dynamically against these images can be enrich-

ing individually and collectively. They challenge,

criticize, uplift. Our eﬀort has not been to make

a film that people will necessarily like but to

make a film that will hopefully excite,” clarifies

Pulinthanath.

Besides, these two films have helped to remove

much of the mistaken notion that the State’s 2 per-

cent of Christians are not rooted in the local cul-

ture.

spokesman Pulinthanath casts aside his usual

reticence and finds eloquence.

Stoutly refuting the accusation he says, “It is

not true! People who say this presume that

the Church sees no merit in local cul-

tures. Perhaps they are basing them-

selves on some archaic, outdated

perceptions of isolated instances.

Over the last 50 years (since Vatican

II) the Church has been the outspo-

ken champion of the promotion of

indigenous culture…”

If one seriously investigates, one

would find that church has con-

tributed to culture through mother

tongue education, script evolution,

local festivals, cultural and linguistic

research centres, art academies

and anthropological

museums: the list is

only indicative, not

exhaustive.

The numerous works of evangelization, develop-

ment and social service that the Church in Tripura

and the whole of North East India carry out, at

times to heroic degrees, will be most eﬀectively

enhanced by the present project as it focuses on

culture and its crisis in a changing society.

When it comes to the oft-heard accusation that

the Church is destroying the culture and language

of peoples in Northeast India, Tripura Church

SALESIANS 2012

9.8 Page 88

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATION TODAY

Mozambique

6 0Sixty Years Sowing Life

by Fr Rogelio Arenal, sdb

Servant of life

The Salesians attempt to oﬀer an all-

round development of poor young-

sters and ordinary people in the various

political and social circumstances to be

found in the young nation of Mozam-

bique.

Many, already at work and responsible

for a family, are sincerely grateful for the

human and professional education

they received and which gave them a

chance to make progress in life.

Over these years of growth we try to

oﬀer diﬀerent responses in the four

provinces of Mozambique and by

means of the eight Salesian communi-

ties:

» The school at Moatize together with

some small rural schools.

» The St Joseph’s Home and boarding

establishments at Moamba and In-

harrime for poor youth or those from

rural areas.

» Technical education: Moamba, Tete,

Inharrime, Lhanguene and Matola.

Given the appeal from the Govern-

ment and society for qualified work-

ers in technical areas, the Salesians

have created educational setups that

have already shown results. There is

networking through the Technical

Secretariat for Professional Schools.

The request for technical education

was met by setting up the Don Bosco

Higher Institute for Pedagogy and

Technical Teacher Training.

One interesting work is the care given

by rural communities in the Moatize

Mission through the agricultural devel-

opment project for teaching poorer

populations how to benefit from their

own agricultural resources.

Announcers of Christ

In all the works where the majority of

the young people are not Christian,

there is a first proclamation of Jesus.

These educational centres are also a

source of evangelisation.

The Moatize and Moamba missions in

the rural area, with many Christian

communities spread through the

interior, and the city parishes in

Lhanguene and Jardim, are important

direct evangelisation centres for thou-

sands of young people, as well as for

SALESIANS 2012

9.9 Page 89

▲back to top

accompanying Christian families.

A new work for the Vice Province is the

setting up of the ‘Emmaus’ Spirituality

centre in Matola, as a place for meet-

ings and retreats for various groups of

young people.

Seeing life as a vocation

The Salesian Youth Movement brings

the diﬀerent groups together and

strengthens the vocation of the young

people as ‘leaders’. Every year, various

formation gatherings, prayer opportu-

nities, live-in occasions at diﬀerent

stages of growth give the SYM some

substance.

The Salesian Family is growing through

Salesian Cooperator groups, ADMA

and the Past Pupils, which oﬀer the

possibility of experiencing the lay vo-

cation in the Salesian spirit.

The best and most important result

is vocations to consecrated Salesian

life. In 2011 the local Mozambican

Salesians already made up 50% of the

Vice Province. Don Bosco’s charism is

being enriched. To form these Salesian

vocations the Vice Province has an As-

pirantate at Matola and a Prenovitiate

at Moamba. The novitiate, which in-

cludes novices from Angola, is at Na-

maacha.

Despite our relatively small numbers

(57 confreres) and lack of resources, we

continue to sow the beauty of life in

the hearts of young Mozambicans, an

experience of encounter with Jesus

through service of their brothers and

sisters.

SALESIANS 2012

9.10 Page 90

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATION TODAY

Lithuania

Leading to the Future

Lithuania and the Salesians

by Fr Alessandro Barelli, sdb

Don Bosco was already known in

Lithuania in the late nineteenth

century, then in 1909 a young Lithuan-

ian, Antanas Skeltys, decided to become

a Salesian. Arriving in Turin illegally with-

out papers, he asked to be accepted

among the sons of Don Bosco. After a

few decades, by now a Salesian priest,

he began an extensive information

campaign on Don Bosco and Salesian

life in his homeland. Every summer he

returned from Turin and inspired many

young people through his presentation

of the Salesian charism and Don Bosco

in diocesan parishes. Within ten years,

hundreds of young Lithuanians studied

in Italy and of these, more than 60 of

them left for the Salesian Missions. The

first Salesian community in Lithuania

was only opened in 1934, a school and

aspirantate which nurtured many voca-

tions. Unfortunately, the Second World

War froze the shoots of this Salesian

spring. Many Lithuanian Salesians fled to

the West where they devoted their en-

ergies to the extensive Lithuanian dias-

pora. Those who remained at home

were dispersed and forced to live as

diocesan priests, in times of persecution.

After the restoration of Lithuanian

independence in 1990 Lithuanian

Salesians around the world and the re-

maining survivors in Lithuania decided

to come together and begin the typical

pastoral activities of Don Bosco. Unfor-

tunately with the passing of the years,

despite great enthusiasm, the forces

available were limited. To help them,

the Congregation sent young priests

SALESIANS 2012

10 Pages 91-100

▲back to top

10.1 Page 91

▲back to top

from Poland and Italy, many of whom

are still working alongside local

confreres in the cities of Vilnius and

Kaunas.

The social and religious circumstances

were strongly influenced by the years

of Soviet occupation, and particularly

among young people there is a strong

tendency to relativism, materialism and

religious indiﬀerence. And this is pre-

cisely the setting for Salesian pastoral

activities.

Vilnius

The capital of Lithuania has a popula-

tion of 600,000, divided between

ethnic Lithuanians (60%), Poles (30%)

and Russians (10%), often at logger-

heads with one another. The Salesians

are in the working-class suburb of Laz-

dynai, where they have the St John

Bosco parish with 45,000 inhabitants.

The parish ministry is bilingual, Lithuan-

ian and Polish, and in addition to the

typical work of catechetics for young

people, and charitable support, service

to parishioners, the parish has become

known over the years for its youth

focus through the weekend oratory,

after-school care for children in need,

the summer camps and day activities,

youth centre, youth and pastoral min-

istry groups, and religious education in

state schools. Another activity regarded

as important and much appreciated

throughout Lithuania is the Salesian

Bulletin, published in Lithuanian since

1927 and distributed free to all readers.

The Salesians also provide spiritual as-

sistance for the Lithuanian Don Bosco

Volunteers group.

Kaunas

The Salesian community at Kaunas is

situated in the poor suburb of Pale-

monas, once famous for its industrial

setting which has now fallen into

disuse. Our Lady of the Rosary Parish,

with 10,000 inhabitants, does its best

to meet the religious, social and finan-

cial needs of the people. Besides the

normal activities of the parish, cate-

chetics, and Caritas, we could high-

light the other more typical Salesian

daily oratory and recreational summer

camps held both in the parish and in

the countryside. A great treasure is

the common eﬀort between the

Salesian community and the Salesian

Sisters, who run an after-school pro-

gram each day for children in need

and manage the teaching of the

Catholic religion in the two local pri-

mary schools. Linked to the Salesian

community there is also a small group

of Salesian Cooperators and another

group, ADMA.

Prospects for the Future

The various youth activities result in the

Salesian charism being increasingly

more appreciated and better known.

Young people have shown much inter-

est and not a few want to help as lead-

ers. Also thanks to the Salesian Bulletin

making us more widely known nation-

ally, we have taken in several young

people who want to learn more about

Salesian life, though for the moment

there are no new vocations. We are con-

fident for the future, provided we can

strengthen our works and our visibility.

Given the amount of work facing us, the

physical forces of the Salesians operat-

ing in Lithuania are meagre. A major dif-

ficulty in strengthening the Salesian

presence in Lithuania is that the lan-

guage is not easy and it requires several

years for someone to be able to work

independently. Moreover, the shortage

of personnel is being felt everywhere

and sending people abroad is not so

straightforward a solution. The Lithuan-

ian people, who have undergone vari-

ous occupations, have always had to

defend their identity tenaciously and

this also aﬀects full acceptance of out-

siders, especially if they are far from the

local mentality… it is a challenge for the

Salesian future in this country: being

able to fit in in a visible way, while re-

specting local traditions and values.

SALESIANS 2012

10.2 Page 92

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATION TODAY

Mexico

Alborada, a Lively Place!

by Fr Waldo Gómez Pacheco, sdb

I came to MéridaYucatán just eight months

ago, where I found Alborada Oratories 1, 2

and soon to be 3 (the future Xotlán College).

It was all so diﬀerent to what I had imagined,

like another country, another people, other

customs, a diﬀerent climate, diﬀerent ways

of speaking. There is always something to

learn; to be truthful, I have little time to

spend lying around doing nothing!

Alborada is so varied in its activities: there’s

indoor and outdoor soccer for boys, girls, old

and young; there are workshops, fashion and

design and culture activities, air-conditioning

and refrigeration repair, pastry-making, elec-

trical trades, adult education courses, English,

computers, a symphony orchestra, guitar

groups, improvement courses. In Alborada 2

there are fewer courses at present but this is

growing. Alborada 3, the school, will start

with its first primary classes in 2012.

Like everywhere else the Salesian mission

here is full of challenges, since kids are

the same anywhere with their

dreams, challenges and aspira-

tions. The teenage girls tend to

let their hair down at their

mothers’ bidding, as a sign

of growing up as they

enter secondary school,

and the boys are, well, as

rowdy as any kids are in

2011!

Our work consists of

giving Good Morning or

Good Night talks in the

workshops and another of

10 or 15 minutes before

games. Alborada is also

known as the Mary Help of

Christians Chaplaincy, for all in-

tents and purposes a parish with 6

chapels, groups of all kinds: lay minis-

ters, liturgy, marriage and baptism prepa-

SALESIANS 2012

10.3 Page 93

▲back to top

Each Salesian generation has the noble and responsible

task of handing on the witness to faith and being God’s

instrument through Don Bosco’s exciting charism.

ration, teenager groups, Christian Family

Movement, pastoral centres, Salesian

Cooperators, care for the sick,

Marian groups (Guadalupanos

and ADMA), catechism, and

even aerobics! We also look

after the spiritual needs of

our lay partners.

We are given moral and fi-

nancial support by our pa-

trons and by people who

like what we do, and to

whom I say thank you in the

name of the entire Salesian

Work. We send them the

Salesian Bulletin each month:

Thank you!

In general we are much appreci-

ated despite our faults. People seek us

out, looking for Salesians who are

human, with feelings, but maybe with the

same faults and failings as themselves but

who love God as they do.

The really rough kids are fewer now but

they haven’t quite disappeared; I have

been able to mix with a number of them

and we play together almost every day.

I call them the ADR, los amigos del resistol

or‘Friends of Resistol’, the substance they

regularly sniﬀ. They are Don Bosco’s kids

today, diﬃcult to love as always: just

when we think they are on the improve,

they surprise us by failing yet again, as if

to say: why bother wearing yourself out

for the likes of us? There’s no point…

that’s when the only solution is to love

them – and love them a lot.

Each Salesian generation has the noble

and responsible task of handing on the

witness to faith and being God’s instru-

ment through Don Bosco’s exciting

charism.

SALESIANS 2012

10.4 Page 94

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATION TODAY

Papua New Guinea

Proclaiming the Word in

Kiriwina

by Fr John A. Cabrido, sdb

I arrived in Kiriwina two years late! Fr Sonny Fa-

jardo, our Salesian parish priest for the Tro-

briand Islands, popularly called the ‘Isles of

Love’ by the Polish self-styled anthropologist

Bronislaw Malinowski, first invited me to give a

Bible seminar for his parish leaders in early

2009. Unfortunately, heavy rains during that

time had caused a shortage of yam crops and

the parish initiative had to be scrapped. So

when Fr Sonny renewed the invitation late last

year, I speedily accepted it not only for a chance

to explore Kiriwina’s coral paradise but also to

help out a confrere.

My luggage was definitely overweight. I had

to bring all my teaching equipment including

handouts, a laptop and even a projector! More

than that, Fr Timothy Choi took the occasion

to beef up Fr Sonny’s pantry with canned

goods and other food stuﬀs. To top it oﬀ, Fr

Albert Swer also sent an air pump for the

parish bicycle!

SALESIANS 2012

10.5 Page 95

▲back to top

After an unusually pleasant (and

punctual!) flight with Airlines PNG, I

landed in Losuia to an unforgettable

sight. The airport was a tiny structure

whose perimeter fence was packed

with people. It seemed that half the

island’s population of 40,000 was

there to ogle the new arrivals or await

the latest mail. Mercifully, Fr Sonny was

already around to help retrieve my

luggage once these were flung with

total disregard on the grassy ground.

The Bible seminar began the next day,

09 May (Monday) and was attended by

some 120 parish leaders. These came

from the island’s six Catholic commu-

nities. Mixed with the predominantly

elderly crowd were some 15 ‘youths’.

Apparently, in Kiriwina, to be called

‘youth’ meant that the young person

was an‘out-of-school’drop out. When I

inquired why there were not that many

young people (since the villages we

passed by all seemed like ‘children-fac-

tories’), the parish elders gently ex-

plained to me that now was their time,

and that the ‘time’ of the youth would

have to wait for the future.

For the next five days I gave three lec-

tures and/or conducted workshops

daily, two in the morning and one in

the afternoon until 4:30 PM. The 15

talks spanned the entire Bible and in-

cluded bible sharing sessions, dances,

drama and art. In 2002 I had given a

similar seminar to the village folk of

Kelologeia and Kurada in Normanby

Island. What struck me with this latest

venture was the eagerness and consis-

tent number of participants. Never in

the next five days did we go below 100

attendees. Believers belonging to the

United Church and a local ‘Rema’ faith

community (including their pastor!)

were also there. Participants who be-

longed to the ‘nearby’ villages walked

to and fro daily, i.e. anywhere from an

hour to an hour-and-a-half journey on

foot. Others were accommodated in

the parish and school compound. In

the evenings, for relaxation, we showed

some movies which were eagerly

awaited and attended by all the village

children. To commemorate the beatifi-

cation of our dearly beloved John Paul

II, we viewed a two-part Italian pro-

duced film on his life (in English, of

course). But the highlight of the noc-

turnal movie-viewing was a Jackie

Chan film which had the village people

roaring with laughter. During my stay,

the community of sisters, Daughters of

Mary Immaculate (PIME Sisters), gener-

ously cooked our meals. That was a

welcome respite, since in the parish

house there was no electricity and

barely any running water. Benignly, at

least the parish house was well-

screened so the ever ubiquitous mos-

quitoes were left outside (!) even if the

invasion of millipedes was not kept at

bay.

I flew out of Kiriwina the next Sunday,

15 May, deeply impressed by the

warmth of the people and the paucity

of opportunity and the dearth of hope

for the island’s youth. The valiant eﬀorts

of missionaries past (MSC and PIME)

and those present (Reparation Sisters

in Gusaweta; PIME Sisters in Wapipi;

and Fr Sonny) are truly inspiring. I

deeply pray that our ‘sharing of the

Word’ may sustain the people of Kiri-

wina in their trials and nurture their

faith.

SALESIANS 2012

10.6 Page 96

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATION TODAY

Hungary

In the third district of Budapest,

the door of the building number 79

in Kiscelli street stands wide open early

in the morning – Gábor Vitális,

a Salesian priest since November 2009,

waits for pupils every school day,

with breakfast for youngsters who would

otherwise be left hungry until lunch.

Good Morning Tale

with a Twist

by Erzsébet Lengyel

The work begins at 6 in the morning each

day: Fr Gábor and his helpers – adults and

younger ones alike, set the tables in the cellar

of the oratory building, prepare tea and lunch

packs. The children come from 6.45 and can

stay until 7.45, so there is also time for personal

conversations and for a short morning prayer.

“When I heard that many pupils go to school

on an empty stomach, I was literally shocked.

I knew that I have to give breakfast to these

kids, but I also knew that there isn’t a penny to

spare. The provincial encouraged me: Don

Bosco had no money either, still he did much

for the youth… We haven’t organised any

SALESIANS 2012

10.7 Page 97

▲back to top

large-scale call for donations, we have

only advertised in the church; I

preached about it, and a dear benefac-

tor wrote about our cause in the local

newspaper. Right the day after, a pen-

sioner came and gave 1000 forints

(about € 4) for the children’s breakfast

– this was the first, then others fol-

lowed… and the “Breakfast program”

began. When we ran out of money, I

prayed: if it’s God’s will for us to go on,

he will also give us the opportunity –

and in a wonderful way, there was

always an unforeseen donation from

which we could feed the kids the next

day. A little wonder…”

There are three elementary schools in

the vicinity of the Salesian community.

Father Gábor asked the management

of the schools to inform the pupils in

need that there is this breakfast oppor-

tunity.

“On the first occasion there were four-

teen children who came”, he recalls.

“We didn’t know who they were and

what their circumstances were. Then,

the rumour slowly began to spread

and from the initial 15-20, there soon

grew a merry group of fifty. Thanks to

our kind benefactors, we could serve

tea or chocolate milk with cookies,

bagels and little packs, which the chil-

dren could take with them to school”.

Father Gábor and his helpers have dis-

tributed 10,000 packs over one and a

half years.

About seven o’clock, Father prepares

Morning Prayer for the children.

“We have thought much about how

we could include the prayer”, says

Father Gábor “for most of the children

are not religious; they are not even

baptised. First, we just displayed the

words of the prayer on a board, which

the children slowly managed to learn.

With time, some of them also started

learning some religion; but with a tricky

little idea, we began to bring a little

piece of religion to everyone”.

“The nearby Don Bosco confectionery

stood by us from the beginning; they

send a little dessert now and then”, the

young Salesian tells us. “Those who

take breakfast await the small cakes,

and in addition, for a little ice-cream,

they can bring back the empty bags of

cake, which are stamped with the

Salesian logo. Our idea was to include

a little quiz in these bags, which they

have to fill in to deserve their dessert.

These questions are very simple of

course, but thanks to them, we can

smuggle a ‘mini religion lesson’ into

every week for our pupils.

We know that most of these children

are at a disadvantage; they are in need

and they live in diﬃcult circumstances,

although they are not required to

show any proof of this. The children

can tell us their daily worries; they can

share their pain or fear. They write their

homework, if they still have to, mem-

orise poems, and celebrate birthdays,

Christmas and Santa Claus together…

In the last week of June we even or-

ganised a summer camp for the chil-

dren, and thanks to that, the bond

between them hasn’t weakened, but

has became even stronger. It was

wonderful to perceive the change

going on in these children! These little

‘everyday holidays’ forged this occa-

sional breakfasting group into a real

community.

But this requires a huge financial and

human sacrifice. Many give and have

given money, food and help for this

programme, which is so permeated

with the love of Don Bosco. This little

early morning help really has became

an example of Christian love and sacri-

fice ‘in use’”.

SALESIANS 2012

10.8 Page 98

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATION TODAY

Zambia

Evangelisation by Example in ZMB

The Salesian mission in ZMB carries out for

the most part a pastoral and educational

work for young workers from the four coun-

tries which make up the Province (Zambia,

Zimbabwe, Namibia and Malawi). Although

certainly the Salesian presence in ZMB began

mainly with mission parishes, over the past ten

years these parishes have set up small job

training centres for youth and adults. It is a

work which helps a population with poor re-

sources to direct its development opportuni-

ties towards a much more competitive level

and helps people face up to the challenge of

an emerging industrial society. The youth and

adults who frequent these centres also form

part of the catechetics program for out tech-

nical schools, and through the education of-

fered them, they also gain all the benefits of

education to the faith; in this way faith and cul-

ture become part of the work of education

and evangelisation oﬀered by the Salesian

mission.

SALESIANS 2012

10.9 Page 99

▲back to top

by Fr Javier Antonio Barrientos, sdb

The influence of this educational and pastoral

thrust in technical schools and parishes is

helping to evangelise young people who

would otherwise not be so much faith in-

volved. Many of the young people in our cen-

tres gradually become missionaries of other

young people, inviting them to share their life

and faith in extracurricular programs which

the Salesians oﬀer.

A number of young people from other faith

communities including those from traditional

African religions have been introduced to a

process of faith and conversion which has

happily culminated in a decision to be bap-

tised and become part of the Catholic Church

which continues its evangelising mission by

example.

SALESIANS 2012

10.10 Page 100

▲back to top

SALESIAN

VOCATION TODAY

Germany

Project Life,

a Home for Young Refugees

Text by Katharina Hennecke / Christina Tangerding / Claudia Klinger

Photo by Wolfgang Maria Weber

A certificate in Persian script with a

picture of his father is all that re-

mains from Mohamed Asif Dorani´s

former life in his native country of

Afghanistan. He does not have any fur-

ther documents, a passport or other pic-

tures. Due to his spiritual and physical

development German authorities have

estimated his age at 16. June 1 was set as

his date of birth.

Asif Dorani fled from Afghanistan in No-

vember 2008. His younger brother Abdul

Samad (18) was kidnapped from their

home town by the Taliban about five

months ago. The parents worried about

the safety of their second son and there-

fore sent him to far-oﬀ Germany with the

help of smugglers. The journey was ad-

venturous and sometimes life-threaten-

ing. But Asif somehow survived. Now he

lives in a home for young people in

Munich called ‘Salesianum’, where the

Salesians of Don Bosco have initiated

‘Project Life’. It is an aid project for unac-

companied under-age refugees.

Asif lives on the third floor of the Sale-

sianum with ten other boys who all had

to flee from their native countries be-

cause of diﬀerent emergency situations.

They have three single rooms, four

double rooms, two kitchens, a common

room, a bathroom and a shared lavatory.

Social workers and educators look after

the group of boys round the clock. They

support them in everyday aﬀairs like

cooking, washing and cleaning. They ac-

company the young refugees in admin-

istrative procedures and help them

complete the required forms and write

letters. They keep in touch with any other

contact points and the school. Primarily

the educators help the young and largely

traumatized refugees work through their

experiences and open up a future in Ger-

many, step by step.

Every time Asif talks about his life, bad

memories return: the war in his home-

land, the kidnapping of his brother, the

farewell to his parents and the almost

two-month odyssey from Afghanistan to

Germany. He does not know exactly how

long this wandering took, but he remem-

bers that they changed cars frequently.

Project Life

Every year hundreds of under-age refugees arrive in Germany without parents.

ey flee usually under life-threatening conditions from war, dictatorship, pursuit,

expulsion, hunger and disasters. ey are in a foreign country without their home,

families and friends. For that reason the Salesians of Don Bosco in Germany have

started ‘Project Life’. Since August 2009 eleven unaccompanied under-age refugees

live in youth center Salesianum in Munich. Here they find a home and get help in

everyday life. Besides they get a pedagogical and pastoral accompaniment to work

through their traumatic experiences. e goal of the project is to guide young people

in their life, to prepare them for the future and to strengthen them in managing life.

SALESIANS 2012

11 Pages 101-110

▲back to top

11.1 Page 101

▲back to top

They were locked up in twos or in

a threesome in a stuﬀy, dark car

trunk or in boxes on a load floor of

a transporter. They feared for their

lives. When Asif finally reached

German soil, everything happened

very quickly: A push in the back

woke the boy up from sleep.

Somewhere in a dark area the

smuggler shooed the refugees

from the load floor of the trans-

porter. They found a railway plat-

form, took the train and asked their

way to Munich.

In the meantime Asif has gained a

foothold in Germany and he has

dreams for the future: he wants to

be a car mechanic, to live without

fear and to have enough money for

food. He can also imagine having a

wife and children, but in Germany,

not in Afghanistan, says Asif. Does

he believe that he will see his

brother once again? He shakes his

head. “Dead”, he says. “I think, he is

dead”. And hastily he wipes tears

from the corner of his eyes.

SALESIANS 2012

11.2 Page 102

▲back to top

SALESIANS 2012

INSPIRING

TESTIMONIES

“If your leg doesn’t heal – no Profession!” 102

Youth Leader Becomes a Salesian 104

“I will give you shepherds after your own heart” 106

“What God has planned for you no one can take away” 108

Volunteer Forever! 110

From Vietnam to Japan – with Love 112

Peace is Possible When Church Takes the Lead 114

Don Bosco’s Dream in a Chinese Woman’s Son 116

Don Bosco of Tonj: “The vocation of every Salesian is tied to

Mary Help of Christians” 118

100

SALESIANS 2012

11.3 Page 103

▲back to top

11.4 Page 104

▲back to top

INSPIRING

TESTIMONIES

India

“If your leg doesn’t heal, no Profession!”

Bro. James Marcus, sdb

James Marcus was born 25th June 1971,

made his first profession on 24th May

1994 and perpetual profession in 2000.

Presently he is the principal of the

Technical Institute at Don Bosco Fatorda

while being director of the oratory and

person in charge of the youth there.

102

SALESIANS 2012

James Marcus comes from a large family, being

the 5th child in a family with nine children. His

parents had moved to Sulcorna along with the

Salesians who pioneered there. Coming from a

small hamlet near Sagayatotam in Tamil Nadu,

the family struggled to bring up the children in a

new place with no support from their immediate

families. To add to this, there were financial prob-

lems. James admits, “We came up the hard way.

It was a hand-to-mouth existence for us for sev-

eral years”. Till the age of 6, little James did not

see the walls of a classroom since there was no

school in the locality. But he has fond memories

of his childhood which was filled with a lot of

11.5 Page 105

▲back to top

adventure – fishing, hunting and

trekking; catching reptiles and having

close encounters with bison, wild cats

and other wild animals in the forests of

Sulcorna.

As James goes down the memory lane,

he recounts his first experience of the

Salesians – Fr Moja, the man with the

long beard, and Bro. Ludvick, the great

farmer. But his interest and admiration

for Salesian life was inspired by Fr

Daniel Venia who was known among

the workers as ‘Chicken Father’. James

spent many years of his childhood in

the company of this great man who

showed special aﬀection for this lively

child. Fr Venia lived a life of simplicity,

always trusting in the providence of

God which he expressed through his

constant refrain, “No problem!”

James grew up in the Salesian board-

ing at Sulcorna even when his family

moved out of the place for a short

while. Initially, James had a great inter-

est in being a CID inspector. Though

he was good in sports and studies, he

confesses that he lacked self-confi-

dence. He distinctly remembers how

on one sports day he had made up his

mind to settle down for the 2nd place

on seeing some African sprinters on

the track. To his surprise he bagged the

gold medal and was also declared the

sportsman. It was during the same year,

some Salesians came to give a vocation

talk. But James was not among the 12

boys who responded. Fr Michael Mas-

carenhas, the Rector of Sulcorna, who

was transferred to Fatorda invited

James along with a few other boys to

do their technical studies.

After 2 years of technical studies, Fr

Michael encouraged James to go to

Lonavla. Without considering much,

he agreed. The superiors found him

good and he was sent to the novitiate.

It was here that James came to under-

stand his Salesian vocation. For eight

months he suﬀered with a thorn in his

leg in spite of all medical care. At this

time he was told “If your leg has not

healed, you will not be able to make

your profession”. However, from

March 19th (the day the applications

are submitted) to 24th May (day of 1st

profession) the leg gave no trouble.

James made his profession but the leg

would continue to trouble him for an-

other 8 months until one day while

playing basketball a piece of the thorn

came out by itself never to trouble

him again.

After the magisterio course in Kalyani,

Calcutta Province, Bro. James com-

pleted his practical training in Matunga

and Pinguli while also completing his

CTI (Central Training Institute) during

those years. Having completed his

diploma in polytechnic, he is presently

pursuing his engineering studies while

being fully involved in the Salesian

apostolate at Don Bosco Fatorda.

James accepts that though he may not

have consciously made a decision to

be a Salesian brother he is most happy

to be one. He finds it easy to be with

the young, sharing their lives, listening

to their stories, helping them to unbur-

den themselves, guiding them in their

life decisions, and encouraging them to

go on. He says, “As a priest, I wouldn’t

have had all this time for the young”.

He feels totally at home with the poor,

especially youngsters coming from

deprived situations.

SALESIANS 2012

103

11.6 Page 106

▲back to top

INSPIRING

TESTIMONIES

Benin

Youth Leader Becomes a Salesian

‘My vocation’: Arnaud tells his story

by Fr Jean Baptiste Beraud, sdb

Arnaud is a Salesian student of theology at Yaoundé.

He tells the story of how his activity with ‘six boys

and four girls’ helping their classmates at college set him on

the path to Don Bosco.

“I was born on Saturday 2 February 1980 in Benin. My family

was a good Catholic family, a monogamous family – not all are!

I am the third of three children. I learned to pray when I was

three years of age thanks to fact that our family prayed of an

evening before bedtime… already by the time I was seven,

while I was in the pre-catechetics class, I wanted to be a priest

because I was attracted by the nice vestments the priest

wore when he said the Sunday Mass!”

Arnaud became an altar server, then joined a vocations

group. He goes on to tell us:

“Fr Fermin Nuevo, then parish priest and also

chaplain to the vocations group, gave me a book

104

SALESIANS 2012

11.7 Page 107

▲back to top

by Teresio Bosco on Don Bosco’s life. Thanks this I opted

for Salesian life, because I saw that I could be a priest

while continuing to work actively in education and for

the betterment of the young.

In Year Five I was deeply moved by the harm that I saw

happening when some of my classmates were sent

away from school. They were often sent away for failing

to pay their school fees. After looking at the situation,

I realised that at least 90% of these students who had

been sent away ended up paying their school fees by

the end of the year, but in the meantime a good

number of them had missed many of their classes, and

so they failed.

Faced with this situation I decided to take action, and I

loaned some of my classmates some of the money

they needed so they could continue to follow their

course. I had about six thousand francs with me as

pocket money which I had never touched. But I soon

saw that I could not really do great things with so little.

So along with some other friends, we set up an associ-

ation called the ‘Association des Jeunes pour la Con-

struction de notre Avenir (AJECA)’ or, Youth Together for

Building our Future. There were ten of us (six boys and

four girls), all in Year Four. We organised all sorts of ac-

tivities to help our classmates financially. During the

longer holidays we held lots of football, basketball

competitions…, oﬀered holiday courses, and also sold

school materials. After some five years we were well

known to all the young people in the area and in sur-

rounding areas. We had become leaders.

Thanks to these competitions I discovered the Salesian

work at Cotonou for the first time, but it was not until

1999 that I really found out about this educational mis-

sion on behalf of the young and especially for the poor-

est of them”.

SALESIANS 2012

105

11.8 Page 108

▲back to top

INSPIRING

TESTIMONIES

Spain

“I will give you shepherds after

your own heart” (Jer. 3:15)

106

SALESIANS 2012

by Fr Sergio Oter Díaz, sdb

On 30 April 2011, in the Salesian

community at Paseo de Ex-

tremadura (Madrid), three young

Salesians were ordained. Carmelo

Donoso was ordained Deacon, while

Guzmán Pérez and I, Sergio Oter, were

ordained priests.

“I will give you shepherds after your

own heart” was the motto chosen for

the diaconate and priestly ordinations.

It was not chosen in order to remain

just on the invitation to the ordination,

or just as a reminder of that very special

day. It is a slogan that I would want to

be the fundamental basis of my life as

a Salesian priest, a verse from the Book

of Jeremiah which I would like as a

summary and synthesis of what it

means for me to be consecrated to the

Lord.

And it is the Lord who has chosen me,

not me who chose Him, who pre-

sented himself before me for me to

carry out His mission. The priesthood

has been, is and will be a true gift, a true

gift from God. He has truly led me

down this path that really leads to true

happiness, true love. It is God who has

come to me and called me. It is God

who has sought me out, and who,

again and again, has been there along

my way to make a real gift to me.

The Lord has chosen me to serve his

people, the great people of God. He

has chosen me to give my life, without

any reserve. He has chosen me to co-

operate in building his kingdom, here

and now. He has chosen me to pass on

to young people, through my own life,

a message of hope that comes from

the Lord’s Pasch. And finally, he has

chosen me to serve his people in the

image of Christ, the Good Shepherd.

“I will give you shepherds after my

own heart” says the Prophet Jeremiah,

which means my heart must be

shaped after the Heart of Jesus, the

heart of the one who has called me to

follow him along this way that leads to

complete happiness, a happiness that

fills and floods everything. A heart

filled with God, the heart of an authen-

tic shepherd, a generous heart, a heart

dedicated solely and exclusively to

others, a humble heart, a heart com-

mitted to the very end.

Doubtless that the daily celebration of

the Eucharist is a true impulse for me

to help me in this beautiful, relevant

task of making Jesus’ command real:

“Do this in memory of me”: to be a

witness of God’s love for the young,

especially the poorest of them, a

person of communion and a zealous

pastor of the flock whom God entrusts

to me in the equally wonderful task of

bringing young people to Jesus.

These are the key to my living as a

Salesian priest. “I will give you shep-

herds after my own heart” marks out

who I am and what I do, my life and

action. God wants me to deal with

young people after his own heart, the

heart of the Good Shepherd.

11.9 Page 109

▲back to top

11.10 Page 110

▲back to top

INSPIRING

TESTIMONIES

India

“What God has planned for you

no one can take away”

It was on 21st March 1970 that God

sowed the seed in the beautiful

garden of Victor and Shakuntala Mota.

Little Anisio was born in Mozambique

(East Africa). This second child among

three boys of the Mota family was

always looked up to as the most

loving and caring child. “Living in

Africa was fun and challenging” is

what he expressed to us. The locals

with their own customs, cults and re-

ligion did not make the practice of

Christianity so easy, but that was no

obstacle for Anisio to prepare himself

to become a disciple of Jesus. At the

age of 5 he would return from the

Church and begin to preach to his

siblings behind closed doors, and

would almost be close to the sermon

he had heard during the Sunday

mass.

When he was 11, he returned with his

family to Goa. Having the handicap of

language, as Portuguese was the only

language he could speak, Anisio really

struggled but wasted no time in

learning English and Konkani. In

school, at Loyola’s Margao, Anisio was

not only learning Languages but

began to play and participate in

almost all the games in the school.

After his VII, he expressed his desire

to become a priest. He first spoke to

Fr Francisco Ataide, then Assistant

Priest Holy Spirit, Margao, to which

Anisio belonged. Fr Ataide wasted no

time in sending him to the Diocesan

Seminary at Saligao. Under the spiri-

tual guidance of Fr Ataide, Anisio

grew and bloomed well in the Semi-

nary till his XII standard.

Then came the time of making a firm

decision about his calling. During the

summer holidays while helping out in

the parish with the summer activities

for children, he met a young enthusi-

108

SALESIANS 2012

12 Pages 111-120

▲back to top

12.1 Page 111

▲back to top

Fr Anisio Mota, sdb

Made his first profession in 1993 and was ordained a priest

in 2003. Presently he is working in Don Bosco Ganv,

Quepem – Goa as the Vice-principal of the School and

Junior College. He was the vocation promoter of the

Konkan Province for several years. He is much sought after

as a resource person for youth animation.

astic Salesian priest who left a lasting

impression on him. Through the en-

couragement of Fr Dominic Savio,

Anisio accepted the invitation to

Follow Christ in the Don Bosco style.

Recalling that experience Anisio nar-

rates, “I did not know who Don Bosco

was, but this young man made me feel

that Don Bosco was just waiting for

me… I liked Don Bosco’s personality,

his love for youngsters and the many

works he carried out; nothing could

stop me from following Don Bosco”.

“Yes, my parents did not want me to

join Don Bosco as I had to go to Lon-

avla and other places in Maharashtra

for my formation,” recounts Anisio and

then adds, “But remember What God

has planned for you no one can take

away. I fought my way with my parents

and got Fr Dominic Savio to convince

them. Yes, I won that battle, the battle

I’d fought for Jesus”. Finally, Anisio was

ordained a priest on 27th December

2003. The day is significant – it was the

birthday of his first vocation promoter,

Rev. Fr Francisco Ataide. “My ordina-

tion was like a birthday gift to him,”says

Anisio.

As a Salesian Priest, Fr Anisio is deeply

involved in youth work. He loves to be

with the young and the young feel

very much at home with him. They

know he is always there for them – to

counsel and to guide. His heartwarm-

ing sermons are always inspiring. Many

of these youngsters want him to bless

their marriage or seek his blessings

before leaving for foreign shores.

He went through a brief period of sick-

ness, having a near-death experience.

He begged God for life; God gave it to

him and now he has promised to live it

for God’s glory. After his miraculous

recovery, he continues his work with

the young. While in Benaulim, as the

Director of the Youth Center and Vo-

cation Promoter for the Province, Fr

Anisio gave his heart and soul in all

that he did – animating youth groups,

visiting schools for vocation promotion,

organizing summer clubs and holiday

camps, animating retreats and youth

paschs. He says with great joy that the

most rewarding moment of his life was

when six young promising boys came

forward to join the Salesian congrega-

tion, being impressed with the Salesian

way of life.

When asked whether he had any diﬃ-

culties in responding to God’s call, he

says, “I have gone through hard times,

people have misunderstood me, but

God knows the truth, hence nothing

deters me. I became a Salesian Priest to

serve the youth and to be a brother to

them. I will not do anything that takes

me away from the young”.

SALESIANS 2012

109

12.2 Page 112

▲back to top

INSPIRING

TESTIMONIES

Austria

Volunteer Forever

110

SALESIANS 2012

12.3 Page 113

▲back to top

by Bro. Peter Rinderer, sdb

In July 2006 I left for Mexico. I was 19 and had just fin-

ished high school. My destination was the “Proyecto

Salesiano Tijuana” for a year of volunteer work with the

Salesians. This experience of service to children and their

families has never come to an end, but instead has

lengthened into a new form: Today I am a Salesian!

I used play games every evening with the youngsters

who came to the Mary Help of Christians Oratory in Ti-

juana. I did this along with with some young leaders

and a few adults from the neighbourhood involved in

leadership.

I also taught English and computers and helped in

parish ministry. On one occasion a twelve year old asked

me:

“Why have you come here?”

“Giving makes me happy! I want to use my strength to

help others”, was my answer.

It wasn’t that I was able to achieve great things during

my time as a volunteer. I think the most important thing

was to be close to the youngsters in the oratory. During

this year I read a fairly extensive life of Don Bosco.

After the aspirantate, the novitiate, then I did my phi-

losophy and education studies and began my practical

training at ‘Don Bosco Flüchtlingswerk’. I am working

in a Home with 16 young refugees who arrived in

Austria without a family and need so much help. Often

overwhelmed by experiences of war, they are now in a

totally diﬀerent situation and are starting out on a new

life. “Here in the Don Bosco House they look after us

well”, said a young Afghan.

I help them with study and have fun in their free time

playing volleyball or football. We give these lads new

hopes of building a better future!

Volunteering was the beginning of an adventure, a vo-

cation that God placed in my heart. That year of service

in Mexico led me to give direc-

tion to my life: Where is my place?

What do I want to be? I found my

answers during my year as a volun-

teer and said: “I want to be a vol-

unteer forever

in the style of

Don Bosco!”

I was fascinated by his life from the every first moment

and thought: For me, Don Bosco is a way of life. He was

convinced that God wants to use our hands to do good

and he spent all his energies on behalf of poor children.

Today we need a lot of people like Don Bosco, in Mexico

and even in Austria! This thought remained in my heart

and after much prayer and lengthy discernment I de-

cided: I want to be a Salesian in the service of youth!

Five years later I found myself in Vienna.

SALESIANS 2012

111

12.4 Page 114

▲back to top

INSPIRING

TESTIMONIES

Vietnam - Japan

From Vietnam to Japan

with Love

John

Le Pham

Nghia Phu

ese five young Vietnamese missionaries have

brought a breath of fresh air to the formation

community at Chofu. ey have not yet received

their mission cross from Turin, but they are

carrying a not always easy cross in a country not so

easily permeable to the Gospel.

112

SALESIANS 2012

12.5 Page 115

▲back to top

Joseph Nguyen Giao Hoa

Before coming to Japan five

years ago I studied some Japanese, think-

ing to become a Salesian priest in my newly

I was a

adopted country. It was during my experience work-

Salesian as-

ing with young people at the oratory that I dis-

pirant in Viet-

covered my vocation to be a missionary. The

nam and my

example of my Japanese confreres has

four years with

helped me a lot and in a particular

Joseph Nguyen Khac Diep

the Salesians and

way the missionaries. A seri-

especially the contact

ous diﬃculty I feel is that

I am a post-novice study-

with the ethnic minori-

Christianity does

ing philosophy. Before coming to

ties in K’long in Vietnam lie

not attract the

Japan as an aspirant to Salesian life

behind my missionary voca-

Japanese.

perhaps it was more the spirit of adventure

tion. Being with the young and

than the missionary vocation that attracted me.

speaking of God’s love to them

During the prenovitiate I found myself in crisis

helps me be a better person. The

but then came to understand more clearly that

Japanese language is diﬃcult. I am

being in this country means being a missionary

doing my best to get to know Japanese

with the task of spreading the Gospel of Jesus.

society and culture.

However for now I am but a missionary in

formation.

Andrew Tran Minh Hai

I must be honest and say that when I came

to Japan as a Salesian aspirant my mission-

ary vocation, if indeed it existed, was weak

and insecure. It was towards the end of the

novitiate that I felt myself called to share

with others the graces received and the

spirit of the Gospel, and I owe this to the ex-

emplary lives of the missionaries I have met.

Living in Japan and assimilating the culture

is not easy. St Paul’s words here are a help

to me: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ

who lives in me”.

Joseph Nguyen Duy Hun

I arrived in Japan four years ago as

an aspirant after two years of preparation in

my native land, Vietnam. I have to admit that my

vocation to be a missionary began here. It was a

discovery more than something which came

about naturally. In fact, working with youngsters

at the oratory, almost none of whom were

Christians, I discovered that I was being called

to be a missionary for their sake. My fellow

Vietnamese have been an important

source of support for me and of course

the help of Mary our Mother. Japan is

very much a developed nation and it

is diﬃcult to spread the Gospel.

SALESIANS 2012

113

12.6 Page 116

▲back to top

INSPIRING

TESTIMONIES

India

Peace is Possible

When Church Takes the Lead

Archbishop Menamparampil

22 Ott. 1936, Born in Kelara India

24 May 1955, First Profession

02 May 1965, Ordained Priest

24 nov. 1981, Ordained Bishop

10 July 1995, Archbishop 0f

Guwahati

by Fr C. M. Paul, sdb

Church people negotiating peace in

a conflict situation may not be

considered a ‘politically correct act’,

especially when a Catholic archbishop

takes the initiative. But when the

Church leaders and eminent citizens

from the warring factions join him in

the conflict resolution process “it is

making the Word of God come alive in

the lives of people,” says Salesian Arch-

bishop Thomas Menamparampil of

Guwahati.

Over the last 15 years, the archbishop

has successfully led seven major peace

initiatives. The Joint Peace Team (JPT)

of Northeast India under his leadership

intervened in the following conflicts:

Bodo-Adivasi (1996), Kuki-Paite (1998),

Dimasa-Hmar (2003) and Karbi-Kuki

(2003), Dimasa-Karbi (2004), Bodo-

Muslim at Udalguri (2010) and Rabha-

Garo (2011).

It all started with a missionary Sister vis-

iting relief camps where over 250,000

took shelter following conflict between

Bodos and Adivasis-Santals in 1996.

114

SALESIANS 2012

12.7 Page 117

▲back to top

“Most of the children are sick and all of

them will die,” she reported.

“These words hit me hard and roused

me from my sense of helplessness

before a massive problem,” the soft

spoken archbishop recalls.

Over 500 people died, hundreds of

houses were torched, and people

rotted in 42 camps.

“I began by bringing into the field

persons with little competence for of-

fering relief, but a lot of good will:

seminarians, candidates, novices. I

kept informing the public what we

were trying to do. Learning of our

work, people came: nurses, doctors,

university students and volunteers

from all over India. We joined hands

with the other Churches and sought

help from non-governmental agen-

cies”.

Over 400 volunteers worked in turn for

half a year bringing relief to people in

the camps.

Even the Chief Minister of Assam vis-

ited the camps and praised the work.

That is how JPT came into existence

bringing together sober, moderate, far-

sighted local people. When they make

an appeal for peace, everyone listens.

The 75 year old archbishop is not dis-

couraged by heartbreaking moments

in peace-making despite much fatigue

and enormous eﬀort, sometimes

ending in total failure.

He recalls a flicker of hope when a

Muslim group said, “we came only be-

cause Archbishop Thomas invited us to

this peace meeting,” or when some

Presbyterian or Baptist friends quote

his writings on peace saying, “as ‘our’

Archbishop suggests”.

In recent years, JPT ventured beyond

peace initiatives making a drive for a

‘corruption-free society’. Archbishop

Menamparampil’s 78-page booklet en-

titled Probity in Public Life was used as a

reference when ecumenical Church

leaders in Mizoram passed norms for

a corruption-free election recently.

The dramatic change of guard in that

northeastern state owes much to this

call for probity in public life. The arch-

bishop adds, “youth groups like the

Bodo Students’ Union ask me to give

talks on peace and ‘Ethical Awakening’.

They read my articles and booklets.

Possibly the Assam Students’ Union will

be next”.

Besides being a special invitee to the

Synod of Bishops for Asia and on the

Word of God, archbishop Menam-

parampil is currently president of the

Northeast India Bishops’ Conference;

National Chairman of the Bishops

Commission for Education & Culture;

and Chairman of the Federation of

Asian Bishops Conference Commission

for Evangelization.

A member of several Vatican Commis-

sions, archbishop Menamparampil is a

recipient of the prestigious Mumbai

based Maschio Humanitarian Award

1998.

SALESIANS 2012

115

12.8 Page 118

▲back to top

INSPIRING

TESTIMONIES

China - Mongolia

Don Bosco had a missionary dream in Barcelona during the nights between 8 and 10 April 1886,

which included the future of the Salesian work in China. It is a dream which is being realized over

diﬀerent stages of history.

In 1906 Fr Louis Versiglia, together with five other missionaries, was sent to Macau by Don Rua. From

there the Salesians then set up in Hong Kong and other cities in China. In 1946, Fr Mario Acquistapace

arrived in Beijing, believing that it was the city that Don Bosco had seen in his dream. ere he founded

a House for orphans and poor youngsters and rapidly spread devotion to Mary Help of Christians

among the faithful. After only a few years, the Salesian work was also developing rapidly and vocations

were flourishing.

Suddenly, in 1949 the communist occupation of China dispersed the dream and Salesians were expelled

from Mainland China; the work was reduced and entrusted to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

e number of Salesians dropped to the present one hundred and ten with the majority being

now quite advanced in age.

Don Bosco’s Dream in a Chinese

Woman’s Son

116

SALESIANS 2012

by Fr Pedro Leong, sdb

In 2006, despite a shortage of person-

nel, Father Paul Leung, a young priest

holding several important posts in the

province, obtained permission from

the Rector Major to be a missionary to

Mongolia where he began work for

poor boys in Darkhan. When he was

asked why he had insisted so much on

going to the missions, leaving behind

many important tasks in Hong Kong,

he replied simply: “If I was baptized

and came to know God, it was because

there were good missionaries around.

Now here in Hong Kong many of my

fellow citizens have plenty of opportu-

nity to hear the Good News, enjoy the

rich fruits of evangelisation. How can I

be so selfish as not to share what I have

received with so many others who

have no chance of hearing anything

about God, and have nothing at all?”

In fact, when the first group of Salesians

12.9 Page 119

▲back to top

arrived in Darkhan in 2005, there was

not even one Catholic in the city. No

one knew who Jesus Christ was. Now,

when Fr Paul was recently appointed

to be the first parish priest of Mary Help

of Christians Parish in Selenge Aimag, a

vast province which includes Darkhan,

22 times larger than Hong Kong, he

found out there were already around

150 Catholics because of the hard work

of the missionaries. Some of them are

now preparing themselves to be cate-

chists or Salesian Cooperators. And he

is now preparing to build a shrine ded-

icated to Mary, Help of Christians.

Fr Paul recently came back to be beside

his dying mother. We learned that this

mother of our first missionary was a

very wonderful woman, mother of five

children. She was not a Catholic but

always remained an honest non-Chris-

tian woman.

As Fr Paul himself told us, when he was

still a young college student after he

graduated from a Salesian school in

Hong Kong, one day he asked for his

mother’s permission to be baptized

and his mother answered, ”No prob-

lem” but then added, “You should

never be a missionary”. After about a

year, he told her that a certain priest

had telephoned him, and instinctively

she asked, “Priest? Do you also want to

be a priest one day?” “Yes”, Paul an-

swered. She didn’t say a word but

closed herself in her room for three

days weeping, carrying all the pain of

her son’s mysterious plan in her heart.

Then she generously gave her consent:

“Take good care of yourself then… if

one day you cannot stand the hardship,

you are always welcome back home”.

Years later Fr Paul had been sent to

Rome to study. One day he gave her a

call indicating that he was going to

spend a long summer holiday visiting

another country. She immediately

twigged that he might be heading for

some dangerous place and advised her

son: “Please, be careful if you are going

to countries in trouble”. In fact Fr Paul

went to Albania to serve those under

persecution.

Then, again after some years, Fr Paul

told her that he would like to be a mis-

sionary to Mongolia to spread the

Good News and probably would be

away from her for a long time. She

again remained a generous, always

available mother, saying, “Son, I know

you are always restless, but you must

know that it is very cold there, so put

on more clothes, eat more and when-

ever you are free, come back to see me”.

From then on she took great care of

him and gave full support for all that

her son was doing in the missions. She

was always proud of him.

Don Bosco’s dream for Salesian work

in China and Fr Paul Leung’s calling as

a missionary are hard to fathom for

many of us. The explanation can only

be that God has a marvellous plan for

the future of our Province and we are

to cooperate with him to make it

happen.

On 25 March, the China Province wel-

comed the solemn arrival of Don

Bosco’s Casket in Hong Kong. In the

welcoming ceremony at Tang King Po

School, organised by the Youth Min-

istry Oﬃce, to our great surprise Fr Paul

appeared among us with six Mongo-

lian young people and one Salesian

cleric. They danced and sang before

the Relic. The following day, during the

public veneration of the relic, some

priests and sisters, and some young

men and women from the south and

north of China came to see Don Bosco.

They had learned of the event through

the press or Internet.

Do we have reason to say that this may

be a sign that now is the time for Don

Bosco’s dream to be fulfilled? Are we

ready and well prepared for that possi-

bility? The question remains.

SALESIANS 2012

117

12.10 Page 120

▲back to top

INSPIRING

TESTIMONIES

Korea - South Sudan

“The vocation of every Salesian is tied

to Mary Help of Christians”

by † Fr John Lee Taeseok, sdb †

In Korea devotion to Mary Help of

Christians is not as strong as devotion

to her under other titles: Mary Queen

of Peace, or Our Lady of Mercies. This is

why, before I became a Salesian, I had

neither heard of nor ever said the invo-

cation: “Mary Help of Christians pray

for us” that we Salesians would say at

least three times a day.

I would like to recall a brief story of my

own vocation.

At the time I had

come to under-

stand the Lord

was calling me, I

had a wonder-

ful experience

of Mary Help

of Christians.

When I de-

cided, with

much joy, to set out on the path to be-

coming a Salesian, I suﬀered some anx-

iety about the fact that I needed to tell

my mother about it! Since my father

had died when I was 10, my mother

had to struggle a lot so I could go and

study medicine. Thanks to her many

sacrifices, I was able to become a

doctor. It was at that point that I could

begin to help my mother and pay her

back for the many sacrifices she had

made without asking anything of me

in return. This made it very diﬃcult for

me to tell her about my decision. In fact

it was almost impossible for me to do

so. I made many attempts but never

succeeded because every time I

looked at her, I lost courage. I also tried

to tell one of my sisters to whom I was

very close and could talk about many

things with ease. But I couldn’t even tell

her! Three months went by without

me saying anything.

One wonderful day, when I went to

see my sister, I stood there as-

tounded, mouth open. My sister

had already found out about

my decision through a

dream she had had

the previous

118

SALESIANS 2012

13 Pages 121-130

▲back to top

13.1 Page 121

▲back to top

Don Bosco of Tonj!

Fr John Lee Taeseok

evening. However, my sister then told my

mother about my decision by telling her of the

dream. All my problems were resolved at that

moment.

However I had not worked out at that time that

this was Mary Help of Christians at work until I

heard, for the first time from my novice director,

that the vocation of every Salesian is tied to

Mary Help of Christians.

I had not asked Mary for her help. But Mary was

aware of my problem and quietly helped me.

This was the first experience I had had of Mary’s

help. It was such an important experience for

me because through it I gained such a real

image of Mary as the Lady who loved me very

much. This enabled me to understand Mary as

‘Help of Christians’and I learned to adopt the at-

titude we must have when we help others: be

attentive to their needs and ready to give them

all necessary help. From then on I was able to

speak with certainty to young people about the

presence of Mary Help of Christians…

Mary is not a special privilege just for Salesians.

She is the Help of all Christians. But we Salesians

are very grateful and sensitive to Mary as Helper.

With this sensitivity Don Bosco chose Mary Most

Holy as his inspiration, Mother and Teacher of his

Congregation…

Born: 19 Sep. 1962 (Pusan, Korea)

Graduated in medicine, Inje University: 1987 (Pusan)

First profession as a Salesian: 30 Jan 1994 (Daejeon)

Final profession as a Salesian: 27 Apr 2000 (Rome)

Ordained priest: 24 Jun 2001 (Seoul)

Joined Sudan mission: 1 Nov 2001

Diagnosed with cancer: Nov 2008

Died: 14 Jan 2010 (Seoul)

SALESIANS 2012

119

13.2 Page 122

▲back to top

13.3 Page 123

▲back to top

While I was reflecting on the life of

a great priest, Fr John Lee Taeseok,

I wanted to tell his story and share

his valuable, beautiful life as well

as repay a deep inner debt. I de-

cided to hold an exhibition in

memory of his life.

As Fr John Lee put it in his words,

love itself, the virus of love will

overcome time and space.

I wish deeply for this virus to

spread endlessly to all whom we

meet in God's great plan.

I pray sincerely that all the seeds

Fr John Lee has planted bear

great fruit and bring peace to this

land.

Artist, Michaela Kang Hyunjoo

anks to

Editorial team:

◆ Fr Filiberto González Plasencia,

Councillor for Social Communications

◆ Members of the SC Department

and Bro. Hilario Seo, from Korea Province

Translators:

◆ Too many to single out individually, but sincere

thanks to translators from Africa (French);

Central and South America (Spanish and

Portuguese) and both Salesian and lay; Europe

(for the remaining languages, including: English,

Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Polish)

Special thanks to:

◆ Salesian Bulletin editors from around the Salesian

world and their Provinces, who provided the bulk

of the articles, with support from the Regional

Councillors

◆ Salesian Mission and Development Oﬃces

◆ Artist Michaela Kang Hyunjoo

Printing:

◆ Publishing House Don Bosco

Bratislava, Slovakia

Publisher:

◆ Direzione Generale Opere Don Bosco,

Via della Pisana 1111, Casella Postale 18333,

00163 Roma-Bravetta, Italy

For further information:

redazionerivistesdb@sdb.org

www.sdb.org

Salesians of Don Bosco

SALESIANS 2012

13.4 Page 124

▲back to top